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Jonnu Smith had the best year of his career with the Dolphins in 2024, setting new personal single-season highs in receptions (88) and yards (884) — marks that also set franchise records for a tight end. He also tied a career-high with eight receiving touchdowns.

Smith’s season went so well that he had a desire to be with the club for the rest of his time in the NFL.

But when he and the club could not reach an agreement on a new deal, Miami instead traded him to Pittsburgh earlier this week.

In an appearance on former teammate Terron Armstead’s podcast, Smith noted that the way everything’s gone down since the end of the season has been somewhat of a surprise.

“I didn’t foresee this happening with how the season went for me individually,” Smith said, via David Furones of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “I had aspirations of ending my career in Miami, with it being home for me, my children, my family. But I understand the business side of it, and it didn’t work out. I’m grateful. I’ve got no ill feelings toward Miami and nobody in the organization.”

Smith, 29, had signed a two-year, $8.4 million deal with the Dolphins in the 2024 offseason. But he had outplayed that base salary in his first season with the club, with his representation and Miami starting talks on a potential new deal right after the year ended.

“We started this conversation in January with Miami and, obviously, giving me the run-around, ‘We’ll [get] back to it,’ ” Smith said. “Obviously, they had some things they had to address, and I understand that. I was patient with them throughout the whole entire process, and eventually it came to a point in time where they told me that they just can’t do it and they weren’t economically in a position to pay me like a Pro Bowl tight end.”

So, the Dolphins traded him and Jalen Ramsey to the Steelers, where he’ll reunite with his former offensive coordinator with Tennessee and head coach with Atlanta, Arthur Smith.

“I’m in a situation where I’m appreciated,” Smith said. “You always want to be where you’re most valued and appreciated, and that’s the situation that I found myself in with Pittsburgh.”


The new approach to college football will make it more and more like pro football. Which, in theory, provides an advantage for college football coaches with pro football experience.

Nebraska coach Matt Rhule, who spent two-plus seasons as head coach of the Carolina Panthers, believes his time in the NFL will help him when it comes to shaping a college roster in an era of players getting paid.

Via Shayni Matra of SI.com, Rhule made his case in a recent visit to Greg McElroy’s podcast, Always College Football.

“I think the biggest thing you learn when you’re in the NFL is really evaluation,” Rhule said. “Before, in college football, it was like, ‘Yeah, he’s a good player, let’s offer him, let’s take him.’ You get to the NFL, they’re all good players. It’s just, ‘Hey, what’s the financial value we put on this person and put on this position?’ Every year in the NFL, you go through free agency, and you see teams walking away from it with really good players because of their contract situations.”

One key difference comes from the inability, under the current college system, to manipulate the available spending by carrying dollars over from one year to the next.

“The smart teams in the NFL carry money over and position themselves through the years,” Rhule said. “But that discipline, I think, is something that’s really, really unique. It’s hard because you get to know the players. You want to take care of everybody.”

One goal of the House settlement is to balance out the dollars. Rhule hopes that will lead to parity.

We’ll believe it when we see it. With the money now flowing freely, the programs that have the most will always find a way to get it to the players, directly or indirectly.

Then there’s the thing that you were probably thinking earlier and that probably goes without saying. But I’ll say it anyway. Given that Rhule was 11-27 in 38 NFL games, does it make sense to put much stock in his NFL experience making a positive difference at Nebraska?


The NFL released its schedule for the 2025 season before Aaron Rodgers signed with the Steelers, but the choice for Pittsburgh’s Week 1 opponent seemed to account for the likelihood that Rodgers would be joining the AFC North team.

Rodgers spent the last two seasons with the Jets and the Steelers will be visiting MetLife Stadium to play his former team in the season opener. The Jets have hired a new coach and General Manager since Rodgers took his last snap with the club, but cornerback Sauce Gardner is still on the roster and he said on The Pat McAfee Show that he’s “looking forward to the challenge” of facing a player he learned a lot about the last two years.

Gardner knows that Rodgers learned a lot about him as well, so he said he’s been working to come up with some new tricks ahead of the September matchup.

“He might think he knows all the tendencies that I have, but this offseason has really been me trying not to give nothing away,” Gardner said. “I’ve been trying to work on literally everything because I already know I’m about to go against a wizard Week 1. I already know what time it is.”

The Jets’ coaching change means that Gardner’s tweaks won’t be the only changes Rodgers will have to adapt to if he’s going to start his Steelers tenure with a victory, but the corner’s play will be a big part of the plans for the AFC East team so the matchup will be one to watch in Week 1.


The federal government could be moving from the big, beautiful bill to a sweet, swanky stadium.

The tail end of a report from Fox 5 in D.C. regarding the recent dinner hosted by the Commanders for members of the D.C. Council adds an important nugget regarding the potential fallback option for the Commanders, if the D.C. Council doesn’t move quickly enough to allow the stadium to be opened by 2030.

Per the report, D.C. Council chairperson Phil Mendelson confirmed that he has heard talk of a Plan B that may involve the Commanders going to President Trump and members of Congress to make it happen on time.

So what would the Commanders expect the President to do? Pressure the D.C. Council with mean tweets? Come up with the cash that the D.C. Council is reluctant to invest for the project?

The mere mention of trying to use the federal government to get the stadium bill helps explain the decision for Commanders owner Josh Harris and Commissioner Roger Goodell to participate in an Oval Office dog-and-pony show regarding the holding of the 2027 NFL draft on the National Mall in D.C.

Of course, Republicans are supposed to be against excessive government spending. Which would, in theory, prompt Trump and those aligned with him to bristle at the idea of a pork-barrel project for the Hogs.

But the party has changed under the current and former chief executive. Political ideology has been replaced with adhering to whatever the President and those whispering in his ear want.

That’s not a political comment. It’s a comment about our current political reality. And it provides an opening for a multibillionaire like Harris to spin the wheel on the possibility of getting the President to support using hundreds of millions in taxpayer money to get the stadium built on the team’s preferred timetable.

Even if it means naming the stadium after him.


Quarterback Marcus Mariota played with four different teams over the last four seasons, but there won’t be a change of address in 2025.

Mariota opted to re-sign with the Commanders in March and he will spend his second straight year backing up Jayden Daniels. That’s not a situation that promises much playing time for the second overall pick of the 2015 draft, but Mariota was content to stick with what he knows rather than starting all over again.

“For me, it was one of those things hard to pass up, and you want to go somewhere where you’re wanted,” Mariota said, via Spectrum News. “And they were very adamant that they wanted me back for another year. I love coach, [Dan Quinn] and just [offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury] and the offense, and for me, it was like a no brainer. To stand here 11 years in — very, very few people get an opportunity to do that. So I’m thankful for every day and the ability to go into work and have fun, cut it loose, and have such a great room that makes it so much better, too. I’m just kind of having fun with it, rolling with the punches. Whatever comes, if they need me, I’m ready to play. Otherwise, I’m here for Jay, and just making sure he’s playing to the best of his ability.”

Daniels was the second overall pick in 2024 and Mariota said the opportunity to work with him is like “reliving my career, in a sense” because he can help guide him through areas where he may have “made a mistake or where I could have been better” when he was with the Titans. Daniels is off to a strong start on that front and the Commanders are banking on Mariota continuing to push him in the right directions in their second year together.


Veteran wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins had played 12 NFL seasons for four different teams before joining the Ravens this offseason, and from the outside looking in, Hopkins saw something missing.

According to Jamison Hensley of ESPN, Hopkins told others in the Ravens facility that he might — or might not — be that missing piece.

“It seems like there’s been a piece that’s been missing,” Hopkins said. “I could be that addition. I could not be that addition.”

Whether Hopkins proves to be that missing piece will be determined largely by whether he can build a rapport with quarterback Lamar Jackson. He says he doesn’t know how long that will take.

“I don’t think it’s a [set] time frame,” Hopkins said. “A guy like Lamar, who’s a veteran quarterback, he’s played a lot of football. Myself, I play a lot of football. We see things differently, but I’ve had rookie quarterbacks that have taken longer. So, it differs.”

At 33 years old, Hopkins is on the down side of his career, but he might just be the missing piece for Jackson and the Ravens to get to the Super Bowl.


It seems like Levi’s Stadium just opened. But it’s already old enough to be getting a $200 million renovation.

Per the S.F. Business Journal, via Sports Business Journal, the upgrades to the Santa Clara venue debuted on Wednesday, with the hosting of the Concafaf Gold Cup semifinal between Mexico and Honduras. It’ll be the first major sporting event since the changes to the venue.

Levi’s Stadium now has the largest outdoor 4K displays in the league. The facility also has new ribbon boards and upgraded lighting.

Part of the money also went to making the field meet FIFA’s standards, including new drainage and ventilation systems.

The renovations also will enhance the experience for Super Bowl LX, the second to be hosted there.


Broncos safety P.J. Locke underwent back surgery shortly after the team’s playoff loss to the Bills, he announced in a 14-minute YouTube video.

The first episode of the personal documentary series, “My Breakthrough,” lays out that there were “no guarantees that P.J. would return to play football ever again” as one of the first NFL players to undergo spinal fusion surgery.

Locke shared a meeting with his surgeon, Dr. Chad Prusmack, on Feb. 10 after surgery. The degenerated discs in Locke’s L4 and L5 vertebrae led to bone-on-bone, and Prusmack fused the spine with a “cage” and screws.

“How I felt the first week after surgery. It’s like: ‘Oh, my God. I don’t know how I’m going to get better after this,’” Locke said in the video, via Kyle Frederickson of the Denver Gazette.

Five months later, though, Locke said he’s “got no pain levels.”

“Even the little bit of pain I do have from certain movements, it’s nothing compared to what I was dealing with during the season,” Locke said. “I feel like it’s been a miracle. I feel like it’s a breakthrough I’ve been praying for. It came out of a blessing that I wasn’t expecting.”

Locke was named the team’s Ed Block Courage Award winner in January. No one outside the locker room realized exactly what he was going through to get on the field for 15 games last season.

He played 1,000 defensive snaps in the regular season and all 76 snaps in the postseason loss.

Locke did not participate in the team’s offseason program as he continued his rehab. He is expected to compete for safety snaps after the Broncos signed Talanoa Hufanga in free agency.


The story of the collusion ruling is slowly dying on the vine, undoubtedly to the delight of the NFL and the NFL Players Association.

It’s dying because the people who cover the NFL aren’t willing or able to advance the story. (It’s unclear whether they’re even trying.)

Despite no new reporting, the story of last week received a mild jolt of adrenaline from former executive director DeMaurice Smith’s upcoming book. Via Daniel Kaplan of AwfulAnnouncing.com, Smith’s book (Turf Wars) addresses the collusion case, which was filed when Smith was still in the job.

“There were people inside our building who thought it was a waste of time, but internally, our office had evidence of collusion, including hearing from multiple sources that the league and teams were discussing their avoidance of fully guaranteed contracts,” Smith writes.

The NFLPA proved that the NFL encouraged teams to collude regarding guaranteed contracts, with clear evidence of internal communications aimed at getting teams to hold the line following the Deshaun Watson contract. And the ruling contains plenty of evidence of actual collusion, even if the arbitrator chose to ignore it.

Still, the story goes nowhere if there are no developments. And there will be no developments if the people who receive paychecks to cover the NFL take steps to preserve those paychecks by tiptoeing around something that could piss off the league and/or the union.


Aaron Rodgers didn’t sign with the Steelers until June 7, so he didn’t spend much time in Pittsburgh this offseason.

He still isn’t there, but the quarterback has brought his new receivers with him to Malibu, California.

Rodgers posted a photo on social media, posing with Scotty Miller, Ben Skowronek, Pat Freiermuth, Calvin Austin, DK Metcalf and Roman Wilson. The Steelers also posted a photo of the players on their social media account.

Rodgers said last week on The Pat McAfee Show that he was inviting his wide receivers, tight ends and running backs to join him.

“I know coming out to Malibu might not be that high on everybody’s list,” Rodgers told McAfee. “But we do have some guys coming out next week. So it’ll be fun to spend a little time with them.”

Skowronek posted a video of Rodgers throwing him an alley-oop in a gym earlier today.

Rodgers, 41, is “pretty sure” his first season in Pittsburgh will be his final NFL season. As it was, Rodgers had only one option this offseason to extend his career to a 21st season.

He talked to the Giants and Vikings, but the Steelers were the only team that offered a contract. Rodgers will make his full $19.5 million this season only if the Steelers win their seventh Super Bowl.