Daron Payne of the Washington Commanders was ejected from Sunday’s loss against the Detroit Lions for punching Amon-Ra St. Brown. But the incident may not be what it first seemed, and caused Shannon Sharpe to issue a direct apology to the Commanders star.
Payne was roundly criticized for throwing a haymaker at the Lions star wide receiver seemingly from out of nowhere during Sunday’s game.
As a leader of Washington’s defense, Daron Payne should know better than to throw a punch on the field. He should be suspended. There is no place for this in sports. pic.twitter.com/A5YMmmyrZ0
— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) November 9, 2025
It was one of two disputes in the game that also saw Javon Kinlaw get in the face of Jared Goff. The Lions quarterback then used that to prod Louis Riddick, asking for a Turning Point breakdown for the Payne punch like he did for the Lions’ skirmish with the Chiefs earlier this season.
However, earlier this week Daron Payne posted a video to his Instagram account that showed St. Brown throwing a punch at him, which in theory led to the retaliation.
#Commanders DT Daron Payne’s latest IG story shows that WR Amon-Ra St Brown punched him first 👀 pic.twitter.com/PgmEK3EHEn
— brandon (@JayDanielsMVP) November 11, 2025
The revelation of that video led to an apology from Shannon Sharpe on his Nightcap podcast with Chad Johnson. The former First Take and Undisputed star said that he received a respectful DM from Payne asking him to take another look at the situation. After seeing the video and how Payne was provoked, Sharpe issued an apology.
“Let me be the loudest and say, bro, I’m sorry.”
Unc issues an apology to Daron Payne and Javon Kinlaw after footage reveals Amon-Ra threw the first punch@ShannonSharpe #Nightcap pic.twitter.com/0XYL7eEQD6
— Nightcap (@NightcapShow_) November 13, 2025
“He sent me the video. Let me be the loudest and say bro I’m sorry,” Sharpe said. “Javon Kinlaw, I owe you an apology too because you said he did hit Daron Payne first and we didn’t, I didn’t believe you. So I want to apologize to you. But the biggest apology goes to Daron Payne.”
“I’m sorry bro. I am so sorry as a man. I’m never going to be too prideful, I’m never going to be too wealthy, I’m never going to be anything where I can’t say I’m sorry I was wrong. Daron Payne, I was wrong. I wish you would’ve knocked his — out.”
For his part, Amon-Ra St. Brown addressed the punches on his podcast, saying that it started with being bumped by Payne, which led to him pushing back… where he says he accidentally punched him in the face. St. Brown expressed surprise over not being flagged for his actions, but then said that was when Payne struck back.
As the old adage goes, it’s usually the second player involved in one of these fights that gets caught. Sure, maybe Payne could have not reacted in such an obvious and forceful way that got himself ejected from the game. But at least Daron Payne had some Zapruder like film to let the world know that he didn’t just slug Amon-Ra St. Brown for no good reason.