Latest news with #ScoutingCombine
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Lions 'Inside the Den' shows why the team loved Tate Ratledge as a prospect
It's been several months in the making but we finally got some behind the scenes action from the Detroit Lions during the 2025 NFL Draft. From their "Inside the Den" series on YouTube, the Detroit Lions released their second episode of the 2025 season. This one goes in-depth from the 2025 NFL Draft and it's so interesting to see how the process unfolds. During this episode, we learn about the Lions thought process behind selecting DT Tyleik Williams from Ohio State. Meanwhile, we get to see how the trade process works in Detroit. Especially on day two of the draft where the Lions moved up for IOL Tate Ratledge and WR Isaac TeSlaa. One of my favorite parts of this series are the player interviews at the NFL Scouting Combine. Getting to see how the players respond to coaches and how the coaches respond to the players is always so interesting to watch. Additionally, they talk the X's and O's and to me, that always helps determine what type of player you're getting for your team. One of the interviews the Lions had at the Scouting Combine was with Georgia IOL Tate Ratledge. Aside from his testing and tape, it was clear that this interview helped solidify where the Lions were going to place Ratledge on their board. When talking to Lions OL coach Hank Fraley, there was a question for Ratledge to describe his style of play. Tate responded with confidence, 'I think physical. I play with an edge. I think, in my mind, I know when it comes to the 4th quarter, you're gonna tap before I'm gonna tap. That's how I play.' Lions HC Dan Campbell quickly responded with "got it." Despite not being shown, I'm sure Campbell was all smiles. Additionally, through this episode, it was clear that the Lions had a plan for Ratledge prior to drafting him. There's a part where Lions owner Sheila Ford Hamp asked Campbell and Holmes if he could play center. They reassured her that he could and Campbell even went onto say, "I think, it's better for us in the long haul. It'll be better for us in the short term too." You can watch this "Inside the Den" series with the video posted below. Or you can go to the Detroit Lions YouTube page to get caught up on all of their video content from media interviews with players and coaches to sights and sounds from the regular season. This article originally appeared on Lions Wire: 'Inside the Den' shows why the Lions loved Tate Ratledge as a prospect
USA Today
13 hours ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Lions 'Inside the Den' shows why the team loved Tate Ratledge as a prospect
It's been several months in the making but we finally got some behind the scenes action from the Detroit Lions during the 2025 NFL Draft. From their "Inside the Den" series on YouTube, the Detroit Lions released their second episode of the 2025 season. This one goes in-depth from the 2025 NFL Draft and it's so interesting to see how the process unfolds. During this episode, we learn about the Lions thought process behind selecting DT Tyleik Williams from Ohio State. Meanwhile, we get to see how the trade process works in Detroit. Especially on day two of the draft where the Lions moved up for IOL Tate Ratledge and WR Isaac TeSlaa. One of my favorite parts of this series are the player interviews at the NFL Scouting Combine. Getting to see how the players respond to coaches and how the coaches respond to the players is always so interesting to watch. Additionally, they talk the X's and O's and to me, that always helps determine what type of player you're getting for your team. One of the interviews the Lions had at the Scouting Combine was with Georgia IOL Tate Ratledge. Aside from his testing and tape, it was clear that this interview helped solidify where the Lions were going to place Ratledge on their board. When talking to Lions OL coach Hank Fraley, there was a question for Ratledge to describe his style of play. Tate responded with confidence, 'I think physical. I play with an edge. I think, in my mind, I know when it comes to the 4th quarter, you're gonna tap before I'm gonna tap. That's how I play.' Lions HC Dan Campbell quickly responded with "got it." Despite not being shown, I'm sure Campbell was all smiles. Additionally, through this episode, it was clear that the Lions had a plan for Ratledge prior to drafting him. There's a part where Lions owner Sheila Ford Hamp asked Campbell and Holmes if he could play center. They reassured her that he could and Campbell even went onto say, "I think, it's better for us in the long haul. It'll be better for us in the short term too." You can watch this "Inside the Den" series with the video posted below. Or you can go to the Detroit Lions YouTube page to get caught up on all of their video content from media interviews with players and coaches to sights and sounds from the regular season.
Indianapolis Star
2 days ago
- Sport
- Indianapolis Star
Colts starting to see offseason work payoff for Anthony Richardson but he says, 'I have to do more'
WESTFIELD, Ind. -- Anthony Richardson Sr. dropped back under duress, with the pocket closing in on either side. He wanted to step up but found a wall of bodies on the second day of padded practices. So he peered into the sun and heaved the ball away. But unlike the moonshot that has so far defined his career, that 65-yard bomb to Alec Pierce against the Texans, this one came in much different packaging. It escaped his hand with the look of a wounded duck, except this animal had a flight path, too. It wobbled up and down rather than float, down the field from where Anthony Gould wrestled with a cornerback for outside leverage, before landing in a spot inside where the cornerback couldn't reach but where Gould could turn to his back shoulder and reel it in. On the sidelines, Shane Steichen exploded in enthusiasm over what he saw. This was Richardson feeling a groove in his sixth practice of his first true NFL quarterback competition, which is against Daniel Jones. He's in the middle of the best two-practice stretch he's had since his rookie season, following up Monday's 6-of-6 performance with an 9-of-14 day that pulled his completion percentage for the stretch to 75%. Those are major improvements on the first four practices, when he sat below 50% and had yet to flash a good deep ball. It's just been two days, but now his unappealing passes are creating chunk gains and showing something his coaches have been begging for out of him: more quarterback instincts. It's pulled his camp-long numbers up to 54% completions with five touchdown passes and one interception. "You can see that Anthony's sort of offseason work is paying off," offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter said. GO DEEPER: Chasing Tim Tebow, idolizing Tom Brady, fighting fires: Making of Colts QB Anthony Richardson Richardson spent this offseason drilling down on footwork and ball placement on short and intermediate routes specifically. That was a work in progress early in camp, but what has been consistently smoother has been his ability to layer the ball and lead a receiver moving east-west outside the numbers. Those two areas had plagued him dating back to his throwing session at the NFL Scouting Combine, which offered a window into the 54.7% completion rate that served as a red flag from his career at Florida. After his completion rate dropped from 59.5% in just four games as a rookie to 47.7% in 11 games in his second year, that flag became as red as ever entering this offseason. To fix the results, Richardson needed a different process. He had to answer one of the flags even more red than his accuracy, for in addition to durability concerns, questions popped up consistently last season about his seriousness, focus and work habits to be a franchise quarterback. That's what this summer became all about. "All the greats, they always do more. They do more than what other people are expecting them to do," Richardson said. "After last season, I felt like I needed to do more not only for the team, but for myself. "If I want to so called be a great and I want to be in the Hall of Fame one day, I have to do more." It's too early to draw conclusions, but the bright spots are better than the fire alarms that haunted his second season. "I think his comfort level within the offense is rising and rising and rising every year, every rep, every game week or offseason phase or any of that stuff. He's getting more and more and more comfortable," Cooter said. "That allows you to play a little bit faster at quarterback, which can let your feet play better, let your feet time up better, and then the nuts and bolts of the thing is just the offseason sort of work he's putting in to make his throws, to work his footwork, to work his upper body (and) all of that stuff. "It's an ongoing sort of push at the quarterback position to be accurate really, really consistently, and to be able to throw a bunch of different balls." He let his deep ball get rusty in order to drill down on the boring. That surgically repaired right shoulder showed last season the distances it's capable of, starting with that 65-yard touchdown pass against the Texans. Richardson did have a setback with the shoulder during the offseason program that shut him down until sometime during the summer break, so he still has to prove the strength and durability are where it will need to be for a 17-game season. So far, this camp has been all about introducing something new. "I feel like I got more control over the ball," Richardson said. "... I feel like I have been slightly more consistent when it comes to my footwork, but it's just me thinking about my reps that I've been doing during the offseason and just thinking about mental cues for myself. Just thinking about my base helping me deliver the ball and get the ball to the guys. "That's really what I've been focused on – making sure I'm moving smooth in the pocket so I can get the playmakers the ball. So, that's all I'm trying to do." It's easy to build strong vibes this time of year when games can't be won or lost and the battle for a starting role is too early to draw any actual conclusions. Steichen plans to take until the first week of the season if needed to decide between Richardson and Jones. He'll use joint practices and preseason games as bigger tells than these scripted practices against teammates, and he's emphasized that the most consistent player will ultimately win the job. The pressure is on Richardson like it never has been before, entering a third season that will eventually bring a decision on his fifth-year option and could decide the fates of many within the organization. He's living in that, baking in it, and seeing what kind of man emerges through the process. "This organization believed in me enough to draft me (as a) top-five pick. So I don't think there's any more pressure," Richardson said. "It's just me working hard and proving them right and letting them know that they chose the right guy."
Fox Sports
18-07-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Meet Lenny Krieg, a German Native Competing for the Falcons' Kicking Job
Lenny Krieg's strong leg could take him all the way from Germany to the NFL. A former soccer player, Krieg took up football in 2021 during COVID at the suggestion of his older brother, a former football player and current coach in Germany. He watched tutorials on social media to hone his technique and, after playing three seasons in his home country, the 22-year-old Berlin native was picked for the NFL's International Pathway Program. As part of that initiative, which aims to give elite athletes around the world a chance to make NFL rosters, Krieg participated in the Scouting Combine showcase in February. He went 14-for-14 in Indianapolis, kicking from 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50 and 55 yards. That led to another solid performance at a pro day in South Florida and, in March, Krieg was signed by the Atlanta Falcons. He enters training camp with the opportunity to compete for the starting kicker job against NFL veteran Younghoe Koo. It may sound like a fairy tale, but it's not so farfetched when you consider that Krieg has made a 73-yard kick in practice. Krieg was one of several young specialists who recently participated in former NFL kicker Nick Novak's annual pro week in San Diego. After nine seasons in the NFL, Novak is now a high school coach, a kicking consultant and a mentor to developmental players. "I've watched Nick's social videos for a long time and it's almost like a dream coming true, a full-circle moment for me to be here with these guys," Krieg told me at the camp. "It's beneficial for me to integrate some of the things I've learned here into my process, figure out what works for me and what doesn't. So it's really valuable." Krieg has a legitimate shot to win the starting job over Koo, who is scheduled to make $4.25 million in 2025, making him the fourth-highest-paid kicker in the league. Koo, who turns 31 in August, made just 73.5% of his field-goal attempts last season, his lowest percentage since his rookie season with the Los Angeles Chargers in 2017, when he made just 50% and lost the job after four games. In Week 10 last season, Koo missed three kicks in a 20-17 loss to the New Orleans Saints. He dealt with a hip injury for much of the season, which eventually landed him on IR in Week 16. After the Falcons lost six of their last eight games and missed the playoffs, however, coach Raheem Morris cited kicking as one of the issues. "We missed entirely too many kicks this year," Morris said in January. "The brutal honest truth — that can't happen. So, we got to find ways to make those kicks. That certainly plays into the part of not winning the amount of games you want to win. We got to find ways to create that competition across the board for all of us." The Falcons created that competition by signing Krieg to a three-year deal, which shows that Atlanta is invested in him. Koo is reportedly healthy now, so this could be one of the more interesting camp battles to watch. "There's 32 jobs in the league, and my job is to just perform to my level and improve every day," Krieg said when asked how he'll handle the competition with Koo. "And whatever happens, happens. I try to control what I can control, and whatever is out of my control is just something that's going to happen." What just might be in Krieg's control is that a talented but raw prospect from Berlin, who learned to kick an American football on YouTube, could soon be a starting kicker in the NFL. Photo courtesy of Nicole Noel Photography. Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for more than a decade, covering the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma News Tribune. Follow him on X at @eric_d_williams. Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account , and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily! recommended Item 1 of 3 Get more from the National Football League Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
NBC Sports
14-07-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Despite not signing contract, Quinshon Judkins is subject to Personal Conduct Policy
Browns running back Quinshon Judkins has yet to sign a contract. He's technically not employed by the Browns. As a result, many have asked a simple question: How can Judkins be subject to the NFL's Personal Conduct Policy? The short answer? He just is. He's the slightly longer answer, from the Personal Conduct Policy: 'The provisions below apply to players under contract; all rookie players selected in the NFL College Draft; all undrafted rookie players following the NFL College Draft; all Draft-eligible players who attend a Scouting Combine or Pro Day or otherwise make themselves available for employment in the NFL; all unsigned veterans who were under contract in the prior League Year; and all other prospective players once they commence negotiations with a club concerning employment or otherwise make themselves available for employment in the NFL.' Judkins falls within that broad language. As recently explained in connection with the sexual assault lawsuit filed against Bills cornerback Maxwell Hairston for something that allegedly happened in 2021, the policy potentially applies even to conduct occurring while the player is in college, before he ever declares for the NFL draft: 'Nothing in this Policy should be read to limit the league's authority to investigate or discipline potential Policy violations alleged to have occurred before a player is under contract or Draft-eligible.' So, yes, the policy applies to Judkins for something that allegedly happened in July 2025. It also would have applied, potentially, to something that allegedly happened in July 2024. Or July 2023. Or earlier.
