National Football League News and Rumors
Hall of Famer Joiner retires after 44-year careerAssociated Press, ESPN.com Hall of Famer Charlie Joiner has retired from his job as wide receivers coach for the San Diego Chargers. |
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Curtis Crabtree, profootballtalk.com The Carolina Panthers have promoted from within to fill yet another position on their coaching staff. According to Joseph Person of the Charlotte Observer, the Panthers have promoted pro scout Ken Dorsey to the role of quarterbacks coach. Dorsey takes t… |
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Kristian Dyer, yahoo.com One of the biggest draft busts in NFL history is trying to re-kindle his football career. Yahoo! Sports has learned that JaMarcus Russell is planning a comeback attempt that he hopes will see him play in the league again. The former No. 1 pick in the 20… |
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Curtis Crabtree, profootballtalk.com While several teams in the market for a quarterback could benefit from acquiring Seattle Seahawks backup Matt Flynn, it may not mean they are willing to give up anything to get him. According to Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports, the Seahawks’ attempts to tra… |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com As Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall prepares to hit the free-agent market, he won’t have to worry about his pending lawsuit against an apparel company that dumped him after he made controversial remarks regarding the death of Osama bin Laden and… |
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Doug Farrar, yahoo.com Apparently, it takes more than the death of a friend and teammate, and the arrest and incarceration of another, to wake Dallas Cowboys nose tackle Jay Ratliff to the simple reality that driving drunk is a really stupid thing to do. Cowboys linebacker Je… |
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Jay Busbee, yahoo.com We all make mistakes, sometimes very big ones. But if we're lucky, there's someone around to pick us up, to help us to our feet, to get us back on the right path. Patrick Peterson of the Arizona Cardinals has taken on this challenge with Tyronn Mathieu,… |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com It’s been a strange week for former Notre Dame football players. From the ridiculously gullible Manti Te’o to the incredibly cynical Tim Brown, a pair of Golden Domers have bookended the spectrum of human trust. Former Notre Dame football player Jus… |
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Doug Farrar, yahoo.com MOBILE, Al. -- It's fairly common knowledge that the 2013 draft class is very deep on the defensive line, and the standouts for the South team at Tuesday's Senior Bowl practice bore that out. From well-known to unsung, several players made themselves no… |
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Jay Busbee, yahoo.com You thought there's be one week without news of a Jets wreck, didn't you? And you would be wrong. In this case, though, it's an actual wreck, as reports have surfaced that coach Rex Ryan was involved in a minor three-car wreck in Pennsylvania last week.… |
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HONOLULU (AP) -- The NFL is hoping to decide the fate of the Pro Bowl by the time it releases next season's schedule in April. And the fate of the league's all-star game will largely depend on how much effort this year's participants put into the game. |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com The NFL desperately wants to enhance the in-stadium experience. But the NFL continues to resist an innovation that would make watching the game in person a lot more like watching it at home. For years, the technology has existed to implement a laser sy… |
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Michael David Smith, profootballtalk.com Last month, Cowboys defensive tackle Josh Brent was arrested for intoxication manslaughter in the death of his friend and teammate Jerry Brown. That was apparently not enough of a deterrent to keep another Cowboys defensive tackle from driving drunk. Co… |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com The Kansas City Chiefs won two games in 2012. They now have three times as many Pro Bowlers. The Chiefs have announced that linebacker Justin Houston has been named to the AFC team, replacing Broncos linebacker Von Miller. Houston, a third-round pick i… |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com More and more Raiders players are chiming in on receiver Tim Brown’s accusation regarding former coach Bill Callahan’s motivation for switching the offensive game plan two days before the start of Super Bowl XXXVII. Eventually, members of the 2002 Rai… |
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Associated Press, ESPN.com Minnesota Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph has been added to the NFC Pro Bowl team as an injury replacement for Tony Gonzalez of the Atlanta Falcons. |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com NBC’s Rodney Harrison played for the Patriots and lives in Atlanta. So he’s uniquely qualified to offer up informed opinions about the two teams that lost in Sunday’s conference championship games. Rodney appeared on Tuesday’s PFT Live to discus… |
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Just months after tearing his ACL, Marcus Lattimore has his sights on the NFL -- and in 2013. The rehabbing back is on a mission, and not letting doubt creep in, says Andy Staples. |
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Associated Press, ESPN.com A former Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader who had sex with her underage student told him she fell in love the first time he walked into the classroom where she was teaching freshman English, according to text messages read in court Tuesday. |
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Darin Gantt, profootballtalk.com While Sean Payton was allowed back into the NFL today, Gregg Williams is still waiting. Williams, who was suspended indefinitely for his role in the bounty scandal that cost Payton a year, can apply for work, however. A source told Nakia Hogan of the Ne… |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com Broncos guard Chris Kuper spent all of last offseason recovering from surgery after a nasty left ankle dislocation in the final week of the 2011 season. Kuper didn’t suffer the same injury, but he’s going to be on the rehab track again this year. Kupe… |
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Doug Farrar, yahoo.com MOBILE, Al. -- While the main story in most Senior Bowls is about the quarterbacks by nature, this year's somewhat underwhelming crop of signal-callers has a lot of people looking elsewhere when it comes to position groups of interest. That's what Shutd… |
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Associated Press, ESPN.com Fans watching NFL games on television have grown accustomed to the imaginary yellow line that runs across the field in accord with the first-down marker. |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com The Colts didn’t look all that far for Harold Goodwin’s replacement as the team’s offensive line coach. In a statement Tuesday, the team announced that Joe Gilbert would be promoted from assistant offensive line coach to the top job. Gilbert was a l… |
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Jack Dickey, deadspin.com Bill Callahan, the offensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys, just got a promotion today. Jerry Jones took the playcalling reins away from Jason Garrett and put them in Callahan's hands. (Was Dallas's offense a problem? They ranked sixth in yards per … |
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Darin Gantt, profootballtalk.com He might not necessarily be Cameron Wake, but the 49ers are taking a chance on a Canadian defensive lineman who could turn out to be worth the gamble. According to ESPNBoston.com, the Patriots signed former Southern Cal defensive lineman Armond Armstead… |
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Jay Busbee, yahoo.com Tired of every story about the Super Bowl being about Ray Lewis or a Harbaugh? You're in luck, because here's a story about Ray Lewis AND a Harbaugh! Let's go all the way back to 1996, Week 7. The Oilers were still in Houston. Brett Favre was still a yo… |
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Jones: Garrett won't call plays for Cowboys in '13 |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick is one of the fastest rising players in the NFL and his college coach will stop by Pro Football Talk on NBC Sports Network to talk about his former pupil. Chris Ault, who recently stepped down as the head coach at the … |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com Branden Albert is set to become a free agent in March and he said Tuesday that his representatives have spoken to new Chiefs General Manager John Dorsey about staying in Kansas City. Albert told Danny Parkins of 610 Sports in Kansas City that he doesn’t… |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com Dolphins General Manager Jeff Ireland met the media at the Senior Bowl on Tuesday and made no attempt to cloak his intentions for the offseason. “We’re looking for playmakers on offense. Look, we had two guys with over 60 catches (Brian Hartline and … |
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Darin Gantt, profootballtalk.com Joe Cullen has a new job, and he’s definitely going to need pants for this one. The former Jaguars defensive line coach has been hired for the same position with the Browns, according to Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Cullen spent three s… |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com On Sunday, Chris Mortensen of ESPN created a bit of a whirlwind when he reported that Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson’s agent Bus Cook asked the team for a new contract even though the Collective Bargaining Agreement makes it impossible for a rooki… |
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Barry Petchesky, deadspin.com The Silverdome hasn't hosted the Lions since 2001. The city of Pontiac auctioned it off in 2009 to the highest bidder. The highest bid was $550,000. "It was a bit surprising," the new owner said. "There were really very few bids." More » |
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Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru, ESPN.com Brain scans performed on five former NFL players revealed images of the protein that causes football-related brain damage -- the first time researchers have identified signs of the crippling disease in living players. |
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Michael David Smith, profootballtalk.com After five seasons on the staff of the Saints, Mike Mallory is the new special teams coordinator of the Jaguars. The Jaguars announced today that new head coach Gus Bradley added Mallory to his staff. Mallory was a two-time All-Big Ten linebacker at Mic… |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com The Lions may have been better off with the second-round pick they used on receiver Titus Young by simply saying, “Pass.” Young, who was exiled from the team via an injured reserve designation after lining up “multiple times” in the wrong place du… |
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NEW YORK (AP) The NFL is looking into Tom Brady's leg-up slide that hit Ravens safety Ed Reed in the AFC championship game. |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com The concussion crisis may have just opened a new door. Researchers for the first time have detected changes in the brains of football players who are still alive. Specifically, new brain imaging techniques have detected abnormal tau proteins in five re… |
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"Find The Asshole, That's Where That Knuckle Goes": A Young Jim Harbaugh On How To Play QuarterbackJan 22
Tom Ley, deadspin.com The two-minute video clip above is taken from a much longer video, in which Jim Harbaugh imparts his wisdom of the quarterback position on an assembly of quarterback coaches. The entire video is over an hour long, but we've cut it down to the most enter… |
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Michael David Smith, profootballtalk.com The NFL reinstated Sean Payton as head coach of the Saints today, which means Joe Vitt can officially move aside from his role as interim head coach and give the job back to Payton. But Vitt can’t completely move on: In comments to the New Orleans Times… |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com The Bills have a new coach in Doug Marrone and many people expect to see them have a new quarterback next season as well. Ryan Fitzpatrick didn’t have a very good year in 2012, especially when it came to throwing the ball down the field, and there was p… |
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NEW YORK (AP) Sean Payton is back as coach of the New Orleans Saints. |
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Darin Gantt, profootballtalk.com As part of his Tuesday reinstatement from his year-long bounty suspension, Saints head coach Sean Payton acknowledged that something happened, and he should have stopped it. “I am thankful today Commissioner [Roger] Goodell has granted me reinstatement,… |
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Brian McIntyre, yahoo.com The National Football League announced on Tuesday that suspended New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton has been reinstated. On March 22, 2012, Payton was suspended by the NFL for one year for his role in the team's illegal bounty program. Payton app… |
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Barry Petchesky, deadspin.com Patriots journeyman safety Derrick Martin nearly enshrined himself as a good luck charm—he was on the Packers two years ago when they won the Super Bowl (though he finished the season on IR) and was a Giant when they took the Lombardi Trophy last year. … |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com On last night’s Pro Football Talk, we took up a Twitter question from the great Kige Ramsey regarding the media’s habit of still treating the Patriots like they are still a dynasty. The Pats still get that treatment because, unlike other NFL dynasties… |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com With the 49ers going to the Super Bowl, safeties Dashon Goldson and Donte Whitner will have to pass on the Pro Bowl. So the NFL turned to the team that the 49ers beat in the NFC Championship Game to replace them on the roster. The Falcons have announced… |
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Associated Press, ESPN.com Jim and John Harbaugh have exchanged a handful of text messages, and plan to leave it at that. No phone conversations necessary while the season's still going. No time for pleasantries, even for the friendly siblings. |
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Darin Gantt, profootballtalk.com While many men his age are sipping a glass of prune juice and reading a newspaper this time of day, Monte Kiffin was out interviewing prospective football players in Mobile, Ala. this morning. And that had him fired up. The 72-year-old Kiffin told Calvi… |
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Ex-Eagles DC Castillo joins Ravens staff for XLVII |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com With the rise of mobile quarterback, a mobile quarterback from Mobile is back in Mobile in the hopes of attracting the attention of a coach looking for a mobile quarterback. According to Ben Volin of the Palm Beach Post, White showed up at the Senior Bo… |
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Michael David Smith, profootballtalk.com When Colin Kaepernick was in college at Nevada, he was a phenomenal player — the first player in NCAA Division 1 history to pass for 10,000 yards and run for 4,000 yards in his career. But he wasn’t a Heisman Trophy candidate or a first-round draft pi… |
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Senior Bowl Report: Quarterbacks looking to set themselves apart in tightly contested draft classJan 22
Doug Farrar, yahoo.com MOBILE, Al. -- While at least one quarterback will be taken in the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft, there are those who would argue quite convincingly that there really isn't a first-round talent at the position this year -- that it's more the nature … |
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Calvin Watkins, ESPN.com Saying he still has the energy, newly hired Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin said he's excited to take over the defense and implement his famed Tampa 2 defense. |
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Darin Gantt, profootballtalk.com All year long, Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez stood firm on his 95 percent retirement pledge. But those closest to him see the door cracked, and they’re trying to get their foot in. “I’m hoping for the 5 percent,” Falcons coach Mike Smith said, a… |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com Patriots coach Bill Belichick has come under heavy criticism in recent days for his failure to speak and/or his failure to say anything when speaking. Curiously, the loudest voices come from analysts employed by CBS, which is widely perceived in media c… |
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Tuesday morning one-linersJan 22
Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com Arkansas QB Tyler Wilson didn’t mind being compared to former Bills QB Jim Kelly. A look at possibilities for the Dolphins should they want a receiver in the draft. Patriots DE Chandler Jones reflected on a rookie year interrupted by injuries. The Jets … |
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Darin Gantt, profootballtalk.com Going 2-14 will try the patience of any owner. But when you couple it with off-field tragedy, it makes for a year few could imagine. “Of the 15-20 years I’ve been actively involved in this business, it was by far the most difficult for me personally, … |
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Darin Gantt, profootballtalk.com Not only is Lions coach Jim Schwartz adamant about sticking with his Wide 9 alignment, he’s bringing in one of its main proponents to help him. According to Mike Garafolo of USA Today, former Eagles assistant Jim Washburn will join the Lions as a defens… |
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Curtis Crabtree, profootballtalk.com Chip Kelly had turned down the NFL before, he had even turned down the Philadelphia Eagles once as well, but the contract extended to the former Oregon head coach last week was a big factor in getting Kelly to do an about face and accept the Eagles offe… |
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John Harbaugh and little brother Jim shared a bedroom for 16 years and fought like any two highly competitive boys who were just 15 months apart, which terribly upset their mother Jackie, who expected better behavior. |
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Curtis Crabtree, profootballtalk.com Former LSU cornerback Tyrann Mathieu isn’t participating in the Senior Bowl this week but that isn’t stopping him from using the mass congregation of NFL personnel upon Mobile, Ala. as a chance to begin repairing his draft stock. According to John Zen… |
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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Andrew Luck and Peyton Manning will get a chance to be teammates after all -- at Sunday's Pro Bowl. |
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This week's Fourth-and-Short has four more thoughts on the four conference championship teams. In the cases of the 49ers and Ravens, it's time to begi... |
