NFL News Updates

Author: nfltalk

  • Best 10 linebackers ahead of 2025

    Best 10 linebackers ahead of 2025

    Cincinnati high school sports video highlights, 2024-2025

    Media partner Fox19 Sports provided a sizzle reel of top high school sports moments for the 2024-2025 Enquirer High School Sports Awards.

    Fox19 Sports

    The Enquirer is ranking the top 10 high school football linebackers in Southwest Ohio, Northern Kentucky, and Southeast Indiana.The list includes players from various schools, including St. Xavier, Campbell County, Anderson, Taft, Princeton, and more.Many of the listed linebackers are highly recruited prospects with offers from major college programs.Readers are encouraged to vote for the top linebacker in the region.

    With the start of another high school football season around the corner, The Enquirer is ranking the best players in Southwest Ohio, Northern Kentucky and Southeast Indiana. 

    Linebackers are typically the leaders of the defense while calling out signals and showcasing their versatility by covering against the pass and crashing the gaps near the line of scrimmage to defend the run. 

    Here are the best 10 linebackers to watch across the Cincinnati gridiron this fall, listed alphabetically. 

    At the end of this story, remember to vote for the top linebacker in the city.

    Jakobe Clapper, St. Xavier

    A first-team All-Ohio selection and the Greater Catholic League-South’s Co-Defensive Player of the Year in 2024, Clapper helped anchor a St. Xavier defense that led the league in scoring, yielding just 14.6 points per game.

    He finished second in the GCL-South in tackles (105), reaching double figures five times to go with 4.5 sacks, 11.5 tackles for loss, a forced fumble and two recoveries.

    A three-star recruit and a top 20 player in Ohio for the Class of 2026, Clapper’s offer sheet included nearly two dozen programs before committing to Notre Dame in May.

    Elijah Depperschmidt, Campbell County

    Depperschmidt is coming…

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  • Cowboys deserve credit for early Jake Ferguson extension, but Micah Parsons mess still lingers

    Cowboys deserve credit for early Jake Ferguson extension, but Micah Parsons mess still lingers

    Kicking toxic habits to the curb cannot happen overnight. The road to recovery takes time, but the Dallas Cowboys took some steps in the right direction when it comes to being more proactive with identifying and re-signing players they want to be a part of the team’s long-term future.

    No, it wasn’t Micah Parsons, but news broke Sunday that Dallas re-signed Pro Bowl tight end Jake Ferguson to a four-year, $52 million contract with $30 million in total guarantees, per NFL Media. The Cowboys are re-signing Ferguson, their 2022 fourth-round pick, ahead of the final season of his rookie deal in 2025 even after an injury-plagued 2024 campaign. He suffered a knee injury in Week 1 at the Cleveland Browns last season that he was unable to fully shake. Ferguson’s injuries woes were compounded by a concussion in Week 11 against the Houston Texans and quarterback Dak Prescott suffering a season-ending hamstring tear in Week 9 at the Atlanta Falcons. All of that added up to Ferguson producing only 59 catches for 494 yards receiving and no touchdowns on 86 targets, making 2024 the first season of his NFL career without a touchdown catch. 

    “My knee hurt for sure,” Ferguson said of the 2024 season at mandatory minicamp. “The concussion was weird, but I’ve said this before: If I’m out on the field, I should be able to give it my all. So I definitely wasn’t satisfied with how I played the whole year last year. I don’t think I’ve ever played a full season and not scored a touchdown, so that was something I came into this offseason really working on.”  

    The season prior in 2023, Ferguson and Prescott made sweet music together. The tight end caught 71 passes for 761 yards and five touchdowns on 102 targets, which resulted in his sole Pro Bowl nod of his three-year career. Prescott threw an NFL-leading 36 touchdown passes that season and earned league MVP runner-up for his efforts. With a return to health in…

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  • Former 5-star QB Malachi Nelson looking for fresh start at UTEP, but he’ll have to win the QB battle first

    Former 5-star QB Malachi Nelson looking for fresh start at UTEP, but he’ll have to win the QB battle first

    When UTEP opens camp in August, all eyes will be on the quarterback room.

    Second-year head coach Scotty Walden is looking to settle the position early in fall camp, he said this week in San Antonio at the annual THSCA Coaching School & Convention. The Miners went 3-9 in his first season, but four of those losses came by a combined 24 points. Walden said getting consistent quarterback play will be key if UTEP wants to take a step forward in 2025.

    One of the top names in the mix is Malachi Nelson, a former five-star prospect who transferred to UTEP from Boise State in the winter. Nelson was the No. 5 overall recruit in the 2023 class and originally signed with USC out of Los Alamitos (Calif.) High School.

    Nelson’s college journey hasn’t been smooth. A shoulder injury late in high school delayed his development at USC. He was passed on the depth chart and transferred to Boise State, where he finished second to Maddux Madsen in the 2024 QB battle. In 2024, he appeared in three games and completed 12 of 17 passes for 128 yards and one interception.

    Now at UTEP, Nelson is competing with returners Cade McConnell and Skyler Locklear, along with redshirt freshman Shay Smith.

    “People say three, but it’s dang near four,” Walden said of the QB battle. “We’ve got Cade coming off injury who started for us, Skyler and Shay who’ve been in the program, and now Malachi. It’s a real competition.”

    Walden said he hopes to name a starter by the middle of fall camp, a change from last year when the quarterback decision went down to the wire.

    “I probably waited too long last year,” he said. “I want to give the guy a little more time to settle in.”

    Nelson’s natural talent — he has the highest recruiting pedigree of any football player in…

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  • At No. 64 on the NFL's top 100, Bo Nix targets climbing to No. 1

    At No. 64 on the NFL's top 100, Bo Nix targets climbing to No. 1

    Broncos quarterback Bo Nix was the last of six quarterbacks taken in the first round of the 2024 draft. After one season, he came in at No. 64 on the list of the NFL's top 100 players.

    He has much higher goals.

    "I think it’s obviously a cool honor because that’s [what] your peers think, guys you play," Nix told reporters on Saturday regarding his debut on the player-voted list of the NFL's best. "At the same time, just the way I think, the way I am motivated, I want to continue to get higher. Not even for the ranking.

    "It doesn’t really matter what you’re ranked, it’s just an internal standard that I have that I want to be the best in the world. I know there are a lot of guys that I’m competing for that with. I’m not going to stop until I at least give it my best try.”

    Plenty of guys are wired that way. Nix has displayed in only one season the kind of talent that gives him a chance to do a lot more. This year, we'll all see what he can do — in one of the most competitive divisions in the NFL, where he'll be contending with the likes of Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert, and Geno Smith.

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  • Paul Finebaum has quite the prediction for Notre Dame this fall

    Paul Finebaum has quite the prediction for Notre Dame this fall

    If you don’t think that Notre Dame’s run to the College Football Playoff championship game turned some heads, especially its game against Georgia, you’d be sorely mistaken.

    The Irish have taken that momentum into recruiting, with both the 2026 and 2027 classes having some of the best players committed in the country. Paul Finebaum of ESPN has taken notice, and on Get Up said that there is one reason why he believes that Notre Dame will make a return trip to the CFP, head coach Marcus Freeman.

    While he typically favors the SEC, there was no hesitation in his answer when asked about the Irish. “Marcus Freeman is elite… he has done more with less talent than anybody else,” said Finebaum, but also mentioned the schedule, specifically opening on the road against Miami.

    Regardless of those concerns, he still believes that Notre Dame will be in the field of 12-teams after the season concludes. Finebaum ended his thoughts by saying that there is “maybe a decent run” if the Irish are in it. It’s a bit odd to see him fawn over Notre Dame, but Freeman has the program heading into a direction we haven’t seen in a long time in South Bend.

    Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (Formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

    Follow Mike on X: @MikeFChen

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  • Falcons owner Arthur Blank issues vote of confidence in staff, roster after seventh straight losing season

    Falcons owner Arthur Blank issues vote of confidence in staff, roster after seventh straight losing season

    Imagn Images

    The Atlanta Falcons have not made the playoffs since 2017 and last season posted their seventh consecutive losing record. But ahead of the 2025 campaign, owner Arthur Blank issued a wide-sweeping vote of confidence in his franchise personnel, from the front office to the coaching staff and roster.

    The first year of the Raheem Morris era brought a slight step forward as the Falcons flirted with the .500 mark and logged eight wins — their most since that last playoff berth. Morris has a year of head coaching experience under his belt after more than a decade since his last full-time gig, Michael Penix Jr. showed flashes at quarterback down the stretch and a defensive-heavy class of draft picks could help Atlanta reconstruct a unit that left a lot to be desired last fall.

    “We’re in a better place now, team wise, coaching wise, totally across the board than we’ve been in a number of years,” Blank said Saturday at training camp.

    Could a Year 2 leap be in store for the Falcons as Morris hits his stride at the helm? A lot hinges on the franchise’s young core. Penix elevated the offense when he took over the starting duties in Week 16 but is still mostly unproven as a pro signal-caller. Running back Bijan Robinson could ease some of the pressure on Penix as a rising superstar and one of the most productive ballcarriers and receiving backs in the NFL.

    Falcons signing former Pro Bowl receiver who had contemplated retiring, per report

    Bryan DeArdo

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  • Joe Milton prefers playing for the Cowboys over the Patriots

    Joe Milton prefers playing for the Cowboys over the Patriots

    After playing sparingly for the Patriots as a rookie last season, quarterback Joe Milton was traded to the Cowboys in April. He thinks he’s in a better place now.

    Milton said at Cowboys training camp that he and his agent orchestrated the trade so he could get a fresh start.

    “Definitely, I preferred it,” Milton said, via the Cowboys’ website. “That was something me and my team put together. They were able to get it done, I really didn’t have to do much or say much. So just shout out to my agent, that’s pretty much it.”

    Milton praised Cowboys starting quarterback Dak Prescott for being a great teammate, and he suggested that wasn’t the case in New England.

    “Dak is a great leader,” Milton said. “All respect to him. He literally goes out of his way to help me, no matter if the coach is talking in the meeting, he literally goes out of his way to help. . . . I’ve been in another building. I know how that goes. It’s just very different over here.”

    Milton didn’t mention either of the other two quarterbacks in New England last season, Drake Maye or Jacoby Brissett, by name, but he indicated that one of the things he prefers about Dallas is sharing a quarterback room with Prescott.

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  • South Carolina star Dylan Stewart doesn’t want hype. Just your quarterback

    South Carolina star Dylan Stewart doesn’t want hype. Just your quarterback

    COLUMBIA, S.C. — Dylan Stewart is not much of a talker. 

    The 6-foot-5, 245-pound game-wrecker of a defensive end is polite yet quiet when you sit across from him inside the Long Family Football Operations Center. Coaches joke about how many words you’ll be able to get out of him in an interview. There are no long monologues or trash talking from the sophomore South Carolina star that CBS Sports ranked as the No. 6 player in all of college football coming out of the spring.

    He doesn’t need to boast about his talents when you can just turn on the tape and see what could be a generational talent. A five-star prospect in the 2024 class out of Washington D.C., Stewart has drawn comparisons to former Gamecocks star and No. 1 overall pick Jadeveon Clowney. In just his first year of college football, he totaled 6.5 sacks, 9.5 tackles for loss and 34 quarterback hurries. If he keeps improving, he could follow in Clowney’s footsteps and be drafted very high in the 2027 NFL Draft. 

    Kyle Kennard, Stewart’s former running mate at South Carolina and last year’s best defensive player as the Nagurski winner, couldn’t have been more effusive in his praise.

    “Dylan is going to be an all-timer in this sport,” Kennard told CBS Sports. “He’s an athletic freak, gifted. Once he puts everything together that he needs to, the sky is the limit for that guy.”

    Quarterback LaNorris Sellers, who thankfully can’t get hit by him but sees his impact every day, described him as “ferocious, vicious.”

    Stewart and Sellers are two critical building blocks for a South Carolina program that just missed making last year’s College Football Playoff. The two budding stars give hope that this year’s team could be even better and able to get over the playoff hump. The…

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