Redskins cornerback DeAngelo Hall on Tuesday afternoon physically threatened a newspaper reporter from whom he had to be separated during a profane confrontation about an article in which Hall insisted he was misquoted.
Hall and the reporter, Mike Jones of The Washington Post, later met and calmly discussed the matter.
Tuesday’s confrontation occurred less than a week after Hall was fined $30,000 for verbally abusing a referee late in the Redskins’ loss to Pittsburgh on Oct. 28. When reporters attempted to ask Hall about that fine Thursday, he bristled: “Back up off me, bro,” and would not comment.
The incident Tuesday began when Jones approached Hall with an audio recording of a quote Hall disputed.
Defensive backs coach Raheem Morris restrained Hall after witnessing the heated exchange while walking nearby. He intervened when both men’s use of profanity and the volume of their voices made it clear tempers were escalating.
A team security official rushed in to restrain Jones. Two Redskins public relations officials also helped separate Hall and the reporter.
Hall did not answer a call to his phone and did not return a text message. However, he discussed the incident on his radio show Tuesday evening.
“Everybody was pulling him back,” Hall said, referring to Jones. “I’m like, ’Let him go. Please let him go. If anybody touch me, I’m knocking them out.’ I said something to lines of that.”
Hall went on to call Jones a “great dude,” and he said at no point did the confrontation come close to becoming physical.
Jones and his editor declined to comment.
“They discussed this matter, and everything is worked out now,” team spokesman Tony Wyllie said.
Hall last Wednesday told a group of reporters about individual meetings some players had with coaches during the bye week. Many outlets published the quote and used it to help additional reporting.
Hall on Wednesday said: “Guys have sat down with coaches, met one-on-one, to kind of figure out what they can do to get better at.”
Jones never specifically reported Hall met with defensive coordinator Jim Haslett, but Jones authored an article published online Thursday that reported members of the secondary met with Haslett. The article implied Hall was one of those players.
After Sunday’s 31-6 win over Philadelphia, a reporter — not Jones — started to ask Hall whether those one-on-one meetings helped the defense’s play in the victory.
“I didn’t talk to y’all about that,” Hall said. “I don’t know where that quote came from. I never had a one-on-one meeting with nobody. I don’t know who asked that question or who reported — I think Mike [Jones] reported on it. I ain’t never had no one-on-one meeting with nobody over the bye week. We had a team meeting Tuesday. I left Tuesday to go out of town.”
When the reporter followed up by noting Haslett said there were meetings with different players, Hall said: “It wasn’t with me, so I don’t know anything about that. Mike, like I said, wrote an article about some quotes that he said about a one-on-one meeting when he didn’t ask me a question about a one-on-one meeting. He kind of threw that in there in his article, but he didn’t ask me about a one-on-one meeting.”
Jones was not present for Hall’s postgame comments Sunday, but he later learned of them.
He approached Hall on Tuesday with audio of Hall’s group interview in an attempt to prove he did not fabricate any quotes.
The incident escalated from there. It occurred in the hallway outside the Redskins Park locker room, and about a dozen reporters witnessed at least a portion of it.
Hall’s history of confrontations while with the Redskins dates further than his outburst against Pittsburgh last month.
In October 2010, he and Haslett engaged in a “contentious exchange” about pass coverage instructions, according to a Washington Post report that cited three sources familiar with the situation. Haslett, Hall and coach Mike Shanahan denied the report.
“Trouble just follows me, man,” Hall said on the radio Tuesday. “It is what it is. I always take the blame. It’s not a problem. I’ve got thick skin.”
NOTE: London Fletcher did not practice Tuesday and his active NFL record streak of 234 games played is in doubt with the Redskins playing at the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day.
Fletcher sprained his left ankle in the win over the Philadelphia Eagles and returned to the game, but the soreness and swelling has worsened.
He will be a game-time decision.
“[The short week] doesn’t help,” Fletcher said. “Got a lot of treatment today, tomorrow. Even Thursday before the game and see how I feel pregame, if I can go or not. That’s pretty much how it’ll go.”
Cornerback Josh Wilson (shoulder) was limited in practice and declined to speak with reporters other than to say, “I’ve got to get better.”
• Rich Campbell can be reached at rcampbell@washingtontimes.com.
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