Seventeen years ago, NFL kicker Jay Feely said he’d like to be the President. He has now taken the first tangible step in an industry chock full of folks who aspire to run the whole show.
Via Terry Collins of USA Today, the former kicker and CBS broadcaster has won the Republican primary for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Feely hopes to replace Republican David Schweikert in Arizona’s District 1, which includes the Phoenix area.
Feely initially filed to run in District 5. After President Trump endorsed another candidate for the seat, Feely switched to District 1. A close race is expected in November.
Contributors to Feely’s campaign included Commissioner Roger Goodell, Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill, Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, Falcons owner Arthur Blank, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, former CBS colleague Jim Nantz, Giants coach John Harbaugh, former NFL quarterback Mark Sanchez, and NBA legend and broadcaster Charles Barkley.
“When I chose to walk away from my NFL broadcasting career, keeping the Republican majority was the primary focus,” Feely said on Twitter. “We must maintain a GOP majority to ensure lower costs for Arizona’s families, safety in our neighborhoods, and the preservation of the American Dream.”
Feely is allowed to believe whatever he chooses, but the whole left-vs.-right as an existential question is exhausting, regardless of which side it comes from. That kind of rhetoric makes it even harder for Americans to come together and work for the common good, regardless of their positions on the various issues.
Of course, a two-party system is part of the problem. Folks who cast ballots based on one or two issues often have to hold their noses as to the various planks in the platform about which they don’t care — or with which they flat-out disagree. Or, sometimes, they allow themselves to care so deeply about one or two issues that they’ll vote against their interests on other issues in the name of those one or two things, sometimes when those one or two things don’t really matter as much as they’re led to believe they do.
The future of the country doesn’t hinge on a Republican majority in Congress. It doesn’t hinge on a Democratic majority in Congress. It hinges on people of goodwill deciding not to treat politics as a way to fulfill personal ambitions but as a way to put the interests of the people first — and to use their positions to harmonize, not demonize.
While training camps start to open around the league, there are a number of notable veteran players still looking for places to play during the 2026 season.
That list includes wide receiver Deebo Samuel, who became a free agent in March when his contract with the Commanders expired. In a YouTube video, Samuel said that his extended time as a free agent has “kind of been tough” but that he is confident he’s ready to hit the ground running once a chance to play materializes.
“Some people ask like, “Are you ready to hang it up?” And I’m like, ‘Nah, everything’s got timing,’” Samuel said. “I promise you when the time come, it’s going to come. And I’m overly prepared, overly ready for the moment. And whenever that right opportunity show up, we here first, man, and ready to rock out.”
Samuel scored 42 touchdowns as a receiver and runner over six seasons with the 49ers and he caught 72 passes for 727 yards and five touchdowns after being traded to the Commanders last year. That production was down from his best years with the Niners and it remains to be seen where he might get a chance to show he still has a lot in the tank.
Even as he turned down an opportunity to interview for NFL jobs this offseason, Marcus Freeman left the door open for an eventual move to the pros.
“Maybe sometime in the future, if it’s the right time and it’s what I think is right for me, then maybe I’ll pursue it,” Freeman said in January.
On Tuesday, Freeman made it sound as if South Bend is both his present and his future.
“I’m all-in. I’ve been all-in,” Notre Dame’s fifth-year head coach told a small group of reporters, via Pete Sampson of TheAthletic.com. “I don’t see myself being the head coach or coaching anywhere else.”
Freeman admitted in an Esquire magazine story this spring that a job coaching the Ravens or the Steelers would have intrigued him. Both jobs were open.
He stayed anyway.
“There were times when I wanted to listen to some other people and I did,” Freeman said. “It confirmed that this is the place I want to be.”
NFL interest is unlikely to go away, no matter what Freeman says or how many times he says it. The question is: Will he eventually change his mind about leaving a premier college job for one at the highest level of the sport?
The latest round of ESPN layoffs is impacting plenty of recognizable names — including a former NFL MVP.
Via Bobby Burack of Outkick, ESPN has cut ties with former Panthers quarterback Cam Newton.
Newton, who launched his own platform and showed that he has the chops to do the job, landed at First Take over the past two years as one of the folks appearing with Stephen A. Smith.
Cam may have tiptoed on the third rail earlier this year, when interviewing Smith’s sworn enemy, Jason Whitlock, on Newton’s podcast. During the segment, Whitlock pushed the notion that Smith’s memoir contains fabrications. Newton didn’t push back.
In every company, there’s a political minefield that needs to be navigated in order to ensure long-term survival. Ryan Clark, for example, threw a low blow last September while on the air with a new employee who has close ties to ESPN executive vice president of programming and original content Burke Magnus. And that’s the moment that reportedly caused ESPN to sour on Clark.
The Whitlock interview may have caused Smith to sour on Newton. And with Newton’s only role at ESPN being a member of the show Smith runs, that may have been enough to get Newton’s name on the list.
ESPN took the extremely ungracious step of informing NFL analyst Ryan Clark that he was being laid off while on the air. (At least it happened during a break.) Clark has opted to be far more gracious in his first public comment on the move.
“Sending prayers and love to all those laid off today by ESPN,” Clark tweeted. “So many of you have poured your life into that company, & I know how you’re feeling right now. My hope is as this door closes another opens for you all. God bless!”
It really was a crappy, amateurish, Mickey Mouse move (which as to the last part technically is on brand). If, as has been reported, the goal was to prevent Clark from finding out about his fate from media reports, that’s still better than telling him about it while he was ON THE AIR.
Think about what that does to every ESPN employee who is on the air today, and for the foreseeable future. Logic suggests they won’t do it again. But logic goes out the window when the mind wanders about the possibility that what happened to Clark will happen to them.
At least one other person who has been targeted for layoff found out, we’re told, from a member of the media and not from ESPN.
This means that the S.S. Bristol is way too leaky. Someone who knows what’s going to happen has been currying favor with media reporters by sharing information that should be kept confidential.
Whoever is doing it is being a horrible teammate, and it is creating the impression that they’re all playing for a horrible team.
