NEWS AND NEAR NEWS

Who we’ll be watching in college football this weekend … Its something of a quiet weekend in college football coming up with only really big early season game. However, its a biggie as defending national champion Michigan hosts #3 Texas in a battle of teams that made last year’s 4-team CFP playoff bracket. And while both teams have undergone significant changes since last January, there will still be a ton of talent on the field Saturday afternoon including one of the top 2-3 QBs in this year’s draft class, as well as many as three legit top 10 prospects. Here’s a quick preview of who we’ll be focusing on in college football this weekend.

Are you ready for some football, NFL style??? … Another NFL season kicks off Thursday with a terrific match-up in Kansas City between arguably the two top teams in the AFC when Baltimore plays at the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs with KO at 8:20 PM ET on NBC. And to help wile away the hours before game time, here is our annual Fearless Forecast for the upcoming season, as well as our first in-season, at least technically, projection for the opening round of the upcoming campaign.

‘Cats DT Corleone cleared to play … Cincinnati got some good news as star DT Dontay Corleone has been cleared to resume all football activities, including playing in games. Corleone was diagnosed with blood clots in his lungs back in June and has been practising with the team during training camp, but only on a limited basis. As a result he did not play in the Bearcats’ season opening win over FCS Towson on Saturday, but could play this weekend when Cincinnati plays Pittsburgh. The 6-1, 320-pound Corleone had been considered to be a solid second-tier type prospect for 2025 with second-day potential, but needless to say could have his final grade impacted by the health considerations.

Star UGA DE to miss time with injury … Updating the injury situation involving star Georgia DE Mykel Williams, a top 5-10 prospect for the upcoming draft who left Saturday’s game against Clemson in the 3rd quarter after being sideswiped by an illegal chop block; Williams has what is being described as a Grade 2 ankle sprain and is listed as week-to-week, but will not play this coming week when the top-ranked Bulldogs host FCS Tennessee Tech in what might be the mismatch of the year if not the century!

The quiet (season) killer: injuries in the NFL … For NFL GMs and coaches its now mostly just a waiting game. They have picked their squads and while there will always be some roster tweaking throughout the season, the team they have now is pretty much the team they’ll have this season. They hope! Because the other big element to whether the season will be a success or failure is whether their teams can stay healthy. Here’s a quick overview of those kinds of season-altering injuries.

NFL teams out in force at UGA-Clemson game … With the NFL on hiatus this weekend, there was a big turnout of NFL personnel people at yesterday’s big game between Georgia and Clemson in Atlanta. Indeed, 24 teams had reps on hand including 4 with GMs in town. They included Brandon Beane of Buffalo, Chicago’s Ryan Poles, Brian Gutekunst of Green Bay and Joe Schoen of the Giants checking out the likes of QB Carson Beck, DE Mykel Williams and safety Malaki Starks of the Bulldogs. And speaking of the Dawgs’ Williams, who left the game in the 3rd quarter after being sideswiped by an illegal chop block, the early reports are that the injury to his ankle is not serious, but that the team will no more after he has an MRI later today.

Bonus coverage: USC vs LSU … With the NFL on idle this weekend, college football has stepped into the breach with a pretty good match-up Sunday evening between Southern California and LSU in Las Vegas with kick-off at 7:30 PM ET on ABC. It is kind of an interesting match-up in the sense that the first two players selected overall at the 2024 draft – QBs Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels – were from USC and LSU respectively. And, needless to say given the quality of these two programs, they’re still going to be plenty of good prospects to see in tonight’s game especially from LSU. Here’s a quick preview of who we’ll be watching in Sunday night’s game.

Star Dawgs’ DE dinged in big season opener win over Tigers … Top-ranked Georgia got the season off to a rousing start with a dominating 34-3 win over Clemson, but it may have come with a bit of a cost as star DE Mykel Williams, who has been talked about as a potential top 5-10 prospect for the 2025 draft, had to be helped off the field with a leg injury in the second half. Williams was cut blocked on a pass rush and suffered what was reported as an ankle injury. Williams also reportedly could have returned. but in the end didn’t. It certainly is something to follow as those kind of injuries can linger for weeks. Meanwhile, new Georgia RB Travis Etienne, a Florida transfer this winter who was a game-time decision because of a foot injury, was ultimately cleared to play physically, but was then suspended for the day because of a DUI incident earlier this year.

Show me the money!!! … The NY Times has an interesting article this day for those that haven’t seen it detailing the NIL and related money going to college football players in different conferences across the country by position. Not surprisingly, SEC players make the most, although what is surprising – shocking almost – is the how much more SEC players get than their counterparts in all the other conferences including the Big Ten. Here is the link.

ESPN guys talks draft … For those that haven’t seen it, and it isn’t necessarily all that easy to find, ESPN has an interesting article out today in which its draft ‘experts’, including the venerable Mel Kiper, discuss some of their early thoughts and picks for the 2025 draft here.

Are you ready for some football!! … The first full weekend of the 2024 college schedule gets off with a bang Saturday when Clemson and Georgia, two programs that have combined to win four of the past 10 national championships, clash in Atlanta. Here’s a quick preview of which players we’ll be watching in this game as well as the Notre Dame-Texas A&M contest later that evening with an eye toward the 2025 draft.

Undrafted rook class continues to bounce back from Covid slump … With training camps limited earlier this decade because of pandemic concerns, it really was hard for undrafted rookies to break through and make an NFL roster. In 2021, for example, just 25 undrafted rookies survived the final round of cuts as teams around the league got down to their initial 53-man rosters, while the figure was 32 the previous year. This year, though, was the third straight year that roughly 50 undrafted rookies were still on their respective team’s 53-man roster after the Turk’s visit last week, although that was down slightly from recent pre-covid years when it was not uncommon for 55-60 undrafted players to make an opening day roster.

As well, the majority of NFL teams kept at least one undrafted rookie on their roster as they cut down to the 53-man limit. Indeed, 25 of 32 teams did keep at least one undrafted rookie, while almost half (15) kept at least two. The LA Rams led the way as they kept 5 undrafted players on their roster, while the New Orleans had 4 and the NY Jets, Carolina and Kansas City each kept three. Note, though, that those numbers may have changed since Tuesday as teams tweaked their rosters. Here is our unofficial list of this year’s undrafted rookie free agents and how they ended up.

Saints acquire vet DT Commanders for late pick swap … As teams began the process of tweaking their rosters prior to the start of the regular schedule next week, Washington traded veteran DT John Ridgeway to New Orleans in another deal involving a swap of late round picks. The Commanders will get a 2025 6th rounder from New Orleans, while the Saints get a 7th to complete the trade.

Bills get DB/RS from Jets in another swap of late future picks … One deal that we didn’t report on yesterday saw Buffalo acquire DB/RS Brandon Codrington from the division-rival NY Jets in another minor trade involving a swap of late round picks in 2026. That year, the Jets will get the Bills 6th rounder, while Buffalo gets a 7th from the Jets.

Number of picks surviving the Turk up a tad this year … It took longer than we hoped, but we have finally got all the cuts from today’s roster deadline transaction. Of course, there will still be plenty of roster tweaks around the league before the regular season kicks off in just under two weeks, but for now, at least according to our unofficial numbers, the number of players selected at the 2024 draft who were released as teams set team’s initial rosters was up somewhat from the last couple of years. This year, for example, again according to our still somewhat unofficial tally 24 players selected this past spring were released prior to the deadline. In contrast, just 16 had been released by this time last year, while the figure was 17 in 2022, by far the lowest totals since the league went to a 7-round draft back in 1994. In fact, this year’s total is more in line with that from the previous 5-year period when around 25 drafted rookies were axed each year. On the other hand, this year’s total is below that from the middle of the last decade when 30 or more picks did not make their team’s initial 53-man roster on an annual basis. In 2017, for example, 30 draft picks were released prior to the start of the season, while the figures were 33 in 2015 and 36 in 2014. At the same time, relatively few rookie picks ended up on reserve list like injured reserve, the Non-football injury list and the Physically-unable-to-perform list.

Titans get vet Rams LB in swap of late future picks … Tennessee has acquired veteran LB Earnest Jones from the LA Rams. As compensation, the teams will flip 5th and 6th round picks in 2026.

Jags first to 53 … Jacksonville became the first team to get done to their initial 53-man roster ahead of today’s roster deadline as they released 25 players and listed 3 others. One of those listed was RB/KR Keilan Robinson, a 5th round pick this past April, who was placed on IR, while all of the Jags remaining undrafted free agents were released.One of the busier days on the NFL schedule is on tap as all 32 teams have to be down to their 53-man opening day rosters by 4 PM ET this afternoon. In fact, 21 teams have already made although no team so far is anywhere remotely near the 53-

It is cut-down day!! … One of the busier days on the NFL schedule is on tap as all 32 teams have to be down to their 53-man opening day rosters by 4 PM ET this afternoon. In fact, 21 teams have already made at least some of their cuts, although no team so far is anywhere remotely near the 53-man roster limit. As usual we’ll be tracking all the cuts as they are officially announced here, although note many teams wait until today’s deadline to officially announce their cuts. In fact,  every year it seems there are 2-3 laggards that don’t actually formally announce their cuts until some time after the deadline.

Cards send LB Thomas to Chiefs for 7th … Arizona has traded LB Cam Thomas to Kansas City for a 7th round pick in 2025. Thomas was a 3rd round pick in 2022, but after posting 3 sacks as a rookie had none last year and was on the bubble to make the Cardinals’ roster this year.

Pack gets Titans’ QB Willis for 7th … Green Bay has acquired QB Malik Willis from Tennessee for a 7th round pick in next April’s draft. Willis, who was being talked about a s a possible top 10 pick not all that long ago, but was in danger of not making the Titans’ roster, is slated to back-up Packers’ QB Jordan Love.