10:52 AM ET PITTSBURGH — Dwayne Haskins understood Mike Sullivan’s directions for Thursday night. The veteran quarterback coach, who once helped Eli Manning to one of his best seasons in 2011, told the young Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback to channel guys like Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Duke Ellington when he stepped on the turf at

6:00 AM ET LAKE FOREST, Ill. — The Chicago Bears need to walk a fine line with rookie Justin Fields. Technically the second-string quarterback, the No. 11 overall pick out of Ohio State has caught the attention of some of Chicago’s front-line players and already elicited a heady comparison to one of the NFL’s best

4:18 PM ET SANTA CLARA, Calif — Both of the San Francisco 49ers‘ top two quarterbacks — Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance — will play in Saturday’s preseason opener against the Kansas City Chiefs. Their workloads, however, will be quite different. Niners coach Kyle Shanahan said Thursday that the plan for the exhibition opener is

Aug 11, 2021 NFL NationESPN Whether you are a fantasy football hawk, a super fan of your favorite NFL team or prepping to place bets this season, figuring out who will come out on top of key position battles is an important part of the preseason. The New Orleans Saints, New England Patriots and Denver

11:56 AM ET Brady HendersonESPN SEATTLE — Aldon Smith‘s hopes of continuing his NFL comeback with the Seattle Seahawks are over. The team waived the veteran defensive end, it announced, with sources telling ESPN the move was because of an off-the-field matter. The decision is not football-related but rather the result of Smith violating the

12:21 PM ET OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Baltimore Ravens first-round pick Rashod Bateman will miss “a number of weeks” after the rookie wide receiver suffered a soft tissue leg injury, coach John Harbaugh said Wednesday. “I don’t know how many [weeks],” Harbaugh said. “It’s not going to be months, but it will be weeks and

4:00 PM ET ESPN staff As teams prep for this weekend’s 2021 preseason games, quarterbacks took the spotlight at training camp practices on Wednesday. The Ravens’ Lamar Jackson had his most accurate day of camp, Zach Wilson looked comfortable for the Jets, and Jordan Love prepared to start in the Packers’ preseason games on Aaron

4:16 PM ET ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — With the quarterback competition still “even-steven,” Denver Broncos coach Vic Fangio said Tuesday that Drew Lock will start Saturday’s preseason opener against the Minnesota Vikings. Teddy Bridgewater will start the second preseason game, an Aug. 21 road contest against the Seattle Seahawks. Fangio has consistently said through the opening

2:19 PM ET Marcel Louis-JacquesESPN BUFFALO, N.Y. — The highest-drafted player on the Buffalo Bills‘ roster is not recently extended quarterback Josh Allen — it’s former Chicago Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, who signed with Buffalo this offseason after four seasons in the Windy City. The Bears declined Trubisky’s fifth-year option despite drafting him at No.

3:58 PM ET ESPN staff The first full slate of NFL preseason games is nearing, starting with two on Thursday night. As 2021 training camps continued on Tuesday, word about who will play — and who will sit out — in those games started to spread. Don’t expect to see Deshaun Watson or Aaron Rodgers