Category: NFL News

Quarterback Marcus Mariota is no stranger to making history. (Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports)

Marcus Mariota will have made history before he even touches the field in his first game with the Washington Commanders. He’ll be the first NFL quarterback to ever wear the No. 0.

Mariota signed a one-year deal with the Commanders in free agency. The team announced his number selection, along with their other new additions on Wednesday.

NFL rule changes enacted recently made Mariota’s new number possible. Team owners agreed to amend the rules in March 2023 to allow the No. 0 for the first time in decades. The decision came after a previous adjustment so that defensive and offensive players could choose a single-digit number.

Wide receiver Calvin Ridley was the first player to claim the newly available zero in 2023, a move the Jacksonville Jaguars announced almost immediately after the rule changes were made public. More than 20 players opted to wear the number after him, from running backs to corners and beyond.

Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons was quick to claim that he would don the number zero at the time, referencing NBA star Gilbert Arenas, who was known as “Agent Zero” during his prime. Parsons ultimately stuck with No. 11.

Mariota, 30, isn’t a stranger to making history. He won the Heisman in 2014, becoming the first Oregon player and the first Hawaii native to win the award. Mariota has played nine seasons in the NFL, which is almost three times the average career length in the league.

For Mariota, switching numbers isn’t new either. He wore No. 8 at Oregon. He continued to wear the number after he was selected with the Tennessee Titans’ No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft and when he landed with the Las Vegas Raiders as a backup. He switched to the No. 1 when he joined the Atlanta Falcons in 2022.

His addition to the Commanders came after he spent last season with the Philadelphia Eagles, where he returned to the No. 8. It was an ode to the eight Hawaiian…

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Why Hall of Fame DE believes Bears should have kept Justin Fields, built around him in 2024 NFL draft originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

Hall of Fame defensive Dwight Freeney has added his voice to the growing chorus of former and current NFL players who believe the Bears should’ve kept quarterback Justin Fields and built around him in the upcoming draft. Freeney joined the Under Center Podcast on Monday and explained why.

“There are no guarantees in this league,” Freeney said. “I don’t care what you look like in college… you can go down the list of guys who were top draft picks, first, second, third pick quarterbacks and hadn’t succeeded in the NFL.

“It is not easy to succeed in the National Football League. It really isn’t. There are no guarantees out here, being able to be successful to have four or five years of success, it’s not easy.”

Caleb Williams, the presumptive No. 1 overall pick, is no ordinary QB prospect, however. The only consistent flaw in his college tape was a propensity to fumble while playing hero ball in 2023. By all accounts, he’s determined to put in the work to surpass football stardom and become an NFL legend.

The Bears are no ordinary landing spot for a No. 1 overall quarterback, either. They’re a 7-10 team who only had the pick because the Panthers were so bad (the Bears controlled the Panthers’ first-round pick as part of the deal that sent the No. 1 overall pick to Carolina last year), so they’re already better situated than most. Beyond that, they’ve added Keenan Allen, D’Andre Swift and Gerald Everett to the offense. Mix those guys in with DJ Moore, Cole Kmet and an improved offensive line and Williams might have the best supporting cast a QB1 has enjoyed in NFL history.

Freeney explained that rookie QB growing pains can occur regardless of the number of playmakers around him, however.

“You have to complement the offensive scheme with the offensive player. Everything has to come cohesively…

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The Arizona Cardinals are being ordered to pay ex-team executive Terry McDonough $3 million for “false and defamatory” statements made about him publicly to the media, per a federal court decision filed on Monday, according to ESPN. 

Jeffrey Mishkin, the league arbitrator chosen by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, ruled that Arizona and its owner, Michael Bidwill, defamed McDonough “with malice” in a multi-page statement to media organizations, alleging McDonough committed spousal abuse and neglected his disabled, adult daughter. McDonough denied those claims. 

Mike Caspino, McDonough’s counsel, filed the decision with the U.S. District Court in Arizona on Monday as a step in the legal process for the court to confirm his awarded compensation. 

“Despite what we consider to be a fundamentally unfair arbitration process, Terry McDonough is the first person to ever win against an NFL owner,” Caspino said via a statement on the court filing, per ESPN. “Why the NFL has not held Michael Bidwill accountable remains a mystery.” 

The $3 million McDonough is set to receive is a good amount of money, but it is a far cry from what he sought to receive in court. He filed for $15 million in lost future earnings, $10 million for emotional distress, $10 million for reputational harm and between $60 to $90 million in punitive damages. 

Mishkin awarded him $150,000 in general damages for “the harm to his reputation” the defamatory statements caused, $600,000 in damages for emotional distress and $2.25 million in punitive damages. 

The league and the Cardinals have not yet made public remarks about the case. However, McDonough didn’t win on some of his other claims centered around unlawful retaliation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and invasion of privacy. This arbitration claim was brought by McDonough against Arizona last April after he alleged that Bidwill retaliated against him…

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Packers head coach Matt LaFleur says that until the first day that teams could talk to free agents this offseason, he was under the impression that running back Aaron Jones would be back in Green Bay.

Instead, the Packers cut Jones and signed free agent running back Josh Jacobs, and LaFleur said he didn’t see that coming.

“It kind of caught me off guard, to be honest with you,” LaFleur said, via the Wisconsin State Journal. “There were some other things in play, obviously with Aaron Jones, and I didn’t quite know how everything was going to go. It just happened really fast on that Monday.”

The Packers had hoped to convince Jones to take a pay cut, but he declined and was released instead. He signed a one-year, $7 million contract with the Vikings, while the Packers gave Jacobs a four-year, $48 million contract.

“It happened really fast, so I don’t know all the details of that,” LaFleur said. “I’m not involved in those types of conversations. But we were super excited [to get Jacobs].”

Now they’ll see Jones twice a year, and they’ll hope Jacobs proves to be an upgrade that LaFleur didn’t see coming.

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A six vehicle car crash on Saturday in Dallas, Texas has lead to a police search for Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice, according to the Dallas Morning News. The report states that a vehicle believed to be registered or leased to Rice was involved in an accident at 6:20 p.m. local time on Saturday. 

Dallas police spokeswoman Kristin Lowman explained that the preliminary investigation shows someone in a Chevrolet Corvette and someone in a Lamborghini were speeding in the far left lane, when both drivers lost control. The Lamborghini went onto the shoulder and “hit the center median wall, causing a chain reaction collision involving four other vehicles,” Lowman said.

It is not known if Rice was present at the scene, though the police call sheet from The News lists Rice as the suspected driver of the Corvette involved. Police are now searching for the 23-year-old in connection with the accident, but it is unknown if he is facing charges over the crash. Rice was not mentioned in Dallas County jail records as of Sunday morning.

Two drivers were given medical attention for minor injuries at crash site and two others went to the hospital for minor injuries.

The individuals in both the Lamborghini and Corvette fled from the scene of the crash, not stopping to provide information or check on the status of the others involved, according to the report.

Rice grew up in Texas, in the Fort Worth area and went to college in Dallas at SMU. He was drafted by the Chiefs in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft. 

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49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk wants the second contract that he has earned. The 49ers don’t seem to be inclined to give him one, at least not at the level he has targeted.

Will they get something done?

Via Jordan Elliott of NBCSportsBayArea.com, Mike Garafolo of NFL Media reported on Friday that the two sides aren’t close on a new deal. And that’s no surprise.

The 49ers have the right to squat on Aiyuk in 2023 at his fifth-year option of $14.12 million. His rights are limited, and expensive. Due to his status as a player under his fifth-year option, he would be subject to a daily fine of $40,000 for skipping training camp and a fine in the amount of one regular-season game check (i.e., $784,444) for each preseason game missed. (The fines can be waived by the team.)

Before that, Aiyuk can skip the offseason program, including the mandatory minicamp (the total fine for skipping the three-day mandatory camp is $101,716). And while that could help him get what he wants, the 49ers need to remember what missing the offseason did to receiver Deebo Samuel in the first year after he got his long-term deal.

Speaking of Samuel, Aiyuk is surely irked that Samuel received a long-term contract after only three seasons — and that Samuel averages $23.85 million per year when Aiyuk was the far more productive player in 2023.

It all comes down to whether the 49ers are willing to tear up the last year of the five-year contract and give Aiyuk what he wants. They might be willing to reward him with a new contract, but not for top-of-market money.

Currently, the highest paid receiver is Tyreek Hill, at $30 million per year. But that’s a fugazi number, inflated by a bogus 2026 compensation package of $45 million. Take that away, and it’s a $28.3 million deal.

Regardless of where the bar is currently, it’s going to increase once the Vikings pay Justin Jefferson and/or the Bengals pay Ja’Marr Chase. That will only make it more expensive to sign Aiyuk.

That’s the one basic reality that most…

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The start of the NFL season is still more than five months away, but arguing about the NFL is a year-round sport and you’ll be able to hold some healthy debates with your closest friends over the next few weeks now that the win totals have been released for all 32 teams. 

The oddsmakers at BetMGM have released their over/under win totals for the 2024 season and in news that probably won’t surprise you, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are tied for the highest projected win total in the NFL at 11.5. 

Here are a few nuggets from all the win totals. 

Oddsmakers love America’s team. There are a total of eight teams that have a double-digit win total and of those eight, seven of them have played in at least one conference title game since 2020. The only team on the list that hasn’t is the Cowboys, who have a win total of 10.5.  No respect for several 2023 playoff teams. There are four playoff teams from last season who have an over/under lower than nine and those four teams are the Browns (8.5), Rams (8.5), Steelers (7.5) and Buccaneers (7.5). The Steelers and Browns play in arguably the toughest division in the NFL, so it’s somewhat understandable that their win totals are low. On the Rams’ end, they just lost their best defensive player (Aaron Donald) to retirement, so that probably doesn’t help things. As for the Buccaneers, the oddsmakers seem to think that Tampa Bay will be taking a small step back. Lowest win total: Panthers. With an unproven quarterback in Bryce Young and a new coaching staff in place, it’s not a huge surprise that the oddsmakers have no faith in the Panthers, who have the lowest win total in the NFL this year at 4.5. 

Here’s a look at the over/under win totals for all 32 teams. 

Now that we have the totals, it’s time to figure where the oddsmakers went wrong, so I’m going to give you the five bets that I like the most right now. 

Steelers over 7.5…

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