NFL expects full stadiums this season; 2022 salary cap set at $208.2MVideo
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says the league expects full stadiums this season, and players and staff are being encouraged to receive the covid-19 vaccine. “One of the things we’ve obviously learned over the last year is not to make projections too far out,” Goodell said Wednesday following virtual meetings with...
Trevor Lawrence says Tim Tebow is ‘a guy you want to be around’
Trevor Lawrence is excited to have Tim Tebow as a teammate. The Jacksonville Jaguars signed Tebow last week, giving the former Florida star and 2007 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback an opportunity to revive his pro career as a tight end catching passes from their rookie No. 1 overall pick. “He looks...
Falcons coach tight-lipped about Julio Jones’ future
ATLANTA — The Atlanta Falcons began their offseason training program Tuesday without longtime star receiver Julio Jones, who apparently has no intention of returning to a rebuilding team that is still struggling to get under the salary cap. Rookie coach Arthur Smith was tight-lipped about the Falcons’ options, but insisted...
AP source: Aaron Rodgers doesn’t attend Packers’ 1st day of OTAsVideo
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers wasn’t present for the first day of organized team activities Monday, according to a person familiar with the situation. These OTA sessions are voluntary, but Rodgers generally has participated in them in the past. ESPN first reported Rodgers wasn’t with the team on Monday....
Column: Tim Tebow’s reality show heads back to NFLVideo
Maybe Colin Kaepernick should learn a new position. Tight end, perhaps. From the looks of things, that appears to be a pathway back to the NFL for ex-quarterbacks who haven’t played the game in a long time. In case you missed the week’s most ludicrous sports story, Tim Tebow is...
Reunited: Tim Tebow signs with Jags, rejoins Urban Meyer as tight end
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Tim Tebow and Urban Meyer are together again, this time in the NFL and with Tebow playing a new position. The former Florida star and 2007 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback signed a one-year contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday and will attempt to revive his pro career...
NFL schedules get off to strong starts with Week 1 twinbills
An additional week of regular-season games will benefit NFL fans right from the start. In order to keep an equal number of doubleheaders between CBS and Fox, the league has decided to make Week 1 a doubleheader for both networks, which is also what they do on the final week....
NFL returning to London with 2 games in October
LONDON — The NFL is returning to London in October for its first games in the city since the outbreak of the coronavirus. The Atlanta Falcons will play the New York Jets on Oct. 10, and the Jacksonville Jaguars face the Miami Dolphins a week later. Both games will be...
2021 NFL schedule release: What to know
Some of the biggest news of the NFL offseason is coming Wednesday: the 2021 NFL regular-season schedule. Next season’s schedule will be released at 8 p.m. and broadcast on NFL Network, NFL.com and the NFL app. The league is touting the upcoming campaign as the “biggest season ever” with the...
NFL renews 9 social justice grants totaling $2.5 million
The NFL has renewed nine grants totaling $2.5 million through its social justice platform Inspire Change. The renewals announced Monday were recently approved by the Social Justice Working Group comprised of five team owners and five current and former players. Since 2017, the grants have been awarded to nonprofit organizations...
Report: Tim Tebow-Urban Meyer reunion on verge of becoming official for Jaguars
Tim Tebow and Urban Meyer are apparently getting back together, this time in the NFL. The former Florida star and 2007 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback is expected to team up with his college coach by signing a one-year contract to play for the Jacksonville Jaguars, the NFL Network reported Monday. The...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Aaron Rodgers is a Hall of Famer and a giant diva
ESPN’s Mike Greenberg is one of the nation’s top sports media personalities. But even the best of us can drop a clanger, as Greenberg did when he said any team in the NFL would be a legitimate Super Bowl contender if it added quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Roll over, Jacksonville, and...
Jets kick off rookie camp with ‘high energy’ Robert Saleh in charge
NEW YORK — Robert Saleh wrapped up his first practice with the New York Jets by taking his usual spot behind the huddle and waiting for the head coach to address the team. Then it quickly dawned on him. “Oh, shoot,” Saleh said Friday with a big grin and laugh....
AP source: NFL teams cannot cut players because they are unvaccinated
An NFL team can’t release a player simply because he is not vaccinated for covid-19, a person with direct knowledge of the league’s directive told The Associated Press on Friday. Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane hypothetically suggested this week that he’d do so if it would provide more freedom...
NFL sets offseason schedule, still plans mandatory minicampsVideo
NEW YORK — The NFL has set its schedule for offseason workouts and still plans to have mandatory in-person minicamps, something the players’ union has opposed. The league released the schedule through mid-June, with all 32 teams listing required-attendance minicamps next month. NFLPA president JC Tretter, a center for the...
Bills GM Brandon Beane would consider cutting unvaccinated playerVideo
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane theoretically would consider cutting an unvaccinated player if it meant the team being able to lift NFL covid-19 protocols restricting in-person team meetings. “Yeah, I would,” Beane told the team-sponsored ” One Bills Live” broadcast Wednesday. “You guys saw it in...
Steelers cornerback Justin Layne takes plea deal in Ohio case, felony gun charge dropped
Steelers cornerback Justin Layne on Wednesday had a felony gun charged dismissed as part of a plea deal in Ohio, landing him probation and a suspended jail sentence, court records show. Layne was pulled over early April 23 for speeding in Willoughby, a Cleveland suburb, and cited for speeding, driving...
Browns sign veteran DT Damion Square, formerly with Chargers
CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Browns bulked up their defensive line Tuesday, signing veteran tackle Damion Square. Square spent the past seven seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers. The 32-year-old hasn’t missed a game the past four years. Cleveland’s interior was getting thin after the departure of Larry Ogunjobi as a...
Analysis: After draft, some obstacles ahead for NFL in 2021Video
With a successful in-person draft in Cleveland behind it, the NFL inexorably moves on. What’s ahead might not go so smoothly as the selection process did on the shore of Lake Erie. For one, the league and the players’ union likely will be haggling over offseason programs for, well, the...
Lower-round QBs face long odds to make it in NFLVideo
The five teams that took quarterbacks in the first round of the NFL Draft head into the offseason program full of optimism that they have found the franchise cornerstone that will lead to great success for the next decade. History indicates at least a couple of those teams will be...
Browns take chance on Malik McDowell, DT with troubled pastVideo
CLEVELAND — The Browns are giving Malik McDowell the chance to revive an NFL career stopped by some serious legal trouble. Cleveland signed the free agent defensive tackle and former Seattle draft pick and five undrafted free agents Monday. Selected in the second by the Seahawks in 2017, McDowell was...
Amazon to take over ‘Thursday Night Football’ package in ’22Video
Amazon Prime Video will become the exclusive home of the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football” package a year earlier than originally anticipated. Amazon and the league announced Monday that Prime Video will take over the entire package in 2022, which will make it an 11-season deal through 2032. It originally was...
Former Pitt player Rashad Weaver charged with assault in April incident on South Side
Former Pitt defensive end Rashad Weaver — drafted into NFL by the Tennessee Titans over the weekend — is facing assault charges related to an incident last month on Pittsburgh’s South Side. The alleged assault — an altercation with a woman on East Carson Street — happened April 18, according...
Super Bowl champ Bucs pick ex-Gateway OL Robert Hainsey in 3rd round
Gateway graduate Robert Hainsey is going home — to Florida. Before matriculating to Notre Dame to play offensive tackle, Hainsey transferred from Gateway to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. And, now, he’s moving on to the Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who drafted him Friday night in the third...
SEC, Alabama places to go for NFL Draft picksVideo
One thing didn’t change on the second night of the NFL Draft. The SEC and, specifically, Alabama was the place to go. Georgia cornerback Tyson Campbell to Jacksonville and Mississippi wide receiver Elijah Moore to the Jets were the top two selections of the second round Friday night. Soon after,...