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Brock on sports · June 19th
storyflo · sports
Jun 19, 2026 · 12 min listen
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Brock on sports · June 19th
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'' New Cowboys offensive lineman Matt Hennessy's season has ended before it began. Hennessy, who left San Francisco for Dallas in free agency this year, recently had neck surgery and is going on season-ending injured reserve, according to Todd Archer of ESPN. The 28-year-old Hennessy played in all 17 games for the 49ers last season, starting two. He signed a one-year contract with the Cowboys this year, so he'll be slated to hit free agency again next year. The Cowboys also signed three players who recently finished their UFL seasons: wide receiver Denzel Mims, cornerback Ameer Speed and offensive lineman Chris Glaser. And the Cowboys also released two players, defensive back Corey Ballentine and wide receiver Romello Brinson.
The Saints will be adding two of their former players to the franchise's Hall of Fame during the 2026 season. The team announced that running back Mark Ingram and offensive tackle Terron Armstead will be honored at an induction ceremony at one of the team's home games. Ingram was a first-round pick in 2011, played for the Saints through 2018 and then returned to play his final two seasons in New Orleans before retiring after the 2022 season. Ingram ranks second in Saints history with 6,500 rushing yards and 52 rushing touchdowns. Armstead was a third-round selection in 2013 and remained with the Saints until 2021. He started 102 regular season and playoff games during that time and was selected to three Pro Bowls.
The good news is that, unlike the last stadium in Minnesota, the roof hasn't collapsed. Yet. Via Eliot Hughes of the Minnesota Star Tribune, a "sizable swath" of the roof at U.S. Bank Stadium must be replaced, due to damage from a hail storm. The storm, which happened in August 2023, included hail as large as 2.5 inches in diameter. Although the report isn't entirely clear on this point, it appears that the entire translucent portion (which makes up 60 percent of the full roof) will be removed and replaced. Said the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority in a statement: "All Minnesotans can be confident that the roof at U.S. Bank Stadium is safe, that proactive steps are in place to preserve its unique environment, and the MSFA’s financial safeguards have protected this public investment." Insurance is expected to cover most of the costs. The MSFA said that “substantial use of public funds” would not be needed. U.S. Bank Stadium opened in 2016. The Metrodome housed the Vikings from 1982 through 2013.
Last month, Colorado coach Deion Sanders expressed disappointment that the Jaguars never contacted him regarding former Buffaloes superstar Travis Hunter. In a more recent interview, the topic came up again regarding whether the Jaguars will pick Deion's brain. "They’re not going to ask me," Sanders told D.J. Saddiqi of Covers.com. "I thank God that you're asking me. The kid won the Heisman Trophy playing both sides of the ball. That's all I've got to say on that.” Deion later said a bit more, on the topic of the player(s) to whom Hunter could be compared. "There's no comparison to what he's able to produce on the field," Sanders said. "It's no comparison. I can't say who I would compare him to, because I would be lessening that person. That's not fair to him or the persons that I'm comparing it to. He's different, man." The Jaguars made Travis Hunter a part-time two-way player in 2025, taking roughly two-thirds of the offensive snaps in the seven games he played and roughly one-third of the defensive snaps. A knee injury ended Hunter's rookie season prematurely, underscoring the durability concerns raised by taking practice and game reps on both sides of the ball. Yes, Hunter did it — and did it well — in college. Doing it in the NFL against the best of the best competition is a very different proposition.
'' The Bills have added a running back who was most recently starring in the UFL. Buffalo announced on Thursday that the club has signed Ian Wheeler. Wheeler, 24, won the UFL championship with the Louisville Kings. He was also the United Bowl MVP. He rushed for 541 yards in 83 carries in 11 games in 2026. Wheeler was previously in the NFL, having entered the league as an undrafted free agent with the Bears in 2024. He tore his ACL in a preseason game, missing that entire season. He then spent time with the Saints in 2025 before heading to the UFL.
' Colts cornerback Sauce Gardner corrected his birth year on Thursday, saying he was born in 2001. Every site from Pro Football Reference to ESPN to TheAthletic.com lists Gardner's birthday incorrectly as Aug. 31, 2000, which would make him 25 years old. "I’m 24," Gardner said, via James Boyd of TheAthletic.com. "It's crazy that I'm even being asked this." Gardner's age is even incorrect in EA Sports Madden NFL. "It's wrong in Madden, too?" Gardner said. "That's crazy because I never checked. Because when it comes to the paperwork and everything I've signed, it all says '01. So I don't know where or how it got messed up unless people just get it straight from Google."
'' Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott said on Thursday that he had "no doubt" that wide receiver George Pickens would be ready to go despite skipping the team's voluntary offseason work and his belief in the wideout paid off at this week's minicamp. Pickens didn't do the earlier work after receiving both a franchise tag and word from the Cowboys that they won't be negotiating a long-term contract earlier this offseason. Prescott said that there was no rust as a result of any missed time and said "everything felt good" on the field. The quarterback also said that they'll find more time to work together ahead of camp in order to ensure that they make the most of Pickens's ability come the fall. "That guy makes it easy," Prescott said. "You see us just in routes on air out there, but you just go turn on the tape, that guy is going to get separation. He’s just different. He understands his leverage, he understands his routes. He understands where I’m looking for him at the catch point, the depth. So, yeah, it’s going to be a beneficial time. It’s going to be great. But we can go throw a lot of touchdowns right now. That guy’s ready.” Pickens had a strong first season with the Cowboys and another one will make for more contract intrigue once the 2027 offseason is underway.
Dallas is bringing in a new defensive edge. The Cowboys have reached an agreement to sign defensive end Charles Snowden.
Snowden, 28, spent the past two seasons with the Raiders, appearing in 31 games and starting 18 of them.
In 2025 he logged 15 games, nine starts, three sacks, five tackles for loss, four quarterback hits
If/when the NFL explores whether a Terrelle Pryor-style suspension should be imposed on quarterback Brendan Sorsby after the supplemental draft, the Kayshon Boutte precedent points to no punishment. The Hunter Dekkers precedent does, too. Dekkers, who re-signed with the Saints this week, missed the entire 2023 college football season after losing his NCAA eligibility for betting on one of his team's games. With his NCAA eligibility permanently vacated, Dekkers played for Iowa Western Community College in 2024 before entering the draft. The NFL imposed no roadblocks to his professional career, before or after the 2025 draft. After going undrafted, Dekkers spent most of the 2025 season with the Saints. He played for the Houston Gamblers of the UFL in 2026. While at Iowa State, Dekkers had made more than 350 bets on his mother's DraftKings account. In 2021, he made a $15 wager on Iowa State to beat Oklahoma State. Dekkers did not play in the game. He eventually pleaded guilty to underage gambling in Iowa. "I wasn't throwing games, I wasn't shaving points, and I would never do that," Dekkers told ESPN last year, in the weeks before the 2025 draft. "There was never any intent behind any of these bets. We weren't trying to make money. We were just treating it like a video game, in a sense." That's the basic reality of an age in which gambling has become legalized — and normalized. The ads are everywhere. It's inescapable. Sports fans are constantly bombarded with picks and parlays and the presumption that betting is fun. It's very easy for anyone to pick up a phone, open an app, and press a few buttons. Everyone can eat the forbidden fruit, expect the players who are watering the tree. There inevitably will be some that take a little taste, or more. Not to get rich. Just to chase that tiny thrill of vicarious victory. Dekkers obviously paid the price at the college level. Sorsby did, too. The NFL's decision not to suspend Dekkers or Boutte should lead to the same result with Sorsby. There's no guarantee it will. The five-game suspension of Terrelle Pryor still lingers, 15 years later. As to Sorsby, the league will do whatever it wants to do. Given what the NFL didn't do to Kayshon Boutte and Hunter Dekkers, the NFL shouldn't do anything to Brendan Sorsby.
The NCAA broke college sports, through decades of rampant antitrust violations. Now, the NCAA seems to be closing in on getting someone else to fix it. Per multiple reports, the "Protect College Sports Act" emerged from the Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday, by a vote of 19-9. It is now in position to be cleared for a vote of the full Senate. The House of Representatives would then take up the issue. If/when the House passes the bill, it will be ready for signature into law by the President. As noted by Pete Thamel of ESPN, the SEC and Big Ten continue to oppose the act as written. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), one of the sponsors of the bill, dismissed the concerns from the nation's two most powerful conferences. “I know my colleagues have concerns about the SEC and Big Ten, but what we did today is say we are not going to let the most powerful and richest conferences dictate to the rest of America what’s going to happen to 500,000 athletes," Cantwell said, via Sports Business Journal. Some of those athletes are inevitably going to have their pockets picked. As explained by Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports, one provision of the Protect College Sports Act "may limit the amount of money that athletes are currently receiving, potentially by hundreds of millions of dollars." This would happen through the closure of an NIL loophole that allows other parties to offer extra money to players. That's really what this is all about. The rabbit has the gun, and Elmer Fudd is trying to get it back. They can dress it up with all sorts of fancy-schmancy provisions and wave the Olympic flag and cry about existential threats all they want. The truth remains that the money that used to flow exclusively into the coffers of the colleges is now being partially diverted to the players — and there are only so many dollars to go around. The players, throughout this process, have had no real voice. They're not organized or represented. They have no true lobbying function. Which makes them the easiest target for redistributing wealth in a way that makes it easier for universities that previously got free labor from players to claw back some of what the antitrust reckoning has given them.
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