REPORTS: BUCS, NT VITA VEA AGREE TO ONE-YEAR, $30M EXTENSION
Buccaneers nose tackle Vita Vea agreed to a one-year contract extension worth $30 million on Wednesday, closing the book on a standoff between Tampa Bay and its two-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman.
Vea is under contract for the next two seasons at a total of $54 million and is expected to resume practicing with the team. He had been a “hold in” while the Buccaneers addressed his financial concerns.
Vea, the 12th pick in the 2018 draft, has only played for the Buccaneers. He has played at least 13 games in seven of eight seasons in Tampa Bay.
General manager Jason Licht declined to engage in discussions about trading Vea when he informed the team of his discontent before training camp.
“I’m never comfortable playing without him,” Licht said earlier this month.
Vea, who has 35 sacks in 112 career games, will now earn an additional $6 million this season, according to multiple reports.
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RAVENS C DANNY PINTER (LEG) CARTED OFF FROM JOINT PRACTICE
Baltimore center Danny Pinter, competing to be the starter in his first season with the Ravens, was carted off the field with an apparent leg injury during a joint practice with the Minnesota Vikings on Wednesday in Eagan, Minn.
Ravens first-year head coach Jesse Minter ran over from the defensive side of the field to check on Pinter, who left with a brace on his right leg after being examined by medical staff, per reports.
“I don’t have any updates yet,” Minter said. “We’ll probably, hopefully as he gets some things done, gets some tests done, and we’ll see how that shakes out.”
Baltimore is seeking a replacement for three-time Pro Bowl center Tyler Linderbaum, 26, who signed with the Las Vegas Raiders as a free agent in March.
Pinter, 30, started the preseason opener against the Philadelphia Eagles on Saturday and has taken most of the first-team reps since joining the team.
Indianapolis selected Pinter in the fifth round of the 2020 NFL Draft out of Ball State.NFL updates
Pinter appeared in all 17 Colts games last season, making one start and playing on 13% of the offense snaps (138) and 17% of special teams snaps (79).
For his career, Pinter played either guard or center in 77 regular-season games (10 starts) for the Colts between 2020 and 2025 — missing the 2023 campaign due to a broken ankle sustained that August. He also caught his only target for 2 yards and a touchdown in 2021.
Pinter is listed as the starter on the Ravens’ initial depth chart, followed by veteran center Ethan Pocic, 31, and Jovaughn Gwyn, 27. Pocic, another free-agent acquisition, started all 13 games he played last season for Cleveland, and 97 of 114 in his nine seasons with the Seattle Seahawks (2017-21) and Browns (2022-25).
“It’s why you sign guys like that,” Minter said of Pocic. “It’s to put them in the competition and two, to make sure you have enough in that situation. You never want to see anybody go down, but I certainly feel good about the way (Gwyn) played in the game and, obviously, about Ethan and the way he’s played throughout his whole career.”
Gwyn has played in 19 games with no starts in three seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, who picked him in the seventh round of the 2023 draft.
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REPORT: CB TREVON DIGGS SIGNING WITH SEAHAWKS
Two-time Pro-Bowl cornerback Trevon Diggs is signing a one-year deal with the Seattle Seahawks, ESPN reported on Wednesday.
Financial terms were not disclosed for Diggs, who had a tryout with the team on Tuesday.
Seattle also plans to sign former Detroit Lions cornerback Terrion Arnold. However, he is expected to land on the Commissioner’s Exempt List.
Diggs, who turns 28 next month, split last season between the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers. He played in the regular-season finale for the Packers, in addition to logging one snap in the team’s wild-card loss to the Chicago Bears.
Diggs broke out onto the scene in 2021, as he led the league in interceptions with 11 — returning two for touchdowns — and was named to the Pro Bowl along with the All-Pro nod. He was rewarded with a five-year, $97 million contract extension in July 2023.Football news
But Diggs has dealt with multiple injuries since then, playing in just 22 games over the last three campaigns. He tore his ACL two games into the 2023 season and missed the final six games of 2024 with a left knee injury.
Diggs found himself on the injured reserve list again this past season, reportedly to help strengthen a problem with his right knee, though he reportedly also suffered a concussion at his home.
He was released by the Cowboys shortly after he didn’t fly home with the team on Christmas after a win over the Washington Commanders. Head coach Brian Schottenheimer said that Diggs was waived for multiple reasons, not just because he didn’t fly home with the team.
In 67 career regular-season games (64 starts), the 2020 second-round pick has 20 interceptions, 63 passes defensed and 242 tackles across six seasons with the Cowboys and Packers.
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A LEFT TACKLE CAN MAKE $4M IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL, NOT THE NFL. IS THIS PAY FOR PLAY?
Left tackle Dan Moore of the Tennessee Titans can list all the sponsorship deals he has done as a pro on one hand: A few meet and greet opportunities when he was with the Steelers, a grill company that gave him some barbecue tools in exchange for his endorsement.
Million-dollar deals? No such thing, especially for someone playing his position. If he were in college — a talented offensive lineman with a chance to make his team a national contender — that might be different.
“It’s only been five years since NIL started,” said Moore, who heads into his sixth year in the NFL this season. “Another five years, and we could see college football becoming semi-pro.”
And that, in short, is the not-so-hidden secret driving a new era in college sports. It is a business rebuilt to allow players to cash in on their name, image and likeness fame, one that pays exorbitant prices to athletes under the guise that the money isn’t a salary, but rather a payment for services the athletes provide through sponsorship deals.
That’s the way many of the headline-grabbing six- and seven-figure payments that go to college players for so-called “third party NIL” can truly comport with the NCAA rulebook. And that rulebook — for all its rapid changes in recent years — refuses to do away with the fading notion that college athletes aren’t pros who can be paid merely to show up and play.
One of these things is not like the other … or is it?
Mike McGlinchey, a ninth-year NFL right tackle with the Denver Broncos, has a contract worth $52 million in guaranteed money but he doesn’t have a sponsorship deal. That puts him in the majority of NFL offensive linemen, who either don’t need to work extra for more income or aren’t well-known enough to grab much more than a local deal or two.
Of the 20 biggest NFL endorsement deals listed by Sportico – a list that starts with Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce at $32 million – not a single one belongs to a lineman.
But in college, there’s Jordan Seaton, the five-star left tackle who was one of Deion Sanders’ biggest signings at Colorado, then left the Buffs to play at LSU. There, in the heart of SEC country, Seaton reportedly makes $4 million for pitching a national chain pharmacy, a fast-food restaurant, a personal finance firm and others.
It’s a far cry from what McGlinchey envisioned when NIL arrived five years ago; he graduated from Notre Dame long before the era of paying college players began.
“What I thought NIL was supposed to mean was a local Ford dealership in South Bend puts the offensive line on a billboard and gives us a truck to drive around for six months,” he said. “Now, NIL means, ‘We have collectives of money and the one with the biggest checkbook is going to win.’ They’ve used name-image-likeness to open the floodgates to say. ‘We’re going to pay the most to get this kid.’”
Among the 20 highest-paid NFL endorsers are quarterbacks Geno Smith ($1.5 million), Sam Darnold ($1 million) and Deshaun Watson ($750,000).
All of those amounts are less than what the top 10 college players make in sponsorships, according to On3, which tracks college NIL deals, none of which are disclosed by schools. It’s a list that includes Seaton but does not include college football’s most widely recognizable name: Arch Manning, who reportedly took a pay cut this year to $2.5 million to help Texas beef up its roster.
Niklas Myhr, an associate professor at Chapman University and an expert in digital marketing, acknowledges the nod-nod, wink-wink element to all these NIL deals, but also thinks some of the numbers are the product of what he calls an “immature market.”
“Basically, there is no mature market for 20-year-old amateur athletes the way there is for sneakers,” he said. “So it’s basically reverse engineering a market.”
College Sports Commission tries to rein in the ‘wild wild West’
There is an agency in charge of enforcing the rules with the objective of putting guardrails around a spending spree exacerbated by a transfer portal that encourages players to seek better offers from different schools.
Among the 14-month-old College Sports Commission’s top missions is making sure companies partnered with schools — “associated entities” — are paying players an amount within a “fair range of compensation” compared to what others might receive for the same services. The CSC also verifies that those companies are using the athlete’s NIL for a “valid business purpose” — i.e., to promote goods and services provided to the general public for profit, as opposed to hanging onto, or “warehousing,” the NIL rights for future use or having the player simply show up to an event to shake hands.
“The valid business purpose, proper range of compensation evaluation is a key part of answering that question,” said Greg Sankey, the commissioner of the SEC, when asked if players were really being paid for anything beyond just showing up and playing. “And, in fact, it’s those who are signing those deals who need to answer those questions.”
Million-dollar deals for selling chicken, watches
Deals cut with non-associated entities — the definition of which has been disputed — aren’t subject to the same scrutiny. In theory, those deals, if truly between an athlete and a business with no connection to the school, are only limited by what the market will bear.
“I believe they’re arguing that coming to this high-profile college as a star player will warrant their NIL to become valuable just by brute force,” Myhr said, when asked how a brand justifies spending so much on a relatively unknown pitchman. “They believe they can predict the future value of this athlete is worth $1 million, or $4 million. That’s a stretch when it comes to transferring that (NIL) into captivating storytelling.”
While a good chunk of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ $30 million in endorsements comes from his hard-to-miss State Farm TV commercials, it would be harder to spot most of college’s best-paid pitchmen.
Quarterback Darian Mensah’s featured NIL deal with Miami – his third school in three years – is with a luxury watch company. Mensah’s NIL is believed worth $6.5 million, which is more than what all but nine current NFL players earn in endorsements, according to Sportico.
Among Seaton’s handful of NIL deals is one in which he goes on social media to tell his 77,000 Instagram followers of his love for Raising Cane’s — a chicken joint with roots in the Baton Rouge area that has strong connections to LSU. It helps explain how Seaton’s haul rose to about the same as that brought in by Livvy Dunne, the former LSU gymnast who has 5.1 million followers and is considered the highest female earner in the short history of third-party NIL.
Steve Denton, the CEO at Opendorse, which helps players find third-party NIL deals, argues the market is accurate because “college athletes have so much influence in their community that they actually perform better than influencers or creators.”
“Brands are clamoring to work with college athletes because sports is one of those things that slows people down and gets your attention,” Denton said.
Could a federal law solve the problem?
Well aware of runaway costs of third-party NIL, college sports leaders are working in Washington on a solution that could address some of the transparency issues involved in NIL. A provision in the Protect College Sports Act awaiting a vote in the Senate would more than double the revenue-sharing amount schools can pay annually to athletes to nearly $49 million.
What’s different about that pool of money is that, because it’s not considered third-party NIL, it is excluded from scrutiny by the CSC. Under NCAA rules, that money couldn’t technically be considered a salary, but by removing it from the third-party NIL rules, it would do away with needing to justify the payments as legitimate NIL.
What would remain, according to industry leaders, would be a tranche of “organic” third-party NIL deals like Seaton’s agreement with Raising Cane’s. The deals presumably would not be related to any existing arrangement with multimedia rights (MMR) partners hired by the schools that currently broker deals with players.
Jon Bishop of Playfly Sports, an MMR company that looks to find deals for players and schools, sees the bill not so much imposing a cap on spending, but creating a new, and welcome lane for that organic NIL.
“There were certain brands … that leaned in early, but many who set out thinking, ‘I don’t want be in the headlines because I paid someone on the side’ and all that stuff,” Bishop said. “So all of these things are just going to start to make a marketplace that actually will function, and I think function well.”
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JAGUARS ACQUIRING GUARD DANIEL FAALELE FROM THE GIANTS FOR A 6TH-ROUND PICK, AP SOURCE SAYS
NEW YORK (AP) — The Jacksonville Jaguars acquired guard Daniel Faalele from the New York Giants on Wednesday following a rash of injuries at the position.
The Jaguars gave up a sixth-round draft pick in 2027, according to a person with knowledge of the trade. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither side announced details. Newsday first reported the agreement.
Jaguars coach Liam Coen confirmed the deal for Faalele, a 6-foot-8, 380-pound lineman, following a joint practice with Carolina.
“Just continuing to bring depth and guys that have played meaningful reps in this league,” Coen said. “That’s something that you can’t have enough of. We came into camp with 16 (offensive linemen) and got down to about nine the other day.
“When you have some of those things occur, you want to continue to find guys that have done it, guys that have played in this league at a high level. He’s got some big size, and I’m looking forward to getting to know him. But the experience is really what matters.”
Jacksonville is down two starting linemen, and both could miss games early in the season.
Right guard Patrick Mekari recently had back surgery to alleviate a lingering issue and could start the season on short-term injured reserve, and starting right tackle Cole Van Lanen (knee) has missed all of training camp while on the physically unable to perform list. Backups Chuma Edoga, Walker Little and rookie Emmanuel Pregnon also have missed time recently in camp, although Pregnon has since returned to practice.
Faalele had been taking second-team snaps at Giants training camp but lost his best chance at a starting role when the team selected Francis “Sisi” Mauigoa with the 10th pick and planned to make him a guard.
Faalele, 26, started all 17 games for now-Giants coach John Harbaugh with Baltimore each of the past two seasons. He played in 71 NFL games, all with the Ravens, since debuting in 2022, and was one of several players who followed Harbaugh to New York.
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REPORTS: TEXANS WR JAYDEN HIGGINS HAS TORN ACL
Houston Texans wide receiver Jayden Higgins has been diagnosed with a torn ACL, multiple media outlets reported on Wednesday.
Higgins, 23, was injured in a red-zone drill during Tuesday’s joint practice against the Las Vegas Raiders. The injury is expected to keep him sidelined for the entire 2026 season.
The 6-foot-4, 214-pound Higgins recorded 41 catches for 525 yards and six touchdowns in 17 games (10 starts) during his rookie season. He was selected by Houston in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
The Texans are expected to lean heavily on Nico Collins, while the returning Tank Dell joins Xavier Hutchinson, Jaylin Noel and Justin Watson at wide receiver.
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REPORT: CHARGERS C TYLER BIADASZ (ACL) OUT INDEFINITELY
Los Angeles Chargers center Tyler Biadasz will be sidelined indefinitely after sustaining damage to his ACL and other injuries to his left knee, ESPN reported Wednesday.
Biadasz, 28, was carted off the practice field on Tuesday after getting tangled up during a joint practice with the San Francisco 49ers.
He is expected to meet with more doctors and undergo further testing to confirm the extent of his injuries and determine a plan for treatment, per ESPN.
He went to the ground with 49ers defensive tackle Sebastian Valdez falling on his lower body. Team trainers attended to Biadasz for nearly five minutes before helping him to his feet. After he was unable to put weight on his injured left leg, Biadasz was taken off the field on a medical cart.
Biadasz signed a three-year, $30 million contract in March to be the Chargers’ starting center. A veteran of six NFL seasons, he earned a 2022 Pro Bowl selection with Dallas and was expected to stabilize the youthful offensive line for quarterback Justin Herbert.
A fourth-round draft pick in 2020, Biadasz started 49 games for the Cowboys from 2021-23 and added 31 starts in two seasons with the Washington Commanders, who released him in February. While playing more than 900 snaps in each season with Washington, he allowed just four total sacks.
Rookie Jake Slaughter stepped in after Biadasz’s departure Tuesday. Slaughter, 23, was drafted in the second round out of Florida.
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EAGLES LB JONATHAN GREENARD COULD MISS START OF SEASON
Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said Wednesday he is concerned linebacker Jonathan Greenard could miss the start of the regular season.
The Eagles placed the former Pro Bowl selection on the physically unable to perform list on July 29 due to a pectoral injury sustained in a weightlifting session before training camp.
Greenard, 29, signed a four-year, $98 million contract ($50 million guaranteed) with Philadelphia after arriving in an April 24 trade that sent third-round picks in 2026 and 2027 to the Minnesota Vikings.
Greenard has a little more than three weeks to get cleared, conditioned and up to speed in Fangio’s defense before the Sept. 13 season opener against the visiting Washington Commanders.
If Greenard remains on the PUP list when Philadelphia sets its initial 53-man roster later this month, he would be required to sit out at least the first four regular-season games.
After posting double-digit sacks in back-to-back seasons with Houston in 2023 and Minnesota in 2024, Greenard had three sacks, 38 tackles and 12 quarterback hits last season. He was limited to 12 games before undergoing shoulder surgery in the offseason.
Greenard has 38 sacks, 217 tackles, 75 QB hits, eight forced fumbles and one interception (returned for a touchdown) in 77 career games (59 starts) with the Texans (2020-23) and Vikings. Houston drafted him in the third round in 2020 and he made the Pro Bowl in 2024.
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