Category: Cincinnati Bengals

When receiver Terrell Owens began to indicate that he’s interested in playing football again, the CFL’s Edmonton Eskimos moved quickly to call dibs on him, adding T.O. to their negotiating list. Apparently, T.O. is now interested.

According to 3downnation.com, Owens has invoked the 10-day clause that gives the Eskimos a window to offer him a deal or to release his rights. Owens made the request on July 14.

Agent Jason Staroszik reportedly is handling the matter on Owens’ behalf.

For his part, Young has wasted no time embracing his new city. He said he’s looking forward to attending his first NFL game by checking out the Falcons, and planning to drop by a Braves game as well. And he’s already friends with the city’s currently most celebrated sons, the rap trio Migos, whom he met at a concert in Oklahoma City. When he found out Young was heading to Atlanta, Migos member Quavo sent a congratulatory text to the point guard who has said he believes he is the best player in this draft. Now Hawks fans will hope Young walks it like he talks it.

Unfortunately, he made some bad decisions this past season or whenever he did it. I don’t know exactly when that was. But I still love him. If you’re ever around him, you’ll understand what I mean. There’s not a better team player, a guy who works as much as [anyone].

But he made he made a mistake, and obviously he’ll pay the consequences for that, and we’ll move on.

Green Bay signaled their most important area for improvement in their top two draft picks—cornerback Jaire Alexander in the first round and cornerback Josh Jackson in the second. By drafting two highly-touted cornerback prospects, there’s a better chance that one of them will pan out. Green Bay also signed veterans Tramon Williams and Davon House to round out the depth in the secondary. This is an area the Packers have to get right if they want to maximize Aaron Rodgers’s championship window.

A healthy Aaron Rodgers with a new weapon in Jimmy Graham should lead the Packers return to their usual playoff berth.

Lynn was praised for leading the Chargers to nine wins after entering October under the most difficult of circumstances. Now, nine wins would be disappointing. The rough start last year just made us a tougher football team, Lynn says. We became more resilient. And now last year’s not even in the back of our heads anymore, we’re focused on this season.

Surprise winners of the NFC West in 2017, the Rams have had one of the most unique, aggressive offseasons in recent memory and are now among the early favorites to win Super Bowl 5They’re slated for five nationally televised games in 201And yet they too are still trying to gain a foothold in the L.A. market.

After a record-setting year-over-year decline in attendance last September, the Rams averaged 63,392 in home attendance on the season, which ranked 26th int he league, and filled a league-low two-thirds of their venue (the L.A. Coliseum). Their local TV ratings were 8.0, meaning just eight percent of L.A. televisions were tuned into their games. The Chargers got a 6.0, though it should be noted that a ratings point in Los Angeles represents 5.2 times as many people as a ratings point in San Diego.

The Aggies’ defense looks primed to be very, very good in 2018, and the best player among that group is Dodson, a junior linebacker who was overlooked on the All-SEC honor roll a season ago. As a sophomore in 2017, he logged 104 total tackles and took his pass defense to another level from the year before; on the season, he had eight passes defensed along with three interceptions for 41 total yards and a touchdown.

Fine looks like the best quarterback in the state of Texas—although he certainly doesn’t play for the team you’d expect for that qualification. He’ll be a junior in 2018, and over his first two seasons he helped turn North Texas from a perennial loser to a nine-win team last year. In 2017, he passed for more than 4,000 yards and improved in every major passing category, tossing 31 touchdowns and just 15 interceptions while completing 63.4% of his passes.

With Regret and sadness I wish to inform the fans, and the public a good friend of mine Roosevelt Rene a.k.a Trypps Beats was found dead at my place of residence, Janoris wrote. Trypps was a good friend and we were collaborating on music production together. It truly hurts my heart to know he passed away.

Raiders cornerback Gareon Conley is suing the woman who accused him of rape just before last year’s NFL draft.

The first few games of the experiment were … unsuccessful. They drew 8,783 in Saskatchewan for the Flames and the North Stars, a game that had to compete with Eric Lindros’ first game in Quebec City as a Flyer on TV. They drew 7,186 at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton for the Leafs and Senators because the Blue Jays were in the World Series that same night. The Capitals and Blackhawks played at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis and sold about half the tickets in the building on Election Night, which, of course, featured incumbent vice president and noted Hoosier Dan Quayle.

Bowles was kept for a fourth season despite consecutive 5-11 campaigns. The Jets are still rebuilding, but they are talented in several areas with a much easier schedule this year. There’s reason to think then they can be closer to their surprise 10-6 form, especially with the Bills and Dolphins set up for fades in the division. That potential favors McCown as the most trustworthy option for complementary football.

The Bears are returning three fine starters in left tackle Charles Leno, center Cody Whitehair and right guard Kyle Long. But for Chicago to live with the weak link that is right tackle Bobby Massie, it needed to keep the chain strong after it decided left guard Josh Sitton was too expensive to keep.

Second-round draft pick James Daniels, an Iowa product who was graded by many as a first-rounder, was worth the investment. The early question was whether he or Whitehair would slide to guard, but the Bears wisely decided to trust the rookie to make the transition and not mess with the returning cohesiveness. Daniels, 20, gives them fresher and more athletic legs than those of Sitton.

It was just last season. In case you forgot the circumstances surrounding his five-pick debut, let me remind you it was not an emergency move by the Bills. No, they decided, at 5-4 and in the middle of a playoff chase, to hand over starting duties a rookie fifth-round pick JUST BECAUSE.

Head coach Sean McDermott never seemed to take a liking to incumbent starter Tyrod Taylor from his first day in Buffalo. Why? Who knows. All Taylor had done prior to McDermott’s arrival was throw 37 touchdowns and just 12 picks, with a 94.2 rating and 10 rushing touchdowns, in 29 starts for the Bills the two season prior.

I don’t regret my decision, he said after the 54-24 loss to the Chargers. I regret the result … This is in part about winning now and in part about winning in the future.

OK, as much fun as we’re having at McDermott’s expense, it’s not what I set out to do here. (Besides, with Peterman AJ McCarron and Josh Allen on the roster, we’ll have plenty more chances to snicker at Buffalo’s quarterback play.)

Winner: Though the record book says they’re tied, Peterman is the most notable of the two quarterbacks with the most interceptions in their debut as a starting quarterback. He only lasted one half, and should’ve never been in there in the first place.

Only three other players — Antonio Brown, Julio Jones, and Lamar Miller — have active streaks of even four seasons. So the earliest it could even theoretically be broken is 2025, if Brown can top 1,200 every single year from his age-30 season thru his age-37 season. Good luck, AB.

The other remarkable part of this streak is the fact that it didn’t come to an end in 2010. In the 49ers’ 11th game that year, a Monday nighter in the desert, Gore broke his hip in the first quarter, costing him the final 36.1 percent of the season. But for Frank Gore, 63.9 percent of the season was enough. He’d already reached that 1,200 mark, clearing the way to propel his streak of immortality forward for another seven years.

It’ll surely come to an end in 2018 as Gore enters the twilight of his career and settles into a reserve role with the Dolphins behind Kenyan Drake. But you’ll have plenty of time to appreciate Gore’s record — it’ll be around for the rest of your life.

Strahan shouldn’t own the single-season sack record, so someone please break it.

That led the Patriots to a Divisional Round showdown with the Jets, the archrival they’d beaten six weeks earlier by a 45-3 count.

With Luck gone to the Browns with the first pick, there’s reason to second-guess the idea that moving on from Peyton Manning is the best move.

Given the results of the last four seasons, that seems like a disaster for the Colts, but the fortunes of Griffin may have been much different in a new setting. Maybe he wouldn’t have been injured so much. Maybe he would have developed as a quarterback. Mike Shanahan and Dan Snyder made several mistakes in how they handled Griffin in Washington. However, he would have been under the tutelage of Bruce Arians in Indianapolis, at least for one season.

Maybe things would’ve ended the same for Griffin, but there’s no way they could’ve gone worse than they did in Washington.

Nothing changes for the Vikings, except, instead of dropping back one pick to No. 4 after a trade with the Browns, Minnesota stays at No. 3 to take offensive tackle Matt Kalil. A small difference, but the Vikings don’t get the pair of fourth-round picks they used to select Jarius Wright and Robert Blanton.

Could the Bengals have screwed up that windfall of picks? Sure. But the opportunity to build a dynasty with players like Drew Brees and LaVar Arrington falling right into their lap was right there in front of them.

Alas, the Bengals had to have Smith. On the other hand, it led them to Carson Palmer.

But, oh, what could have been.

That same day, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center released a statement saying that Shazier was discharged from inpatient rehab and will transition into an outpatient program to continue his recovery.

This was the first photo that confirmed Shazier was in a wheelchair. His family and the team have kept details about Shazier’s condition close to the vest to protect his privacy as he recovers.

Kirk Cousins’ fully guaranteed $84 million contract, the first of its kind in the NFL, is for only three years. Florio did a good job on a slow day of spelling out how the adoption of fully guaranteed contracts for all NFL players would lead to shorter contracts for most players.

Alexander, in the second year of a two-year, $5.95 million contract that has $3.4 million guaranteed, used Cousins’ deal as an example of what NFL players should seek instead of longer-term contracts with more total money.

I’d much rather have like a Kirk Cousins deal where I know that I’m going to get all $84 million versus, let’s say, $150 [million] over six [years], and I’m not sure if I’m going to get that our not, Alexander said. And, obviously, we’re talking crazy numbers and I understand it’s a lot of money, but relative to sports, I think having guaranteed contracts is something that players are going to always want and always try to fight for. And that’s the key, trying to create that same type of reality that the MLB and the NBA have created and their stars have leveraged their power and it made that the norm in those leagues because there’s nothing in their CBA that mandates guaranteed contracts and that’s something that we have to try to do as far as the NFL.

With Regret and sadness I wish to inform the fans, and the public a good friend of mine Roosevelt Rene a.k.a Trypps Beats was found dead at my place of residence, Jenkins wrote, via Natalie Musumeci of the New York Post. Trypps was a good friend and we were collaborating on music production together. It truly hurts my heart to know he passed away.

At the time of the incident I was in Florida preparing to finish off my promotional tour. As this is an ongoing incident, I cannot answer any questions related to the investigation. I am praying for Roosevelt and his family.

Rene reportedly died during a fight with Jenkins’ brother William Jenkins.

Peters: I don’t think there are a ton of great options available to the Isles right now. Even though they have talented Russian goalie Ilya Sorokin in the system, I’d consider taking a run at a younger goalie via the trade market. What would it take to get Jon Gillies out of Calgary? It sounds like the Toronto Maple Leafs would be willing to listen to offers for recently crowned AHL champion Garret Sparks. It’s hard to say if either of those guys are bona fide starters right now, but they intrigue me more than anything on the free agent market.

Yankees: RHP Sonny Gray (5-5, 4.93) is 1-5 lifetime against the Red Sox. Since joining New York, he’s 0-3 with a 7.20 ERA in three starts vs. Boston.NFL fines Panthers owner Jerry Richardson for workplace misconduct

The Panthers initiated an investigation into Richardson on Dec. 15 and informed the league of what was taking place. The NFL took over the investigation two days later when Sports Illustrated published a story in which four former employees anonymously stated they reached a financial settlement with Richardson in exchange for silence.

Richardson, 81, announced shortly after the NFL took charge of the investigation that he planned to sell the team that he and investors paid $206 million for in 1993. He also stepped away from the day-to-day operations, naming Tina Becker the new COO.

The allegations against Richardson included three cases of sexual harassment and the use of a racial slur toward a team scout. None of the employees remain with the organization.

JaCoby Jones hit a two-run homer as the Tigers won for the first time since June 17, when they completed a three-game road sweep of the Chicago White Sox.

Castellanos nearly hit another home run in the ninth but Blue Jays outfielder Kevin Pillar made a leaping catch at the wall.

I felt like I was going to have a chance to make a play, Pillar said. A ball like that hit as high as it is it allows me time to kind of track the ball and track the fence and go up to try to make a play.

Castellanos stopped on the basepaths to applaud Pillar’s catch before turning and heading back to the dugout.

What else can you say the end of the day besides `What a play, Castellanos said. It sucks it had to happen to me but plays like that have to happen to somebody.

Niko Goodrum had a career-high four hits and Jose Iglesias had two hits and two RBI for Detroit, which had lost 12 of 14 at Rogers Centre.

That was a fun win, a really fun with with a lot of great swings, Gardenire said.

Sean McVay’s Rams took the league by storm last autumn, scorching opponents with an air-and-ground attack that led the NFL in points.

The team’s newest defensive stars still can’t believe what they’re seeing.

Fellow star cover man Marcus Peters, added through a swap with the Chiefs, agreed: It’s crazy unique.

It’s one reason the Rams roll into September as a not-so-sneaky pick to appear in Super Bowl LIII.

And just like last week, only the Tuesday practice is open to reporters. ( Click here to read our Darnold observations and takeaways from Day 1 of OTAs.)

All told, the Jets have 13 spring practices — 10 OTAs plus a three-day mandatory minicamp from June 12-14.

The Jets conclude OTAs next week, when they practice from Monday through Thursday. And just like the first two weeks, only the Tuesday practice is open to reporters next week.

All three days of the Jets’ mandatory minicamp will be open to reporters.

Darnold is competing with veterans Josh McCown and Teddy Bridgewater for the Jets’ starting quarterback job, after the Jets drafted Darnold third overall.

Bridgewater — who is coming off surgery to repair a serious knee injury — looked good in Week 1 of OTAs. Let’s see if he can keep that up in Week 2.

McCown re-signed with the Jets this offseason after being their starter last season, his first with the organization. McCown turns 39 in July. Darnold turns 21 in exactly one week.

At least Flowers has now joined the competition, rather than sitting it out.

Texans defensive end J.J. Watt plans to personally pay for the funerals of the Santa Fe High School shooting victims, according to a report by Houston’s Fox affiliate.

Santa Fe High School officials have been notified that @JJWatt is personally going to pay for the funerals of all the victims of the Santa Fe High School shooting tragedy.

Ed Oliver, defensive tackle, Houston: Sometimes a prospect has a body of work so strong that declaring for the draft early as a junior becomes a forgone conclusion. Oliver announced his intentions for the 2019 NFL Draft before even taking a snap in his junior season. Oliver has exceeded the expectations of being a five-star recruit for the Cougars, and his long list of accolades on the field back it up. At 6-3, 290 pounds, Oliver already has NFL measurables and has punished opposing offenses with 139 total tackles, including 10.5 sacks.

Nick Bosa, defensive end, Ohio State: Bosa has NFL pedigree, as his older brother Joey was the third overall pick in the 2016 draft by the Chargers. Their father, John Bosa, was the 16th overall pick by the Dolphins in 1987. The younger Bosa, according to SN’s Bill Bender, has a chance to go higher than both due to his edge rushing ability.

Others to watch: While Oliver and Bosa are the headliners, next year’s class is extremely deep in defensive line prospects. As for quarterbacks, Bender has provided a list of signal-callers to watch.

Graham made a career-high 9.5 sacks last season.

Consider this, too, from the News’ story, which quoted veteran defense attorney and former federal prosecutor Keith Corbett about the impact of charges like this:

“(On) a personal level, it’s a brand that stays with you forever. There’s no way to get around it. (They) never had a chance to defend against it, and there was no finding of guilt but from a public-perception standpoint; this is a thing that may follow them for the rest of their lives.”

For Patricia, though, it did not. He got around it for 22 years. Explain that.

Philip Rivers isn’t getting any younger, but make no mistake: The 2018 Los Angeles Chargers are his team.

The quarterback’s coach said as much with the draft 10 days away and a crop of signal-callers available for selecting.

Write on Sports is having a small dinner in a private room at the Yale Club in Manhattan on Wednesday night at 6. I’m hosting, along with Yale Club president Dev Gandhi, a fellow Write on Sports board member. Food will be good, wine better, and we’re going to talk the draft, the upcoming NFL season, and anything else about football, sports and life you’d like to discuss.

Rosen has never been arrested. He’s never been suspended. He’s never failed a drug test. During an appearance on the Herd with Colin Cowherd podcast, John Middlekauff of The Athletic reported Rosen scored a 29 on the famed Wonderlic test, per Jordan Heck of the Sporting News. In an age when the spotlight has fallen on players’ off-field misdeeds, why does Rosen get knocked for a clean background?

It’s unfair to say he has character problems or to lump all character problems in together, one scout said. This isn’t Joe Mixon we’re talking about.

But then the scout adds the caveat at the heart of this all: But is he uncoachable? Probably for some.

Uncoachable is a word associated with Rosen dating back to his time in high school at the Elite 11 camps. There, the story goes, Rosen didn’t take to the coaching methods of former NFL quarterback and camp head Trent Dilfer. In a documentary about the camp, Dilfer is heard asking if Rosen thinks he knows more than us. Rosen finished dead-last—11th—when the camp counselors ranked the quarterbacks at the end of the week.