Former NFL safety Darren Sharper, who pleaded guilty or no contest a decade ago to multiple charges of rape, is moving closer to being released from custody.
Via Ramon Antonio Vargas of the Guardian, Sharper was transferred from federal prison on May 27 to either home confinement or a halfway house.
Sharper, 50, had allegedly drugged and raped (or attempted to rape) multiple women in Louisiana, California, Nevada, and Arizona. He was sentenced in August 2016 to 18 years, with credit for the time he had spent behind bars following his original arrest in February 2014.
A second-round pick of the Packers in 1997, he spent eight seasons in Green Bay, four in Minnesota, and two with the Saints. He was a member of the New Orleans team that won Super Bowl XLIV.
A court filing advocating for early release argued that it would allow Sharper “to finally receive treatment for . . . traumatic brain injuries . . . and probable chronic traumatic encephalopathy . . . disease developed from his years playing football.” That motion was denied in August 2025.
Sharper is currently due to be freed on December 27, 2028.
The Cowboys and Rams do not play in the preseason, but they both train in Southern California. Therefore, they often have joint practices during training camp, including in 2025 in Oxnard.
They will again this year, Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said Thursday.
The date was not announced.
It will give new Rams edge rusher Myles Garrett a chance to practice against his hometown team. Garrett grew up in Arlington, Texas, which is home of AT&T Stadium, where the Cowboys play.
The Cowboys will also have a joint practice with the Saints, who already announced their intention to work with Dallas. The Saints and Cowboys will practice in Oxnard while the Saints are on the West Coast for a preseason game against the Rams in the second week of the exhibition season.
The Saints are coached by the Cowboys former quarterback and offensive coordinator, Kellen Moore.
Saints running back Alvin Kamara has not been attending the team’s voluntary workouts this offseason, but he changed things up by showing up for Wednesday’s OTA practice.
Kamara’s future with the team has been uncertain in the wake of Travis Etienne’s arrival as a free agent, but he’s said multiple times that he hopes to remain with the team and said on Wednesday that he has no ill will toward the team.
“On my side, I feel no beef or bad blood,” Kamara said, via Rod Walker of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “I’m going what I do every year. Working. . . I’m going to do what I do every year. I’m going to train and be ready and we’ll see what happens.”
The Saints haven’t made a firm commitment to Kamara being on the team in the fall, but head coach Kellen Moore said Wednesday that he thinks the veteran back “can fit in really well from an offensive standpoint” and everyone appears to be moving forward on the same path for the time being.
There has been a bit of awkwardness between the Saints and Alvin Kamara this offseason, with General Manager Mickey Loomis saying last month that the club is trying to figure out how the running back fits on the roster.
But Kamara has been consistent that he’d like to stick with New Orleans. To that end, he has switched up his usual offseason routine and reported for Wednesday’s OTA practice, head coach Kellen Moore said in his press conference.
“Alvin got here today. He’s here. So, we’ll kind of work through an acclamation process there, getting to work with him,” Moore said. “It’s good to see him. Just saw him right at the team meeting as we were starting.”
Moore noted that he wasn’t aware of any developments with Kamara’s contract.
“I don’t think necessarily anything’s been done there,” Moore said. “But, it’s good to see him. Obviously, a lot of times this time of year he’s not always here — similar to last year. So, it’s good to see him and excited to spend a little bit of time talking with him, seeing where he’s all at.”
But Moore also said that he does think Kamara “can fit in really well from an offensive standpoint” as they go forward, despite the team also signing Travis Etienne in free agency.
“As you navigate some of the business stuff, signing Travis, kind of navigating how all these pieces work together, I think that’s always a little bit of a challenge as you’re building your roster,” Moore said. “And so, obviously, it was really good to see [Kamara]. Fired up for that and excited to kind of build from here.”
In 2025, Moore’s first year as head coach, Kamara registered 471 rushing yards with one touchdown plus 33 catches for 186 yards in 11 games.
While some players looking for contract extensions opt to skip voluntary offseason work periods in hopes of speeding the process along, Saints wide receiver Chris Olave has not gone that route this spring.
Olave has been part of the Saints’ workouts and explained last week that being “committed to winning” led him to make that call. He said that contract talks are “a whole different side of the game” and General Manager Mickey Loomis said a few weeks ago that the two sides were “not there yet” despite a desire to get something done on both sides.
Olave sounds optimistic that they’ll cover any remaining ground in the near future, though.
“I feel like we’re going to come down to that before training camp,” Olave said, via WBRZ. “I hope we do, so we don’t affect the chemistry going into training camp, but I think it’s going to get done soon.”
Olave set career bests with 100 catches for 1,163 yards and nine touchdowns during the 2025 season. The Saints added first-round pick Jordyn Tyson to the receiving corps in April and pairing both wideouts with second-year quarterback Tyler Shough is part of the team’s plan to contend for a playoff berth in 2026.
