Sports

Tyler Shough still does not have a contract despite training camp opening later this month. He is not panicking.

The Saints rookie quarterback is one of 30 second-round picks still unsigned. Texans receiver Jayden Higgins, the 34th overall pick, became the first second-round pick ever to receive a fully guaranteed contract, and the Browns followed by giving linebacker Carson Schwesinger, the 33rd overall pick, a fully guaranteed deal.

Now, every player in the second round wants a fully guaranteed contract.

"The whole second round, [we’re] just seeing kind of where things lie,” Shough told Matthew Paras of The Times-Picayune diuring the Manning Passing Academy. “There’s not like a demand or — obviously, you’re super optimistic. That’s just part of it, this whole process, so yeah, we’ll see.”

Shough, who is competing for the starting job with Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener, participated in the team's offseason program. He did so after signing a participation agreement, which provides financial protection against an injury before a rookie contract is signed.

“I want to fight for as much as we can get, but at the same time, there’s a lot of things that have yet to unfold with other guys ahead [of me],” Shough, the 40th overall pick, said. “For me, the biggest thing was getting here, learning the playbook and doing everything I can.”

Former NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith has a book coming out in early August. And Daniel Kaplan of AwfulAnnouncing.com has gotten an advance PDF of Turf Wars.

There's some interesting stuff in there.

We had a little something back around the time of the Super Bowl. The full apparently book has a lot more something. Including some observations about former Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, a vocal opponent of the 2020 Collective Bargaining Agreement.

“The god of Cheesehead Nation was isolated and dismissive,” Smith writes, regarding Rodgers's demeanor during a player meeting. “He sat in the back row of the meeting room, issuing loud sighs before standing for a dramatic exit. An incredible quarterback, to be sure, but an even more impressive antagonist.”

Smith also says this about Rodgers: “In August 2021, my phone chirped with a text from Aaron Rodgers. ‘Can you call me?’ it read. Could I not run into traffic instead?”

Smith and I now have something else in common, thanks to his book. If asked, Rodgers likely would suggest that people not waste their time "reading crap like that."

The Seahawks made it official today that Shaquill Griffin is back in Seattle.

Griffin, a cornerback who spent his first four NFL seasons with the Seahawks, officially signed a contract with the Seahawks on Wednesday.

The Seahawks drafted Griffin in the third round in 2017 and he made the Pro Bowl in 2019 and played in Seattle through 2020. For three of those seasons, Griffin was playing with his twin brother Shaquem Griffin, an inspirational player who made the NFL despite having his left hand amputated at age 4.

Since leaving Seattle after the 2020 season, Shaquill Griffin has spent time with the Jaguars, Texans, Panthers and Vikings. Last year in Minnesota, Griffin played all 17 games, with three starts. Now he's back in Seattle, joining a cornerback group that includes returning starters Devon Witherspoon, Riq Woolen and Josh Jobe.

The Seahawks waived cornerback JT Woods to make room for Griffin on the roster.