While speaking to reporters at the league meetings last month, Jets owner Woody Johnson said that the team will not release quarterback Zach Wilson this offseason if they are unable to find a trading partner for him.
Jets General Manager Joe Douglas referenced those remarks when he spoke to reporters about Wilson at a Friday press conference from the team’s facility. Douglas said that the team is open to making a trade, but that they believe Wilson has value that has to be represented in the return they get in any deal.
“I know you guys talked to Woody about Zach and my thoughts are in line with Woody,” Douglas said, via SNY. “Zach is an asset. At that same time, we’re obviously open to trading Zach. There have been discussions, nothing’s really changed since we talked down in Florida. We’re open to trading him, there’s just no update on that.”
The Jets signed Tyrod Taylor to serve as the primary backup to Aaron Rodgers this season and the prospect of Wilson finding his way back into the lineup at any point is an unappealing one for the Jets’ fanbase, so it will be interesting to see what happens if no trade comes together before the start of training camp.
When last we saw Tom Brady running, he was wearing a Patriots jersey and being celebrated at Gillette Stadium. More recently, he posted on social media a video of himself running shirtless.
Ostensibly, it’s a plug for No Bull, the apparel company that absorbed TB12 and the Brady brand earlier this year. At a deeper level, it’s a reminder that Brady has opened the door to returning to the NFL.
He got things rolling a week ago, when he said he’s “not opposed to” the possibility of coming back during the season, if the starting quarterback for a contending team is injured. Personally, I interpreted that as a message from Brady to any team that might be interested in him for the full season. If he can sign up and play during the season, why not join a quarterback-needy team now?
With Brady, there are no accidents or coincidences. Everything is planned. (That’s not a criticism, just a reality.) He knew what his words would do. He had an objective in uttering them.
He said when he retired for the second time that he’s definitely done and not returning. “I’m retiring,” he said, “for good.” More than a year later, he hints at returning during a season in which he’s supposed to be calling games for Fox?
Brady, I believe, wants the phone to run before or right after the draft. He mentioned the Raiders and Patriots. Other quarterback-needy teams could be interested, too, depending on what happens next week.
The Broncos, the Vikings, even the Commanders could decide to roll the dice with Brady for a year.
Regardless, Brady is making sure teams know he’s available. It will be interesting to see whether anyone calls.
Someone should. Brady would be a middle-of-the-pack-or-better quarterback right now, and he would definitely sell jerseys and put asses in seats.
Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott turned the tables on his rape accuser by suing her and her lawyers for extortion. She has since filed a police report.
Via Clarence E. Hill, Jr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Prescott has met with police who are investigating the situation.
“We reported their criminal behavior to the Prosper Police Department and have been fully cooperative with them,” attorney Levi McCathern said, per Hill. “When Ms. Shores doubled down on her false claim of sexual assault and reported it to the Dallas Police Department, we proactively reached out to cooperate with them as well. Dak has nothing to hide. He did nothing wrong. . . . He has and will continue to fully cooperate with any investigation, knowing the truth is on his side.”
The incident allegedly happened in early 2017. While it’s too late for a sexual assault lawsuit to be filed against Prescott, other civil claims have been made.
It all started because the alleged victim’s lawyers contacted Prescott and demanded $100 million to settle her claims. Prescott decided to sue the alleged victim and her lawyers.
It’s an unusual and aggressive move by Prescott. However, it’s the kind of reaction that is consistent with true innocence. The wrongfully accused don’t hide behind the right to remain silent. They shout their position from the rooftops. Which is what Prescott has done.
Whether he’s ultimately exonerated will be determined by the appropriate authorities.
While the Chargers will have a good chance to pick the top receiver on their draft board next week, they’re still taking a look at a veteran at the position.
Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, Los Angeles hosted DJ Chark for a free-agent visit on Thursday.
Chark, 27, spent the 2023 season with the Panthers on a one-year deal. He caught 35 passes for 524 yards with five touchdowns in 15 games.
A Jaguars second-round pick in 2018, Chark’s best season came with the Panthers in 2019. That year, he registered 73 receptions for 1,008 yards with eight touchdowns, earning his first and only Pro Bowl berth.
After completing his rookie contract with Jacksonville, Chark played the 2022 season with the Lions, catching 30 passes for 502 yards with three TDs.
In 69 career games, Chark has caught 212 passes for 3,069 yards with 23 touchdowns.
With Keenan Allen and Mike Williams both departing the franchise, the Chargers could still use multiple receivers for quarterback Justin Herbert.
I’ve long believed that the fart is proof that: (1) God exists; and (2) He has a good sense of humor.
I have always thought farts are funny. I always will. From casual settings to films like The Nutty Professor and before that Hollywood Knights, the sound of a fart always makes me laugh. (The aftermath can be humorous, too.)
And so I was very happy to see (and hear) Jaguars G.M. Trent Baalke nonchalantly letting one rip during his pre-draft press conference. He paused, pooted, said “excuse me,” and just kept going.
That is a guy who is secure in his own skin. That is a guy who gets it. I’m not being sarcastic. I loved it.
It humanizes Baalke. We all fart. And sometimes one accidentally, or intentionally, makes its escape at a time when it shouldn’t. When it does, don’t blame it on the dog. Own it. Enjoy it. Make sure your broadcast partner gets a chance to savor the bouquet.
Some are framing it as a question, not a fact. It wasn’t a burp. It was a fart.
Baalke cut the cheese. He stepped on a duck. The spider was barking.
And it was the best laugh I had all day.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen talked about the departure of wide receiver Stefon Diggs for a good chunk of his Thursday press conference, but Diggs is just one of many veterans who have parted ways with the Bills this offseason.
Those departures came on both sides of the ball and they leave the team without a number of the players who played key roles in their recent run of division titles. It also resulted in a significantly younger roster and Allen said he thinks that can be a positive because there’s a chance to shape them in a way you can’t with older players.
“I don’t think it’s a wrong thing or a bad thing to get younger,” Allen said, via the team’s website. “I think that, as a coaching staff, as a leader, to be able to come in and kind of mold these guys into the team that you want to be, I think there’s a very exciting opportunity.”
Molding a team isn’t an overnight process, but it can’t be a terribly long one if the Bills want to avoid taking a step or two back in the present given the team’s belief that their championship window is wide open.
The Lions unveiled new uniforms on Thursday night and safety Kerby Joseph used the occasion to share his plans for the team’s offseason program.
Joseph said that he had hip surgery after the end of the team’s season and that he will be out of action until training camp. Joseph missed two games with a hip injury he suffered in Week Two of the regular season, but returned to play in all of the team’s other games.
“I’m good, man,” Joseph said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “A little hiccup but that ain’t nothing. Nothing can stop J-Kerb. I’m going to go all the way.”
Joseph said he felt the injury offered “no hindrance” to his play last season. He finished the year with 82 tackles and four interceptions and then posted 10 tackles in the playoffs.
Cornerback Tre’Davious White was looking for more than just the best on-field fit in free agency this year.
White tore his Achilles while playing for the Bills last season and was released for cap savings at the start of the new league year. He signed a one-year deal with the Rams and said this week that the role his new team would play with his return to action was one of the things he considered before adding his name to the contract.
“Very transparent, just very authentic, the plan that they have in place,” White said, via the team’s website. “I’m a guy that’s very strategic [with] my approach of how I would want my rehab to go, being that I’ve had an ACL before and I know how rehab can go. So I was doing my homework. This team has rehab guys that have been very successful with the Achilles before.”
White said he’s been listening to the Rams and his doctor and that “so far it’s been good.” He added that he’ll continue to be “very transparent” about how he’s feeling in order to ensure that the process has the best possible outcome this fall.
Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh said recently that he feels like the team will have the No. 1 overall pick in the draft if four quarterbacks go off the board to start the first round next week and that viewpoint was echoed by General Manager Joe Hortiz on Thursday.
Hortiz held his pre-draft press conference and the possibility of trading out of the No. 5 pick was one of the topics of conversation. He said the Chargers “believe strongly” in Harbaugh’s view of the value of their pick in the four quarterback scenario and said that being blown away by an offer was “a good way to look at it” as opposed to a deal that feels like a win for both sides.
“There’s certainly, ‘It’s too good of a deal’, in terms of what you’re getting back,” Hortiz said, via the team’s website. “They have to make it attractive to us for us to move away from those players. The whole, ‘It’s a fair trade, it’s a wash’. I don’t think that’s a trade we’re interested in.”
In a hypothetical trade, Hortiz said they would want “as many picks as we can this year” but also noted the value of stockpiling picks in future seasons if they are attractive enough for the team to delay making their first pick next Thursday night.
The Lions unveiled new uniforms on Thursday, including black jerseys that they’ll wear for some home games. Coach Dan Campbell is pleased.
Lions President Rod Wood revealed that Campbell has been lobbying for the Lions to bring back black jerseys — which Campbell himself wore when he played for the Lions — since he was hired. Wood shared a story of discussing it with Campbell during the 2021 NFL draft, shortly after Campbell was hired.
“We’re in the draft room literally months into his tenure — and he wore the black when he was here — and he said, ‘Rod, when can we get the black jerseys back?’ I said, ‘I’ll make a deal, when you win the division I’ll bring the black jerseys back.’ So I went out on a limb, and thankfully, he delivered. That’s a true story,” Wood told reporters.
Wood said that Campbell and his teammates were big fans of the black jerseys during his tenure as a tight end for the Lions.
“He loved them. When he was here he wore them, and it was the team’s favorite at the time, and he pined for it again, and for him it’s a throwback to when he was a player,” Wood said.
The Lions’ division title last year was their first in three decades, and Campbell appears to have the franchise on firmer ground than it’s been on at any point since the 1950s. What Campbell wants he gets, and that includes black jerseys.