Vontaze Burfict on AB: We’re on the same team now

[Who Dey]

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Vontaze Burfict has new teammates, having signed a one-year contract worth up to $5 million with the Raiders. One of those new teammates is former nemesis Antonio Brown.

The linebacker stresses new teammate and former nemesis.

“We’re on the same team,” Burfict said Tuesday night, via Michael Gehlken of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “It’s one goal. It’s all positive, man. He’s a great player. . . .I’m going to approach him just like I do all my other teammates. There’s nothing negative here. We’re on the same team. We’re trying to win a championship here.”

Brown and Burfict have a history, having played each other for years in the AFC North.

In the 2015 postseason, Burfict knocked out Brown with an illegal hit to the head. The league later suspended him three games, one of several suspensions Burfict has served in his career.

The league also fined Burfict for a hit to Brown’s head last season.

“I’m not a dirty player,” Burfict said Tuesday. “I play a physical position. I can’t go out there patty-cake. If I play soft, I’m not doing my job.”

In 2017, JuJu Smith-Schuster had an illegal hit on Burfict that caused Burfict to leave the field on a cart. Brown yelled, “Karma!” while reporters were interviewing Smith-Schuster afterward.

Burfict reunites with defensive coordinator Paul Guenther, who already has reminded Burfict he can’t hit Brown in practice the way he did in games.

“It’s all fun and games,” Burfict said. “We’re on the same team. . . .We might be the closest friends on the team. Just got to go along with it. I can’t wait to meet him.”