Last month, a weird story emerged that former NFL running back Adrian Peterson got into a fist fight over a poker game. Now that story is getting even weirder.
Peterson has signed up for a celebrity boxing match, and his opponent will be the guy he fought at the poker game, Joe Castaneda, according to TMZ.com.
The 40-year-old Peterson has boxed once before, and it did not go well for him, as he was knocked out by former NFL running back Le’Veon Bell.
Peterson has had a rough go of it lately, with legal issues within the past year ranging from failing to appear in court in child support cases to a misdemeanor assault to a driving while intoxicated arrest.
Peterson was the 2012 NFL Most Valuable Player, the 2007 NFL offensive rookie of the year and a four-time first-team All-Pro.
Colorado coach Deion Sanders wants to add a couple of assistant coaches with significant NFL experience to his staff.
Sanders said at Big 12 media days that he’s “praying” Byron Leftwich will agree to coach at Colorado, and that he wants Mike Zimmer on the staff as well.
“Our coaching staff, this is without Byron Leftwich, which I’m praying that he does the right thing, and Mike Zimmer, we have 160 years of NFL experience,” Sanders said. “With those two added, that’s 204 years of NFL experience. And I want those years.”
Although there was a report in March that Colorado had already hired Leftwich, Sanders’ comments made clear that Leftwich has not yet agreed to join the Buffaloes’ staff. Leftwich was a first-round pick of the Jaguars in 2003 and spent a decade as an NFL quarterback, and he has also been an NFL assistant coach, most recently as the Buccaneers’ offensive coordinator from 2019 to 2022.
Zimmer was reportedly planning to retire this offseason, but Sanders would like him to change his mind about that. Zimmer is best known to football fans as the head coach of the Vikings from 2014 to 2021, but he also has a great deal of experience as an assistant, including working as the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator last year, a previous stint as the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator from 2000 to 2006, and defensive coordinator jobs in Atlanta and Cincinnati as well. After the Vikings fired him, Zimmer worked as a consultant for Sanders, first at Jackson State and then at Colorado. Zimmer’s nephew, Andrew Zimmer, is already on the Colorado staff as a quality control analyst.
Sanders has transformed Colorado into a high-profile program, and major NFL experience on his coaching staff has been a big part of that. Sanders also has Pro Football Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk coaching running backs, Pro Football Hall of Famer Warren Sapp working as defensive pass rush coordinator, and former NFL head coach Pat Shurmur as offensive coordinator.
It made perfect sense for the NFL teams based in Texas to contribute $500,000 each to rescue and relief efforts from the catastrophic flooding that has claimed many lives and caused widespread destruction. Now, a team not tied to Texas is matching what the Cowboys and Texans did.
The Vikings and the Wilf family have also contributed $500,000 to the effort. The team announced the move on Wednesday.
“We are deeply saddened by the continued devastation and loss of life in the Texas Hill Country and can’t imagine the pain so many are facing,” Vikings owners Mark, Zygi, and Leonard Wilf said in a statement. “We are praying for peace for the families who have lost a loved one and strength for those who continue to risk their lives leading the rescue and recovery effort.”
It’s an impressive gesture by the Vikings, and it hopefully will cause other NFL teams to follow suit. Texas is a hotbed of football, with its Friday Night Lights a feeder system for a broad array of college programs in the state, which funnel plenty of great players to the NFL.
Regardless of whether other teams jump in, it’s a great gesture from a team that is headquartered a long way away from where the flooding has happened. And it’s a reminder that, even though we all live in our own states, we are all Americans.
Vikings linebacker Dallas Turner wired $240,000 to scammers who convinced him that they were representatives of his bank, and police are now investigating the matter.
The Minnesota Star Tribune reports that police have identified several suspects and are moving toward filing charges. About 1 percent of the money — less than $2,500 — has been recovered.
According to court records, Turner received a call on February 19 “from an individual impersonating a JP Morgan Chase banker. The caller claimed someone was attempting to impersonate [Turner] at a Chase Bank branch in Arizona.”
The caller convinced Turner that to prevent that person from fraudulently withdrawing money, he should transfer his money to two separate business accounts. Turner then went to two different Chase branches and at each of them transferred $120,000 to fraudulent business accounts. Only later when talking to a relative about what happened to him did Turner begin to suspect he had been a victim of a scam.
Neither Turner nor the Vikings has commented publicly on the matter, and an attorney representing Turner has also declined to comment.
Police have asked JPMorgan Chase whether its internal investigation indicated that any bank employees could have played a role in the scheme.
The Vikings took Turner with the 17th overall pick in last year’s NFL draft. He signed a fully guaranteed four-year, $15.77 million contract.
After the Falcons shocked the football-following world by making quarterback Michael Penix Jr. the eighth overall pick in the 2024 draft, Cousins was asked by reporters whether he might have made a different decision in free agency if he’d known about the plan to take a quarterback.
“I don’t really deal in hypotheticals,” Cousins said at the time.
In the first episode of his second turn on the Quarterback series, he did.
After explaining that he picked Atlanta over Minnesota in free agency because the Vikings wanted to go “year-to-year” and the Falcons made a longer commitment, Cousins said he was “pretty surprised” by the news that Penix had been drafted in the top 10.
“I wasn’t expecting us to take a quarterback,” Cousins said. “At the time, it felt like I’d been a little bit misled — or certainly if I had the information around free agency, it certainly would have affected my decision. I had no reason to leave Minnesota with how much we loved it there, if both teams are gonna be drafting a quarterback high.”
Beyond loving Minnesota, Cousins was comfortable in Kevin O’Connell’s offense. It became clear during the first episode of Quarterback that Cousins felt a little overwhelmed by the offense in Atlanta.
“It’s different enough to feel like I’m starting over,” Cousins said regarding the Falcons offense.
One challenge came from the pre-snap motions and shifts, similar to what the Dolphins had been doing. “That was a lot to learn,” Cousins said.
It came to a head in Week 1, when a game-deciding fumble happened because of a miscommunication that resulted in a shotgun snap striking tight end Ross Dwelley, while he was going in motion past the center.
“I knew that was gonna happen,” Cousins said as he came off the field.
“I have to give the foot, then send you,” Cousins told Dwelley on the sideline. “I sent you and then gave the foot. And if I do that, we have no room for error. It’s a fumble every time. It was just — all week long, I was paranoid. I’m gonna do it one time and screw it up. And it did.”
It’s a tangible, and valuable, example for quarterbacks who are thinking about changing teams in the future. You never know what that team is going to do with its first-round pick. You never know how different the offense is going to be until you’re in it.
And you never know how it’s going to feel to line up “with a new team with a new system in a new home stadium” until it’s time to do it.
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.
We’ve recently taken a look at the coaches on the hot seat for 2025. This week, a reader asked the same question as it relates to quarterbacks.
Plenty of them are feeling the heat, or should be, this season. Let’s take a look at each spot, based on the loose arrangement of the conferences and divisions that has been tattooed onto my brain.
Justin Fields, Jets: His contract has $10 million in guarantees that spill into 2026. That’s not enough to guarantee him two years as the starter. He needs to do enough in 2025 to earn 2026 — and beyond.
Tua Tagovailoa, Dolphins: His contract guarantees his pay through 2026. If the Dolphins fall flat and change coaches, the next coach likely will want a fresh start at quarterback. While the cap charges will complicate a split before 2027, every high-end quarterback contract eventually leads to a big cap charge when the relationship ends. The next coach (and the next G.M., if owner Stephen Ross cleans house) may want to rip the Band-Aid off in one motion.
Aaron Rodgers, Steelers: He says he’s pretty sure this is his last year. If he doesn’t play well enough for the Steelers in 2025 and if he wants to keep playing in 2026, the Steelers may give him the same cold shoulder that Russell Wilson got after 2024.
All Browns quarterbacks: With Jacksonville’s first-round pick in their back pocket, the Browns could be in position to get a future franchise quarterback in next year’s draft. That raises the stakes for every quarterback currently on the Cleveland roster. Because there’s a chance none of them will be the starter in 2026.
Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson, Colts: It already feels like Jones will be the Week 1 starter. He’ll then have a chance to lock the revolving door the Colts have had since Andrew Luck retired. If he doesn’t, the Colts will be looking elsewhere in 2026. As to Richardson, his best play is to play better than he ever has, if and when he gets the chance.
Trevor Lawrence, Jaguars: Every new coach wants his own quarterback, except when the coach inherits a true franchise quarterback. But Tony Dungy landing with Peyton Manning doesn’t happen very often. And it’s not clear whether Lawrence is a short-list franchise quarterback. He was on track to be one as of 2022. The past two years haven’t been good enough, long-term contract notwithstanding. What do coach Liam Coen and G.M. James Gladstone want? If Lawrence doesn’t play better in 2025 than he did in 2024, Lawrence and everyone else may find out in 2026.
Geno Smith, Raiders: He’s being mentioned simply to say he’s not on the hot seat. He has $18.5 million in guarantees for 2026, and his close ties to Pete Carroll will keep Smith around for at least two years. (Unless, of course, a certain minority owner decides otherwise.)
Dak Prescott, Cowboys: He’s probably not on the hot seat, because his $60 million per year contract would wreak havoc on the salary cap if the Cowboys were to cut or trade him (yes, he has a no-trade clause, but he can waive it) in 2026. The complication for the Cowboys is that his $45 million salary for 2027 becomes fully guaranteed on the fifth day of the 2026 league year. They’re basically stuck — all because they waited too long to give him his second contract, and then waited too long to give him his third contract.
Russell Wilson, Giants: If he’s the Week 1 starter (if Jaxson Dart lives up to his first-round draft stock, Wilson shouldn’t be), the clock will be ticking. Immediately. In 2004, the Giants benched Kurt Warner after nine games for Eli Manning, even though the Giants were 5-4 at the time. When Dart is ready, Dart will play. Even if Wilson makes it through 2025 without getting benched, he’ll have to do plenty to keep Dart on the sideline for 2026.
Jordan Love, Packers: He’s not on the hot seat per se, but he needs to play better in 2025 than he did in 2024. If not, he will be on the hot seat in 2026. The wild card in Green Bay is new CEO Ed Policy, who operates as the de facto owner of the team.
J.J. McCarthy, Vikings: He’s getting his shot to play, after a knee injury wiped out his rookie season. Anything other than an outright disaster will ensure his status for 2026. At worst, he’d have to compete with a more established veteran next year.
Tyler Shough, Saints: He’ll need to do enough in 2025 to earn the chance to do well enough in 2026 to get the Saints to not pursue the grandson of Archie Manning in 2027. (And, yes, I think Arch Manning will spend two years as a college starter before entering the draft.)
Bryce Young, Panthers: In year three, he needs to continue the growth he showed late in the 2024 season, in order to secure a fourth season, the fifth-year option, and ideally (for him) a second contract.
Kyler Murray, Cardinals: His contract gives him two more years of financial security. But this is the team that drafted Murray a year after using the 10th overall pick on Josh Rosen (not Lamar Jackson). So who knows what the Cardinals will do if Murray doesn’t propel the team into contention this year?
Sam Darnold, Seahawks: He has a one-year deal, as a practical matter. And the Seahawks seem to really like rookie Jalen Milroe. Darnold will need to play very well to secure his status for 2026.
Matthew Stafford, Rams: It’s not the “hot seat” as much as it’s a mutual understanding that player and team are taking things one year at a time. After the season, both sides will have to recommit. Whether the Rams will want to do that depends on how Stafford plays in 2025, and on their other options for staffing the position in 2026.
That’s a lot of names. But it’s no surprise. There aren’t many true, unquestioned, year-after-year franchise quarterbacks. And the teams that don’t have one are always hoping to find one.
It has created more quarterback movement in recent years than ever before. Plenty of the names listed above will be on the move in 2026.
Free agent cornerback Stephon Gilmore wants to play a 14th NFL season.
“I want to play this year,” Gilmore said on The Money Down podcast. “It’s got to be the right situation. You know what I’m saying? It’s got to be the right situation for me. You know what I’m saying? I’m not just going to sign anywhere, so it’s got to be the right situation.
“I still love the game. I still can contribute. It’s just got to be the right place.”
Gilmore, who will turn 35 in September, visited the Cowboys’ team facility in April before they drafted Shavon Revel Jr. in the third round. Gilmore spent 2023 in Dallas.
He played 15 games for the Vikings in 2024, totaling an interception, nine pass breakups and 56 tackles.
Gilmore began his NFL career as a first-round pick of the Bills in 2021 and also has played for the Patriots, Panthers and Colts.
In 2019, Gilmore was the league’s defensive player of the year, but he hasn’t made the Pro Bowl since 2021.
The NFL seems to be tiptoeing through a political minefield, when it comes to coexisting with the current administration. The Vikings are exercising no such discretion, as it relates to one specific sticking point for the upper reaches of the executive branch.
Via Andrew Krammer of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Vikings conducted their fourth annual diversity summit in June.
Assistant head coach Mike Pettine oversaw the three-day event. He said there was “never any doubt” that it would continue.
Minnesota’s program “focuses on exposure and preparation for entry-level NFL jobs and fosters networking, despite diversity, equity and inclusion efforts being rolled back nationwide.”
The league canceled its annual accelerator program, which would have been held at the ownership meetings in May. When the issue came to light only a week before the accelerator was due to happen, the league characterized it merely as a postponement.
It’s a sensitive point for the league, based particularly on multiple answers given by Commissioner Roger Goodell to questions on the topic when he met with reporters to cap the May 2025 meetings.
For example, Goodell interrupted a question that referred to the situation as a “cancellation” to say this: “It’s not a cancellation. We established that we’re doing this in 2026.” Also, when asked if he was concerned about the optics of the situation given the current political climate, Goodell said this: “I’d be concerned about being reported correctly in the context of we had the accelerator program earlier this year. We’re committing to do it again next year. So there’s no miscommunication on what our intention is. We are very focused on continuing our efforts in this area. We believe it’s been helpful in identifying talent, helping great talent develop. That’s what our focus has been. That’s what our focus will continue to be.”
Diversity, equity, and inclusion generally are under attack. The league has insisted that it is not softening its commitment to those goals. And while the cancellation of the May 2025 accelerator program contradicts that claim, the Vikings’ diversity summit shows that not everyone is treading lightly.
At a time when it seems like many are running scared, on an assortment of issues, we’ll say this: Good for the Vikings.
As Netflix inches toward potentially acquiring a full package of games, some of the streamer’s eventual competitors are reluctant to help the company produce quality content on Christmas.
According to FrontOfficeSports.com, ESPN and Fox are reluctant to loan talent to Netflix for the 2025 Christmas doubleheader.
Per the report, ESPN talent will not appear on the Cowboys-Commanders and Lions-Vikings games on December 25. Fox talent is not expected to participate.
Last year, Fox said no to a request to lend Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady to Netflix for Christmas. Eventually, the network allowed Greg Olsen to work one of the two games. ESPN allowed Laura Rutledge and Mina Kimes to work the Christmas games.
CBS produces the Netflix games, making CBS far more likely to allow its one-air talent to work the games. NBC’s Devin McCourty was involved in last year’s broadcast, too.
It’s unfortunate for the folks who would like to take on the extra work. Since the Christmas games are happening on days when the NFL isn’t otherwise playing, it’s not distracting them from their primary jobs.
And so it seems petty, frankly, for the networks to deny their employees the chance to spread their wings. It also becomes a bargaining point for future employment contracts, with talent seeking express permission as part of their deals to participate in one-off productions with other networks.
