Latest news with #ScoopCity
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
NFL Legend Charles Woodson Makes Career Decision on Thursday
There's no doubt Charles Woodson left an incredible mark on the NFL. Now, it looks like he's making just as big of an impact off the field. Already known for his passion for wine, Woodson has his own label, TwentyFour by Charles Woodson. Based in Napa, California, the winery continues to grow in popularity. But now, Woodson is stepping into an even busier role — this time back in the NFL but in a new capacity. Advertisement Dianna Russini, an NFL insider for The Athletic and host of the "Scoop City" podcast, shared the news about the Pro Football Hall of Famer's next venture: "Hall of Famer Charles Woodson is set to purchase a 0.1% stake in the Browns from the Haslam family." Russini added: "The sale is contingent upon Woodson agreeing to similar broadcasting restrictions to Raiders owner Tom Brady and removing his name, image and likeness from businesses he is involved in." Woodson has already made a name for himself in the media world. He was part of ESPN's "Sunday NFL Countdown" from 2016 to 2018, then transitioned to Fox Sports as a college football analyst. Advertisement A native of Fremont, Ohio, Woodson starred at Fremont Ross High School as a member of the Little Giants. Though he now lives in the Orlando, Florida, area with his family, he frequently refers to Ohio as home. Former Raiders defensive back Charles Han / USA TODAY NETWORK During his college days, Woodson became a legend at the University of Michigan. In 1997, he won the Heisman Trophy and helped lead the Wolverines to a national championship. That same season, he also picked up the Walter Camp, Chuck Bednarik and Bronko Nagurski awards and earned first-team All-American honors. He was selected fourth overall in the 1998 NFL draft and went on to set the record for most consecutive seasons with an interception returned for a touchdown (six). Woodson finished his career with 65 interceptions, 13 defensive touchdowns and 20 sacks. Advertisement His NFL journey spanned from 1998 to 2015, playing for both the then-Oakland Raiders and Green Bay Packers. He began his career with the Raiders from 1998 to 2005, then joined the Packers, before returning to the Raiders from 2013 to 2015. Woodson was named the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in 1998 and NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2009. He was selected to nine Pro Bowls and capped off his illustrious career with a Super Bowl XLV victory. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021. Related: Jonathan Owens' Behavior Toward Simone Biles at Kentucky Derby Catches Attention Related: Erin Andrews Reacts to Tom Brady's Emotional Post on Sunday
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Insider: George Pickens Wants to Stay with Steelers
Former NFL quarterback and current analyst for FS1, Chase Daniel, said earlier this week that a very reliable source told him that George Pickens actually enjoys being a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers organization. 'A quick nugget that I heard about George Pickens from a very reliable source. Is that George Pickens, he actually likes his time in Pittsburgh because of Mike Tomlin. Mike Tomlin and him have a very strong relationship is what I'm being told,' Daniels said on the Scoop City podcast with co-host Dianna Russini. Advertisement ESPN's Jeremy Fowler confirmed Daniel's report on NFL Live on Friday night. George Pickens wants to remain in the Steel City. 'There was a little bit of smoke going on at the draft but I was told that Pickens in the end wants to be in Pittsburgh. He loves Mike Tomlin and wants to be part of things here in Pittsburgh,' Fowler said. According to Dianna Russini of The Athletic, Pickens' name was being tossed around in trade discussions prior to the draft and the Dallas Cowboys were among the teams that tried to acquire him. The Green Bay Packers also reportedly had a seriously interest in trading for Pickens, but they selected Texas wide receiver Matthew Golden in the first round. Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens at practice on Dec. 17, 2024. — Ed Thompson / Steelers Now Pickens has been productive for the Steelers, recording 174 catches for 2,841 yards and 12 touchdowns through the first three years of his NFL career. Talent is not the issue with Pickens. It more so has to do with his emotional outbursts and unpredictable behavior. Advertisement The 24-year-old will now see even less attention by opposing defenses after Pittsburgh traded for wide receiver DK Metcalf this offseason, which should only help his production. Steelers general manager Omar Khan is looking forward to seeing the Metcalf-Pickens duo. Trading Pickens would just create another hole at the receiver position. 'No,' Khan said during his pre-draft press conference when asked about the possibility of Pickens being traded, 'we're glad we have George and DK (Metcalf) here. I think they're gonna be exciting for everyone to watch. Excited to have DK here, but no.' The only thing the Steelers may have to worry about this summer is if Pickens is willing to play on an expiring deal. But their handling of the situation thus far hints they don't believe that will be a problem yet. Anything can happen, but as of now, it sure seems like Pickens will be a Steeler in 2025. This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Insider: George Pickens Wants to Stay with Steelers
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
49ers Trade of George Kittle Offered Revealed in Shocker
Two key players on the San Francisco 49ers offense were eligible for contract extensions at the start of the offseason. If unattended, both Brock Purdy and George Kittle would hit free agency a year from now. This week, the Niners locked down one of those pieces. San Francisco signed Kittle to a four-year $75 million extension to keep him in the Bay Area. Advertisement However, there were suitors lining up to gauge the team's interest. According to Diana Russini of The Athletic, the Niners were offered a second-round pick for Kittle. A tempting offer in some ways certainly. But as she explains on the "Scoop City" podcast, Kittle and the Niners are a fit meant to stay together. "I don't think the 49ers ever wanted to walk away from George Kittle either," Russini said. "I don't think George Kittle wanted to walk away from the 49ers. I think they always wanted to be together, everyone just wanted to feel like they were winning in the negotiation." Well, the negotiations are over and both sides come away winners. Kittle stays with his favored team while getting his pay day. On the other hand, the Niners hold onto an irreplaceable part of their offense. Advertisement There was never much doubt here and now there's none at all. However, the Niners have Purdy's extension still outstanding as the calendar turns to May. San Francisco has a tendency to work slowly on these deals. But as the offseason progresses, the hope is that conversations start to pick up. Kittle and especially Purdy are major tenets of the franchise's future. To make that a certainty, the Niners need to get both under contract for the long term. Related: 49ers Winning NFC West Odds Will Shock Fans Related: 49ers George Kittle and Wife Celebrate $76.4 Million Contract Move
New York Times
05-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Upcoming offseason schedule for Shedeur Sanders, Aaron Rodgers and the rest of us
Inside: After indulging in the draft for a full week, we're overdue for a look at what's next. That, plus Week 1 rookie starters for the AFC's top teams and your 2025 projection for Shedeur Sanders. This article is from Scoop City, The Athletic's NFL newsletter. Sign up here to receive it directly in your inbox. The NFL's offseason has several parts. Phase I is the coaching cycle. Free agency is phase II. Third is the all-consuming draft. We're now in the long and sometimes relatively slow (but still very busy) prep phase. This is when fifth-round rookies like Shedeur Sanders can separate themselves from veterans like 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers, who might choose instead to fly to Cairo. Advertisement Let's use their contrasting schedules as a way to look into this phase of the league's offseason, bit by bit. Buckle up: At each team facility, rookies and UDFAs will spend three days in the NFL's version of new-job orientation. Equipment fittings, staff introductions and other basics occur, with the majority of the CBA-permitted 10 daily hours being spent in the classroom. Coaches will also teach basic aspects of their playbooks. In Cleveland, that'll be particularly interesting, as Sanders will be alongside Oregon's Dillon Gabriel, whom Cleveland drafted in an earlier round. The Ravens, Cowboys, Packers, Chiefs, Eagles and Seahawks actually conclude rookie minicamps today, while Cleveland and 25 others start this Friday. So far, we've learned: Rodgers appears on Pat McAfee's show to denounce the media for debating his future. We know the 2025 opponents for all 32 teams, but the full schedule is televised on May 14 at 8 p.m. ET, highlighted by each team battling on social media to have the best announcement video. If Sanders makes the Browns' roster, he'll also make a trip to London, as some of 2025's international teams are already known: When queried in March, owners were reportedly split over a potential ban. Coaches voiced concerns around health and safety. John Harbaugh suggested removing all pushes: '(If) you can't push the quarterback, maybe we shouldn't be able to push the guards either. We can't push the defensive linemen on field-goal rush, why are we pushing the guards? If you want to make that a rule, I think it might make sense to make it comprehensive.' Ironically, NFL owners pushed (😈) the vote until May. The Athletic's Mike Jones suggested we see a proposal to outlaw the pushing or pulling of ball carriers anywhere on the field. It needs 24 votes to pass. We need a film like 'Conclave' about this. Back to Sanders, who will compete with fellow rookie QB Gabriel and (if they attend as expected) veterans Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco during the optional portion of OTA workouts. Across the league, no live contact is permitted, but 7-on-7, 9-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills are allowed. Advertisement Remember when Rodgers was designated a post-June 1 cut? That allowed the Jets to be free of his presence, sure, but they still carry his full 2025 cap hit of $23.5 million (all salary figures per OverTheCap). That changes after June 1, when his 2025 salary comes off their books and his $49 million dead cap hit can be pushed across two seasons. This results in immediate savings of $9.5 million (his 2025 salary minus a $14 million dead-cap hit) while pushing $35 million to 2026. Math. This gives New York about $30 million in effective cap space to sign top free agents, a list with options that still include: These mark the end of teams' nine-week voluntary offseason programs and might be the first time we see Sanders take reps with the entire Browns offense, though he'll likely be behind Pickett, Flacco and possibly Gabriel. Most teams hold their mandatory practices during these days, though they can occur earlier or later in June. This is also probably an unofficial deadline for the Steelers to sign or trade for a quarterback (hint, hint, Rodgers), and when we'll learn how serious Bills RB James Cook is about an extension. Rodgers joins McAfee to explain he will sign when ready. With just one franchise-tagged player remaining (after Tee Higgins signed an extension in March), we'll be watching Chiefs Pro Bowl G Trey Smith, who has until 4 p.m. ET on this date to sign an extension. If not, Smith must play 2025 on the tag before entering free agency in 2026. Nate Taylor expects to see a deal making Smith the league's highest-paid guard. Rodgers calls Pittsburgh and tells them he's ready to sign. He's informed that the Steelers traded for Kirk Cousins two months prior. Rodgers asks McAfee to be his 2028 election running mate. A.J. Hawk nearly smiles. Advertisement Training camps begin for Sanders, who joins other rookies and veterans looking to make the final cut. Based on last week's poll, most of you expect the fifth-rounder to make the team, and a surprising amount of you believe he starts at some point in 2025: Mike Jones has the full offseason syllabus here, a list that also includes contracts for Brock Purdy, Micah Parsons and Trey Hendrickson, as well as uncertainty in Miami. Since we can expect about 40 rookies to start for their respective teams in Week 1, and roughly 20 will come from the NFC, how many Week 1 starters will teams like the Bengals and Steelers field? Today, the AFC's potential rookie starters, based on beat reporters' projections (click team names for individual reports) and sorted by team rankings in our post-draft Power Rankings. Chiefs: A projected top-five pick prior to injury, OT Josh Simmons looks like a steal at No. 32 after the 6-foot-5, 317-pounder participated in position drills during minicamp. Even if he doesn't start Week 1, Simmons could protect Mahomes' blindside for years to come. Great pick. Rookies DT Omarr Norman-Lott and DE Ashton Gillotte should factor into Steve Spagnuolo's rotation before long. Bills: Their first-round pick, CB Maxwell Hairston, can be an immediate starter, though re-signing CB Tre'Davious White gives Hairston time to acclimate. DT T.J. Sanders should also factor in as the third defensive tackle while recent signing Larry Ogunjobi is suspended. Ravens: LB Teddye Buchanan could compete for a starting job, while first-round safety Malaki Starks figures to be an immediate contributor. Sixth-round kicker Tyler Loop could be the Tucker replacement as soon as Week 1. Texans: Expect No. 34 pick Jayden Higgins to start across from his clone Nico Collins in Week 1, with WR Jaylin Noel and OT Aireontae Ersery as top backups. Ersery will be behind one-year rental LT Cam Robinson in Week 1, but profiles as the long-term option for C.J. Stroud's blindside. Advertisement Chargers: It sounds like first-round RB Omarion Hampton is a co-starter alongside Najee Harris, though don't be surprised if Hampton takes over. Second-round receiver Tre Harris adds a downfield weapon for Justin Herbert as the other expected starter, while DT Jamaree Caldwell could fill the run-game gap left by Poona Ford. Bengals: Promising third-round LG Dylan Fairchild, whom Dane Brugler compared to Browns G Wyatt Teller, should 'be given every opportunity' to be the Week 1 starter, per Paul Dehner Jr. Second-round LB Demetrius Knight Jr. should also start, while promising first-round edge Shemar Stewart is a backup for now. Broncos: As Nick Kosmider explained, even if second-round pick RJ Harvey is not the official starter in Sean Payton's offense, he's still hoping to become the Alvin Kamara to Audric Estimé's Mark Ingram. The situation is similar with first-round pick CB Jahdae Barron, who should supplant Ja'Quan McMillian as the team's top nickel for Week 1. Sixth-round punter Jeremy Crawshaw should also start. Broncos: As Nick Kosmider explained, even if second-round pick RJ Harvey is not the official starter in Sean Payton's offense, he's still hoping to become the Alvin Kamara to Audric Estimé's Mark Ingram. The situation is similar with first-round pick CB Jahdae Barron, who should supplant Ja'Quan McMillian as the team's top nickel for Week 1. Sixth-round punter Jeremy Crawshaw should also start. From the Raiders to the Browns, we'll cover the rest of the AFC rookie starters on Thursday. See you then. 📫 Enjoyed this read? Sign up here to receive The Athletic's free daily NFL newsletter in your inbox. Also, check out our other newsletters.
New York Times
04-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
The reason Dillon Gabriel was drafted before Shedeur Sanders
The Cleveland Browns entered the 2025 NFL Draft with plenty of quarterback uncertainty; Deshaun Watson is out indefinitely with an Achilles injury, and the top of the depth chart might be veterans Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett. The Browns needed to leave draft weekend with a quarterback — they left with two, in Oregon's Dillon Gabriel and Colorado's Shedeur Sanders, taken with the 94th and 144th picks, respectively. Advertisement On the latest episode of the 'Scoop City' podcast, Dianna Russini and Chase Daniel were joined by The Athletic's draft expert Dane Brugler to discuss why the Browns taking Gabriel at 94 was such a surprise, and why Sanders fell to the fifth round. Watch that discussion below. A partial transcript has been edited for clarity and length. The full episode is available on YouTube below or in 'Scoop City' feed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Chase: Dane, I want to talk about quarterbacks because that's what I know — and that's what you know, along with a lot of other things. What was the biggest surprise pick for you, other than Shedeur? Dane: Well, obviously, we knew Cam Ward was going to go No. 1 overall, and then in my final mock draft I had the Giants trading up for Jaxson Dart. I had Dart going 26 and then he went 25, so I missed by one. But it was interesting on Day 2 to see the order. We knew the Saints liked Tyler Shough a lot, so that one made sense. And then with Jalen Millroe, after I reported a couple of weeks ago that he got an invite to the draft, there was a lot of buzz with people saying, 'Well, he must have assurances that he's going in the top 50.' But then he ended up falling to 92, so that was interesting. For the Seahawks at that point, it was a no-brainer roll of the dice for them. But Dillon Gabriel is probably the answer here. He's a really smart player, and he's like a point guard in the way he operates, but he's undersized. He's a perfect example of how important spring is for quarterbacks. Because I had multiple teams telling me that Gabriel was the most impressive interview they did throughout the process. That's the Senior Bowl and combine — he was the most impressive interview that teams did. It's not a huge surprise when you talk to his coaches at UCF, Oklahoma or Oregon. He showed up at Oregon this past year in his minivan, and one of the reasons he has a minivan is so he has enough room to take his teammates places. That's the kind of leader that he is and the kind of guy that he is. He quickly became the captain of that team, and with quarterbacks — you know this better than anyone Chase — it's an intangible position. The talent on the field is important, but how you operate behind the scenes is what led Gabriel to be a Day 2 pick. We'll see how it plays out. Chase: Speaking of what happens behind the scenes, obviously, there's been a lot made of Shedeur Sanders' draft fall. You had him graded as a late-first, early second-round pick. And when you watch him on film, I was thinking, 'Hey, the second round is exactly where he should be.' What do you think was the main reason he fell so far down draft boards? Advertisement Dane: It's the juxtaposition of what we just talked about with Dillon Gabriel, because he crushed the spring, and Shedeur was the opposite. I heard you guys talk before about the recruiting process, you can't go into this if you're a prospect and think you have the leverage. That's just not how this works, especially as a quarterback. There were only so many teams in for Shedeur Sanders in the first place, so the pool of potential landing spots was already small. But if you turn off some of those teams, and some of the other teams go with different quarterbacks, you're talking about less than a handful of potential landing spots for you. We thought at one point maybe the Steelers in round three would take him, but they passed. Then when we got to day three with the Browns, and I don't think they had any intention of drafting him, but in the fifth round, it's like, 'Why not? If it doesn't work out, then O.K., we can cut him, we move on, and we lose a fifth-round pick, no big deal.' It'll be interesting to keep an eye on the Browns' training camp and how this plays out. We've seen it before where teams carry four quarterbacks into the season, but it would be a surprise if the Browns carry all four of these guys in Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, and then the two rookies in Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders. Dianna: A lot of coaches, GMs and people in general talking around the league since the draft have been giving the media, and people who do what you and I do a hard time asking, 'How could you guys be so wrong on Shedeur?' I've been pushing back because I don't think anyone was wrong, I just think we didn't have enough information about what happened in the spring. There were rumors and there was gossip, but I think teams were really trying to keep that private. And a lot of the people who were watching the film were just doing it based on his ability, which is why he was projected to go higher than he did. What would your response be to that when we're getting pushback, with many saying, 'The people who do this for a living have been so off on the Shedeur Sanders story.' Dane: I remember joining you guys back in the fall and saying, 'Shedeur's not a top-five guy. That's not the type of player we're dealing with here. He's more of a late one, early two. That's what the talent says.' If Shedeur Sanders had Dillon Gabriel's intangibles, I 100 percent believe he would have been drafted somewhere in the top-50 picks. We all talk to our NFL sources, and I don't know about you guys but the sources I talked to still thought someone was going to take Shedeur. So we're going based on the information that we're getting from teams. And for a lot of teams, even if they weren't going to do it, they still believed somebody in the NFL was going to take a chance on him. But it didn't end up happening until much later than we anticipated. The biggest key here is the fact that there were so few teams at the beginning. The Philadelphia Eagles, for example, were not going to do all the legwork needed on Shedeur because they didn't need a quarterback. They probably thought, 'O.K., we're not going to take him at 32, and he's probably not going to make it to us at 64. So we're not going to do all of the legwork required on a prospect like this.' There are a lot of teams that were just out because they didn't anticipate even having to consider him in the third, fourth or fifth round. The pool of teams that were potential landing spots was so few, and that really changed the whole dynamics of the situation. You can listen to full episodes of Scoop City for free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and watch on YouTube. (Top Photo:)
