One of the top running backs in this year’s draft class is meeting with a couple of NFC South teams this week.
Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, Jonathon Brooks is visiting with the Buccaneers on Monday and the Panthers on Tuesday.
Brooks will also travel to Indianapolis for a medical recheck on Wednesday after tearing his ACL in mid-November. Brooks said at the scouting combine that he was just starting to run and that his expected timeline to be cleared was the start of training camp.
In 2023, Brooks rushed for 1,139 yards and 10 touchdowns in 10 games. He was named a second-team All-Big 12 honoree for his performance.
Four more NFL teams kick off their offseason programs on Monday.
The Seahawks, Panthers, Patriots, and Titans will begin Phase One of their programs. That two-week phase is limited to conditioning work and meetings.
For all four teams, it will be the first chance that their new head coaches have to work with players. Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald, Panthers head coach Dave Canales, Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo, and Titans head coach Brian Callahan are all first-time head coaches.
The Falcons, Chargers, and Commanders all started their offseason work last week. The other 25 teams will get the ball rolling next week.
The Panthers are locking up one of their best players.
Carolina has agreed to a four-year extension with defensive tackle Derrick Brown, the team announced on Friday.
Multiple reports initially indicate Brown’s deal is worth $96 million with $63 million guaranteed.
Brown, who turns 26 this month, was the No. 7 overall pick in 2020. He has become a key piece in the middle of the Panthers’ defense, starting every game for the club over the past two seasons. He was on the field for 89 percent of Carolina’s defensive snaps in 2023, earning his first trip to the Pro Bowl by setting a new record for a defensive lineman with 103 total tackles. He also had seven tackles for loss, 15 quarterback hits, 2.0 sacks, six passes defensed, and an interception last season.
Brown was set to enter the final year of his rookie contract after the Panthers exercised his fifth-year option last spring. Despite the team’s regime change this offseason, Carolina has elected to keep Brown around long-term.
Through 66 career games, Brown has 28 tackles for loss, 48 quarterback hits, 8.0 sacks, 21 passes defensed, and two interceptions. Now, he’s one of the highest-paid defensive linemen in the league.
The world reportedly has 2,781 billionaires. One of them is now, officially per Forbes, Commanders limited partner Magic Johnson.
Johnson, who rose to fame as a basketball star with the Lakers, is worth $1.2 billion, in the assessment of the folks who put the list together.
Last year, Johnson bought four percent of the Commanders in a $6.05 billion transaction. That translates to $242 million.
The richest person in the world is Bernard Arnault, at an estimated $233 million. Fourteen people are in the $100 billion club; none currently own NFL franchise. Jeff Bezos, third at $194 billion, is believed to be interested in eventually buying a team.
“Rob Walton & family,” as designated on the list, has $77.4 billion. That puts them at No. 19. And it gives Denver the richest NFL ownership group, by far.
The next NFL owner on the list is David Tepper of the Panthers, at No. 94. He’s worth $20.6 billion. Which can pay for a lot of drinks to be thrown on an unsuspecting Jaguars fan.
Rams owner Stan Kroenke is third in the NFL and 115th on the list, at $16.2 billion.
The world has more billionaires than ever. Given that the NFL has 32 multi-billion-dollar franchises, it’s no surprise that folks in and around Kansas City refused to extend a sales tax to help pay for renovations to the stadium in which the Chiefs play. Now more than ever, NFL owners can afford to pay for their own stadiums.
Hayden Hurst’s season ended last year after he suffered a concussion in Week 10, but he says there are no issues going forward.
Hurst, who was with the Panthers last season and is now with the Chargers, said that he could have returned late last season, but the Panthers’ front office felt it made more sense for him to rest up, given that Carolina had the worst record in the NFL.
“I had the concussion and for a week after it was a little touch-and-go, but I went to the Mayo Clinic down in Jacksonville, got a second opinion, got full clear bill of health,” Hurst said. “The only reason I sat out as long as I did was just, from the front office, there was really no point. They were 2-15, or 2-13 at the time, so there was really no point in rushing back.”
Hurst believes he’s going to be a major contributor in Los Angeles this season, hopefully for a team that still has plenty to play for at the end of the season.
