Player Notes

Mike Tomlin’s initial depth chart of the regular season lists no definitive defensive starters at inside linebacker or strong safety. The same could be said at slot corner even though Chandon Sullivan is listed ahead of Elijah Riley.The Pittsburgh Steelers coach isn’t trying his hand at gamesmanship ahead of the team’s season-opening game Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers at Acrisure Stadium.His ...

A year after the Pittsburgh Steelers had two captains designated to represent the offense, they have only one – second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett.Mitch Trubisky was an offensive captain last season after winning the starting quarterback job in training camp. The other captain was running back Najee Harris.Pickett will replace both players when it comes time to take the field for the coin toss, ...

Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers isn’t a fan of COVID-19 vaccines. He made that clear at the US Open on Sunday when his Instagram Story went viral.Rodgers posted an image of another anti-vaxxer, Novak Djokovic in action at the US Open. In it, Rodgers inserted a goat emoji with the hashtag “#NovaxDjokovic” above Djokovic mid-serve. The four-time MVP also crossed out an advertisement for Moderna in red.Below ...

Aaron Rodgers’ regular season debut with the Jets is coming quickly.Eyes will be on the four-time MVP with his new team in New York after spending the last 18 seasons with the Green Bay Packers. What will this change spark in the quarterback?Steven Ruiz of The Ringer put together his quarterback rankings ahead of Week 1 and he puts Rodgers at No. 7 and lists his weakness as “creativity.” He writes:Maybe ...

The Jets are coming into the 2023 season with a tremendous amount of hype. HBO’s “Hard Knocks” has aided in this, serving as another propaganda arm for the organization.How could they not? After a disappointing 2022 season, the team checked off just about every need during the offseason.They added the star quarterback in four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers and four-time Pro-Bowl running back Dalvin Cook. They’ve ...

Ask Joe Namath what the best part of playing quarterback for the Jets is and he gives you an answer only he can deliver.“Winning a championship,” Namath says over the phone with a chuckle. “Everybody’s happy. Everyone around in Jersey, New York, wherever. Winning.”Here’s the problem: There have been 36 starting quarterbacks for the Jets since Namath left town after the 1976 season and none of them ...

Rookie wide receiver Xavier Gipson looked terrified before learning he made the Jets’ 53-man roster.In a preview for Tuesday’s season finale of “Hard Knocks” on HBO, Gipson became overwhelmed with emotion when Jets general manager Joe Douglas and head coach Robert Saleh delivered the news.“Well, look, man,” Douglas said. “You know, the odds are stacked against you from the jump, man.“You did a lot ...

On one side of MetLife Stadium, the green side, the Florham Park side, you have Amarillo Slim: joyously yammering over his cards, happily willing to let you know how willing he is at any time to shove all his chips in the middle of the table, goading you into matching him so he can double his stack as you slink off to the ATM for more.On the other side of MetLife, the blue side, the East Rutherford ...

6-7 minutes 9/5/2023The opposing coaches used to gawk.Stand and gawk.Sometimes point, or deliberate how or why or what. But mostly, standing at the 50-yard line, they gawked.It was the way this 310-pound menace snapped off his routes in pregame warmups, cradled passes and manhandled his blocking assignments. Every movement so smooth and under control. He carried a gravity of attention, like the tallest ...