Free Republic

Browns owner Jimmy Haslam claims he didn’t know of Johnny Manziel’s lifestyle when he drafted the former Heisman Trophy-winner last year. “I don’t know how much of Johnny’s personal life was known by everybody then,” Haslam told a press conference on Friday. Manziel currently sits in a rehabilitation facility to transition from his party lifestyle to a sober one. Manziel slipped to the 22nd pick in the 2014 draft based largely on the concerns that Haslam now suggests were largely unknown last spring. College Station police arrested the Texas A&M quarterback on alcohol-related charges after a late-night fight in 2012...

Out-of-work running back Ray Rice has issued a statement thanking the Baltimore Ravens and apologizing for his actions in a February 2014 elevator incident with his now-wife that struck a serious chord with the nation a year ago. Rice's high-profile case was the signature incident of a horrific domestic-violence swell among NFL players last season, and it raised awareness of what appeared to be a growing problem in the league. For his part, Rice apologized for his actions and thanked the city of Baltimore and the team, which released him last season once the full tape of Rice hitting his...

It was a year ago - the Sunday after Super Bowl XLVIII at 8pmET - that Michael Sam turned speculation into reality: One of college football's best players, and a top NFL prospect, was gay. In the coming months he was showered with praise. Eric Dickerson would offer him congratulations. Michael Irvin would call him his friend. Robert Quinn welcomed him to the Rams. Even the President of the United States, Barack Obama himself, would laud him.

Troy Vincent is the Executive Vice President of Football Operations for the NFL... According to news reports such as this one from ESPN he claims that Ryan Grigson, the General Manager of the Colts alerted the NFL to deflated footballs during the AFC Championship, and that it was his decision to follow through with an inspection of the balls, without informing his boss Roger Goodell. Keep in mind, the PSI of an NFL football has NEVER been inspected at the half-time of any NFL game in history... EVER! And here is the rub... Troy Vincent has strong ties to the...

Does the front office of the New England Patriots prefer to have white players on its roster? There is circumstantial evidence that may be the case. While the racial makeup of an NFL team in any given year has its share of random fluctuations, the New England Patriots have seemingly had a suspiciously large amount of white players on its teams during the Robert Kraft-Bill Belichick era. Wes Welker, Danny Amendola, Danny Woodhead, Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski, and Tom Brady — all have been some of the more prominent “faces” of the franchise in recent years, and they all happen...

He was a small business owner in Kent, WA and loved his family, work, clients, traveling, the Seahawks and life. We blame the Seahawks lousy play call for Mike's untimely demise. Mike was greatly loved and will be dearly missed.

Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll isn't sleeping well these days. Carroll and his offensive coaching staff made the infamous decision to pass the ball from New England's 1-yard line in the final seconds of Super Bowl XLIX, resulting in Russell Wilson throwing a game-ending interception.

Hitting on every draft prediction made right now would be nice, but the main purposes of this and most subsequent mocks are two-fold. They are meant to A) offer some insight into a team's needs, with the picks hopefully highlighting a current hole; and B) reveal a little bit about how the prospects are stacking up against one another.

The thousands of revelers lining the parade route fought through the traffic and braved freezing conditions to cheer on the world champions, who defeated the Seattle Seahawks 28-24 in what many are calling the greatest Super Bowl of all time. "The team is amazing," said New Hampshire native Josh Bishop, 35, who boarded a train last night from Washington D.C., to stand along the route. "It's the culmination of a bunch of hard work, getting the job done. It's time to party."

The NFL suspended Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon for at least one year without pay on Tuesday for violating the league’s policy on substance abuse. Gordon’s suspension begins immediately, the NFL said in a statement. “As we have conveyed, we are disappointed to once again be at this point with Josh,” Browns general manager Ray Farmer said. “Throughout his career, we have tried to assist him in getting support like we would with any member of our organization. Unfortunately, our efforts have not resonated with him. “It is evident that Josh needs to make some substantial strides to live...

The Nation’s Dave Zirin (the same journalist who brought us the genius idea that not cheering for the Seattle Seahawks is racist) wrote a post-Super Bowl column attributing the Seattle Seahawks’ horrible decision to throw a pass on the one-yard line in the final seconds of the game was due to “the politics of race” and an anti-Marshawn Lynch conspiracy. (VIDEO: Patriots And Seahawks Fans React To Malcolm Butler’s Interception) The theory, as relayed by Zirin, is that Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll called a pass because he wanted the young, clean-cut quarterback Russell Wilson to be seen as the...

Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin is staying tight-lipped about his end zone celebration following a touchdown catch in Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday. After the former Stanford University wideout caught a touchdown pass in the third quarter against the New England Patriots, he stood over the ball on the ground and made a motion that resembled pulling down his pants, before squatting over the ball.

RUSH: So we had the Super Bowl last night. Folks, I don't quite know how to express this. I still feel cheated. I don't think that ended up being a pro-football game. I mean, it was, but that last call -- I've looked at it every number of ways. I've listened to every excuse offered. You know, it would be wonderful if Obama would actually stand up and take responsibility for his mistakes like Pete Carroll has. If Obama had made that call last night and it blew up, Obama would say (imitating Obama), "I knew nothing about it. I...

Everyone knew it was coming. Second-and-1 on the 1-yard line. Marshawn Lynch was waiting in the backfield, poised to do what he was put on this Earth to do: Get a touchdown — this touchdown. The football gods had telegraphed how they wanted the game to end, directing a floating ball straight into Jermaine Kearse’s hands. Beast Mode was going to drag the New England team kicking and screaming into the end zone if he had to. But the play call came in, Russell Wilson attempted a doomed pass that Malcolm Butler intercepted, and it was Seattle that punched and...

Warren Sapp should have gone to sleep. The 42-year-old Hall of Fame defensive tackle, who was covering the Super Bowl for NFL Network, was arrested early Monday at a hotel in Phoenix for soliciting a prostitute — around 7 a.m., according to TMZ. In addition to solicitation, Sapp also was arrested for assault. NFL Network suspended Sapp indefinitely, without pay, pending the outcome of the investigation, a network spokesperson said.

The Church of Scientology has aired a Super Bowl ad in light of ongoing controversy over a Sundance documentary centered on the religion. The ad features voiceover accompanied by quick clips of footage including a person hiking, a DNA strand and a close-up of an eye. [READ MORE Scientology Creates Twitter Account to Discredit New Movie] "We live in an age of searching: to find solutions, to find ourselves, to find the truth," the announcer says in the ad. "Now imagine an age in which the predictability of science and the wisdom of religion combined. Welcome to the age of...

The world according to Barack Obama, as revealed in an unreal interview on CNN: "… 99.9% of Muslims who are looking for the same thing we’re looking for — order, peace, prosperity..." Dear Heavenly Father above, where to begin? With the Islamic definition of "order" as dictated/mandated by Allah, or with the civilized world's traditional english definition of "order"? A "peace" dictated by Islamic submission (jihad) or the "peace" that exists through recognition of man's free will, our unalienable rights and a respect for individual liberties? And lastly, a "prosperity" as defined by whom? By government czars, regulators and administrators...

<p>Ticket brokers had to call an audible after hundreds of Super Bowl XLIX tickets never arrived, leaving fans with no defense.</p> <p>According to ESPN, several brokers and resale sites had to refuse tickets to fans who they already bought them for the big game today in Arizona. One fan reportedly paid as much as $2,100 for tickets.</p>

<p>The New England Patriots weren't always a NFL powerhouse. Far from it.</p> <p>But for many years they have stretched the rules for the sake of winning. And that started with the infamous "snow plow game."</p> <p>In 1981, the Patriots were 2-14 and the only team to lose to the lowly Baltimore Colts — which they did twice — and ended the season with a nine-game losing streak.</p>

Super Bowl....can't find a thread...so starting this