Pro Bowl defensive end Michael Bennett said Saturday that he understands why Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll dismissed him from practice two days earlier.
Bennett got into scuffles with several offensive linemen during Thursday’s practice before Carroll had seen enough and threw him out of practice.
“He said he just wants to show the team if he kicked me out as one of the best players on the team, then he’ll do it to anybody,” Bennett told reporters. “Just a message, and it’s cool with me. I understand what the standard is that’s upheld for me and the rest of the players.
“It’s just part of the game — you get heated, and being able to calm down and being able to talk to your teammates and remember that you are teammates. Sometimes you forget about that as players, and you have to make sure that you don’t forget that and remember to take care of each other, because at the end of the day, we need everybody on the field every game.”
Bennett arrived at training camp with an edge after the Seahawks refused to renegotiate his contract during the offseason. The 30-year-old Bennett is entering the third season for a four-year, $28.5 million deal.
Bennett registered a career-best 10 sacks last year in his third season in Seattle and has 34.5 over the past four seasons.
Carroll isn’t consumed with the contract deliberations. He just doesn’t want to see Bennett get out of control as he did during multiple practice sessions.
“Sometimes we really lose a little bit of the poise that we need,” Carroll told reporters. “We can’t play like that. You get in a skirmish. You get thrown out. That’s what happens. That happened. That’s just the way you do it. The way we do it.”
Bennett has repeatedly clashed with rookie guard Germain Ifedi, who has refused to back down when pitted against one of the NFL’s top pass rushers.
And Bennett won’t take it easy on the newcomer either despite Ifedi being a first-round pick (31st overall) and a product of the same college (Texas A&M).
“You have to go out there and hunt every day, every play, every game,” Bennett said. “I play every game like it’s my last play. That’s how I came into the league, and that’s how I’m going to do until I retire. That’s how I want the rookies to approach the game.”