Saints quarterback Derek Carr stunned the league last month by abruptly retiring. As explained at the time, he gave up $30 million by choosing not to have surgery to repair a shoulder injury and miss the 2025 season.

“I didn’t want to have surgery and just sit there and — it sounds crazy but — just take the Saints money,” Carr told David Rumsey of FrontOfficeSports.com.

He had to choose between having surgery and not playing or not having surgery and trying to play.

“I wouldn’t have been able to play if I had the surgery,” Carr told Rumsey. “And then if I tried to play with it, I wasn’t near 100 percent, and so that doesn’t help them, either. I just felt like it was the right thing to do for myself and for the team.”

FUUUUCK Ill miss him

EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — Former Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jim Marshall, one of the four members of the famed Purple People Eaters front that formed the backbone of four Super Bowl teams, died Tuesday after a long hospitalization for an undisclosed illness. He was 87.

The Vikings announced Marshall’s death on behalf of his wife, Susan. The native of Kentucky, who played at Ohio State and was drafted in 1960 by the Cleveland Browns, played 19 of his 20 seasons in the NFL with Minnesota. The two-time Pro Bowl pick set a league record for position players with 282 consecutive regular-season games played, a mark held by Marshall until quarterback Brett Favre broke it, coincidentally, with the Vikings in 2010.

The Cincinnati Bengals' perennial slow start has become a glaring issue, forcing them to burrow out of early-season holes. In the past two years, they've failed, finishing 9-8 and missing the postseason in back-to-back campaigns.

In six seasons under Zac Taylor, the Bengals have gone 1-11 in the first two weeks of the season and 4-13-1 through three weeks. The only year in which Cincy had a winning record through three weeks, 2021, they went to the Super Bowl.

"It sounds like we need to play in the preseason, huh?" receiver Ja'Marr Chase said on Tuesday, via the Associated Press.

Still unsigned and undecided toward the end of May, the four-time Most Valuable Player recently partook in a fan question-and-answer session on stage at an event hosted by rapper Mike Stud.

When asked if he would ever join the Chicago Bears, bitter rivals of Rodgers' longtime Green Bay Packers, he provided a cryptic response.

"No, but I believe there's a team that might play in Chicago this year on a road trip," Rodgers said. "I don't know, not sure. Got to check it out. I love Chicago, though. Way more than they love me. It's been a great relationship. All one way."

The Pittsburgh Steelers notably travel to play the Bears in Week 12 on Nov. 23.

There will be more flexibility for onside kicks in 2025.

According to multiple reports, owners passed the rule change allowing teams to declare an onside kick attempt at any point during a game if the club is trailing.

EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — A proposed ban on the tush push failed on Wednesday at the NFL owners’ meetings, according to a person with knowledge of the decision.

The proposed prohibition of the polarizing short-yardage play failed on a 22-10 vote, which will allow quarterbacks to continue to be aided by teammates when plunging into the line.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because details of the discussions by the owners had not yet been made public.

Joe Thuney's new team is handing him a new deal.

Thuney and the Bears have agreed to a two-year extension, per the guard's agent, Mike McCartney. The new two-year deal is worth $35 million, and Thuney will make $51 million over the next three years with $33.5 million guaranteed at signing, NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero reported on Tuesday, per sources.

Set to make $16 million on the final year of his contract, Thuney was already making top-five money among left guards in the NFL (and 12th among all guards) prior to this extension, per Over The Cap. His new deal propels him to $17 million per year, ranking fourth among left guards and 10th among all guards.

The San Francisco 49ers lost plenty of talent in free agency, but they have spent the second half of the offseason rewarding some of their best players. First, tight end George Kittle received a four-year, $76.4 million extension, then quarterback Brock Purdy got his long-awaited deal in the form of a five-year, $265 million contract.

Now, linebacker Fred Warner has cashed in.

According to CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones, Warner has reached an agreement with the 49ers on a three-year, $63 million extension that makes him the highest-paid off-ball linebacker in the NFL. The deal includes a whopping $56.7 million in guaranteed money.

"As an organization, we have always strived to create a championship culture of sustained success," said Philadelphia Eagles Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie. "Nothing is more important to fostering such an environment than having tremendous leadership. Nick has embodied everything we were looking for in a head coach since we hired him four years ago. His authentic style of leadership, football intelligence, passion for the game, and growth mindset have helped to bring out the best in our team. I am excited for what the future holds for the Philadelphia Eagles."

Netflix currently lays claim to two NFL games, both of which come on Christmas Day.

But at this point, it appears to be a matter of when the streaming giant will add more.

The Kansas City Chiefs are the darlings of the NFL schedule once again, and the team the league is banking on to turn in huge ratings. With the NFL schedule being unveiled this week, the Chiefs will be featured in seven prime-time games -- five in the first eight weeks of the season.

The seven prime-time games the Chiefs are in ties an NFL record with the 2023 Buffalo Bills, who ended up being flexed into a prime-time slot in Week 18 to previously set the record. The NFL scheduled the seven prime-time games for the Chiefs due to their loaded schedule of opponents.

CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Bears seem to have shifted their attention for a new enclosed stadium back to the suburbs from the city’s lakefront, citing “significant progress” with local leaders to build on a tract of land they own in Arlington Heights.

“Over the last few months, we have made significant progress with the leaders in Arlington Heights, and look forward to continuing to work with state and local leaders on making a transformative economic development project for the region a reality,” the team said in a statement on Friday.

"MIAMI -- Antonio Brown was briefly detained by police early Saturday after an altercation in which gunshots were fired outside a celebrity boxing event in Miami, according to the former NFL star and video posted to social media.

Miami police confirmed in a written statement that officers responded to the area at about 3 a.m. after receiving an alert from the gunshot-detection system ShotSpotter. Officer Kiara Delva, a department spokeswoman, said police questioned several people but made no arrests. No injuries were reported at the scene."

Here is one of the bluesky threads going around with a video. https://bsky.app/profile/ugarles.bsky.social/post/3lpdolxtuck26

"Chicago is the place quarterbacks go to die," Carl Williams, Caleb's father, told Seth Wickersham, author of "American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback," in the months before the 2024 draft.

a Bluesky user reported that Pats' team plane flew to Guantanamo and back. Pat's team plane had been used for ICE deportations in the past:

https://www.audacy.com/national/sports/pats-team-plane-apparently-used-for-ice-deportation-flights

Archived article: https://archive.ph/4B7nT

This dynamic is interesting, to say the least!