NFL Urged To Release Mary Jo White’s Commanders Report
The NFL is inching closer and closer to the conclusion of its relationship with Commanders owner Dan Snyder. A special league meeting has been set for July 20, in which the team owners are expected to vote to ratify the sale of the franchise to Josh Harris for $6.05 billion. That’s only one part of the league’s situation with Snyder. The other part entails their investigations into allegations against the soon-to-be former owner of sexual misconduct and financial malfeasance. According to Mark Maske of The Washington Post, the NFL has been urged by the House Committee to release a report on the investigation upon its completion. 
To be clear, this is the second investigation into the allegations against Snyder. The first investigation, conducted by attorney Beth Wilkinson, was conducted back in 2021. The findings of the investigation were not released by the NFL, but it did result in a fine to the team of $10MM and the forced assumption of day-to-day operating duties by Snyder’s wife, Tanya. The findings were concealed due to promises of confidentiality made to witnesses.
The Oversight Committee released a 79-page report on the Wilkinson investigation in December claiming that Snyder “obstructed” the committee’s investigation and failed to provide full and complete testimony, as his attorney had pledged he would. The report also claimed that the NFL failed “to address Mr. Snyder’s interferences” and that the league played a role in concealing the team’s toxic work environment.
This second investigation was conducted by attorney Mary Jo White, a former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The investigation has not yet concluded, but already, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability has urged the league to release the findings of the report upon its completion. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had pledged before to release the report in “full transparency,” so the letter from representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the Committee, was a call to abide by Goodell’s pledge when the opportunity comes.
“More than a year has passed since your pledge to ‘share the results of that investigation,’ yet, to date, no part of the information has been released to the public,” Raskin wrote. “In light of the impending sale of the Commanders franchise, I urge you to honor your commitment to release the report in its entirety and ‘take additional disciplinary action if warranted.'”
We’ve seen in previous reports that Snyder is opposed to the pledge by Goodell. It’s been reported that Snyder had called to keep the findings confidential in February and was lobbying the league to limit the release in May, though the Commanders denied both reports. Despite Snyder’s continued efforts to cover up the findings of White’s report, it’s not believed that the issue should hold up the sale of the franchise at all.
It’s unclear, as of yet, exactly when the report will be concluded. Snyder has refused to be interviewed by White for the investigation to date, but some believe that White will request his participation at least one more time before concluding her investigation. It will be interesting to see just how much, if anything, is released by the league upon the report’s conclusion and if any action will be taken due to the results.
NFL Draft Pick Signings: 7/1/23
Saturday’s list of rookie deals:
Los Angeles Rams
- CB Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson (sixth round, TCU)
- OLB Ochaun Mathis (sixth round, Nebraska)
- RB Zach Evans (sixth round, Ole Miss)
Each of the Rams’ sixth-round selections are now on the books, as is the case for all of their Day 3 picks. Of the team’s 14-man draft haul, only two members are now unsigned: Byron Young and Kobie Turner. Those third-rounders still have plenty of time to ink their rookie deals before the start of training camp and the regular season, one which will in many ways be marked by a youth movement in Los Angeles.
Cardinals’ Zaven Collins In Line For Starting Edge Rush Role
Zaven Collins entered the league with questions about where he would best be suited to line up. During his first two years with the Cardinals, he played primarily as an inside linebacker, but that will change this season. 
The former first-rounder will shift to a pass-rushing role under new head coach Jonathan Gannon and defensive coordinator Nick Rallis. Collins spent OTAs and minicamp working on the outside, learning a position other than the one he served as a full-time starter at in 2022. He logged over 1,000 snaps last season, 785 of which came inside the box.
Collins’ run defense PFF grade (45.2) took a considerable step back from that of his rookie season, though, and it came in much lower than that of his pass rushing-mark (65.5). He will look to continue his success in the latter department after the position adjustment, one which should keep him in a starting role moving forward. The Tulsa product may in fact be the Cardinals’ top edge rusher based on spring practices, as noted by team reporter Darren Urban.
Arizona lost plenty of pass-rushing production from its defensive line this offseason with J.J. Watt retiring and Zach Allen departing in free agency. That will leave added emphasis on the team’s outside linebackers, a group which includes Collins along with 2022 third-rounders Myjai Sanders and Cameron Thomas. That pair each played a rotational role during their rookie seasons, and their experience relative to Collins on the outside does not appear likely to move them higher on the depth chart.
The Cardinals added BJ Ojulari in the second round of this year’s draft, giving them another young option in their edge rush group. The LSU product has been sidelined through injury during the offseason, though, leaving plenty of first-team snaps available to Collins as he prepares for a position change come the fall (something which also holds true of fellow former first-rounder Isaiah Simmons). Their success in adjusting to altered roles will no doubt go a long way in determining Arizona’s level of play on their new-look defense in 2023.
NFC South Rumors: Alford, Mays, Saints
In January 2022, the Falcons signed cornerback Dee Alford out of the Canadian Football League to a reserve/futures contract. A year and a half later, Alford could be pushing for a starting role, according to ESPN’s Michael Rothstein.
After going undrafted out of Tusculum, Alford signed with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL in 2020 but didn’t get to play after the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the season. When the team returned in 2021, Alford won a starting job and helped lead the Bombers to their second consecutive Grey Cup title.
Following his signing in the offseason, Alford defied the odds by making the 53-man roster. Alford served as a depth piece in the Falcons secondary for much of the year but did come up with a few big plays. In a Week 2 loss to the Rams, Alford gained his team two points with a safety. Two weeks later, he recorded a game-clinching interception over the Browns.
According to Rothstein, Alford has been rising in the offseason for Atlanta. In spring practices, Alford reportedly “took the vast majority of first-team reps at slot (cornerback).” Mike Hughes was the presumed starter at nickelback heading into the offseason, but Alford is making himself hard to ignore as he pushes for a starting role.
Here are a few other rumors coming out of the NFC South:
- A sixth-round pick for the Panthers last year, Cade Mays may find himself in a bit of a larger role than last year to start the 2023 season, according to Joseph Person of The Athletic. With starting right guard Austin Corbett still recovering from an ACL repair surgery, Mays has reportedly stepped up this offseason. While his rookie year saw him block out of the backfield in short-yardage situations, Mays is in line to begin the season as a starter at right guard for Carolina.
- The Saints are no strangers to injuries in the past few years. They are feeling it the worst this season in the wide receiving corps, where we got some recent updates from Terrin Waack of nola.com. Michael Thomas‘s woes continued thanks to toe surgery that landed him on injured reserve last year. He’s “slowly but surely” working his way back but is, reportedly, “still not full-go.” Last year’s rookie sensation Chris Olave missed the end of minicamp with an inflamed Achilles tendon but is expected to be okay. The other rookie from last year, Rashid Shaheed, suffered a groin injury in organized team activities that held him out of minicamp. He’s also expected to be fine by the time camp rolls around.
Latest On Steelers’ ILB Situation
The Steelers will have quite a different look at inside linebacker in 2023 than they had in 2022. Free agency took a toll on the room in the offseason but still helped them to reload a bit at the position. In a mailbag Q&A this week, Mark Kaboly of The Athletic addressed the question of whether or not Pittsburgh did enough to address the position this spring. 
First, let’s address the losses. All three of the team’s top contributors at inside linebacker departed in free agency in the offseason. Myles Jack was heading into the second year of the two-year contract he had signed to join the Steelers last year, but the team, instead, decided to release the veteran linebacker to open up about $8MM of cap space. After being allowed to test his market in free agency, Devin Bush signed a one-year contract in Seattle. Lastly, Robert Spillane, who served as a spot starter and factored heavily into the defensive rotation last year, also found his way to free agency, departing for Las Vegas.
That left three holes atop the roster at inside linebacker, including two starting spots. For one spot, the team signed former Commanders linebacker Cole Holcomb. A fifth-round pick for Washington back in 2019, Holcomb was an immediate starter as a rookie. This wasn’t the first time that Holcomb had surpassed expectations as, in college, he earned a scholarship after initially walking on at North Carolina. He’s now started 48 of the 50 games he’s appeared in, but injuries have kept him from appearing in a possible 16 additional games. Most crucially, he missed 10 games in 2022 due to a knee injury in November and foot surgery that ended his season in December. If healthy, though, Holcomb can certainly perform as the team’s top linebacker. His best season saw him rank as the league’s 23rd best linebacker, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), in 2020, and despite his injuries, he ranked 35th in 2022.
Another spot was filled by former Patriots and Dolphins linebacker Elandon Roberts. An eighth-year veteran, Roberts had a bit of a breakout year in 2022. After seeing his role diminish over his final years with the Patriots, Roberts found a way to improve over each season in Miami. Finally starting in every game of the season in 2022, Roberts recorded career-highs in total tackles (107), tackles for loss (10), and sacks (4.5) and tied a career-high in quarterback hits (6). He’s never graded out highly by PFF standards as a full-service linebacker, but last year, Roberts topped all NFL linebackers with an 89.2 pass rushing grade.
Pittsburgh is planning on filling the third hole internally by putting more responsibility on the shoulders of Mark Robinson to fill Spillane’s role from last year. A seventh-round pick for the team in 2022, Robinson only appeared in four games last season, making two starts in the final two games of the year. The Steelers have taken their time with Robinson, who had only played one season at linebacker in college after switching from running back. The team seems confident in Robinson’s ability to step up in Year 2. They relied on him last year in the team’s last two games against the Ravens and Browns, two run-heavy teams, and he may play a similar role this year.
For depth at inside linebacker, the team brought in Nick Kwiatkoski and Tanner Muse. Kwiatkoski has past experience as a full-time starter but hasn’t started a game since the 2020 season. Muse is primarily a special teamer.
So, did the Steelers do enough to address the losses at the position? It may be too soon to say whether they’ve successfully filled the holes in the roster. They did a lot, and the holes are filled, but whether they’ve been filled effectively has yet to be determined. Kaboly does think that the team has done enough to at least satisfy the demands of the roster. He doesn’t believe that the team will continue to pursue Kwon Alexander or other free agents, barring injury to the three players above. Unless Holcomb, Roberts, and Robinson make it clear that they can’t handle the duties of the position, Kaboly believes that “the 90 they have is the 90 they will bring to camp.”
Colin Kaepernick Staying In Shape, Talks Raiders Workout
Colin Kaepernick is still staying prepared in case an NFL opportunity comes his way. The former 49ers quarterback told Sports Illustrated’s Gilberto Manzano that he’s training at least five days each week with an eye on eventually getting another NFL call.
“I’m going to keep pushing,” Kaepernick says. “I’m going to keep fighting for it because I know I can step on the field and play. Every workout, every opportunity I’ve had to show that, the feedback has always been positive. Everything from, ‘He’s still an elite player,’ to ‘The workout was great; it was better than expected.’
“When I had my workout with the Raiders last year, even training with guys, there’s a decent amount of people who may have forgotten what I was capable of doing on the field, so any chance to be able to remind people of what I can do out there, I look forward to and embrace, and I look forward to the day that I get to step on the field and show people what I can do.”
As Kaepernick noted, he earned his first NFL workout in years when he auditioned for the Raiders in 2022. Ultimately, the team decided to opt for the likes of Jarrett Stidham and Nick Mullens to serve as Derek Carr‘s backup, and Kaepernick found himself questioning the organization’s logic for the moves.
“I’ve heard a lot of excuses over the years,” Kaepernick says, “but most of the time it ends up, ‘Oh, we’re going to see how the guys that we have do.’ With the Raiders’ situation last year, that was Stidham and Nick Mullens, which to me, you just compare résumés and capabilities, on top of the workout and the feedback, it’s like, ‘O.K., cool.’
“Obviously, there’s something else within this decision. To me, that’s typically what it ends up being, or has been for the last seven years. So, I just want the opportunity to come in, show what I can do on the field. Judge me based upon that, not the political bias that you have.”
Despite not getting an offer in Las Vegas, Kaepernick still apparently left a good impression, with some reports praising his arm strength and conditioning. Back at the time, there were rumors that a handful of other teams were also considering bringing in the QB for a visit. However, the 35-year-old hasn’t had any reported visits since that time, and he told Manzano that he doesn’t currently have any scheduled workouts on the docket.
Prior to his visit with the Raiders, Kaepernick hadn’t been on the NFL radar for years. Kaepernick met with the Seahawks in 2017 and threw in front of a handful of NFL personnel at a Georgia workout he reorganized at the 11th hour two years later. The QB hasn’t seen the field for an NFL game since New Year’s Day in 2017, and years later, the NFL settled with Kaepernick (and Eric Reid) on a collusion lawsuit, with the QB claiming he was exiled from the league after his protests of racial injustice during the national anthem.
Latest On Joe Burrow, Bengals Contract Negotiations
The Bengals have been negotiating a new deal with Joe Burrow for months, and with the offseason all but over, the front office’s current top priority is extending their franchise quarterback.
[RELATED: Bengals Pick Up Joe Burrow’s Fifth-Year Option]
Since we last learned in May that Burrow was taking a hands-on approach to negotiations, there haven’t been many updates. As Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic writes, there may be a reason for the holdup, with sources attributing the slow-going nature of negotiations to “outside forces at play.”
Dehner surmises that both the Bengals and Burrow may be waiting to see how Justin Herbert‘s negotiations unfold with the Chargers. That impending extension would be the “final piece of the puzzle” that would allow both Burrow and the Bengals to feel comfortable about the QB’s market.
Of course, both sides have kept negotiations “close to the vest,” and Dehner cautions that any reports on specific contract details would likely be speculation. In other words, there’s no reason for Bengals fans to fret over the lack of reports coming out of Cincinnati.
Burrow has quickly put himself in position to be one of the highest-paid QBs in the NFL, having guided the Bengals to a Super Bowl appearance in 2021 before tossing a career-high 35 touchdowns during his third NFL season. Jalen Hurts and Lamar Jackson recently eclipsed the $50MM-per-year mark on their new contracts, and Burrow will likely be eyeing a similar payout on his next deal.
The former first-overall pick has one year remaining on his rookie pact, and he will be tied to a 2024 salary of $29.5MM given the Bengals’ decision to pick up his fifth-year option. There’s no true urgency to agree to an extension, but considering some of the other Bengals players due new contracts, some cost certainty at the QB position should only help the front office.
Keep Up With NHL Free Agency At Pro Hockey Rumors
NHL free agency is about to begin, and Pro Hockey Rumors (@ProHockeyRumors on Twitter) is your go-to source for all the breaking news, rumors, and transactions involving all 32 teams in the league.
In the weeks leading up to free agency, we’ve already witnessed a flurry of trade activity that has set the stage for what promises to be an exciting offseason. Former All-Stars and marquee players like Alex DeBrincat, Connor Hellebuyck, and Mark Scheifele have been at the center of trade speculation as teams look to make big moves and reshape their rosters for the upcoming season in a tight salary cap environment.
One of the most surprising moves so far was the trade that sent original expansion draft selection Reilly Smith from the Vegas Golden Knights to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Smith, who sits near the top of many franchise leaderboards for Vegas, was not expecting to be on the move, but the Penguins acquired the veteran fresh off a Stanley Cup so that Vegas had the cap room to re-sign Ivan Barbashev to a long-term extension.
But keeping up with free agency, there are several intriguing names hitting the market this year. Veteran forward Matt Duchene, who was bought out by the Nashville Predators yesterday, is expected to draw significant interest from contending teams looking to bolster their top-six forward group. There’s also one of the greatest American-born players of all time available in former Chicago Blackhawks right wing Patrick Kane, who’s coming off a hip resurfacing procedure that could impact his market value. Defenseman Dmitry Orlov is also one of the top players available after a strong end to the season with the record-setting Boston Bruins.
Pro Hockey Rumors will be your one-stop destination for all the latest updates on these stories and more. Our writing team will provide comprehensive coverage of the free agency frenzy as teams look to make key acquisitions and bring their 2023-24 rosters into focus. Stay tuned to Pro Hockey Rumors on Twitter – @ProHockeyRumors – for real-time updates and analysis. The NHL offseason is about to heat up, and we’ll be there every step of the way to keep you informed and entertained.
Josh Harris Not Expected To Make Major Changes Following Commanders Sale
Josh Harris will officially become the Commanders owner later this month. While Daniel Snyder‘s sale of the team will surely have a long-lasting impact on the organization, the new owner isn’t expected to make any immediate changes.
[RELATED: Date Set For Vote On Commanders Sale Ratification]
According to Ben Standig of The Athletic, Harris isn’t expected to “make major staff changes” when he officially takes over the organization. This includes the job status of team president Jason Wright, with a source telling Nicki Jhabvala and Mark Maske of the Washington Post that Wright will “absolutely have the opportunity to perform in his role.”
Wright was hired by the Commanders in 2020, becoming the first Black team president in NFL history. As Jhabvala and Maske write, the executive was hired to “improve the workplace culture of a franchise embroiled in controversy,” and Wright did help navigate the organization through multiple investigations and eventual “senior business personnel” overhauls.
The team president has also faced criticism, mostly when it comes to near-league-bottom ticket sales over the past two years. Wright also drew some ire when it came to the Commanders’ “missteps in honoring the late Sean Taylor, a bounced raffle check and the tepid public response to its new name.”
Harris isn’t expected to shake things up, at least right away. Per Standig, the owner intends to “take his time to evaluate current staff before considering changes.” This buys executives like Wright some extra time to build a rapport with their new boss, but as Standig points out, Harris surely has “a list of potential executives to join him in Washington.”
It sounds like Harris also won’t make any rash decisions when it comes to the coaching staff and front office, including head coach Ron Rivera and general manager Martin Mayhew. Of course, considering the timing of the sale, it seemed extremely unlikely that Harris would shake up those two areas of the operation with training camp rapidly approaching.
A league meeting has been scheduled for July 20 to ratify the Commanders sale. As the Washington Post notes, Harris and his group aren’t allowed to “to speak with employees of the team about future changes” until that time.
Check Out The Latest On NBA Free Agency At Hoops Rumors
NBA free agency officially got underway yesterday evening, and our sister site Hoops Rumors has all the latest news, rumors and transactions for each of the league’s 30 teams.
39 players reportedly signed contracts yesterday, including seven players receiving nine-figure deals. Three contract extensions are also in the works, including a couple of rookie scale max extensions for Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton and Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane.
This morning, we’ve already seen a three-team sign-and-trade that will send Max Strus to the Cavaliers after a strong playoff run with the Heat, while reigning EuroLeague MVP Sasha Vezenkov will be coming stateside, agreeing to a three-year, $20MM contract with the Kings.
Plenty of players on our top-50 free agents list are still on the board, including a couple of former All-Stars in D’Angelo Russell and Brook Lopez. And we’re still awaiting news on former MVP James Harden‘s next destination after he requested yet another trade.
For the latest updates on those stories and more, check out Hoops Rumors today! There will be a whirlwind of activity over the next couple of weeks as teams reshape their rosters for next season, and we’ll be covering it all. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter – @HoopsRumors.