NFL training camp news and live updates (2024)

Puka Nacua left practice a little over an an hour into it after a team drills period, and did not return to play but stayed in uniform and helmet on sideline. He had a bag of ice wrapped around his right knee.

Sean McVay says he is “not sure” what happened.

An MRI revealed that Panthers WR Xavier Legette has a foot injury but no fracture, per a league source. He is day to day.

Panthers get good news with their first-round pick.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — The Bears’ offense had the ball with 1:10 to go in the first half at their own 30-yard line, and the drive was disastrous.

Head coach Matt Eberflus whistled the first play as a sack. Caleb Williams fumbled the next snap. On third-and-10, they ran a draw play to running back Roschon Johnson.

Eberflus had the starters run it again. This time, Williams got the chains moving with a completion to DJ Moore, but on the next play, he was flushed out of the pocket and had to scramble. Linebacker T.J. Edwards dropped an interception on the next play. On third down, Williams’ pass to Keenan Allen was incomplete.

Six plays, one completion. But two things should be noted: we’re still five weeks from the first game of the season, and Williams was operating without three starting O-linemen.

Right tackle Darnell Wright missed his third consecutive practice. Left guard Teven Jenkins left with a trainer after stretching and didn’t return. And right guard Nate Davis, who was in full pads for the first time in more than a week, took those pads off after some O-line vs. D-line drills and completed his practice off to the side with the injured players.

Defensive end Montez Sweat, nose tackle Andrew Billings, cornerback Kyler Gordon, cornerback Tyrique Stevenson and safety Jaquan Brisker remained out.

Cornerback Jaylon Johnson, one of the six defensive starters on the field Sunday, isn’t concerned.

“I feel like our biggest thing is being healthy Week 1,” he said. “We don’t win right now. You win when the games count on Sundays, when guys are healthy. For me, as long as guys are taking care of their bodies, getting back right to be available in the game, that, for me personally, that’s all that matters.”

Notes from today's Giants practice:

-The Giants followed their hardest practice of camp with their lightest on Sunday. the last 45 minutes was held at a walk-through pace. They're gearing up for joint practices with the Lions on Monday and Tuesday.

-QB Daniel Jones was accurate and efficient on a steady diet of short/intermediate passes. He had an interception on a pass that went right through TE Daniel Bellinger's hands to S Jason Pinnock. Bellinger only has one catch from Jones in team drills during camp.

-Jones hit WR Wan'Dale Robinson for a long TD on an ugly play for both sides. Some of the offensive linemen didn't move immediately when C Greg Van Roten snapped the ball. Robinson ran straight up the seam from the slot. He ran right past Pinnock, who raised his hands after the play toward rookie corner Dru Phillips, who was covering a receiver on the outside on the play. OLB Brian Burns would have had a sack on the play.

-Phillips has been getting first-team reps at slot corner the past three practices. I didn't see Nick McCloud get any reps in team periods today. Likely just a rest day.

-CB Cor'Dale Flott has been better the best two practices. It seems like his coverage is better on underneath routes. His problem has been the deep ball.

-Burns was in the backfield a lot. On one play, LT Andrew Thomas shifted to the right side pre-snap and Burns beat him. Jones was trying to go deep on the play and then scrambled after the Burns "sack."

-Undrafted rookie DT Elijah Chatman continues to get a first-team reps. He had a "sack" today.

-WR Isaiah McKenzie has been more active recently. He would have had a TD on a slant catch-and-run from QB Drew Lock after beating Tre Herndon, who was getting second-team slot corner reps.

CINCINNATI -- Offensive tackle Trent Brown has barely been part of the Bengals practices since signing a free agent in March.

He missed much of OTAs and landed on the NFI list before camp.

He’s been penciled in as the starting right tackle while placed into a battle with first-round pick Amarius Mims, but as Mims has shown well in practices Brown was cleared Sunday.

Brown has been working on the side fields, but now can officially enter the competition with Mims in camp.

The 31-year-old is in his 10th NFL season with 93 career starts, including eight last season for New England.

It may be unfair to put an injured player on this list, but Evan Neal’s stock has undoubtedly tumbled during his absence from the start of training camp due to a lingering ankle injury. First, the Giants moved Jermaine Eluemunor, who had worked exclusively at left guard during the spring, into the starting right tackle spot. Then, the Giants signed veteran guard Greg Van Roten to solidify the Eluemunor position shift as permanent.

So where does that leave Neal? There’s no way he’ll simply reclaim the starting right tackle job once he gets healthy. When that will be remains a mystery because he doesn’t appear particularly close to returning while working on the side with trainers. Neal seems destined for a swing tackle role this season. His future beyond that is murky, with Eluemunor and left tackle Andrew Thomas signed through next season, which is the final year of Neal’s rookie deal.

Read more here on the Giants stock report.

With Andy Dalton dealing with a quad injury, the Carolina Panthers plan to sign free agent QB Jake Luton, per league source.

Luton had a couple of stints on the Panthers’ practice squad last year.

COSTA MESA, Calif. — Raiders owner Mark Davis watched his team scrimmage on Saturday night with the first live tackling of training camp.

“One day closer,” he said, smiling.

We’re definitely closer to a quarterback decision, as there finally was some separation. Gardner Minshew overcame an early sack by Maxx Crosby and another hard hit by Christian Wilkins to throw the night’s only two touchdown passes, to tight end Harrison Bryant and wide receiver D.J. Turner. The first one was a 20-yard strike to a crouching Bryant at the goal-line and the second was a sideline pass that Turner turned the corner on.

Minshew also had an interception, a high pass under pressure that went through Tre Tucker’s hands and into the diving arms of Jack Jones.

Aidan O’Connell seemed to be pressing and threw two interceptions, on passes basically up for grabs in the endzone. Safety Isaiah Pola-Mao had the first pick, while rookie cornerback M.J. Devonshire came down with the second one.

Rather than make a big splash at quarterback, general manager Tom Telesco signed Minshew to a two-year, $25 million contract to compete with incumbent starter O’Connell. While Minshew’s salary is far from exorbitant for an NFL quarterback, it’s still a significant investment you only make if you believe that player can provide an upgrade. Through offseason team activities and training camp, however, both Minshew and O’Connell have been mediocre.

Head coach Antonio Pierce and offensive coordinator Luke Getsy have rotated Minshew and O’Connell with the starters on a practice-by-practice basis, but neither player has found consistent success. Before Saturday, they’ve been inaccurate, have put the ball into harm’s way too frequently, haven’t navigated pressure well in the pocket and have been unable to push the ball downfield. It can’t be a surprise that the offense collectively had a rough start to camp.

“It’s been a great battle between the two of them, and it’s gotta be tough back there with Maxx always in your face,” Pola-Mao said after Saturday’s scrimmage.

Read more from Raiders camp here.

There are many reasons the Browns added two veteran quarterbacks in the offseason, and Dorian Thompson-Robinson finishing his rookie year injured was one of them. It’s fair to think Cleveland will keep either Thompson-Robinson or Tyler Huntley as its No. 3 quarterback behind Deshaun Watson and Jameis Winston.

He’s still guaranteed nothing and will need to perform well in the preseason, but Thompson-Robinson impressed during the Greenbrier practices by throwing the ball with accuracy and confidence. And though opportunities were limited before Watson got a planned day off on Friday, Thompson-Robinson made at least one standout throw each day that featured competitive drills.

“I do think he’s (confident),” Kevin Stefanski said. “And that kind of goes back to Dorian last year. We’ve talked a lot about the growth he had in Year 1, and you expect similar growth in Year 2. And he’s really doing a nice job.”

With the first preseason game approaching, which of Cleveland's younger players could make a real push toward earning a roster spot?

Read more here on other young Browns players worth watching as training camp returns home.

The Athletic's Matt Schneidman has info on Zach Tom's return from injury, but the scene from Saturday's Packers Family Night practice was one to remember with more than 60,000 fans turning out to watch practice.

Read more here.

The Athletic has more on Steve McMichael, who spent 13 seasons with the Bears, being enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame from the comfort of his own home.

McMichael is battling ALS. Read more here.

The San Francisco 49ers are growing more impressed with 'steady Eddie' Dominick Puni with every practice. Also, in the team's longest — and feistiest — practice of the summer, running back Jordan Mason was at the center of the rough stuff.

Read more here.

Devin Hester and Andre Johnson are the first Miami Hurricanes to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame since Edgerrin James in 2020.

They are now the 10th and 11th players from the program to enter the Hall of Fame, joining James, Ted Hendricks, Michael Irvin, Jim Kelly, Cortez Kennedy, Ray Lewis, Jim Otto, Ed Reed and Warren Sapp.

Andre Johnson, who has been eligible for three years, was wildly productive for the Texans without the kind of supporting casts with which Holt and Wayne played.

His best quarterback was Matt Schaub (and he played with many others who made Schaub look like Peyton Manning or Kurt Warner), yet Johnson had five seasons with at least 100 catches, more than any wide receiver in the Hall of Fame. He also had three 1,500-yard receiving seasons, tied for second-most ever behind only Jerry Rice.

Team history: Houston Texans, 2003-14; Indianapolis Colts, 2015; Tennessee Titans, 2016.

Presenter: Gary Kubiak (former Texans coach).

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Last week, a touchdown pass from Caleb Williams to Rome Odunze in practice got a lot of attention on social media. Safety Kevin Byard chimed in — it was a helluva pass. There’s no way he would’ve picked it off. But in a game, he could’ve made a play.

“It would have to be me taking a good angle to try and knock the guy out versus trying to go for the interception,” he said Saturday. “During the practice, I really was trying to stick my hand out there because obviously I’m running towards the guy and I didn’t want it to be a full-speed collision.”

Byard joked about all the “Twitter defensive coordinators”, but it does highlight an odd dynamic in training camp. Fans want touchdowns. Touchdowns get attention. However, it’s not so simple to say a defender was beat.

For example, Byard was in coverage today when Williams threw a touchdown pass to Keenan Allen.

“I was running toward the ball and I looked up and I seen the ball, but as Keenan was falling toward the sideline, I could've easily reached up or tried to punch the ball through him,” he said. “But in my eyes, I would've had to really go through him and we didn't have no pads on. I probably would've fell on him.”

Byard is known for his durability, and this kind of mindset is part of that.

“For me, as a player who's been in this league for a while, you have to know how to practice,” he said. “Every single one of those guys, we need.”

The game always seemed to come easy to Julius Peppers — or games, plural.

Peppers spent two seasons on North Carolina’s basketball team before the Panthers drafted him second overall in 2002. The towering, 6-7 Peppers was the Defensive Rookie of the Year after a 12-sack season. And he never looked back, racking up double-digit sacks in 10 of his 17 seasons — the last one at the age of 37 in 2017 during his second stint in Carolina.

Peppers is fourth on the NFL’s career sacks list, and two of the guys ahead of him — Reggie White and Kevin Greene — spent time with the Panthers. But Peppers is the first Panthers draft pick to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

Considering his nine Pro Bowls, six All-Pro honors and his place on two NFL all-decade teams, it was pretty much a given that Peppers would get elected on his first ballot. His induction speech could be on the short side. Peppers was never much for talking, preferring to let his actions speak. Man, did they ever speak loudly.

Team history: Carolina Panthers, 2002-09, 2017-18; Chicago Bears, 2010-13; Green Bay Packers, 2014-16.

Presenter: Carl Carey (Peppers’ agent).

Broncos cornerback Levi Wallace suffered a hamstring injury during Saturday’s practice, coach Sean Payton said afterward.

Wallace, a seventh-year veteran who signed a one-year deal with the Broncos in the offseason, suffered the injury early in practice and had to helped to the locker room by a trainer.

“We’ll find out the severity of it,” Payton said.

Wallace is the second member of Denver’s secondary to suffer a hamstring injury. Brandon Jones, the safety who the Broncos signed in free agency to help replace Justin Simmons, suffered his injury last week. Jones is expected to return before the start of the regular season.

Wallace, who played for the Steelers last season entered camp in a battle for the starting cornerback spot opposite Pat Surtain II with Riley Moss, Damarri Mathis and rookie Kris Abrams-Draine.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — The Bears had three days between practices, but didn’t get back their sidelined players.

When the team returned to practice Saturday at Halas Hall, cornerback Kyler Gordon, guard Nate Davis, cornerback Tyrique Stevenson, defensive end Montez Sweat and nose tackle Andrew Billings remained out. Gordon and Davis have been out for more than a week.

Right tackle Darnell Wright wasn’t spotted on the practice field. He was absent Wednesday as well. Safety Jaquan Brisker appeared limited.

“Going to be hopeful that they're back here the next day and we have Monday off as well,” head coach Matt Eberflus said. “That's by design to be able to get guys back so we get to the thick of this training camp session where we're getting ready for Buffalo then Cincinnati joint practice then Cincinnati.”

When asked about Wright specifically, Eberflus responded, “Like I said, we’re hopeful on a lot of guys.”

The absences of Wright and Davis meant a new-look starting offensive line. Matt Pryor began at right tackle, next to Bill Murray at right guard. During another series, Larry Borom played right tackle and Pryor played right guard.

“You also saw a little bit different depth chart on the O-line today. That's fine,” Eberflus said. “We're just working guys to see if they can elevate with those groups.”

Eberflus said they’ll start having some second- and third-team players go up against the starters to “see if they can rise as we go because we never put ceilings on players.”

Looking ahead to whether or not quarterback Caleb Williams makes his NFL debut next Saturday in Buffalo, Eberflus did say that offensive line availability would be considered.

“We have to make sure that we’re right there,” he said. “(That) we feel comfortable being where we are. That’s always gonna be the case.”

For years Patrick Willis was the best thing — the only thing — to watch on some pretty awful 49ers squads. During his rookie year in 2007, he would finish with 18, sometimes 20, tackles in one game. Afterward, it was hard to reconcile that this normal-sized football player — Willis was 6-foot-1, 242 pounds — had been doing such superhuman things on the field a few minutes earlier. It was because of his size that then-coach Mike Nolan and linebackers coach Mike Singletary initially were reluctant about taking Willis with the No. 11 pick.

Willis wasn’t the traditional, bulked-up middle linebacker Nolan and Singletary were accustomed to. Instead, he used his defensive back-like speed to strike and chase down opponents, including the 2007 Offensive Rookie of the Year Adrian Peterson, whom Willis and the 49ers held to 3 yards on 14 carries in a Week 14 win that season. Willis finished with 174 tackles to lead the league and was named the Defensive Rookie of the Year.

None of his stops was more impressive than the one in which he ran down Arizona Cardinals slot receiver Sean Morey following a 62-yard chase. The game was tied 31-31 at the time, the 49ers had been caught in busted coverage and the 5-11, 193-pound Morey had a wide-open field in front of him. A touchdown that late in the game would have won it for Arizona. Willis’ speed and hustle instead forced a field-goal attempt that the Cardinals missed, and the 49ers went on to win the game in overtime.

Team history: San Francisco 49ers, 2007-14.

Presenter: Ernicka Willis (Willis’ sister).