National Football League News and Rumors
Niners in need of a No. 2 wideoutMike Florio, profootballtalk.com The 49ers entered the 2012 season with five No. 1 receivers. They ended the campaign with only one. So now, as Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle explains it, the Niners need a No. 2 wideout to complement Michael Crabtree. In quarterback Colin … |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com The stint of former Redskins defensive lineman Phillip Daniels as the team’s director of player development didn’t develop the way everyone had envisioned. Daniels is out after one year, according to Mike Jones of the Washington Post. After playing fo… |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com Recent in-game audio from Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco includes the Super Bowl MVP urging teammates to take out 49ers return specialist Ted Ginn Jr. during the last play of Baltimore’s championship win. Predictably, the question of whether Flacco was j… |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com As the Ravens and quarterback Joe Flacco attempt to work out a long-term deal before the March 4 deadline for applying the franchise tag to the Super Bowl MVP, it sounds like Flacco won’t be willing to give his team a hometown discount. Instead, any bre… |
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Former Dallas Cowboys assistant Rob Ryan has interviewed with the New Orleans Saints for their vacant defensive coordinator job. |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com Former 49ers coach Mike Singletary wants to be a head coach again. Since he’s currently a linebackers coach with the Vikings, becoming a defensive coordinator would be a big step in that direction. According to Jeremy Fowler of CBSSports.com, Singleta… |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com Last year, a group of NFL players and former coach Tony Dungy used personal challenges involving bigotry, abuse, and racism to help improve the lives of four teenagers facing similar situations. This year, NFL Characters Unite returns, with a new group … |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com It seems that veteran coach Tom Moore has retired more times than Brett Favre. Like Favre, Moore has unretired again. Moore has joined the Cardinals as the assistant head coach/offense. His latest return to football has been fueled by a pair of new kn… |
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Associated Press, ESPN.com Charlotte's city council has agreed to a plan that would give the Carolina Panthers nearly $144 million from a food-and-beverage tax hike to pay for upgrades to its downtown stadium, Mayor Anthony Foxx said Friday. |
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Michael David Smith, profootballtalk.com Five of the best and most famous NFL players of the last two decades have joined together in a public service announcement for gun violence prevention. Deion Sanders, Emmitt Smith, Marshall Faulk, Michael Irvin and LaDainian Tomlinson appear in an ad fo… |
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Dom Cosentino, deadspin.com The Joe Paterno PR offensive is in full swing, and in advance of it, Paterno's widow, Sue, sent out a letter addressed to Penn State football lettermen this morning. The letter, which was posted to Twitter by Seattle Seahawks fullback and former Penn St… |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com Gary Brown got his professional playing career underway in Houston, but he’ll continue his coaching career elsewhere in the Lone Star State. Nick Eatman of DallasCowboys.com reports that Brown is expected to be officially named the team’s new running … |
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Michael David Smith, profootballtalk.com Ravens outside linebacker Paul Kruger had an outstanding postseason, potentially earning himself a lot of money in free agency. Kruger is hoping that money comes from the Ravens, but he realizes that might not be realistic. In an interview with Trey Win… |
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ESPNChicago.com, ESPN.com Jack Harbaugh avoided the question with a laugh Friday when asked about the controversial no-call at the end of the Super Bowl that pitted his sons as opposing coaches. |
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Jay Busbee, yahoo.com What happens in Tallahassee apparently doesn't stay in Tallahassee. The Arizona Cardinals' Darnell Dockett and sportscaster/coach Chris Rix, former Florida State University teammates who've followed separate paths since their days in burgundy and gold, … |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com We’ve already spilled one of the biggest nuggets we learned from Ravens wide receiver Anquan Boldin’s visit with the Pro Football Talk on NBC Sports Network crew, but you’ll have to tune in to hear the rest of what he had to say. Boldin told Erik Ku… |
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Reuben Fischer, deadspin.com Remember Patriots-Raiders in 2001? The Snowplow Game? Dolphins-Cowboys on Thanksgiving 1993? A bunch of games from the 1940s and 50s that most of us weren't alive for? Snow games might be low scoring, but they are awesome, and people want more of them. … |
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Brian McIntyre, yahoo.com Over the next few weeks, "Shutdown Corner" will pay homage to "Office Space" (TPS reports) as we take a quick look back at each team's 2012 season and a look at what lies ahead for the 2013 offseason. We now move to the AFC North and… |
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Kevin Kaduk, yahoo.com The most famous beard in the NFL is again no more as Brett Keisel held his annual "Shear Da Beard" charity fundraiser on Thursday night. The Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end has held the event for three years running and each has culminated w… |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com Yesterday, Tom Curran of CSN New England pointed out that a trio of Patriots count for more than $40 million of the team’s 2013 salary cap. The Pats’ new AFC nemesis has a similar problem. According to Albert Breer of NFL Network, 10 Ravens count fo… |
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The College Football Video Game Supposedly Backed By Jamal Anderson Is The World's Saddest ScamFeb 8
Timothy Burke, deadspin.com Four days ago, this Kickstarter campaign from "Dirty Bird Sports" popped up on the project-funding platform. The name is a reference to former Atlanta Falcons running back Jamal Anderson, the project's apparent patron, whose "Dirty Bird&q… |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com Ravens coach John Harbaugh said that the knee injury defensive tackle Haloti Ngata suffered in the Super Bowl wasn’t serious. There’s more evidence to that conclusion. Albert Breer of the NFL Network and Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun are both repo… |
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Cam Cameron lands at LSUFeb 8
Michael David Smith, profootballtalk.com Cam Cameron, the offensive coordinator whose firing in Baltimore corresponded with an offensive turnaround that led the Ravens to a championship, has landed a new job. Cameron is the new offensive coordinator at LSU, Bruce Feldman of CBS reports. Camero… |
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PunditTracker, deadspin.com Republished with permission from PunditTracker.com More » |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com New Browns coach Rob Chudzinski said last month that it would be “premature” to call Brandon Weeden the team’s starting quarterback for the 2013 season, something that doesn’t seem to have taken Weeden by surprise. During an appearance in Oklahoma… |
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Associated Press, ESPN.com The Philadelphia Eagles completed new coach Chip Kelly's staff on Friday, adding Dave Fipp as special teams coordinator. |
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The Superdome's power company took the blame Friday for the Super Bowl blackout, saying the cause was a faulty device that had been installed in its switching gear and designed to prevent a failure of electric cables leading to the stadium. |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com Defensive specialist Gregg Williams is back with the Titans, sporting a goatee that would make Walt Frazier and Keith Hernandez proud. It’s Williams’ first actual job since being fired by the Saints. In between, Williams was employed by - but neve |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com Eagles defensive end Trent Cole will be trying to rebound from a down year in 2013 and he’ll also be trying to come back from hand surgery. Mike Garafolo of USA Today reports via a source that Cole underwent an operation on his hand this week. Neither t… |
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Darin Gantt, profootballtalk.com Panthers owner Jerry Richardson met with members of Charlotte City Council Friday, emerging briefly to tell reporters moving his team isn’t anything he’s interested in. The Los Angeles scare-tactic reared its head predictably when the team began look… |
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Kevin Kaduk, yahoo.com Anthony Adams hasn't played in the NFL since being cut by the Chicago Bears last offseason and is currently taking college courses while waiting for another opportunity in the league. Luckily for us, Adams' loss is our gain as the 32-year-old defensive … |
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Darin Gantt, profootballtalk.com Texans nose tackle Shaun Cody underwent back surgery last week, after a season of playing through a number of problems. According to John McClain of the Houston Chronicle, Cody underwent a “microscopic lumbar discectomy surgery for a lumbar disc herniat… |
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At 4-12, the Raiders put together yet another disappointing season. How can Oakland turn things around? Be bold, writes Jim Trotter in his preview of the team's offseason. |
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ESPNChicago.com, ESPN.com Kristin Cavallari said that she and Bears quarterback Jay Cutler decided to get married over text and he mailed her the ring. |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com Throughout his career (and especially in recent years), Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis has operated essentially as an on-field coach. Now that Lewis is retired as a player, the door is open as a coach. Not surprisingly, Lewis isn’t interested. “All of … |
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Michael David Smith, profootballtalk.com Nick Florence followed in the footsteps of Robert Griffin III as the starting quarterback at Baylor, but he won’t be following Griffin to the NFL. Florence, who has already graduated from Baylor and is now working on a master’s degree, told the Waco T… |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com Ravens coach John Harbaugh spoke to his brother, Jim, immediately after Super Bowl XLVII ended. Since then, John Harbaugh has had more conversations with David Letterman. Appearing Thursday on Letterman’s CBS late-night show, John Harbaugh talked abou… |
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Darin Gantt, profootballtalk.com With 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh swinging golf clubs this weekend, there isn’t much time for football news. But there were, in fact, two bits of news. The first is that the high-strung Harbaugh “seemed uncommonly relaxed” during his five-and-half-… |
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Adam Schefter, ESPN.com The NFL promoted Troy Vincent, once a finalist for the NFLPA's executive director job, to senior vice president, one of the highest-ranking jobs in the league office, according to a source. |
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Kevin Kaduk, yahoo.com Is Jacoby Jones poised to become the breakout star of Super Bowl XLVII? After catching a long touchdown from Joe Flacco and then breaking away from the San Francisco 49ers for a 108-yard kickoff return at the start of Sunday's second half, it certainly … |
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Barry Petchesky, deadspin.com The rest of the country was taken aback by the spirit shown by Baltimore, as an estimated 200,000 people thronged downtown for the Ravens championship parade on Tuesday. Also taken by surprise: city and team officials, who were woefully unprepared for t… |
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Michael David Smith, profootballtalk.com Cowboys owner Jerry Jones insists that Jason Garrett is his coach not only for 2013, but for many years beyond that. In an interview on the Cowboys’ website, Jones said Garrett is in it for the long haul. “I saw things in our head coach that really gi… |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com Head coach Gus Bradley has put the finishing touches on his staff for his first year leading the Jaguars. The team announced four hires on Thursday, all of which come from the college ranks. That continues a trend in Jacksonville, which had previously h… |
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Darin Gantt, profootballtalk.com The Steelers have another staff opening, after one of their assistants decided to go back to school. Wide receivers coach Scottie Montgomery left to return to Duke, where he’ll be offensive coordinator, according to Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-G… |
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ESPN.com news services, ESPN.com Green Bay Packers tight end Jermichael Finley told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that he believes it's a "50/50" chance that he remains with the club next season. |
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NFL announcers ratingsFeb 8
Few shape the way fans see a game more than the broadcast crew. Chris Burke ranks the 10 NFL announcing crews whose work kept fans' fingers off the mute buttons. |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com Barring an injury or other unforeseen development, Chris Johnson will be the starting running back for the Titans again next season. At a press conference to introduce the team’s coaching staff, Titans head coach Mike Munchak also said that the team won… |
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Kevin Kaduk, yahoo.com After a crushing loss in the Super Bowl on Sunday, it looks like Colin Kaepernick has returned to the tattoo parlor for a little ink therapy. The San Francisco 49ers quarterback tweeted the above photos on Thursday and the before-and-after look shows ho… |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com Earlier this week, new Hall of Famer Warren Sapp explained that he had doubts about his ability to make it to Canton because Sapp believed he was ultimately competing with Michael Strahan for the same spot. “Say if I rewind this to Saturday at 12 o’… |
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Darin Gantt, profootballtalk.com Andy Reid has been the head coach of the Chiefs for a month, during hwich time quarterback Matt Cassel has been a regular working out at the team facility. But Reid stepped slowly away from any suggestion that Cassel was going to be part of the future o… |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com Catching up with former Bills CB Marlon Kerner. Dolphins QB Ryan Tannehill didn’t go to medical school, but he is an honorary physician at a Miami hospital. Mark Mangino coached Patriots CB Aqib Talib in college and says the player has the proper work e… |
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Darin Gantt, profootballtalk.com New Cardinals defensive coordinator Todd Bowles played for Bruce Arians in college at Temple, and played professionally for the Redskins. But when discussing his influences, he was careful to point out Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells, and the impact he… |
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Toni Monkovic, nytimes.com The battle over gay rights became a surprising subplot during Super Bowl week. A sportswriter, Chuck Culpepper, reflected on the issue in a personal way. |
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Curtis Crabtree, profootballtalk.com Defensive end Dwight Freeney has spent his entire 11-year NFL career as a member of the Indianapolis Colts and he doesn’t want that to change. But Freeney understands that he may not have a choice as he heads toward free agency next month. Freeney was a… |
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Curtis Crabtree, profootballtalk.com Detroit Lions defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch and guard Stephen Peterman became cap casualties earlier this week as the team elected to release the pair or veterans. Both Vanden Bosch and Peterman were scheduled to earn roster bonuses in March and the t… |
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For Rex Ryan, NY Jets' move to cut underwhelming and loquacious Bart Scott will be end of errorFeb 8
If Bart Scott was as productive as his mouth, then he would not be on the verge of getting cut by the Jets and he would not be the symbol of Rex Ryan’s deficiencies as a personnel evaluator. |
