As of last May, rumors were rampant that a deal between the NFL and ESPN for a chunk of the league’s media assets was imminent. And then it wasn’t.
Now, they’re talking again.
Via John Ourand of Puck, negotiations have resumed. The fresh impetus apparently has come from ESPN’s looming launch of a direct-to-consumer product named “Flagship.”
Ourand reports that the pair has “discussed the parameters” of a deal that would give ESPN control of NFL Network and NFL RedZone. The move, as Ourand explains, could boost ESPN’s talks with distributors. It also will be useful to ESPN in the next wave of broadcast negotiations, which are likely coming in 2029 — and possibly sooner. With the very real possibility of more suitors than rights packages, it becomes hard to imagine Disney/ESPN/ABC being frozen out if ESPN has purchased NFLN and RedZone.
The league has been trying to sell NFLN, RedZone, NFL.com, and its fantasy-football operations for four years. Last year, as the league stripped the original programming on NFL Network to a skeleton crew, it seemed that it was putting the final pieces in place to dump the asset.
Per Ourand, previous negotiations reached “impasse” in the middle of the year. When the season started, the league tabled the project.
The overriding takeaway continues to be that, more than 20 years after the league thought that starting its own TV network would have an if-you-build-it-they-will-come impact on cable and satellite providers, the league continues to search in vain for a way to declare victory and retreat.
With a touchdown catch on Sunday night, Eagles receiver DeVonta Smith started a new club of players drafted from Alabama who scored touchdowns in the Super Bowl. Smith also became the fifth member of a club full of big names.
Before Smith, only four players had won a Heisman Trophy, a national championship, and a Super Bowl. Smith is now No. 5.
The others were running back Reggie Bush, cornerback Charles Woodson, running back Marcus Allen, and running back Tony Dorsett.
Four other current players could join the club, potentially. Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, Ravens running back Derrick Henry, Browns quarterback Jameis Winston, and Panthers quarterback Bryce Young are just a Super Bowl win away.
The Patriots cut offensive tackle Chukwuma Okorafor, Field Yates of ESPN reports.
Okorafor, 27, started the season opener at left tackle but played only 12 offensive snaps against the Bengals before being benched for Vederian Lowe.
Okorafor was placed on the left squad list a week later, where he ended the season.
The Steelers selected Okorafor in the third round in 2018, and he played six seasons in Pittsburgh.
Okorafor has appeared in 78 games, starting 60 and has played 3,950 career snaps.
It is unclear whether Okorafor intends to try to continue his career or retire.
The Cowboys are hiring Steve Shimko as their quarterbacks coach, Todd Archer of ESPN reports.
He served as the Cowboys’ offensive analyst last season.
Shimko will replace Scott Tolzien.
Shimko and head coach Brian Schottenheimer worked together in Seattle in 2018-19. Shimko’s experience includes working as a graduate assistant at Rutgers, Western Michigan and Georgia. He landed his first on-field job at Garden City Community College as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2016.
He held that job until leaving for the Seahawks.
Shimko joined Boston College as tight ends coach in 2020 and became the quarterbacks coach in 2022 and offensive coordinator for the Eagles in 2023.
The Cowboys have hired Ken Dorsey as their pass game specialist. He will have an on-field rote, working with Schottenheimer and offensive coordinator Klayton Adams, per Archer. Chase Haslett held that role last year.
Dorsey’s hiring was reported earlier today, but his title was unclear.
Super Bowl LIX reached an all-time record 126 million viewers, Fox announced on Monday evening.
Fox said the 126 million across Fox, Fox Deportes, Tubi, Telemundo and NFL Digital represents a new record-high viewership for the Super Bowl.
Viewership peaked in the second quarter, which suggests many people tuned out because it was a blowout. So the audience could have been even bigger, with a better game.
Fox surely benefited from Nielsen’s changes to the way it measures out-of-home viewership. Many people watch the Super Bowl outside their own homes, and Nielsen says its new methods of counting viers better account for that portion of the audience.
Although TV ratings were down 2 percent for the NFL this season overall, pro football remains America’s biggest TV draw. And the Super Bowl continues to draw by far the greatest audience of anything on American television, year after year.
The Commanders kicked off the post-Super Bowl portion of their offseason by bringing back a defensive back.
The team announced the signing of cornerback Bobby Price.
Price appeared in three games for the Commanders during the 2024 season. He had one tackle while playing 34 special teams snaps.
Price has also seen time with the Cardinals and Lions since entering the league in 2020. He has 28 tackles, three passes defensed and a fumble recovery. He also caught one pass for 17 yards while playing for the Lions in 2021.
With the Super Bowl over, teams are free to resume making moves to add to their 90-man rosters.
The Jets are expected to cut ties with quarterback Aaron Rodgers after a two-year stint that fell well short of the expectations that accompanied his arrival, but one of his teammates doesn’t think Rodgers has anything to feel bad about.
Linebacker C.J. Mosley focused on Rodgers fighting back from a torn Achilles and the fact that he reached a significant milestone by throwing his 500th career touchdown while discussing Rodgers’s likely exit.
“We tried to do something special,” Mosley said on Fox 5 in New York. “Injuries took part in that, took away a lot of time. He did do some great things this year, getting his 500th touchdown. He was a leader no matter what when he came into the locker room, when he was with us this year. Nothing but respect for him to come back from the Achilles, 40-plus years old. I know the wins and losses can get in the way of a lot of things that you can accomplish, but there’s no reason for him to leave New York with his head down ‘cause I know he gave us his all.”
The Jets will likely make Rodgers a post-June 1 cut for salary cap reasons, so he won’t be free to sign with another club until the start of the new league year in March. Whether he wants to play and finds a place to do it will be the next big questions to answer for the quarterback.
The Saints haven’t yet officially hired Kellen Moore as their new head coach, but once that happens, the team has strong interest in Brandon Staley as their defensive coordinator, Mike Silver of TheAthletic.com reports.
The Saints will have to comply with the Rooney Rule before hiring Staley.
Moore was Staley’s offensive coordinator in Los Angeles in 2023.
Staley had the No. 1 defense with the Rams in 2020, which he parlayed into the Chargers’ head coaching job in 2021. In three seasons, Staley went 24-24 with no playoff wins.
He spent last season as assistant head coach of the 49ers.
Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reports that the Saints also have interest in Bucs outside linebackers coach George Edwards for the position.
The Cowboys are finalizing a deal to hire former Browns offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey, NFL Media reports.
Dorsey’s role on Brian Schottenheimer’s staff is yet to be determined. The Cowboys initially hired Schottenheimer as a coaching analyst in 2022, so it’s possible Dorsey starts in a similar role with the Cowboys.
Or maybe he’s the hire for their quarterbacks job, which is not yet filled.
Dorsey. 43, interviewed for the offensive coordinator position that went to Klayton Adams.
The Browns fired Dorsey as their offensive coordinator after the season. Cleveland finished the season 28th in yards and 32nd in points. While Dorsey was not the team’s play-caller to begin the year, he took over the role midway through the season.
Dorsey was Buffalo’s offensive coordinator from 2022 before the Bills fired him midway through the 2023 season.
Schottenheimer will call the plays for the Cowboys in 2025.
The game didn’t have much controversy. The halftime show had a little.
One of the dancers performing with Kendrick Lamar displayed a Palestinian flag with the words “Sudan” and “Gaza” printed on it. The person was on the car that was used as a prop for the show. He eventually jumped down to the field and ran back and forth with the flag for more than 20 seconds before being tackled by a trio of men in suits.
Via the Associated Press, New Orleans police said Monday that the person will not be charged. However, the NFL has said that the gesture earned the person a lifetime ban from all future NFL stadiums and events.
"[N]o one involved with the production was aware of the individual’s intent,” the league said. The performer had hidden the flag before the show.
Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, which produced the halftime show, said the display was not planned.
Not by Roc Nation, but by a performer who managed to slip through the cracks and create a small slice of havoc during the halftime show.