NFL training camp news and preseason games (2024)

We are two weeks into NFL training camps while the preseason schedule begins in earnest this week.

Last week around the league, more deals were extended, restructured or reworked, like Miami Dolphins star Tyreek Hill earning the most guaranteed money for a wide receiver in NFL history. Tampa Bay Buccaneers OT Tristan Wirfs also became the highest-paid OL in league history.

Notable injuries continue to be prevalent during this time of year, too. Tennessee Titans receiver DeAndre Hopkins is dealing with a knee sprain. Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert is dealing with a right foot injury.

Camp holdouts continue as well, such as CeeDee Lamb being absent from Dallas Cowboys practice. New England Patriots star edge rusher Matthew Judon is also at odds with his team over his deal.

Elsewhere, the Houston Texans and Chicago Bears met in the Hall of Fame Game, which was shortened because of thunderstorms in the area. And seven new faces were inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday.

Stay tuned here for the latest news, updates, analysis and more from The Athletic's NFL beat reporters as the regular season inches closer.

Required reading

• Full preseason schedule
• Preseason Week 1 schedule
• 2024 Pro Football Hall of Fame profiles
• Kickoff rule debuts in Hall of Fame Game
• "Cheat" motion remains legal

Patriots rookie QB Joe Milton scrambles and evades on this run for a first down.

Then, he throws a dart for a score.

The NFC might not tout the same quarterback gauntlet as the AFC. Still, defenses better deploy a viable group of cornerbacks if they’re hoping to slow down stud wide receivers like CeeDee Lamb, A.J. Brown, Justin Jefferson, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Puka Nacua and others (whom I’ve likely disrespected by not adding them to this list).

Some teams have done a better job than others assembling cornerback groups in the NFC, notably the Chicago Bears, New Orleans Saints and Seattle Seahawks. Other teams, well, not so much.

I dissected the cornerback groups across the league in my latest positional study, this one focused on the NFC.

Here’s a look at the statistics (via TruMedia, Pro Football Focus and Pro Football Reference) that I dove into for each team and player:

• Defensive production rating
• Opposing passer rating
• Pass breakups (PBU) or passes defended
• Interceptions
• Touchdowns allowed

The player rankings come for those who had at least 200 pass coverage snaps in 2023. The blue shades in the graphics point toward stronger statistics; red points toward weaker statistics.

Read more here.

With superstar running back Saquon Barkley off to Philadelphia, the New York Giants need a committee to help fill the void he left. Devin Singletary will be the team's starter, but the Giants will need contributions beyond him. One player they're hoping to get them from is second-year running back Eric Gray. Gray is off to a fast start in that regard, rushing for an impressive 48-yard touchdown in Thursday night's preseason opener against the Detroit Lions. In the first half, he has 52 yards and two touchdowns on just four carries to go along with 46 receiving yards on four receptions.

Previewing the game, I wrote: "Being a fifth-round pick a year ago gives Gray the upper hand over Dante Miller in the battle for the No. 3 running back job. But that’s not enough to tip the scales, especially with Miller looking better in practice. Gray needs to validate his pedigree in game action, especially after struggling mightily in pass protection in the preseason last year."

So far, so good for Gray.

Predicting the league's best offenses is child's play. The top defenses, though? That's a completely different ballgame. Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen attempt to do just that, laying out their predictions for the league's top-10 defenses on this episode of The Athletic Football Show.

The Detroit Lions' new uniforms are making their debut tonight against the New York Giants. The team wanted to re-establish Honolulu Blue, with a richer tone that hearkens back to an earlier era.

Read more here.

Backup quarterback Drew Lock and the New York Giants offense have struggled to get anything going on their first four drives of Thursday night's preseason opener against the Detroit Lions. They managed only two first downs and 50 yards on those drives, three of which ended in punts and one ending in a Lock interception. Making matters worse, Lock left the last drive with an apparent injury. The QB had taken a few shots during the game and dropped to one knee before leaving the field. Third-stringer Tommy DeVito replaced him at QB.

Much to Giants' fans chagrin, No. 6 overall pick Malik Nabers, who has played a majority of the first quarter, doesn't have any receptions (or targets) so far.

Drake Maye's first series vs. Panthers:

-run for 1 yard

-false start on Okorafor

-run for 2 yards

-screen pass for 13 yards

-incomplete to Reagor

-run for -1 yard

-swing pass for 6 yards

Lamar Jackson had coverage for the Panthers on a second-down incompletion by Jacoby Brissette. We wrote this week about the journeyman CB, who gets mistaken for the Ravens' QB and two-time MVP on social media occasionally.

Read more here.

Jake Bates hist with a 53-yard field goal against the Giants tonight. Outdoors. Light rain. Good stuff.

John A. T. Hull, a Republican from Iowa who served 10 terms in Congress, was way ahead of his time when he voiced his disapproval of joint practices, calling them “impractical.” And America took note, as evidenced by this headline in The Montana Record-Herald: “HULL IS AGAINST PLAN.”

OK, so Congressman Hull, in his role as chairman of the House Committee on Military Affairs, was coming out against joint practices, or “joint practice operations,” between regular forces of the United States Army and the National Guard.

And, OK, it was in 1902.

But it’s the “impractical” that caught my eye while researching joint practices, and in that spirit, I’m happy to repurpose Hull’s back-in-the-day messaging for our modern-day NFL discussion.

Joint practices are in the news again, and for the only reason they’re ever in the news: A fight broke out. Fights, actually. If the late, great comedian Rodney Dangerfield were still alive, he’d be saying, “I went to the fights last night, and an NFL joint practice broke out.” That’s how common the fighting has become. This time, it took place during a summer camp jamboree between the Detroit Lions and New York Giants, with Monday’s pushing and jawing spilling right into Tuesday. The main attraction was a game of Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! between Malik Nabers, a rookie receiver on the Giants, and Lions safety Kerby Joseph. Hilarity then ensued in the form of mini one-on-one fights between this and that player.

“Stuff like that’s going to happen. It’s football at the end of the day,” Nabers said, as reported by Charlotte Carroll and Colton Pouncy of The Athletic.

It’s football, but it’s also Hollywood. Let’s not kid ourselves about that. Joint practices are now covered along the lines of a regular-season game, only without the halftime show. You throw a bunch of professional athletes from opposing teams on the same practice field, order them to start running into each other, and in full view of fans, cameras and reporters, and payback is going to find its way into the playbook.

It’s worth noting that the Kerby Joseph-Malik Nabers dustup may have been precipitated by Joseph saying something.

“He did,” Nabers said, “but I’m not going to repeat it.”

Read more here.

Washington Commanders CB Benjamin St-Juste is watching from afar as his sister-in-law, Anna Hall, competes in the Paris Olympic Games. Hall, who is competing in the heptathlon, is the sister of St-Juste's wife, Julia.

Read more here.