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Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman John Urschel has quit the NFL just days after the world's biggest study into a degenerative brain disease showed that it affects 99 per cent of players. The study, which was announced on Tuesday, found that out 111 NFL players' brains examined by Boston University, 110 showed signs of damage due to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). That news so shook Urschel - who is studying for a mathematics PhD at MIT in the off-season - that he quit on Thursday, a friend told ESPN. Urschel, who is 26, is studying spectral graph theory, numerical linear algebra...

The 25-year-old was linked to a shoplifting arrest Monday, then cut by Dallas later in the day — before it came out on Tuesday that the man who was charged with petty larceny in Prince William County, Va., wasn’t actually him at all. Police had misidentified the suspect. SNIP The undrafted pick in 2015 had spent the last two seasons in Dallas. This offseason has been a busy one for him: Before the mistaken identity mess, Whitehead’s dog was stolen and held for ransom last week.

Atlanta Falcons receiver Julio Jones recently took a tumble off a Jet Ski, and when he emerged from the lake waters, he was missing something. One of his diamond earrings, reportedly valued at about $150,000, had fallen out. So the All-Pro receiver hired a dive team to scour Georgia's Lake Lanier to recover the lost jewelry, according to a report by WXIA-TV in Atlanta. Divers, who went as far down as 65 feet, came up empty-handed on Tuesday, WXIA reported. "It's down in crevasses and nooks and crannies," Richard Pickering, one of the salvage divers, told WXIA. "It's impossible --...

To improve their individual pay, NFL players need to improve their collective pay. To improve their collective pay, they need to be willing to strike. “If we want to get anything done, players have to be willing to strike,” Sherman said at Wednesday night’s ESPYs in L.A., via Deadspin.com. “That’s the thing that guys need to 100 percent realize. You’re going to have to miss games, you’re going to have to lose some money if you’re willing to make the point, because that’s how MLB and NBA got it done.”

TV networks including ESPN are bracing for a drop in advertising revenue for football games in the coming season, which could drag down sales growth for sports broadcasts overall, advertising and television executives say. A decline in ratings for National Football League games last season has hurt sales this year, along with a saturated market for college games and spending cuts by drug and auto companies, said the executives, who asked not to be identified discussing private talks. While a few deals have yet to close, some of the biggest sponsors have indicated they’ll be spending less. While the networks...

Last year, the NFL’s declining ratings, in the face of zombie hordes, presidential campaign fatigue, and general public indifference (along with, maybe, a touch of political protest), dominated much of the early-season conversation. Ratings rebounded as the year wore on, however, and the Super Bowl pulled in its usual nine-figure viewer total. But now we’re seeing the reverberations of that ratings slip, as well as other indications of a break in the ever-increasing ad market, and the news isn’t ideal for the NFL and its broadcast partners. Ad Age reports that preseason ad spending is the softest since the 2008...

After a nearly double-digit ratings freefall last year, the NFL experiences a lighter than expected demand for advertising buys for the upcoming season. “A number of factors have conspired to cast a bit of a pall over this year’s NFL market, which some insiders say is the softest since the Great Recession of 2008,” Ad Age points out. “For example, a number of marquee clients have slashed their pro football spend, while a few load-bearing categories aren’t committing anywhere near as many dollars to the NFL as they did a year ago. A source for Ad Age estimates a two...

While Colin Kaepernick awaits an offer that’s unlikely to come to rejoin the NFL, could he take his fight from the court of public opinion to a court of law? The NFL is under no legal requirement to employ Kaepernick. No judge could compel a team to sign him. But the quarterback, who has been passed over repeatedly for jobs this offseason — jobs that have gone to far less accomplished passers — could potentially sue the league.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is giving up the legal fight over the name of the Washington Redskins. In a letter to a federal appeals court, the department said last week's Supreme Court decision in Matal v. Tam in favor of an Asian-American band calling itself the Slants means the NFL team will prevail in a legal battle to cancel the team's trademarks because the name is disparaging to Native Americans.

Perhaps no athlete in sports is subject to more scrutiny than an NFL quarterback. The fortunes of a franchise either rise or fall based largely on who is receiving the snaps from center. We identified the top all-time quarterbacks for every NFL team and asked our NFL Nation beat reporters -- and you, the fans -- to help us determine each signal-caller's place in franchise history. Follow the links below for the final results for every team and each reporter's personal ranking:

By Jon Machota , Staff Writer Contact Jon Machota on Twitter: @jonmachota I predicted the outcome for every Cowboys game after the 2017 NFL regular-season schedule was released in April. At the time, I had Dallas going 10-6, the same record I predicted in 2016. One difference is that I had the Cowboys winning the division last year. At first glance, I had them finishing second this year to the New York Giants, but earning a wild card spot. Having been able to see what they did in the draft and watch offseason practices, I've gone back through my projections....

Former NFL player Ryan O'Callaghan has come out as gay, revealing that his anguish over his sexuality drove him to write a suicide note. The New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs lineman told Outsports that fear of rejection spurred him to hide his homosexuality. He even built a cabin near his Kansas City home and bought guns, planning to take his secret to the grave. It is still exceedingly rare for top-flight male US athletes to come out. The 33-year-old told Outsports, a website focused on LGBT issues in sport, that he realised he was gay while at high...

Linebacker David Harris has agreed to a two-year deal with the New England Patriots, a source told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter on Wednesday. The New York Jets released Harris on June 6 after being unable to agree on a pay cut with the linebacker, who played 10 seasons for the team.

At least the New York Jets have a plan. It’s “The Sham for Sam,” or whatever clever nickname you have for tanking to draft USC quarterback Sam Darnold next April. When a team bottoms out, it usually doesn’t happen this fast. There are signs of erosion, a slow decline to the bottom, then a tough decision to rebuild. Not for the Jets. The fall was steep and sudden. The Jets spent big in 2015, with $168 million going to five free agents. They finished 10-6 in coach Todd Bowles’ first season. One year ago, they were considered playoff contenders.

RUSH: Hey, the Supreme Court has handed down a decision that’s gonna have some ramifications. They have ruled for, in favor of an Asian-American rock band that calls themselves The Slants. Snerdley, you’re a big music guy. Have you ever heard of The Slants, Asian-American rock band called The Slants? I never have. You have heard of them? You like their music? Ohhh, but you’ve not heard their music, you never heard of ’em ’til the story hit? All right. Well, get this. In a win for Asian-American rock band The Slants — and this has got possible ramifications, good...

Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who refused to stand during the playing of the National Anthem, has raised the level of his stupidity and ignorance to new heights by likening the police to "the fugitive slave patrol." Kaepernick made his comments following the not guilty verdict in the trial of a Minnesota police officer charged with murdering a black motorist during a traffic stop. The quarterback, who, unsurprisingly is having trouble finding a job, tweeted a picture of a police badge and a badge worn by agents for Southern state governments charged with hunting down fugitive slaves. A system that...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday struck down part of a law that bans offensive trademarks in a ruling that is expected to help the Washington Redskins in their legal fight over the team name. The justices ruled that the 71-year-old trademark law barring disparaging terms infringes free speech rights. The ruling is a victory for the Asian-American rock band called the Slants, but the case was closely watched for the impact it would have on the separate dispute involving the Washington football team. Slants founder Simon Tam tried to trademark the band name in 2011, but the...

NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick compared police officers to fugitive slave patrolmen after a Minnesota officer was acquitted in the shooting death of a black motorist. Kaepernick tweeted his displeasure with the verdict, with a graphic reading "You can't ignore your history - always remember who they are." Between the lines, a police badge is shown side-by-side with a "fugitive slave patrol" badge.

I’m no expert on political stances that unemployed NFL quarterbacks should embrace on Twitter to ensure that they have a chance to play in the league again, but comparing modern day police officers to slave catchers probably isn’t helpful. Yet that’s exactly what Colin Kaepernick did yesterday in the wake of a jury verdict he disagreed with. Yesterday an Hispanic police officer who shot Philandro Castile in Minnesota last summer was found not guilty of all charges by a jury. Then Kaepernick Tweeted this:

.....Last year, four Dolphins protested police violence against African-Americans, by kneeling during the national anthem. Dolphins owner Stephen Ross stood up for his players, saying they had the right to do it. ....Martin Luther King III was at Dolphins minicamp Thursday as part of Ross's RISE Initiative. King was helping the players register....