• NFL reports on former player’s death with agency copy
• Former teams do not mention Simpson on social media

If anything got to the heart of OJ Simpson’s troubled legacy in the NFL, it was the lack of reaction to his death from a sport at which he excelled.

Simpson, whose death at the age of 76 was announced on Thursday, was one of the greatest running backs of all time. He played in the NFL for 11 seasons, led the league in rushing on four occasions and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985. His induction into the hall came 10 years before the murder trial, where he was controversially acquitted of killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman, that would overshadow his playing career.

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• Wales rugby international quit for American football dream
• The Chiefs have won the Super Bowl in 2023 and 2024

Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs have signed the Wales rugby union international Louis Rees-Zammit.

Rees-Zammit, 23, quit rugby earlier this year to pursue a career in the NFL . He joined through the league’s International Player Pathway program. Announcing their signing , the Chiefs hailed their “new signing from across the pond” and dubbed him “Rees-Lightning”.

More details to follow …

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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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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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• 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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• 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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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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• 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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