NEWSLETTER
I wrote last week about the Arizona Cardinals. It was the first positive thing I could write about them this offseason. I wrote about rookie GM Monti Ossenfort doing a bang-up job in his first NFL Draft last month and, more specifically, how it saved a pretty turbulent offseason for the Cardinals. But, unfortunately, they’re back in the news for the wrong reasons this week.
- Terry McDonough, the former vice president of player development for the Arizona Cardinals, has filed an amended arbitration complaint against the Cardinals. According to ESPN’s Tisha Thompson, the new complaint filed Friday includes new allegations by McDonough against Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill.
- According to Thompson, the Cardinals and Bidwill “publicly disclosed private facts about McDonough” and made “false and defamatory statements about McDonough” that the team knew “to be false” as part of an “effort to intimidate and harass him and his family members.” The Cardinals acknowledged the filing in a statement to ESPN:
“We are aware of the amended complaint and remain confident in our position,” the Cardinals said in a statement. “We are precluded from commenting further based on an existing confidentiality order that binds all parties.”
- McDonough’s amended complaint centers around the addition of defamation and invasive tactics by the Cardinals and an external public relations adviser, Jim McCarthy, who released a statement stating that the team had “learned of disturbing allegations of extreme domestic violence by Terry” and that McDonough had “abandoned responsibility” to “one of his children and had cut her off financially.”
- You can read the full ESPN report here:
- The NFL announced on Monday that Peacock has the exclusive rights to an NFL Wild Card playoff game this season. The announcement came via press release on Monday afternoon. According to the release, Peacock will become the home of the first-ever exclusive live-streamed NFL Playoff game, presenting an NFL Wild Card Playoff in primetime on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024.
- Peacock will also stream the afternoon Wild Card game that airs on NBC in the 4:30 PM (ET) time slot and have exclusive rights to a regular season game. In addition, Peacock will stream the Bills-Chargers game on Saturday, December 23. That game is scheduled for 8:00 PM (ET). So, with the two exclusive games and the Wild Card simulcast, Peacock will become the first streaming service to air multiple games in the same season.
- Between polishing his back-to-back CFP championship trophies, Georgia’s Kirby Smart found time to sway the No. 1 prospect in the 2024 class to Athens. That’s right; quarterback Dylan Raiola is heading to Georgia.
- Raiola, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound QB from Pinnacle High School in Phoenix, Arizona, originally committed to Ohio State. However, he chose to de-commit from Ohio State in December of 2022. Raiola is the son of Detroit Lions center Dominic Raiola. The elder Raiola snapped for Matthew Stafford for six seasons in Detroit, and his relationship with Stafford ultimately played a significant role in his son’s decision to head to Athens.
- Dylan Raiola said, “It’s pretty unique how this will come full circle as Coach Bobo developed Uncle Matthew [Stafford] during his time at Georgia.” Georgia’s 2024 recruiting class was already the No. 1 class in the country. However, Raiola’s commitment pushes them further ahead of their closest competitors in this cycle, Ohio State and Michigan.
- This will be fun! Matt Eberflus and the Bears will have some joint practices with his old team in August:
- Veteran defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh is looking to play another season in the NFL. However, he isn’t interested in attending training camp. So, Suh will wait until camp is over to sign, saying, “when Week 1 happens, I’ll be ready.”
- Josh Allen can do it all! The Bills QB took some swings at Blue Jays batting practice on Monday and hit some bombs!
- Micah Parsons is strong 💪:
- Will the Bulls have the same luck as the Blackhawks did last week? Probably not, but Matt is ready to be hurt again:
