🏈 The Touchdown Collective: An NFL division in Europe...
The future of NFL International Games, Stefon Diggs and Russell Wilson all feature to keep you ahead of the game, one play at a time
In today’s Touchdown Collective there’s the latest on Roger Goodell’s plans for expansion into Europe in Press Coverage, JJ Watt proves he still has it in Get to the Post, while Inside Zone has the scoop on Jonnu Smith trade talk. And it’s all about Mahomes and Kelce in Snap!
📰 Press Coverage
NFL Europe
Reports have surfaced in which there is a belief within the NFL Players Association that the NFL will push for a WHOLE DIVISION OF THE LEAGUE to be based in Europe in the coming years.
Commissioner Roger Goodell highlighted last week his desire for as many as 16 international games a season in a short number of years, as he said “within five years, probably”.
Mike Florio on Pro Football Talk discusses the situation, where the future of international games, how they are played – multiple road trip games back-to-back for a team, for example – and the rise in number of them is seemingly being used as a method of seeing if an expansion division in Europe would be viable.
With a potential boost of $40 billion for the league and, by extension, the current owners by doing so it’s easy to see the benefits.
New England Patriots
He hasn’t even suited up in a game yet, but Stefon Diggs might be on his way out of New England.
The wide receiver could be on the chopping block if things don’t turn around reports Boston radio host Scott Zolak of The Sports Hub (as cited by Justin Leger of NBC Sports Boston), who said Diggs could be cut – and not just because of the infamous Memorial Day weekend boat video.
Zolak said: “I came to this show yesterday with the opinion – not opinion, but the knowledge – that it is on the table. That it is being thought of. And it’s not just the boat. It’s not just the boat. There are some other things that I’ve heard that put some things in question. Are you all-in here?”
Cleveland Browns
Deion Sanders says his son Shedeur’s Draft slide did “hurt”.
Shedeur was eventually picked up by Cleveland but speaking on a podcast (which you can see below) Deion hit back at rumours of his son’s lack of professionalism in his pre-Draft meetings.
“They want to create these narratives and create these stories and then attach them to a kid that ain’t never done nothing wrong,” Sanders said. “Anybody who knows my son understands he’s a professional.”
Sanders said seeing his son drop in the Draft was a tough pill to swallow, though.
“It did hurt,” Sanders said. “It did hurt.”
Detroit Lions
The Lions will have it all to do if they are to reach the Super Bowl this year with a “brutal” schedule, according to coach Dan Campbell.
Detroit face nine games against teams which made the post-season in 2024, with six of those on the road. But Campbell believes it will just make the Lions ready to roar in the play-offs this time around as Christian Booher on SI.com reports…
“I mean, to me, by the end of the year, we ought to be just scarred up, you know. We should be scarred up and ready to go, hardened for battle, and ready for the play-offs. There’ll be nothing easy about it. You still, just to get through our own division, is going to be brutal. But it’s the right kind of brutal.”
Meanwhile, Campbell has high expectations for receiver Jameson Williams in his fourth year, reports Eva Geitheim.
New York Giants
Russell Wilson says the pressure in New York won’t be too much for him as he doesn’t “mind the lights”.
QB Wilson will be the Giants’ starter this year but with rookie Jaxson Dart getting off to a fast start at OTAs and having signed his $17m rookie deal, Wilson knows he will have to be firing from the start.
Speaking on the 7PM in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony podcast, he said: “I don’t mind the lights. I don’t mind that part of it. I think the other part of it for me, most importantly, is I’ve been here before. When you walk into a stadium, into a locker room and you know, like my locker is the same locker I had when I won the Super Bowl.
“So, for me, when I see that, when I walk into the stadium I’m like, I’ve been here before. Not just been here but, like, we did this before.
“So, I fundamentally believe it’s possible again in terms of being successful again and being at the highest level.”
↗ Get to the Post
I, for one, cannot wait…⏳
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…meanwhile, JJ Watt can still get up…
…and there is plenty of Pride around the NFL at the moment…
Players move on all the time, but which will have the biggest effect on the team they leave? Nick Shook takes a look here.
🤫 Inside Zone
Jordan Schultz reported on Friday that multiple teams are interested in tight end Kyle Pitts and while it is not thought Atlanta would be open to a trade for anything less than a second or third-round pick, ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler says some teams believe a deal is possible.
Brandon Aiyuk is recovering well from a brutal knee injury and the San Francisco 49ers are happy with their current group of wide receivers heading into next season, according to general manager John Lynch.
Minnesota GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has been signed to a new deal just months after head coach Kevin O’Connell also put pen to paper.
Pittsburgh have reportedly had trade talks focused on Miami Dolphins tight end Jonnu Smith, with Fox Sports’ Schultz aware the Steelers are looking for more weapons.
📸 Snap!
Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce react onstage during the Big Slick Celebrity Weekend for Children's Mercy Hospital on May 31 in Kansas City, Missouri.
📩 Who am I? I’m Michael Ham, the Daily Star Sunday and Sunday Express Sports Editor – and an avid NFL fan. I have almost 20 years of experience in sports news journalism and I’m the writer behind The Touchdown Collective. Write to me using this form with your thoughts on anything in this newsletter, things you’d like to see more of, or your view on anything NFL.
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