Washington Commanders defensive lineman Daron Payne was ejected from Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions and then suspended after he punched Amon-Ra St. Brown, but a new video provides a different perspective of the incident.
The NFL announced on Monday that Payne has been suspended one game for his actions in Washington’s Week 10 game against the Lions at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md. Payne was ejected from the contest, a 44-22 blowout in favor of the Lions, after he punched St. Brown in the face. You can see the video here.
After the game, Commanders defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw claimed St. Brown hit Payne first. Kinlaw said the way the officiating crew handled the situation was “some bulls—.”
On Tuesday, a video surfaced that shows St. Brown punching Payne shortly before Payne was ejected. Payne and St. Brown appeared to be jawing at one another when St. Brown punched Payne right in front of an official.
Here’s the video of Amon-Ra St. Brown swinging on Daron Payne a few plays before Payne swung back and got ejected. This tells the other side of the story. pic.twitter.com/M7jUH9zcGr
— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) November 11, 2025
Payne shared the video on his Instagram story and sarcastically captioned it “Oh ok.”
The person who retaliates is almost always the one who gets caught. It looks like that is what happened when Payne punched St. Brown. Though, you could easily make the argument that St. Brown should have been ejected, especially since an official was looking right at him when he swung at Payne originally.
There was some speculation that Payne was angry over the way St. Brown celebrated a touchdown catch, but the new video tells a much different story.
