Cincinnati – Even though, Trey Hendrickson and the Cincinnati Bengals remain at odds when it comes to reaching a contract extension, the All-Pro defensive end felt it was more important to be with teammates as they prepare for the upcoming season.
That is why Hendrickson was at his first training camp practice on Wednesday morning.
Hendrickson was dressed in all back and wasn’t wearing his No. 91 jersey, but he was keeping a keen eye on the defense’s workouts and was giving pointers to first-round pick Shemar Stewart.
“If I can help him in any way, that’s my goal for being here,” Hendrickson said after practice. “The plan was be here day 1. Things transpired. News happened to me and we just kind of make decisions as we go.”
Hendrickson missed the first seven days and five practices of camp, accumulating $350,000 in fines. He also received total of $104,768 in fines for not attending the three days of the Bengals’ mandatory minicamp in June according to the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement with the NFLPA.
When it comes to reaching an extension, Hendrickson said that “nothing’s really changed.”
Both sides remain far off on the amount of guaranteed money Hendrickson will receive, along with how much he gets during the early years of the deal. He is scheduled to earn $15.8 million in base salary this season and has a cap number of $18.7 million.
Hendrickson led the league with 17 1/2 sacks last season, becoming the fourth player since sacks became an official statistic in 1982 to have two straight years with at least 17 1/2. His 57 sacks since joining the Bengals in 2021 are third most in the NFL over the past four seasons.
“This is the guy that has the most sacks over the past two years. Production has value in this league. When you have a guy like that, you want to reward him,” quarterback Joe Burrow said. “He’s going to play a big part in the team this season. Just to have him around makes a big difference in the energy around here. He brings an intensity that is very unique and so I think that’s good for us.”
If the Bengals and Hendrickson can bridge the gap, it will complete an trifecta of signing three of their top players to lucrative extensions.
In March, Ja’Marr Chase’s $161 million contract made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL at the time, and Tee Higgins’ $115 million deal made him one of the league’s top 10 highest-paid receivers.
Hendrickson is a valuable piece to a defense looking to improve with Al Golden in his first season as coordinator. The Bengals (9-8 last season) finished 25th in the league in total defense (348.3 yards allowed per game) and lost four games last season in which they scored at least 30 points.
“In the short time I’ve been in these meetings it’s been encouraging,” Hendrickson said about Golden. “I think he’s a very wise coach. He’s been here before. Nothing but respect for him and moving forward we’ll see what transpires.”
Until a contract is reached, Hendrickson’s main priority is getting Stewart up to speed. Stewart, the 17th overall pick in April’s draft, missed the first three days of camp before signing his rookie contract.
“I want to help the guys. Guys have helped me along the way like Demario Davis, Cam Jordan and even Sam Hubbard helped me a lot when I was here. To be that right now, that’s what’s most important,” Hendrickson said. “This narrative will iron itself out as we continue to progress toward the season.”
Steelers QB Rodgers may be at final training camp
Latrobe, Pa. – This is not Aaron Rodgers’ first training camp.
Or his 10th.
Or his 20th, for that matter.
Yet the NFL’s oldest player seems to be rejuvenated by camp life with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
It’s not just the age of his new teammates, some of whom – such as 21-year-old first-round pick Derrick Harmon – were toddlers when Rodgers was selected by the Green Bay Packers in the first round of the 2005 draft. It’s not just the chance to work closely with Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, whom he’s admired from afar for years.
It’s all of it. From living in a college dormitory at Saint Vincent College – something he hadn’t done since the Green Bay Packers stopped going to St. Norbert College during the COVID-19 pandemic – to being part of a practice with live hitting for the first time in at least a decade.
No, the NFL’s oldest player wasn’t putting his 41-year-old body on the line during the initial full-contact session of the season on Wednesday – quarterbacks are still off limits – but he did get an up-close look at the kind of physical practice that Tomlin believes is vital if increasingly uncommon this time of year.
“I haven’t been a part of a true tackling period in a long time,” Rodgers said about an hour before trotting down to sweltering Chuck Noll Field in his white No. 8 jersey.
And while Rodgers kept his No. 8 clean, he did find himself leaning into the competitive nature of things. During the “seven shots” drill – essentially a series of 2-point conversion attempts by the offense – Rodgers found himself in the thick of things while taking a handful of live snaps with the starters.
His first pass was swatted down by blitzing safety DeShon Elliott. Rodgers laughed in the aftermath and even exchanged high-fives with Elliott before both players made their way back to the huddle. During the four-time MVP’s second attempt, he deftly maneuvered around the pocket before finding newly acquired tight end Jonnu Smith for a conversion.
The best-of-seven ended with perhaps Rodgers’ finest moment on the field so far during camp. Needing a score to record a “win” for the offense, Rodgers floated a pass to the back corner of the end zone, where DK Metcalf made a twisting grab before tapping both feet down inbounds.
While it hasn’t been the crispest start to camp for the offense in general, Rodgers is hardly panicking.
“It’s not a bad thing to get beat up a little bit,” he said, later adding, “sometimes you can learn more from the failures in training camp than getting after it every single day.”
Rodgers, who signed with the Steelers in early June after spending months weighing whether to play in 2025, would like to have the offense down pat by the end of the week but cautioned, “We’ll see.”
Progress on the field isn’t the only thing Rodgers is working on. His somewhat late arrival, combined with the likelihood that this is his final season, means there isn’t a lot of time to build the kind of chemistry required to thrive once the games start to count.
In that way, being away for camp – a once common practice now only done by a half-dozen teams – has helped.
“I love that we’re out here in Latrobe. I love the opportunity for true camaraderie,” he said. “At nighttime, after meetings are done, guys hang out, you know, guys come to my room. Last night, I was in (linebacker Alex) Highsmith’s room. So that’s it’s pretty cool to see everybody hanging out the way they are. It’s a lot of fun.”
And it is still fun for Rodgers. There will be plenty of time in the future when his career will be in his rearview mirror. He’s not quite there yet.
“For me, once it stops being fun, you should probably hang it up,” he said.
Coach ends Cowboys’ practice early after fights
Oxnard, Calif. – When the Dallas Cowboys wouldn’t stop fighting, coach Brian Schottenheimer made them run.
During a noticeably fraught practice in what has been an aggressive training camp, Schottenheimer stepped in Wednesday after a heated red-zone drill led to the third fight of the day. The new coach pulled the team together for a lengthy and expletive-filled speech before sending players back out to start running sideline to sideline.
Following the punishing sprints, Schottenheimer brought the team back together for a second address before he ended practice early.
“Basically, we just have to understand that Dallas isn’t on the schedule, so we’re nobody’s enemies,” offensive lineman Nate Thomas said. “We have to make sure that we’re taking care of each other, but also getting the good work in because we have some guys down right now, and we have to understand that we need these reps. So we can’t go out here and start fighting each other just because somebody did a little extra pushing or whatever the case may be.”
Schottenheimer, a first-time head coach, has tried to balance competing aims during camp. He wants physical, high-energy sessions that will allow the offensive and defensive fronts to develop after the Cowboys struggled in both areas last season. At the same time, Schottenheimer is stressing accountability, an area wide receiver CeeDee Lamb said the team has lacked at times in the past.
“It’s been a while, but I feel like that was really necessary,” Lamb said after being asked about the last time he had been part of a practice where the whole team had been punished that way. “I honestly like what he’s doing because we need discipline. We need to be able to go through that line. I’m saying we need to have that, that availability towards the team and then that aggressiveness at the same time, to be able to be as mad and fight between the whistles, and then as soon as the (play is) done, like, we going to line it up again.”
The Cowboys were 29th in the NFL penalties committed and 28th in giveaways last season, when they went 7-10 under then-coach Mike McCarthy.
Bears QB Williams confident in new offense
Lake Forest, Ill. – Quarterback Caleb Williams’ confidence has hit a new high in the Chicago Bears offense while the number of interceptions he is throwing in practice is declining.
Williams has practiced for a week in new coach Ben Johnson’s offense and after struggling initially with turnovers, the second-year quarterback seems to have stabilized within the attack.
“I think as of right now I think I’m rolling,” Williams said. “I’m pretty smooth with it as of right now.”
It’s not perfect, as the offense continued Wednesday at practice to have difficulty getting into the end zone from within the red zone. Still, it does look more consistent and Williams is finding more of his playmakers on time.
“It comes down to just a little bit more studying, it comes down to a little bit more practicing, a lot more reps and things like that over time,” Williams said. “So I think that’s where it is. I think that’s where it is right now. We’re going to keep progressing, and I’m going to keep progressing and getting after it.”
Initially, Williams’ troubles were in simple things such as pre-snap procedure or even getting the snap from center. The snaps were understandable because the Bears took most of their snaps in shotgun formation under former coach Matt Eberflus and his two offensive coordinators last season. Now Williams is under center extensively for the first time in his career going back through college.
“I think right now I’m doing well with the process, whether that’s before the snap, whether it’s after the snap whether it’s footwork, all these different things,” Williams said. “Protecting the football these last couple of practices has been key and important.
“It’s important in any season, in any moment.”
Johnson confirms Williams’ advancement, even if he is hollering at times and actually pulled the offense back off the field on Day 1.
“I see growth. He is so much more comfortable right now,” Johnson said of Williams. “Even (Monday), the walkthrough … just in terms of moving around. We go from gun, to under (center), to the tight ends are moving, the receivers are moving, we’re adding a few more every single day.
“His process, and I told him this on the player day off, his process is really clean right now. I’m talking about how he’s preparing. I’m really pleased with it. He’s doing the work behind the scenes that no one else is seeing and we’re starting to see the dividends being paid from it.”
It helps having all of his playmakers available.
Throughout OTAs and even the start of training camp, they were getting little participation from rookie first-round tight end Colston Loveland because of his postseason shoulder surgery. Second-round wide receiver Luther Burden III did not practice from early May through the first week of training camp because of a soft tissue injury.
Both are back and catching passes now during practice. Loveland has formed a quick connection.
“He’s been great,” Williams. “He’s a smart cat. We’ve hung out a few times. Actually, him and a couple other teammates, we went down to the city on our off day and had dinner.
“We’re hanging out, building that bond, building that trust. On the field-wise, he’s smart, he knows what he’s doing, he’s a young cat so there are going to be a few mistakes, maybe hand placement. But when the ball goes up, I got all faith in him.”
Burden had a rocky start. He got pulled off the field once for lining up wrong, the product of so much time away from practices.
“It shows up already,” Johnson said. “We were in the walkthrough yesterday afternoon and the misalignments, we had to re-huddle. We had to start it all over again. He’s a little bit behind right now.”
Burden made up for it on Wednesday with a catch in traffic and a touchdown in red zone work.
Johnson didn’t lay all of the earlier problems on Williams or receivers. Their rebuilt offensive line has had to work to keep up with coordinator Dennis Allen’s defense.
“We need to do a better job giving our quarterbacks a clean pocket,” Johnson said. “We’re having to work the scramble drill a little bit more than we would like.”
ESPN cuts ties with Sharpe after lawsuit
Hall of Fame tight end-turned-broadcaster Shannon Sharpe will not return to ESPN, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The decision comes less than two weeks after Sharpe resolved a lawsuit that accused him of sexually assaulting a woman during their relationship. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the decision has not been announced.
Sharpe’s last appearance on ESPN was in late April, when the lawsuit was filed in Nevada. No details of the settlement were released. The lawsuit had sought $50 million.
The 57-year-old Sharpe called the accusations “false and disruptive” at the time they were levied and hoped to return in time for the NFL season.
Instead, ESPN opted to move on from the brash four-time All-Pro tight end who won three Super Bowls during his 14-year career.
Sharpe joined ESPN in 2023 and signed a multiyear contract in 2024. He served as a panelist on the network’s morning show “First Take.”
Sharpe has been a staple on TV and social media since retiring in 2003. He joined CBS in 2004 as an analyst on “The NFL Today” studio show before leaving in 2013. Three years later, he joined forces with Skip Bayless on the FS1 sports debate show “Undisputed.” Sharpe left in 2023 after Bayless took a shot at Sharpe’s NFL playing career during a debate a couple of months earlier.
Sharpe still has his “Club Shay Shay” and “Nightcap” podcasts with former NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson.
Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011, Sharpe retired as the NFL’s all-time leader among tight ends in receptions (815), yards receiving (10,060) and touchdowns (62). Those records have been broken.
Sterling Sharpe, Shannon’s older brother, will be inducted on Saturday.
Ravens tight end Likely needs surgery
Owings Mills, Md. – Baltimore Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely needs surgery after injuring his lower leg this week.
Coach John Harbaugh confirmed that Wednesday. He said the previous day that Likely hurt his ankle and foot area and would miss several weeks.
NFL.com reported Likely would miss about six weeks – and Baltimore’s season opener is on Sept 7.
“He’s going to have surgery,” Harbaugh said. “I think the timeline I saw actually was accurate, on the timeline that was reported. So we’ve got a shot to get him back there right away early. We’ll see.”
Likely set career highs last season with 42 receptions for 477 yards and six touchdowns. It was his third season in the NFL.
“It was early in camp, and it’s not one of those major-type of deals,” Harbaugh said. “But it’s something. It’s multiple weeks.”
Seattke GM Schneider gets contract extension
Seattle – Seattle Seahawks general manager and president of football operations John Schneider signed a contract extension through the 2031 season on Wednesday.
Schneider is the longest-tenured GM in franchise history, having held the job since 2010. The Seahawks did not disclose terms of the deal.
“The extension of general manager John Schneider’s contract is a testament to his 15-plus years of football leadership and success,” Seahawks owner Jody Allen said in a statement. “I am confident that John will continue to deliver real results and a continued strong partnership with head coach Mike Macdonald that is already contributing to our winning culture on and off the field.”
The 54-year-old Schneider first joined the Seahawks in 2000 as director of player personnel, and then returned to the franchise in 2010 as GM and executive vice president. Seattle made the playoffs in Schneider’s first season and won the Super Bowl in his fourth.
During Schneider’s time as GM, the Seahawks have compiled the sixth-best record in the NFL at 147-96-1 and have won 10 or more games in nine of the past 13 seasons. Seattle has made the playoffs 10 times in 15 seasons and has won five NFC West titles and two conference championships under Schneider.
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