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      Louis Rees-Zammit’s rugby-to-NFL dream edges closer but huge obstacles remain

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Yesterday - 16:04

    New rules around kickoffs are a boost to a player who may sign for the Super Bowl champions. But a practice squad remains his likely destination

    If ever there was time, if ever there was a place, for Louis Rees-Zammit to chase his NFL dream, this is it. The former Welsh rugby union star is reportedly nearing a deal to join the Kansas City Chiefs, the back-to-back Super Bowl champions.

    Rees-Zammit is likely to join the team for their annual training camp, a kind of extended trial as he learns the rigors of the NFL. He will join a 90-man training camp roster that will eventually be whittled down to 53, with 16 further places up for grabs on the practice squad, an effective reserve team. This season also marks the first time that teams will have an extra spot available on the practice squad carved out for players who have come through the league’s International Player Pathway program. Since the IPP was introduced, 37 international players have signed with teams and 18 remain on rosters.

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      Reforming the draft to The Larry David Rule: NFL changes we’d like to see

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Yesterday - 08:00

    The league is transforming kickoffs. But there are other tweaks to football that could improve the sport for players and fans

    The NFL will look radically different next season. The league’s owners voted on Tuesday to approve a new kickoff rule originally adopted in the XFL.

    It is one of the most groundbreaking changes in league history. After slowly legislating the kickoff out of the sport, the league is embracing a new ‘hybrid’ approach that turns the kickoff into something approaching a traditional football play. No longer will kickoffs be passing moments, a chance for broadcasters to cram in a couple of commercial breaks.

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      LA Rams star Aaron Donald announces shock retirement from NFL at 32

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Friday, 15 March - 17:01


    • Donald quits football after spending entire pro career with Rams
    • Eight-time All-Pro first-teamer won Super Bowl in 2021 season

    Defensive lineman Aaron Donald has announced his retirement after a standout 10-year career with the Los Angeles Rams.

    The three-time AP NFL defensive player of the year made his surprising announcement on social media Friday.

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      Aaron Rodgers denies he said Sandy Hook murders were an inside job

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Thursday, 14 March - 17:50

    • CNN reported quarterback believes shooting was staged
    • NFL star pushes back on claim and says tragedy was real

    Aaron Rodgers has denied he told a journalist he believed the murder of 20 children in the Sandy Hook school shooting was an inside job by the US government.

    The New York Jets quarterback has been under increased scrutiny this week after the New York Times reported he is a potential running mate for Robert F Kennedy Jr’s presidential campaign.

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      NFL free-agency grades: from Wilson the Steeler to the Eagles’ big splashes

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Tuesday, 12 March - 09:00

    Free agency has got off to a spectacular start. We break down the biggest deals, and which players and teams came out on top

    The NFL did not become America’s most powerful entertainment machine by playing football games alone. The league’s free agency and draft seasons are practically as big a cultural bonanza as anything that happens from September through February, and this year is no exception.

    Multiple expensive starting quarterbacks are changing teams. One of the sport’s most talented running backs has decided to go south on Interstate 95 from New York to Eastern Pennsylvania. The Atlanta Falcons made a play for relevancy after years in the wilderness. And the 2024 season took on a drastically different shape. Here are five of the splashiest, most consequential moves teams have made so far.

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      Falcons hand Kirk Cousins $180m deal in quest for solution at quarterback

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Monday, 11 March - 19:13

    • Atlanta have failed to find replacement for Matt Ryan
    • 35-year-old Cousins will get reported $100m guaranteed

    The Atlanta Falcons moved to complement their array of offensive weapons with a proven starting quarterback by agreeing a four-year deal with Kirk Cousins on Monday. Cousins’s agent, Mike McCartney, confirmed the move on social media on Monday. ESPN reports the deal is worth $180m, with $100m guaranteed.

    The Falcons have stockpiled talent on offense for a number of years, including tight end Kyle Pitts, running back Bijan Robinson and wide receiver Drake London, who are all top 10 draft picks. But they have yet to find a competent replacement for Matt Ryan, who left the team at the end of the 2021 season. While Cousins is in the upper-half of NFL quarterbacks he is 35 and coming off a torn achilles that ended his season with the Minnesota Vikings in 2023. Cousins had a 103.8 passer rating in eight games for the Vikings until the injury, the third-best in the league, while the Falcons struggled with Desmond Ridder and Taylor Heinicke at quarterback. Falcons owner Arthur Blank called his quarterback room “deficient” last season, and few fans would have disagreed.

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      ‘Grateful’ Russell Wilson says he is heading to Steelers after Broncos fiasco

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Monday, 11 March - 11:35

    • Denver said last week that they will release quarterback
    • 35-year-old will compete with Kenny Pickett for No 1 role
    • Tampa Bay agree three-year deal with Baker Mayfield

    Russell Wilson is heading to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The nine-time Pro Bowl quarterback has agreed to sign a one-year deal with the Steelers, a person familiar with the details told the Associated Press on Sunday night.

    The AP source said Wilson will receive the veteran’s minimum of $1.21m while the Denver Broncos pay the remainder of his $39m salary.


    Wilson posted his intentions on X, saying: “Year 13. Grateful. Steelers.”

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      You can’t move for blokes boo-hooing - and I’m envious | Michael Hogan

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Saturday, 9 March - 20:00 · 1 minute

    Having a good cry is nothing to be ashamed of, as Jason Kelce showed when he made his tear-stained retirement announcement

    It’s not often that you see two pirate-bearded, beer-chugging bruisers hugging it out and having a good old cry. Yet that was the spectacle last week when Philadelphia Eagles stalwart Jason Kelce announced his retirement from the NFL. In a tear-streaked press conference, the American football star spoke movingly about his relationship with his younger brother, Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis, Taylor Swift’s boyfriend, who had been busy sobbing in the front row.

    How heartwarming and healthy. It’s high time that male emotion was normalised. Mine was perhaps the last generation to be taught that boys don’t cry. Sure, you were allowed the odd meltdown while still in short trousers but, once your age hit double figures, it was time to stiffen that upper lip. Toughen up. Don’t be a cry baby. Grown-up male tears were the preserve of disgraced public figures fishing for sympathy and other attention seekers. The only time a real man’s eyes watered was while tucking into a vindaloo. Another pint of Kingfisher please, waiter, we’ve got a lively one here.

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      Some Chiefs fans needed amputations after frigid playoff game, hospital confirms

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Saturday, 9 March - 13:48

    • Hospital says fans suffered frostbite at Chiefs playoff game
    • Kickoff temperature at Arrowhead was minus-4F (minus-20C)

    Some of the people who attended the near-record cold Kansas City Chiefs playoff game in January had to undergo amputations after suffering frostbite, a Missouri hospital said Friday.

    Research Medical Center didn’t provide exact numbers but said in a statement that it treated dozens of people who had experienced frostbite during an 11-day cold snap in January. Twelve of those people – including some who were at the 13 January game – had to undergo amputations involving mostly fingers and toes. And the hospital said more surgeries are expected over the next two to four weeks as “injuries evolve”.

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