So, everything in the NFC playoff race looks normal. Well, almost everything. There is one oddity in the standings right now among the teams vying for the Nos. 6 and 7 seeds in the postseason. The Eagles have clinched a playoff berth. The 49ers have not. Why is that so strange? Well, the 49ers are actually ahead of the Eagles in the standings. The 49ers are the No. 6 seed in the NFC and the Eagles are the No....

Before the game in New England, cancer survivors and patients were invited onto the field at Gillette Stadium as part of the NFL’s “Crucial Catch” initiative, which supports cancer survivors and those battling all forms of cancer. The survivors and their caregivers on the field wore different colored shirts to represent the different types of cancers. NFL players throughout October are wearing multi-colored gloves and other equipment for the same reason....

The rule was approved in 2021, and teams had to notify the NFL if they intended to use alternate helmets this season by no later than July 31 last year. So far, 12 teams have released alternate lids. The Saints were the first team to show off their new look debuting a black helmet that will complete their blackout look. They were followed by the Texans and their “Battle Red” alternates....

It took the league just two days to file. The NFL announced Wednesday that it was appealing the six-game suspension Watson received for violating the league’s Personal Conduct Policy. The league will likely seek a harsher punishment as the case now goes to commissioner Roger Goodell or his designee. The NFL’s appeal could rankle the NFL Players Association, and it will further extend the Watson saga as the start of the regular season draws nearer....

Could special teams knowledge provide value for handicappers? Is the NFL “unbeatable,” as MGM Resorts oddsmaker Jay Rood told The Linemakers on Sporting News’ Micah Roberts after another strong week for the sports books? Well, this much is certain: there are easier things to do than handicap pro football games. But that’s not going to stop bettors from trying to crack the code. Therefore, handicappers have to find every edge they can....

On Sunday, his Cowboys will take on the Packers, a team with which McCarthy logged 204 games as head coach. Should Dallas prevail, McCarthy would become just the eighth coach in NFL history to record a win against all 32 active teams in the league. McCarthy would join Bill Belichick, Tony Dungy, John Fox, Mike Holmgren, Bill Parcells, Andy Reid and Mike Shanahan in achieving the feat. “Wow, that’s interesting,” McCarthy said, according to ESPN’s Todd Archer....

Draft season for fans begins this week, when more than 300 of the nation’s best college football players converge in Indianapolis for their first NFL job interviews. Here’s all you need to know about the 2016 NFL Scouting Combine. MORE: Fastest prospects for 2016 | All-time best Combine performances When is the 2016 NFL Combine? The 2016 NFL Scouting Combine begins Tuesday, Feb. 23 and ends Monday, Feb. 29....

With so much poor weather on the slate Sunday and scoring projected to be down, stacking the West Coast game, one of the few with favorable weather conditions, was a sharp way to attack an already shrunken slate. When a game script turns into a shootout, fantasy options from both offenses see more opportunities than expected – or priced for – and the results here speak for themselves. WEEK 9 DFS:Yahoo GPP lineup | Y!...

Here are the most pressing, from the quarterback hoping to prove all his critics wrong to the defensive end just hoping to get his chance: Who will draft Johnny Manziel? It’s looking less like Manziel will be the top pick to Houston, but that hasn’t kept him from being the top topic of conversation. Even in a deep, talented class, no one else has come close to facing the same hype, scrutiny and attention as the Texas A&M Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback....

Even with such value on the board, Ohio State teammates Marshon Lattimore and Gareon Conley and LSU’s Tre’Davious White are among the corners NFL teams might regret allowing to slip past Round 1. NFL DRAFT: Top 50 prospects | Mock Draft NFL Draft: Top 10 CB prospects in 2017 class 10. Desmond King, Iowa King’s play in the secondary (he was first-team All-Big Ten his final two seasons with the Hawkeyes) overshadows his return ability....

For more NFL Draft coverage, follow Sporting News and Sporting News NFL on Twitter. Follow @sportingnews | Follow @sn_nfl MORE NFL DRAFT: Top 100 players | Mock draft | Top 10 draft trades | The great QB myth

The Jacksonville Jaguars confirmed that notion by making Bortles the first quarterback taken, with the third overall pick - the first major surprise of the 2014 draft. LIVE DRAFT BOARD: Follow every first-round pick on the Draft Board Teams looking for the closest thing to prototypical size and traditional strengths for the position had to look at Bortles closely. At an athletic 6-foot-5 and 232 pounds, he's more apt to keep his feet moving in the pocket than outside of it, but scouts were impressed with how he played from the pocket and stood up to pass pressure....

LIVE: SN’s Draft tracker Mettenberger, the second pick of the sixth round and the 178th pick overall, was one of six players specifically named in a report Monday, three days before the draft, as having failed the drug test at the combine in February. The report said that Mettenberger's sample was "diluted," which counts as a positive test in the NFL program. Before that, Mettenberger had received high grades for his recovery from a torn left ACL in his final regular-season game at LSU....

Yet there were the Seahawks on Saturday, moving up in the fifth round to take Texas punter Michael Dickson. There were the Vikings, moving up from the sixth to the fifth round to get Auburn kicker Daniel Carlson. And there were the Packers and Raiders — on back-to-back picks, yet — taking more punters, also from the SEC: Alabama’s J.K. Scott and Florida’s Johnny Townsend, respectively. MORE NFL: Sign up to stream the upcoming NFL season live on DAZN in Canada...

The Cardinals predictably went with Kyler Murray with the No. 1 overall pick. Perhaps the biggest surprise and most questionable pick was the New York Giants selecting Daniel Jones at No. 6. Only time will tell on which team actually had the best draft, but until then, let the speculation begin for the first pick of the 2020 NFL Draft in Las Vegas. NFL DRAFT GRADES: Ranking the best, worst 2019 classes from 1-32...

MORE: NFL suspends Ezekiel Elliott In a letter to Elliott, NFL’s Todd Jones told the back the suspension is a result of “the views that there is substantial and persuasive evidence supporting a finding that [Elliott] engaged in physical violence against [his ex-girlfriend] on multiple occasions during the week of July 16, 2016.” Shortly after the news broke, the NFL world reacted, and many were not pleased with the length of the suspension....

The Steelers’ standout wide receiver has been fined by the NFL for twerking in celebration of his touchdown during Pittsburgh’s win at Washington on Monday night, according to ESPN.com. Brown was also fined for violating uniform protocol by wearing blue cleats, but the punishments apparently are no matter for the league’s top wideout. “Nothing to a boss,” Brown told ESPN when asked how much he was fined. He said the amounts were a “couple hundred....

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said earlier this week he had started a committee to look at the rules for a catch. MORE: The Year of the Ref: SN’s questionable call database | NFL’s most controversial calls, ever “A couple weeks ago, I asked several football personnel, including former GMs, current GMs, current individuals, former players, former officials, to come together and try to see if we can study this and come up with some proposals for the Competition Committee to consider,” Goodell said....

Take the Bengals, who splurged on defensive end Trey Hendrickson and others the past two offseasons. They filled enough big holes to emerge as AFC champions in 2021. Although some of the best unrestricted defensive players on the 2022 won’t go anywhere because they are valuable enough to re-signed by their current teams, more will be too expensive to retain. That should flood the market with several key pass rushers, run stoppers and cover men....