🐺 Wolf Sports Weekly

Good morning! The next NFL football game played will be the season opener between the Ravens and the back-to-back defending champion Chiefs. In the words of Bart Scott, “CAN’T WAIT!”

👀 2024 regular season watch

We are less than two weeks away from the start of the 2024 NFL season, and there are still big names with uncertain situations with their teams—but the headlining news is the Cowboys and All-Pro receiver CeeDee Lamb agreed to a four-year, $136 million extension putting him at $34 million per year just behind Justin Jefferson’s $35 million per year deal.

Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase has ended his hold-in, returning to practice over the weekend for the first time this summer. Chase is seeking an extension with two years remaining on his contract.

As for the players that remain out with the clock ticking:

• 49ers OT Trent Williams & WR Brandon Aiyuk: 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said he has “zero updates” on the status of Williams and Aiyuk. Williams has three years left on his contract but wants a raise, and he’s been away from the team. Aiyuk continues his hold-in, with conflicting reports on how contract talks are going.

• Jets DE Haason Reddick: There have really been zero updates on the status of Reddick, as all we know is he’s racked up over $1 million in fines and requested a trade—with the Jets saying they will not trade him after acquiring him from the Eagles this offseason.

📝 Contracts, movement, and suspensions

A few more players that did not hold out did receive new deals this summer, headlined by Chiefs center Creed Humphrey getting the biggest contract for his position—a four-year, $72 million deal.

Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell signed a four-year, $81 million extension making him the second highest paid cornerback in league history.

And after bouncing around the league, Cardinals starting center Hjalte Froholdt found a home in Arizona and signed an extension through the 2026 season.

With the preseason over and rosters being cut down, we’ll likely see more trades in the coming days. But several deals have already been struck:

• The Eagles acquired former first-round WR Jahan Dotson and a 2025 fifth-round pick from the Commanders for a 2025 third-rounder and two seventh-rounders. Dotson said he’s not going to take the trade personal—”until I see Washington.”

• The Packers acquired QB Malik Willis from the Titans for a seventh-rounder.

• The Seahawks traded CB Michael Jackson to the Panthers for rookie LB Michael Barrett, and they got OLB Trevis Gipson from the Jaguars for a late-round pick.

• Seattle also traded OLB Darrell Taylor to the Bears for a 2025 sixth-round pick.

• Additionally, Chicago acquired DT Chris Williams and a 2025 seventh from the Browns for a 2025 sixth.

• The Chiefs acquired OLB Cam Thomas from the Cardinals for a seventh-rounder.

• Washington sent Cleveland a conditional seventh-round pick for K Cade York.

We should also keep an eye on Rams captain and linebacker Ernest Jones IV after he was given permission to seek a trade following no progress on a contract extension.

Among the signings in recent days, the Chiefs brought back receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, who won a Super Bowl with the team in 2022; and the Cowboys signed veteran defensive tackle Linval Joseph, who played for years under defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer when he was the head coach of the Vikings.

Four-time Pro Bowl running back Dalvin Cook is visiting the Cowboys.

The NFL announced the suspensions under the league’s personal conduct policy of: Free agent CB J.C. Jackson (one game), Cardinals WR Zay Jones (five games), Rams OT Alaric Jackson (two games), and free agent CB Chris Claybrooks (eight games).

📘 Preseason in the books

The 2024 NFL preseason is over. Highlights from the third and final full week of preseason action include:

• Patriots rookie quarterback Drake Maye impressed on Sunday night, and he’s making a push to be the Week 1 starter for New England after recent talk from head coach Jerod Mayo about the quarterback competition being open.

• Undrafted rookie RB Carson Steele out of UCLA continued to impress for the Chiefs, certainly earning a roster spot and perhaps even a nice role in Year 1 for the back-to-back defending champs.

• Bills undrafted free agent Frank Gore Jr. carried 18 times for 101 yards and a touchdown in the preseason finale and had a cool moment with his father, who was sporting his jersey.

• Second-year RB Kenny McIntosh broke a 54-yard touchdown run and is someone to keep an eye on having a role for Seattle.

• Lions head coach Dan Campbell said “there’s something about” QB Jake Fromm, who helped ice the preseason finale against the Steelers in a game he wasn’t expected to play in after just recently joining the team. Fromm also impressed for Washington last preseason and is a guy we are very surprised has bounced around the league so much.

We’ll unfortunately see many dreams end in the coming days as teams cut their rosters to 53 players by today’s 4:00 PM ET deadline, but the preseason still gave guys the opportunity to put good play on film. Among the early player movement is the Broncos moving on from RB Samaje Perine and receiver Tim Patrick.

🩼 Injury news

There is clarity on Browns superstar running back Nick Chubb, who will be on the PUP list to begin the regular season, keeping him out the first four games as he comes back from a devastating knee injury in Week 2 of last year.

Cowboys All-Pro cornerback DaRon Bland is out six-to-eight weeks with a stress fracture in his foot. This is obviously a massive blow, and we’ll have to wait to see the playmaking duo of Bland (who set the single-season record with five pick-sixes last season) and Trevon Diggs (coming off a torn ACL) this season.

49ers injury news: Versatile offensive lineman Jon Feliciano is expected to miss about half the season after knee surgery. Pass rushers Leonard Floyd (knee, day-to-day) and Yetur Gross-Matos (knee, week-to-week) were both banged up in the preseason finale. And first-round rookie receiver Ricky Pearsall continues to deal with shoulder issues from college that the team hoped would not be a problem.

Cardinals first-round rookie defensive end Darius Robinson suffered a calf injury that will keep him out for multiple weeks.

2023 first-round defensive end Myles Murphy is expected to miss four-to-six weeks for the Bengals due to a knee sprain.

Seahawks edge Uchenna Nwosu will miss the start of the season after injuring his knee in the preseason finale.

Panthers rookie running back Jonathon Brooks (knee) will officially remain on the PUP list and miss the first four games of the season.

For good news, Lions defensive tackle DJ Reader passed his physical and was activated from the PUP list, as were a plethora of Browns players.

📰 NFL news and notes

Rest in Peace: Ravens offensive line coach Joe D’Alessandris passed away over the weekend after he was recently hospitalized for an acute illness. “Joe D” was widely respected by Baltimore and around the league.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame revised its bylaws to allow coaches to be inducted after a one-year waiting period after retirement as opposed to the five-year wait for players. We expect Bill Belichick will be coaching again in 2025, but this makes both Belichick and Pete Carroll eligible to be inducted soon instead of waiting. Speaking of Carroll, he’s returning to USC as a professor.

Multiview for NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV is improving, allowing you to select the 2-4 games you want to watch on one screen. You can read more about it here, but it’s a major improvement from last year.

The Commanders will replace the Sean Taylor statue revealed in November 2022. Frankly, the job the franchise did with the original memorial was borderline disgraceful, as it looked like something you’d find in a department store and was riddled with errors.

Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores responded to Tua Tagovailoa’s comments about their time together, saying that he’s “genuinely happy” for Tua’s success and that his former quarterback’s remarks about him being a terrible person “hit me in a way that I wouldn’t say was positive. I’ve got to use that and say, ‘How can I grow from that?’”

Some Chargers players and staff were stuck in an elevator at their team hotel in Dallas for a couple of hours and had to get out through the ceiling panel.

Giants rookie running back Tyrone Tracy says teammates were messing with him and calling him “Paul Pierce” after he was carted off at practice a couple of weeks ago only to have a minor ankle sprain and return to team meetings later that day.

Bill Belichick and Maxx Crosby are hosting the Let’s Go! podcast with Jim Gray. Tom Brady, who was a host and will now make guest appearances on the show, was the one that recommended Belichick: “For 20 years I threw the ball for Coach Belichick. Now I am passing the microphone to him.”

Still got it? Brady can still dunk a basketball at 47 years old.

Other Sports Updates

🏈 To kick off the 2024 college football season in Ireland, Georgia Tech upset No. 10 Florida State on Aidan Birr’s last-second field goal, 24-21.

😳 Michigan football received a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA for the sign-stealing scandal. Also, Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz and receivers coach Jon Budmayr were suspended one game for a transfer portal violation when recruiting quarterback Cade McNamara.

⚾️ Reds legend Joey Votto has officially retired from Major League Baseball in an announcement after 17 seasons, six All-Stars, a Gold Glove, and 2010 NL MVP honors.

📺 Apple TV’s hit series Ted Lasso is reportedly set to make a return after previously ending with Season 3. And a first look of Glen Powell in the upcoming Chad Powers television series based on the Eli Manning skit was revealed.

💪 Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani joined the 40 stolen-base, 40-homer club—and he did it on a walk-off grand slam. Different.

⚾️ The Mariners fired manager Scott Servais in the midst of a playoff race.

🤯 Because of a postponed game and a trade, Red Sox catcher Danny Jansen became the first player in MLB history to play for two teams in the same game.

🏆 Florida won its first Little League World Series on a walk-off bunt.

💿 Backyard Sports is indeed coming back, as rumored last week.

🐺 Found on wolfsports.com

• 2024 fantasy football draft outlook (🔒)

• Best 2024 fantasy football team names

• 2024 Chargers team preview

• 2024 Raiders team preview

• 2024 Chiefs team preview

• 2024 Broncos team preview

• 2024 Seahawks team preview

• 2024 49ers team preview

• Final fantasy mock draft (12-team, half PPR)

• Preseason college football power rankings

• Hard Knocks Episode 3 recap

• Latest MLB power rankings