Randall Cobb will test his ankle on Friday

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The Packers returned to practice on Wednesday and wide receiver Randall Cobb was a limited participant in it.

Cobb’s ankle injury was one of the few things that went wrong for the Packers against the Titans last Sunday. His breakout season has made him an essential part of what the Packers have done well on offense this season, so the team will be proceeding cautiously with Cobb this week. Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that coach Mike McCarthy said Cobb would test his ankle on Friday to see if he’s ready to go on Sunday. McCarthy also said Cobb’s dealing with a knee injury, which could make it likelier that the team decides to hold him back until the playoffs.

That decision would be a little easier to make if Jordy Nelson is able to play this week after missing the last three games with a hamstring injury. Nelson practiced in full on Wednesday and McCarthy said he looked good while cautioning that the team needed to be smart with the way they handled the receiver’s return.

Running back Alex Green and defensive end C.J. Wilson also returned to practice after missing last Sunday’s game. Safety Charles Woodson did not as he has already been ruled out for this week’s game. Woodson had hoped to return for this game, but still hasn’t received clearance from doctors.

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Marshawn Lynch isn’t just making sure kids look good. He wants them to have fun too.

Via Daniel Mano of the Bay Area News Group, Lynch’s latest goodwill gesture was to give away 2,000 free tickets to a local waterpark to kids who showed up at his Beast Mode Apparel store.

“Come get urs!!!! Yes Lawd!!!!” he wrote on Twitter announcing the donation.

While the image of Lynch hurtling down a waterslide is amusing enough to think about, he’s made serious strides in his hometown since the Raiders acquired him.

He recently promised free haircuts to kids with good report cards, the latest in a series of gestures big and small.

Oakland is going to lose the Raiders one day, but they’ll always have Lynch. And to be honest, that might be just as much fun.

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At this juncture of the calendar, the slow news days often are made more lively when a player does something he shouldn’t have done, often resulting in temporary incarceration or longer. This year, a Twitter misadventure from Colts owner Jim Irsay has helped fill the vacuum.

Overnight, Irsay’s account posted a photo of a naked woman from the neck down. Via Deadspin, it was an image from elsewhere on the Internet. According to the New York Daily News, the tweet was deleted 12 minutes after it was posted.

Earlier in the month, Irsay tweeted a warning that he’d been hacked. Presumably, he was hacked again, since per the Daily News the next tweet on the account was directed to multiple Indianapolis news stations and reporters, and for some reason the Indiana Pacers.

Irsay has not yet claimed that he was hacked, and there has been no statement issued from the team. It may be difficult for Irsay, the team, and the league to say nothing about this one, given the extent to which it’s been noticed and mentioned. Six hours later, “Jim Irsay” is still one of the top trending topics on Twitter.

If Irsay was hacked (again), it’s probably time for him to make his password considerably stronger than something like “GoColts” or “PluralLombardies” or “WhereHaveYouGonePeytonManning” or “WhyDidIFireBillPolian” or “passwurd.”

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When the Falcons open their new stadium this season, they say they’re going to have something unusual: Food and beverages that aren’t a ripoff.

Falcons President Rich McKay told Fast Company that fans have spoken up repeatedly that food is too expensive in stadiums, and NFL teams haven’t done enough to listen. This year, the Falcons will have $2 hot dogs, $2 sodas, $5 beers and other affordable options.

“Every year we survey them on everything,” McKay said. “Every year they say the same thing: Food and beverage, don’t like the value, don’t like the price.”

McKay said the Falcons view ticket sales as the way to make money and don’t want to gouge fans on food after that.

“Our tickets in the NFL are not inexpensive, and we can’t use this as an opportunity to hit them harder,” McKay said.

Fans will certainly approve of that.

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After signing with the Titans in 2013, Delanie Walker has become arguably the best tight end in franchise history. He’s set franchise records and provided a consistent receiving options for the various Titans quarterbacks over that span.

However, Walker thinks Jonnu Smith, drafted in the third-round by Tennessee in May, will eventually be better than him for the franchise.

“One day he will be better than me,” Walker said of Smith, via Jason Wolf of the USA Today. “And that’s his ultimate goal. And if he didn’t feel that way, I wouldn’t want him here.”

If Walker’s proclamation is correct, Smith will have built quite a career for himself with the Titans. Walker holds single-season receiving records for Tennessee in both receptions and yards. In four years with the Titans, Walker has amassed 282 catches for 3,349 yards and 23 touchdowns. His best season came in 2015 with 94 catches for 1,088 yards and six touchdowns in Marcus Mariota’s rookie campaign.

It’s a high bar to clear. However, Walker has been impressed by what he’s seen so far.

“I think he’s a great guy,” Walker said. “I think he sits back, he don’t talk much, he learns. He’s respectful. If I ask him to do something, he does it.

“I think he’s going to go a long way and be a star in this league.”

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Because the University of Washington runs on a quarter system that didn’t get out until June, new Arizona Cardinals safety Budda Baker was unable to take part in most of the team’s offseason program.

However, Baker feels he’s as prepared as he can be for the start of training camp given the circumstances.

In an interview with Bertrand Berry and Mike Jurecki on Arizona Sports 98.7-FM, Baker said he frequently spoke with Cardinals’ safeties coach Nick Rapone and watched as much film as he could from afar.

“For me, I always try to watch film, watch film of the practices,” Baker said. “So I feel like I’m not really that far behind.

“The only thing I haven’t done is really taken the reps with the whole team; the rookies have done seven-on-seven and all that type of stuff, so I’ve been able to run the plays consistently during seven-on-seven so now it’s just a matter of doing it at camp.”

Baker was able to participate in the team’s rookie mini-camp soon after the draft, but the rest of the offseason was pretty much a wash. The benefit is that Baker said the system he’s jumping into with the Cardinals is very similar to the defense he played in at Washington. The only significant change to Baker is some differing terminology.

Baker is looking forward to training camp and preseason games to give him the chance to learn on the field and show what he can do in the lead up to the regular season.

“So for these preseason games, I know the rookies get a lot of reps, so get as much reps as I can. I like to think of it as these preseason games are like my OTAs and mini-camp that I missed,” Baker said. “Just getting all these reps, taking as much reps as I can — whether it’s defense or special teams — and ultimately competing. That’s my goal.”

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After the Giants defense made a massive leap from 2015 to last year, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo finally feels like he’s back in a comfort zone in New York.

According to Paul Schwartz of the New York Post, Spagnuolo believes he has a handle on the personnel and an understanding of how the team fits together after returning to the team two years ago.

“Listen, the first year I was here in 2015, I didn’t really know what we had, (Jason Pierre-Paul) had the (fireworks) accident,” Spagnuolo said. “Last year, we really didn’t know, because we brought in a lot of new people. This is the first year in the three years I’ve been here you feel comfortable, where there’s a comfort level in knowing what we are, who we are, guys working with each other, players with players, coaches with coaches, coaches with players. So there’s a comfort level there. It doesn’t guarantee success but I think if we stay healthy we’ll be ok.”

The Giants were last in the league in total defense and ranked 30th in points per game allowed in Spanguolo’s first season back in 2015. The leap last year was substantial as the Giants improved to 10th in total defense and second in points allowed.

The improvement helped the Giants return to the playoffs for just the second time since Spagnuolo left the team following the 2008 season to become the head coach of the St. Louis Rams.

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With just a month left before training camps open, Denver Broncos running back Jamaal Charles is starting to feel like himself again.

In an interview with Troy Renck of the Denver Channel, Charles says he’s resumed cutting on surgically repaired knees and is getting closer to full strength.

“I am doing everything,” Charles said. “I have been cutting the last couple of days with the guys during the offseason workouts. I feel like the way I am cutting that I am back to the normal me, man. It feels good to be moving around again,”

Charles had surgery on both knees last year as he worked back from an ACL injury that ended his 2015 season. He appeared in just three games with Kansas City last year before landing on injured reserve. He rushed for just 40 yards on 12 carries with a touchdown before his season came to an end.

He was limited in work this offseason with an eye toward being ready for training camp. Charles still feels like he has plenty of good football remaining.

“I have been knowing this the whole offseason (that the knee was fine),” he said. “Nobody can take nothing away from me except God when my time is up. I am still 30 years old. I still have a lot of special stuff to do.”

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Well, that didn’t take long.

Tim Tebow lived up to the hype for one night, homering in his fourth at-bat with St. Lucie after the High Single-A affiliate promoted him. Tebow followed that two-run blast in the second inning with a single in the fourth. It came in the second game of a doubleheader Wednesday.

Tebow’s debut for the St. Lucie Mets was scheduled for Tuesday but rain postponed it to Wednesday when the Mets and Palm Beach Cardinals played a doubleheader. The former Heisman Trophy winner singled up the middle in the fifth inning of Game 1, going 1-for-2 with a walk and a strike out as the Mets won 5-2.

Critics questioned why the Mets promoted Tebow when his.220 batting average with the low-A Columbia (S.C.) Fireflies was higher than only 10 other players in the entire league. Tebow also struck out 69 times in 64 games against low-A pitching.

Tebow, 29, homered in his first career minor league at-bat with the Fireflies in April.

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A month later, Victor Cruz has toned down his conspiracy theory comments about his former team.

Cruz, back in New Jersey for his Victor Cruz Foundation Football Exhibition and Skills Challenge, backed down from earlier allegations the Giants purposely kept the ball from him to make it easier to cut him. The Giants have denied Cruz’s claims.

“I don’t know what their plans [were],” Cruz said Wednesday, via Howie Kussoy of the New York Post. “I don’t know what they think about upstairs.

“I haven’t had any conversations with anyone. Everyone’s underway with their programs. . . . No one has time to handle issues and for me to call, and all those things. Just turn the page and move on.”

Cruz, 30, was scheduled to make $7.5 million in salary and bonuses this season and count $9.4 million against the Giants’ salary cap. He made only 39 receptions for 586 yards and one touchdown in 15 games last season and played only six games combined in 2014-15 because of injuries. He signed a one-year deal with the Bears worth up to $4 million.

“Even after a Super Bowl, or after an injury-riddled two years, I always feel like I’ve got something to prove because I do,” Cruz said. “You’re only as good as your last catch, your last game, your last year of production. That’s what they categorize you as, whatever you’ve last shown on that field.

“I’m excited for that opportunity.”

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Dak Prescott won 13 games and offensive rookie of the year honors last season. The Cowboys quarterback doesn’t consider that a victory, though.

The Cowboys, despite having home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs, lost to the Packers in the divisional round. The franchise has not reached the NFC Championship Game since the 1995 season, when Prescott was only 2 years old.

“It wasn’t a win,” Prescott told Mike Florio on PFT Live on Wednesday. “To me, a season is only qualified as a win if you win that last game. That’s what the Patriots were. They were the one winners of this past season. For me, it was a good start. For the team, it was a good start with young guys coming in, but it’s not where we want to be. We want to be playing in that last game of the season. We know what it takes to get there, and that’s what we’ve done this offseason is work our tails off to try to put ourselves in that position.”

Tony Romo ended his 14-year career with most of the team’s all-time passing records, but the criticism that dogs him is his inability to get the Cowboys a Super Bowl title. Romo went 78-49 in the regular season but only 2-4 in the post season. A franchise with two Super Bowl-winning, Hall-of-Fame quarterbacks in Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman places great expectations on the shoulder of its signal caller.

Prescott embraces those expectations, seconding the notion that quarterbacks should be judged by titles.

“Winning games and winning those playoff games and winning championship games,” Prescott said. “. . . At the end of the day, you can break as many records as you want; you win a lot of games at the quarterback position, throw for a lot of yards. It honestly means nothing if you don’t have a championship, if you don’t bring home a championship. It’s tough. It’s nothing easy about that. It’s not easy to do that by any means, but at the end of the day, I feel like that’s what the quarterback is judged on is how many championships did he win and how many times did he give his team chances to win those big-time games.”

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The Packers have gone back to 1996 when they ranked first in points per game with tight ends Keith Jackson and Mark Chmura a big part of their offense. Jackson and Chmura combined for 68 receptions for 875 yards and 10 touchdowns that season.

This season, the Packers plan on the same after signing Martellus Bennett and Lance Kendricks, who combined for 160 targets, 105 receptions and nine touchdowns last season. The newcomers join veteran tight end Richard Rodgers, giving the Packers all kinds of options at the position.

“I think what it does is it gives us some more flexibility to run two tight end sets,” Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said, via Rob Reischel of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Both guys can put their hand on the ground and go and block guys really well but also add that dimension in the passing game.”

Bennett has averaged 63.6 receptions, 5.2 touchdowns and 728.2 yards per season the past five seasons. Kendricks made 50 catches last season, and Rodgers had 30.

With Jordy Nelson, Davante Adams and Randall Cobb, the Packers’ biggest problem might come in keeping all their weapons involved.

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What do David Irving, Demarcus Lawrence and Randy Gregory have in common? They are Cowboys defensive ends who have faced NFL suspensions the past year.

A team in need of pass rushers can’t keep its pass rushers on the field.

The three defensive ends will miss a minimum of 38 combined games because of suspension, with Gregory serving 30 games of that.

The NFL first suspended Gregory for a violation of the NFL’s substance abuse policy during the 2015 season. Before Gregory even could serve the four-game suspension to start the 2016 season, he earned another 10 games for missing a test. Gregory played the final two games of last season while appealing at least a year-long suspension, but his appeal was denied, and he isn’t eligible to return until at least January.

On June 30, 2016, the league suspended Lawrence for the first four games of the 2016 season for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy.

Now, it’s Irving, who will miss four games for an over-the-counter performance enhancing drug banned by the NFL.

The Cowboys, who had 36 sacks last season, could use all three. They haven’t ranked in the top 10 in sacks since 2011. They haven’t had a double-digit sack leader since defensive tackle Jason Hatcher made 11 in 2013.

The Cowboys took chances on Lawrence and Gregory with second-round picks in back-to-back drafts despite both having red flags. Lawrence showed promise in 2015 with eight sacks but took a step back last season with only one in nine games. Between Gregory’s injuries and suspensions, the Cowboys still don’t know what they have in him and may never know.

The Cowboys signed Irving, who also had red flags after being dismissed from Iowa State, off Kansas City’s practice squad in 2015. He was their best pass-rusher last season, with four sacks, a team-best 26 quarterback pressures and four forced fumbles. Now, he will have his progress interrupted.

With a revolving door at the position, and a lack of a war daddy pass-rusher since DeMarcus Ware left, it’s no wonder the Cowboys haven’t had a consistent pass rush. Giving Aaron Rodgers too much time cost them in their last two playoff losses over the past three seasons, so the Cowboys’ chances of getting where they want to go hinge on getting to the quarterback.

At the risk of being more immodest than usual (if that’s even possible), there’s only one place where your NFL news and information is periodically augmented with a dash of legal education. And as it relates to the Supreme Court’s decision to explore whether federal law banning the expansion of sports wagering by the various states violates the U.S. Constitution, there’s one specific area of that one place where you can get a length explanation of what it all means, and where it’s all going.

It’s in the Wednesday PFT Live non-vacation vacation edition podcast, which devotes more than 10 minutes to explaining and exploring every angle of the situation.

But there’s also plenty more, along with a review of the news of the day relating to among other things three fairly recent No. 1 overall picks in the draft.

The podcast is available at Apple Podcasts, audioBoom, and/or wherever else you can get the PFT Live podcast. Subscribe at  Apple Podcasts, audioBoom, and/or wherever else you can get the PFT Live podcast.

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Former 49ers coach Chip Kelly says Colin Kaepernick was everything he wanted in a franchise quarterback last season.

Kelly said on Adam Schefter’s podcast that Kaepernick was as hard a worker as he could have asked for in their one season together.

“He came to work every day, extremely diligent in terms of his preparation, in terms of his work ethic,” Kelly said, via All22.com. “I really enjoyed Kap. I’ve talked to Kap three or four times since. I think he’s a really good player and a really good person, and I really enjoyed coaching him.

As for talk that Kaepernick’s decision to kneel for the national anthem serving as a distraction in San Francisco, Kelly said that was never the case.

“He explained to all the players his thought process and mindset of what he was doing,” Kelly said. “And there were some players that agreed with him and some players that didn’t agree with him. But after that point, we heard from the outside about what a distraction it is, except those people weren’t in our locker room and it never was a distraction. [Kaepernick] never turned it into a circus or whatever people think.”

Kelly and former 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh have both spoken out vocally in favor of some team giving Kaepernick a chance. So far, no team has.

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The NFL has suspended free agent running back Karlos Williams for at least one year, according to Field Yates of ESPN.

Williams played for the Bills in 2015, rushing for 517 yards and seven touchdowns. The league suspended Williams for the first four games of the 2016 season for a substance-abuse policy violation, and the Bills released him Aug. 21.

Williams joined the Steelers’ practice squad Oct. 12, but in November, the NFL suspended Williams for 10 games.

He had served all but two games of his 10-game suspension, and remains a free agent after the Steelers waived him in March.