Some of the NFL’s best wide receivers gathered in Miami this week for the first-ever Wideout Workshop, an event hosted by former NFL receiver Chad Ochocinco at which wide receivers could work out together and compare notes on how to develop their games.
Those in attendance included Cincinnati’s Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, Miami’s Tyreek Hill, Cleveland’s Jerry Jeudy, Seattle’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Green Bay’s Jayden Reed, Denver’s Courtland Sutton, Buffalo’s Elijah Moore and Houston’s Tank Dell, according to the Miami Herald.
George Kittle, Travis Kelce and Greg Olsen have turned Tight End University into a major annual event for dozens of NFL tight ends, ranging from Pro Bowlers to those just hoping to make a roster, all coming together to develop in their professions. Ochocinco saw a similar opportunity for the wide receiver position.
Clips from the workshop posted on Instagram show the receivers running routes and giving each other pointers, getting some additional work in before training camp at an event that could easily follow the path of Tight End U and turn into a popular annual gathering.
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is one of the subjects of the newly released season of Quarterback on Netflix and part of his appearance on the show chronicles his reaction to the burglary at his home that occurred while he was leading the team to a win over the Cowboys in December.
Burrow had $300,000 of jewelry and other items stolen from his home and found out what happened in the locker room after a 27-20 Monday night win that ended a three-game losing streak. Among Burrow’s reactions was that it fit with what was a frustrating year on the field for the Bengals.
“Of f------ course this happened to me right now,” Burrow said. “When you’re on cloud nine, something’s gonna bring you right back down. It just felt like the kind of year that it was.”
Burrow had been making plans to spend $3 million to purchase a replica of the Batmobile before the burglary, but said he called that off in the wake of the crime because he “just had other things I wanted to deal with at that point.”
“I just get very uncomfortable when my life is very public,” Burrow said. “That comes with the job, but there’s certain parts of your life that are yours. Your house is one of those. When that gets violated, people find out where you live. All these different things.”
Four people were later arrested for the burglary.
Two years ago, Quarterback on Netflix became the most pleasant surprise of the summer, an inside look at the 2022 seasons for Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins, and Marcus Mariota.
Then came the 2023 season. And no quarterbacks wanted to do it.
So, last year, Quarterback took a seat. Receiver replaced it. And it wasn’t nearly as good.
Now Quarterback is back. It debuted today on Netflix. It’s Joe Burrow, Jared Goff, and Kirk Cousins.
All three had very different experiences last season. Burrow played the best of the bunch, but his team fell short of the postseason (in part because the Bengals is the Bengals). Goff continued to play extremely well, but the No. 1 seed became a one-and-done postseason. And Cousins struggled to return to form after the Achilles injury that ended his 2023 season in Week 8, before being benched.
If there’s anything worth posting, we’ll share it. If you think that counts as a spoiler, look away when you see anything with “Quarterback” or “Netflix” in the headline.
Thursday’s #PFTPM including a simple question: “What are your thoughts on a potential Bills-Rams Super Bowl?”
My thoughts are it could happen, because both teams are firmly in the Super Bowl window.
In any given year, not many teams truly are. And while teams not apparently in the window can, in theory, win their way in, the salary-cap system has matured to the point where some teams have cracked the code — and some teams can’t crack their way out of a paper bag.
It also helps to have drafted and developed a franchise quarterback.
In most years, roughly 10 teams are in the window, roughly 10 teams aren’t, and the remaining 12 could break either way. This year, the AFC’s true short-list contenders are the Chiefs, Bills, Ravens, Bengals, and Texans. The Broncos and Chargers could force their way into the conversation.
In the NFC, it’s the Eagles, Lions, Rams, 49ers, and Commanders. Maybe the Buccaneers. Maybe the Vikings.
Again, things can and will change. That’s why they play the games, as someone once said. All the time.
For those who like a little variety, it would be nice for someone other than the Chiefs to get a turn in the Super Bowl. And for someone other than the Eagles, 49ers, or Rams to emerge from the NFC.
Since 2017, it’s been the Eagles three times, the 49ers twice, the Rams twice, and the Bucs once. For the AFC, it’s been only the Patriots, Chiefs, and Bengals.
That’s it. Over eight seasons, seven total franchises have taken the 16 total Super Bowl berths.
Free agency, the salary cap, and a draft process that rewards failure should be enough to mix things up. But the reality is that good teams stay good, and bad teams stay bad.
Nearly two years after a civil lawsuit was filed over the shooting of a teenager who was playing “Nerf Wars” on Texans running back Joe Mixon’s Ohio property, the suit has been settled.
PFT has confirmed that the case is over.
Sheree Paolello of WLWT reported within the past hour that the case was resolved “a few weeks ago,” and that “[n]o details are being released per the settlement.”
That’s very common in civil settlements involving private entities. And while the report implies that Mixon wrote a check (he “has settled” the case), it’s possible if not probable that Mixon’s homeowners insurance policy, not Mixon, made the payment.
Mixon, a second-round pick of the Bengals in 2017, spent seven years in Cincinnati. He was traded to the Texans in 2024.
The lingering impasse between the Bengals and first-round pass rusher Shemar Stewart ultimately traces to the inability of the two sides to finalize a rookie deal. However, Stewart would have taken the field for the team’s offseason program if the Bengals had offered an acceptable participation agreement.
In theory, a participation agreement gives the player financial protection against an injury suffered while taking part in the offseason program. The goal is to give the player the same deal he would have gotten, if he hadn’t been injured.
PFT has compared the Bengals’ participation agreement with the language used by another team. There are very real differences.
For example, Cincinnati’s agreement applies if the player “sustains a disabling NFL football-related injury.” At least one other team removes the phrase “disabling,” which introduces ambiguity and (potentially) an avenue for the team lawyering their way out of the deal.
The Bengals’ agreement also doesn’t contain a clear commitment to give Stewart a contract commensurate with being the 17th overall pick in the draft. The other team’s expressly says that the terms “shall be commensurate” with the player’s slot.
Also, the other team’s deal has a paragraph that explains the purpose of the agreement: To provide financial protection for an injury resulting from participation in the offseason program, and to put him in approximately the same financial position he would have been in, but for the injury.
Frankly, no player should ever sign a participation agreement. If the team wants the player to behave like an employee, the team should make the player an employee by signing him to a contract.
In Stewart’s case, a participation agreement that would have more clearly promised to give him the financial package he would have gotten without the injury would have gotten him on the field for the offseason program — and it would have deferred the thornier issue of working out final contract language until training camp.
As to the contract language, Stewart has asked for the same default language used in the contract signed last year by tackle Amarius Mims, who was taken with the 18th overall pick. That’s relevant to the participation agreement because, as it relates to the participation agreement, Stewart was told (we’re told) that it wouldn’t be fair to use different language from the language in Mims’s participation agreement.
If that logic is good enough for the participation agreement, it should be good enough for the contract, too. But the Bengals won’t use the same default language as to guaranteed money for Stewart as they used for Mims.
And so the impasse continues. While many issues with the Bengals flow from frugality, this problem primarily flows from stubbornness.
Oliver Gibson, who played defensive tackle in the NFL from 1995 to 2003, has died at the age of 53.
Gibson was born and raised in Romeoville, Illinois, and in 1989 USA Today named him the high school defensive player of the year for his exploits at Romeoville High School. He played his college football at Notre Dame and was a fourth-round pick of the Steelers in 1995.
After four years with the Steelers, Gibson signed with the Bengals in 1999, and played four more NFL seasons in Cincinnati.
In 2015, Gibson was hired as head coach at Romeoville High.
The Bengals will kick off their training camp with a practice on Wednesday, July 23 and it will be the first of eight that are open to the public.
Veterans report to camp on July 22 and they’ll get on the field at the team’s practice facility at 10 a.m. ET to start their 2025 camp. The team will hold open practices on July 24 and 25 as well to close out the week.
The rest of the open practices will take place on July 28, July 30-31, and August 2-3. The August 2 practice will be a night session at Paycor Stadium.
In addition to those practices open to the public, the Bengals will also hold three practices open to season ticket holders and those on the waitlist for season tickets.
Tyler Boyd is a Pittsburgh native. He played college football at Pitt. After nine NFL seasons, he’d like to continue his pro career with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“Absolutely,” Boyd told Pittsburgh Sports Now on Saturday, via Bryan DeArdo of CBSSports.com. “You know, all my family is here. I’d be able to have the majority of them be able to support me.”
He expressed interest in signing with the Steelers a year ago, after eight seasons with the Bengals. He landed with the Titans instead.
Boyd is once again making it known he’d like to come home.
“I’m real cool with [coach Mike] Tomlin,” Boyd said. “He’s always been a good person. . . . When I was at Pitt, we had a good relationship. After practice, I’d walk over there, talk to [Antonio Brown] and those guys, talk to Tomlin, and he’d just pick at different things, where I could get better and get some guidance. I think we had a great friendship.”
The Steelers could use another veteran receiver. They haven’t added one since trading George Pickens to the Cowboys in May.
Boyd had back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons in 2018-19. In 16 games last year with the Titans, he had only 39 catches for 390 yards.
Newcomers for 2025 are DK Metcalf and Robert Woods. Calvin Austin III will be expected to step up. And the Steelers are hoping to get something/anything from 2024 third-rounder Roman Wilson in his second season.
Texas quarterback Arch Manning doesn’t have to look far to find quarterback role models, given that his grandfather Archie and uncles Peyton and Eli all had long and successful NFL careers. But Manning doesn’t only look at his own family when trying to grow as a quarterback.
Asked at the Manning Passing Academy which other quarterbacks he studies, Manning named Bills quarterback Josh Allen and Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.
“I’m watching a lot of Josh Allen and Joe Burrow right now. Those are my guys,” Manning said. “They’re dogs. I’ve watched some of their college film. They’re just good players, elite competitors and fun to watch.”
Although Manning’s uncles were not known for their mobility, Arch showed off his running ability when playing at Texas last season and said Allen’s ability to make plays with his legs is something he tries to emulate.
“He’s just the ultimate football player. If something’s not there he’s going to make something happen and do whatever he can to make his team win,” Manning said.
Manning is currently the betting favorite to be the first overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft, which would make him the third member of his family to go first overall.
