National Football League

National Football League

Sean Payton's quest to bring a Super Bowl to the Denver Broncos ended in the AFC Championship game. Losing quarterback Bo Nix to a broken ankle in the divisional round was the catalyst behind his undoing, but their defeat against the New England Patriots was still decided by fine margins. Even with the mitigating circumstances attached. Even with the torrential blizzard over the second half. Even after the Broncos reached the final four, Payton decided that he needed a scapegoat for the team's failings.

Aaron Glenn and the New York Jets are taking a gamble with their defense, as they have hired Brian Duker as their defensive coordinator on Wednesday. The 36-year-old Duker, who spent the previous two seasons as the Miami Dolphins' pass game coordinator and secondary coach, worked under Glenn, then the defensive coordinator, while with the Detroit Lions. During our time in Detroit, Brian consistently demonstrated a high football acumen and an aggressive approach to defense, an official statement from Glenn read.

I figured that Al Harris would get some interest from teams looking to fill defensive coordinator vacancies. And when the PIttsburgh Steelers hired Mike McCarthy to be their new head coach, I thought there was a real chance that Harris would follow a familiar face if an opportunity for a new role presented itself. But it sounds like McCarthy has landed on a defensive coordinator for the Steeles - and it is not Al Harris.

Cal football general manager Ron Rivera may not be done with the NFL after all. The former coach of the Carolina Panthers and Washington Commanders interviewed recently with the Arizona Cardinals for their vacant coaching position, according to Dianna Russini of The Athletic. Rivera, 64, took over the Golden Bears' football program less than year ago, aiming to use his NFL experience to help his alma mater fast-forward into the new world of college football, complete with Name, Image and Likeness,

Bobby Slowik, who came to the Miami Dolphins last season as the senior pass game coordinator, will be named as their new offensive coordinator, a league source has confirmed to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. ESPN was the first to report Slowik's promotion. Slowik served as the Houston Texans' offensive coordinator for the two seasons (2023-24) before he joined the Dolphins, helping to develop young quarterback C.J. Stroud. Slowik's offense ranked No. 7 in 2023 and No. 2 in pass plays of more than 25 yards (41). Stroud had 23 touchdowns, five interceptions and a 100.8 passer rating.

Bobby Wagner played the first decade of his career for the Seattle Seahawks. Over the final years of that run, he was first- or second-team All-Pro for eight straight seasons. To fans, it seemed like he would always be their middle linebacker. Of course, he wasn't. Teams change. Rosters and salary structures require tinkering. Wagner went to the Los Angeles Rams in 2022. He was only there for one year before returning to the great northwest,

The Senior Bowl is an invite-only showcase of upperclassmen prospects and an important step toward forming a plan for the 2026 NFL draft. You can check out practice coverage Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2/ESPN App, and then at 5 p.m. ET on ESPNU/ESPN App. Thursday's practices will air at 2:30 p.m. ET on ESPNU/ESPN App, and then at 5 p.m. ET on ESPNNews. (There will be a re-airing on ESPN2 at 10 p.m. ET.)

MOBILE, Ala. - Georgia Tech guard Keylan Rutledge can't be missed during Senior Bowl practices. He's the mauler, the beast, the one pounding his opponents into dust. And he's attracted the interest of the Dolphins, a team wanting to get better in the trenches. On Tuesday, Rutledge (6-foot-3, 316 pounds), projected as a mid-round pick, had a few impressive displays of physicality and aggression - including one against SMU's Jeffrey M'Ba, and one against Texas A&M's Scooby Williams. He drove them both to the ground.

Please, no. Please, can we have football still be football and not tinkered with until it is some algorithm-based product designed to maximize flashiness for the attention-deficit crowd? Can football, for all its brute violence, remain a thinking person's game, where strategy and decisions and variables and a million little things still matter, including snow or wind or rain or sunshine or calm or, who really cares?