Mike Freeman

2 weeks ago | usatoday.com | Mike Freeman

Editor's note: This story is a part of a series by USA TODAY Sports called Project: June. We will publish at least one NFL-themed story every day throughout the month because fans know the league truly never sleeps. Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton is on the phone. His voice is slightly hoarse from a cold but the story he told comes through loud and clear. It was about quarterback Bo Nix. It went like this. They knew that Nix was a good athlete. They saw it when Nix was at Oregon.

3 weeks ago | usatoday.com | Mike Freeman

Editor's note: This story is a part of a series by USA TODAY Sports called Project: June. We will publish at least one NFL-themed story every day throughout the month because fans know the league truly never sleeps. If you want to understand just how insane some of the hype around Ashton Jeanty has gotten, go back just a little bit, to last month, and remember the noise around ... his stance. His stance. Jeanty, while at Boise State, used a more upright, pre-snap stance.

3 weeks ago | usatoday.com | Mike Freeman

Editor's note: This story is a part of a series by USA TODAY Sports called Project: June. We will publish at least one NFL-themed story every day throughout the month because fans know the league truly never sleeps. This story is also part of our Pride Month coverage. Jack Brennan was like a handful of powerful people in the NFL: He was a team PR person. In this case, for the Cincinnati Bengals. And as a PR person he was, in many ways, the front person for the team.

3 weeks ago | usatoday.com | Mike Freeman

Editor's note: This story is a part of a series by USA TODAY Sports called Project: June. We will publish at least one NFL-themed story every day throughout the month because fans know the league truly never sleeps. I've covered the NFL just about my entire adult life, over 30 years, and there was often this axiom that still exists: the NFL is dead in the month of June. No one cares about it. Everything shuts down. Interest dies. The league basically disappears from the minds of fans.

1 month ago | ca.sports.yahoo.com | Mike Freeman

It's been rumored for some time that the Miami Dolphins would face the Washington Commanders in Spain. On Tuesday, it became official. The game will take place in Madrid at the Bernabéu Stadium, home of Real Madrid FC, on Week 11 (Nov. 16 at 9:30 a.m.). It's the first-ever regular-season game in Spain. Both the Commanders and the Dolphins will be among the most interesting teams to watch this upcoming season though for vastly different reasons.