Minnesota Vikings

The Panthers lost outside linebacker Nic Scourton to a right knee injury in the team’s first training camp practice on Thursday. They didn’t waste any time bringing in a replacement on the roster.

The Panthers have agreed to terms with Cam Gill, Greg Auman of Fox Sports reports.

Gill, 28, played for the Panthers in 2024, totaling 22 tackles and four quarterback hits in 10 games.

Gill most recently played for the United Football League’s Louisville Kings. He recorded a league-best 11 sacks in 10 games and won the league’s 2026 Defensive Player of the Year.

He has played 50 regular-season games in his career with the Bucs and Panthers, totaling 51 tackles and 2.5 sacks.

On one hand, the NFL has tried to keep the Brian Flores lawsuit from getting to the merits of the claims because it’s the first page from the standard big-company-that-has-been-sued playbook. On the other hand, delaying the Flores case delays the best available path to a long-overdue reckoning.

ESPN, which is now partially owned by the NFL, has posted an article regarding the Rooney Rule. The headline declares that coaches believe the process is “rigged” against them. (It’s refreshing that ESPN has pursued an issue that the league would prefer be ignored; we’ll see whether and to what extent ESPN promotes the article through its endless car wash of shows.)

The starting point, and centerpiece, of the ESPN story is the runaround former Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham experienced after he had served as the league-mandated second minority interview for the Jaguars head-coaching job that went to Liam Coen in early 2025.

It was perceived to be yet another box-checking sham interview, aimed at allowing a team to comply with the Rooney Rule before hiring their preferred candidate.

Here’s the key paragraph from the ESPN article: “More than a dozen minority coaches declined to comment for this story, citing concerns that speaking candidly would jeopardize future opportunities. Among the 13 Black coaches who did speak -- some on the record but most anonymously -- the issue is clear: Even with hiring rules in place, they feel they cannot overcome ownership bias or the long-established relationships that shape hiring.”

Even Graham, who talked about his Jacksonville experience on the record to ESPN last year, declined to comment this time around.

Meanwhile, the NFL faces political pressure to abandon “DEI” efforts, now that the acronym has been morphed into a slur in sheep’s clothing. In Florida, attorney general James Uthmeier has been attacking the NFL over inclusion efforts. Nationally, the political winds continue to blow against the notion of placing diversity above merit. (As Jon Stewart observed earlier this week, “Meritocracy. It is a beautiful word. Where the fuck is it?”)

Back to Flores. Along with Ray Horton and Steve Wilks, Flores has fended off the NFL’s multi-year effort to vacuum their claims into the NFL’s secret, rigged, kangaroo court of arbitration. Now, after more than four years, it’s time to get down to talking to witnesses, gathering documents, and proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the NFL and many if not most of its teams make key hiring decisions with race being, consciously or not, a motivating factor.

It could get messy, but civil litigation is often uncivil. Owners and Commissioner Roger Goodell will be grilled under oath during pre-trial depositions. Some or all of the 25 minority coaches who won’t speak to ESPN reporters will receive a subpoena to testify under oath, which will not only protect them from retaliation but compel them to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

The Flores case becomes the only way to allow the facts to be developed, presented, and evaluated. A jury will determine, based on all of the evidence, whether Flores and his colleagues have shown that the NFL’s teams have a longstanding racial bias when it comes to hiring head coaches, offensive coordinators, and General Managers.

Many will say (because they always do) that businesses can hire whomever they choose. That opinion is grossly misinformed; federal law and the laws of many states prevent certain factors from being considered when hiring (and firing) decisions are made.

Real change can be effected in American society in one of three ways: the passage of legislation, the implementation of regulations, or the verdicts rendered through litigation.

That’s why large companies hate lawsuits. They can’t control a process that could force them to change their ways by attaching a massive financial consequence for their past failures to do so.

At some point, the NFL may realize that, win or lose, a public trial in open court will have significant negative consequences. The league and its teams could be tempted to make Flores and company a settlement offer they can’t refuse.

That’s the key. Will the league make an offer so large that the individuals won’t be able to reject it? Will they reject it anyway, realizing that taking their claims all the way to a verdict may be the only way to get the NFL and its teams to finally change their ways?

In 2026, the only practice receiver Stefon Diggs has experienced is legal.

Cut by the Patriots and still available, Diggs went through a criminal trial in May (the case never should have been pursued, based on the quality of the prosecution’s evidence presented in court). He also has multiple civil lawsuits to navigate.

Via TMZ, a man named Nigel King has sued Diggs for falsely claiming King stole a Ferrari — and for allegedly having Diggs’s friends attack him.

Also sued were Diggs’s brother, Darez, and three of their friends.

In July 2024, King arranged for Diggs’s Ferrari to be transported to Houston. The car was stolen. King claims he was never identified as a suspect in the theft.

King also contends that, in December 2024, Diggs began accusing King of stealing the car. King also claims that, a year later, Diggs’s friend punched King in the face.

Diggs, per the latest report as to a case that first surfaced in February 2026, requested that the case not proceed until the other defendants are properly served. The other defendants have since been served, which should set the stage for the litigation to unfold — likely slowly, as most civil lawsuits do.

In November 2025, Diggs sued a man named Christopher Griffith for falsely claiming Diggs had drugged and sexually assaulted him. Griffith filed a counterclaim, alleging that Diggs did indeed sexually assault him in 2023. Diggs has denied the accusation. That case has been unfolding with a stream of conflicting contentions and salacious details, which will make for a compelling trial if the case isn’t settled or dismissed.

Through it all, Diggs hopes to continue his NFL career. He recently claimed that there’s no WR2 in the NFL better than him. At least five unnamed teams reportedly have “checked in” on the player who had 1,013 receiving yards in his first season with the Patriots.

It was the seventh 1,000-yard season of the 32-year-old receiver’s career. Whether he’ll have a chance to do it an eighth time remains to be seen — but it was obvious last year that, even though his Ferrari was stolen, he still has gas in the tank.

When it comes to the NFL’s effort to send the Brian Flores case to arbitration, it’s apparently not over until the NFL says it’s over.

Regardless, the presiding judge has now made it abundantly clear that it’s over.

Despite a court ruling and an appeals court ruling that the claims brought by Brian Flores (against the Dolphins, Giants, Broncos, and Texans), Ray Horton (against the Titans), and Steve Wilks (against the Cardinals) must be decided in court, the NFL filed a motion to reconsider the ruling that slammed the door on arbitration.

On Wednesday, Judge Valerie Caproni denied the NFL’s latest motion.

The 15-page ruling begins with an expression of exasperation regarding the nearly four-and-a-half-year-old litigation: “This case continues to linger at the starting block. Or, to use a more fitting metaphor, this case continues to linger as the teams mill about in the players’ tunnels.”

Elsewhere in the written decision, there are some not-so-subtle indications of the judge’s impatience with the NFL’s efforts to keep fighting over a settled issue. From page 9: “Defendants can articulate no reason why these arguments were not raised in their response to Plaintiffs’ Motion for Reconsideration. . . . With sophisticated law firms, it is hard to fathom a plausible explanation.”

Also, from the same page: “Defendants opted for an iterative stream of arguments to buy themselves a few more months hanging out in the players’ tunnels. . . .”

Putting it another way, and as a judge said to the opposing lawyer in a case I was handling more than 20 years ago, “At some point, you stop arguing to the court and start arguing with the court.”

Judge Caproni’s order concludes like this: “Defendants’ seemingly-never-ending list of arguments why they should not have to litigate this case has run its course. Stepping back, while Defendants are free to spend endless attorneys’ fees to pursue the forum they think will be most advantageous to them, arguments about the superior efficiencies of arbitration ring hollow. . . . Instead of proceeding, discovery and motion practice for these three teams have been further delayed so this Court can deal with these teams’ attempt to take yet another run at how to avoid district court litigation and will, presumably, be delayed further while they pursue yet another appeal.”

It’s a mostly tactful way of saying to the NFL, “Enough. You’ve lost on this issue. Stop asking for arbitration and get to work on defending yourself in the litigation.”

Attorney Doug Wigdor issues a statement regarding the latest decision.

“At this point, the NFL and its teams have lost on this issue at the Second Circuit, were denied en banc review by the Second Circuit, were denied Supreme Court review and have now had the District Court twice confirm that the claims will not proceed in an NFL-controlled forum,” Wigdor said. “We hope the NFL and its teams will accept these rulings and proceed with the litigation.”

Presumably, that will happen. One of these days. Or, more accurately, one of these years.

Sometimes, life imitates art. And football imitates football.

During a Vikings-Browns game in England last season, a field goal attempt by Minnesota kicker Will Reichard apparently struck an overhead wire. (The league strongly prefers that this not be mentioned. So we won’t.) During Saturday’s England-Norway game in Miami, the ball apparently struck an overhead wire during first-half stoppage time of the World Cup quarterfinal, setting the stage for the decisive goal by England’s Jude Bellingham.

FIFA apparently would also strongly prefer that it not be mentioned.

Via ESPN, FIFA claims there is “no evidence” that the ball hit a foreign object.

The rules require play to be stopped with a drop ball to resume the action, if it’s noticed. Because it wasn’t noticed, England won possession of the ball and soon thereafter scored.

“Before England’s goal in minute 45+2 against Norway, the sensor in the Connected Ball showed no peak in the ‘heartbeat of the ball’ when in the air, and therefore no evidence that the ball touched the overhead wire and changed the movement of the ball,” FIFA said in a statement.

The snafu in the Vikings-Browns game, which will not be mentioned, eventually was attributed by the NFL to an “optical illusion.” (At first, the league said there was “no clear view” that Reichard’s kick had struck a wire.)

Here’s the clip of the key moment from Sunday. The ball clearly moves in a sudden and abrupt way.

It’s a good thing that no one will be mentioning it.

When the Vikings start training camp later this month, all eyes are going to be on the quarterbacks.

Nothing was settled in the competition between Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy for the starting job during the offseason program, so it remained a chief topic of conversation for head coach Kevin O’Connell during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show on Thursday. O’Connell said that he’s never heard of a “closed competition” when asked if things were truly open and said that the best way to reach their goal is having “a daily attempt to have guys push each other.”

“Kyler has come in and done a great job,” O’Connell said. “J.J., I think, has benefited from it; he’s had a really good spring. Carson Wentz is this veteran quarterback in the room. As a guy who’s played seven or eight quarterbacks in four years, the two years we had our starter play the whole season, we won 13 and 14 games. We want to try to get back to the standard of having the quarterback position be a driving force behind us winning by doing their job, by hopefully activating the great players they get to play with.”

O’Connell said in June that there’s a plan in place to name a Week 1 starter early enough for them to fully prepare for the regular season, but didn’t share how much time that will take. Until that becomes clearer, the Murray-McCarthy duel will be front and center in Minnesota.

The Commanders have hired Demitrius Washington as a senior personnel executive, Jori Epstein of Yahoo Sports reports.

Washington replaces Scott Fitterer, who left the Commanders to join Athletes First.

Washington previously worked with Commanders General Manager Adam Peters in San Francisco. Washington worked in the 49ers’ football research and development department from 2015-21, overlapping with Peters from 2017-21.

Washington spent the past four years in the Vikings’ front office, most recently as assistant General Manager.

The NFL is making a significant change to the offseason calendar for the 2027 season.

Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that the free agent negotiating window will open on March 9 next year. That is the same date that the two-day window opened this year, but the change comes in how close it will be to the end of the Scouting Combine.

NFL teams will wrap up their examinations and interrogations of incoming prospects on March 8 in 2027, which moves the league away from having a week or so between the two events as they have in past years.

Under that setup, the Combine has always been rife with table-setting for free agency as agents and team executives are all in the same place with their minds on the same things. With that gap eliminated, there will likely be even more of that work being done in Indianapolis so that teams are ready to make moves right from the starting gun.

Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell and Jets G.M. Darren Mougey have a connection that dates back to their time as college roommates at San Diego State. In a Thursday conference call promoting the upcoming American Century Championship, O’Connell praised the man who is trying to turn around the Jets.

O’Connell, via Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post, sent plenty of text messages to Mougey during the offseason.

“Most of the time I was complimenting him on whether it was a great draft they had, or how they handled some of their internal situations there — getting their running back [Breece Hall re-signed],” O’Connell said.

“I just think the plan that he’s had has been really well thought-out. It’s one thing — a lot of teams put the time and the energy in to have as much good planning as you can — but it’s about the execution of those plans. The way Darren has gone about it doesn’t surprise me.”

It’s an encouraging sign for Jets fans to hear a coach who has taken the Vikings to the playoffs twice in three seasons. The Jets haven’t been there once since 2010.

“I know there’s not a day Darren shows up to work that he doesn’t feel prepared — and I think that’s proving to be the case,” O’Connell said. “He’s not afraid to make difficult decisions, and I think that’s because it’s in alignment with the process that he has. He’s attempting to execute a vision that he has for that organization. As a former Jet, it’s always good to see the organization in good hands — and they certainly are with Darren and [head coach Aaron Glenn].”

Alignment is the key. If the timeline had aligned a little differently, Mougey could have been the new G.M. with O’Connell in Minnesota. Instead, it’ll be Nolan Teasley who’ll hopefully develop the kind of relationship with O’Connell that O’Connell has with Mougey.

Of course, that relationship will have the pause button pressed on January 3, when the Vikings face the Jets at MetLife Stadium. Especially if both teams are competing for a playoff berth when Week 17 rolls around.

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

As it turns out, Dianna Russini didn’t FaceTime an NFL head coach for help in getting out of a ticket for texting while driving.

She claimed she did during a February segment with the Stugotz and Company radio show. Her anecdote was mentioned at the outset of last week’s lengthy article in the New York Times, her former employer.

The bodycam video of the Dianna Russini traffic stop has now been posted by Adam Herbets of the Center Square.

The seven minute, 10 second video includes the entire traffic stop. At no point does it include a FaceTime call to any head coach.

After the officer approaches her car, Russini says, “I’m an NFL reporter, and I just broke that Sean McDermott got fired from the Bills. And that I what I was just sending to send [sic], a tweet. I was gonna pull over, because I have to make calls. I know you don’t care, but I just wanted you to know my reason why.”

The officer says, “Obviously you were on your phone for a while. . . . I understand you’ve got a job.”

Then, Russini says, “You know who I was on the phone with? Brian Daboll. He wants the job.”

Next, she asks the officer if he’s a fan of the Giants or Jets.

“I’m actually — I’m not a fan of either,” the officer says.

“What is your team?” Russini replies.

“I’m a Vikings fan, unfortunately,” he said.

Russini then shows him her phone, and a text exchange with Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell. But she didn’t FaceTime O’Connell. She simply showed the officer her phone.

She also added, regarding the Vikings, their “quarterback sucks.”

After going to his vehicle, the officer eventually returns and says, “I’m gonna cut you a break on the cellphone. I understand your job requires you to be on the phone a lot. Just try to wait ‘til you get home, OK?”

And that was that. There was never a FaceTime. So, while it made for an interesting radio story on a radio show, it never happened.