Latest news with #SuperBowl56
USA Today
17 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Rams QB Matthew Stafford ends mystery, returns to practice
The Los Angeles Rams welcomed back their franchise quarterback on Monday. The Rams posted a video of Matthew Stafford walking onto the practice field dressed in full pads. Stafford's practice participation is great news for a Rams team as they ramp up toward the regular season. Prior to Monday, Stafford's hadn't been able to participate in training camp because of an aggravated disk in his back. The veteran quarterback was supposed to practice in some capacity on Monday, Aug. 11, after a throwing session, but he didn't 'feel great' following the workout. Stafford was scheduled to have another workout on Saturday, Aug. 16, but the Rams have been discreet about whether or not the workout happened. The 37-year-old quarterback is entering his fifth season with the Rams and 17th overall. Stafford and the Rams kickoff the regular season in less than three weeks against the Houston Texans on Sept. 7 at SoFi Stadium. Jimmy Garoppolo is the team's backup quarterback. Stetson Bennett is No. 3 on the depth chart. Bennett started both preseason games for the Rams. He passed for 324 yards, three touchdowns and had only one interception in a 23-22 exhibition win over the Los Angeles Chargers. However, neither Garoppolo nor Bennett can run the Rams' offense like Stafford. Stafford is the engine to the Rams' offensive attack. Stafford was named the Rams MVP last year after he completed 340-of-517 pass attempts for 3,762 yards and 20 touchdowns. Stafford helped the Rams win Super Bowl 56 in his first season in Los Angeles. Follow USA TODAY Sports' Tyler Dragon on X @TheTylerDragon.
USA Today
06-08-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Aaron Donald and Micah Parsons' Instagram exchange creates buzz
Could Aaron Donald come out of retirement to play for the Los Angeles Rams again? According to him, maybe, but under one condition: Micah Parsons has to end up in Los Angeles. On Tuesday, Donald left a comment below an Instagram post that showed Parsons, the Dallas Cowboys' star edge rusher, Photoshopped into a Rams jersey. "If (Micah Parsons) go to the rams I might have to call (2Tenths Speed & Agility) and get in football shape (crying laughing emojis) [with] that Dline (it) would be unreal (facepalm emoji) (fire emoji)." Donald tagged Parsons in his comment, and the Cowboys' four-time Pro Bowler left a response. "[M]an!!! Dont tell me info like that!! @davidmulugheta," Parsons wrote, tagging his agent, David Mulugheta, at the end of his comment. A post shared by Los Angeles Rams Coverage (@ramblangman) MICAH PARSONS: Latest updates in edge rusher's contract negotiations with Cowboys Parsons is still stuck in contract negotiation limbo with his current team. According to a social media post the edge rusher made Friday to formally request a trade, the Cowboys still have not talked to his agent about getting an extension done. That had not changed by Tuesday, when Dallas's team owner/general manager, Jerry Jones, told reporters he had spoken to neither Parsons nor his agent since the edge rusher's post on Friday. In the meantime, Parsons has been a "hold-in" at Cowboys training camp – he's present in camp but refusing to practice. Donald last played in the NFL in 2023. He announced his retirement in a social media post in March 2024, ending a 10-year career spent entirely with the Rams. Donald won the Defensive Player of the Year award three times in a four-year span between 2017 and 2020, and he was a big part of Los Angeles' Super Bowl 56 win in 2021. In Donald's final year in 2023, he recorded eight of the team's 41 team sacks. In 2024, their first full year without Donald since drafting him in 2014, the Rams finished 21st in the NFL with 38 sacks as a team. Rookie Braden Fiske led the team with 8.5 sacks. Parsons recorded 12 sacks in 2024 despite missing four games with a high ankle sprain.
USA Today
05-08-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
The Bengals will pretend August is September to reach October levels sooner
There have been two dueling trends that have defined the Cincinnati Bengals since making it to Super Bowl 56 three seasons ago. The first is the explosiveness and excitement of Joe Burrow's offense. The second is Cincinnati's reliance on that efficient passing game to dig itself out of the hole it digs to start the season. Since 2022, the Bengals are just 4-8 in their first four games of the regular season. They're 28-13 in the games that follow -- a mark that includes a 2-1 playoff record and seven games started by Burrow backup Jake Browning. Cincinnati has started out 1-3 with embarrassing losses along the way, in each of the past two seasons. 2023 was backdrop to a 27-3 stomping at the hands of a six-win Tennessee Titans team. 2024 saw the Bengals allow a four-win New England Patriots team to start its season with a victory in a 16-10 slog. Each year, Cincinnati finished 9-8. Last winter, a 10th win was the difference between getting Burrow to the playoffs and staying home in January. So, in an effort to prevent this from becoming a full-on trend, head coach Zac Taylor is trying something new. He's gonna press his starters into action early and often this preseason. 'Several series is what we'll give those starters,' Taylor told the press when talking about Thursday's preseason matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles. That means season ticket holders in eastern Pennsylvania, roped into buying seats for meaningless games at full price, will actually get to see something resembling real NFL football for a stretch this August. It's also a departure from Taylor's past. The Bengals traditionally rested their starters more than other teams when it came to these warm-up games. Burrow threw a single preseason pass between 2021 and 2023. He threw seven passes last preseason, in part because he was adjusting back to game speed after missing the tail end of the season due to a wrist injury. Ja'Marr Chase, coming off a triple crown season in which he led the league in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns, hasn't played a preseason game since 2021 (he had one reception that August). Tee Higgins has appeared in a single preseason game in the same stretch. Getting that trio on the field is a chance to warm up an offense that averaged 18.9 points per game in those back-to-back 1-3 starts the last two seasons and 23.1 points per game in the weeks that followed when Burrow was healthy. It's also vital for an eternally-in-flux offensive line to get up to speed. Burrow faced one of the NFL's worst pass rushes in Week 1 last fall and was still sacked thrice by the Patriots, who limited his time to throw to 2.54 seconds -- about two-tenths of a second less than his season-long average. In 2023's season opener, the Browns sacked him twice and hit him 10 more times as he gained only 67 net yards on 33 dropbacks. This has an effect on the run game as well. Cincinnati didn't crack 100 total rushing yards in a 2023 game until after its Week 7 bye. In 2024, the team's running backs gained 144 total yards on the ground (3.8 yards per carry) while going 0-2. Taylor also had to consider his defense could be a concern once again. Formerly feted coordinator Lou Anarumo was fired after his unit dropped to 27th-best last fall. Trey Hendrickson, responsible for nearly 50 percent of the team's total sacks, remains locked in a contract standoff as he searches for one last massive payday. The team's secondary is loaded with young, high ceiling players who have yet to reach their potential. Thus, it's important to have a contingency plan. In the Bengals' case, it's ensuring an offense capable of dropping 30-plus points any given matchup is working like a well-oiled machine from Week 1 onward. That comes with the chance of losing one of the highly paid players behind that dynamic offense -- Burrow has already missed at least at least six games due to injury in two of his five NFL seasons so far -- but it at least suggests Taylor is willing to learn from the team's past and proactively address a concern that helped sink his last two years. Time will tell if it works, but it was clear a change had to be made. Taylor is taking a risk by playing his starters multiple series in the preseason. He was taking a different kind of risk by sitting them and hoping they'd get up to speed quickly in the games that mattered. After two playoff-less seasons in southwestern Ohio, the Bengals are feeling the heat -- and as a result, imploring more of their stars to play in it.
USA Today
17-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Von Miller says he's signing deal with Washington Commanders
Free agency can become a waiting game for many experienced, high-profile veterans. Even former All-Pros can take their time finding a new home for the upcoming season. One former Super Bowl MVP is now officially off the market: linebacker Von Miller. The three-time All-Pro confirmed, via a post to his Instagram page, that he is signing with the Washington Commanders. "DC... What's good??" he wrote in the caption. A post shared by Von Miller (@vonmiller) Miller, 36, played the last three seasons for the Buffalo Bills. He hasn't started a game since 2022 but put up six sacks last season. He teased in his post that he'd be wearing No. 24 with the Commanders — a nod to his former Denver Broncos teammate and Pro Football Hall of Fame cornerback Champ Bailey, who also wore the number in Washington. Miller brings championship pedigree to the Commanders, who made the NFC championship game for the first time in three decades last season. Miller won a Super Bowl in 2015 with the Denver Broncos and 2021 with the Los Angeles Rams. He didn't stay with the Rams following their Super Bowl victory and instead signed a deal with the Bills. This makes the Commanders the fourth team he's played with in his storied NFL career. Washington's rookies are set to report to training camp on Friday, July 18. The veterans will report the following Tuesday, July 22, giving Miller nearly a week to get settled before camp starts. Von Miller stats Miller's been a rotational player for the Bills over the last two years but he's still been productive. Here's a look at how he's fared since winning Super Bowl 56 with the Rams: Commanders free agent additions Miller is the latest signing in what's been a very busy offseason for the Commanders. They traded for former All-Pro wide receiver Deebo Samuel and five-time Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil. Here's a list of all of the notable free agent signings Washington's made this offseason:
The Herald Scotland
03-07-2025
- Sport
- The Herald Scotland
Darren Waller joins list of NFL players to come out of retirement
One day later, they've made another deal to fill Smith's shoes. On July 1, Miami agreed to trade a sixth-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft to the New York Giants in return for newly un-retired tight end Darren Waller. Waller retired following the 2023 NFL season, citing a health scare he suffered in November of that season. That was his only year with the Giants following a five-year stint with the Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders. He last played a full season in 2020 when he made his lone Pro Bowl appearance. Waller is entering his age-33 season as he attempts a comeback. He's not the only notable NFL player to un-retire in recent years. Notable NFL players who have come out of retirement This list includes players since 2010. QB Teddy Bridgewater Bridgewater announced his retirement following the 2023 NFL season. He'd spent that year with the Detroit Lions backing up starter Jared Goff as the franchise made a run to the NFC championship game. He then transitioned to coaching at his alma mater, Miami Northwestern High School, and led them to a state title. Less than two weeks later, he came out of retirement to join the Lions once again ahead of the NFL playoffs. He spent the final three games of the Lions' season as the third-string quarterback behind Goff and Hendon Hooker and did not play. QB Tom Brady After one of the greatest careers in NFL history, Brady announced his retirement on Feb. 1, 2022. He was one season removed from a seventh Super Bowl victory with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and had just thrown for a career-high 5,316 yards and league-leading 43 touchdowns. That retirement lasted all of 40 days. Brady announced on March 13, 2022 that he'd be back for the 2022 NFL season. The Buccaneers went 8-9, his first losing season as a starter in the NFL, and Brady called it a career for good in February 2023. S Eric Weddle Weddle was one of the top safeties in the league in the early 2010s. He made five All-Pro teams - two first-team, three second-team - with the then-San Diego Chargers and was a three-time Pro Bowler in three seasons with the Baltimore Ravens. He weighed retirement after the 2018 season before ultimately signing a two-year deal with the Los Angeles Rams ahead of the 2019 season. He played out the 2019 season but announced his retirement in February 2020. He also made the move to coaching by taking over his son's Pop Warner team. That changed in January 2022. The six-time Pro Bowler re-signed with the Rams after multiple injuries in their safety room. He started all four of the Rams' playoff games, including Super Bowl 56. He announced after the game that he'd torn his pectoral muscle and would be retiring for good. TE Rob Gronkowski Gronkowski was selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame's All-Decade team for the 2010s, thanks to his impressive run with the New England Patriots. The tight end was a first-team All-Pro four times and won three titles from 2010 to 2018. He announced his retirement in March 2019 and later cited the toll injuries had taken on him over his nine-year career. That changed one year later. Gronkowski followed Brady to Tampa Bay as the Patriots traded him to the Buccaneers for a pick swap in the 2020 NFL Draft. He spent two seasons with the Buccaneers and won another Super Bowl in that 2020 season before retiring for good in June 2022. TE Jason Witten Witten set multiple franchise records for the Dallas Cowboys over a 15-year stint with the franchise starting in 2003. The former third-round pick made 11 Pro Bowls and four All-Pro teams (two first-team, two second-team) by the time he called it a career following the 2017 season. He made the transition to the broadcast booth to call "Monday Night Football" games on ESPN. That only stuck for a year, though, as he returned to the Cowboys for the 2019 season on a one-year deal. He made 16 starts and caught four touchdowns. The Las Vegas Raiders came calling for his services in 2020 and he spent a season there before retiring again in January 2021 and taking up coaching his sons' high school football team. RB Marshawn Lynch Lynch went from being a solid starter in Buffalo to a tone-setter in Seattle in the early 2010s. The Seahawks' dominant teams of the decade featured a historically good defense and Lynch's powerful running on offense. He racked up four Pro Bowls and two All-Pro honors from 2011 through 2014 but dealt with injuries in 2015 and announced his retirement during Super Bowl 50. That changed a year later when Lynch learned his hometown Oakland Raiders would be relocating to Las Vegas. He wanted Raiders fans in Oakland to see a homegrown star play for the team and he spent two seasons with the Raiders before retiring again after the 2018 season. That didn't stick for long either, as he returned with Seattle late in the 2019 season following injuries to the Seahawks' running back room. Lynch had three touchdowns in the postseason and that was the last of his NFL career. WR Randy Moss Moss tied for the league lead in receiving touchdowns in 2009 but things were much different a year later. He started the 2010 season with New England before the Patriots traded him to the Minnesota Vikings for a third-round pick in Week 5. Minnesota waived him less than a month later and he spent the final eight games of the year with the Tennessee Titans. The future Hall of Famer announced his retirement in August 2011. That changed a year later as Moss signed a one-year deal with the San Francisco 49ers. He had 28 receptions, 434 yards and three touchdowns as the 49ers made a run to Super Bowl 47. That Super Bowl loss was the final game of Moss' career.
