Best of Friday at NFL training camps: A race car, an RV and … a hot air balloon
Max Kellerman is confident that Odell Beckham Jr. will have a big season with the Browns. (0:54)
All 32 NFL teams have now reported for training camp, and it was a busy Friday in the league. The Giants got bad news on another wide receiver; the Chiefs’ veterans had some fun with their arrivals; and there was a special moment between Carson Wentz and a young Eagles fan.
Here’s what you need to know from camps across the league:
Jump to the best of Friday: Photos | Videos | Quotes
Top stories: Giants’ Corey Coleman tears ACL; general manager halts OBJ talk
The New York Giants are already down two wide receivers in training camp after Corey Coleman suffered a torn ACL and is likely out for the season, the team announced Friday. Coleman and Sterling Shepard were both injured Thursday during the team’s first training camp practice. Coleman likely suffered the injury during one‐on‐one drills early in practice but still participated until its conclusion.
General manager Dave Gettleman said the Giants would hold a workout Saturday for wide receivers. The shortage is even more notable considering he moved one of the NFL’s best receivers this spring.
“Odell Beckham plays for the Cleveland Browns now. We’re moving on,” Gettleman said when asked about Beckham’s most recent comments from a GQ story about keeping the team’s brand alive. “Wish him the best.”
More:
Seahawks make Bobby Wagner highest-paid ILB
Zeke officially a ‘non-report’ for Cowboys camp
Ex-Packer Mike Daniels finalizing Lions deal
Allen Hurns signing deal with hometown Dolphins
Ben Roethlisberger vows to bring ‘A-game’ sans Antonio Brown
Bills’ Kyle Peko at camp while wife battles cancer
Ravens’ Lamar Jackson wants doubters to eat words
Jimmy Garoppolo cleared to fully practice with 49ers
Special moment between Carson Wentz and Giovanni Hamilton, an 11 year old who has gone through 12 surgeries in his life. Wentz is his hero.
Float like a butterfly, sting like AB.#RaiderNation X @AB84 pic.twitter.com/68X0EWlDRp
Greedy Williams jumps in front of OBJ for the interception pic.twitter.com/PJoPe7CxzI
Here’s how punter Dustin Colquitt, kicker Harrison Butker and long snapper James Winchester arrived at camp.
Rams running back Todd Gurley reports to training camp.
The RV is back! But this time, Baker Mayfield didn’t have to foot the bill for the mobile QB hangout, made famous by HBO’s Hard Knocks last year, “I had to pay a lot last year and the (RV company) got free marketing. Not this year. That is called growing up, maturing and learning how to work it,” Mayfield said, laughing, adding the RV will remain a Browns training camp tradition. “I don’t think I will ever go another training camp without an RV. It’s great.”
The Redskins for several years have conducted a “helmet walk” where kids carry a players’ helmet from one end zone to another. And sometimes they walk away with extra rewards as this young boy did with Peterson’s cleats and a ball.
Chiefs fullback Anthony Sherman arrived for training camp via police escort in Clint Bowyer‘s NASCAR ride.
Why JuJu Smith-Schuster didn’t make a grand entrance on Steelers reporting date? Because ‘JuJu came here to work,’ he said.
Freshly minted millionaire Quinnen Williams signed his $32.5M contract Friday morning and “crushed” his conditioning test, per Adam Gase. Williams, held out of practice as a precaution, will debut on Saturday. Williams, who missed most of the offseason with a calf injury, said he’s in “tremendous” shape. He’s at 295 pounds, 10 below his college weight. “I feel way better than I was in college,” he said. The Jets plan to play him at multiple spots on the defensive line.
Thing that caught my eye most out of Lions training camp today: First round pick T.J. Hockenson. He’s just very natural catching the ball in the red zone. He can pick the ball off in tight spaces and has the jumping ability to make contested catches in the corner of the end zone. He has already had multiple touchdowns in the first two days of camp.
Cam Newton and the rest of the Panthers quarterbacks are warming up with new arm rotations prior to practice this year. They start with circular motions and then go through a series of weeble-wobble moves followed by throwing motions with a towel. For Newton in particular this helps loosen his surgically-repaired shoulder.
I asked Kliff Kingsbury for his thoughts on how 4th-year DT Robert Nkemdiche showed up to camp this year: “”Not in shape, I guess. And that’s kind of where we’ll leave it. I mean, he’s on PUP and he’s working through that. When he is cleared, we’ll work with him.”
Count Russell Wilson among those who think a Bobby Wagner extension will get done. “He deserves to be the highest-paid linebacker,” Wilson said. “There’s nobody better than him in the game.” Wagner wore his jersey and a helmet Friday but continued to watch practice without participating in anything other than the stretching period.
Ravens safety Earl Thomas on if he was surprised by the difficulty of the team’s conditioning test: “Yes. I feel like I trained pretty well in the offseason, but I thought I was going to throw up at the end.”
Panthers quarterback Cam Newton had his second good day of practice without limitations, and as always he was the fan favorite coming off the field.