ATLANTA — Steve Bartkowski’s reaction to how the Falcons used their first-round draft pick probably was a little bit like yours.

“Like most NFL fans and people who track it, kind of a head scratcher,” the Falcons legend said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s one of those deals you say, ‘Wait a minute now...Read more

FORT WORTH, Texas — Jerry has finally found something that he can’t sell, spin or market. Unless you are related to him, no one is buying this latest move.

The standard optimism and curiosity from the NFL draft wasn’t even 48 hours old before Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and his “team” took a bulldozer to that hope by signing a running ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For the first time in the Brett Veach general manager tenure, the Chiefs led their draft with back-to-back players who reside on the same side of the football as Patrick Mahomes.

The timing isn’t coincidental. The Chiefs ranked 15th in the NFL in scoring last season, and ninth in yards, their worst marks in either ...Read more

BALTIMORE — The Kansas City Chiefs have won the past two Super Bowls, so whenever they make a move to get better, 31 other NFL teams can’t help but shake their collective heads.

So, when the Chiefs traded up to acquire Texas wide receiver Xavier Worthy at the end of the first round and moved up again in the second to take BYU offensive ...Read more

DENVER — From being an undrafted rookie to a Super Bowl champion, Chris Harris Jr. has done it all.

Now, he feels like it’s time to look forward to better things. The former Broncos cornerback officially announced his retirement Tuesday after 12 seasons in the NFL.

“I just felt it’s time to close that chapter,” Harris told The Denver...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia, A.J. Brown said Tuesday afternoon, is “home,” and among the things the star Eagles receiver has learned in the two years since he arrived via a blockbuster draft-day trade is this town’s relationship with sports.

Shut down your social media accounts and show any signs of discontent on a sideline and get ...Read more

LAS VEGAS -- The Raiders accomplished a lot in the 2024 NFL draft. But they didn’t land a franchise quarterback.

That means veteran Gardner Minshew and second-year passer Aidan O’Connell will compete in training camp for the starting role this year. It feels like a temporary solution on its surface. The Raiders could be looking for their ...Read more

If Ezekiel Elliott had his way, he would have never left the Dallas Cowboys.

But after he was cut following the 2022 season, the former two-time NFL rushing champ said the team made little effort to resign him in free agency, even on a reduced deal.

So Elliott played last season with New England Patriots, first as a backup before starting the ...Read more

ALLEN PARK, Mich. — Penei Sewell admits to being a bit starstruck the first time he set foot in the Lions’ practice facility a few years ago. It was the day after he’d been selected seventh overall in the 2021 draft, and he was joined by his parents as he officially began his NFL career in Detroit.

Now, though, the Lions’ All-Pro right ...Read more

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Tight end Kyle Pitts had his $10.4 million fifth-year option picked up by the Falcons on Monday.

The Falcons selected Pitts No. 4 overall in 2021 — the highest a tight end has ever been selected in NFL draft history. The Falcons are hopeful that Pitts is ready to bounce back in his fourth season after catching only 53 ...Read more

The Vikings would like Christian Darrisaw to keep blocking for their new quarterback.

Darrisaw, one of the NFL's best young blockers, is now under contract through 2025 after the team exercised the fifth-year option in his rookie contract.

All first-round picks have fifth-year options; Darrisaw was drafted with the 23rd overall pick in 2021 ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- For someone who once thought he'd never coach, Nick Hardwick found himself in the strangest of places:

Sitting in an Indiana high school, as midnight approached, breaking down film.

"I was getting four hours of sleep a night," he recalled Monday, "and I was like, 'Well, if I'm doing this for free and actually donating money, why...Read more

Patriots rookie quarterback Drake Maye wants to start Week 1.

But with the team’s season opener so far away, he has shorter-term goals in mind.

“That’s obviously the goal for myself, and any quarterback coming in the NFL,” Maye said Monday on WEEI. “But also, I think it’s a good opportunity to go in there and learn from Jacoby (...Read more

The Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis Kelce is getting a pay increase.

Kelce has agreed to a two-year pact that will make him the highest-paid tight end in football, according to a report from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. Later Monday afternoon, the Chiefs said they signed Kelce to a new contract.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Kelce’s ...Read more

CHICAGO -- The list of rookie quarterback/wide receiver combinations that have taken the NFL by storm is pretty thin.

In fact, it’s difficult to come up with many rookie pairings that have gone big in Year 1 beyond Andy Dalton and A.J. Green (Cincinnati Bengals, 2010), Andrew Luck and T.Y. Hilton (Indianapolis Colts, 2012), Tony Banks and ...Read more

After watching the Miami Dolphins take an edge defender with their first pick in the 2024 draft and then double down with another one later on Day 3, it could be fair to wonder where Jaelan Phillips and Bradley Chubb stand in all this.

Both, of course, are undergoing lengthy rehabs this offseason after Phillips tore his Achilles on Nov. 24 ...Read more

History suggests not all six of the quarterbacks taken in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft will work out.

Most of them won’t, if previous drafts are any indicator.

So while the Giants came away without a QB in a year they reportedly tried to trade up for UNC’s Drake Maye and spent considerable pre-draft time with Michigan’s J.J. ...Read more

Jason Kelce isn’t staying retired for long.

The former Eagles center and New Heights podcast co-host is taking a TV job at ESPN, where he’ll join the network’s "Monday Night Countdown" pregame show leading up to "Monday Night Football," according to sources.

Kelce will join host Scott Van Pelt and analysts Marcus Spears and Ryan Clark, ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Cooper DeJean wanted to play quarterback in college.

If he had lived anywhere other than Iowa, he might have pursued that goal. But DeJean knew that his likely best path to success, and possibly the NFL, was playing defensive back for his home state Hawkeyes.

"I think it was tough at the time," Jason DeJean said of his son ...Read more