Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe, sued on Sunday for sexual assault among other claims, will be going about his business while the case makes its way through the legal pipeline.
Via Andrew Marchand of TheAthletic.com, Sharpe will make his regularly-scheduled Tuesday appearance on ESPN’s First Take.
Per the report, Sharpe is not expected to address the lawsuit.
In a statement issued on Monday by his lawyer, Lanny Davis, Sharpe strongly disputed the allegations.
It will now be for the courts to resolve the situation, absent a settlement. Which is always possible in every civil case, no matter the amount of public animosity displayed by one or both parties.
Ravens safety Ar’Darius Washington signed his one-year, $3.263 million tender Monday.
He did not receive an offer by Friday’s deadline, assuring the restricted free agent would return to Baltimore, and Washington will become a free agent in 2026 unless the Ravens sign him to an extension.
The Ravens had placed a right-of-first-refusal tender on Washington. It allowed him to negotiate with other teams with no compensation granted to the Ravens if Washington left.
Washington, an undrafted free agent in 2021, replaced Marcus Williams in Week 8 last season and had a career year. He played all 17 games and made 10 starts, totaling two interceptions, a forced fumble, a sack and 64 tackles.
He played only eight games with one start in his first three seasons, recording 14 tackles, two passes defensed and a sack.
Shannon Sharpe has gone on the offensive.
Sued on Sunday for assault, sexual assault, battery, sexual battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, Sharpe has fired back. His lawyer, Lanny J. Davis, has issued a statement characterizing the civil suit as “a blatant and cynical attempt to shake down Mr. Sharpe for millions of dollars” and claiming the litigation has been “orchestrated by her attorney Tony Buzbee.”
“It is filled with lies, distortions, and misrepresentations,” Davis says of the civil complaint, “and it will not succeed.”
Davis contends that the plaintiff “secretly recorded” the “video of a consensual sexual encounter” in order to “falsely portray a consensual sexual act as non-consensual.” Davis claims the video was “heavily edited and taken entirely out of context,” and that the plaintiff has “refused to provide a copy of the full, unedited version” to Sharpe’s lawyers.
Davis adds that Sharpe “believes her secret taping was all part of her planned set-up as part of her blackmail scheme.”
Davis also says Sharpe “categorically denies all allegations of coercion or misconduct — especially the gross lie of ‘rape’ — and will not submit to what he sees as an egregious attempt at blackmail.” Sharpe, through Davis, vows “to fight these false claims vigorously in court.”
Based on Davis’s statement, the case could in many respects boil down to the jury’s interpretation of the video that was presented to Sharpe’s lawyers and the unedited version. Sharpe will be automatically entitled to the raw video on request. And both sides will then have a chance to argue what it reflects and what it means.
Davis attempts to enhance Sharpe’s position by disclosing graphic texts that the plaintiff allegedly sent to Sharpe, leading his statement with two of them. While those will help when it comes to the P.R. battle, the case will apparently and inevitably come down to what the videos show — the one that was given to Sharpe’s lawyers and the unedited, full version.
If the videos point to a non-consensual encounter, she’s far more likely to win. If the videos support the notion that the encounter was consensual, she’s far more likely to lose.
Cam Jurgens agreed to a four-year contract extension with the Eagles on Monday, but Ravens center Tyler Linderbaum isn’t going to let that impact his offseason priorities.
Linderbaum was drafted 26 spots ahead of Jurgens in the 2022 draft and he’s been a fixture in the Baltimore lineup since they made him a first-round pick, but he said on Monday that signing a new contract is not his main focus right now. Linderbaum said he’s excited for Jurgens, but that he’s letting his agent handle contract matters while he works on improving as a player.
“I’ll let my agent handle that,” Linderbaum said, via the team’s website. “I’m just focusing on becoming as good of a football player as I can be for this team. [I’m] coming in here every day and putting my best foot forward. Let all the other things take care of itself. I’m giving my all [to] the team right now, that’s my focus, and that’s how it should be.”
The Ravens can exercise their 2026 option on Linderbaum’s contract. That would set him up to make $23.4 million in his fifth season, but a new deal could make that a moot point.
Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton has emerged as one of the league’s top young defenders.
A first-round pick in 2022, he’s also nearing the end of his rookie contract. While the Ravens haven’t formally announced they’re picking up his fifth-year option, it would be a major surprise if they didn’t do so.
But Hamilton is also eligible for a contract extension, one that could make him one of the NFL’s highest-paid defensive backs.
On the first day of Baltimore’s offseason program, Hamilton told reporters that he’s in no hurry to receive a second deal.
“[H]aven’t had too many talks about it, to be honest,” Hamilton said Monday, via Jamison Hensley of ESPN. “They’re busy — draft stuff and all that’s going on. I’m not in a big rush. So, if it happens, it happens. Cool. And if it happens this offseason, [that’s] cool too.
“But I’m not in a rush to get it done, necessarily.”
Hamilton, 24, was a first-team All-Pro in 2023 and a second-team All-Pro in 2024. He finished last season with 107 total tackles, four tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks, nine passes defensed, two forced fumbles, and an interception.
