NFL News Updates

Author: nfltalk

  • Caitlin Clark makes more history; best Leap Day sports moments

    Caitlin Clark makes more history; best Leap Day sports moments

    This is an article version of the CBS Sports HQ AM Newsletter, the ultimate guide to every day in sports. You can sign up to get it in your inbox every weekday morning here.

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    🏀 Good morning to everyone but especially …

    CAITLIN CLARK

    Sorry, record book writers: Caitlin Clark isn’t slowing down. Under two weeks after breaking Kelsey Plum‘s NCAA women’s scoring record, the Iowa superstar passed Lynette Woodard for most points in major-program women’s college basketball history.

    It requires a bit of explanation: Woodard starred for Kansas from 1977-81, racking up 3,649 career points. However, the NCAA did not begin sponsoring women’s basketball until 1982, so Woodard is nowhere to be found in NCAA record books; she played when the sport was under the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women.

    This has caused Woodard to go unfairly unrecognized for years, but Clark’s excellence has helped shine some light on just how good Woodard was. When asked what she would say when Clark broke her record, Woodard responded, “Hey,…

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  • Rams’ big offseason thing: Get more out of the defense

    Rams’ big offseason thing: Get more out of the defense

    Yahoo Sports’ Jason Fitz looks at the one big thing for Los Angeles’s offseason – which involves boosting the defense around superstar lineman Aaron Donald.

    Video Transcript

    – It’s time to take a look at one big thing facing the LA Rams this offseason. It’s, How do you make that defense better? Now we didn’t have high expectations for the Rams coming into this season. I think we can all be honest about that. They were one of the youngest teams in the NFL. And frankly, on both sides of the ball, we found ourselves wondering if this was even going to be a competitive team.

    And all of a sudden, the Rams were not only competitive, they were very good. The Rams were ahead of schedule. They won’t have that grace this year, as everybody is going to have more expectations. But the alarming thing is that the Rams have got to figure out how to fix their defense, which is strange to say on a defense that has Aaron Donald. But if you look at the numbers last year, the defense just wasn’t good enough, especially when it comes to pass rush.

    Now I’d love to think that the Rams could simply go out and address that. But they’ve also got to figure out a way to keep some important free agents in-house. They’ve got offensive line issues they’ve got to keep in place. They’ve got to figure out what they’re going to do with Matt Stafford long-term. Are they going to eventually draft a replacement for Stafford? Are they going to use some of their 10 picks in the NFL draft to move up?

    There are all of these questions around the Rams. But realistically, the one question that they’ve got to answer right away is, How do you get better defensively? Because we’ve seen, yet again, Sean McVay, who can never be questioned for his offensive brilliance, has found a way to make the most out of every single person that comes into that offense. Now that you know that that offense is going to be as good as it’s going to be for as long as he’s ever going to be there, the only thing you need to focus on, if…

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  • BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick previews spring camp, dishes on QB situation, transfer portal needs

    BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick previews spring camp, dishes on QB situation, transfer portal needs

    BYU Cougars quarterbacks coach Aaron Roderick watches from he sidelines as Jake Retzlaff works with the offense as BYU’s football team practices in Provo on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023. The Cougars open spring camp Thursday, which is when the battle for QB1 officially begins. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

    Get ready for what is arguably going to be the most important starting quarterback competition in BYU football coach Kalani Sitake’s nine-year tenure.

    The madness begins Thursday, as the Cougars begin spring practices in Provo — most likely at the Indoor Practice Facility, since the calendar, and the weather, say it is Feb. 29 — with one primary goal in mind: Get better, and fast.

    Finding a capable, playmaking, turnover-avoiding starting quarterback will go a long way toward BYU realizing that objective, and erasing last year’s disappointing 5-7 campaign that showed the Cougars weren’t quite ready to compete in the Big 12.

    “So Gerry (Bohanon) and Jake (Retzlaff) will get the bulk of the reps, and then we will find ways to get Cade (Fennegan), Ryder (Burton) and Treyson (Bourguet) in there to see who we think the third guy is.”

    BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick

    So who’s it going to be?

    Offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick spoke exclusively to the Deseret News last week and said, “Spring ball will be a competition between Jake (Retzlaff) and Gerry (Bohanon) for the starting job. It is a two-way race right now.”

    Retzlaff is the incumbent, of sorts, after he spelled an ailing Kedon Slovis and started in BYU’s final four games, all losses. Bohanon is the well-traveled, experienced QB who began his career at Baylor before losing the starting job to Blake Shapen in Waco and transferring to South Florida.

    Roderick said the coaching staff didn’t scour the transfer portal for a QB this offseason as…

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  • 2024 NFL offseason moves: Browns restructure Denzel Ward’s contract, Chiefs cut veteran WR, per reports

    2024 NFL offseason moves: Browns restructure Denzel Ward’s contract, Chiefs cut veteran WR, per reports

    Getty Images

    Last week, the NFL announced the official salary cap figure for 2024: $255.4 million. That number is $30.6 million more than the cap in 2023, making it the largest increase in free agency history. While this announcement benefits every team, there’s still work to be done for some clubs. 

    As of Feb. 26, there are seven teams still over the cap number: the San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers, Miami Dolphins, New Orleans Saints and Buffalo Bills. A couple of different ways these teams can create cap space is by releasing players, or restructuring contracts. Early this week, we saw a handful of restructures and cuts, which we will break down below.

    Restructures

    DL Carl Granderson, Saints: New Orleans completed a conversion on Granderson’s contract, which cleared $7.2 million in cap space. The 27-year-old joined the Saints as an undrafted free agent out of Wyoming in 2019. In 2023, he recorded a career-high 8.5 sacks after signing a four-year, $52 million extension in September. (NFL Media)EDGE Rashan Gary, Packers: Green Bay restructured Gary’s contract, creating $4.781 million in cap space. The former No. 12 overall pick out of Michigan signed a four-year, $107 million extension in October. Gary recorded nine sacks in 2023. (NFL Media)OL Connor McGovern, Bills: Buffalo guaranteed McGovern’s deal for 2024, and cleared $3.74 million. The former Cowboy signed a three-year deal with the Bills this offseason, and started in all 17 games. (NFL Media)CB Denzel Ward, Browns: Cleveland restructured Ward’s contract, freeing up $11.359 million in cap space by converting that much of the Pro Bowl cornerback’s salary into a restructured bonus. The move puts the Browns just under the…..

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  • Michigan coaching staff: Breaking down Sherrone Moore’s assistant hires in Year 1 replacing Jim Harbaugh

    Michigan coaching staff: Breaking down Sherrone Moore’s assistant hires in Year 1 replacing Jim Harbaugh

    Just two months into 2024, it’s already been a wild year for Michigan football. The Wolverines began the year by winning the College Football Playoff National Championship — its first national title win since 1997. Then, they saw head coach Jim Harbaugh return to the NFL with the Los Angeles Chargers after guiding his alma mater to national glory. More significant was that Harbaugh took a significant chunk of the coaching staff with him.

    Sherrone Moore, who earned plenty of head coaching experience during the 2023 season while Harbaugh served multiple suspensions, was quickly promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach. The promotion made sense and surprised nobody. The bigger question surrounding Moore, however, surrounded the construction of his coaching staff after the assistants followed Harbaugh to the Chargers.

    With Moore’s first staff largely complete (there are still some questions about running backs coach Mike Hart’s status), let’s break down what the Michigan sideline will look like in the first season post-Harbaugh. 

    Offensive staff

    Kirk Campbell — Offensive coordinator/QB coach: The 37-year-old Campbell has no previous Power Five coordinator experience but was quickly promoted by Moore to be his replacement, so it’s clear the first-year coach has confidence in him to do the job. Before spending the 2023 season as Michigan’s QB coach, he was an offensive analyst in 2022 and had J.J. McCarthy in his corner last offseason. Other Michigan players have spoken highly of Campbell as well. It’s not a splashy hire, but in an offseason full of changes, there’s value in familiarity. Perhaps Moore views Campbell’s potential the same way Harbaugh once saw Moore’s.

    Grant Newsome — Offensive line: Newsome played tackle for…

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  • Patriots’ new draft grading system among takeaways from NFL Combine

    Patriots’ new draft grading system among takeaways from NFL Combine

    Patriots’ new draft grading system among takeaways from NFL Combine originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

    The New England Patriots have a new man making roster decisions, and he’s implementing a new draft grading system.

    The last five or six drafts have produced a couple good players for the Patriots, but these classes overall have been mostly underwhelming. For the Patriots to get back to contender status in the AFC, getting more talent out of the draft has to be a huge priority.

    Eliot Wolf has taken over as the director of player personnel, and his front office is going to be using a draft grading system that’s different from what Bill Belichick used over the last 24 years.

    🔊 Next Pats: DRAFT and DEVELOP: Eliot Wolf is bringing the Packer Way to the Patriots | Listen & Subscribe | Watch on YouTube

    The new grading system was among Phil Perry’s key takeaways from Wolf’s presser at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis on Tuesday.

    “(It was) interesting to hear because we have gone over this and over it and over it again this time of year, the last several years, the Patriots’ grading system under Bill Belichick,” Perry said on a new episode of the Next Pats Podcast.

    “And we’ve done complete podcast episodes where for 20 minutes, I’ll break down for you what a Patriots grade would look like and what the numbers mean and what the lowercase letters and the capital letters and the color coding and all that goes into one little card next to a player’s name on their draft board. There’s a lot of information compiled into those cards, and if you’re not accustomed to seeing players graded that way, my guess is for scouts, it could be pretty complicated.

    “They’ve changed that. They’re into a new grading system. Now it’s going to be closer to what Eliot Wolf and Alonzo Highsmith, now part of this Patriots front office as a senior personnel executive, were used to dealing with in Green Bay. So you’re going to have the Packer Way here in New England from a front office…

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  • LSU planning to play Harold Perkins as an inside linebacker again in 2024

    LSU planning to play Harold Perkins as an inside linebacker again in 2024

    LSU’s Harold Perkins had 7.5 sacks as a freshman in 2022. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

    LSU wants to use Harold Perkins in the middle of the defense once again in 2024.

    As the linebacker enters his third season with the Tigers, coach Brian Kelly wants Perkins to continue the transition to inside linebacker. Perkins played part of the 2023 season as an off-ball linebacker after he was a breakout star on the edge in 2022 as a freshman.

    “He needs to be in the action,” LSU coach Brian Kelly told the Baton Rouge Advocate. “He needs to be the [weakside] linebacker. He needs to be in the box. He needs to be active in there. That’s where he’s going to start, and we’ve got to get him ready at that position.”

    Perkins is listed at 6-foot-1, 220 pounds — much smaller than a typical edge rusher, especially in the NFL. But his size didn’t prohibit him from being one of the most disruptive players in the SEC off the corner in 2022. Perkins had 13 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks as a freshman. He singlehandedly dominated Arkansas as a freshman with three sacks and two forced fumbles and also recorded a sack and eight tackles in a win over Alabama that season.

    But despite Perkins’ pass-rush success in 2022, Kelly and his staff wanted to put him in a different role in 2023. Perkins spent the offseason working as a linebacker who could do a little bit of everything and even play some pass coverage.

    Perkins’ inexperience when it came to his new position was on full display in LSU’s season-opening loss to Florida State. He hardly made an impact as Florida State announced to the country that it was worthy of the College Football Playoff.

    He ultimately finished the season with 5.5 sacks and 74 tackles as he learned the nuances of his new responsibilities.

    This season, Perkins will be playing for a…

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  • 2024 NFL free agency: Ranking available salary cap space for all 32 teams; Commanders on top

    2024 NFL free agency: Ranking available salary cap space for all 32 teams; Commanders on top

    Getty Images

    The NFL offseason is officially underway, as the combine takes place this week, while free agency begins next week. Recently, the NFL announced that the official salary cap figure for 2024 would be $255.4 million — which is up from $224.8 million. The $30.6 million increase is the largest in free agency history.

    The “football business” is doing quite well, which is good news for all 32 NFL teams, as it gives them more financial flexibility for roster building. Some teams will use this boost to be even more aggressive in free agency, while others will sit back and reconsider cost-cutting measures.

    Now that we are approaching free agency, this is a good time to revisit the salary cap situations for every team. Let’s take a look. 

    Salary cap figures via Over The Cap on Feb. 26

    Commanders

    $79,614,671

    Titans

    $78,524,381

    Bears

    $78,335,157

    Patriots

    $78,070,006

    Colts

    $72,075,573

    Texans

    $67,321,290

    Lions

    $57,614,821

    Cardinals

    $51,104,463

    Bengals

    $50,670,373

    Buccaneers

    $43,682,067

    Raiders

    $42,936,109

    Rams

    $39,905,695

    Vikings

    $35,807,132

    Panthers

    $34,572,274

    Falcons

    $33,004,013

    Giants

    $30,601,691

    Eagles

    $27,469,811

    Jaguars

    $24,421,167

    Chiefs

    $17,139,240

    Ravens

    $16,631,328

    Jets

    $12,756,122

    Seahawks

    $12,569,647

    Steelers

    $8,906,955

    Packers

    $2,340,288

    49ers

    -$5,046,251

    Browns

    -$7,758,897

    Cowboys

    -$9,863,127

    Broncos

    -$16,811,078

    Chargers

    -$25,607,797

    Dolphins

    -$29,069,894

    Saints

    -$39,879,497

    Bills

    -$43,815,909

    The Commanders, who also hold the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, lead the way with over $79 million in available funds. It’s a good thing, because they have plenty of holes to fill on both sides of the ball. The Titans will be an interesting team to watch as well. They have the second-most available money as it stands, and are prepared to undergo a change in identity with Brian…

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