As a rookie last season, Bengals running back Chase Brown was a backup to Joe Mixon and finished the season with just 44 carries for 179 yards and no touchdowns. With Mixon now in Houston, Brown expects a bigger workload in 2024 -- and he has spent the offseason getting his body ready.
Brown, who is competing with Zack Moss to be the Bengals’ starting running back, said he is investing in himself by hiring professionals to help him take care of his body.
“I have a lot of people now around me to help keep my body in shape,” Brown said, via Bengals.com. “I learned so much from last season and I’m taking that knowledge and doubling it in year two. I’m going to have a trainer with me and have a physical therapist and masseur come over to my house a few times a week. It’s investing in the craft, investing in my body. I think that’s where people are wrong, a little bit [in the offseason]. They focus a little too much on the extracurriculars, travel, all that.”
Brown showed in college that he could handle a very big workload, carrying 328 times for 1,643 yards during his senior season at Illinois. It’s probably safe to say he won’t get that big a workload in Cincinnati this season, but he’ll be ready for everything the Bengals give him.
Former Lions cornerback Cameron Sutton has reached a legal resolution on the battery charge that led to his release from the team last month.
Greg Auman of Fox Sports reports that court records in Tampa show that Sutton has entered a pretrial diversion program to resolve the misdemeanor charge. Sutton will have to undergo a mental health evaluation and undergo possible treatment as part of the program.
Sutton’s agreement also calls for a probationary period and bars him from possessing firearms.
Sutton was released a day after police announced they had issued a warrant for his arrest in a domestic violence case. The move voided his $10.5 million guaranteed salary for 2024.
After the Ravens lost the AFC Championship Game to the Chiefs, their offensive game plan came in for criticism.
The team handed the ball off to running backs six times in a game that was close throughout and the lack of running drew poor reviews from head coach John Harbaugh along with outside voices. On Wednesday, linebacker Roquan Smith may have referenced that game plan as well when he answered a question about one of his new teammates.
Derrick Henry signed with the team as a free agent last month and Smith raved about what the running back will mean to the team’s offense.
“I think that’s huge,” Smith said. “I think it’s gonna make us stick to what we do, having a guy like him. Anytime you need a play with him and [quarterback] Lamar [Jackson] back there, I think it’s gonna be crucial. I’m excited. It’s gonna open up a lot for everyone. Going against the guy, I know the type of threat he posed to other defenses. It’s gonna be scary. I’m excited to see.”
Smith said he told friends he might have to “get some popcorn on the sideline” because of how entertaining he thinks it will be to watch Henry, Jackson and the rest of the offense go about its business this season.
Bill Belichick has his first job since leaving New England.
Belichick was announced today as a co-host of The Pat McAfee Show Draft Spectacular, which will air during the draft next week on ESPN+.
It’s been widely expected that Belichick would have some role on television in 2024, after he tried and failed to get another head-coaching job. But no one was expecting him to land with McAfee.
Belichick made an appearance on McAfee’s show today to announce that he’d be joining the draft special.
It’s unclear whether Belichick will continue to work with McAfee and ESPN going forward. Belichick has reportedly also been in talks to work with Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions this season. Omaha Productions, like McAfee’s show, airs content on ESPN platforms but operates independently of ESPN.
Ted Crews is taking his three Super Bowl rings to Halas Hall.
Crews, the longtime head of P.R. for the Chiefs, has been hired by the Bears. He’ll serve as special advisor to president/CEO Kevin Warren and chief administrative officer.
Crews spent 12 years in Kansas City, rising to the title of executive V.P. of communications. He has 26 years of NFL experience.
It’s a great hire for the Bears and a big loss for the Chiefs. Ted Crews gets it, plain and simple. He understands the role of media in the promotion of the sport (even when media might be critical of a team), and he has always been helpful and responsive and friendly when it comes to anything we’ve ever asked of him.
It’s also rewarding to see someone who has spent so much time in and around the inner workings of an NFL team be entrusted to cross over from a P.R. job into something that entails greater responsibility and influence. More teams should be viewing P.R. professionals that way. So what if they never played or coached or scouted? At some point, a couple of decades or more of devoting their professional lives to the sport becomes highly valuable, in its own way.
The Bears will get something else from Crews. Like anyone who found a career in and around the NFL, there was an initial team that sparked the passion. For Crews, it was the Bears.
“That was my first favorite football team, the first team I remember following,” Crews said. “When you have Walter Payton, Jim McMahon and the Fridge, I was into that team. I remember watching that team vividly, watching the NFC Championship Game when the snow started falling and the defense turned it up. So you are talking about a place where there is familiarity and a built-in affinity.”
It’s a win for the Bears and a win for Crews. It’s also a problem for the Chiefs, who suddenly have some big shoes to fill.
Jontay Porter’s NBA career is over.
Commissioner Adam Silver has issued a lifetime ban for Raptors forward Jontay Porter, after an investigation into whether he left at least two games early to influence the outcome of prop bets.
Via Shams Charania of TheAthletic.com, the NBA found that Porter “disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, limiting his own participation in one or more games for betting purposes, and betting on NBA games.” The NBA investigation also concluded that, before a game on March 20, “Porter disclosed confidential information about his health to an NBA bettor.” Someone else connected to Porter placed an $80,000 parlay, with potential winnings of $1.1 million, that Porter would underperform in the game. That bet was frozen.
“There is nothing more important than protecting the integrity of NBA competition for our fans, our teams and everyone associated with our sport, which is why Jontay Porter’s blatant violations of our gaming rules are being met with the most severe punishment,” Silver said in a statement. “While legal sports betting creates transparency that helps identify suspicious or abnormal activity, this matter also raises important issues about the sufficiency of the regulatory framework currently in place, including the types of bets offered on our games and players. Working closely with all relevant stakeholders across the industry, we will continue to work diligently to safeguard our league and game.”
Prop bets based on individual player performance are far more susceptible to foul play than bets based on team performance. For any player, the easiest way to influence an outcome is to fake an injury or illness and exit early, allowing the unders to hit.
The NCAA wants all states to ban prop bets. Some have. Frankly, every sport should join the NCAA. It not only creates a strong temptation for misconduct but also makes individual players the focus of sharp criticism when they fail to make their numbers.
Already, high-level athletes easily can become dehumanized. Tying specific wagers to their performance makes them no different than a pair of dice, a deck of cards, or a steel ball that bounces around on a roulette wheel.
The lengthy item from ESPN.com that delves into the failure of former Patriots coach Bill Belichick to land a job in 2024 includes a claim regarding his effort to explain his affinity for a failed phalanx of former assistants.
Here’s the key quote: "[Falcons] executives also were concerned about the staff Belichick would bring with him, including assistants who had worked with him in New England and who had struggled on their own: Josh McDaniels, Joe Judge, Jack Easterby, Matt Patricia. At one point, Blank asked Belichick why his charges had failed elsewhere. Belichick replied that he thought they were better soldiers than generals.”
McDaniels was fired twice as a head coach. Judge was fired once. Patricia also was fired once. (Easterby has no business being included in this list, in part because there’s no reason to think Belichick would have wanted Easterby in Atlanta and in part because Easterby was never part of the football operations in New England. But inclusion is apparently one of the potential benefits of being a good source.)
Belichick’s attempt to minimize the skills and abilities of McDaniels, Judge, and Patricia overlook his own role in making them who they are. After years of watching how Belichick does things, they did things the same way once they were in charge of their own teams. But the Belichick way only works if you win — and win quickly.
Belichick never would have lasted in New England if he hadn’t parlayed his second season into an unexpected Super Bowl win. Success made his shtick tolerable. And others who helped him picked up his habits. Few were immune to becoming like Bill, even if by osmosis. (Thomas Dimitroff is the one of the few exceptions.)
Basically, his lieutenants were better soldiers than generals because he was a bad example of what a general should be in today’s NFL. While he won, it was fine; the minute the wins weren’t as prevalent, that was that.
For McDaniels, Judge, and Patricia, the clock was ticking from the moment they got started, because they tried to do things the way Belichick did things. That’s partially their fault. It’s partially his fault, too.
It’s tax day. If you’re getting a refund, here’s an idea for how to spend less than one dollar of it.
The Father of Mine ebook is only 99 cents, until Monday, April 22.
Ninety-nine cents. What can you buy for ninety-nine cents? (Not much; go ahead and Google the possibilities.)
The book is objectively not crap, even though I wrote it. It’s also a mob story. If you liked Goodfellas or the Sopranos or any other mafia tale, you’ll like this.
Unlike most mob stories, which happen in New York or Chicago or some other big city, this is a small-town thing, but with the same criminality and menace and peril.
It’s inspired by the crew that actually ran the small town where I grew up. And where my dad worked as a bookie for the local mob.
I kept my eyes and ears open and my mouth shut. I learned a lot then. I’ve learned a lot more since then. Several of the crimes are based on things they actually did. Allegedly.
And the sequel is coming. So get yourself ready for the second book by reading the first one.
It’s only 99 cents, for one week. Even in 1973, the setting of Father of Mine, there wasn’t much you could buy for 99 cents.
The Eagles made several changes to their coaching staff after the disappointing end to their 2023 season, including a move to hire a new offensive coordinator for the second straight season.
Brian Johnson was let go and Kellen Moore was hired to overhaul the scheme that quarterback Jalen Hurts will be in charge of for the 2024 season. On Tuesday, Hurts spoke to reporters about Moore and he said he’s “just in sponge mode” when it comes to grasping the system that the Ealges will be running.
“We’re just all excited,” Hurts said. “I know they’re kinda finalizing some of the things. Crossing their t’s and dotting their i’s in terms of what it is exactly gonna be. I’m just all ears, I’m a sponge. I think there’s some beauty in that.”
Hurts stressed the importance of building a strong foundation to the offense before he starts to put any of his own stamp on it. That process will play out over several months before the Eagles will be in Brazil to kick off the season against the Packers.
The Eagles drafted linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Sr. in 1998 and he became a member of the team’s Hall of Fame. This year his son Jeremiah Trotter Jr. is a draft prospect, and Eagles General Manager Howie Roseman acknowledged that it’s tempting to want to draft him to continue the Trotter family legacy in Philadelphia.
At the same time, Roseman said he and coach Nick Sirianni talk about the importance of taking their own emotions out of any personnel decision and focusing only on building the best possible roster.
“I’m biased towards our hometown players,” Roseman said. “I’m biased towards the people who have legacy with this franchise. So I think that’s hard. And I think that’s why, Coach talked about getting a lot of the information and trying to get myself out of that moment and just trying to make the best decision for the Philadelphia Eagles and not making an emotional decision.”
Roseman didn’t mention Trotter Jr. or any other draft prospect by name in his answer to a question about him, but he did say that it’s tempting to draft players who will appreciate playing in Philadelphia.
“It’s hard not not to want to keep guys who have Philly ties, who understand what it’s like to play here, or to bring those guys in,” Roseman said. “And I do think it’s a plus. It’s a plus to bring someone in this atmosphere who understands what it’s like, and this is the best atmosphere in the National Football League. And I think that they know that when you win, it’s like nothing else that you experience. But it’s different versus people who haven’t experienced before.”
Trotter Jr., a linebacker like his dad, grew up in the Philadelphia area before playing his college football at Clemson.