NFL News

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NFL declines comment on Buccaneers’ failure to disclose Tom Brady’s knee injury

Posted by Mike Florio on July 15, 2021, 6:46 PM EDT

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It already had become clear that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had failed to disclose Tom Brady‘s knee injury throughout the 2020 season. Previously, the NFL had declined comment on this obvious violation of the rules.

Now that the NFL, through its in-house media conglomerate, has reported that Brady had a fully-torn MCL in his left knee, the violation becomes even more glaring. The league persists in its refusal to address the matter, however.

“We will decline comment,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told PFT via email on Thursday.

And so the team’s lack of transparency becomes compounded by the league’s lack of transparency. While that strategy may work in the short term, these issues could eventually create major problems for the league, as more states legalize wagering on sports and as more legislators and/or prosecutors realize that cheating now has consequences that extend far beyond the NFL’s 32 teams, affecting the integrity of the bets made on games.

The situation also underscores the existence and value of inside information. Eventually and inevitably, a scandal will emerge regarding someone on or connected to an NFL team funneling facts hidden from the public to gambling interests. At some point, the league will have a huge mess on its hands.

And so the league has two choices. It can be proactive about this issues and avoid the creation of the mess in the first place, or it can wait for the mess to unfold, feign ignorance as to the possibility of said mess, and wait for the government to clean it up through new laws or regulations or grand-jury investigations.

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John Lynch: 49ers will provide support to Richard Sherman and his wife

Posted by Michael David Smith on July 15, 2021, 3:02 PM EDT

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Although Richard Sherman no longer plays for the 49ers, General Manager John Lynch has reached out to Sherman and his wife after the events of the last 48 hours, which saw Sherman arrested for trying to break into his wife’s parents’ home, and Ashley Sherman call 911 to report that Richard Sherman was suicidal.

Lynch told reporters today that he is concerned about both Richard and Ashley and has reached out to the family to let them know that the 49ers can provide resources to them.

“They’re good people,” Lynch said of Richard and Ashley. “Just praying that they find their way through this and we’ll support them any way we can.”

Lynch and the 49ers signed Sherman to a three-year contract in 2018. He is currently a free agent.

Sherman remains incarcerated and will appear before a judge this afternoon.

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Jimmy Johnson: Urban Meyer is frustrated by limits on time with players

Posted by Michael David Smith on July 15, 2021, 12:20 PM EDT

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Hall of Fame coach Jimmy Johnson knows Urban Meyer well and talks to him regularly, and he says that Meyer is struggling in his first year in Jacksonville in one important way: Dealing with limits on player contact.

“He’s a little frustrated right now because he’s spent so little time with the players,” Johnson said, via Nate Davis of USA Today. “He’s accustomed to being around the players all the time, and they weren’t able to do that because of COVID-19.”

Meyer has already learned the hard way that he can’t structure his practices the way he wants, the way he could in college: Meyer was hit with a $100,000 fine, the Jaguars were fined $200,000 and the team was docked two offseason practices in 2022 because they violated rules limiting contact in the offseason.

Still, Johnson says Meyer is well aware of what he needs to do in the NFL.

“Urban’s very thorough. Urban has spent his due diligence getting ready for this job,” Johnson said. “He knew what he was getting into when he accepted the job. We had numerous conversations during the job process. And I think he’ll do a great job. He knows how important personnel is. He knows how to deal with people.”

Meyer will have more time to deal with the people on his team when training camp opens on July 27.

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NFL, NFLPA should offer to suspend marijuana testing for players who get vaccinated

Posted by Mike Florio on July 15, 2021, 12:10 PM EDT

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To truly end the pandemic with minimal additional serious illnesses and deaths, everyone should get vaccinated. Plenty of NFL players continue to resist.

Here’s an idea that would get plenty of them to get the shot(s) now: Offer to suspend marijuana testing for any player who has been vaccinated.

It’s frankly an offer that, to be most effective, should have been made a month ago. Currently, players who hope to pass their annual substance-abuse test within the first two weeks of training camp have stopped smoking, given the time that it takes for the marijuana metabolites to exit the human body.

The overall drug-testing process, as currently constructed by the league and the union, makes no real sense. Players not in the program can smoke from the moment they give their annual training-camp sample until roughly a month before the start of the next training camp, without ever being detected. So why do marijuana testing at all?

More importantly, why put players who can smoke as much as they want for 11 consecutive months in a position where they have to quit cold turkey for a month, when they may need marijuana to treat pain and/or anxiety and/or depression?

No, it makes no sense. But it makes plenty of sense for the league and the union to offer to all players right now a very simple deal: Get vaccinated, and don’t get tested for marijuana when you report from camp. That would go a long way toward getting all teams to the 85-percent threshold, immediately.

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DESHAUN WATSONQB, HOUSTON TEXANS
ESPN's Adam Schefter believes there is no team "better positioned" to trade for Deshaun Watson than Philadelphia.


Schefter adds that he is unsure when the Texans might finally be ready to deal Watson, and that they will surely wait for his value to regenerate following this offseason's sexual assault allegations. It is not a given that will happen, of course. ESPN's Sarah Barshop reported in May that there had been "settlement talks." It is still possible, if not probable, that teams won't exactly be clamoring to acquire a player with that on his résumé. We still have little idea if Watson is actually going to play for the Texans this year. He had thrown down the gauntlet before his legal issues arose.

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RELATED:

• Philadelphia Eagles

SOURCE: ESPN on Twitter
Jul 15, 2021, 3:45 PM

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Steelers QB Dwayne Haskins was involved in a dispute earlier this month that resulted in his wife facing a domestic violence charge, per ESPN’s Brooke Pryor. Kalabrya Gondrezick-Haskin is accused of punching Haskins in the mouth, leading to a “felony charge of battery and domestic violence resulting in bodily harm.” Haskins reportedly had a split upper lift and a lost tooth, but the quarterback disputed that today on Instagram. “I appreciate the concern… however I have all of my teeth,” Haskins wrote (via Pryor). “Don’t believe everything you read. Peace.”
“We are aware of the situation but will have no comment,” the organization said in response to ESPN’s inquiry. Haskins inked a one-year deal with Pittsburgh earlier this offseason, and he’ll be competing with Mason

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Of course they are...


NFL declines comment on Buccaneers’ failure to disclose Tom Brady’s knee injury

Posted by Mike Florio on July 15, 2021, 6:46 PM EDT

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I

So Brady played the whole season with a torn MCL?

Pfffttttttt! Big Deal! That's nothing. Erin Rodgers played a whole season with hurt feelings.

[froot loops]

Guys who like up the sacks are always trying to jump the snap and for good reason. When people says you don't move until the ball moves are naive. It is like saying keep your eye on the ball or the fan in the stands complaining about 3 seconds.

[Fraquar]

Guys who like up the sacks are always trying to jump the snap and for good reason. When people says you don't move until the ball moves are naive. It is like saying keep your eye on the ball or the fan in the stands complaining about 3 seconds.

That may be true the wider you get in defensive alignment (i.e. towards the sidelines in Wide-9), but when you are a DT you are literally inches away from the trigger. You get no benefit jumping the snap - when the snap is right in your face - and you are lined up mere inches from the ball. All you can do there is jump offside.

[jaadam4]

Pfffttttttt! Big Deal! That's nothing. Erin Rodgers played a whole season with hurt feelings.

HAHAHA!!!

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Younghoe Koo gets Jeep stolen, asks thief to return his cleats

Posted by Michael David Smith on July 19, 2021, 5:01 AM EDT

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Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo had his truck stolen, but he’s more concerned about something that was in it: His cleats.

When you kick footballs for a living, it’s important that you have shoes that feel perfect on your feet while you’re doing it, and Koo had those shoes in his truck when it was stolen. He went to Instagram to appeal to get his shoes back.

“MFs stole my Jeep smh,” Koo wrote on an Instagram post showing his empty parking lot where his truck used to be. “Can you just bring my cleats back though? I won’t even be mad bro just bring all my cleats back so I can go kick.”

Koo wrote that it’s a black Grand Cherokee with license plate RZA4953. There has been no word so far of anyone finding the Jeep, or the cleats.

[Futureshock]

Randy Gregory felt he “got robbed of a year” by defensive staff’s favoritism of Aldon Smith

Posted by Charean Williams on July 18, 2021, 5:55 PM EDT

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Randy Gregory has not played much since the Cowboys made him a second-round choice in 2015, missing 52 games while suspended. But the pass rusher should have played more than he did last season.

He saw action on only 271 defensive snaps in 10 games after returning from a fourth career suspension. Only twice in 2020 did Gregory play more than 40 defensive snaps with 44 a season high.

Defensive coordinator Mike Nolan, defensive line coach Jim Tomsula and pass rusher Aldon Smith are gone from the 2020 team, meaning Gregory will play more this season.

“I felt there was a little bit of favoritism going on, . . . refusing to let me outshine their favorite,” Gregory told Dan Pompei of TheAthletic.com. “They knew I could do it, so they did what they could to keep me at bay. I had my times when I was angry. I used to talk to [agent] Peter [Schaffer] about it, and the best thing I could do was just go out there on the field with the plays they give me and make those plays worth it. I did that, but I truly felt I got robbed of a year last year.”

Mike Fisher of SI.com has reported that owner Jerry Jones — who long has held Gregory in high regard — confronted head coach Mike McCarthy in a staff meeting last season about why Gregory wasn’t playing more. New defensive coordinator Dan Quinn wondered the same after joining the staff and watching film of last season.

“I was surprised he didn’t play more,” Quinn said. “I brought it up to Mike. He was at the top of the list for me as far as defining a role. His playing time is going to increase, for sure. I think he’s going to really take off.”

After allowing the most points in team history, the Cowboys fired Nolan and Tomsula. Smith left as a free agent for Seattle in April.

Gregory, who has openly talked about his social anxiety disorder, should get the best chance he has ever had to put his best foot forward this season.

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Good for him. He made the $, he gets to spend it.



Jim Irsay plunks down $915,000 for Elton John’s piano

Posted by Mike Florio on July 17, 2021, 11:23 PM EDT

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The Colts won’t pay A+ money for B players. But Colts owner Jim Irsay will pay A+ money for A+ music memorabilia.

Via Mike Wells of ESPN.com, Irsay has purchased a piano used by Elton John during his tours from 1974 through 1993. He signed the item, “Enjoy this as much as I have, Elton John.”

Irsay secured the Steinway & Sons Model D Grand Piano through bidding conducted by Heritage Auctions on Saturday in Dallas with a bid of $915,000.

It’s just the latest acquisition made by Irsay. Two years ago, he bought a guitar used by David Gilmour of Pink Floyd for nearly $4 million and John Lennon’s piano for more than $700,000. In 2016, Irsay purchased one of Prince’s guitars for nearly $140,000.

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Patriots’ Byron Cowart: Tom Brady is coming back as an opponent, no ceremonies for him

Posted by Michael David Smith on July 17, 2021, 8:29 AM EDT

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When Tom Brady and the Buccaneers visit New England in Week Four, it will be one of the biggest regular-season games in NFL history, a player widely regarded as the best of all time returning to the place where he delivered six Super Bowl titles. But not everyone will be impressed.

Patriots defensive tackle Byron Cowart, whose rookie year was Brady’s last in New England, said he’ll treat Brady the way he’d treat any other opponent.

“He’s done a lot of things for this organization,” Cowart said on the Patriots Way of Life podcast. “He’s coming back, but he’s coming back as an opponent, so I’m going to treat it like any opponent.”

Cowart also said he doesn’t want the team to do anything special to welcome Brady back.

“We ain’t welcoming him, we just got to play him. There ain’t going to be no damn ceremony for him or nothing like that,” Cowart said. “They might clap for him, but there’s not going to be no— bro, this is our opponent. Bro, what? We like to win.”

Cowart is wrong about that, as the Patriots are sure to conduct a pregame ceremony to honor Brady’s contributions to the franchise. Once the game starts, however, Cowart is obviously correct that he should treat Brady the same way he would treat any opposing quarterback.

[Futureshock]

Ted Ginn retires

Posted by Michael David Smith on July 16, 2021, 6:33 PM EDT

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Ted Ginn is calling it a career.

Ginn, the longtime wide receiver who played for six different NFL teams, announced his retirement today.

The 36-year-old Ginn entered the NFL with the Dolphins as the ninth overall pick in the 2007 NFL draft. Although he never became the complete receiver the Dolphins hoped he would be, he showed impressive staying power in a lengthy NFL career, good deep speed and significant contributions on special teams.

Ginn played three years in Miami, followed by three in San Francisco, one in Carolina, one in Arizona, two more in Carolina, three in New Orleans and one in Chicago, where he played sparingly last year in his final NFL season.

Ginn retires with 412 catches for 5,742 yards and 33 touchdowns plus 262 punt returns for 2,624 yards and four touchdowns, and 307 kickoff returns for 6,899 yards and three touchdowns. His 15,749 career all-purpose yards are the fourth-most in the NFL since 2007, behind only Darren Sproles, Adrian Peterson and Frank Gore.