Sports

When Sean Payton was head coach of the Saints in 2010, they drafted Jimmy Graham even though he had played only one year of college football. Graham, who played four years of college basketball at Miami, became one of the best tight ends in the NFL.

Now head coach of the Broncos, Payton would love to see history repeat itself with another college basketball player who was drafted to play tight end. This year the Broncos drafted Caleb Lohner, who played just 57 snaps of college football but showed flashes of tight end talent and also showed off his athletic ability while playing college basketball at Utah.

Payton said it would be incredible for the Broncos to get Lohner to be the kind of player Graham was.

"If it turns out like the last one did, then we'd be real excited," Payton said, via DenverBroncos.com.

Lohner is 6-foot-7 and 250 pounds and has a similar athletic profile to Graham. Expecting him to have the kind of NFL career Graham had would be expecting too much, but it's easy to see why Payton is excited about the possibilities that Lohner brings to Denver.

Throughout the offseason, the Steelers have exhibited the desperation that comes from not winning a playoff game in eight years. For that streak to end, they first need to get to the playoffs.

While the projected win totals have them on the borderline of their usual range of 9-8, the game-at-a-time lines paint a more pessimistic picture.

As Andrew Fillipponi of 93.7 The Fan recently noted on Twitter, the Steelers are favored in only six of their 17 games to be played in 2025.

It seemed incorrect, so we checked the lines at DraftKings. And it's accurate. Pittsburgh is the favorite in six games, and the underdog in 11 games.

The Steelers are the favorites in Week 1 at the Jets (-3), Week 2 vs. the Seahawks (-1.5), Week 6 vs. the Browns (-6.5), Week 9 vs. the Colts (-3.5), Week 15 vs. the Dolphins (-2.5), and Week 17 at the Browns (-2.5).

Obviously, all lines are subject to change as the games approach. One massive change for the Steelers would come from the inability to work out a new contract with linebacker T.J. Watt. If he's traded (and the team reportedly has "no intention" to do so, which often is the precursor to a trade), it would change everything.

It seems way too late in the game to move on from Watt. The locker room would have a very hard time processing his departure. Their perceived prospects would plummet if the team goes from expecting to have Watt to not having him.

It actually gives Watt more leverage in his ongoing negotiations with the team. To smooth things over, they'll need to dig deep and make him the highest-paid player at his position, north of Myles Garrett.

Still, even if they manage to extend Watt's deal, the bettors aren't believers. At least not on a game-by-game basis.

Eagles cornerback Cooper DeJean capped his rookie season with a memorable 22nd birthday.

DeJean returned a Patrick Mahomes interception for a touchdown in the first half of Super Bowl LIX to help propel the Eagles to a blowout win over the Chiefs. The play came after a strong year that showed DeJean was up to the task of playing in the slot and he also averaged 10 yards per punt return during the regular season.

The corner's plans for Year 2 go beyond a repeat. DeJean got looks at the outside cornerback spot during the offseason program and he said that he's focused on improving across the board as he moves into his second season with the Eagles.

"I'm still continuing to work, and to try and be the best I can be at my job," DeJean said, via Jeff Kerr of CBSSports.com. "There are a lot of things I can get better at coming off of last season, that I can be ready for this season. And those are the things that I've been working on this offseason. Becoming stronger, faster, being more comfortable out on the field, and working my techniques. I don't think it's changed me as a person at all."

DeJean's fellow 2024 rookie Quinyon Mitchell also plays a big role in the secondary and continued growth from both would be a good way to push the Eagles into position for a repeat performance in Levi's Stadium next February.