OXNARD, Calif. — Toward the end of a two-minute drill on Saturday, left tackle Tyler Guyton slammed pass rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku to the ground. After the play, the two exchanged words.
With practice nearing its end, Guyton stormed off after the play and didn’t finish the practice.
After practice, the two men walked past each other without saying a word.
Guyton said he got hit in the neck by Ezeiruaku.
Ezeiruaku understood what the process is about between the two men: Helping each other get better.
“I love it,” Ezeiruaku said. “We talk about it prior to [the start of the season] about our goals and our expectations from each other [and] for each other. That’s what we’re here to do. We’re here to compete and push each other so that we can be where we want to be. And that’s All-Pro and Pro Bowl. But at the same time helping the team, because if we do our one-eleventh on both sides of the ball, we will be successful.”
Saturday’s practice, the first in helmets and shoulder pads, didn’t have any fights, but the Ezeiruaku-Guyton dust-up was close to it.
“We’re competitors, that’s all it is,” Ezeiruaku said. “I’m a hot guy, he gets hot too. We compete, we go back and forth, that’s what’s going to make us great.”