Darren Waller wants to help Tim Tebow succeed at tight end
Tim Tebow may not have received an invite to Tight End University but one star pass catcher is willing to help him at the position.
Tim Tebow may not have received an invite to Tight End University but one star pass catcher is willing to help him at the position.
Star Raiders tight end and all-round good guy Darren Waller wants to offer Tebow some one-on-one mentoring as he tries to make the Jacksonville roster at Waller’s position.
“If he thinks he can learn from me, then I’d love to help him and help make his transition smoother,” Waller told TMZ.com.
Waller, like Tebow, wasn’t a tight end growing up, though he made a far easier transition from wide receiver.
“I tried to find any information I could from watching guys play or asking people when I moved,” Waller said regarding his position change.
“I’d love to continue to pass that on and help him be a better player.”
Some believe Tebow has a shot because of his dogged spirit and experience as a high-level football player. The Raiders’ prized piece echoed this sentiment.
“Football is in his blood,” Waller said.
“I feel like he’ll find a way. He’ll find a way. He’s physical, he’s athletic. So I wish him nothing but the best going forward.”
Tebow’s last appeared in the NFL wearing New York Jets uniform, before spending time at New England and Philadelphia in offseason capacities. The devout Christian is best known for his time with the Broncos however, particularly this magical play below.
Trevor Lawrence signs rookie contract with Jacksonville Jaguars
The No. 1 pick has formally committed his future to Urban Meyer and the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The No. 1 pick has formally committed his future to Urban Meyer and the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Lawrence has signed a customary four-year rookie deal — worth $36.8 million in addition to a $24.1 million signing bonus. Naturally, the Jags will have the option to exercise Lawrence’s fifth-year option in 2024.
The former Clemson product is one of only two quarterbacks from the 2020 draft class to sign their rookie deals.
Chicago’s Justin Fields put pen to paper last month, though fellow first-rounders; New England’s Mac Jones, San Francisco’s Trey Lance and New York’s Zac Wilson have yet to sign on.
Lawrence will likely make his first official start for the Jags at home to Houston on September 12.
Trey Lance: Jimmy G is ‘one of the best people i’ve been around’
After Kyle Shanahan traded up to select North Dakota State product Trey Lance with pick 3 in the 2021 NFL Draft, Jimmy Garoppolo would’ve been well within his rights to give Lance the Brett Favre treatment.
Though, Garoppolo has acted on the principle of paying it back — just like Tom Brady did for him all those years ago in Foxboro.
After Kyle Shanahan traded up to select North Dakota State product Trey Lance with pick 3 in the 2021 NFL Draft, Jimmy Garoppolo would’ve been well within his rights to give Lance the Brett Favre treatment.
Though, Garoppolo has acted on the principle of paying it back — just like Tom Brady did for him all those years ago in Foxboro.
Speaking at Carson Wentz’s charity softball game, Lance said “Yeah, it’s been awesome,” via Jackson Roberts of KVRR.
“He’s a great guy. I mean, one of the best people I’ve been around and I’ve been fortunate to be around some, I think, really really great people, guys that are going to play today and guys still in that locker room right now. Jimmy is just like it and that organization is the same exact way.
“So I just feel very blessed and fortunate to be where I am and be able to be a part of something like this. I’ve heard from other guys’ experiences and how we handled OTAs and things like that, our coaching staff and everyone that runs that organization does it at a really high level.”
Despite the hype surrounding Lance and his freakish physical gifts, people shouldn’t be quick to forget Garoppolo was one deep ball away from securing San Fransisco its first Super Bowl since 1995.
It seems as if Jimmy G will get his chance to lead the 49ers toward another postseason but make no mistake Lance is the future, and if Garoppolo doesn’t perform, he may well become the present.
Justin Simmons: Broncos can be best defense in Football
The NFL season begins with the Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers hosting America’s Team; the Dallas Cowboys on September 9. Though there are many defining occasions throughout the league before and after the battle of Brady and Prescott.
The NFL’s highest-paid safety believes his team is ready to snatch back the mantle of best defense in football.
Speaking to Good Morning Football, Simmons highlighted his excitement at reuniting with the likes of Von Miller and company in 2021.
“This defense is going to be definitely one that is really fun to play with,” Simmons said.
“We have talent all across the board. I’m really excited this year, too, because in our division, we have teams like the Chiefs, and the Raiders, and the Chargers — and those are some high-powered offenses. So we’re going to need a defense that’s ready to go week in and week out because we play the best in our division.
“And so in terms of goals, team defensive goals, we want to be No. 1. We feel like we have the talent across the board to be able to get after the quarterback, get some turnovers — that’s an area we struggled in the past couple years.
“So just really looking forward to competing out there, and going against some of the best offenses in the league. Like I said, from a defensive standpoint, we feel like we can be No. 1. So, that’s our goal.”
Vic Fangio will be under pressure to improve Denver’s underwhelming defensive performance last season, and more broadly, their win total. With the addition of Patrick Surtain III through the draft and a returning Von Miller, the Broncos are every chance of returning to their defenses of old.
Ezekiel Elliott ‘way quicker, way more explosive’
The Cowboys running back is set for a phenomenal comeback year according to his personal trainer and teammate Dak Prescott.
The Cowboys running back is set for a phenomenal comeback year according to his personal trainer and teammate Dak Prescott.
Prescott said Elliott was in “the best shape of his life” back in June. Now, his trainer Josh Hicks has backed those claims.
“Zeke’s in good shape,” Hicks told Jon Machota of The Athletic.
“I agree with Dak. I agree with Tony [Pollard]. I was on the outside looking in. They’ve been with this man three, four years. They see him way more than I see him. They’ve seen him work in practice, and they’ve seen him work in the offseason.
“I don’t think Zeke has ever worked like this in the offseason. I could be mistaken. But me, personally, when it comes to my drills and what I do and how I do it, I know he hasn’t worked like this.”
Hicks asked Elliott to perform a drill he had completed three months earlier and the results were stark, Zeke was “way quicker, way more elusive, more fluent.”
Elliott had his worst year as a pro in 2020, rushing for a career-low in yards (979) and yards per attempt (4.0). Many questioned whether No. 21 was as quick as previous seasons.
“Everybody said it,” Hicks said, “and he probably saw it and felt it himself, that he probably slowed down a little bit or lost a step a little bit or whatever.”
Judging by what we’ve seen on social media too, Zeke could be feasting on defenses once again in 2021.
‘Maybe We’ll Have something to talk about’: Devante Adams on possible reunion with Derek Carr
Derek Carr and Davante Adams were the ultimate duo in college, starring for little-known Fresno State. Though both have been apart for eight years now, playing for the Raiders and Packers respectively.
Carr recently said he’d do just about anything, including a “full-court press” to land his fellow Bulldog alum.
Derek Carr and Davante Adams were the ultimate duo in college, starring for little-known Fresno State. Though both have been apart for eight years now, playing for the Raiders and Packers respectively.
Carr recently said he’d do just about anything, including a “full-court press” to land his fellow Bulldog alum.
Sadly for Raiders fans, Adams poured cold water on those claims for now, but stopped short of saying a reunion in Allegiant Stadium was off the table.
“Well, I mean, I’m a Packer, so I can’t really get too far ahead on that,” Adams said, via Evan Webeck of the Bay Area News Group.
“When the season ends and if nothing’s figured out, then maybe we’ll have something to talk about. But those are cautious waters, so I can’t really dabble in that now.”
Adams and the Packers have plenty to figure out with Aaron Rodgers’ position on the roster still under question as we head toward training camp.
One thing is for certain though, if Adams does exercise his free agency rights, the Raiders won’t be the only suitor in the queue.
Patrick Willis, John Taylor inducted into 49ers hall of fame
Willis was the first 49er to be named an All-Pro in each of his first six seasons in the league. While Taylor famously hauled in the game-winning touchdown pass from Joe Montana in Super Bowl XXIII as the 49ers held on for a 20-16 win over Cris Collinsworth and the Cincinnati Bengals.
Memories of Candlestick Park were burning bright last night as San Francisco 49er legends Patrick Willis and John Taylor were inducted into the Edward J. DeBartolo 49ers Hall of Fame.
Willis become a cult figure for the Faithful and legions of fans across the league during his incredible eight-year NFL career. The six-time All-Pro was drafted with pick 11 in the 2007 before going on to win Defensive Rookie of the Year, the 2009 Butkus Award for best pro linebacker, amongst many other achievements. Willis was the first 49er to be named an All-Pro in each of his first six seasons in the league.
Meanwhile Taylor played receiver alongside the great Jerry Rice during the 49ers golden era, winning three Super Bowl rings and making two Pro Bowls while in the bay.
Famously, Taylor hauled in the game-winning touchdown pass from Joe Montana in Super Bowl XXIII as the 49ers held on for a 20-16 win over Cris Collinsworth and the Cincinnati Bengals.
Taylor was also named to the 1980’s All-Decade team as a punt returner.
San Francisco will hold a ceremony to officially induct Taylor and Willis during the team's alumni game on December 19.
Bears, Dolphins to hold joint practices
Interestingly, the Bears and Dolphins will meet again in the preseason — on August 14 — but once doesn’t seem enough for head coaches Matt Nagy and Brian Flores.
Chicago and Miami will put each other through their paces this offseason with joint practices set be held in Lake Forest, Illinois.
Interestingly, the Bears and Dolphins will meet again in the preseason — on August 14 — but once doesn’t seem enough for head coaches Matt Nagy and Brian Flores.
Chicago will host the Dolphins at their practice facility for a few practices according to The Athletic’s Adam Jahns.
It will be Justin Fields’ first taste of joint practice, after being drafted No. 11 overall by Chicago in the 2021 NFL Draft. It will be a new experience for Dolphins signal-caller Tua Tangavailoa after COVID caused them to be canceled.
Fields and Tangavailoa will be tested but without any physical contact. As for their teammates, well they’re not so lucky. Oh, the luxuries of the quarterback position.
Urban Meyer: Trevor Lawrence ‘not ready yet’
First-time NFL head coach Urban Meyer has tempered expectations on generational rookie quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Meyer, who maintains legend status in nearby Gainesville, revealed the Clemson grad isn’t guaranteed the starting quarterback job in Jacksonville.
First-time NFL head coach Urban Meyer has tempered expectations on generational rookie quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Meyer, who maintains legend status in nearby Gainesville, revealed the Clemson grad isn’t guaranteed the starting quarterback job in Jacksonville.
“He’s not ready yet, but he doesn’t have to be ready yet,” Meyer told Mackenzie Salmon of Sports Seriously.
“We got a long training camp coming up. He’s probably advanced maybe a little quicker than we would’ve thought, so which was a positive.
“One thing that we worked on — when we made a decision that Trevor was going to be our No. 1 pick, we went from the evaluation stage to the preparation stage. And that means that I want to see — I can’t remember the exact date, but we started installing the playbook with him well before the draft. So you can see the retention, he’s got a really good work ethic and he’s progressed very well.”
Meyer did his homework on Lawrence, like the rest of the country during his three-year stint in Death Valley. There isn’t much unknown about Lawrence but Meyer was pleasantly surprised by one trait.
“I knew a lot about Trevor,” he said. “I think we all did. Obviously, I was in the college game for so many years. I’m really close with Dabo Swinney, his former head coach. And really, I’ve seen him up close and live and in person several times. So I knew a lot about him, but I think one of the most refreshing things is he’s worried about one thing. He’s married. He has no distractions, which is amazing to me.
“In 2021, the world’s about distractions, and there is none with him. It’s our job to keep it that way. His focus is on being a good husband, being strong in his faith and winning games, and that’s really cool.”
Bengals OC: Tee Higgins ‘will be a Problem’ this season
After a promising rookie season, former Clemson product Tee Higgins is ready to take things up a level, that’s according to a man who knows him better than most.
After a promising rookie season, former Clemson product Tee Higgins is ready to take things up a level, that’s according to a man who knows him better than most.
Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan couldn’t be happier with the shape Higgins is in heading into his sophomore season.
“He’s more explosive,” Callahan said, via Geoff Hobson of the Bengals website. “I went back and watched some stuff the other day and looked at his routes on air right now and he’s markedly more explosive.
“It’s not necessarily that he’s gotten faster or that he’s a different type of player, he’s just now understanding how to bring those skills into practice every single day and the consistency that it requires to improve the speed you have to play with all the time.”
Higgins had a quietly impressive first year in the National Football League amassing 67 receptions, 908 yards and six touchdowns.
“When you’re a young player, you kind of find your way through. I think he’s found that. Now he knows what it takes to get to the next level of his game. He put all the work in to do it. I’m very, very excited about where he is at and where he is headed. He’s going to be a problem for defenses,” Callahan added.
With a rejuvenated Joe Burrow back on board, Higgins, and his fellow receivers — namely Tyler Boyd and No. 5 overall pick Ja’Marr Chase — are set to feast on secondaries.
Why Von Miller believes Peyton Manning - and not Tom Brady - is the GOAT
Hold up now, just wait a second.
Before the outcry, we must be fair to Von and point out his thoughts are from late October 2020 -- long before Brady and the Bucs got it together and dominated the Chiefs. Perhaps his opinion has since changed, but judging by his love for Peyton that’s as likely as a flying pig.
What’s perhaps most interesting about Von Miller’s GOAT take is the question was never raised about Manning or Brady was never raised. Von decided to take it upon himself to assert Peyton Manning as the greatest of all time.
Irrespective of who you side with, Von’s love and admiration for Peyton -- both as a player and as a human being -- is palpable.
“He is the real deal and he’s the GOAT,” Miller said of his former Super Bowl winning teammate.
“They have these discussions about Peyton and Tom Brady, and Tom Brady, he’s won a lot of Super Bowl’s and I’m a Tom Brady fan but Peyton Manning, he changed the position of quarterback from an audible position on the line to being a technician, going about his game, knowing the defense and that’s why Peyton Manning is the GOAT in my eyes.”
“Of course we’ve got Tom Brady and I’m a big Tom Brady fan and everything he does man, but I played with Peyton Manning man, and I got to experience what type of guy he was, what type of player he was and what type of leader he was. He’ll always get my vote on being the GOAT, ‘cause he truly was.”
As for what Peyton Manning was truly like, away from the public eye, Von took us into the Broncos locker room, detailing the tendencies and nuances of Denver’s favorite son.
“I’m just taken to the image that I have of Peyton Manning. Him being in the locker room, just being around Peyton Manning, he was just a true leader man, a true leader of men,” he said when asked about Peyton’s most memorable qualities.
“If he did mess up on anything, he went about his business, so professional man and he never made the same mistake twice. He handled adversity off the football field, on the football field, he was the same guy every single day.
“He knew the coaches, he knew the players, he knew the players’ kids, he knew the janitors by first name and had conversations with all these guys. He was a real superhero man, it’s not a facade, it’s not anything fake, it was just him.”
Does Peyton Manning really run around in Von Miller’s backyard?! To find out, along with more of Von Miller’s conversation with Patrick Djordjevic, click here.
How Von Miller changed his life during tumultuous 2020
2020 was meant to be the year of Von Miller. Denver’s all-time sack leader canceled a trip to Australia to ensure just that. Resultantly, missing out on daily Outback Steakhouse and kangaroo riding. Yet injury derailed his season — and for a period — his mindset.
Von based himself in San Francisco completing a grueling offseason before tragedy struck. All seemed in place for 58 to return to his best, terrifying the NFL quarterbacks. However, a season-ending ankle injury a week before their opening game vs. Tennessee ruined his plans.
There were plenty of other bumps along the road too, so how does such a public figure deal with the expectation of the world on top of their own internal demands? How does a world-class athlete work on themselves outside of the weight room? Wonder no more, Von’s got you.
“For me, all the time we had with the quarantine, I just invested all of that time back into myself. I just did a lot of mental work, on positive and negative energy,” Von said when asked about his learnings from 2020.
“I did just a lot of self-identity finding, I tried to find out what’s really essential and then eliminate the rest. I just really wanted to just minimize my priorities and focus on them with full speed ahead and really just focusing on what really matters to me and pouring all of my time into that.
“As humans you are presented with things daily that mess with your emotions, or your anger, or your fear. And for me, I just wanted to identify what really matters and then focus on that, and the emotions that come with that, instead of running from them, I just identify them. If I’m angry, why am I angry? If I’m afraid, why am I afraid? And I just kind of unpack that.
“If I’m anxious about something, you know instead of just saying man I’m not anxious, you know and just try and push through that, you know I just identify why am I anxious? Where is this coming from? And then once you really unpack that and get down to the base value of it, it’s just all made up in your head, you know? It’s things that the human mind puts there to create all these emotions.”
Offseason isn’t just about the body work, Miller invested lengthy time into his mental approach, which paid off handsomely after his devastating ankle injury.
“I did a lot of work identifying what’s what and I think it worked great for me because whenever I dislocated my ankle, that’s all I really had. You know, those first two days, I’m not going to say like I was positive right away, those first two days man, I had to go through the process, the grieving process and then shortly after that, it was the acceptance of this is what it is, this is what has been presented to me, how do I make the best out of it?
“The best was, for me, identifying and focusing on being able to come back fast, come back this season. That’s where I put all my energy and all my mind, all of my focus on that, and that’s what keeps me motivated and that’s what keeps me going everyday.”
If you’re not ready to run through a brick wall, then I can’t help you.
To discover who Von Miller believes is the GOAT and more, you know what to do.
Atlanta Falcons helps Alabama sanction girls flag football
After aiding the inception girls’ flag football across high schools in Georgia, the Atlanta Falcons — with support from Nike — turned their attentions to empowering young girls in The Yellowhammer State.
After aiding the inception girls’ flag football across high schools in Georgia, the Atlanta Falcons — with support from Nike — turned their attentions to empowering young girls in The Yellowhammer State.
In a groundbreaking win for girls across the state, high schoolers will be able to participate in high school flag football across Alabama in fall of this year. Thanks to the Falcons, the Blank Family Foundation, NFL Flag and Nike, Alabama’s high school girls will now have the opportunity to express themselves on the gridiron.
The Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA) Central Board of Control proved critical in the final outcome, approving the proposal back in January. Ultimately, paving the way for the AHSAA to make it official.
"After discussions with the Atlanta Falcons for several months, we are excited to be adding this girls' sport for our membership. We think it will grow rapidly," said Alvin Briggs, Associate Executive Director of the AHSAA.
"The AHSAA appreciates the support, commitment and funding being provided by the Atlanta Falcons, The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and NFL FLAG."
The Atlanta Falcons and Blank Family Foundation will financially contribute to the program while Nike will provide apparel for participating teams.
"We are thrilled to see girls' flag football continue to expand outside of Georgia. The goal has always been to grow the game," says Atlanta Falcons President and CEO Rich McKay.
"The need and desire for more girls' programming is there, and we are really excited the Alabama High School Athletic Association has agreed to add the sport and can now give young women more opportunities to play sports in high school. We look forward to seeing how far and wide we can expand the game of girls' flag football together."
AHSAA member schools will have the capacity to implement girls' flag football as a sport for the 2021-22 school year.
The championship game is scheduled for December where the two best teams will face off at the 2021 Super 7 State High School Football Championships in Birmingham, AL.