Eagles linebacker Nolan Smith Jr. recently was arrested in Georgia for reckless driving and speeding.
At a time when unconfirmed accounts of the arrest were circulating on social media, E.J. Smith of PHLY Sports has confirmed that the mugshot of Smith is real. CBS affiliate WMAZ-TV also has confirmed the arrest.
The first account of the incident apparently came from The Georgia Gazette, which appears not to be an actual publication but a repository of arrest records and mugshots. The online entry includes Smith’s mugshot, his full name (Nolan Sental Smith), the date of the arrest (May 15, 2026) and the charges: “speeding in excess of maximum limits” and reckless driving.
Although various social-media accounts claim Smith was driving 137 miles per hour in a 70-mph zone, we have yet to find clear, reliable evidence of that specific allegation.
Smith was a first-round pick in the 2023 draft. He went to college at Georgia. The Bulldogs football program has had multiple incidents involving players who were cited for driving at excessive speed. Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter, also a first-round pick in the 2023 draft, pleaded no contest in April 2023 to misdemeanor charges of reckless driving and racing as a result of a January 2023 crash that resulted in the deaths of two people.
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Eagles second-round pick Eli Stowers has signed his first NFL contract.
The team announced that Stowers finalized his four-year deal with the team on Monday. The tight end is the seventh member of the team’s 2026 draft class to agree to his contract.
Third-round offensive tackle Markel Bell is the only draft pick who is not yet under contract.
Stowers had 62 catches for 769 yards and four touchdowns at Vanderbilt last season. The former quarterback then impressed at the Scouting Combine by setting records for a tight end in the vertical leap and broad jump.
Dallas Goedert and Grant Calcaterra are the top returning tight ends in Philadelphia. They also signed Johnny Mundt and Stone Smartt as free agents earlier in the offseason.
We don’t know if Fernando Mendoza will be starting at quarterback for the Raiders in Week 1 of the regular season, but we do know who the Raiders will be playing in the first overall pick’s potential debut.
The NFL’s schedule reveal on Thursday night shows that the Raiders will host the Dolphins at 4:25 p.m. ET on Sunday, September 13. The game will be on Fox.
Mendoza will have to get the nod over Kirk Cousins in order to start for the Raiders. Offseason addition Malik Willis is expected to make his first appearance for the Dolphins. Both teams will definitely have head coaches making their offseason debut as Las Vegas hired Klint Kubiak in February and Miami hired Jeff Hafley in January.
Sunday will also feature a pair of divisional games in the late afternoon window. The Packers will visit the Vikings while the Commanders will be in Philadelphia to renew their acquaintance with the Eagles. The NFC North matchup will be on CBS while the NFC East clash will be broadcast by Fox.
The other late game on Sunday afternoon will see the Cardinals visiting the Chargers on CBS. Arizona could have Jacoby Brissett, Gardner Minshew or rookie Carson Beck at quarterback for that contest.
The 1 p.m. ET games will send the Bills to Houston for a date with the Texans while the Browns go on the road against the Jaguars. The Colts will host the Ravens, the Saints will visit the Lions, the Buccaneers will travel to Cincinnati for Dexter Lawrence’s first game as a Bengal, and the Steelers will kick off the Mike McCarthy era — with or without Aaron Rodgers — at home against the Falcons.
Previous reports revealed that the Jets will be in Tennessee and that the Bears will head to Charlotte to face the Panthers. The Jets-Titans game will be on CBS along with the Bills-Texans, Ravens-Colts and Browns-Jaguars games. All the other 1 p.m. games will be on Fox.
The entire Week 1 slate will kick off on Wednesday, September 9 with a Patriots-Seahawks Super Bowl rematch in Seattle on NBC. Thursday will bring a Netflix game between the 49ers and Rams in the NFL’s first game in Melbourne and Sunday night will find the Cowboys at MetLife Stadium to meet the Giants on NBC’s Sunday Night Football. Those games were all announced ahead of Thursday’s full schedule reveal, which was also the case for the ESPN Monday night game between the Broncos and Chiefs in Kansas City.
The Rams and Seahawks played three nail-biters during the 2025 season and the NFL is banking on another one on Christmas night.
The matchup of NFC West teams will cap a three-game slate on Christmas this year. The Friday night game on December 25 will take place in Seattle and it will be broadcast by Fox.
Los Angeles won 21-19 at home last November, but lost 38-37 in overtime in Seattle later in the regular season. The final meeting between the clubs came in the NFC Championship Game and was a 31-27 Seahawks win.
Netflix will kick off the day’s games with a doubleheader that starts with the Packers visiting the Bears at 1 p.m. ET. The Bills will be in Denver at 4:30 p.m. ET in a rematch of last season’s divisional round game that the Broncos won in overtime.
With Christmas Eve falling on a Thursday, there will also be a game on Amazon Prime Video that night. The Eagles will travel to Houston to face the Texans, so all four games around the Christmas holiday will feature matchups of teams that were in the playoffs last season.
The NFL announced the matchups for its first Thanksgiving Eve game and all three Thanksgiving games ahead of Thursday night’s schedule reveal, so the only thing left to announce for the three-day holiday spread of games was the Black Friday matchup.
That game will feature the Broncos visiting the Steelers in a game that will start at 3 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on Amazon Prime Video.
It will be the first time that either franchise has played a Black Friday game. The NFL first held a game on the day after Thanksgiving in 2023 and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has said that the league is considering ways to add a second game.
That is what they’ve done with the Thanksgiving Eve game. It will involve the Packers visiting the Rams on Wednesday night in a game broadcast by Netflix.
Thanksgiving’s schedule will start in Detroit as usual. The Lions will host the Bears at 1 p.m. ET on CBS and the Eagles will visit the Cowboys on Fox at 4:30 p.m. ET. Thursday’s action will conclude with the Chiefs in Buffalo to face the Bills at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC.
When Jaire Alexander stepped away from the Eagles last season, there was word that he planned to “focus on getting himself right physically and mentally before deciding on his future” as a player.
Alexander’s knee troubles led to the Packers releasing the cornerback after the 2024 season and he wrote in an essay for The Players Tribune that he struggled to deal with that release while likening the end of his seven-year run in Green Bay to a “divorce.” He signed with the Ravens, but had a poor outing in a season-opening loss to the Bills that left him “very, very embarrassed” and doubting his health. He would only play one more game as Baltimore deactivated him in order to try to recover on both fronts and eventually traded him to the Eagles.
Alexander wrote that he made the decision to step away without appearing in a game because his knee began troubling him again and that led to a repeat of doubts about his ability to do the job. He wrote that he “needed to listen to myself, and look out for myself, and put my well-being first.” Alexander’s essay outlines some of the ways he’s done that and whether he is considering a return to the field.
“People still sometimes ask me if I’m ever gonna come back and play,” Alexander wrote. “And, you know what . . . I’ll never say never — I still work out, and the knee’s fine now, so I’m in good shape. But for me, right now, the most important thing really is just to be in a good place overall. To be happy.”
Alexander had previously addressed his mental health and the detail he shares in the essay underlines how difficult last season was for him. His play when healthy in Green Bay would likely earn him a look if he does decide to play again, but it’s far from certain things will play out that way.
All of the international matchups for the 2026 NFL season were announced on Wednesday morning.
We already knew the first two games on the schedule. The 49ers and Rams will meet in the NFL’s first-ever game in Melbourne, Australia in Week 1 while the Ravens and Cowboys will head to Brazil to play a game in Rio in Week 3.
There will be three straight weeks of games in London kicking off the next week. The Colts will face the Commanders at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in Week 4 and the Eagles and Jaguars will square off in the same place the next week. The Jaguars will stay in London to take on the Texans at Wembley Stadium in Week 6.
From there, it will be on to Paris for the first time in league history. The Steelers will battle the Saints at Stade de France in Week 7.
The Bengals-Falcons matchup in Madrid in Week 9 was announced earlier this week and it will be followed by a Patriots-Lions clash at Allianz Arena in Munich the next weekend. The NFL’s return to Mexico City will come in Week 11 when the Vikings and the 49ers square off on Sunday Night Football.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has talked about his desire to see the league play international games each week and the NFL is moving closer to that goal in 2026.
Charlie Young, a first-round pick of the Eagles in 1973, has died. He was 75.
Young was the sixth overall selection out of USC. After three years with the Eagles, Young played three years with the Rams, three years with the 49ers, and three years with the Seahawks.
In Philadelphia, Young was a Pro Bowler all three years. He also was a first-team All-Pro as a rookie, and a second-team All-Pro in 1974 and 1975.
He played in 187 regular-season games, with 142 starts. He caught 418 passes for 5,106 yards and 27 touchdowns. Young also appeared in 13 postseason games.
Young appeared in two Super Bowls. With the Rams, he appeared in Super Bowl XIV. He started Super Bowl XVI with the 49ers, which San Francisco won over Cincinnati.
In 2004, Young was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
We extend our condolences to Young’s family, friends, teammates, and colleagues.
When Romeo Doubs signed with the Patriots in March, he moved to the top of their depth chart at wide receiver but he may not be there at this time next month.
The Patriots are expected to trade for Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown after June 1 and that would move Doubs down the pecking order in the first year of the four-year, $68 million deal he signed in New England. That might not have been exactly what Doubs had in mind after years in a crowded Packers receiver group, but he said on Tuesday that “love to have [Brown] here.”
“I was true to my word when I came here that there is no No. 1 guy in this offense,” Doubs said, via Mark Daniels of MassLive.com. “So, whatever it is I have to do, whether it’s playing into the strength more or playing on the backside every here and now, or even having [revolving roles], which I’m really familiar with because I’ve done it in Green Bay also. I’m open to all roles. That’s just part of this league. You know, the more you can do, the more you can do for the team, the more you show for yourself, just things of that nature.”
Stefon Diggs led the Patriots with 85 catches for 1,013 yards on their way to an AFC title in 2026, but a Brown/Doubs combo might unlock even more space to grow the passing game this year.
The NFL announced that the Cowboys will host the Eagles on Thanksgiving Day in Week 12, with kickoff set for 4:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
The Cowboys’ Thanksgiving Day game annually is the highest-rated regular-season game of the NFL season, regardless of their opponent. The Chiefs were Dallas’ opponent on Thanksgiving Day in 2025, and the game set a new regular-season ratings record with 57.3 million viewers.
That was the 58th Thanksgiving Day game for the Cowboys, while the Eagles have played seven games on Turkey Day. Philadelphia last played in Arlington on Thanksgiving Day in 2014, when the Eagles defeated the Cowboys 33-10.
The only other time the Eagles played at the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day was in 1989 when the Buddy Ryan-led Birds beat the Jimmy Johnson-led Cowboys 27-0 in a game known as the “Bounty Bowl.”
The Cowboys are 35-22-1 all-time on Thanksgiving Day and have won their past four games.
The Cowboys now know three games on their 2026 schedule. They will open the season on the road against the Giants on Sunday Night Football and will face the Ravens in Week 3 in Rio de Janeiro.
The NFL will announce the full schedule on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET.
