The reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs are adding an intriguing new weapon, as they have agreed to terms with former European rugby standout Louis Rees-Zammit, per ESPN. In January, Rees-Zammit announced he was leaving rugby to pursue an NFL career. Now, he lands with the best head coach and best quarterback in the game.
Rees-Zammit, who was born in Wales, played winger for the British and Irish Lions. What he brings from across the pond is speed. Rees-Zammit recently participated in the NFL’s International Player Pathway pro day, and ran a 4.43-second 40-yard dash, according to ESPN. The 23-year-old once hit a top speed of 24.2 mph during a rugby match. If you were curious, the top speed recorded in the NFL last season was 22.23 mph. That number came from Seattle Seahawks wideout DK Metcalf during a Week 13 matchup against the Dallas Cowboys, per Next Gen Stats.
It remains to be seen what position Andy Reid will have Rees-Zammit play, but one has to imagine it will be at wide receiver, running back or even return specialist. The NFL approved a new kickoff format this past week that resembles what the XFL has utilized, and this change is centered around facilitating more returns. The NFL had a 22% return rate in 2023, while the XFL boasted a 97% return rate with their format.
There are perks that come with signing international players. As ESPN points out, NFL teams receive a training camp roster exemption, and will have a 17th roster spot on the practice squad reserved for an international player in 2024. Teams can elevate an international player to their active roster up to three times during the season.
Less than four months after saying there wouldn’t be any Christmas games scheduled for 2024, the NFL has apparently changed its mind.
CBS Sports lead NFL insider Jonathan Jones has reported that the league is planning to schedule a Christmas doubleheader in 2024, even though the holiday is falling on a Wednesday.
As recently as December, it looked like the NFL was going to skip Christmas in 2024. The league’s executive vice president for media distribution, Hans Schroeder, had said that playing on a Tuesday or Wednesday didn’t make much sense for the league.
“We’re not looking to play football on a Tuesday or Wednesday at this point, especially this late in the year as we get close to the postseason,” Schroeder told The Athletic back in December. “We want to focus on the run to the playoffs and for that competitive equity to really shine through. I don’t think we’re going to look at Tuesday or Wednesday football.”
Although we know the doubleheader will be happening, it’s still not clear which networks will be showing the games. CBS and Fox have both televised a Christmas game in each of the past two years, but that not might not be the case this year. The NFL is putting the two games up for bid and the bidding is expected to start at about $50 million per game, according to Front Office Sports.
It’s not clear how high the bidding will go, but Amazon Prime paid $100 million for the right to stream its Black Friday game last season.
Not only will this bidding involve two Christmas games, but this will involve a day of the week that the NFL almost never plays on.
The league’s decision to play a Wednesday game is somewhat surprising, if only because the NFL has generally avoided scheduling games for that day of the week. The two Christmas games will mark just the third season in 75 years that the NFL has played a Wednesday game and just the second time in 75 years that league actually put a Wednesday game on the schedule.
Since 1949, the only scheduled Wednesday game came in 2012 when the Giants played host to the Cowboys in Week 1 to open the season. The opening game of the year is generally played on Thursday, but the NFL moved it to Wednesday to avoid a conflict with the Democratic National Convention.
The only other Wednesday game came in 2020 when a Ravens-Steelers matchup had to be moved to Wednesday due to COVID issues.
The Wednesday doubleheader will mark the first time since 1936 that the NFL has scheduled two games on a Wednesday, according to Pro Football Reference.
Wednesday games are rare and they’re going to stay that way, according to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. At the annual league meeting this week, Goodell said that playing Wednesday football is not something that we’ll see very frequently in the future. “It will not be a regular thing,” Goodell said, according to Pro Football Talk. “It will be when Christmas falls on a Wednesday.”
The NFL scheduled a Christmas tripleheader last year and it was a highly successful day for the league. Not only did the three games average 28.7 million viewers, but all three of them ranked in the top 10 for the most-watched regular-season games in 2023.
If you’re wondering how the Wednesday games are going to work from a scheduling standpoint, the NFL already has that planned out: The teams that play on Christmas will play on Saturday in Week 16 (Dec. 21) and then turn around and play the Christmas game in Week 17.
The NFL has been playing regular-season games on Christmas since 1989, but the league didn’t start doing it annually until 2020. This will mark the fifth straight year that the NFL has held a Christmas game. Before 2020, the NFL had never gone more than three straight years with a Christmas game.
The Washington Commanders came in last place in the NFL Player Association’s 2024 report card and the spot is not somewhere owner Josh Harris plans to stay. Harris bought the team from Dan Snyder last season, but was unable to make a significant improvement from the 2023 report card grades.
This year, Commanders received an F- in “treatment of families,” “locker room” and “training room.” They earned an F in “training staff” and “team travel,” a D+ in “food/cafeteria,” a C in “weight room” and a B- in “food/nutrition.” Their highest grade came in the “strength coaches” category, who earned an A.
While some owners are dismissing the report, Harris is taking it seriously and is not satisfied with getting such low marks.
“I’m not an F-minus guy,” Harris said (via NBCSportsWashington.com). “I didn’t even know you could get an F-minus. Obviously, we’ve jumped all over that. First of all, that report was based on interviews that occurred right around the ownership change.”
Harris was given a C grade for ownership.
Going forward, Harris wants to invest in the team locker room and training room. He said it is something they are focused on this offseason, adding that general manager Adam Peters and head coach Dan Quinn are involved in the work.
“It’s clearly something we’re focused on,” Harris said. “In fact, Adam and Dan had to leave the NFL meetings briefly to go have a discussion with the architects. We’re trying to make a lot of changes quickly. The NFL player community is a small community, the NFL coaching community is a small community. We want to be a place that everyone says, ‘That’s a great place to be.’ And therefore, we need to upgrade that facility, and we are upgrading that facility.”
The plans do not stop there. Harris wants to make upgrades across the board, including the playing surface, but does not have a timeline for when the other projects will be done.
“There’s only so much you can do,” Harris said. “We have to look at, How much can we do? It’s a lot like the situation we were in when we took over last July: There’s only so much we could do before the season. There’s only so much we can do before training camp, and we’re going to do that.”
The NFLPA says one of their main jobs as a union is “to improve the overall working conditions for our players, which includes the daily experience of players at the team facilities away from the lights and cameras.” Their hope with the report card is that the positive clubs are highlighted and “identify areas that could use improvement.”
Harris appears to be in line with the NFLPA’s aims and is taking the grade as a way to reflect on what he and the team can do better.
In 2023, before Harris took over, the Commanders got an F in “treatment of families,” a D+ in “nutrition,” a C+ in “weight room,” an A+ in “strength staff,” an F- in “training room” and “locker room” and a D in “training staff.”
The New York Jets avoided potential off-field drama this week when star quarterback Aaron Rodgers wasn’t selected as a 2024 U.S. vice presidential candidate, despite drawing one politician’s interest. Now, they’re trying to squash another off-field storyline, with team owner Woody Johnson on Thursday slamming a report from NFL Media over an alleged “heated argument” he had with Jets coach Robert Saleh during the league owners meetings.
“All this nonsense about a heated argument between Coach Saleh and me at the league meeting is absolutely false,” Johnson wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “It is yet another irresponsible report from NFL Network. Please disregard.”
The NFL Network, of course, is owned by the NFL. But that didn’t stop Colleen Wolfe, an NFL Network personality who appears on “Good Morning Football,” from suggesting in a recent “Around the NFL” podcast that Johnson and Saleh were at odds.
“I will say, from a very reliable source at the owners meetings, there was a very heated conversation between Woody and Robert Saleh, to the point where it was a little awkward,” Wolfe said Tuesday.
Wolfe went on to downplay the conversation, refraining from labeling it an “argument,” when pressed about the matter by podcast co-hosts Dan Hanzus and Marc Sessler, even while trying to stoke speculation about it.
“What were they arguing about?” she asked. “At the owners meetings, at the party last night. … Who knows? Could’ve been about anything. Maybe they were disagreeing on how they like their steak cooked. Doubt that, though. … I’m not saying it’s an argument. (It was) a lively conversation they were having. It was two of them.”
SNY quickly reported that no such conversation occurred at the reception for NFL owners.
It’s the offseason, which means it’s NFL Draft time. The discourse associated with the draft is ever evolving, and there may not be a greater example of that than the race to be the second quarterback chosen in the 2024 class, aka the second overall pick of the draft by the Washington Commanders.
Entering the 2023 collegiate season, it was assumed 2022 Heisman Trophy winner and USC quarterback Caleb Williams and North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye would be the first two picks of the 2024 NFL Draft. Then, fifth-year senior LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels erupted for the Tigers, giving Maye some competition to be the second quarterback selected. He racked up 3,812 yards passing, 40 passing touchdowns and just four interceptions with a completion percentage of 72.2%. That registered Daniels with college football’s highest single-season passing efficiency rating ever (208.0).
He was just as electrifying with his feet, running for 1,134 yards and 10 touchdowns on 135 rushing attempts, churning out a rate of 8.4 yards per carry. Daniels led all college quarterbacks in both passing yards per attempt (11.7) and yards per carry (8.4). Thus, there was plenty excitement around his LSU pro day on Wednesday. Daniels, who is 6-foot-4, didn’t have height concerns, but there were concerns about his stature. He didn’t weigh in at the NFL Scouting Combine, but he weighed 210 pounds at the pro day workout. However, Sports Reference listed Daniels 2023 playing weight at 185 pounds.
In an attempt to squash doubts about his quarterback’s weight, LSU head coach Brian Kelly may have telegraphed that Daniels will be the 2024 NFL Draft’s second overall pick by the Commanders. Or, it may have been an honest mistake after spending plenty of time talking at the pro day with Washington head coach Dan Quinn, offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury and general manger Adam Peters.
“He [Daniels] is going to be so committed to taking care of himself that you’re not going to have to worry about size or [if] he doesn’t weigh enough,” Kelly said. “Lamar [Jackson] has done a pretty good job with his size. [Patrick] Mahomes I wouldn’t consider him a giant. Because he [Daniels] is going to get the ball out to the playmakers and make plays. For Washington.”
— COMMANDERS NATION (@CommandersFB1) March 28, 2024 Quinn and Peters appeared to like what they saw at Daniels’ pro day workout, and Quinn even addressed the question about Daniels’ build.
Dan Quinn and Adam Peters smiling and padding each other on the back at Jayden Daniels Pro Day because they found their future quarterback. pic.twitter.com/sT7o7BftU2
— dsneedy (@dsneedy2) March 27, 2024 “It’s not one size fits all, but I think there are some measurables that you do want to find — some markers to hit for a quarterback,” Quinn said Wednesday, via Yahoo Sports. “You hear about hand size and his ability to rotate and shoulder flexibility and all of those things. Those will show up on the tape. Also where we live, they better be weather resistant too and be able to play in the elements and do all that because we certainly have games that will be that way. But more than anything it’s the ability from the neck up.”
Quinn also appeared to enjoy having a conversation with Maye at his North Carolina pro day on Thursday.
Find someone who looks at you the way Commanders HC Dan Quinn looks at QB Drake Maye pic.twitter.com/G3ivLaIOZV
— Jori Epstein (@JoriEpstein) March 28, 2024 In short, there are four weeks between Thursday and the 2024 NFL Draft on April 25. The Commanders could certainly change their mind about whomever they are selecting plenty of times between now and then.
The 2024 NFL season will be different for the Dallas Cowboys.
There’s a cliche among Cowboys nation that each year is “their year” to make a Super Bowl run, but the mindset from the top has changed. Team owner and general manager Jerry Jones has long said he thinks “longer term” and is “real hesitant to bet it all for a year” when it came to his Cowboys team-building approach.
Jones’ methodology temporarily, or rather in name only, changed after a third 12-win season in a row ended without at least reaching the NFC title game, making the 2021-23 Cowboys the first team ever to do so.
“I would anticipate, with looking ahead at our key contracts that we’d like to address, we will be all in,” Jones said at this year’s Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama back in February. “I would anticipate we will be all-in at the end of this year. We will push the hell out of it. It will be going all in on different people than you’ve done in the past. We will be going all in. We’ve seen some things out of some of the players that we want to be all in on. Yes, I would say that you will see us this coming year not build for the future.”
Jones called the second-seeded Cowboys’ 48-32 wild-card-round loss to the seventh-seeded Green Bay Packers “the most painful [in his 35 years owning the team]” because of the “great expectation and hope” for his 2023 Dallas squad. Jones made it clear to his team that “he doesn’t have too many years left in this business” and wants another Super Bowl ring “badly” when Dallas met for its 2023 exit meeting and locker room clean-out.
Then when it came time to make good on that “all in” promise at the start of free agency in March, Jones became more conservative with his salary cap management than ever before. He let multiple starters move on to other teams and thus far has signed one external free agent: 32-year-old inside linebacker Eric Kendricks, whom Dallas gave a one-year, $3 million contract with $2.5 million guaranteed.
Jones has since clarified that the actual mantra for the Cowboys’ 2024 offseason is to “get it done with less.” It’s a paradoxical idea that stands on the logic of Dallas somehow being able to achieve better on-field results in the upcoming season with a seemingly less talented roster.
“I have been more all in before,” Jones said Sunday at the NFL’s Annual League Meeting in Orlando, Florida, via The Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “By any definition, and I have been more all in to make a run back to the line of scrimmage than I’ve been to run for 50 yards. It took more all in just to get back to the line of scrimmage than it did to run for 50 yards. Sometimes that is really the gist of what we’re about this year. We’ve got to get it done. I think that we have been in a situation where we can get it done with less. More doesn’t necessarily beat Green Bay. There are other things. Maybe having it better strategically in different spots, but more didn’t necessarily beat them either. So, we’re going to be asked to do some things different because we got some different players.”
For those wondering why Jones would take this approach, his reason is because of the team’s dead salary cap hit of just over $16 million. The highest individual player contract figure from that total is $6.04 million being charged the Dallas Cowboys’ cap because of their 2022 release of running back Ezekiel Elliott from his six-year, $90 million deal the team signed him to in 2019, two years before the expiration of his rookie contract. For reference, the Packers team the Cowboys lost to in the 2023 postseason carried a $40 million dead cap hit on their books after trading quarterback Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets.
“My point is that clarity,” Jones said. “I think, as we move through, the clarity of the relationship to the salary cap to where and how you want to coordinate your roster, to me, has gotten clearer and clear and clearer over time. If you want the running back to be 70 percent of your offense, maybe you’d better pay him a lot more. But if you’re not going to use him like that, you’re right, you might can do it with less. … Get used to it. We’re going to have to have some young ones step in. Young ones being some of your younger draft picks. You’re going to have to have them and make no mistake about it. You’re going to lose some people that in the perfect world you had all the money in the world [they would re-signed]. Let me say this, sometimes you make a decision and you got the money. But you’re anticipating looking ahead at something that’s coming. So, that’s what you’re seeing.”
What are the Cowboys looking ahead to? Well, let’s take a look at that and where Dallas can go from here to field a relatively competitive roster in 2024 while maintaining a foundation for future seasons.
In order for the Cowboys to avoid a total rebuild, something the 81-year-old Jones likely doesn’t have the patience for, they need to keep their three best players for the long haul. Signing their All-Pro trio of quarterback Dak Prescott (2023 Second Team All-Pro and 2023 NFL MVP runner-up), wide receiver CeeDee Lamb (2023 All-Pro) and edge rusher Micah Parsons (three-time All-Pro, 2023 Second-Team All-Pro) to long-term extensions of at least four or five years is a must.
“Without being theatrical, I’m going to drop to a knee and say thanks for the problem,” Jones said Wednesday, via The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, when talking about Prescott, Lamb and Parsons all needing new contracts. “It’s an outstanding problem. You work to get problems like that.”
Extending them now would allow Dallas to lock in its top talent to current market values, which is key since the only direction the NFL’s salary cap is trending is upward thanks to its latest media deal, so that means contract values will increase in tandem. While some Cowboys fans were done with Prescott after Dallas went down 27-0 against Green Bay in the playoff defeat, he is its present and future at the quarterback position.
He had the most efficient season of his career in 2023 with a 105.9 passer rating, and Prescott became the first Cowboys quarterback to lead the NFL outright in passing touchdowns (36) in a season.
2nd
Expected Points Added/Play 0.18 2nd Prescott’s current $59.5 million cap hit in 2024 is the second-highest in the NFL behind only Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson’s $64 million. He enters the final year of his current contract with a no-franchise tag clause and a no-trade clause. Prescott has all the leverage. A five-year deal locking him down for his age 31 through 36 seasons is the Cowboys’ best path forward. Dallas waited too long to extend him the first time, and he became one of a select few quarterbacks averaging $40 million per year starting in 2021. Make that mistake again, and in a year’s time as unrestricted free agent, Prescott could become the first player in league history with an average annual salary of $60 million or more.
Don’t believe it? Look at what the quarterback-starved Atlanta Falcons gave a soon-to-be 36-year-old Kirk Cousins coming off of a season-ending torn Achilles injury: $180 million over four years with $100 million guaranteed. Prescott is currently healthy and five years younger.
Lamb, who led the league in receptions (135) and ranked second in receiving yards (1,749) and third in receiving touchdowns (12) as a 24-year-old, enters the final year of his rookie deal (a fully guaranteed $17.991 million fifth-year option) in 2024. He is clearly a piece the Cowboys need to keep in their building long term. Locking him down now allows them to push his higher cap numbers many years down the road as well as get ahead of the booming wide receiver market.
Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson, the 2022 NFL Offensive Player of the Year, and three-time Pro Bowl Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase are also extension eligible with Jefferson on the same contract timeline as Lamb. If Jones doesn’t like what Lamb’s market value is now, he definitely doesn’t want to see what it will be after Jefferson’s and Chase’s new deals. The Cowboys need to get Lamb’s deal done this summer, same as Dak’s.
Parsons led the NFL in quarterback pressures (103), quarterback pressure rate (21.8%) and pass-rush win rate (35.3%) in his third NFL season in 2023 while also racking up a career-high 14 sacks, which was tied for the seventh-most in the league with 2023 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett. He is extension eligible for the first time this offseason. It would behoove Jones to secure Parsons’ services long term now to move his money around to maximize cap space and additionally secure his contract payments before they also take another jump if he goes off for fourth consecutive All-Pro season to start his career. That’s a realistic outcome given his past production.
Re-sign important vets to team-friendly deals if possible Many more key contributors to the Cowboys’ three consecutive 12-win seasons is currently set to become a free in the 2025 offseason even outside of Prescott and Lamb.
This list includes the following veterans:
Seven-time First Team All-Pro RG Zack Martin Four-time Pro Bowl edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence No. 2 WR Brandin Cooks Two-time Pro Bowl punter Bryan Anger Pro Bowl returner/WR KaVontae Turpin All of the aforementioned players are age 32 or older with the exception of Turpin, who turns 28 on Aug. 2. It would be totally reasonable to wait on a couple of these names, but Martin and Lawrence both have the look of vets with plenty left in the tank. They are also critical locker room leaders. Turpin’s value recently increased after the NFL passed its new kickoff rules designed to generate more returns. Getting those three players’ deals done now could save Jones and the front office some work and money in the future.
Make a small free agency splash after June 1 cuts Post-June 1 releases are designed to give teams salary cap relief. If a team knows they want to cut a player, but they want to reduce the amount of dead money on their salary cap, they can designate a player as a post-June cut. That means a team keeps a player on their roster until June 1, after the first few waves of free agency and the draft, but then they have more financial flexibility upon letting that player go.
Perhaps once wide receiver Michael Gallup’s June 1 releases processes, Dallas could re-sign 33-year-old, five-time Pro Bowl cornerback Stephon Gilmore. Gilmore’s presence in Dallas in 2023 was pivotal with Pro Bowl corner Trevon Diggs going down with a torn ACL in Week 3. His 60.3 passer rating against as the primary defender in coverage ranked as the ninth-best in the NFL among the 39 players with 80 or more passes thrown their way.
The 2019 NFL Defensive Player of the Year’s mentorship of second-year corner DaRon Bland also paid massive dividends. The 2022 fifth-round pick led the NFL in interceptions (nine), pick sixes (five, the most in a season in NFL history) and passer rating against as the primary defender in coverage (27.6). Gilmore will be 34 years old on Sept. 19, so he should be able to be signed for a relatively team-friendly number. Having him ensures the Cowboys retain depth in their secondary just in case another season-ending injury occurs in 2024.
A younger option in the same spot could be four-time Pro Bowl corner Xavien Howard, who turns 31 on July 4. The Houston native was released by the Dolphins for salary cap reasons in 2024. He said he would be open to taking a pay cut to join the Texans. Perhaps the same is true with the Cowboys? His presence could allow Bland to go back to be the team’s nickel corner, pushing Jourdan Lewis into an off-the-bench relief role.
Select a top-tier OL prospect in Round 1 of 2024 NFL Draft Tyron Smith is now a New York Jet. Prioritizing stability while protecting Prescott’s blindside makes all the sense in the world. The team has talked about moving Pro Bowl left guard Tyler Smith to left tackle, a position he played in college. The Cowboys have also compared him to Hall of Fame Cowboys guard Larry Allen, a versatile lineman who played the bulk of his career at left guard. Georgia’s Amarius Mims (6-foot-7 and 340 pounds), Washington’s Troy Fautanu (6-foot-4 and 317 pounds) or Arizona’s Jordan Morgan (6-foot-3, 325 pounds) would all be solid selections for offensive tackle.
Should Jones deem Smith to be a left tackle going forward, Jackson Powers-Johnson, an interior offensive lineman out of Oregon, could make sense with the 24th overall pick as this mock draft lays out.
Shore up RB, LB, DT positions throughout draft Tony Pollard is now a Tennessee Titan. Drafting a player or two at the running back position makes sense. Wisconsin’s Braelon Allen and Texas’ Jonathon Brooks are two solid draft choices. They could form a thunder-and-lightning combination, but it’s unclear how likely it is that Dallas gets both of them.
Allen (6-foot-1, 235 pounds) can be the thunder to Brooks’ lightning (6-foot, 216 pounds). He joined fellow Badger Jonathan Taylor as the only Big Ten running backs since 2014 with three seasons of at least a 5.25 yards-per-carry rate and double-digit touchdowns with at least 150 carries each year. Wear and tear isn’t an issue, either, as he’ll enter his NFL rookie season as a 20-year-old. Allen is thought of as third-round pick by many at the moment. There’s a chance he could slip down to the fourth round.
Brooks (6-foot, 207 pounds) is a similarly sized player to Pollard, and he can provide plenty of juice. His agility is a high-level trait. However, he did tear his ACL in the Longhorns’ game at TCU on Nov. 11. Dallas does have an inside track on his recovery, though. Dr. Dan Cooper, of the renowned Cooper Clinic, did Brooks’ procedure, and also works as the team’s head doctor. The school of thought on him currently is that he will be selected in the second round.
Defensive tackle is also an area of need after losing Johnathan Hankins to the Seattle Seahawks in free agency, and with 2023 first-round pick Mazi Smith not making much of an impact in his first NFL season. Texas defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat (6-foot-4, 366 pounds) could certainly help anchor the middle of the Cowboys run defense, an area Green Bay dismantled in the postseason. He’ll likely go in Round 2. Miami Hurricanes defensive tackle Leonard Taylor could be available in Round 3.
Two options at inside linebacker in the middle of the draft could be Clemson’s Barrett Carter and Jeremiah Trotter Jr.
