The Tennessee Titans will induct former running back Chris Johnson into their Ring of Honor during their season opener against the New York Jets. Johnson, known as 'CJ2K', is a three-time Pro Bowl selection and the only player in Titans franchise history to rush for over 2,000 yards in a single season. The announcement comes shortly after Johnson revealed his ALS diagnosis, with fellow former NFL players supporting his cause through a revived 'Ice Bucket Challenge'
Since the Los Angeles Rams traded for Myles Garrett last week , rumors have surfaced regarding a possible Aaron Donald return . Despite everything the future Hall of Famer gave the Rams during his illustrious career, an AD comeback story would be a massive mistake in 2026. For one, it’s hard to return to anything after years away, and it’s even tougher for professional athletes. Several iconic NFL players are a living testament to that fact. Marshawn Lynch had a forgettable second act with the Raiders and later the Seahawks following his initial retirement in 2015. Randy Moss came out of retirement just in time for the 49ers ’ Super Bowl run in 2012, but was no longer the player who once terrified the league early in his career. Deion Sanders returned after three seasons away with the Ravens from 2004-05, and had moderate success as Baltimore missed the playoffs both years. Former Rams safety Eric Weddle understands the difficulty firsthand, coming out of retirement for the team’s Super Bowl run after two years away. Weddle told Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer that he believes Donald “could go play right now,” but it depends on how badly he wants to endure the mental and physical aspects of the game again: “I just think from experience, you get comfortable in what you’re doing. He’s still obviously training like a madman—I wasn’t training like that or even working out to that extent, it was more so to just feel good. But he still is pushing around a lot of weight, and it really comes down to the commitment and the fire, if you have it or not. And only he knows that. But if he does, if this does light something in him? When does he come back? Does he want to do the whole season? Does he want to do half?” The physical component is a key factor, given that all the training in the world can’t brace AD for the hits after nearly three years away. Donald ended his decade-long career relatively healthy, save for his injury-shortened 2022 campaign. He would be reentering the league at 35 years old, and the injury risk only grows the older you get. Weddle, for example, ruptured his pec and reinjured his groin and hamstring in the win over the Bengals in the big game. He said he is still feeling his injuries from that final season, something that could easily happen to Donald, intense training be damned. “I mean, my knees, my back, my neck, obviously my pec, my hips, like I had all those anyway. But coming off the couch from not doing anything preparation-wise for two years and then playing? I think it’s definitely set me back, health-wise. No doubt about it,” Weddle told SI. Additionally, Donald retired on top, though not with a Super Bowl ring, but with accolades. AD finished his career with first-team All-Pro honors for the eighth time in his career. Not many players can say they were an All-Pro in their final season, proving they still had more than enough in the tank to continue playing. Barry Sanders is a legend who comes to mind right away, as he did earn at least second-team honors in his final NFL season, a year after winning MVP. In the closest possible comparison to Donald, Reggie White retired following a 16-sack season with the Packers at age 37 in 1998. He earned first-team All-Pro honors and even won Defensive Player of the Year. Instead of retiring with the perfect conclusion to his extraordinary career, White risked it all and had a forgettable 5.5-sack season with the Panthers in 2000 after a one-year hiatus. White was already an all-time great before his time in Carolina, yet the comeback put a damper on an otherwise legendary career. There’s practically nothing that Donald could do now that would hurt his legacy, even an ill-fated comeback attempt like White, if that were to come to fruition. He has accomplished everything a player at his position could achieve, including a Super Bowl ring and three Defensive Player of the Year awards. He’s already considered one of the greatest defensive players ever, s
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When a quarterback makes 10 Pro Bowls, wins the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, and leads his team to one Super Bowl win and (almost) another, you’d expect his Hall of Fame discussion would be fairly uncomplicated. But in the case of one Russell Carrington Wilson, who appeared to announce his retirement on Wednesday after 14 seasons to join CBS Sports as an analyst, that discussion is multi-layered – much like Wilson’s career and legacy. Wilson should be seen as an uplifting example of a guy who beat all the odds. Despite an outstanding college career, Wilson had to wait until the 75th overall pick in the 2012 draft for his name to be called. It was still an era when Black quarterbacks were treated with skepticism by many scouts and, besides, Wilson was small for his position: 5ft 11in and 206lbs. Related: Myles Garrett is traded from Browns to Rams in blockbuster NFL move It looked at first like Wilson would struggle to play at all. The Seattle Seahawks , who selected him, had just signed former Green Bay Packers quarterback Matt Flynn to a three-year, $19.5m contract. But it didn’t take long for Wilson to demonstrate that he would be the starter no matter what. His teammates were amazed at how he took to the NFL right away. As a Seattle-based reporter who had covered the team since 2010, I watched three deep throws from Wilson during his first day of rookie minicamp. I turned to a colleague and said, “I don’t care how much they paid Matt Flynn. That guy is going to be the Day 1 starter.” And so it was, after a tremendous preseason that made the difference clear . Wilson made his first Pro Bowl, finished third in the Offensive Rookie of the Year voting, and turned out to be the missing piece in the Seahawks’ championship formula. The Seahawks traded Flynn to the Oakland Raiders in April 2013 for a couple of throwaway draft picks; they knew they had their man. It all clicked in Wilson’s second season. Along with the power of running back Marshawn Lynch , and one of the best defenses ever in the Legion of Boom, the Seahawks macheted their way through the NFL, ending their season with a Super Bowl beatdown of Peyton Manning ’s Denver Broncos , one of the best regular-season offenses in NFL history. That Super Bowl victory could – perhaps should – have been the beginning of a dynasty, but it wasn’t. Wilson’s last-minute goal-line interception against the New England Patriots in the next season’s Super Bowl resulted from a play call so bad it fractured the team. Many of the Seahawks lost confidence in head coach Pete Carroll, and it never really returned. The Seahawks were unable to reach those heights again in the Carroll era. Wilson’s antiseptic public persona, about which much has been said and written , eventually rubbed his teammates the wrong way. These were often the same teammates who swore by his modus operandi in earlier years. Wilson was an island. His locker was in a corner of the Seahawks’ locker room, and he was not a creator of community. Most great quarterbacks are leaders; Wilson was not. This rankled a lot of people, but given the number of alphas in the Seahawks locker room during the Legion of Boom era – including Richard Sherman , Kam Chancellor , Bobby Wagner and Michael Bennett – it could also be said that if Wilson was yet another dominant personality, it would have upset the balance. The 2022 trade that sent Wilson to the Broncos turned out to be one of the most lopsided in NFL history. For Wilson and a 2022 fourth-round pick, the Seahawks received quarterback Drew Lock , tight end Noah Fant , and defensive lineman Shelby Harris , as well as two first-round draft picks, two second-round picks, and a fifth-rounder. The Seahawks used those picks to help build their next championship roster , while Wilson and Broncos head coach Sean Payton never hit it off. Payton is an exacting designer of offenses. But when you have Russell Wilson, you have to accept that you’re going to play Russell Wilson’s
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Should we take Aaron Rodgers ’ retirement announcement at face value after the veteran QB spoke about his plans to hang it up after the 2026 season? Yahoo Sports’ Jason Fitz, Charles Robinson and Ben Fawkes share their thoughts on Rodgers’ final season and the fate of the Pittsburgh Steelers . They move on to break down all of the implications surrounding Rashee Rice being ordered to spend 90 days in jail after a parole violation. What does this mean for the Kansas City Chiefs ’ offense? Plus, NFL legends Emmitt Smith and Marshawn Lynch sat down with Andrew Siciliano. Hear about that and more on today’s episode! (00:45) - Will 2026 be Aaron Rodgers’ last season? (13:50) - Rashee Rice to serve 30 days in jail (24:10) - Emmitt Smith joins Inside Coverage (38:00) - Favorite win totals post-schedule release (56:05) - Marshawn Lynch on Fernando Mendoza (57:30) - One More Thing 🖥️ Watch this full episode on YouTube Check out all episodes of Inside Coverage and the rest of the Yahoo Sports podcast family at https://apple.co/3zEuTQj or at Yahoo Sports Podcasts
The NFL’s annual roast – otherwise known as the schedule release – took place via social media May 14 as the 2026 slate for all 32 teams became official. Every team, as has become tradition, created a video to celebrate the occasion . All deserve praise and required hard work from scores of individuals who deserve praise. But like the game of football, some teams fared better than others, and there can only be one winner. USA TODAY Sports ranked the top five videos from this year’s batch of videos. But first … Four teams’ submissions were worthy of an honorable mention tag. The Chicago Bears , for their Rome “Bob Ross” Odunze sketch. The Los Angeles Rams channeled “Napoleon Dynamite” for their bit of nostalgia. Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence chopped off his patented blonde flow and that alone deserves recognition. And the Indianapolis Colts’ “Simpsons” video was impressive. Now onto the top five. The reigning Super Bowl champs kept the momentum going with a spoof of those oddly sultry fragrance commercials. They featured Seahawks players, Marshawn Lynch , play-by-play announcer Steve Raible and celebrity fans Josh Lucas, Joel McHale and Pierson Fode. Each fragrance referred to a different opponent and poked fun at them. A little low for the Chargers, who often take the top spot. But for the fourth straight season, their video existed in an alternate reality, this one in the Halo video game. The points deducted from running the same play over and over again doesn’t distract from the team’s uncanny ability to have the best burns year in and year out. And the level of dedication it takes to create this type of project is more than worthy of a top-five ranking. Nostalgia plays when it comes to the schedule-release video, and if there’s one piece of media that is universally beloved, it’s “This is SportsCenter” commercials. All of the jokes – Matt Ryan losing his temper, a “Bijan” Robinson pronunciation mishap – hit. Kevin Stefanski plays a heck of a straightman. The man-on-the-street (Broadway, to be exact) style is back! Tennessee’s video from 2023 was one of the best schedule-release videos ever produced, and going back to the well three years later was more than appropriate. The format change – the admin approached individuals who “looked like” players of the opposing team for a certain week – was a fun wrinkle that allowed the theme to continue without it feeling too similar. Did Fernando Mendoza and Kirk Cousins just become best friends? Getting buy-in from the two quarterbacks is one thing, but to actually execute upon the “Stepbrothers” spoof is another. No notes, because this video hits all of the right ones. More: Watch every NFL team's schedule release video for 2026 season This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Chargers, Raiders make top 5 NFL schedule-release videos list for 2026
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