Category: NFL

Jaden Ivey is continuing his family legacy in Detroit, as he was selected with the fifth-overall pick by the Pistons in the NBA Draft.

The NBA Draft saw 58 prospects achieve their dreams of playing professional basketball. For Purdue guard Jaden Ivey, he had the chance to achieve his dream and continue his family’s sports legacy.

Ivey was selected with the fifth-overall pick by the Detroit Pistons, and he was overcome with emotion as he hugged his family and walked onto the stage to shake the hand of NBA commissioner Adam Silver. The reason being is that Ivey’s mother, Niele, played for the WNBA’s Detroit Shock and his grandfather, James Hunter, as a defensive back for the Detroit Lions.

Jaden Ivey continues family legacy in Detroit sports

The Pistons had a surprise for Ivey during his and Jalen Duren’s introductory press conference on June 24, as they presented him with the jerseys of his mother, grandfather and father Javin, the latter of whom played for Detroit Country Day high school in Beverly Hills, Mich.

Niele Ivey, who played for the Indiana Fever (2001-04) and the Phoenix Mercury (2005), joined the Shock in the 2005 season. Ivey is currently the head coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish women’s basketball program.

Hunter was a former 10th-overall pick by the Lions in 1976 out of Grambling State, and he spent his entire with the team until the 1982 season. In that span, Hunter recorded 27 interceptions, which is the seventh-most in Lions franchise history. Additionally, Hunter recorded five fumbles, four fumble recoveries and four sacks.

Now, Ivey has the chance to continue his family’s legacy in Detroit. Not only that, but he is nwo part of the young core of Cade Cunningham and Duren to help the Pistons return to their former glory.

Former Cleveland Browns cornerback Joe Haden took to Instagram this afternoon to hint that he may be interested in returning to his old team.

The Cleveland Browns have had a very interesting offseason so far. They seemingly solved their offensive woes by trading for star quarterback Deshaun Watson, but his status will remain up in the air until the NFL concludes its investigation into the myriad of sexual assault allegations he has dealt with over the past year.

The Browns offense could be great, but there’s also a chance that Watson will get suspended for most or all of the 2022 season. If that’s the case, Cleveland’s defense is going to have to step up and try to hold down the fort while he’s out.

The good news is that Cleveland looks like they may have one of the best defenses in the league. They have a venomous pass rush led by Myles Garrett, and a lockdown secondary that is going to be tough to pick apart on a weekly basis. In fact, it looks like one of their former cornerbacks, Joe Haden, is interested in joining Cleveland’s defense for the upcoming season.

Joe Haden hints at potential interest in rejoining the Cleveland Browns

The Browns secondary is pretty good as is, but you can never have too much help when it comes to defending against the pass. Haden is a veteran corner who spent his first seven seasons as part of Cleveland’s secondary, and he may be looking to close out his career where it first started. Haden posted a picture of himself during his Cleveland days on Instagram earlier today, leading many to believe he’s looking to return to the Browns.

Haden is not the All-Pro corner he once was, but he would fit in on pretty much any secondary in the league. He was a Pro-Bowl caliber player with the Pittsburgh Steelers as recently as 2019, and while he has struggled with injuries over the past two seasons, he’s generally been reliable in coverage when he has suited up.

The problem for Haden wanting to potentially return to Cleveland is that there simply may not be any room for him on the depth chart. Denzel Ward and Greg Newsome II are going to be the top two corners heading into the season, with Greedy Williams filling in as the third corner. The only route for Haden would potentially be as a slot cornerback, which is an area he hasn’t really played throughout his career.

Haden still figures to be a reliable cornerback, and it would be nice to see him return to where he began his career, but chances are it isn’t a feasible option for Cleveland. They could bring him in on a cheap one year prove it deal, but if there isn’t a spot on the roster for him, what’s the point? Haden’s potential return to Cleveland is certainly interesting, but it doesn’t feel very likely at this point in time.

Former Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill claims he received death threats for his comments about QB Patrick Mahomes.

Hill, now a member of the Miami Dolphins, opened up about his departure from the Kansas City Chiefs on his new podcast. While some Kansas City football fans didn’t take kindly to Hill’s comments, most of the response was simple arguments, if not disagreements. It was civil.

But, in terms of Hill comparing Mahomes to current Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa, some football fans took matters too far.

“On every social media account I own, I got death threats on,” Hill said, per ESPN. “I just feel like a lot of people overreacted for no reason. They really didn’t see what I said. A lot of people are just acting off emotion.”

Chiefs: Tyreek Hill angered some fans with Patrick Mahomes comments

Obviously, there is no place in modern fandom for death threats. Football players are people, too, and should be treated as such. Hill receiving threats on his life crosses a line that we must maintain and defend at all cost.

The comments Hill is referring to are likely when he compared Mahomes to Tua, suggesting that Tagovailoa had greater accuracy. Those comments were taken out of context, he claims, and he once again defended his former QB.

“We all know Patrick Mahomes is great. We know that,” Hill said. “But, right now, I’m going into a new season with a new quarterback who’s trying to head in the same direction as Patrick and do great things and lead this team to a Super Bowl championship — who is also great, in my opinion. He just doesn’t have the accolades — of yet. I believe in him.”

Hill was merely trying to hype up Tagovailoa, and matters got out of hand thanks to one short soundbite. It’s important to keep that in perspective, rather than go off the rails.

Kenny Pickett and the Pittsburgh Steelers have yet to finalize a contract, and it’s time to make that happen.

Kenny Pickett is the last first-round pick to sign a contract, and as he is competing for the Steelers’ starting role, why hasn’t it happened yet?

A quarterback should already have a contract signed, especially since he is competing for a starting role.

In college, Pickett was someone that drew the limelight and was so talented. When the Steelers picked him in the first round, it was a great choice.

Pittsburgh needs a solid quarterback with Big Ben leaving, so maybe the Steelers are just being extra careful with Pickett’s contract instead of jumping right into it.

There is nothing wrong with being particular about contracts, but it’s almost July, so it’s time to print it out and get that bad boy done.

Pickett has so much upside and can succeed with the Steelers.

Pittsburgh Steelers need to sign Kenny Pickett and make it official

According to the Boston Globe, there is a contract, and FanSided’s Mark Powell says this hold-up has to do with the payment structure.

His expected deal will be around four years and $14 million, with a fifth-year option included. Pickett is also the last Steeler in this draft class to sign, so it’s time for him to accept the money offered and focus on the team.

While it’s understandable for him to want more money up front, at the same time, he needs to understand that money will come.

Now I’m not saying that Pickett isn’t ready for a starting job because he very well could be, but this is a first contract and a solid one, so take it and let the work show the Steelers that more money up front is worth it.

This contract will eventually get signed, but right now, Pickett needs to focus on winning the starting job and getting the team to trust him. His leadership will be necessary for the Steelers to see because they need someone like that to run the offense, and we saw what Pickett did at Pitt.

That quality is in him, and it’s time to accept the contract and get to work. It is the way.

Should the Kansas City Chiefs reboot their running back room by trading with the Giants for former No 2 overall running back Saquon Barkley?

The Chiefs have lost their leading receiver and rusher from 2021, making this coming season full of intrigue around Patrick Mahomes and the offense.

Replacing Tyreek Hill has involved picking up guys like JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes-Scantling while drafting Skyy Moore.

Darrel Williams’ departure to Arizona isn’t as massive as Hill’s. However, the running back room is a major question mark for a team with Super Bowl aspirations.

How could Kansas City address that concern? Bleacher Report’s Ian Wharton suggests a trade for Giants running back Saquon Barkley.

Does a Saquon Barkley trade make sense for the Chiefs?

This hypothetical trade would have the Chiefs send Clyde Edwards-Helaire and a fourth-round pick to the Giants for Barkley.

The argument here is simple: The Chiefs aren’t sold on CEH, so they should go after someone with a higher upside.

That’s fair enough but it still feels early to give up on Edwards-Helaire, especially because he’s been limited by some injury issues. This third year will be critical for him and his future with Kansas City. He deserves that chance to prove himself after rushing for 803 yards and four touchdowns as a rookie. Remember, he’s only 23.

Meanwhile, Barkley has dealt with serious injury problems and there are still no guarantees he’ll return to the player he was in 2018.

Trading for Barkley or keeping CEH is a gamble with uncertain odds either way. The latter doesn’t involve giving up any assets.

The real issue with a trade is that the Chiefs shouldn’t be so desperate. They have Edwards-Helaire and Jerick McKinnon coming back while adding Ronald Jones II to the equation.

Jones rushed for 978 yards for the Buccaneers in 2020, contributing to a Super Bowl run. He’s also 24 years old with more to give if the fit is right.

That backfield should be productive enough to hold down the fort at worst.

The Seattle Seahawks are one step closer to trading for Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield, or so it would seem.

The Seahawks punted on Russell Wilson this offseason, dealing him to the Denver Broncos for Drew Lock and draft picks. While they didn’t spend any of their selections this year on a long-term replacement for Wilson, they could make a trade for Mayfield, who is readily available in Cleveland.

The issue in dealing for Baker would be his contract status — Seattle would rather not pay his lofty 2022 salary, and have him as a lingering free agent. The solution to that would be signing him to a less-lucrative deal the minute he lands in the Emerald City.

Seahawks: Baker Mayfield trade in sight

Taking on Mayfield’s money — or at least talking financials with the Browns — is the final major hurdle for both sides. Seattle doesn’t think highly enough of Mayfield to pay him like one of the best quarterbacks from his rookie class. Meanwhile, Cleveland doesn’t want to punt on a former No. 1 overall pick for nothing.

Yet, the longer the Browns wait, the more they risk losing him for…nothing.

ESPN’s Josina Anderson shed some light on this situation:

“I’m told the #Seahawks still have a high-level of interest in acquiring QB Baker Mayfield and behind-the-scenes are open to contractually extending him, per league source. I also know that the process of collecting information and insights into Mayfield is still ongoing.”

Assuming the Seahawks eventually come to the conclusion that Mayfield is starting quarterback material, then he will be dealt to Seattle. The details have yet to be made public, but odds are they are mostly financial at this juncture.

Allegations against Commanders owner Dan Snyder have come out, including an effort to undermine testimony, homophobic remarks, and a sexual assault case. 

The Washington Post has been at the forefront of exploring the toxic workplace culture that Dan Snyder’s Washington football team cultivated over years: a workplace that allowed the sexual harassment of female employees and the secret distribution of a lewd video of Washington cheerleaders.

That was only the beginning of scandal for Washington, a team that has since rebranded from its longtime racist name — one that Snyder fought hard to hold onto — to become the Commanders as of this February. Snyder has endeavored to clear his name after each scandal, even naming wife Tanya Snyder as his co-CEO after the sexual harassment allegations began pouring in, but the Snyder situation has only gotten continually worse. The more Washington Post exposés that come out, the more the public learns about the depth of Snyder’s role in the toxic environment he cultivated over decades in D.C.

Now, Snyder is the subject of a Congressional probe and is currently being investigated by the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Snyder has been subpoenaed to show up in court and has failed to do so as of yet, and so has NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Instead, Snyder sent an internal memo to the Commanders organization with the subject line, “A Reminder of Two Years of Progress.”

At every opportunity, the reports on Snyder indicate that he has not only tried to cover up any wrongdoing, but he has actively shifted blame to others. With that in mind, here are three key takeaways from the headlines surrounding Dan Snyder.

3. Dan Snyder launched a “shadow investigation” to discredit Beth Wilkinson’s probe

As the findings of the Congressional probe are currently being heard before the U.S. House Oversight Committee,

According to ESPN’s Tisha Thompson, the U.S. House Oversight Committee “released a 29-page memo on its findings, supported by more than 600 pages of depositions.” Per those accounts, the Committee concluded the following:

“Snyder used subpoena authority available to parties involved in overseas lawsuits to obtain correspondence from former president Bruce Allen and other former employees. The goal, according to the memo, was to build a case to the NFL that Allen was to blame for the team’s toxic workplace environment, and that former employees were conspiring to disparage Snyder.”

Not only did Dan Snyder try to pin everything wrong with the Washington workplace on Bruce Allen, but Snyder tried to manipulate an independent investigation led by attorney Beth Wilkinson. Ironically, in an effort to combat the “smear campaign” he believed others conducted against him, Snyder tried to disparage those who came out against him in the Post.

“The committee says Snyder used a common-interest agreement between the Commanders and the NFL to ‘attempt to steer the direction’ of the independent investigation into the team led by attorney Beth Wilkinson and to discredit the people accusing him, including those cited in reports published by The Washington Post, by providing the NFL and Wilkinson with ‘derogatory information about them.’”

2. Former Washington COO David Pauken faced sexist, homophobic remarks from Dan Snyder for refusing to sexualize cheerleaders

Thompson’s ESPN report includes several quotes from David Pauken, who was the chief operating officer for the Commanders from 2001 to 2006. Pauken testified that he was uncomfortable with “the way the NFL sexualizes cheerleaders”, but Snyder’s behavior took that to an unbelievable degree. According to Pauken, Snyder wanted to sell access to cheerleader photo shoots so that sponsors and suite holders had an opportunity to gawk at them for a price. Pauken declined.

Because Pauken did not want to sexualize cheerleaders, Snyder began making snide assumptions about Pauken’s sexuality.

“Anybody who likes girls likes cheerleaders, and if you don’t, if you’re uncomfortable with the cheerleaders, maybe you don’t like girls,” Pauken said during his testimony as he described the way Snyder spoke to him.

Once, Snyder blatantly asked his friend, “Do you think Dave [Pauken] is gay?” The friend replied that he thought he was.

According to Pauken, Snyder would say things like, “Yeah, he has to be gay. As ugly as these cheerleaders are. Pauken, are you gay? You must be gay. How could you have a cheerleading squad that looks like this?”

Pauken also testified to two instances in which Snyder disproportionately punished female employees while male employees remained unscathed. In one instance, Snyder fired two cheerleaders for having a consensual sexual relationship with a Washington player. Nothing happened to the player. Per the memo, Snyder wanted to “minimize distractions, temptations for players.”

In another instance, Snyder learned that a man on the team’s coaching staff groped a woman on the public relations team. Instead of discipling the coach for sexual harassment, Snyder instructed the employee who had been groped to “stay away from the coach.”

Testimony also confirmed that Larry Michael sexually harassed Washington employees, which Snyder ignored.

1. Dan Snyder was accused of sexual assault in 2009

A day before the Congressional hearing on Wednesday, an investigative report by the Washington Post’s Will Hobson revealed that Dan Snyder was accused of sexual assault in 2009. The Washington Post’s Nicki Jhabvala shared the article and included key details on the case, such as the fact that the investigation into the woman’s claims was overseen by David Donovan, the same attorney who sued Beth Wilkinson to keep the 2009 incident out of the 2020 investigation into Snyder.

While the Post reported the 2009 incident two years ago, the details were unknown. According to Hobson’s recent report, Snyder asked the former female employee “for sex, groping her and attempting to remove her clothes.” The alleged incident reportedly took place aboard a team plane, and a $1.6 million settlement was eventually reached between Snyder and the former employee. Per the terms of the settlement, the woman was not allowed to publicly disclose the allegations or sue Snyder for his behavior.

Unsurprisingly, Snyder has also claimed that this is another attempt to smear his name and reputation, and a team investigation concluded that the woman was trying to extort Snyder at the time. Attorney Howard Shapiro also mentioned that the woman “wore revealing clothing and flirted with other men on the trip to Las Vegas” in an effort to discredit her accusation.

From 2009 to 2022, there are widespread, consistent accounts that Snyder and his associates have exploited and sexualized — and when advances are rejected, shamed and blamed — women in the Washington organization.

While the NFL is an exclusive billionaire’s club, everything that Snyder has done is finally coming to light, and there may be grounds to wrestle his Washington ownership away from him. In a league that’s known for its poor track record in regards to sexual harassment and assault allegations, the Congressional hearing may finally be enough to oust Snyder after all these years.