Running back Joe Mixon has prevailed.
Hearing officer Chris Palmer (the former NFL coach) has overturned the $25,000 fine imposed on Mixon for comments made after Houston’s playoff loss to the Chiefs.
“During the appeal hearing, you stated what you meant by your statements referring to the officials,” Palmer wrote in his one-page decision dated Tuesday. “As you know, statements can be interpreted differently by every individual and it seems like you clearly understand the weight and detriment of public criticism towards officials can be, given how impactful your platform is as a player, which I appreciate.
“Integrity of the game and its officials is the responsibility of everyone involved in the NFL. After reviewing the totality of the evidence. I find that you did not necessarily publicly criticize the officials. Accordingly for the reasons set forth above, the NFL will rescind the $25,000 fine amount.”
The league initially fined Mixon for something that he didn’t say; the critical words (“Why play the game if every 50/50 call goes with Chiefs. These officials are trash and bias.”) came on social media from former Bengals receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh. Once the league realized that it misread the SI.com article on the matter, it re-fined Mixon for what he did say, which was far tamer.
“Everybody knows how it is playing up here,” Mixon told reporters after the game, which included a pair of questionable personal fouls for hits on Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. “You can never leave it in the refs’ hands. The whole world see, man.”
Now, the whole world sees that the league overreached. Possibly as a clumsy effort to save face after initially screwing the pooch by concluding incorrectly that Mixon had said something he didn’t actually say.
Jon Weeks has served as the Texans’ long snapper since 2010, playing all 244 games in the past 15 years. But Weeks, 39, is a free agent who might not return.
The Texans agreed to terms with long snapper Tucker Addington on Monday, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Media. Addington’s futures deal includes $10,000 in bonus money.
Addington has appeared in 10 games with three NFL teams, including New England and Miami last year
He played three games for the Patriots in 2022, three for the Commanders in 2023, three for the Dolphins in 2024 and one for the Patriots in 2024.
Addington is a native of the Lone Star State who played his college ball at Sam Houston State in Huntsville, Texas, which is 70 miles from Houston.
In a last-ditch effort to parlay the Aaron Rodgers trade into a playoff berth, the Jets sent a third-round pick to the Raiders for receiver Davante Adams.
And with the Jets announcing that Rodgers won’t be back, it’s just a matter of time before they issue a similar thank you! (now leave) statement regarding Adams.
His original contract with the Raiders contained a pair of bloated, phony-baloney years on the back end, aimed at driving the annual average at signing to $28 million. For 2025, his compensation package spikes to $36.15 million. There’s no way the Jets will pay that to Adams.
He’ll stay only if he dramatically reduces his pay for the coming season. Why would he? He left the Raiders to partner up with Rodgers. With Rodgers gone, there’s no point in taking less to stay with a team that’s stuck in a perpetual Groundhog Day rebuild.
If Adams declines to re-do his deal, he’ll be cut. And he’ll become a free agent for the first time in his career, able to pick any other team for the coming season.
It makes sense for him to see what Rodgers does. Assuming that Rodgers’s next team (if there even is one) is willing to bring Adams to town, too.
Look at it this way. If there’s a team that will embrace the Aaron Rodgers experience, why wouldn’t that team also be on board with Adams? Especially if the Steelers (who should be Rodgers’s first choice) sign Rodgers. They need help at receiver, and Adams would provide it.
There’s still a chance that Adams will go his own way. And AFC contenders like the Chiefs, Bills, Ravens, Texans, and Chargers could be at the front of the line.
Regardless, now that Rodgers has gotten the heave-ho, it’s just a matter of time before Adams joins him as both a former Packer and a former Jet.
The Texans introduced Nick Caley as their new offensive coordinator on Thursday, and coach DeMeco Ryans declared that Caley can help the team get “over the hump.”
Ryans has led the Texans to back-to-back division titles and back-to-back wild-card wins at home, but that’s as far as Houston has gotten in his two seasons. The Texans have struggled offensively in the divisional round in losses to the Ravens and Chiefs the past two postseasons, with Houston outscored 57-24.
“We’ve had a lot of good success these first two years,” Ryans said, via DJ Bien-Aime of ESPN. “The reason we’re doing this is I think there’s another level that we can go to. And as I said earlier, my job is to take this organization to new heights, and I think hiring Nick will help us to get there.”
Caley said Thursday that quarterback C.J. Stroud had the it factor.
Stroud took a step back in his second season after winning offensive rookie of the year honors in 2023. It cost Bobby Slowik his job as offensive coordinator.
Ryans brought Slowik to Houston with him from San Francisco.
“It was very hard to let Bobby go,” Ryans said. “Bobby’s a really close friend, as you all know. Bobby’s a great friend of mine. When I got into coaching, Bobby was the guy who helped me figure it all out and we were [quality control coaches] together, there, in San Fran. So, really long relationship there with him. Nothing but love and admiration for Bobby and what he’s done.”
Texans offensive coordinator Nick Caley opened his introductory press conference on Thursday by fielding a question about what kind of offensive scheme he plans to install in Houston.
Caley said “it’s not gonna be my spin” because “we’re not pounding a square peg into a round hole.” Caley said the scheme is going to built around the strengths of the team’s players and one player in particular will be central to that construction.
Quarterback C.J. Stroud was described as a “tremendous talent” before Caley dove a little deeper in what he likes about the 2023 first-round pick.
“He can spin it,” Caley said. “He throws the ball — he’s an accurate thrower of the football. He’s a natural thrower of the football. He’s instinctive. He’s got the it factor. He’s a warrior in terms of his competitiveness and I’ve admired him dating back to his college days. I’m really, really excited to have an opportunity to work with him.”
Caley is in Houston because Stroud and the Texans offense took a noticeable step backward after his outstanding rookie season. A quick turnaround would go a long way toward keeping the Texans at the top of the division.
The Texans are hiring Toledo defensive line coach Frank Okam as their assistant defensive line coach, Aaron Wilson of KPRC reports.
Okam returns to the team that drafted him as Houston made him a fifth-round pick in 2008.
He has a connection to defensive line coach Rod Wright and Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans. Okam and Wright were teammates at the University of Texas and Okam and Ryans were teammates with the Texans.
Okam, 39, has coached with the Raiders and the Panthers.
Okam began his coaching career in 2014 as a graduate assistant at Rice before a promotion to defensive line coach. Matt Rhule hired him as his defensive line coach at Baylor, and Okam followed Rhule to Carolina.
Bobby Slowik is getting a new start in Miami.
Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that Slowik has taken a a job as the Dolphins’ senior passing game coordinator. He reunites with Mike McDaniel, who Slowik worked with in San Francisco.
Slowik, 37, interviewed for several head coaching openings a year ago after C.J. Stroud won offensive rookie of the year.
The Texans fired him after Stroud regressed in his second season, and the team finished 19th in points and 22nd in yards after being 13th and 12th respectively in the same categories in 2023.
Slowik was hired in Kyle Shanahan’s first season with San Francisco, serving as a defensive quality control coach before moving over to become an offensive assistant in 2019. He became the team’s offensive passing game coordinator in 2022 before heading to Houston with DeMeco Ryans in 2023.
I started covering the Super Bowl and the week preceding it in early 2009. The experience has taken the PFT traveling roadshow to Tampa, Miami (twice), Dallas, Indianapolis, New Orleans (twice), New York, Phoenix (twice), San Francisco, Houston, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas.
Miami and New Orleans lead all cities with 11 turns at hosting the game. But the 12-year gap between Super Bowls for New Orleans makes little sense.
A recent item from FrontOfficeSports.com, which might or might not carry enough fingerprints from the league to send a clear message, questions the ongoing viability of New Orleans as a Super Bowl city, from the standpoint of hotel rooms and the absence of a new, high-tech stadium. The experience, however, more than justifies the drawbacks.
Although no true rotation has ever emerged, here’s an idea that popped into my relaxed brain this week. The core rotation should be New Orleans, Las Vegas, and Miami. Then, every fourth year, another cut of cities would make up the sub-rotation: L.A., Phoenix, Houston, Atlanta, plus the periodic quid pro quo that comes from a city/state paying for most of a new stadium.
Nashville quite possibly will crash the party, soon. And maybe this proposal will then expand to four core cities (Nashville included) with every fifth year given to a city from the second tier.
It’s probably a bit naive, since the NFL implements a broader, revenue-driven play based on getting the best possible deal with each and every Super Bowl that is awarded. Previously, it was an annual competition. Now, the league approaches a city, states its terms, and gets a “yes” or a “no.” (Not many cities are saying “no.”)
In the end, the NFL should say “yes” to a system that prioritizes the overall experience, with the best cities popping up more often.
New Orleans, Las Vegas, Miami.
Texans pass rusher Will Anderson has been in Houston two years, and both years the Texans went 10-7 and made it to the divisional round of the playoffs. But he says he and his teammates need to do more, if they want to get to the next level.
Anderson said on PFT Live that it’s on the players, not the coaches or the front office, to take the next step.
“We’ve got to execute better,” Anderson said. “We’ve got all the right pieces, we’ve got all the right people in the building, they’re going to keep bringing in great guys, but as players — as much as you want to look at coaching — as players, we’ve got to take it upon ourselves: How are we sacrificing our time, how are we watching film together, what are we doing to make sure that we’re getting enough out of the day to be ready for Sunday, to get ready for these big games.”
The Texans won only three games the year before Anderson arrived, so two 10-win seasons has to be viewed as a successful start to Anderson’s career. But he won’t be satisfied until he’s at the Super Bowl to play, and not to make media appearances.
The Texans continued building out their offensive coaching staff under new coordinator Nick Caley on Tuesday.
According to multiple reports, they have promoted Cole Popovich to the roles of offensive line coach and run game coordinator.
Popovich had been the assistant offensive line coach in Houston for the last two years. He previously worked at Troy as the school’s offensive line coach and he spent five seasons on the Patriots staff. He was a coaching assistant, assistant running backs coach and co-offensive line coach in New England.
Caley was on the Patriots’ staff at the same time as Popovich and Texans General Manager Nick Caserio was also in the organization.
