Saudi Arabia’s inevitable football play has begun.
It’s beginning with a March 2026 flag football tournament, headlined by Tom Brady.
During Fox NFL Sunday, Brady teased a “great announcement” to come on Monday. And the announcement is that Brady will headline a flag football classic that will consist of a three-team round robin tournament, to be televised by Fox. (Whether that counts as a “great” announcement is in the eye of the beholder.)
Other players (per the announcement) will include Saquon Barkley, CeeDee Lamb, Christian McCaffrey, Sauce Gardner, Myles Garrett, Brock Bowers, Maxx Crosby, Tyreek Hill, Odell Beckham Jr., and Rob Gronkowski — along with “stars across sports and entertainment.” Serving as coaches will be “Pete Carroll, Sean Payton and Kyle Shanahan.”
Technically, the teams employing any active NFL players have the contractual right to shut down other football activities, given the inherent risk of injury. Presumably, the teams of the players who will participate in the event have given their blessing. The league will want them to, given the league’s current emphasis on promoting flag football anywhere and everywhere.
And let’s not be naive. Some big checks definitely will be cut, starting with the biggest of all, made payable to Thomas J. Brady.
The real question is whether this is the endgame for Saudi Arabia, or just the starting point. Ever since the country with massive wealth started to buy its way into American sports, many have wondered if/when it will turn its attention to tackle football.
The fact that Saudi Arabia is setting up an unprecedented flag football does not feel like the main course of whatever pigskin ambitions Saudi Arabia may have. It feels like only the appetizer.
The Cowboys officially signed Jadeveon Clowney and the veteran edge rusher doesn’t feel like he needs much time to get ready to start contributing to their defense.
Clowney has not practiced with the Cowboys at this point, but noted that he signed with the Titans in September 2020 and played in their season opener later that week.
“I do expect to play, but I don’t know the snap count,” Clowney said, via Clarence Hill of All City DLLS. “That’s up to the coaches. I walked into Tennessee in Week 1 and played 40 snaps in [Denver]. It’s nothing new to me. It’s football. Just go out there, be physical and play your game.”
The Cowboys have three sacks and 11 quarterback hits through the first two weeks of the season. If the signing works out as hoped, Clowney will boost those numbers over the final 15 games on the schedule.
Jadeveon Clowney is officially a Cowboy.
The Cowboys announced the signing of the veteran defensive end on Monday afternoon. They also announced that center Cooper Beebe has been placed on injured reserve in a corresponding roster move.
Beebe suffered a high ankle sprain in Sunday’s overtime win over the Giants and a report said he’s looking at a 6-8 week absence as a result of the injury. Monday’s move means he’ll miss at least four games.
Brock Hoffman replaced Beebe against the Giants and is expected to be the starter against the Bears in Week 3 as well.
Clowney visited the Cowboys last week and word of his agreement on a deal was announced by Cowboys owner Jerry Jones after Sunday’s win. The coming days should bring more word on how soon he’ll be making his first appearance with the team.
Jadeveon Clowney will continue his NFL career in the state where it started, 11 years ago as the first overall pick of the Texans.
His agent said Monday that Clowney targeted his new team from the moment the Panthers released him.
“Playing for the Dallas Cowboys was the priority Day 1 upon his release from the Panthers,” Kennard McGuire said, via Todd Archer of ESPN.com. “He had other opportunities that he just wasn’t moved by. Besides, I wanted him to get Jerry’s explanation of the glory hole as opposed to mine.”
To the untrained eye/ear, that last part will be confusing. If not downright jarring. It’s a reference to something Jones said during training camp in 2012: “It is a reminder I’ve been here when it was gloryhole days, and I’ve been here when it wasn’t. And so having said that, I want me some gloryhole.”
It got even better. When former team P.R. representative Rich Dalrymple tried to throw Jerry a lifeline by saying that “gloryhole is a commonly used expression in the oil and gas exploration business,” Jones quickly added, “That’s news to me.”
After making a 64-yard field goal on Sunday, Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey told PFT he thought he could have made it from 70 or 71 yards. His coach would have been confident letting him try it.
Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said he and quarterback Dak Prescott figure as long as the offense gets the ball close to the 50-yard line, Aubrey can make the field goal. If the ball is snapped from the 50, that would be a 68-yard field goal, and Schottenheimer says Aubrey can do it a little farther than that.
“We would try it from 70-ish,” Schottenheimer said, via the Star-Telegram. “We’ve seen him make those before. We always want to try to get as close as we can. But he’s always like, yeah, I’m good. And, yeah, that’s pretty cool. Dak’s always like, what’s the line to make, and I’m like, yeah, 50-ish. You know, 50-ish. He’s like, OK, that’s like, a 67-70 yard field goal. So there’s really not one, but the confidence that you see the guy kick with is just incredible.”
Schottenheimer said he feels lucky to have a player like Aubrey on his team.
“He’s incredible, man,” Schottenheimer said of Aubrey. “I mean, he really is. He’s incredible and just unshakable. We see it every day from him. But I mean, those big kicks, man, and you guys have a better vantage point than I do. I kind of can tell whether they’re going in or not, but I think most of them are right dead down the center. The operation was great too. I mean, just the protection part was great. The snap, the hold. But yes, what a weapon.”
The NFL record for the longest field goal is 66 yards. Aubrey may break it just as soon as a Cowboys drive stalls at the 50-yard line.
