Category: Football

Buffalo Bills star wide receiver Stefon Diggs was back with the team for Day 2 of minicamp on Wednesday.

In fact, the Bills put out a 20-second video — replete with music — on Twitter showing Diggs, in uniform, practicing with his teammates. The title was, “He’s back.”

His attendance followed a day of drama in which Diggs was a no-show for the opening day of mandatory camp, despite having been in the building both Monday and Tuesday morning, only to leave before practice started.

His absence spurred a day’s worth of speculation as to what was eating the 29-year-old Pro Bowl wideout. The speculation evolved into potential trading partners for Diggs, who carries a dead cap hit of $45.5 million this season, making him practically untradeable.

For his part, Diggs’ only communication came on Instagram on Tuesday night.

“I just be letting people cap. If them lies help you sleep better tell em big dawg,” read the first post.

“My phone been silent for like 6 years. Ion play all them sounds and s–t,” Diggs wrote in a follow-up.

Bills quarterback Josh Allen shed some light Tuesday afternoon on what might be happening, saying he and Diggs were “working on some things,” adding the issues were “not football-related.”

“There’s things I could do better to help out with this process and try to get him back here and be the Buffalo Bill that he’s meant to be. … There are some things that could have gone better last year and didn’t,” Allen said Tuesday. “I think, as an organization, maybe not communicating the right way with everything. Just trying to talk and listen at the same time, hear him out and just try to move this forward as quickly and respectfully as possible.”

Diggs skipped the team’s entire offseason program, but those sessions were all voluntary until Day 1 of minicamp on Tuesday. Missing one mandatory workout will cost a player $16,459.

Diggs caught 108 passes for 1,429 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2022. His catches ranked fourth in the NFL, his yards fifth and his TD receptions were tied for third.

Diggs signed a four-year, $96 million extension in April 2022. He’s set to make $24.415 million in 2023. That puts him fifth among all wide receivers for the 2023 season, per Spotrac.

–Field Level Media

One unnamed NFL player suffered $8 million in gambling losses in 2022, Pro Football Talk reported Thursday.

The report, which cites a league source with knowledge of the situation, is the latest headline involving the league and betting activities.

Earlier this month, the Indianapolis Colts confirmed that one of their players is under investigation by the NFL.

SportsHandle.com reported that a Colts player was the subject of an investigation for placing “hundreds” of bets, a “considerable” number coming from inside the team’s practice facility. The player placed some bets on his own team, according to the report.

Wide receiver Calvin Ridley, then of the Atlanta Falcons, was suspended for the entire 2022 season for betting on NFL games while he was away from the team. He was traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars last fall and has been reinstated for the 2023 season.

In April, the NFL suspended five more players for violating its gambling policy. Detroit Lions receiver Quintez Cephus and safety C.J. Moore and Washington Commanders defensive end Shaka Toney were handed indefinite bans for betting on NFL games, while Detroit receivers Jameson Williams and Stanley Berryhill were given six-game suspensions for betting on non-NFL events from inside an NFL facility.

Detroit has since released Cephus, Moore and Berryhill.

–Field Level Media

A knee injury to Chuck Clark helps explain the New York Jets signing fellow safety Adrian Amos on Tuesday.

The Athletic characterized the injury as “serious” and SNY TV reported that the team is awaiting a second opinion before determining next steps for Clark.

The Jets acquired Clark, 28, from the Baltimore Ravens in March in exchange for a 2024 seventh-round draft pick.

Clark posted 384 tackles, five interceptions and 32 passes defensed in 96 career games (63 starts) with the Ravens, who selected him in the sixth round of the 2017 draft.

–Field Level Media

The Los Angeles Rams restructured the contract of star wide receiver Cooper Kupp, clearing $10.44 million in salary cap space for 2023, ESPN reported Wednesday.

The Rams achieved the savings by converting $13.92 million of Kupp’s salary into a signing bonus, per the report. The Rams had only $1.3 million in cap space available before this move and have yet to sign all of their 2023 draft picks.

Kupp’s 2022 season ended prematurely after he sustained a high ankle sprain on Nov. 13 in a home loss against the Arizona Cardinals. He later underwent surgery.

Kupp had 75 receptions for 812 yards and six touchdowns in nine games last season. He led the NFL in catches (145), receiving yards (1,947) and TD receptions (16) in 2021 and was named NFL Offensive Player of the Year. He also earned Super Bowl LVI MVP honors in the Rams’ win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Rams signed Kupp, 29, to a three-year, $80.1 million contract extension in June 2022.

–Field Level Media

The quarterback competition between Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask is getting into full swing this week at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ minicamp.

Mayfield, the former No. 1 overall draft pick now with his fourth NFL team, said Tuesday he’s feeling comfortable with the Bucs’ offense so far.

“I feel comfortable with where I’m at right now. Now, it’s about making sure that my comfortability resonates with everyone else,” Mayfield said. “That is the quarterback’s job, is to make sure everybody gets on the same page and make sure we breathe that confidence throughout the whole team. I feel good with where I am at right now, but there is obviously always room to improve.”

Though it’s only June, Mayfield was concerned about cleaning up turnovers the offense committed during drills against the Bucs’ tough defense.

“But that’s what happens when you get the full defense back out there and the competition starts flying around a bit,” Mayfield said. “We just need to hone it in, but luckily, it’s minicamp now, so we’re going to be able to watch the film altogether and do a walkthrough to correct some of those mistakes.”

Mayfield was traded from the Cleveland Browns to the Carolina Panthers ahead of the 2022 season, but the Panthers went 1-5 in his six starts and his stay was short-lived. He was granted his release in early December and the Los Angeles Rams claimed him off waivers while dealing with quarterback injuries.

Across 12 games (10 starts) for the Panthers and Rams, Mayfield threw for 2,163 yards, 10 touchdowns and eight interceptions in 2022.

Trask, meanwhile, got into his first NFL game last season and went 3-for-9 for 23 yards. After backing up Tom Brady for two years, Trask has more of a chance to earn playing time.

Only a few years removed from his college days at Florida, where he was a Heisman finalist in 2020, Trask said he looked at Tuesday’s assignment like a final exam.

“We’ve been studying all throughout OTAs and then you’ve got three days to put it altogether,” Trask said. “The first day, we’re still working through some things and tightening up some things, but altogether, I think we’re really getting all of the concepts down together well and looking pretty solid.”

Head coach Todd Bowles revealed little about his quarterbacks’ progress, saying both Mayfield and Trask are “getting used to” playing with star receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin and receiving play calls from first-year offensive coordinator Dave Canales.

Asked where the QBs have shown the most growth recently, Bowles said, “Understanding the offense and making audibles at the line of scrimmage.”

–Field Level Media

The Denver Broncos made official the signing of Pro Bowl edge rusher Frank Clark to a one-year contract on Tuesday.

Clark, who turns 30 on Wednesday, played the past four seasons for the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, who released him in March.

Clark will have a guaranteed $5.5 million base salary with an additional $2 million eligible to be earned through incentives, according to multiple media reports last Thursday.

Broncos head coach Sean Payton said Clark won’t attend the team’s minicamp as he has an upcoming Super Bowl ring ceremony in Kansas City “that will be a little awkward.”

Payton expects Clark, who’s projected to play outside linebacker, will be with the Broncos at the start of training camp in July.

“(Clark is) a pressure player and someone that I remember doing a lot of work on when he was coming out in the draft,” Payton said. “We followed him, obviously, in Seattle first and then in Kansas City. It’s one of the areas that we paid close attention to. We’ll find a role within what we are doing and where he can help us. I think it’s always a challenge to find those guys who you can say are pressure players, but he is one of them. Certainly, he’s excelled in the postseason, both in Seattle and in Kansas City. That’s the vision.”

A three-time Pro Bowl player (2019-21), Clark won Super Bowl titles with the Chiefs in 2019 and last season, when he had five sacks and 39 tackles in 15 regular-season games (all starts). He began his career with the Seattle Seahawks, who selected him in the second round (63rd overall) of the 2015 NFL Draft.

For his eight-year career, Clark has 58.5 sacks, 263 tackles (180 solo), two interceptions, 14 forced fumbles and seven fumble recoveries in 120 regular-season games (88 starts). He also has 13.5 sacks in 17 postseason games, the most among all players since entering the NFL in 2015.

–Field Level Media

A notable training camp battle is already brewing in Houston where new head coach DeMeco Ryans said the role of QB1 will be decided via open competition between Davis Mills and rookie C.J. Stroud.

It’s the third-round pick in 2021 (Mills) vs. the No. 2 overall pick in 2023 (Stroud).

“We’ll see where their process goes in training camp and see as the competition continues,” Ryans said Tuesday. “We’ll see who separates themselves.”

Tuesday was Day 1 of the Texans’ mandatory minicamp.

Stroud and Mills have rotated reps with the first team all throughout the offseason program, from OTAs to this week’s minicamp. Stroud ran the first team Tuesday because it was his turn.

“They’ve been rotating each week,” Ryans said. “As you guys came to practice, you’ve seen we’ve rotated those guys each week, and this just happened to be the week that C.J. was running with the ones.”

Mills, 24, has a track record, albeit on a losing team — he’s 5-19-1 as the Texans’ starter the past two seasons, under two different head coaches and offensive schemes. He’s thrown for 5,782 yards and 33 touchdowns against 25 interceptions in 28 games overall.

Stroud, 21, meanwhile, continues to learn the pro game.

“The best thing I’ve seen about C.J. with his improvement and his growth is he doesn’t make the same mistake twice,” Ryans said. “He learns from his mistakes, he puts those behind them, and he finds a way to continue to improve and get better.”

–Field Level Media