NFL News Updates

Author: nfltalk

  • College football odds: Georgia, Notre Dame among best win total bets to make ahead of 2025 season

    College football odds: Georgia, Notre Dame among best win total bets to make ahead of 2025 season

    The 2024 college football season brought widespread upheaval with conference consolidation, the eradication of divisions in the ACC, Big Ten and SEC, the expansion of the College Football Playoff and 14 Power Four coaching changes. While the college sports enterprise as a whole remains in a period of transition, the 2025 football season is lighter on change.

    There are no membership changes in any Power Four conference and just six P4 head coaching changes are taking hold. The CFP is also holding steady at 12 for at least one more year. Arguably, the most significant winds of change are at the quarterback position, as seven of the top 10 teams in the CBS Sports 136 preseason rankings will be debuting new starting quarterbacks.

    Indiana and Tennessee are playoff teams from last season that are in the same boat, and mighty Michigan may start a true freshman, Bryce Underwood, under center. QB changes are also in store at Ole Miss, Oklahoma and Utah, just to name a few more. As such, many team win total bets hinge, in large part, among on talent at the game’s most important position. 

    Bowl projections: Preseason outlook for College Football Playoff field as SEC leads way in projected bracket

    Brad Crawford

    We aren’t shying away from that reality in this year’s edition of the best win total bets, as all five plays are on teams with new starting quarterbacks. The track record…

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  • Justin Herbert says he requested to play in the preseason

    Justin Herbert says he requested to play in the preseason

    Justin Herbert has never played in the preseason. He will play in this preseason.

    The Chargers quarterback asked coach Jim Harbaugh to suit up and get some snaps, something he has never done in his career. Herbert will start and play a few plays against the Rams on Saturday.

    “It was actually me going to him and saying, ‘Hey, would it be OK if I went in and played?’” Herbert said, via Eric Smith of the team website. “Because I think in years past, the plan was to rest. But I wanted to go out there and feel the pass rush because in practice, as a quarterback, you don’t always get the true feeling of the pass rush.

    “So, I thought it’d be helpful to go out there. He was understanding and he worked together talking through it.”

    Herbert originally was scheduled to play last weekend’s preseason opener against the Saints. Rashawn Slater’s season-ending knee injury forced a shuffling of the offensive line and prompted the Chargers to sit Herbert.

    “We had to adjust and worked toward this being the week to play,” Herbert said.

    The Chargers made Herbert a 2020 first-round selection, but the NFL didn’t have a preseason that year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He didn’t dress for any exhibition games from 2021-23 and was dealing with a plantar fascia injury in his right foot last year.

    This year, he’s healthy and willing.

    “I just thought it was something that can help,” Herbert said. “I just thought this was something that could be good for me and good for the team.”

    Backup quarterbacks Taylor Heinicke and Trey Lance also will play Saturday, Harbaugh said.

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  • 2005 USC football played in two of the best games of the 21st century

    2005 USC football played in two of the best games of the 21st century

    As USC football gets set to kick off its 2025 season in just a few weeks, the Trojans do so without much national hype surrounding this year’s team. 20 years ago this time, however, the complete opposite was the case. 2005 USC was coming off back-to-back national championships, returning the Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback, and was the consensus preseason No. 1 team as it pursued a historic third consecutive title.

    While the 2005 Trojans would come up just short of achieving their ultimate goal, they did play in two of the greatest college football games of all time. Earlier this offseason, The Athletic released a list of their top 25 college football games of the 21st century thus far. Two of the top five contests featured 2005 USC.

    Coming in at No. 4 was the Trojans’ 35-31 victory that October over archrival Notre Dame—a.k.a. the “Bush Push” game. Here is what writer David Ubben had to say about the contest:

    “Two-time national champions brought a 27-game winning streak to Notre Dame Stadium for a top-10 showdown that lived up to the hype,” Ubben wrote. “Notre Dame took a 31-28 lead on a Brady Quinn 5-yard run with 2:04 to play that capped an 87-yard drive. USC responded, and QB Matt Leinart floated a perfect ball over the top to single-covered Dwayne Jarrett for a 61-yard gain on fourth-and-9 to get the Trojans into the red zone.

    “USC had no timeouts, and on first-and-goal from the 3-yard line with eight seconds left, Leinart dived for the pylon, but a helmet on the ball forced it out of bounds at the 4. The clock ran out, and fans rushed the field to celebrate the win. But the officials huddled and correctly put seven seconds back on the clock, spotting the ball at the 1-yard line.”

    “Leinart decided to sneak it, an attempt that was initially stoned before he spun to his left and Reggie Bush pushed him over the…

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  • Taylor Swift on New Heights podcast: Seven things we learned from her appearance with Travis and Jason Kelce

    Taylor Swift on New Heights podcast: Seven things we learned from her appearance with Travis and Jason Kelce

    Taylor Swift did what she does best this week by breaking the internet with the announcement of a new album. But this time she did it with the help of Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce, her boyfriend of nearly two years. The music superstar appeared on “New Heights,” the podcast Kelce does with his brother, Super Bowl champion and retired Philadelphia Eagles star Jason Kelce.

    The appearance of a “special guest” for Wednesday’s episode was teased for days. And as Swifties do, they immediately began to investigate, looking for any clue to confirm that this guest was Swift herself. That confirmation came Tuesday. And then at 12:12 a.m. Wednesday morning, the news of her new album — title and all — was confirmed with a preview of the episode, which included an excited reaction from Jason upon seeing the album’s cover for the first time.

    The teasing of the album details only increased the anticipation for the premiere of the full episode Wednesday night. And Jason’s introduction of Swift on the episode matched that energy level. 

    Wearing a shirt with her face on it, Jason rattled off some of her biggest accomplishments, including being the only artist to win the Grammy for Album of the Year four times. He also made sure to include her stats as a Chiefs fan. 

    “As a fan of that guy on the Chiefs, she has 19 wins, two AFC titles and a Super Bowl,” Jason said. 

    Taylor Swift announces new album on Travis Kelce’s ‘New Heights’ podcast, her first interview since 2023

    Zachary Pereles

    Swift quipped about the…

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  • Tennessee announces new apparel deal with Adidas, which includes ‘unprecedented’ NIL program

    Tennessee announces new apparel deal with Adidas, which includes ‘unprecedented’ NIL program

    Tennessee athletics is officially making the switch back to Adidas as its apparel and equipment partner, the school announced on Wednesday. In addition to the traditional apparel partnership, Adidas will be providing Tennessee athletes with NIL opportunities throughout the deal.

    The Volunteers were originally partnered with Adidas from 1995-2014, at which point they made the jump to Nike. Just over a decade later, Tennessee and Adidas are reuniting on a 10-year deal, which will take effect in July 2026.

    During its original run with Nike, Tennessee was no stranger to success on the national stage, including championships in football and basketball. While those memories are nice to have, one of the biggest factors in this deal for the Vols was Adidas’ support in the NIL landscape.

    “This partnership provides us with a significant advantage in the ever-evolving landscape of college sports,” Tennessee athletic director Danny White said in a statement. “We take pride in our fan base and the competitive edge they offer us. We refuse to partner with someone who does not feel the same way.”

    CBS Sports Preseason All-America team: College football’s best and brightest entering the 2025 season

    CBS Sports Staff

    In its announcement, Tennessee said that Adidas would provide “unprecedented” NIL opportunities for athletes across all 20 of the school’s varsity sports. In fact, Adidas…

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  • Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle to practice for Dolphins Wednesday

    Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle to practice for Dolphins Wednesday

    The Dolphins will have their top two wide receivers back on the field for Wednesday’s joint practice with the Lions.

    Head coach Mike McDaniel said that Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle will both participate in the workout. Edge rusher Jaelan Phillips will not take part in Wednesday’s practice due to an undisclosed injury.

    Hill has been sidelined by an oblique injury in recent days. McDaniel said, via multiple reporters, that his workload will be monitored so that “we can protect him against himself.”

    Waddle hurt himself during last week’s joint practices with the Bears and McDaniel called him day-to-day earlier this week. Neither he nor Hill took part in the team’s preseason opener, but both appear set to get some work against an opposing defense this week.

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  • Wolverines targeting former player’s 5-star brother

    Wolverines targeting former player’s 5-star brother

    One of the best players in the 2022 Michigan football recruiting class was defensive back Keon Sabb. Sabb spent a couple of seasons with the Wolverines and won a national championship with the program before transferring to Alabama. Now, Sherrone Moore is going after his brother, five-star 2027 wide receiver Xavier Sabb.

    Xavier Sabb is one of the best players in the 2027 recruiting class, and the Michigan football team wants him. While his brother transferring away from the program seems like it could be a bad sign, Xavier still has great things to say about the program.

    “I love Michigan,” he said, according to an article from On3. “We would go there all the time to see my brother. I love the campus. The coaches were great. They treated us like family. A lot of people have issues with the weather, but I like it. You can put more drip on (laughs). The food there is good, too.”

    If Xavier is going to come to Michigan, he needs to see some changes in the offense. As en elite WR, it makes sense that he wants that. With Bryce Underwood at quarterback, the Wolverines can do that.

    “I want to see them switch up the offense and pass the ball a little bit more,” he admitted. “With that type of quarterback, they can really sling the ball around. I want to see what the offense looks like now that they are looking to throw the ball more.”

    Michigan is an option for Xavier, and Keon will be a big factor in his recruitment.

    “I’m still considering Michigan,” Xavier added. “Keon still plays a big part. He’s been to Michigan. He can tell me what he likes about Michigan and what it was like there. Michigan is still a school I’m going to be looking at for sure.”

    The next step for Xavier would be getting back on campus for another visit. He is hoping to make that happen.

    “I would love to get back out there for…

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  • Jon Gruden vs. NFL lawsuit: League to appeal Nevada Supreme Court ruling to allow suit to proceed

    Jon Gruden vs. NFL lawsuit: League to appeal Nevada Supreme Court ruling to allow suit to proceed

    Getty Images

    The National Football League plans to appeal a ruling by the Nevada Supreme Court that will allow former Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden to proceed with his lawsuit and not go through the league for arbitration, according to the Associated Press. Gruden sued the NFL in November 2021, claiming that the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell had organized a “malicious and orchestrated campaign” to destroy his career by leaking old emails he had sent that included offensive language.

    By a 5-2 decision, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled Monday that the NFL constitution and bylaws’ arbitration clause “does not apply to Gruden as a former employee and is unconscionable,” allowing Gruden’s lawsuit to proceed in public. The NFL will now request a rehearing from the same court.

    Jon Gruden NFL lawsuit timeline: How the former Raiders coach has battled in court over leaked email scandal

    Brad Crawford

    Gruden’s lawsuit centers around the content of emails that he had sent to former Washington Commanders executive Bruce Allen while working as an on-air analyst at ESPN, which were leaked to media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal and New York Times during a league investigation into Washington’s workplace culture. Gruden claims that the NFL selectively leaked his emails, which contained allegedly racist, misogynistic and anti-gay remarks, in an attempt to…

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