From time to time, players will claim that they are uniquely positioned to assess the skills of other players. And then they'll completely undermine that position by making a horribly flawed assessment of a given player.

Case in point: In the NFL Network list of the NFL's top 100 players, as determined exclusively by players, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson came in at No. 69. A full sixty-seven spots below where he was ranked in 2025.

Sure, the Ravens didn't make the playoffs (barely). Yeah, Jackson missed four games due to injury. OK, his passing yards fell from 4,172 to 2,549. Right, his rushing yards dropped from 915 to 349.

Regardless, he's Lamar Jackson. There aren't 68 players better than him in the NFL. There aren't 28. There aren't 18. There arguably aren't eight.

So how did it happen? As the voting process was explained at some point during the years NFLN has conducted the top-100 voting, an unspecified number of players are asked to list their top 20 NFL players. Points are assigned, 20 down to one, based on where a player lands. If a player, no matter how objectively good he is, is having an off year, he'll slip farther than he should — because the players who are currently playing at a high level when a given ballot is constructed will end up in higher spots on more ballots.

Really, it's not on the players. The process is flawed. As evidenced by the fact that Lamar Jackson fell 67 spots to No. 69.

Usually, a summer weekend will reset the sports news cycle, allowing a goldfish-brained collective consciousness to move on to something new.

That didn't keep Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper from dusting off a topic that had lost some steam since it surfaced last week.

Harper has issued a statement on Instagram addressing the report from the Philadelphia Inquirer about a Cameo video that was purchased by a FanDuel VIP host for a bettor who had lost enough money to make it money well spent in an effort to lure him back.

"In November 2024," Harper wrote in his Instagram story, "someone identifying themselves as 'Bryttanni' submitted an order through Cameo for a personal 'holiday video for Terry.' Cameo had a separate category for business video requests, and at the time I did not know this video would be used for commercial purposes. The request included a short script. I read it in good faith. FanDuel then put its own logo on the video and used it as a gambling promotion. I did not know FanDuel would do this. I did not consent to it, and FanDuel had no right to do it."

Harper said that he wouldn't have made the video if he had known "anything about Terry or his situation, or about any alleged 'partnership' between Cameo and FanDuel."

"Contrary to the Inquirer's suggestion, I did not know the Cameo video would be used for a FanDuel VIP promotion, and I have no affiliation with FanDuel whatsoever," Harper said. "Counsel has directed me not to comment any further at this time."

The last part allows Harper to simply refer to his statement if asked about the situation during the All-Star Game festivities, which are happening this year in Philadelphia.

Harper also posted a screenshot of the order, with the text of the "instructions for Bryce Harper." The script reads as follows: "Hey Terry. Your host Bryttanni (Britt-knee) from FanDuel wanted to make sure your Thanksgiving was extra special, so I just wanted to hop on and wish you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving. Tell Max (son) I said hello!"

So what did Harper think the purpose of the video was? At a minimum, he should have at least suspected it was a business video purchased by FanDuel — and that it was something FanDuel would be using to promote FanDuel to Terry specifically.

Insert the name of any other company, with the video coming from the person at the company who primarily interacts with a given customer. What other impression could be created than that the company is hoping to enhance the customer relationship?

While FanDuel shouldn't have added its logo to the video, Harper should have realized that this wasn't bought for Terry by a friend or family as a gift. (Hell, who even gives gifts on Thanksgiving, anyway?)

Basically, Harper's story isn't very persuasive. There's more than enough in the words "your host . . . from FanDuel" to put anyone with basic intelligence on notice that this was something FanDuel would be using to keep Terry betting (and losing).

And the fact that Harper has retained counsel for this specific situation suggests that he's concerned that there could be further complications arising from it beyond bad P.R.

The reported reason for Aaron Donald's workout at the Rams facility last week won't do anything to quiet speculation that he will come out of retirement to play for the team again in 2026.

Donald was spotted doing a variety of drills and conditioning work while wearing pads last week and Adam Schefter of ESPN shared how the workout came to happen during a Monday appearance on The Pat McAfee Show.

"He told the team that he wanted to go there, work out, see how he felt, see how he reacted. See everything that went along with being back in pads on the football field and seeing how it made him feel," Schefter said.

Donald told McAfee last month that the Rams' trade for Myles Garrett "got me thinking," but would have to see if "that fire can light back up." It's unclear how Donald felt the workout went, but testing the waters would seem to suggest that he's giving serious consideration to striking the match on a comeback.

No, Rams left tackle Alaric Jackson won't face felony charges for his recent arrest for felony domestic battery. However, Jackson could be in line for another suspension under the NFL's Personal Conduct Policy.

The latest comment from the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office, via Sara Barshop of ESPN, indicates that Jackson's case has been assigned for a pre-trial diversion program available to eligible persons as an alternative to a misdemeanor prosecution.

Under the express terms of the Personal Conduct Policy, a player commits a violation if there is a "disposition of a criminal proceeding." That term is defined broadly to include "an adjudication of guilt or admission to a criminal violation; a plea to a lesser included offense; a plea of nolo contendere or no contest; or the disposition of the proceeding through a diversionary program, deferred adjudication, disposition of supervision, conditional dismissal, adjournment in contemplation of dismissal, pretrial intervention or similar arrangement." (Emphasis added.)

Basically, the diversion program is an alternative to a guilty plea or a full-blown prosecution. It's not an exoneration. For the league, it's enough to constitute a violation of the Personal Conduct Policy.

Because the underlying allegation involves domestic violence, the policy applies a baseline suspension of six games. Jackson's prior two-game suspension under the Personal Conduct Policy means that, from the policy, he "will be subject to enhanced and/or expedited discipline, including banishment from the league with an opportunity to reapply." Even if Jackson isn't banished, his previous suspension becomes grounds for a suspension longer than the baseline of six games.

Thus, while Jackson has avoided a felony charge, his looming diversion program will put him in line for another suspension.

The new protections for players under the Personal Conduct Policy, with an outside party conducting a hearing, won't save Jackson from whatever the Commissioner decides to impose by way of punishment. The decision of Judge Sue L. Robinson is binding only as to the factual findings. Because the policy makes entry into a diversion program an automatic violation, the facts will be undisputed. The Commissioner's decision as to punishment is appealable to the Commissioner, preserving his longstanding judge/jury/executioner authority over punishment.

In other words, the latest developments mean Jackson won't be facing prison time. They also mean that Jackson will be facing a potentially significant suspension.

Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield is tough. Very tough. Perhaps tough to a fault.

Via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, Mayfield reveals in the upcoming season of Quarterback that, in 2025, he played with a sprained MCL and PCL in his knee from Week 2 on.

Mayfield also had a "bad biceps contusion" in his throwing arm, and he injured the shoulder of his non-throwing arm.

If Mayfield had a knee injury for that much of the season, it didn't show up in the injury reports. "Knee" wasn't listed at all until Week 5.

Here's the full breakdown of the 10 weeks in which Mayfield appeared on the injury report: Week 3 (foot/toe), Week 4 (right biceps), Week 5 (right knee/biceps), Week 8 (knee), Week 10 (knee/oblique), Week 12 (illness), Week 13 (left shoulder), Week 14 (left shoulder), Week 15 (left shoulder), Week 18 (right shoulder/knee).

It underscores the fact that the NFL's injury-reporting rules don't contain nearly enough information. Sometimes, players simply don't tell the team about their injuries. Sometimes, players get treatment away from the team's facility.

Regardless, at a time when inside information has become a problem when it comes to gambling in other sports, every story about a player being more injured than the official reports revealed becomes another situation in which someone who knew the hidden truth can misappropriate the knowledge.

Joe Brady has been in the Bills' building since 2022, working his way up from quarterbacks coach, to offensive coordinator, and now to head coach in 2026.

Running back James Cook has been around for all of Brady’s rise over the past four seasons, with Brady calling the plays that helped Cook become the league’s rushing champion in 2025.

So what was the offseason program like with Brady as head coach?

“I mean, it’s just a new energy in the building,” Cook said in an interview with NFL Network’s Good Morning Football on Tuesday. “It’s going to always be like that, I feel like, when you have a new head coach coming in — a young one, too, at that. I mean, Joe’s a young head coach coming in, his first year being a head coach. I mean, he’s got a new energy. That’s what I feel like.”

But just because there’s an energy shift doesn’t mean Brady is acting inauthentically.

“I mean, to me, nothing has changed,” Cook said. “Joe’s going to be Joe. And, you know, he’s going to be himself. He just wants you to play football and have fun.”

Bills rookies are set to report to training camp on July 21, with Cook and the veterans set to report on July 28.

Defensive upgrades have been the main focus of the Bengals offseason, but they'll need to remain a potent offensive team as well if they are going to make it back to the playoffs for the first time since 2022.

Part of that puzzle will be protecting quarterback Joe Burrow and left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. thinks the team is ready to go on that front. Brown is one of five returning starters on the offensive line and he said during an appearance on the Locked on Bengals podcast that he believes the unit is as good as it gets when it comes to slowing down opposing pass rushers.

“I really think — and I say this confidently — I really feel like we got the best pass protection unit in the NFL,” Brown said. “There isn’t a lot of groups that could come do what we do on a week-to-week basis and have the success that we’ve had, especially with the circumstances.”

Playing with three different quarterbacks last season didn't make life easier for the line, which explains Brown's comment about the circumstances. The lack of a consistent run game was also an issue and an upgrade on that front would make it harder to find ways to slow down the Cincinnati offense in 2026.

The news that 39-year-old former NFL running back Chris Johnson has ALS has reignited the discussion about the risks of playing football, and recent research puts into focus just how significant the link between playing in the NFL and developing ALS at a young age appears to be.

The Concussion & CTE Foundation said today that it has identified 10 NFL players since 1960 who died of ALS before the age of 50. ALS is typically a disease associated with aging, and it is extraordinarily rare in the general population for people to die of the disease before age 50. The same study says that based on population models, there should have been fewer than one NFL player since 1960 who died of ALS before age 50: Mathematically, the expected number would be 0.24 ALS deaths before age 50 out of a sample the size of the 19,824 NFL players whose health records were studied.

The study did not name all 10 players who have died of ALS, but some former NFL players who have been publicly identified as dying of ALS before turning 50 include 49ers linebacker Eric Scoggins at age 49, Patriots and Eagles running back Kevin Turner at age 46, Vikings defensive back Orlando Thomas at age 42 and Oilers defensive tackle Glenn Montgomery at age 31.

Dr. Daniel Daneshvar, a co-author of the study, said the findings are alarming.

"ALS deaths among former NFL players, particularly those who die at younger ages, are occurring far more often than could possibly be expected by chance," he said. "These findings are deeply concerning and underscore the urgent need to understand how repetitive head impacts and motor neuron disease may be connected. We must translate this knowledge into action by helping former players access specialized neurological care and accelerate research toward treatments and prevention. Every ALS diagnosis is devastating, and this data strengthens our responsibility to act with urgency.”

The study actually found some good news for NFL players: On average, they live longer, healthier lives than the general population. They also are less likely to die by suicide than the general population, contradicting a widespread belief that head injuries have led to higher suicide rates in NFL players. But the study also found that NFL players died of neurodegenerative disease at almost four times the expected rate, and that players with longer careers were more likely than players with shorter careers to die of neurodegenerative disease.

Between his stints with the Buccaneers and a second run as Raiders coach, Jon Gruden served as the analyst on Monday Night Football for nine years.

Gruden now wants to return to the booth, in a very different role.

“I was a broadcaster for nine years; hell’s bells,” Gruden said on The Ira Kaufman Podcast, via JoeBucsFan.com. “I want to be play-by-play. You know, Frank Gifford, he transitioned into the play-by-play role. I would like to transition. I had nine years of watching these guys — [Mike] Tirico. And I’d like to give that a shot, man.”

It would be great to hear Gruden in any capacity, as long as he removes the restrictor plate that kept him from being as good as he could have been as a take-no-prisoners flamethrower. But he didn't want to burn any bridges, because he planned to go back to coaching at some point. As a result, we never got to enjoy the full Chucky experience.

Of course, it could be difficult for Gruden to get a shot with any of the NFL's current broadcast partners. His tiger-by-the-tail lawsuit against the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell would complicate any such efforts, to say the least.

But let's find out if he's got the chops. Someone should hire him for a low-level college game and see what he can do. Good, bad, or ugly, it would definitely generate more viewers than the telecast would otherwise attract.

John Harbaugh coached Lamar Jackson to a pair of MVPs in Baltimore, but the duo couldn't find a way to navigate through the playoffs to a Super Bowl before Harbaugh was dismissed after the 2025 season.

Harbaugh's overall record meant that he only spent a short time out of work before landing as the head coach of the Giants and his chances of finding a way back to the big game will be heavily impacted by his new quarterback. Jaxson Dart showed ability as a runner and a passer in his 12 rookie starts and Harbaugh said on The Dominique Foxworth Show that he sees a chance to do "a lot of the stuff that we did in Baltimore with Lamar" in terms of attacking defenses on the ground and in the air in multiple ways.

"Jaxson's capable of doing a lot of things," Harbaugh said. "Like he can live in a lot of different worlds, football-wise. He can live in a power-running game, obviously, and a power-running game protects the quarterback because you can hand the ball off and get yards and make people defend that and keep them honest. Then, it opens up your play-action passing game. . . . That stuff, we're gonna be in those worlds. But now we can also get in the gun or we can get in the pistol, and we can run RPOs, we can run quarterback-driven runs."

Dart's flashes as a rookie were mitigated by a concussion that kept him out of two games and concussion checks that forced him out of parts of other contests. That's made his ability to stay on the field a question heading into his second season, but Harbaugh downplayed concerns about Dart's style by again citing Jackson.

"You say something like that to Lamar, and he kinda just looks at you like you've got three heads," Harbaugh said. "It's like, 'No, I'm gonna play ball, I'm gonna play ball.' I just knew, I trusted that he was gonna protect himself because he wants to be out there and he wants to play. It's not the type of a sport where — you can't put yourself in bubble wrap."

Harbaugh's feelings will be put to the test this fall and he'll need to be right about Dart for the Giants to fully blossom.

It was inevitable.

Some NFL team was bound to pounce on the viral moment of a bison tossing a 65-year-old man into the air at Yellowstone National Park. And while it made the most sense for the Bills to incorporate the video into Mr. Brightside, the Bucs were the first NFL team to appropriate Mr. Upside-Down.

The Buccaneers posted on Monday the key portion of the clip, over banjo music, with a cut to receiver Tez Johnson in midair doing a flip after scoring a touchdown.

"Flipping out because it's almost football season," the caption declares.

Many were surprised by the aggressive decision to lean into the example of the exploits of an aggressive wild animal. The man, after all, was seriously injured. He reportedly has undergone surgery and is expected to recover.

That doesn't stop the Bills from fully embracing the video, especially if they're inclined to bring the man to Buffalo (along with his Dolphins jersey-wearing grandson) to the new stadium for the Week 11 game against Miami.

FIFA's takeover of 11 NFL stadiums (in which 13 teams play) has created various complications and annoyances, including the displacement of the New York Giants to West Virginia for training camp. It's had a more pronounced impact on the CFL, which had started its season before the first World Cup game was played.

Toronto quarterback Chad Kelly attributes his team's early-season struggles to the fact that the commandeering of its stadium, BMO Field, for World Cup games will result in a seven-game road trip to open the campaign.

“This is obviously something unprecedented," Kelly said after Toronto's 30-21 loss at Winnipeg, via JC Abbott of 3DownNation.com. "No professional team has had to do what we’re doing right now with five straight away games, back-to-back-to-back leaving the East to go West, and it’s not easy. It’s definitely not easy. I think we’ve got to dig down. We’ve got Hamilton next; that’s close by. We have to just make it happen. We’ve got to make it work."

Although the last of six World Cup games at BMO Field in Toronto was played on July 2, the stadium remains unavailable as temporary stands for the World Cup are removed.

And the inconvenience extends beyond the games. BMO Field also serves as the Argonauts’ practice field and main offices. Their temporary home base is more than 50 miles away from Toronto.

"We’re traveling so much every single day," Kelly said. "Some guys are living in Toronto and driving an hour. This is something that’s very hard. It’s very hard from top to bottom, and we’re dealing with it, trying to make it the best we can work. It’s just what it is right now."

It's not as if the Argonauts will make up for their absence from home with a long stretch of Toronto games. Three of their home games will have been played on the road, against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Toronto has played five games on the road, winning two of them, with two more road games to come. Toronto won't play its first true home game on August 6, with six of the final 11 games at BMO Field.

After the Titans' 26-0 loss to the Texans dropped them to 0-4 last season, quarterback Cam Ward gave a famously candid assessment of his team.

“If we keep it a buck right now, we ass,” Ward said.

Ward's rookie season is now being featured on the Netflix Quarterback show, and when he reflected on the "We ass" comment, he says he was just trying to give an accurate assessment of his team's performance, including his own.

"That's how I've been my whole life. That's how I was raised, to be honest. That's how I was brought up," Ward said. "For myself, I'm not playing my best ball that game, and when I said that, I meant it."

The Titans earned their first win of the season in their next game after Ward's candid comment, so perhaps Ward's honesty spurred something in his teammates. It still proved to be an ugly season for the Titans, who fired head coach Brian Callahan during the season and finished 3-14. Along the way, they learned they have a quarterback who will speak his mind.

Former NFL receiver Alshon Jeffery's case of felony insurance fraud is on track to be resolved with something far less than the maximum potential sentence of five years in prison.

Via Brent Schrotenboer of USA Today, Jeffery and prosecutors in California have reached an agreement that will result in the dismissal of two fraud charges, if he complies with his end of it within 60 days.

Per the report, Jeffery is required to perform 50 hours of volunteer work and to pay $840.46 to Kemper Insurance, $500 to the California Department of Insurance Anti-Fraud Fund, and $2,500 to the driver of the car that Jeffery's car struck in September 2025.

Jeffery, per prosecutors, has already made the required payments.

The situation arose from an allegation that Jeffery had lied about the date of the accident, telling the insurance company it had happened on September 28, not September 21. He had allegedly reinstated his car insurance on September 24, after the wreck.

Jeffery, whose representative dismissed the charges as a "misunderstanding," had failed to appear in court on March 9. That resulted in the issuance of a warrant for Jeffery's arrest, his arrest, and his release on $25,000 bond.

"We are glad we were able to clear up this unintentional error and have the case completely dismissed," Jeffery's attorney, Brian Watkins, told Schrotenboer.

It's a fair outcome, even if Jeffery did indeed falsify the date of the accident in order to trigger insurance coverage. It's not a major crime, but he shouldn't have done it. The entire ordeal, the relatively minor financial loss, and the volunteer work seems to be a fair consequence for not just covering the damage to the other car in the first place.

A second-round pick of the Bears in 2012, Jeffery spent nine years in the NFL. He won a Super Bowl with the Eagles to cap the 2017 season. He earned more than $63 million during his professional career.

As a wise man once told me, the only thing better than being rich and famous is being rich.

And while proposed Seahawks owner Vinod Khosla has achieved a certain amount of notoriety through his entrepreneurial efforts, the purchase of one of the 32 most desirable sports assets in the country invites a much higher level of attention and scrutiny.

Maybe that's one of the reasons Khosla's wife, Neeru, will serve as the controlling owner of the team. It will keep Vinod one step removed from the intense glare of NFL ownership.

That said, Vinod Khosla has welcomed the periodic spotlight. For example, he has publicly tussled with fellow multibillionaire Elon Musk on the social-media platform Musk owns.

Two years ago, after incumbent Joe Biden exited the race for the presidency, Musk wanted Khosla to climb aboard the Trump train. Said Khosla: “Hard for me to support someone with no values, lies, cheats, rapes, demeans women, hates immigrants like me. He may cut taxes or reduce some regulation but that is no reason to accept depravity in his personal values.”

More recently, Khosla said (via Forbes) that Musk "doesn't want MAGA, he wants WAGA or ‘white America great again’ as a 'racism is great and desirable’' paradigm." Khosla also urged non-white employees of Musk's companies to quit their jobs and work for Khosla instead.

Musk called Khosla a "pompous asshole" and said he had gone "full r-tard."

Similar squabbles in the future will draw far more attention, as those who cover the NFL pay closer attention to any and all of Khosla's public comments.

Tony Romo has a Cowboys' team-record 248 touchdown passes and ranks second in franchise history with 34,183 passing yards. He won 78 regular-season games.

Romo, now an analyst for CBS Sports, did not win a Super Bowl.

He never got closer than the divisional round, even when the Cowboys entered the postseason with home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. In fact, Romo was only 2-4 in four postseason appearances.

If Romo has a regret, he said on Pardon My Take that it's not bringing a Lombardi Trophy to Dallas.

"I'm not a guy with big regrets, I guess you could say. The only regret I guess I would have is that . . . my job was to bring a Super Bowl to Dallas, and I didn't do it," Romo said, via RJ Ochoa of BloggingTheBoys. "So that always sticks with me a little bit. Because you give your whole body, heart, soul, everything into it, and you just wanted that for . . . all the fans, the Joneses, for everybody that you're around. And so that one always sticks with me a little bit just because I had that opportunity and just wasn't able to do it. So that part of it kind of still . . . sits there."

Romo was "Wally Pipp'ed" by rookie Dak Prescott in 2016 after Romo injured his back in the preseason. He retired after the season rather than go elsewhere at 37.

"At the end it was like . . . I could go somewhere else and do it, because I was like, I've got to win a Super Bowl," Romo said on Pardon My Take. "It's literally what you play the game for. Nothing else matters. And it just was like . . . but would that be the same if I went somewhere else and did it? Because at that point, I'd known the game at such a high level. My last 20, 25 games, we were pretty successful, when [I was] healthy. But I was getting injured more often. [The] body breaks down in some ways through the years.

"I think it was as simple as it just wouldn't feel as important. It would be important to me, but it was for the people I was around. All the fans that we had."

The NFL is currently unveiling the result of its annual Top 100 players survey, and Packers linebacker Micah Parsons is not happy with where his fellow players ranked his quarterback.

Parsons wrote on social media that Packers quarterback Jordan Love, who was ranked No. 72 in the player poll, should have been a lot higher.

"71 players in the NFL aren’t better than Jordan love!" Parsons wrote.

Love has been ranked in the Top 100 after each of his three seasons as the Packers' starting quarterback, but his ranking has steadily declined. In 2024 he was No. 34, in 2025 he was No. 68, and now in 2026 he's No. 72.

Parsons' own ranking has not yet been revealed. Last year he ranked No. 36.

The Jets have made a roster move on Monday.

According to the league's transaction wire, New York waived receiver Quentin Skinner off of injured reserve.

Skinner was waived with an injury designation in June during the offseason program.

Skinner entered the league as an undrafted free agent out of Kansas last year, appearing in one regular-season game. He caught one pass for 10 yards.

The Raiders will have five open training camp practices next month, the team announced Monday.

Four of the sessions will take place at Intermountain Health Performance Center, with one at Allegiant Stadium.

Admission to all practices at the team training facility is free, but tickets are required.

Tickets for the Allegiant Stadium open practice are $5. But 100 percent of the proceeds will go to the Raiders Foundation, which supports military members and veterans, health and wellness initiatives and youth development efforts.

A limited number of tickets will be available online beginning Thursday, July 16 at 9 a.m. PT. Due to a limited capacity at Intermountain Health Performance Center, tickets are filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

The first open practice is Sunday, Aug. 2. The other practices fans can watch at the team facility are Monday, Aug. 3, Friday, Aug. 7 and Saturday, Aug. 8. The Allegiant Stadium workout will be held Tuesday, Aug. 11 at 6 p.m. PT.

49ers tight end George Kittle has targeted Week 1 for his return since tearing his right Achilles in a Jan. 11 playoff game against the Eagles. Fullback Kyle Juszczyk expressed optimism over the weekend that Kittle will play in the season opener against the Rams in Australia.

"I really [do] feel that way," Juszczyk told Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area at the American Century Championship. "I was so impressed by the way he was moving [at Tight End U], and I was impressed the last week of OTAs, how he was moving. He was doing this zigzag drill, and he told me he had reached like 16 miles an hour that day. I was already impressed with that.

"But then, seeing him go through that warm-up, I was like, 'Wow, I really do think there is a chance that he's ready for Week 1.'"

Kittle made his seventh career Pro Bowl last season despite playing only 11 regular-season games due to hamstring and ankle injuries. He then required surgery to repair his Achilles after the playoff victory over Philadelphia, missing the divisional playoff loss to the Seahawks.

Kittle has repeatedly said he is ahead of schedule in his rehab, but the 49ers are sure to be deliberate with his practice schedule.

"I know him and the trainers are going to be smart about it and not try and risk anything," Juszczyk said, "because we know how much George means to our team, and having him out there more than just one game is important. But I'm feeling good about the possibilities."

When the 2026 regular season starts in fewer than two months, the Seahawks will either have a new owner or the process will be plunged into chaos.

Via ESPN, the NFL's owners will gather on a to-date unspecified day in August 2026 to vote on the bid from a group led by multibillionaire Vinod Khosla to buy the team for $9.612 billion.

The fact that Khosla already has been approved to buy a minority stake in the 49ers will make part of the process simpler; he's already been vetted and approved for membership in the club. The key question will be the structuring of the deal.

There's no reason to think it won't be approved. These kinds of transactions rarely fall apart.

But it's not unprecedented. The most memorable failure came in 1998, when novelist Tom Clancy tried to buy the Vikings for $200 million while contributing only $5 million in cash.

An invitation to the Travis Kelce-Taylor Swift wedding was one kind of exclusive. Another recent NFL-related gathering took exclusive to another level.

Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has posted on Instagram a photos of a gathering with six of his Steelers teammates: Michael Pittman Jr., Ben Skowronek, Roman Wilston, Mason Rudolph, DK Metcalf, and Pat Freiermuth.

The caption is "Last Rodeo," along with "#bondingweek."

The images include horses, cowboy hats, and campfires. The setting wide open and outdoors, with strong to quite strong Teton River vibes.

Rodgers has said this will be his final season. The "Last Rodeo" label further confirm it, setting up the 2026 season to be the rare full-season farewell tour for a franchise quarterback.

We've argued in the past that the NFL should embrace the transparency the UFL brings to officiating. A member of the NFL's Competition Committee believes it will.

"And I think every once in a while the benefit of this other league we have, I think quite honestly it’s been helpful for our league," Broncos coach Sean Payton recently told Jason La Canfora of SportsBoom.com. "Every once in a while you see something you like, and I think Dean Blandino and his crew, when we kick live right to the booth review, I think that’s healthy. And I think you’ll see that in the next two or three years in our league."

As Blandino told Rich Eisen in April, transparency in officiating "eliminates some of the angst and some of maybe the conspiracy theories." Keeping the review process a state secret makes people think the NFL has something to hide — especially when the UFL and a growing number of college conferences have pulled up the shades and thrown the doors open.

In this age of legalized, normalized, and heavily monetized sports betting, it's important not only to get calls right but to create the perception that they're doing everything they can to get calls right.

"I definitely think you’ll see that coming," Payton said. "I think it’s healthy, and it’s certainly comforting for the fan when you can see how they arrive at decisions. And I think it’s fair, especially to the officials and the people doing the review, to see what we arrived at."

Yes, Payton is just one voice. But he's not alone.

"I think a number of people feel the same way," Payton added.

While there will be logistical challenges, especially during the controlled chaos coming from the cluster of 1:00 p.m. ET kickoffs on every given Sunday, it makes sense to create the infrastructure to both handle reviews efficiently and accurately, and to communicate the information transparently.

Although it feels more like a year, it's been only one week since it became crystal clear that President Trump called FIFA president Gianni Infantino regarding the one-game suspension that U.S. striker Folarin Balogun was due to serve for the Round of 16 match against Belgium.

Infantino issued a statement insisting that “FIFA’s judicial bodies are independent," creating the unmistakable impression that the FIFA Disciplinary Committee decided the case.

It was reportedly a committee of one.

Via Martyn Ziegler of the Times of London, the decision was made by the chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee, Mohammad al-Kamali of the United Arab Emirates — with no input from any of the other 17 members.

Ziegler notes that "many" decisions of the Disciplinary Committee have been made by one member, but that in important cases three members are "often" involved. Also, the decisions made by one member of the committee are usually made by the deputy chairman, Jorge Palacio of Colombia. Al-Kamali, per Ziegler, has not been the sole decision-maker based on published findings from more than 100 prior cases decided by the committee.

The report undercuts the notion that, by involving more people, the potential for untoward influence was diminished. Which makes it more likely, not less likely, that the influence of Trump on Infantino may have trickled from Infantino to al-Kamali.

The issue became academic once Belgium blew out the U.S. last Monday night, 4-1. Still, it's important in situations of suspected shenanigans that any such shenanigans be fully explored and exposed and that changes be made to ensure there will be no similar shenanigans in the future.

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.

The Packers have reached a new deal with one of their key defensive and special teams players.

Green Bay announced on Monday that the club has signed linebacker Isaiah McDuffie to a contract extension.

Via Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, it's a one-year extension through 2027. McDuffie is now set to earn $8.8 million over the next two seasons, plus $1 million available in play-time incentives.

McDuffie was previously entering the last season of a two-year contract he signed with the club in the 2025 offseason. A sixth-round pick in the 2021 draft, McDuffie has appeared in 80 games with 38 starts.

In 2025, he appeared in all 17 regular-season games with 12 starts. He finished the season with 92 total tackles, a sack, and an interception. He was on the field for 45 percent of the team’s defensive snaps and 72 percent of special teams snaps last year.

ESPN is saying goodnight to the syndicated version of Good Morning Football.

Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports reports that the new owner/operator of NFL Network has decided not to bring the syndicated version of Good Morning Football back for a third year.

The syndicated version of the show debuted in 2024, after an extended hiatus and a relocation of the production from New York to L.A. The main show shrank from three hours to two, with the two-hour syndicated show taped after the conclusion of the primary production.

It's unclear whether the show will return to its original three-hour format, once the two-hour version goes away.

While it doesn't impact NFL Network's programming, it's one of the most tangible changes that ESPN has made since getting the keys to NFL Network on April 1.

After linebacker Demario Davis agreed to sign with the Jets in March, he shared that he was eager to be a part of what head coach Aaron Glenn is building as he moves into his second season on the job.

During an appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Davis expanded on why he thinks he fits into that construction process. Davis had two previous stints with the team and spent the last eight seasons with the Saints, which gives him the kind of experience that he believes the Jets were looking for as they try to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2010.

"When I look at what [Jets owner Woody Johnson] and Darren Mougey and Aaron Glenn are establishing, why they're bringing me in is to model what they want that culture to look like," Davis said. "And when I say leadership, it's not a title. It's modeling. What does your lifestyle represent? Because more is caught than taught. So it's not people are looking for me to come in and have all the right words. How can I be the example of what winning culture looks like? It's the way that I attack the weight room, it's the way that I study film, it's the way that I take care of my body."

Davis said the additions of players like quarterback Geno Smith, safety Minkah Fitzpatrick and defensive tackle David Onyemata have a similar aim as the Jets try to set a foundation for younger players to create sustained success.

Back in May, the Giants navigated through a murky situation after edge rusher Abdul Carter publicly rebuked quarterback Jaxson Dart for introducing President Donald Trump at a rally.

The two teammates publicly squashed the proverbial beef soon after, making a clear effort to prevent the issue from becoming a further distraction.

In an interview with the Dominique Foxworth Show that was released on Monday, head coach John Harbaugh brought up the situation when addressing a question about team culture.

"I think that emotional intelligence that you’re talking about, it takes everybody having a mindset that we are in here to get out and play well together. And that’s going to be really important for all of our success. And now, let’s make some really wise decisions on how we want to go about doing that," Harbaugh said. "It may be like the thing we went through with Jaxson and Abdul, the conversations we had around that — that’s one little piece of that journey in deciding how we’re going to operate together. And I think a coach is responsible for being aware of all of those things every single day that are happening in real time that are going to bring us together so that we can operate together when the battle hits the fan."

Harbaugh saw the issue between Carter and Dart as an opportunity, which makes sense given that it popped up during the low-stakes time of the offseason program.

"One-hundred percent, yes, truly an opportunity," Harbaugh said. "Those are welcome things because those are going to happen. Those types of things — I told the guys, this is not a one-off. This is not the first time we’re going to be thrown into this very thing, the political, social discourse. So we have to have conversations in a reasonable — in a way that respects one another. So, how are we going to go about this? What do you guys think?

"And, really, honestly, Dominique, I didn’t have to do anything. I didn’t have to say anything, really. The players said it. They laid the ground rules down for the guys and decided how it would be approached going forward. So now, when these waves keep coming in from the ocean and crash against our shore, I think we’ll be better prepared for them going forward because we’ll be expecting them. And we’ll be talking about how we’re going to deal with them."

Giants rookies are set to report to training camp on July 23 with veterans reporting on July 28.

Four days after the first report emerged that a deal was close, the deal is done.

ESPN has announced that it "has signed Senior NFL Insider Adam Schefter to a new multi-year agreement that will extend his tenure with the company beyond 20 years."

Schefter is closing in on his 17-year anniversary at ESPN. This means (math) that he'll be with ESPN for at least three more years.

Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports reported last week that the deal will run "several years into the ‘30s." ESPN's current broadcast deal with the NFL runs through the 2030 season.

With the NFL now owning 10 percent of ESPN, it's hard to imagine ESPN not keeping a full-season broadcast package, including a spot in the Super Bowl rotation. Even without NFL games, however, ESPN would still cover the NFL extensively — and it would need to retain the centerpiece of its reporting infrastructure.

Terms of Schefter's deal were not disclosed; terms of such contracts never are. He reportedly was making $9 million per year under his prior deal. Given the ever-changing (and growing) market when it comes to NFL content, the amounts on his W-2s likely will be increasing.