Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold is a Super Bowl champion.
That seemed like an unlikely destination for Darnold when he was traded by the Jets three years after being selected with the third overall pick and it didn’t feel any likelier when he bounced from the Panthers to the 49ers before the end of his sixth season. Darnold got back on track with the Vikings last year and rose even higher in leading the Seahawks to the top of the NFC during the regular season.
Darnold wasn’t able to replicate his big day from the NFC Championship in Super Bowl LX, but he avoided mistakes during the 29-13 win over the Patriots and touched on his unusual career path while speaking to Melissa Stark of NBC after the game.
“It’s unbelievable,” Darnold said. “Everything that’s happened in my career, but to do it with this team — I wouldn’t want it any other way. I’m so proud of our guys. I can’t say enough great things about our defense and special teams.”
Darnold said in the days leading up to the Super Bowl that he wasn’t interested in personal vindication, but his history was on his mind on Sunday and his persistence showed when Stark asked what message others can draw from his story.
“As long as you believe in yourself, anything is possible,” Darnold said.
Darnold may have cribbed that line from Kevin Garnett, but his story does a spectacular job of making that point.
Panthers Clips
Before being named the 2025 NFL offensive rookie of the year on Thursday, Panthers receiver Tetairoa McMillan addressed something that had happened one day earlier.
While participating on Wednesday in Streamer Bowl VII, a charity esports tournament, McMillan used a racial slur, twice.
Via David Newton of ESPN.com, McMillan “shouted the words ‘n—-a, n—-a, pick” after making an interception while playing the game.
“Yesterday while on live stream, I used a term I should not have,” McMillan said Thursday on his Instagram, per Newton. “There’s no excuse for what I said -- I sincerely apologize for speaking thoughtlessly and will do better.’'
The Panthers, when asked for comment by Newton, deferred to McMillan’s apology.
Panthers owner David Tepper has previously been mum about why he threw a drink at a fan in Jacksonville two years ago. Now he has offered an explanation.
Tepper told Pat McAfee Jaguars fans had been trash-talking him the entire game and he was ignoring it, despite how close they were getting to his box.
“In Jacksonville, the way it’s set up, they can get on a chair and lean into your box,” Tepper said.
So what set Tepper over the edge? He says it was the way the Jaguars were talking not about him, but about a Panthers player who had suffered a significant head injury.
“I was walking away, our player — Marquis Haynes — got knocked out on the field. The people had been harassing us the whole game, harassing, harassing, harassing. I’m just like, walk away, walk away, walk away. The guy said, ‘Get your frickin’ player off the field.’ I couldn’t take it anymore,” Tepper said.
The NFL fined Tepper $300,000 for throwing the drink.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame welcomed five new members on Thursday night at NFL Honors.
Quarterback Drew Brees, running back Roger Craig, wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, linebacker Luke Kuechly and kicker Adam Vinatieri will have their busts in Canton.
Brees and Fitzgerald are first-ballot Hall of Famers, and Kuechly and Vinatieri were in their second year of eligibility.
Craig has waited 28 years for his knock on the door. He was one of three seniors candidates in a group that also included Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft as the coach and contributor candidates, respectively.
For the second consecutive year, only one of the five finalists in that group made it into the Hall of Fame. Sterling Sharpe was the only inductee of that group in the Class of 2025.
Seniors L.C. Greenwood and Ken Anderson, like Belichick and Kraft, did not receive the 80 percent required for induction in the Class of 2026.
After much criticism about the selectors’ failure to enshrine Belichick in his first year of eligibility, the elections of Brees, Craig, Fitzgerald, Vinatieri and Kuechly were met with a standing ovation when announced at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco.
Brees learned of his election from Dan Fouts; Ronnie Lott and Charles Haley surprised Craig with the news; Morten Andersen had the honor of telling Vinatieri; Randy Moss informed Fitzgerald; and Julius Peppers was the Hall of Famer who welcomed Kuechly into the Hall.
The Hall of Fame’s membership now stands at 387.
The newest members’ enshrinement will take place Saturday, Aug. 8 in Canton.
Tetairoa McMillan was the eighth overall pick in the 2025 draft. He was the best offensive rookie in the class.
The Panthers wide receiver was named Offensive Rookie of the Year at NFL Honors on Thursday night.
He received 41 of 50 first-place votes and had 445 total points, beating out Saints quarterback Tyler Shough (168, five), Patriots running back Treveyon Henderson (111, one), Giants quarterback Jaxon Dart (88, one) and Bucs wide receiver Emeka Egbuka (66). Seahawks offensive lineman Grey Zabel received the other two first-place votes.
McMillan started all 17 games for the Panthers and caught 70 passes on 122 targets for 1,014 yards and seven touchdowns. The 1,014 receiving yards were the most by a rookie in franchise history, while his seven touchdown catches are second most in Panthers history and the most by any NFL rookie this season.
He finished the season tied for the most catches on fourth down and totaled the most explosive receptions on those six receptions, with five. McMillan had a pair of 100-yard receiving games, and he registered a catch in all 17 games.
Panthers wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan has been the betting favorite to win offensive rookie of the year for some time and he officially became a finalist for the award on Thursday.
McMillan was a first-round pick last April and he posted 70 catches, 1,014 yards and seven touchdowns for the NFC South champs. If McMillan wins the award, he’ll join Cam Newton as the only Panthers to receive the honor.
Saints quarterback Tyler Shough might have surpassed McMillan as the favorite with more time in the starting lineup. Even if he falls short of hearing his name announced at the NFL Honors event in February, Shough’s provided reason for hope about the future in New Orleans.
Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart, Buccaneers wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, and Patriots running back TreVeyon Henderson are the other finalists this year.
The Raiders have completed a second interview with Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports.
The team has complied with the Rooney Rule after interviewing Evero and former Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel, who appears headed to the Chargers as offensive coordinator. That allows the Raiders to hire a new coach at any time.
Evero has served as the Panthers’ defensive coordinator since 2023, first taking the job under former head coach Frank Reich. While Carolina finished at the bottom of the league defensively in 2024, Evero helped turn the unit around to finish No. 16 in yards and No. 15 in points allowed in 2025.
Evero has coordinated two top-10 defenses — first with what the Broncos in 2022 (No. 7 in yards allowed) and then with the Panthers in 2023 (No. 4 in yards allowed).
He has also worked for the 49ers, Packers and Rams.
The Raiders also have Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady, Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, 49ers offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak, Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, Rams offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur, Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, Rams passing game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase, Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula and Broncos quarterbacks coach Davis Webb among their candidates.
With each coaching hire that the Steelers nail — and they’re three-for-three since 1969 — the pressure builds to get the next one right, too.
So here they are, 19 years after their last search. With plenty of good options from which to choose.
The problem with having a bunch of quality candidates is that, eventually, a choice needs to be made. So who will they choose?
For now, the candidates are: Rams pass game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase, Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula, Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver, Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, 49ers offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak, Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, and former Cowboys and Packers head coach Mike McCarthy.
As to the franchise’s three most recent coaches, dating back to the first term of the Nixon administration, each one (Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher, Mike Tomlin) was a defensive coordinator with no previous head-coaching experience. That formula, if followed again, would point to the likes of Shula, Weaver, Evero, and Minter.
But here’s the basic reality. Since hiring Tomlin in 2007, the game has changed. It has skewed more and more toward offense, with the post-2009 emphasis on player safety making it harder to play old-school, hard-nosed, Steel Curtain defense.
When the NFL started aggressively flagging and fining players for illegal hits on defenseless receivers, there was a disconnect between the league’s application of the rules and the manner in which Tomlin was coaching them. Eventually, the league put Tomlin on the Competition Committee in part to get him to buy in to the new way of playing the game.
As of 2026, it’s impossible for the Steelers to ignore the evolution of the game. And, frankly, their offense has been sluggish at best in the years after the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger. If the Steelers intend to never be in position to draft a franchise quarterback, they’ll need to find and develop one another way, either by hitting on a lower draft pick or getting more out of a veteran than he has done elsewhere. Having an offensive mastermind as the team’s head coach will help.
Then there’s the question of whether they want another coach who’ll stick around for 15 years or longer. The availability of Pittsburgh native Mike McCarthy is intriguing, but he’s 62. Noll (23 seasons), Cowher (15), and Tomlin (19) were each in their 30s when hired.
At first blush, Shula feels like a perfect fit, given that his grandfather, Don, recommended Noll for the job. Only 15 days after Don Shula and Noll worked together in Super Bowl III (which their Colts lost to the Jets), Noll was hired by the Steelers.
But perfection is revealed after the fact. With a coach who isn’t fired because he performs well enough to not be. Plenty of first-time coaches fail, largely because the coordinator and head-coach skillsets are very different.
Wherever it goes, the weight of hiring three straight Super Bowl winners is palpable. And if it’s obvious from the outside, it’s inescapable on the inside.
The Raiders are beginning to set up second interviews with head coaching candidates.
Per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, Las Vegas is setting up an in-person interview with Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero next week.
Evero interviewed virtually with the Raiders on Wednesday.
Evero has been the Panthers’ defensive coordinator since 2023, first taking the job under former head coach Frank Reich. While Carolina finished at the bottom of the league defensively in 2024, Evero helped turn the unit around to finish No. 16 in yards and No. 15 in points allowed in 2025.
Evero has coordinated two top-10 defenses — first with what the Broncos in 2022 (No. 7 in yards allowed) and then with the Panthers in 2023 (No. 4 in yards allowed).
Fowler notes the meeting between Evero and the Raiders is set to take place in South Florida.
Evero is also on the Steelers’ radar for their head coaching vacancy.
The Raiders have interviewed two more candidates for their head coaching job.
Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter and Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero are the new additions to the list. Both interviews were conducted virtually and both coaches will be available for second interviews after the divisional round since their teams have been eliminated from the playoffs.
Minter has received interview requests from every team looking for a head coach other than the Steelers and has been making the rounds this week. Evero has several requests as well, including one that the Steelers made on Thursday.
The Raiders have also interviewed former Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski, Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, Broncos quarterbacks coach/pass game coordinator Davis Webb, Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, and Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak.
