IRVING, Texas -- Paul Wiggin, the former Stanford and Cleveland Browns star who was on the losing end of "The Play" as the coach of star quarterback John Elway and the Cardinal, died Friday. He was 91. Wiggin's death was announced by the Browns, the Minnesota Vikings and the National Football Foundation. He was the fourth-oldest living NFF Hall of Famer.
Cleveland Browns starting defensive tackle Maliek Collins is out for the remainder of the season with a quad injury that will require surgery, coach Kevin Stefanski announced Monday. Collins suffered the injury in the third quarter of Sunday's 26-8 home loss to the San Francisco 49ers. He left the field on a cart and was later ruled out for the rest of the game.
The Rockies are hiring Paul DePodesta as their new front office leader, report Ken Rosenthal, Brittany Ghiroli and Zac Jackson of The Athletic. Thomas Harding of MLB.com first reported that DePodesta was a strong candidate, while ESPN's Jeff Passan noted shortly before The Athletic report that the sides were close to a deal.
We're going to start with an ascending rookie tight end who is being schemed up in a versatile role -- and producing. There are multiple backfield rotations also worthy of your attention, and I also see an emerging wide receiver worth adding to rosters. Fannin is averaging 13.1 PPG over his past four games, but I still see more upside here for the rookie tight end because of his versatility in coach Kevin Stefanski's offense for the Cleveland Browns.
It shouldn't come as a shock that the Cleveland Browns are 2-5 through the first seven weeks of the season. The defensive line is very good, yes, and Denzel Ward is still one of the premier cornerbacks in football, but the offense is nothing short of abysmal. Going into the preseason, Kevin Stefanski had four main options at quarterback upon finding out Deshaun Watson would be out for the year: Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel, and Shedeur Sanders.
The Northeast Ohio native said he grew up a Browns fan and liked being able to contribute to the franchise while between head coaching jobs. "I enjoyed that time. I enjoyed the people there, that organization," Vrabel said on Monday. "I enjoyed working with [coach] Kevin [ Stefanski], the offensive staff, Tommy Rees and Chad [ O'Shea]. I played with Bubba [ Ventrone]. So, a lot of good, young coaches. Jim Schwartz, I had a really good relationship with Schwartzy."
Stefanski on Monday said he will call plays in Sunday's Week 7 home game against the 1-5 Miami Dolphins ( 1 p.m. ET, CBS). "I'm going to keep calling plays," Stefanski said, "but I want to stress that we have to get better in so many areas and that includes coaching, that includes how we teach our guys, how we put them in different formations, the ways you run the ball, ways you pass the ball. All the above."
"All roster type of things, I always have to be mindful of our players and our players' development," Stefanski said. "And I want to make sure that I'm always doing what's best for our players and, of course, our team. But with young players, I'm always thinking about -- last week, making the change to Dillon, you have to think long and hard about that, because these are young players that you are so invested in their development. So, I'll let the decision play out [and] make a decision later."
The Vikings (2-2), who dropped a 24-21 game to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Dublin last week, spent this past week in London sorting through options for an injury-ravaged offensive line. Minnesota placed center Ryan Kelly on injured reserve Saturday, meaning he will miss at least four games after suffering two concussions in the first month of the season. The decision is a long-term blow for an offensive line that will be missing a total of three starters for Sunday's game against the Browns.
After an epic weekend in Ireland, the NFL roadshow makes the short trip to England to continue this season's record run of international games. Seven overseas matches will be played across five countries - three of them in London over the next three Sundays. Dublin hosted its first regular-season game last Sunday, with the Pittsburgh Steelers holding on for a thrilling win over the Minnesota Vikings.
