NFL preseason and training camp live updates (2024)

The page has turned to Week 2 of the preseason as practices continue across the NFL this week.

Last week was all about the rookie quarterbacks and their preseason debuts. Washington Commanders QB Jayden Daniels went rouge, while Chicago Bears QB Caleb Williams improvised, Minnesota Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy exceeded expectations and Denver Broncos QB Bo Nix showed poise.

Joint practices continue across the NFL as well, although the San Francisco 49ers and New Orleans Saints won't meet in practice this week with the former dealing with too many injuries.

With joint practices come fights. There were more than enough skirmishes in joint practices between the Detroit Lions and New York Giants, to which the league fined both teams for. Sometimes, fights happen amongst teammates, like Seattle Seahawks WR DK Metcalf displayed.

Meanwhile, there is still no resolution in sight for a few holdouts and hold-ins around the league, although the San Francisco 49ers and WR Brandon Aiyuk were back at the negotiating table at the start of the week. The Dallas Cowboys and WR CeeDee Lamb remain apart on a deal apparently, though.

Stay tuned here and be sure to keep refreshing the blog for what unfolds this week from The Athletic's NFL beat writers.

Required reading

• Preseason Week 2 schedule
• How Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels performed in debuts
• Dolphins are flipping the script with Tua Tagovailoa
• 2024 fantasy football draft kit

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Find the best deals on tickets to see your favorite teams.

As another NFL season nears its kickoff, the league’s best young players are working hard to continue their ascents. Some are already among the NFL’s elite. Others have exhibited promise and appear destined for stardom.

So, who are the NFL’s top 25 players who are 25 and younger? We reached out to 12 league front-office members, coaches or scouts for their thoughts, and they were granted anonymity so they could speak freely about the players. The participants were given a list of 35 potential players for inclusion and asked for feedback on where each might rank. Any player who met our age qualification and had earned All-Rookie, All-Pro or Pro Bowl honors was included for consideration.

Players had to be 25 or younger as of Week 1 of the 2024 NFL regular season. That criteria eliminated some talented young stars, including quarterbacks Justin Herbert and Jalen Hurts, who both made this team last year but turned 26 in recent months.

Competition was thick, as every talent evaluator views players differently. But we narrowed it down to this robust group of players who have already established themselves as the game’s best, or are the closest to this accolade.

We also assembled an All-25-and-Under team, since the overall top 25 didn’t include a player at every position. You can find the All-25-and-Under team below as well.

4. CeeDee Lamb, WR, Dallas Cowboys. Age: 25 (4/8/99)

Lamb led the NFL with 135 catches while recording a career-best 1,749 yards last season, helping him earn first-team All-Pro honors for the first time in his four-year career.

8. C.J. Stroud, QB, Houston Texans. Age: 22 (10/3/01)

The reigning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, Stroud took the league by storm in 2023. He not only rewrote the rookie record books, he also ranked among the league leaders in passing yards, passer rating and completion percentage while directing a surprising playoff run.

Who ranks No. 1? Read more here.

Will the Lions carry two QBs or three?

There are four quarterbacks in training camp. That number will soon be three, and there’s a chance it could come down to two if the Lions believe that’s the best path to make the roster math work. Hendon Hooker is still very much in the “needs reps” phase of his development. His performance in the preseason game — albeit, a short one — was a good step. He looked much better than Nate Sudfeld. But Sudfeld is more equipped to handle the role of a backup, which, outside of playing, is helping the starter prepare week in and week out. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but it’s something the Lions clearly value.

Best guess: Three.

Read more here for nine other Lions roster construction questions.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Count Denver Broncos rookie outside linebacker Jonah Elliss among fans of the NFL’s new kickoff rules.

Why? It offers the kind of close encounters a man of his position relishes.

“Honestly, I look at it as a pass rush because you’re right there with the guy,” said Elliss, the 21-year-old third-round pick out of Utah. “That’s how I address it. It’s just another pass-rush down to me.”

Viewed in that context, the opening kickoff of Sunday’s preseason victory over the Indianapolis Colts counted as another pass-rush win for Elliss in a growing collection of them during his first NFL training camp.

The 6-foot-2, 247-pound linebacker quickly zipped by Trevor Denbow, the 5-foot-10, 208-pound safety for the Colts. Anthony Gould, the 5-foot-8, 174-pound receiver who turned into the lead blocker when the kick went to teammate Dallis Flowers, wanted no part of chipping the speeding linebacker. His path clear, Elliss finished the play by tackling Flowers along the sideline.

“Special teams is how I see that I’m going to earn my spot on the team,” Elliss said. “Get on those special teams, that gets me on the (team) plane, and then I go from there, however coach (Sean Payton) sees fit. So I’m focused on special teams, doing my job on special teams, making plays on special teams so that they can trust me. That’s what special teams is, it’s trust. If the coach trusts you, it’s going to work out. I’m trying to earn that trust.”

If Sunday’s performance was any indication, Elliss is earning trust in ways that extend beyond his work on kickoff coverage.

Read more here.

Aside from the Matthew Judon trade news, The Athletic's Chad Graff writes on the Patriots hoping for more from the offense in second preseason game vs. the Eagles. Rookie QB Drake Maye is expected to play more in the Patriots' second preseason game than he did in the first. So can the offense improve?

Read more here.

Wednesday's practice against the Arizona Cardinals ended a lot better than it started for Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson. He struggled early in one-on-one drills, but lit the Cardinals defense on fire at the end of practice. Here's more from the first day of two joint practices with Arizona:

By making the trade, the Giants must be happy with what they’re seeing from younger defensive lineman like Jordon Riley, DJ Davidson and Elijah Chatman, who signed with the team after a rookie minicamp tryout this year.

Defensive line coach Andre Patterson has been rotating through the guys to try to see who could step up beyond Dexter Lawrence, Rakeem Nunez-Roches and Ryder Anderson. Phillips hasn’t made much noise this camp in New York so getting anything for a player who likely wouldn’t make the roster is a win.

The Dallas Cowboys have traded for New York Giants veteran DT Jordan Phillips. This move makes a lot of sense for Dallas considering how thin the Cowboys are at the defensive tackle position.

They lost veterans Johnathan Hankins and Neville Gallimore in free agency and didn’t do much to replace them, drafting Justin Rogers (Auburn) in the seventh round. Phillips gives the Cowboys another veteran with starting experience. He started nine games for the Buffalo Bills last season and 62 games in his nine-year career. At 6-6, 340 pounds, Phillips clearly brings size that is needed in the middle of Mike Zimmer’s defense.

The Cowboys now have what at least looks like a solid group with Osa Odighizuwa, Mazi Smith, Phillips and Rogers. And Dallas didn’t give up much in the process, sending the Giants a 2026 sixth-round pick and getting a Giants 2026 seventh-round pick in return.

The New York Giants are trading DT Jordan Phillips to the Dallas Cowboys in a rare NFC East divisional trade.

The teams are swapping picks, according the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel Sr., Jauan Jennings, Ricky Pearsall, Chris Conley and Ronnie Bell make the cut in our latest 49ers roster projection.

This exercise assumes Aiyuk remains on the roster on cut-down day, but that’s certainly not a given. And even if he is, it’s hard to see him taking his full allotment of game day snaps — he usually plays all but one or two unless it’s a blowout — early in the season.

That’s why we have Conley making the squad. He’s been the team’s most consistent backup to Aiyuk since the spring. And as he showed in the Super Bowl, he can be very productive on special teams.

Who handles punts? Trent Taylor is the most experienced and sure-handed option. The 49ers could elevate him from the practice squad at the start of the season and then move him to the 53-man roster later depending on injuries and how the rest of the roster shakes out. Shanahan hinted at having Taylor as a practice squad option last month.

“You always like guys like that as possible practice squad players too, because when they have experience and something happens on a Friday or Saturday, the game is never too big for them,” he said. “You can get them up and they don’t blink.”

Practice squad or injury list: Taylor, Danny Gray (shoulder), Jacob Cowing (hamstring)

Let's examine how successful the Las Vegas Raiders can be in 12 personnel this season with tight ends Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer. The Raiders are likely to use a lot of 12 personnel this season, but Bowers and Mayer must be willing blockers to make it work.

Can it work? Read more here.

Geno Smith, DK Metcalf and company made some big plays during joint practices, albeit against a short-handed Titans secondary. Michael-Shawn Dugar has more on a promising day for the Seahawks’ first-team offense in their first real test of the year.

Read more here.

Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh offered former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick a coaching job within the team in January, he told USA Today’s Jarrett Bell last week. Harbaugh said he spoke to Kaepernick after getting hired as the Chargers head coach about the possibility of Kaepernick joining the team in a coaching capacity, USA Today reported Wednesday. Harbaugh also said nothing has changed since that conversation and Kaepernick hasn’t reconnected with Harbaugh about the coaching opportunity, according to the report.

Read more here.

Arizona Cardinals rookie WR Marvin Harrison Jr. is practicing against his dad's old team in the Indianapolis Colts this week. Asked who his favorite player was growing up, the answer expectedly was Marvin Harrison Sr.

Harrison Jr. also gave no update on his jersey situation with Fanatics. Fans still aren’t able to buy his jersey.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — More than an hour after practice wrapped up Sunday, Panthers running back Chuba Hubbard and tight end Tommy Tremble were still catching balls fired at them from a JUGS machine.

The thousand or so fans who’d turned out for the training camp practice had long since left on a hot, sticky morning. The only people left at the fields were a woman with a leaf blower cleaning the stands, a security official waiting to take the players to Bank of America Stadium in a golf cart, an assistant trainer with several water bottles, two equipment guys feeding the JUGS, and the two players.

Hubbard and Tremble took turns catching hundreds of balls — at their feet, to their left, their right, above their heads, one-handed, walking toward the machine and with their backs to the machine before quickly turning around. On and on and on.

Foomp. Foomp. Foomp.

Finally, Hubbard and Tremble, friends since arriving in Charlotte together as part of the Panthers’ 2021 draft class, appeared to be done.

They weren’t. Not quite yet.

As they walked along the sideline, they had one of the equipment managers toss them over-the-shoulder passes, with the other player acting as a defender, until they reached the end zone. Only then, at 12:47 p.m. — an hour and 12 minutes after the last practice horn sounded — did the two call it a day.

“Just trying to get better, man,” said Hubbard, easing into a folding chair with sweat dripping from his face. “That’s really all it is.”

Read more here.

Cleveland Browns coach Kevin Stefanski refused to discuss rookie Mike Hall Jr.’s legal situation involving an alleged domestic dispute when the defensive tackle was injured during practice Wednesday. Stefanski, 42, has been at the helm of the Browns since 2202.

A woman identifying herself as the mother of Hall’s fiancee called police around 10 p.m. to report aggressive behavior by Hall stemming from an argument. The 911 dispatcher could hear Hall yelling in the background, and the caller said Hall had pushed her daughter and hit her with a baby bottle.

Read more here.

Jourdan Rodrigue has more on Matthew Stafford cutting practice short with hamstring tightness in joint effort with Cowboys. Stafford remained on the sideline after leaving practice and Jimmy Garoppolo and Stetson Bennett took the rest of the reps at QB.

That plus more Rams takeaways. Read more here.

Fashanu received nearly universal praise for his performance at left tackle in Saturday’s preseason game; it was well-earned, especially in pass protection. He played 25 snaps in total, 14 of them pass blocking, and didn’t allow a single pressure or sack, per Pro Football Focus. He was also tied with Cowboys tackle Tyler Guyton for the best pass-blocking grade (83.8) of all rookie tackles to play last week.

“He’s coming along,” offensive line coach Keith Carter said.

Interestingly, the Jets have been practicing Fashanu exclusively at right tackle since Saturday and they plan to keep him there for at least a little while to help cross-train him at a position he didn’t play at all in college. It’s a clear sign that the Jets are hoping to turn Fashanu into their swing tackle on game-days — the top backup for both left tackle Tyron Smith and right tackle Morgan Moses — even if his long-term position is left tackle.

“For Olu at Penn State, he played left tackle,” Carter said. “We all get in our comfort zones and we gotta get him to be ambidextrous. We’ve gotta get him comfortable and it’s gotta become muscle memory on both sides.”

Fashanu will likely stay at right tackle at least for Thursday’s joint practice and Saturday’s game.

Read more on Jets rookies here.

The Atlanta Falcons bolstered their pass rush Wednesday with a trade for New England Patriots edge rusher Matthew Judon, according to a league source. The Falcons will send a third-round pick to New England in exchange for Judon, multiple league sources said.

Judon, a fifth-round pick in 2016, was a Pro Bowl selection from 2019 to 2022 and has 66 1/2 career sacks. He had 28 combined sacks in 2021 and 2022 but only played four games last year due to a biceps injury. Judon was blunt this offseason in expressing his disappointment in not receiving a contract extension from the Patriots.

The Patriots trading pass rusher Matt Judon to the Falcons for a third-round pick is a good move for both. Several teams had been talking to the Patriots for the last few days.

This is a huge win for New England getting a 3rd rounder in trade compensation.