DeMeco Ryans has changed his mind yet again. The Texans head coach said earlier this week his starters would play in Thursday’s preseason game against the Raiders.
Then, on Wednesday, he decided the starters had gotten enough work during the joint practice Tuesday and wouldn’t play in the game.
Now comes word from ESPN that quarterback C.J. Stroud will play.
The team’s defensive starters still won’t play. They don’t need the work. Stroud does.
It will be the first time Stroud has played since his meltdown against the Patriots in the divisional round when he threw four interceptions. He had seven turnovers in two playoff games.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the Texans have talked to Stroud’s representation about a contract extension, but the sides are not close. The Texans have exercised the fifth-year option on Stroud’s contract for 2027.
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Michael Penix was meeting with his doctor on a call Thursday night. The Falcons quarterback hopes to be fully cleared, but he has no idea one way or the other.
“Whatever [the doctor] says, that’s what it’s going to be,” Penix said, via Tori McElhaney of the team website. “I am going to trust him, and trust God and I am just going to continue taking steps in the right direction.”
Penix has yet to participate in team drills and thus has not yet gotten involved in the starting quarterback competition with Tua Tagovailoa. Penix said on July 29 that the doctor wanted to give his surgically repaired knee another four weeks before “going to the next stage.”
So, Penix has watched all the 11-on-11 drills in training camp.
“If I had a rush coming at me and everything, I can get away,” Penix said. “But it’s just the right now is if I don’t get away. That’s what we’re thinking about: If I don’t get away. I don’t think my doctor is ready for me to take those hits right now, but that time is coming real soon.”
Penix said he continues to work on getting full strength back in his left knee after he underwent surgery Nov. 25 to repair an ACL tear.
The Cardinals will have their third starting quarterback in as many preseason games when they face the Cowboys on Saturday.
Head coach Mike LaFleur told reporters on Thursday that Gardner Minshew will get the start against Dallas. Rookie Carson Beck started the Hall of Fame Game and Jacoby Brissett started last week.
Beck injured his ribs in the opener and did not play in the team’s second preseason game. LaFleur said that Beck is expected to throw on Thursday and has not been ruled out for this week, but he is unlikely to play.
LaFleur said some of the team’s other starters will play, although first-round pick Jeremiyah Love will not be among them because the running back is recovering from an ankle injury.
The Jaguars got Cole Van Lanen back from the physically unable to perform list on Thursday and they added another offensive lineman later in the day.
The team announced the signing of Timothy McKay to their 90-man roster. They released defensive lineman Quinton Bohanna in a corresponding move.
McKay entered the league as an undrafted free agent in 2025 and spent the season on the Commanders’ practice squad. He remained with Washington until being waived a couple of weeks ago.
Bohanna was a Cowboys sixth-round pick in 2021 and has played in 40 games for Dallas, Detroit, Tennessee, Seattle and Green Bay.
The Cowboys and Saints were fined after players from the two teams fought at a joint practice this week and two other clubs could be hearing from the league as well.
Reporters at Thursday’s Dolphins-Giants practice said the session had to be stopped multiple times because of skirmishes between players from the two teams. Dolphins right tackle Austin Jackson and Giants right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor were removed from the practice because of their involvement in fights that also included Giants backup quarterback Jameis Winston.
“You’re not trying to do that, but it’s just football,” Giants head coach John Harbaugh said, via a transcript from the team. “It’s not a game, so you don’t have the same, quite, guardrails on it. And it’s a violent game. And so, in this sort of an environment, you have these rules of engagement that aren’t really rules of the game. And then somebody perceives somebody else goes over the line, or they do go over the line, and somebody needs to protect somebody, and that’s where it goes. And I think as long as it doesn’t get out of control where we get a violent type of situation, it’s fine. We decided that anybody that threw a punch in those scrimmages would be treated like the game. That’s why Jermaine didn’t practice toward the end. He didn’t really throw a hard punch, but it was to the facemask, and that’ll get you in the game. So, that’s a 15-yarder at least. So, we decided that we were following those rules of engagement, and that’s what we did with that one.”
The league can fine teams for practices going over the line, but players can only be fined by their clubs. We’ll see if the Dolphins and Giants join the Cowboys and Saints in receiving punishment as well as if they’ll penalize their players for going too far.
Nothing encapsulates the current chaos in college football like this — Browns tight end Dae’Quan Wright has entered the college transfer portal, via Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports.
Wright currently is a member of the Cleveland roster. He previously was under contract with the Eagles. After Wednesday’s temporary restraining order from a case in which Wright was one of the named plaintiffs, he separately has a path to a new college football team.
Many will blame the player. They shouldn’t. This is a direct byproduct of the collapse of the NCAA’s prior system of refusing to let players get paid anything, by anyone. As the NCAA scrambles to modernize its rules, the NCAA has created new donut holes.
The latest is the new rule giving players five seasons of eligibility in five years. Those who would have been able to stay in college for 2026 have argued that the rule should apply to them retroactively. On Wednesday, a judge agreed.
And the end result is that, as Wright prepares to potentially play in a preseason game on Saturday (he didn’t play in the preseason opener), he could soon have an opening to play for a college team in just a couple of weeks.
The 49ers re-signed running back Khalil Herbert after cutting him earlier this week.
In a corresponding move, the 49ers placed running back Patrick Taylor on injured reserve with an undisclosed injury. Taylor will finish the season on IR unless the 49ers reach an injury settlement with him.
Herbert spent two weeks with the team before his release on Monday.
He had six carries for 18 yards and two catches for 35 yards in last week’s preseason game.
Herbert, 28, entered the NFL as a 2021 sixth-round pick of the Bears. He also has spent time with the Bengals, Colts, Seahawks and Jets.
Jerry Jones likes his money. And with his players costing him $500,000 for fights during joint practices, Jerry plans to recoup some (if not all) of the financial expense.
Via Patrik Walker of the team’s internal media operation, Jones said that players deemed responsible for the half-million-dollar fine will be fined by the Cowboys.
Of course, Jones separately will be appealing the league-imposed fine, via Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News. Which means that, in theory, Jerry could emerge from the situation with a profit.
That’s unlikely. The league shouldn’t change the fines. They’re large enough to give teams an incentive to ensure that fights don’t happen at joint practices. Especially if it creates an incentive to pass any and all expenses directly to the players.
Eagles running back Saquon Barkley hates joint practices.
Barkley said after a joint practice with the Patriots that he dislikes the way hot-headed players don’t control themselves in joint practices and are more interested in refusing to back down from someone in a different-colored jersey than in getting better.
“I hate joint practice, to be honest. I think one day is good, but we play in an ego-filled sport with a lot of men, and I’m all about just putting the work in,” Barkley said. “I’m not really a fan of joint practice. More times than not, nothing good comes out of it. Like you have the work, it’s good but then you get to pushing, the shoving and someone says this about you and it’s immature when we get to that level. I’ve got to do a better job too because I’m a little troublemaker sometimes, but I was a good this week.”
Barkley said players should be able to walk away from that stuff.
“Football is a physical game, and it’s just a little extra pushing and shoving, but we’ve got to do a better job of not allowing that to have a factor in our practice,” Barkley said.
The Rams have reported a pair of workouts for Aaron Donald in recent weeks and there will likely be more to come before the defensive tackle makes a decision on playing in 2026.
Head coach Sean McVay said earlier this week that there was “nothing new” to report about where things stand with Donald. On Thursday, McVay was asked about the possibility that there will be more workouts coming before reaching a resolution.
“We’ll see,” McVay said, via Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times. “I would love to be able to have all this stuff figured out but . . . I know he’s feeling good, and I think he will continue to work out, and I’m hopeful that we’ll have some answers on that sooner than later.”
McVay and the Rams have resisted putting any deadline on Donald’s decision since the prospect of his return from retirement became a talking point in the wake of the trade for Myles Garrett. There’s no sign that their stance is changing even as it remains unclear when Donald will make up his mind.
