Football

8/31/2026 |  College sports kicks off its season under the long shadow of court fights over eligibility (Associated Press (AP)) Imagine the Dallas Cowboys threatening to sue the NFC East, then teams in the division saying they won’t play them unless they remove a player from their roster. No well-run pro sports league would dream of it. 

8/31/2026 |  Another player involved in college eligibility suit gets cut by an NFL team (Associated Press (AP)) Defensive lineman Jack Pyburn was waived by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday and could be the latest player who tries to go back to college after spending time in an NFL camp.

8/31/2026 |  Walk-ons are on the decline. The ones remaining lament lost opportunities for grinders like them (Associated Press (AP)) Carson Kolb is right where he wants to be in his football career. It just took him a couple years longer than he expected — and only because he was able to capitalize on an opportunity that’s become less available in this new era of college athletics.

8/31/2026 |  A decade after Colin Kaepernick took a knee that led to his exile, the ripple effects continue (Associated Press (AP)) Nothing about Colin Kaepernick, the football player, changed on that warm Southern California night a decade ago.

Not his speed. Not his arm strength. Not the improvisational skills that made him one of the NFL’s most electrifying, if at times erratic, quarterbacks.

And to be honest, nothing changed about Colin Kaepernick, the 28-year-old man, that night either. 

8/31/2026 |  Aaron Donald ends his 2 1/2-year retirement and returns to the Los Angeles Rams (Associated Press (AP)) LOS ANGELES (AP) — Aaron Donald returned to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, ending his retirement after 2 1/2 years to chase another Super Bowl title. The 35-year-old Donald made his decision after several weeks of discussion and nearly three months of intensive workouts for a star defensive lineman who reigned atop his position in a Rams uniform from 2014 until his retirement in early 2024.