Former NFL quarterback Craig Morton, who led the Broncos to their first Super Bowl appearance, died on May 9 at his home in Mill Valley, California, the Broncos announced Monday. He was 83.
Morton, who spent six seasons with the Broncos from 1977-82, led Denver to its first playoff appearance and a berth in Super Bowl XII. The Broncos went 12-record in 1977 and had home playoff wins over the Steelers and Raiders before losing 27-10 to the Cowboys in the Super Bowl when Morton threw four interceptions against his former team.
For his performance during that 1977 regular season, Morton was named the AFC’s Offensive Player of the Year. He was also named the Sporting News Player of the Year, the PFWA Comeback Player of the Year and the NFL UPI MVP for the 1977 season.
In that AFC Championship Game win over the Raiders, Morton played through a hip injury that led to him spending days in the hospital ahead of the game.
During his Broncos career, Morton led the team to a pair of division titles and three playoff berths. He finished his career with the most passing yards (11,895), passing touchdowns (74), pass attempts (1,594) and completions (907) in franchise history to that point.
His 41 regular-season wins remain the third-most in franchise history.
Morton was inducted into the Broncos Ring of Fame in 1988, two years after his induction into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.
He began his career with the Cowboys as the fifth overall pick in 1965. He played in Dallas until 1974, and the Cowboys traded him to the Giants after he lost the starting job to Roger Staubach.
With the Cowboys, Morton threw for 10,279 yards and 80 touchdowns.
In his career, he threw for 183 touchdowns and 27,908 yards while winning 81 regular-season games.
Giants Clips
The NFL will reveal the full schedule for the 2026 season on Thursday night, but they have announced one marquee Week 1 game on Monday.
The first Sunday Night Football matchup of the season will see the Cowboys at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey to face the Giants on NBC on September 13. It will be the eighth time in 15 seasons that the two NFC East clubs have faced each other in Week 1.
It’s the second straight season that the Cowboys will find themselves in a featured game in the opening week. They were in Philadelphia for the first game of the 2025 season. We also know that the Cowboys will be in Rio to face the Ravens in Week 3 and they will be at home for their customary Thanksgiving game.
The NFL plans to announce all of this year’s international matchups on Wednesday and there will likely be a trickle of other games to prime the pump for Thursday’s big reveal.
The Giants have talked to receiver Odell Beckham Jr. about a potential reunion. Those talks continue.
Coach John Harbaugh told reporters on Saturday that he has talked to Beckham “probably three or four times in the last week” to discuss “where he’s at, where we’re at.”
“I think the goal for right now is for him to train and get as ready as he can be, and then we’ll see where we’re at at that time,” Harbaugh said. “It’s got to be right for both parties, and Odell wants to be the kind of player that can make a difference. I’m pretty sure that he can make a team in the National Football League right now. But can he make a difference? Is it something he wants to do? And is his body gonna hold up in the way he wants it to? And all those things are questions that need to get answered for anybody at that age, you know?”
Beckham, 33, apparently believes it can.
“Now, you know Odell, he’s confident, man,” Harbaugh said. “He’s confident, he’s working hard, and he believes in himself. So, I think we’ll just play it out over the next month and into training camp, and see where we’re at.”
It sounds as if the Giants don’t believe Beckham can have the same kind of impact that Beckham thinks he can make. And that Beckham perhaps believes he’d deserve a higher spot in the pecking order than the Giants would be willing to give him.
The other reality, when it comes to the receiver position, is that if a player is too low on the depth chart, he’ll need to be able to play special teams. Most older players (especially former superstars) won’t want to do that.
Beckham last played during the 2024 season. The year before that, he played for Harbaugh in Baltimore, catching 35 passes for 565 yards. Beckham’s last 1,000-yard seasons happened seven years ago, in his first season with the Browns.
Before that, Beckham had four 1,000-yard seasons in five years with the Giants. And it appears, frankly, that Harbaugh is simply being extra courteous to a player who once played for Harbaugh and who once was a key player with Harbaugh’s new team.
Harbaugh, we believe, doesn’t want to have to tell Beckham a reunion isn’t going to work, not the way Beckham envisions. And the likely hope is that Beckham will decide it’s not a fit for both parties without Harbaugh and the Giants having to tell him that directly.
The Titans were awarded wide receiver Courtney Jackson off waivers on Friday.
The Giants waived Jackson on Thursday after he signed a futures contract with the team earlier this offseason.
Jackson spent last season on the Seahawks’ practice squad.
The Broncos signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2025.
Jackson has never played a regular-season NFL game.
The Titans also announced they waived receiver Hal Presley in a corresponding move.
The Bengals claimed linebacker Swayze Bozeman off waivers from the Giants, the team announced Friday.
The Bengals also signed undrafted free agent safety Isaiah Nwokobia.
Bozeman is a second-year player out of the University of Southern Mississippi. He entered the league as a college free agent signee of the Chiefs in 2024.
Bozeman has played nine career games for the Chiefs (2024) and Giants (2025), totaling five defensive tackles along with four special teams stops.
Nwokobia is a rookie out of SMU.
The Giants announced the signing of four draft picks on Thursday.
Third-round wide receiver Malachi Fields, sixth-round defensive lineman Bobby Jamison-Travis, sixth-round offensive lineman J.C. Davis, and sixth-round linebacker Jack Kelly all signed four-year deals with the team.
In addition to those signings, the Giants also announced that they have added six undrafted rookies to their 90-man roster. They are Colorado defensive tackle Anquin Barnes Jr., Wisconsin defensive tackle Ben Barten, North Carolina cornerback Thaddeus Dixon, Boston College long snapper Ben Mann, Kutztown offensive lineman Ryan Schernecke, and Michigan kicker Dominic Zvada.
The Giants have three unsigned draft picks, including their first-rounders Arvell Reese and Francis Mauigoa. Second-round cornerback Colton Hood is the other unsigned pick.
The Giants have moved on from four players as they continue to reshape their roster under new head coach John Harbaugh.
New York announced on Thursday that the club has released linebacker Swayze Bozeman, defensive lineman Elijah Chatman, receiver Courtney Jackson, and defensive lineman Marlon Tuipulotu.
Bozeman appeared in six games for the Giants last season, mainly playing special teams. Chatman played 22 games for New York over the last two years, recording one sack, two tackles for loss, and three quarterback hits.
While Tuipulotu has appeared in 33 career games, neither he nor Jackson played a regular-season contest for the Giants.
Jameis Winston is going to eat a W this summer. Along with the rest of the letters that spell, “World Cup.”
Fox has announced that Winston will serve as a correspondent for its coverage of the FIFA World Cup, to be played throughout North America in June and July.
Winston, the first pick in the 2015 NFL draft, has gone from five-year starter in Tampa Bay to backup who periodically gets the call to play.
From 2015 to 2019, Winston started 70 games with the Buccaneers. Since 2020, he has started 19 games while playing for the Saints, Browns, and Giants.
On the media side, he first rose to prominence while working for Fox during the week of Super Bowl LIX. He also appeared on the Netflix broadcast of MLB’s opening night in 2026.
Winston will be able to waltz into a media career, whenever he’s ready to make the transition. For now, Fox seems to be the favorite to eventually turn temporary assignments into something more permanent.
After agreeing to sign D.J. Reader, the Giants have also added another defensive tackle to their roster.
New York has claimed Zacch Pickens off of waivers, according to the league’s daily transaction wire.
The Chiefs let Pickens go on Monday.
Pickens, 26, appeared in three games for Kansas City last season. He recorded five total tackles.
A Bears third-round pick in 2023, Pickens appeared in 26 games for Chicago over his first two seasons. He’s recorded 44 total tackles with two tackles for loss, four QB hits, and 1.5 sacks in his career.
After trading Dexter Lawrence, the Giants have brought in a veteran defensive tackle.
According to multiple reports, New York has agreed to terms with D.J. Reader on a two-year contract.
Via Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the deal is worth $12.5 million in base salary and can reach $15.5 million with incentives.
Reader, who turns 32 in July, spent the last two seasons with the Lions. He started all 17 games for Detroit in 2025, playing 53 percent of the club’s defensive snaps. He finished with 28 total tackles and four QB hits.
In his 10 seasons, Reader has registered 12.5 sacks, 27 tackles for loss, and 56 QB hits. He’s appeared in 137 games with 128 starts for Houston, Cincinnati, and Detroit.
