NFL News Updates

Author: nfltalk

  • Baylor DL Alex Foster dies at 18: Redshirt freshman was expected to play role along Bears’ two-deep in 2025

    Baylor DL Alex Foster dies at 18: Redshirt freshman was expected to play role along Bears’ two-deep in 2025

    Baylor Athletics

    Baylor defensive lineman Alex Foster has died at 18 years old, Baylor confirmed to CBS Sports. Foster, who redshirted last season as a true freshman, was expected to anchor a spot on the two-deep this fall for second-year defensive line coach Inoke Breckterfield.

    “We are heartbroken by the unexpected loss of Alex Foster, a beloved member of our football family. Our deepest condolences are with Alex’s family and all who loved him, as we lift them up in prayer now and in the days to come,” said a joint statement from athletic director Mack Rhoades and Dave Aranda. “In this time of deep sorrow, we draw strength from our faith, the love of the Baylor community, and the unbreakable bond forged through the game we love. Alex’s memory will forever be part of our hearts and this program.”

    Foster was the highest-rated high school signee in the Bears’ 2024 recruiting class after starring at St. Joseph High School in Greenville, Mississippi. He remained loyal to Baylor during his recruitment despite a late offer from Texas and interests from various other elite programs. 247Sports rated the 6-foot-5, 292-pound defender as the No. 44 defensive tackle in the 2024 cycle and 13th-best player out of Mississippi.

    CBS Sports will update this story as more information becomes available. 

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  • 2025 NFL season: 100 things to know with Week 1 kickoff approaching; key games, stories, odds, predictions

    2025 NFL season: 100 things to know with Week 1 kickoff approaching; key games, stories, odds, predictions

    Some of the biggest events of the 2025 NFL offseason are officially in the rear view. And now, with free agency, the draft and the schedule release in the books, actual football is on the way. All 32 teams have organized team activities (OTAs) and mandatory minicamps this spring, and before long, summer training camps will kick off, leading directly into the fall calendar, which is jam-packed with juicy matchups.

    The reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles may still be basking in their Super Bowl LIX rout of the Kansas City Chiefs, especially after their signature Tush Push play was upheld during heated NFL owners meetings. Yet soon the rest of the league will be ready to challenge the crown. For Tuesday marks 100 days out from the start of the 2025 campaign on Sept. 4, when the Eagles are set to open the new schedule in prime time against the rival Dallas Cowboys.

    In honor of the fast-approaching season, here are 100 things to know, including key facts and figures, early predictions and oddsmakers’ top picks for the next Super Bowl champion:

    Key facts and figures

    Getty Images

    1. The 2025 NFL season will be the 106th in league history.

    2. The opening game will pit the Eagles against the Cowboys on Thursday, Sept. 4, in Philadelphia, with kickoff scheduled for 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC.

    3. One day after the opener, the Chiefs will play the rival Los Angeles Chargers at Corinthians Arena in São Paulo, Brazil. It marks the NFL’s second annual South American showcase in Week 1.

    4. The Chargers-Chiefs Brazil game will be exclusively streamed on YouTube, a first for the NFL.

    5. The schedule will include six other international games, which are as follows:

    6. Minnesota Vikings at Pittsburgh Steelers (Week 4, Sept. 28, in Dublin, Ireland)

    7. Vikings at…

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  • MSU football to host 3-star ATH KJ Deriso this weekend for official visit

    MSU football to host 3-star ATH KJ Deriso this weekend for official visit

    🚨 VISIT WATCH 🚨
    2026 3⭐️ CB KJ Deriso Jr. (@kjderiso) will be in East Lansing on May 30 for his official visit to Michigan State.

    The 6-1 Whitewater standout totaled 33 tackles, 12 PBUs, 2 INTs & 2 FFs in 2024. MSU’s culture + fit will be key. (VIP)https://t.co/UBHcRHX4FK pic.twitter.com/i2PCy1OKqe

    — Corey Robinson (@C_Robinson247) May 27, 2025

    A three-star athlete from SEC country is set to take an official visit to Michigan State this upcoming weekend.

    KJ Deriso Jr. of Fayetteville, Ga. will reportedly take an official visit to Michigan State this upcoming weekend. According to Corey Robinson of 247Sports, Deriso will start his official visit on Friday.

    Deriso Jr. is a three-star athlete in the 2026 class, according to 247Sports. He holds a recruiting rating of 87 on 247Sports as well.

    Deriso Jr. ranks as the No. 80 cornerback in 247Sports’ rankings for the 2026 class. He is also listed as the No. 928 overall prospect in the country.

    Michigan State is one of nearly 25 schools to extend an offer to Deriso Jr., according to 247Sports. He also holds notable offers from Kentucky, UCF, Georgia Tech, Florida Atlantic, Coastal Carolina, Louisville, Mississippi State, Syracuse, Tulane, UConn and USF.

    According to 247Sports, Deriso Jr. will also take official visits to Kentucky and UCF. He will visit UCF after Michigan State on June 6 and then Kentucky after that on June 13.

    Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Robert Bondy on X @RobertBondy5.

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  • Kyle Pitts not in attendance for first OTA practice

    Kyle Pitts not in attendance for first OTA practice

    Kirk Cousins is not the only player absent from Atlanta’s first OTA practice on Tuesday.

    Per Terrin Waack of the team’s website, tight end Kyle Pitts is another player who is not in attendance.

    Pitts, 24, is entering the last year of his rookie contract after the Falcons picked up his fifth-year option last spring. While it’s currently unclear why Pitts is not in attendance, he’s set to earn $10.878 million in 2025.

    Pitts caught 68 passes for 1,026 yards with a touchdown as a rookie in 2021. But he has not reached that kind of production since. In 2024, Pitts caught 47 passes for 602 yards with four touchdowns while playing all 17 games. He was on the field for 62 percent of offensive snaps.

    Pitts also hasn’t reached 100 yards in a game since his rookie season.

    Additionally, Waack noted receiver Ray-Ray McCloud III, linebacker Troy Andersen, outside linebacker Bralen Trice, offensive tackle Kaleb McGary, and defensive lineman Morgan Fox were not on the field on Tuesday.

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  • Future of the College Football Playoff hinges on touchy subject among power conferences: Automatic qualifiers

    Future of the College Football Playoff hinges on touchy subject among power conferences: Automatic qualifiers

    SANDESTIN, Florida — The College Football Playoff’s power players are locked in a showdown on the future format of the postseason tournament, and High Noon is fast approaching.

    The CFP’s executives have conducted several meetings over the last several months to attempt to finalize the format for the 2026 postseason and beyond. The lack of unanimity in discussions has led to an alliance between the ACC and Big 12 to counter the Big Ten and SEC’s power. The nature of the arrangement, as was described to CBS Sports, sets the stage for a showdown between two wildly different 16-team formats.

    During an in-person meeting of power conference heavy-hitters on May 15, reps from the ACC and Big 12 presented a 16-team playoff proposal that would reward automatic berths to the five highest-ranked conference champions with 11 at-large spots. Sources tell CBS Sports the ACC and Big 12 prefer the 5+11 format over the one floated by the Big Ten and SEC: a 4-4-2-2-1 format that would reward four automatic-qualifiers for the Big Ten and SEC, two for the ACC and Big 12, one for the highest ranked Group of Six champion and three at-large teams.

    The Big Ten and SEC’s discussions have happened internally and have yet to be socialized formally with the four autonomous conferences or the CFP Management Committee. 

    “We’re not committed at this point to something,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said Monday evening, the day before his conference’s annual spring meetings.

    One factor behind the Big Ten and SEC’s format preference is that it paves the way for lucrative playoff play-in games in each power conference. Both the Big Ten and SEC would send their top two teams — both in the conference championship game — to the playoff, and would schedule play-in games…

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  • NFL teams likely to fall short of projected 2025 win total: Mike Tomlin-led Steelers face first losing season

    NFL teams likely to fall short of projected 2025 win total: Mike Tomlin-led Steelers face first losing season

    With the player acquisition portion of the NFL offseason in the rearview mirror, organized team activities kicking off around the league and training camps seemingly just around the corner, it’s time for everyone to turn the page. We’re at the point in the offseason where “this season” now refers to 2025, rather than 2024.

    And because that’s the case, we’re going to do some prognosticating around these parts. We’re taking a look at what we can expect from each NFL team this season, from a whole host of different angles.

    One of the ways we want to do that is by trying to peg some teams down on either side of their over/under win totals. We’re using the lines at FanDuel sportsbook and, in the space below, identifying five teams most likely to come up short of their number.

    Over/Under 5.5

    Here’s what I wrote last week about Cleveland’s over/under: “The Browns do not have a quarterback. They also have the second-toughest strength of schedule in the league, based on opponent over/unders. They are going to be really, really bad. They should be in the mix for a top-three pick, and it would be shocking if they got to six wins.” 

    I see no real reason to have changed my tune.

    Over/Under 5.5

    The Saints, much like the Browns, seemingly do not have a quarterback. They’re giving offseason reps to each of Spencer Rattler, Jake Haener and second-round rookie Tyler…

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  • Wisconsin football class of 2026 recruiting OL Kamari Blair visit

    Wisconsin football class of 2026 recruiting OL Kamari Blair visit

    Wisconsin football top-ranked class of 2026 offensive line target Kamari Blair will officially visit Madison the weekend of May 30.

    Considered a four-star recruit by 247Sports and Rivals, Blair received his offer from UW on May 7. The Clarksville, Tennessee, native will also officially visit the South Carolina Gamecocks (June 6), Florida State Seminoles (June 9), Ole Miss Rebels (June 13) and Tennessee Volunteers (June 20) throughout the summer.

    Wisconsin also landed in Blair’s list of final schools on May 16, a group that includes the Gamecocks, Seminoles, Rebels, Volunteers, Badgers and Kentucky Wildcats. The 6-foot-6 lineman also received offers from notable programs, including Penn State, Indiana, North Carolina, Missouri, Louisville and Cincinnati.

    247Sports currently ranks Blair as the No. 287 overall player in the class of 2026, the No. 25 offensive tackle and the No. 9 player from his home state of Tennessee. While the outlet’s analysts have yet to produce a crystal ball prediction for his landing spot, On3’s recruiting prediction machine pegs Tennessee as the favorite at 30.7% — an alteration from its May 16 forecast with South Carolina as the frontrunner at 36.4%.

    Blair joins a sizable list of 2026 prospects with plans to officially visit Madison the weekend of May 30. That list includes four-star wide receiver Jayden Petit, offensive tackle Evan Goodwin, athlete Jackson Ford and running back Amari Latimer, all of whom have emerged as significant recruiting targets for Luke Fickell and the Badgers’ staff.

    As of May 25, Wisconsin’s class of 2026 features seven athletes, with two offensive linemen committed — three-star interior lineman Benjamin Novak and three-star tackle Maddox Cochrane. If he chooses the Badgers, Blair would immediately become their highest-rated addition to the class, regardless of…

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  • Mike North calls Joe Burrow’s complaint about another prime-time game in Baltimore “fair”

    Mike North calls Joe Burrow’s complaint about another prime-time game in Baltimore “fair”

    Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow had two bones to pick about the 2025 schedule: (1) he wanted to play a game overseas; and (2) he didn’t want another night game near the Inner Harbor.

    Burrow’s wish list came up empty. The Bengals don’t play in one of the seven international games, and the Bengals play a prime-time road game against the Ravens in Baltimore, again.

    “Playing in Baltimore for the fourth straight year in prime time isn’t ideal,” Burrow said this week. “Maybe we can get one of those in Cincinnati. Please.”

    It’s also the third straight year the Bengals visit the Ravens on a Thursday night, after playing on the prior Sunday.

    NFL V.P. of broadcast planning & scheduling Mike North doesn’t take issue with the criticism.

    “It’s fair,” North told Geoff Hobson of the team’s official website. “It’s not a one-or-two years sort of a league where you fix every problem every other year or every two years. Once you start getting to the same thing three years in a row, four, or five years in a row, whether it’s a short week Thursday on the road or opening on the road.”

    North said that if he could have one game to change on the schedule, he’d “wave a magic wand” and remove the third straight short-week trip by the Bengals to Baltimore for a Thanksgiving night game.

    North explained that the rivalry nevertheless required one of the games to be in primetime.

    “I’m sure Bengals fans would have preferred it in Cincinnati, but it should be fun for you guys to ruin Baltimore’s Thanksgiving,” North said.

    Baltimore has won four in a row against the Bengals, and three in a row against Cincinnati at home. The rematch comes only two weeks later, at 1:00 p.m. ET on the Sunday of Week 15.

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