For the second time this year, a team from Michigan had a double-digit lead on the road in a conference championship game and lost.
This time around, the Michigan Panthers saw an 18-3 first-half lead collapse into a 31-18 loss to the Stallions in Birmingham. Official attendance, via Mike Mitchell of SI.com, was 10,287.
Former NFL quarterback Matt Corral, who was picked by the Carolina Panthers in the third round of the 2022 draft, replaced likely UFL MVP Adrian Martinez with the score 18-12 and presided over the win.
It didn’t look like a good move at first. Corral’s second pass was interception, part of a third-quarter comedy of errors that saw the teams combine for six turnovers. Corral’s miscue was followed by a pick-six that knotted the score at 18. The Stallions then scored the final two touchdowns of the game.
Corral completed nine of 11 passes for 120 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception. His performance, and the outcome, will raise questions about whether it will be Martinez or Corral next Sunday in St. Louis, where the Stallions will play either the Battlehawks or the San Antonio Brahmas.
The Stallions are now three-for-three in earning championship berths since the USFL returned in 2022. The Stallions won both titles of the reconstituted four-letter league. They’ll take a 10-1 record to St. Louis in eight days.
The Panthers are signing UFL receiver Daewood Davis, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports.
Davis earned All-UFL honors, catching 41 passes for 446 yards and five touchdowns on 70 targets in 10 games with the Memphis Showboats this spring.
He played for Oregon from 2017-20 and Western Kentucky in 2021-22 but went undrafted in 2023.
The Dolphins signed him as a college free agent.
During a preseason game against the Jaguars in August, he was taken to the hospital with head and neck injuries. The game was suspended after Davis’ injury.
The Dolphins waived him out of training camp.
Davis is the first UFL player to sign with an NFL team.
This year’s new Hall of Famers have chosen their presenters for the induction ceremony in Canton, Ohio.
Dwight Freeney has chosen Colts owner Jim Irsay, who will be a presenter for the third time, having previously presented Marvin Harrison in 2016 and Edgerrin James in 2020.
Randy Gradishar has chosen his former Broncos teammate Tom Jackson, who has been honored by the Hall of Fame himself as the winner of its Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award in 2015.
Devin Hester has chosen his mother, Juanita Brown.
Andre Johnson has chosen his former coach on the Texans, Gary Kubiak.
Steve McMichael has chosen Jarett Payton, a longtime family friend who currently works as a broadcaster for WGN in Chicago. This will be Payton’s second time as a Hall of Fame presenter, having previously served as the presenter for his father, Walter Payton, in 1993.
Julius Peppers has chosen his longtime friend and mentor Carl Carey.
Patrick Willis has chosen his sister, Ernicka Willis. She is the second sister of a Hall of Famer to serve as a presenter, following Elaine Anderson, who presented her brother Cliff Branch for his posthumous induction in 2022.
The best running back in football is also one of the best offensive weapons. With $11.8 million in 2024 compensation, Christian McCaffrey isn’t paid that way.
He now will be. Or at least closer to it.
Per a league source, the 49ers and McCaffrey have reached agreement on a two-year extension. He’s now under contract for the next four years.
The extension has a new-money average of $19 million per year.
McCaffrey, who turns 28 on Friday, originally signed a four-year, $64 million extension in early 2020, after his third season with the Panthers. When he was traded to the 49ers during the 2022 season, his contract was not changed.
He had more than 2,000 yards from scrimmage in 2023, with 21 total touchdowns. In 2019, he became only the third player in NFL history (joining Marshall Faulk and Roger Craig) to have 1,000 or more rushing yards and 1,000 or more receiving yards in the same season.
We’ll have the full breakdown of the deal soon.
The Panthers announced a plan to renovate Bank of America Stadium on Monday and according to one of the team’s veteran receivers, that’s a very good thing.
Adam Thielen noted that Carolina’s practice facility — which is still housed at the stadium after plans for a separate facility at Rock Hill, S.C. were scrapped — needs to be updated.
“I think they’re behind a little bit as far as facilities,” Thielen told Alex Zietlow of the Charlotte Observer. “We probably have the worst facilities in the NFL right now, and I don’t think there is anybody who would argue that. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. You gotta go play football, and you gotta go win games.
“So it’s nice to hear that, the commitment to us as players and the coaching staff, ‘Hey, you guys are putting the work in, and we’re going to commit and provide you guys with better facilities and really give you the resources to go out there and win.’ So it’s exciting.”
On the most recent NFLPA report card, the Panthers received a C+ on their locker room, a C+ on their training room, a B on their weight room, and owner David Tepper received a D.
The Panthers have already started the process of making upgrades, with construction of a new field house set to begin after training camp this summer. But to do that, Carolina had to take down its old indoor practice bubble so the club currently does not have an indoor facility.
Thielen noted that’s “a little tough,” saying the team is “kind of making do with what we have as far as the locker room, and meeting rooms, and stuff like that.”
“I think they had plans in Rock Hill to build that facility, and then when that kind of fell through, they had to re-gameplan and figure it out,” Thielen said. “So again, it’s exciting to hear that they’re going to invest in the players and the organization, the staff. And I think everyone’s just excited to see that follow through and to get those resources to be at our best.”
