The NFL has announced the names of the current and former players that will take part in next week’s draft by announcing second-round picks.
The list includes players associated with all 32 teams, including Cardinals running back James Conner. Conner has strong ties to the Pittsburgh area after playing for the Steelers and attending Pitt, which likely made him an easy choice as the Cardinals’ representative.
Former Bears tackle Jimbo Covert, former Cowboys running back Tony Dorsett, former Chiefs defensive lineman Bill Maas, current Vikings tackle Brian O’Neill, former Jets running back Curtis Martin, and former 49ers punter Andy Lee are other Pitt alums who are set to take part.
The hometown team will be represented by four players. Former Steelers Jerome Bettis and John Stallworth will be joined by Joey Porter Sr. and Jr. next Friday.
The other players taking part and their team affiliations appear below:
Falcons: Michael Turner
Ravens: Mark Ingram
Bills: Shane Conlan
Panthers: Jake Delhomme
Bengals: Ken Anderson
Browns: Phil Dawson
Cowboys: Drew Pearson
Broncos: T.J. Ward
Lions: Calvin Johnson
Packers: John Kuhn
Texans: Billy Miller
Colts: Pat McAfee
Jaguars: Paul Posluszny
Raiders: Matt Millen
Chargers: Shawne Merriman
Rams: Tavon Austin
Dolphins: Dwight Stephenson
Patriots: Deion Branch
Saints: Marques Colston
Giants: Osi Umenyiora
Eagles: Brian Westbrook
Seahawks: Cliff Avril
Buccaneers: Ronde Barber
Titans: Jeffery Simmons
Commanders: Mark Rypien
Rams Clips
The Rams have made some changes to their uniforms, but the changes are more a minor tweak than a full redesign.
Images unveiled by the Rams today show the 2026 uniforms will look much like the 2025 uniforms, with some subtle changes.
The Rams chest tag has been removed, as have gradient numbers and pant stripes.
White pants are now considered one of the team’s primary color choices, although they will still wear other two other pant colors as well.
The horn sleeve has been added to the primary home and away uniforms.
The “bone” uniform has been removed from the uniform rotation.
The helmet remains unchanged except for new “3D bumper logos.”
The team describes the Ram head logo as “enhanced to appear bolder and tougher for a fiercer expression, and the horn features a sharper, more defined point.”
Antitrust, shmantitrust.
Over the weekend, we reported that the candidates for a five-game 2026 package of standalone games included Netflix, YouTube, and Fox. The apparent winner is YouTube.
Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports reports that YouTube and the NFL have “entered a long-form contract review” for the slate of games. This means they’ve reached a consensus as to the major terms, and that they’re hammering out the precise language of the contract.
The NFL had sent out an RFP that allowed the bidders to select five games from a broader menu of possibilities. It’s not yet known which games YouTube will get.
The options were believed to include the Week 1 49ers-Rams game in Australia, a Thanksgiving eve game (which is not official but apparently inevitable), a second Black Friday game, and a Christmas Eve game.
The move comes at a time when the NFL is under increased scrutiny on the question of whether its broadcast antitrust exemption allows the league to sell games to streaming companies. If the games will be available for free on YouTube (as the Week 1 Chiefs-Chargers game from Brazil was), that will take a little steam out of the issue.
Still, the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 arguably applies only to league-wide rights sales to three-letter, FCC-regulated broadcast networks. The decision to take games that could have been broadcast on Fox and put them on YouTube won’t take any steam out of the current assault.
Last year’s Friday night game on YouTube averaged 19.7 million viewers globally, despite being made available at no charge. That was objectively disappointing.
Former NFL head coach Dave McGinnis died Monday, the Titans announced. “Coach Mac,” as he was affectionately known, was 74.
“My heart aches with the loss of Coach Mac, who was so much more than a coach and broadcaster. He was family,” Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk said in a statement. “Coach Mac gave so much of himself to this organization over the years, and his passion, loyalty, and love for the Titans never wavered. He cared deeply about the people around him, and that kindness and authenticity left a lasting impact on everyone who knew him. He held a very special place in our family, and his presence in our lives and within this franchise will never be forgotten. We will miss him dearly, and we will always be grateful for the legacy he leaves behind.”
McGinnis served as head coach of the Cardinals, beginning as interim coach in 2000 and keeping the job through the 2003 season. He went 17-40.
“We were deeply saddened to learn of Dave McGinnis’ passing and extend our heartfelt condolences to all who knew and loved him,” Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill said in a statement. “As Dave often said, he was a ‘ball coach’ through and through, and no one ever filled that role with more passion, enthusiasm, and charisma.
“Coach Mac truly loved the game and everything -- and everyone -- associated with it, especially his players. He was one of a kind and will be greatly missed.”
McGinnis began his NFL coaching career as the linebackers coach of the Bears (1986-95) before becoming the Cardinals’ defensive coordinator (1996-2000). He went to the Titans as linebackers coach after the Cardinals fired him and was there from 2004-11 before following Jeff Fisher to the Rams, where McGinnis served as assistant head coach (2012-16).
McGinnis most recently worked for the Titans Radio Network.
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan has griped about starting the 2026 season in the Land Down Under. During a Friday press conference in Melbourne, Commissioner Roger Goodell just smiled and gave him a Vegemite sandwich.
Shanahan spoke repeatedly at the recent NFL annual meeting about the team’s season-opening game in Australia. He’s obviously not thrilled about a Week 1 game that includes such a long trip through so many time zones.
Especially since he believes the Rams specifically lobbied for the 49ers to be the opponent in Melbourne, in order to avoid having 49ers fans commandeer SoFi Stadium (again).
At the media held in connection with the September 10 here (September 11 there) game, Goodell shrugged at Shanahan’s concerns.
“Coaches have a focus on winning,” Goodell said. “That’s their number one job. And so Coach Shanahan is enthusiastic and a great football coach, but also someone who truly understands the importance of expanding our game globally. But his job is to win. His job is to play. And I always say coaches like to play at 1 o’clock and 4 o’clock — and don’t get in the way of that.
“So we’re gonna make it a great experience for the team. That’s one of the things we focus on, everybody here, and so many others have focused on, make it a great experience for everyone, the team included. When they go back, they’ve got to make sure that they’re able to continue the competitiveness, because this game is real. This counts. And they’ll go on to Week Two as soon as they leave here.”
It’s one thing to have a game moved out of the Sunday afternoon window. It’s another to have it moved to a different house on a different street in a different continent. Especially to start the season.
After the Thursday (Friday) game, both teams will travel home through 19 time zones. They’ll have a game the following Sunday. Unless one of them gets a Monday night game to cap Week 2 — and one of them absolutely should.
The fact that Shanahan dared to share his reasonable gripes publicly likely guarantees that one of them will. And that it will likely be the Rams.
On September 10, the NFL will play its first-ever regular-season game in Australia (where it will be September 11 at kickoff). While it may be the first time the NFL plays a game that counts in the land of koalas and kookaburras, it apparently won’t be the last.
In a press conference at the location of the Week 1 49ers-Rams game in Melbourne, Commissioner Roger Goodell made it clear the NFL will be back.
“There’s no question that we’re going to be playing here again,” Goodell said, via Reuters. “Our view is that we’re coming here for the long term. We don’t come as a one-off. This isn’t a circus.”
But it sort of is a circus. Because the circus typically comes to town once per year. While that may be enough to fill a stadium, it’s not enough to fully monetize the product internationally.
Look at England. The NFL has been playing regular-season games in London for 20 years. And the NFL is still struggling to get sustainable traction there.
Last year’s Week 1 Chiefs-Chargers game in Brazil — which was streamed globally at no cost by YouTube — had an international audience of 1.2 million.
The U.S. population is in the vicinity of 350 million. The rest of the world has 7.9 billion people. This means that only 0.015 percent of the rest of the planet watched the game.
That’s not deterring the league from rolling the stone up a steep hill, even if some think the NFL should realize that it’s not really working. And it won’t work until international viewership improves, dramatically. That’s where the real money is, as the NFL has learned in its domestic experience.
And so Australia will now become a stop on the NFL’s traveling non-circus circus. It could be an annual thing; asked whether the 2026 game means the NFL could be back in 2027, Goodell said, “It might.”
Might is the key word. In America, the NFL has plenty of it. It wants to get more of it beyond our borders.
It’s obviously a long-term play. The overriding question is how long it will take. And whether, at some point, it’s going to hit a hard ceiling on how big it will be.
Tickets to the NFL’s first regular-season game in Australia had high prices and sold fast anyway, which is good for the NFL’s bottom line but bad for the fans of American football Down Under who say they were priced out of seeing the Week One game between the 49ers and Rams in Melbourne.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that many fans said there was no realistic way to get tickets, as tens of thousands of people were in the virtual Ticketmaster line the moment tickets went on sale. One fan said within 26 minutes of tickets going on sale, the only seats left were ones with restricted views, with prices ranging from $560 to $630 Australian ($392 to $441 American).
The NFL’s Australia office said more than 151,000 fans registered their interest in buying tickets to the game at Melbourne Cricket Ground, which has a capacity of 100,000.
The Rams-49ers game kicks off at 8:35 p.m. ET on Thursday, September 10, which in Melbourne is 10:35 a.m. on Friday, September 11. Local Australian officials told the NFL that there was huge demand for an NFL game in Australia, and that the game would sell out the Melbourne Cricket Ground at any time on any date. The fast sales of tickets for a Friday morning game have proven that true. And frustrating to the fans who can’t get in.
Offseason programs will start getting underway around the NFL next week.
The ten teams that hired new coaches this offseason will be eligible to start working with their players on Monday, April 6. The Ravens are the only team that has set that as their first day of work while the Cardinals, Falcons, Bills, Browns, Raiders, Dolphins, Giants, Steelers and Titans have set Tuesday as their opening day.
All of those teams will also be able to hold a voluntary minicamp later in the spring. Every team is also scheduled to hold a rookie minicamp and a mandatory minicamp over the course of the next few months.
The first two weeks of work for all teams is limited to meetings, strength and conditioning, and physical rehabilitation only. The three-week second phase allows for on-field work, but no full-speed team drills while the third OTA phase allows for team drills, but there is no live contact allowed at any point in the offseason.
Most of the 22 teams with returning coaches will be opening their offseason programs on April 20 or 21. The Broncos have set May 4 as their first day.
The decision of quarterback Kirk Cousins to sign with the Raiders removes from the board a potential backup option for the Rams. And it potentially kicks the door a little wider for a return by Jimmy Garoppolo.
Via Nate Atkins of The Athletic, Garoppolo is currently “weighing a few options” as he plans his next move.
He doesn’t need to rush; since entering the league in 2014, Garoppolo has made $156 million. His days as a starter are likely over, but there’s still a need for him.
The Cardinals were interested. After talks hit a snag, Arizona pivoted to Gardner Minshew. It’s still possible, in theory, that Garoppolo could supplant Jacoby Brissett there.
The Packers also need a veteran backup. They were interested in Cousins. Perhaps they could also be interested in Garoppolo.
He also could wait. Injuries happen. Urgency could lead to better financial offers. Now 34, he doesn’t need to rush into the wrong spot. He can wait for the right one, whenever and wherever it may emerge.
Earlier this week, Kirk Cousins was supposedly taking his time. Just like that, he’s doing a deal with the Raiders.
He had options, obviously. The Rams were interested in him as the backup to Matthew Stafford, if Jimmy Garoppolo doesn’t return. The Packers were interested, too.
His decision to sign with the Raiders means that no clear-cut starting opportunity was available. The Cardinals apparently never came calling. The Steelers could have been a possibility, if Aaron Rodgers doesn’t play in 2026.
But the Raiders wanted a veteran. Coach Klint Kubiak said so on Tuesday. And Cousins becomes the bridge quarterback, turning his $10 million guarantee for 2026 into $20 million, when factoring in next year’s $10 million guaranteed roster bonus.
Cousins also may have had an offer from CBS. The Matt Ryan chair is open, and Cousins was excellent in his playoff assignment there. (Kyle Long was, too.)
Still, Cousins wasn’t going to make $20 million at CBS this year. TV can wait, and it will be there when he’s done. Even if CBS may not have a seat when Cousins is ready, he likely has the confidence that someone will make room for him at the appropriate time.
The real question is the extent to which Cousins will play in 2026. But at least he knows going in that his new team will most likely be picking a quarterback in Round 1. Unlike two years ago, when the Falcons blindsided him by picking Michael Penix Jr. only weeks after giving Cousins $100 million in guarantees.
