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66-year-old Hall of Famer Darrell Green seeking spot on Team USA for flag football
On a weekend when a major flag football event in Los Angeles will feature big-name NFL players, Green will be a couple hours away in Chula Vista, participating in national team trials for USA Football. If he does well, he can earn a roster spot on Team USA at the flag football world championships in Germany this summer.
“I’m going to give it my best and I’ll walk away with my head up, either way,” Green said.
Callie Brownson, senior director of high performance and national teams for USA
Football, says Green will be given a legitimate chance like all the others who qualified for the tryouts.
“Darrell qualified through our digital combine. He’s later in his career than the other trials participants, but his testing results were impressive,” Brownson told the Associated Press. “Our coaches and staff felt he deserved a closer look. . . . He’s a rare athlete who has stayed in shape and is ready to compete this week.”
It’s still unclear how the USA flag football team for the 2028 Summer Olympics will be chosen, and whether participating players will come from current NFL rosters, from the USA Football flag squad, or some combination of the two. Even if Green can make Team USA for this summer’s world championships, he’d be an extreme long shot to make the Olympics at age 68. But Green didn’t shy away from challenges in his NFL career, and he won’t start now.
Commanders.com
5 things to know about K’Lavon Chaisson
He wore the coveted No. 18 jersey at LSU.
There are several college programs that put special distinctions on certain jersey numbers. Temple, for example, reserves single-digit numbers for their best leaders. Ohio State gives the No. 0 to the player the coaches feel best represent the best parts of their culture.
LSU does something similar with their No. 7 and 18 jerseys. The latter, which Chaisson wore during his redshirt sophomore season, was originally worn by quarterback Matt Mauck, who led the Tigers to their first national championship in 50 years back in 2003. The number has since been passed down annually to the player who exemplifies LSU’s standards for leadership and has immense attention to detail.
Chaisson shared the number with center Lloyd Cushenberry, and it sounds like it was an easy decision for then-LSU head coach Ed Orgeron.
Riggo’s Rag
NFL analyst doesn’t think Brandon Aiyuk is a good fit for the Commanders
Chris Pownall of Last Word on Sports acknowledged that Aiyuk could be productive if everything stays on the straight and narrow. However, if this proves to be a distraction, serious questions will be asked about the move.
“[Brandon] Aiyuk is absolutely a productive player. That has never been in question. The concern is whether his presence aligns with what Washington needs at this stage mentally. The last thing they need is a distraction on or off the field as they continue to rebuild and develop that consistency across the board.
“Right now, Brandon Aiyuk does not seem like the right fit for Washington. Even with his past with Jayden Daniels, it is a move that could potentially blow up in Adam Peters’ face.”
It’s a cautionary tale that seems to have gotten lost amid the excitement. Aiyuk was among the league’s best pass-catchers, but he hasn’t played since midway through the 2024 campaign. He’s not exactly covered himself in glory by shutting off contact with the Niners, though the franchise isn’t without blame either.
General manager Adam Peters seems comfortable enough, based on his comments about Aiyuk at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine. Obviously, Daniels will give this move his seal of approval. The wideout should also be focused and on his best behavior, eager to silence his doubters and make the Niners pay for voiding the guarantees in his contract.
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Eagles-Falcons trade: Sydney Brown to Atlanta in draft pick swap
A look at the terms of the deal:
PHILADELPHIA EAGLES RECEIVE — 2026 fourth-round pick (No. 114 overall), 2026 sixth-round pick (No. 197 overall)
ATLANTA FALCONS RECEIVE — S Sydney Brown, 2026 fourth-round pick (No. 122 overall), 2026 sixth-round pick (No. 215 overall)
So, the Eagles moved up eight spots in the fourth round of the 2026 NFL Draft … plus 18 spots in the sixth round … to move off of Brown and clear about $1.5 million in cap space.
The Eagles originally had high hopes for Brown when they selected him with a high third-round pick (No. 66 overall) in the 2023 NFL Draft. He showed some promise as a rookie before suffering an Achilles injury that lingered into the 2024 season. Brown was limited to just 79 defensive snaps in his second season.
Injury issues forced Brown into 249 defensive snaps in 2025 and he notably struggled when he was on the field. The Chicago Bears game was especially bad; he played just nine defensive snaps the rest of the season after that (excluding Week 18 when the Eagles rested starters).
It became quite clear that Vic Fangio didn’t trust Brown to play. Though physically talented, Brown seemed to struggle with the mental part of the safety position. He was also reckless on special teams, often committing avoidable mistakes.
It’s no surprise, then, to see the Eagles move on from him because it just wasn’t going to work in Philly.
Should the Eagles really be riding with Jake Elliott again in 2026?
Elliott has been a below average NFL kicker over the past two seasons, so why is he staying?
Mike Garafolo reported on Thursday that the Eagles have restructured Elliott’s contract for 2026, bringing down his base salary from $6 million to $5 million guaranteed, saving them about $240,000 in cap space this season.
While it’s true every little bit of cap space helps in the here and now, the consequence of this restructuring is that it all but guarantees Elliott will return as the team’s kicker for his 10th season in Philly.
as a cadre of younger kickers have entered the league hitting the ball father and more accurately than ever before, Elliott’s limitations and performance over the last two seasons makes him more of a liability than an asset.
Elliott simply doesn’t have the range to be a net-advantage for Nick Sirianni anymore. Last year, NFL kickers made a record 12 field goals of 60+ yards, going 54.5% from that distance. Jacksonville kicker Cam Little had kicks of 68 and 67 yards, while Dallas’ Brandon Aubrey nailed multiple attempts from over 60. Rules changes regarding teams having access to the kicking balls have helped improve kickers’ range, except in Philadelphia, where Elliott now struggles to hit field goals from 50+.
In 2025, Elliott went just 4-for-8 from 50 yards or further, a 50% rate, below the league average from 60+. Still, that was better than in 2024, when he didn’t successfully kick a 50+ yard field goal until the final week of the season, and that was from 50 on the nose, going 1-for-7 that season. That’s 5-for-15 (33.3%) over the last two years from 50+ yards. Not only that, Elliott was just 7-for-10 (70.0%) from 40+ in 2025, making him a risky bet whenever the offense would stall outside the 30-yard line.
The numbers bear it out. Elliott has been a below average kicker over the last two seasons.
- NFL FG% 2024: 84.0%
- Elliott FG% 2024: 77.8%
- NFL FG% 2025: 85.6%
- Elliott FG% 2025: 74.1%
While the rest of the league has never been better at not only consistently making field goals of any length but also making longer field goals than ever before, Elliott is heading in the opposite direction.
Big Blue View
NY Giants news: Abdul Carter changes his number, again
If you bought an Abdul Carter No. 51 jersey last season, you can put that one up on a shelf. The second-year edge defender has again changed his number.
Carter will wear No. 3 during the upcoming season, the team announced on Friday. That belonged to quarterback Russell Wilson last season, but Wilson is now a free agent and will not return to the Giants.
Carter’s jersey number has been a story ever since the Giants made him the No. 3 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Carter initially asked Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor if he could wear Taylor’s retired No. 56. He was rebuffed. Carter then tried for the No. 11 he wore at Penn State. That number is retired by the Giants in honor of Phil Simms. Simms was originally OK with the idea, but his family objected and that idea died.
Carter wore No. 51 as a rookie, but never really seemed to embrace the number. Let’s see how he takes to this one.
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Sources: 49ers pass on Trent Williams option, eye deal
The San Francisco 49ers’ are not exercising the $10 million option bonus on star left tackle Trent Williams’ contract that was due Friday afternoon, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Williams’ salary cap number now will grow to close to $47 million, but the team is not overly concerned about it and still plans to rework his contract before next month’s NFL draft, sources told Schefter.
Williams and the Niners have struggled to find common ground on a contract despite negotiating for much of the offseason. Williams is slated to enter the 2026 season with no guaranteed money or years left on his deal beyond 2026. Before Friday, his salary cap number was slated to be $38.84 million, including a base salary of $22.21 million.
Though there had been speculation that the 49ers might move on from Williams, they have not actively looked to do so.
For his part, Williams told ESPN in February that he expects the team to do some maneuvering with his contract, probably in the form of a short extension that would provide him further guarantees and give the 49ers additional 2026 cap relief. He also expressed optimism that such a deal would be struck.
Williams will turn 38 on July 19 and has told ESPN repeatedly that he’d like to play until he’s 40.
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The Athletic (paywall)
U.S. flag football’s exhibition vs. NFL players carries big Olympic implications
Are the pros truly better than the Joes?
“The skill sets are similar,” event co-promoter and participant Tom Brady said Friday at a news conference. “The rules are quite a bit different. But really, it will be a great gauge for all these players and the players that will be participating in L.A. 2028 to see where we’re at and what we need to do in the next few years.”
From the moment NFL owners approved player participation in the Olympics, fans and media have assembled Dream Team rosters loaded with star power and hardware while ignoring those who’ve made Team USA an unbeatable juggernaut. The Americans haven’t lost an International Federation of American Football (IFAF) tournament since 2018, winning by an average score of 50-17.
“They have everything to prove,” former NFL quarterback, flag football advocate and event co-commissioner Drew Brees said. “When it was first announced the 2028 Olympics were going to have five-(on)-five flag football, immediately everybody started talking about Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill. ‘Who are the NFL players that should represent Team USA and create the Dream Team for flag football?’
“And I’m sure all those (Team USA) guys were, like, ‘Wait a minute, now. We’re the best in the world at what we do, and nobody’s going to come take this from us.’”
Team USA is expected by many to get the last laugh. Fanatics’ own sportsbook opened the amateurs as 6-point favorites against either pro squad.
Olympic flag football is played on a 50-by-25-yard field. Because there will be four games, they will consist of 15-minute halves — instead of the usual 20 minutes — with a running clock.
Not only is this not tackle football, but contact is virtually prohibited.
“It is a different game,” Brees said. “These guys have continuity. These guys have chemistry. I think that’s definitely an advantage in this game. When you just look at the size difference, the smaller, shiftier guys, just because you’re there doesn’t mean you’re getting him down.”
Flag pulling is critically important and considered a frustrating skill to master. NFL players, especially bulkier dudes such as retired linebacker Luke Kuechly, will be at a distinct disadvantage trying to stop a skittering ball carrier who trained for hours to flummox defenders.
“Come at it with an open mind and be positive about the game because we’re here to showcase what five-on-five flag football is all about.”
