NFL News Updates

Author: nfltalk

  • College football odds, bets: Why Oklahoma State is undervalued as a Big 12 championship contender

    College football odds, bets: Why Oklahoma State is undervalued as a Big 12 championship contender

    There’s just something about playing underdog that Mike Gundy seems to love, no matter how much he wins. Oklahoma State was picked seventh in last season’s Big 12 preseason poll. Months later, the Pokes upset Oklahoma in the final Bedlam and played for a Big 12 championship. The Cowboys have reached double-digit wins eight times under Gundy’s watch. Half came after starting the year unranked in the preseason AP Top 25. 

    But in 2024, the lack of attention is head-scratching. Oklahoma State has the seventh-best odds to win the Big 12 championship, behind teams like Iowa State and Texas Tech. The Cowboys are tied with UCF, which went 6-7 during a frustrating first season as a power conference team. Ironically, the only Knights win against a legacy Power Five team came against OSU. 

    Granted, Oklahoma State was by no means dominant during its run to the Big 12 title game. Bizarre losses to UCF and South Alabama came by a combined 78-10. The Cowboys needed double overtime to survive a late charge from BYU. But still, Oklahoma State steadily held its ground. Heading into 2024, last season feels far more like an early arrival than a peak. 

    For one, running back Ollie Gordon II is back after a Doak Walker Award-winning campaign. Gordon rushed for 1,732 yards and 21 touchdowns during a breakout sophomore season and will enter the 2024 season as the top returning rusher in the sport by a wide margin. 247Sports ranks his offensive line No. 1 in the nation, ahead of behemoths at LSU and Georgia. The unit boasts five starters, including tackles Dalton Cooper and Jake Springfield who combine for 89 starts. 

    Overall, Oklahoma State ranks No. 3 in returning production nationally per ESPN, trailing only Iowa State and Stanford. An absurd 85% of…

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  • Cowboys’ Dak Prescott included in C.J. Stroud’s rankings of the NFL’s top 5 quarterbacks

    Cowboys’ Dak Prescott included in C.J. Stroud’s rankings of the NFL’s top 5 quarterbacks

    C.J. Stroud did some back-tracking after revealing his initial list of the NFL’s top-five quarterbacks based off of the 2023 season. One of the things that remained consistent, however, was Stroud’s inclusion of Dallas Cowboys’ quarterback Dak Prescott.  

    In order, Stroud initially tabbed Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, himself, Prescott and Jalen Hurts as the NFL’s top quarterbacks during an appearance on the “Million Dollaz Worth of Game” podcast. Stroud later called an audible, however. 

    In his updated list (which he posted on his Instagram account), Stroud kept the top-three quarterbacks the same, but gave the No. 4 spot to Josh Allen and moved Prescott to the fifth and final spot while omitting Hurts. Stroud added that he feels Joe Burrow is also among the NFL’s top 5 quarterbacks. Burrow, though, missed nearly half of the 2023 season with an injury, which was surely the reason why he was left off of Stroud’s list. 

    Stroud took some heat on the podcast for his inclusion of Prescott, who led the NFL last season with 36 touchdown passes. Prescott also led Dallas to a 12-5 record to improve to 73-41 as the Cowboys’ starting quarterback since 2016. Prescott fell to 2-5 as a postseason starter, however, after Dallas was upset by Jordan Love and the Packers in the NFC wild card round. 

    “Dak’s that boy,” Stroud said. “Ya’ll not gonna say that because he ain’t won the big one yet.”

    Polarizing would be a good word to sum up Prescott’s career so far. He hit the ground running as a rookie, leading the Cowboys to a 13-3 record en route to Pro Bowl and Offensive Rookie of the Year Honors. But his numbers (and the Cowboys’ record) dipped in 2017, largely due to running back Ezekiel Elliott’s six-game suspension. 

    Prescott returned to his Pro Bowl form in 2018 while helping lead the Cowboys to only their third playoff win since the franchise’s last Super Bowl triumph. He put up big…

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  • 2026 Georgia linebacker set for another Ohio State visit

    2026 Georgia linebacker set for another Ohio State visit

    One of the biggest coaching moves Ohio State made this offseason was to promote James Laurinaitis to linebackers coach.

    This move has already paid dividends on the recruiting trail as the Buckeyes landed a commitment from 2025 four-star linebacker Tarvos Alford in late March.

    In the 2026 class, Ohio State has put out offers to 12 linebackers thus far.  Amongst those to receive an offer is Anthony Davis who is rated by On 3 Industry rankings as a four-star recruited and 17th linebacker in the class.

    Davis has already shown early interest in the Buckeyes as he visited Ohio State and received an offer in mid April.  That interest has continued as on Saturday Davis announced that he will be visiting the Buckeyes again for a visit on June 5th.

    It’s still early in the recruitment process as Davis still has two full seasons of high school football left but Ohio State appears to have a chance to land the talented linebacker who has already received 28 offers from many of the other top programs in college football.

    Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion. Follow Evan Bachman on X.

    Story originally appeared on Buckeye Wire

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  • Where does Trevor Lawrence rank in 2024? | Yahoo Fantasy Football Show

    Where does Trevor Lawrence rank in 2024? | Yahoo Fantasy Football Show

    Yahoo Sports fantasy analysts Matt Harmon and Andy Behrens discuss the ups and downs of the Jacksonville quarterback and where he ranks heading into this season. Hear the full conversation on the “Yahoo Fantasy Football Show” podcast – and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

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    Video Transcript

    So let’s just quickly have the Trevor Lawrence conversation.

    I know Andy, by the time we were got done with the panic meter segment last year, we were so sick of talking about the Jaguars offense.

    I think we, we put, we definitely, we put them in the coping corner, right?

    It feel, it feels like we probably did at some point.

    Uh My God, that that might as well be a different lifetime ago, talk about the damn coping corner.

    Um but yeah, Trevor Lawrence, like what, what, how bullish are you about Lawrence in terms of like making that leap?

    Um because a again like quarterback ranking wise, like people still that, you know, like, uh Derek Claton who does, you know, charting work for us at reception perception on quarterbacks like he still is very bullish on Trevor Lawrence as a real life quarterback.

    Um Obviously for from a fantasy perspective last year, it was a really like a stone cold disaster because he was the type of guy that you just kind of like kept rolling out.

    You really could never stream somebody over him.

    Uh So you couldn’t believe it was the worst fantasy quarterback to have last year to draft.

    Um, what, what, what’s the Trevor Lawrence outlook like this season?

    Yeah, you wouldn’t, I mean, you wouldn’t know it from my fantasy ranks.

    Right.

    Because I’m not particularly bullish on them.

    I’ve got them in the, I’ve got them in the higher teens, I think, like, maybe QB, 1718, something like that.

    And part of the reason for that is I, I’ve, I’ve kind of resigned myself to the fact that we’re just, the Jaguars are not gonna let him run.

    Um, he was a, he was a great running quarterback at the college level and like, he, in my mind, he is somebody who…

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  • Utah’s Cam Rising, Tennessee’s Bru McCoy among top players with extra year of eligibility from NCAA settlement

    Utah’s Cam Rising, Tennessee’s Bru McCoy among top players with extra year of eligibility from NCAA settlement

    The United States Department of Justice announced Thursday that it filed a proposed consent decree that will prohibit the NCAA from enforcing its Transfer Eligibility Rule, or any related rules that impose restrictions on athletic transfers between Division I schools. 

    The proposed consent decree — which still requires court approval — would retroactively apply to any transfers forced to sit out under the NCAA’s Transfer Eligibility Rule. One of the provisions states that Division I student-athletes deemed ineligible for any portion of a season during or since the 2019-20 academic year will be granted an extra season of eligibility by the NCAA.  

    This revision is also contingent on whether the athlete is currently eligible to compete, or their eligibility expired during the 2023-24 academic year. Obviously, this latest turn opens the door for several athletes to take advantage of that extra year of eligibility. 

    Here are some college football stars that could benefit from the latest change to the NCAA’s transfer policy. 

    Cam Rising, QB, Utah 

    This decision opens the door for Rising to return for an almost unprecedented eighth season. Whether the longtime Utah signal caller will actually do that remains to be seen, but he’s already transcended veteran status at this point. Rising initially signed with Texas in 2018 under former coach Tom Herman but transferred to Utah in 2019. Per NCAA rules at the time, he had to sit out his first year with the Utes. He was named Utah’s starter for the 2020 season opener against USC but suffered a season-ending injury that ended his campaign after just a couple of quarters. He started in 24 games from 2021-22 but a devastating injury in the 2023 Rose Bowl sidelined him for an entire season. Rising…

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  • Why it’s not all about sacks for Lions’ Dan Campbell when it comes to success of Aidan Hutchinson, defense

    Why it’s not all about sacks for Lions’ Dan Campbell when it comes to success of Aidan Hutchinson, defense

    The approach to measuring how successful an NFL team’s pass rush is isn’t an exact science. So, what’s more important: sack numbers or quarterback pressure numbers?

    For the Detroit Lions, the 2023 NFC runner-up, the answer is multi-faceted. The Lions’ 41 sacks as a defense this past season ranked 23rd despite having a top-five quarterback pressure total (274, the third-most in the NFL) and rate (41.6%, the fourth-best in the NFL). The issue was converting their consistent quarterback pressure into sacks, which they did at a rate of 6.5%, the 11th-lowest in the NFL. 

    Detroit head coach Dan Campbell said he would “absolutely” prefer to have better sack figures than pressure figures in a vacuum, but he also explained the nuance about sacks versus quarterback pressure rate in depth this week. 

     Detroit head coach Dan Campbell said he would “absolutely” prefer to have better sack figures than pressure figures in a vacuum, but he also explained the nuance about sacks versus quarterback pressure rate in depth this week. 

    “Sacks aren’t that big of a deal as long you’re getting the pressures,” Campbell said at his press conference on Thursday. “As long as you’re getting pressures, and those pressures show up and affect the quarterback negatively, you know? Now would you rather have sacks? Absolutely, I would rather have sacks. The loss of yardage, all of those things, but the pressures … a pressure that affects the quarterback. … We watched a couple clips this morning in front of the team. Quarterback is wanting to step up. He can’t step up, the throw is high. He’s flipping to his right, and he can’t get his hips around. Throw a pick. These things that end up in negative plays as incomplete, as turnovers, whatever, I’ll take those all day long.”

    The problem for the Lions in 2023, despite all their success, is their consistent pressure didn’t always result in generating a negative play…

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  • Pro Football Focus ranks top running back rooms. Where is Ohio State?

    Pro Football Focus ranks top running back rooms. Where is Ohio State?

    It’s no secret that the Ohio State football team has a ton of talent coming back. And while everyone likes to talk about how talented the defense will be, there’s plenty of it on the offensive end as well.

    Look no further than the duo at the running back position as proof of the talent at the skill positions on that side of the ball. It could be argued that the Buckeyes have one of the best backfields in the country with both TreVeyeon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins looking to make opposing defensive coordinators scratch their heads.

    But don’t just take our word for it. In fact, Pro Football Focus released its top ten backfields in college football for 2024 and Ohio State was at the very top. Rounding out the top ten was UCF (2), Georgia (3), Penn State (4), Ole Miss (5), Miami (FL) (6), Oregon (7), Kansas (8), Kansas State (9), and West Virginia (10).

    While the Buckeyes are in great shape in the running back room, they will need the quarterback position and offensive line to have improved play from last season to crush all of the goals for this season.

    Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion. Follow Phil Harrison on X.

    Story originally appeared on Buckeye Wire

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  • Mike McCarthy: Trey Lance is close to being a master of the Cowboys’ system

    Mike McCarthy: Trey Lance is close to being a master of the Cowboys’ system

    The 49ers made Trey Lance the third overall pick in the draft after he had started just 17 games at North Dakota State. Then they traded him to the Cowboys after he had started just four games in San Francisco. Lance never played a down in his first year with the Cowboys, so there still isn’t much to evaluate him on. But coach Mike McCarthy likes what he sees this offseason.

    McCarthy said Lance is “definitely” an improved quarterback compared to where he was when he arrived in Dallas last year, and that his work in learning the Cowboys’ offense has been outstanding.

    “Young quarterback comes into a new system, so you got the learning curve, but now starting to get the timing with the routes,” McCarthy said. “He’s close to being a master of the system. He has a really high understanding. He’s communicating very well. He looks more and more comfortable. He just needs reps. I know I say that every time I talk about him. He just needs as many reps as he can.”

    Lance probably isn’t going to do much in Dallas, given that he’s behind not only Dak Prescott but also Cooper Rush on the depth chart. But all he can do now is put in the work in the offseason, and McCarthy says that’s what he’s doing. Perhaps some day, Lance will actually get some significant playing time.

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