🍂 Can you feel the winds changing? College football is back this week, headlined by Bill Belichick’s UNC squad taking on TCU in Dublin. And your fantasy football draft is probably right around the corner. Check out Fantasy Consigliere for draft rankings and printable cheat sheets in several different formats.
✍️ The highlights
Nick Chubb calls it a career. The former superstar RB and one of the league’s most universally liked players announced his retirement after eight NFL seasons.
The quiet, no-nonsense Chubb shared his thoughts, including how dealing with two serious knee injuries (one at Georgia he made a stellar comeback from to become an NFL star, and one early in 2023 that basically derailed his career from a potential HOF path) “wasn’t part of the plan” but he’s proud to have come back twice—including ending his career healthy and on a winning team for his one year with Houston.
In exactly 100 career games, Chubb ran for 7,349 yards, with 1,109 receiving yards, and 59 touchdowns.
The former second-round pick is one of three players in history to have 50+ rushing TDs and 5.0+ YPC in a career—along with Jim Brown and Barry Sanders.
The Browns named a starting QB. In a relative surprise, Cleveland is going with Deshaun Watson over Shedeur Sanders. This comes days after Sanders played pretty well in his preseason start while Watson struggled in the third quarter before going off on Browns fans in his post-game presser. Watson apologized to fans yesterday after being named the starter.
There’s unfortunately a lot of injury news to get to below, but first a positive: There was a major sigh of relief when Raiders RB Ashton Jeanty escaped his end-of-practice injury on Sunday with just an ankle sprain. While it remains uncertain how much (if any) regular season time Jeanty could miss, there was speculation that the injury was much worse at first.
Bucs, star DL Vita Vea agree to deal. Despite a trade request in late July, Tampa Bay got a deal done with Vea to keep a critical part of their defense in place—agreeing to a one-year, $30 million extension through 2027.
Joey Porter Jr.’s uncertain status: Steelers HC Mike McCarthy says they’ve reached an “impasse” with the stud CB, who remains on the PUP as he looks for an extension. Porter’s teammate Jalen Ramsey says the team needs to pay the former second-rounder.
🏈 Preseason Week 2
The second full week of the preseason kicked off with Raiders No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza (8/15, 86 yards, INT) finding somewhat of a rhythm after bouncing back from a pick-six by Texans LB Wade Woodaz, and Texans RB Woody Marks’ impressive TD run.
Kicking is getting crazier by the year, with Chiefs K Harrison Butker easily drilling a would-be-record 69-yard FG versus the Bucs.
In the KC-TB game, undrafted rookie QB Jalon Daniels (9/14, 71 yards, TD, 19 rushing yards) really stood out, leading a comeback from a 9-0 hole via three straight scoring drives in the second half. Daniels is an experienced four-time team captain at Kansas, and he’s showing the obvious ability that made it very puzzling he went undrafted. He’s someone to watch long-term.
Cowboys QB Joe Milton has also been excellent this preseason, with a 53-yard TD bomb to WR Jonathan Mingo included among him completing 75% of his passes with four total TDs through two games.
👀 Signings and other moves
WR Allen Robinson officially retired after 11 NFL seasons. He had 565 receptions for 7,058 yards and 43 TDs in his career—including a 80/1,400/14 campaign for the Jaguars in 2014.
The past week included a few signings of pretty well known vets, including the Seahawks adding former Cowboys All-Pro CB Trevon Diggs. More moves:
Giants RB Najee Harris, Falcons EDGE Za’Darius Smith, Broncos S Taylor Rapp, Browns EDGE Derek Barnett, Texans WRs Zay Jones and Sterling Shepard, and Saints K Daniel Carlson.
Also, the Texans made a move at WR by acquiring Kayshon Boutte from the Pats for a seventh, and the Giants traded OL Daniel Faalele to the Jaguars for a sixth-round pick and cut WR JuJu Smith-Schuster. Meanwhile, the Bengals moved on from OL Cody Ford, and the Cardinals waived/injured former third-round RB Trey Benson.
Another trade: The 49ers acquired LB Deion Jones from the Saints for RB Zamir White.
Two more retirements: Both veteran TE C.J. Uzomah (as a Bengal) and RB Myles Gaskin (writing a nice post on IG) retired from the NFL.
🤕 The injuries
Both good and bad, the injury news has been nonstop this summer, including Chargers starting C Tyler Biadasz officially being done for the year with a knee injury. More season enders:
Browns EDGE Alex Wright, who was being relied on more following the Myles Garrett trade, suffered a torn Achilles.
Texans second-year WR Jayden Higgins tore his ACL.
Ravens C Danny Pinter tore his patella in joint practices.
Seahawks WR Jake Bobo, who does a lot when he’s in the game and just caught a TD in the NFC Championship, is out for the year with a significant knee injury.
Additionally, Seahawks second-round S Bud Clark will miss several months with a broken ankle from Sunday night’s preseason game.
More injuries: Commanders DL Johnny Newton (torn pec, out significant time), Saints RB Alvin Kamara (MCL, out at least a month), Lions TE Sam LaPorta (hip, status uncertain), Jets RB Breece Hall (groin, expected to be fine for Week 1), and Eagles EDGE Jonathan Greenard’s pec injury may hold him out for the start of the season.
Now to the good news: Falcons QB Michael Penix Jr. has been cleared for 11-on-11 work, 49ers TE George Kittle was activated off the PUP list, and Steelers DB Jalen Ramsey was taken off the PUP list.
📰 More to note around the NFL
49ers owner Jed York was arrested in Ohio, pleading no contest to prostitution-related charges.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says there’s “no doubt” the NFL will have an international franchise at some point.
Practice fines: The Cowboys and Saints were each fined $500K for their fights during joint practices.
Speaking of joint practices, new Patriots WR A.J. Brown appeared to have a lot of success against his former Eagles team. Meanwhile, Eagles RB Saquon Barkley says he is not a fan of joint practices.
NFL Top 100 Players of 2026: We’re into the top 10 after No. 11-20 were revealed.
Other Sports Updates
🙏 Rest in Peace: ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen passed away at 93.
🤨 The Wild West: The college football craziness continues, with TE Dae’Quan Wright set to play for LSU after he was waived by the Browns.
🔥 Rangers SP Jacob deGrom became the 95th player in MLB history to reach 2,000 career strikeouts.
⚾️ The Brewers beat the Mariners 22-0 to tie the largest shutout victory since 1888.
🏈 Oklahoma extended HC Brent Venables through the 2031 season.
