Jets pick up former Chargers wide receiver Williams
Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets were served up a new playmaker on offense.
Former Chargers wide receiver Mike Williams signed a one-year contract with the Jets on Tuesday, six days after he was released by Los Angeles.
The 29-year-old Williams visited the Jets' facility and reportedly had meetings with other teams scheduled — but New York didn't let him leave its building without a deal. NFL Network and ESPN reported the contract is worth up to $15 million.
The Jets posted a video of Williams on X, formerly known as Twitter, biting into a Taylor ham, egg and cheese sandwich — a New Jersey breakfast classic — a few hours after a fan sent one to the facility from a neighborhood diner to help entice the wide receiver into signing.
“It's good!” a laughing Williams said. “This is what got the deal signed right here.”
The Jets later changed their profile picture to an image of the sandwich with a bite taken out of it by Williams.
Among New York's top menu items this offseason was getting a wide receiver to complement Garrett Wilson. The addition of Williams boosts what could be a muchimproved offense this season after the Jets ranked last or near the bottom of the NFL in several categories.
Along with Rodgers expecting to be fully healthy after tearing his left Achilles tendon four plays into his debut for New York, the Jets rebuilt their offensive line by signing left tackle Tyron Smith and left guard John Simpson and acquiring Morgan Moses from Baltimore in a trade last week.
Wide receiver Mike Williams, who was recently cut by the Chargers, has signed with the New York Jets on a one-year deal.
Williams comes with some injury concerns, the most recent a torn ACL suffered in the Chargers' third game last season. He had a strong start before the injury, catching 19 passes for 249 yards and a touchdown. Williams was released by the Chargers last week, a move that freed up $20 million in salary cap space. .
• The Minnesota Vikings agreed to terms on a contract with free agent cornerback Shaquill Griffin, adding some needed experience to an unproven position group. The eighth-year veteran joins his fifth NFL team, after starting last season with Houston and then moving to Carolina after he was released.
• Wide receiver Jerry Jeudy, acquired by the Browns last week in a trade with Denver, signed a threeyear contract extension with Cleveland. Jeudy's new deal — he was entering his final year under contract — runs through the 2027 season. The extension is worth up to $58 million and includes $41 million guaranteed.
• A 16-year-old boy is facing a new felony charge over the mass shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl celebration that killed one person and wounded almost two dozen others, local juvenile authorities said. Authorities said the teenager was arraigned Tuesday on a charge of unlawful use of a weapon in shooting at a person. He was being held since the Feb. 14 mass shooting on a lesser felony charge of resisting arrest. For an adult offender, the new charge would be punishable by between five and 15 years in prison.
Clemson sues ACC over heavy exit penalty
Clemson sued the Atlantic Coast Conference in a South Carolina court, joining Florida State in challenging the league's right to charge schools hundreds of millions of dollars to leave.
The complaint filed in Pickens County says the ACC's “exorbitant $140 million” exit penalty and the grant of rights used to bind schools to a conference through their media rights should be struck down.
Clemson said it has not given notice that it is exiting the ACC and remains a member of the conference.
• The College Football Playoff and ESPN have agreed to a new six-year, $7.8 billion contract that ensures the network will remain the sole media rights holder of the event through the 2031-32 season, it was jointly announced. ESPN, which has held exclusive broadcast rights since the CFP began in 2015, will expand its package for the final two years of the current 12-year contract, which runs through the 2025-26 season. The CFP is unveiling a 12-team format for the 202425 season, and ESPN will add all four of the new first-round games each year to the network's existing coverage of the New Year's Six bowls (now the quarterfinals and semifinals) and the CFP National Championship game.
IOC excludes Russian, Belarusian athletes from Paris opening ceremony
Russian and Belarusian athletes will not be allowed to take part in the traditional parade at the opening ceremony at the Paris Olympics, the IOC said. The opening ceremony on July 26 will see thousands of athletes travel on boats down the River Seine for several miles toward the Eiffel Tower, instead of the normal parade of teams inside a stadium.
The IOC Committee said athletes from Russia and Belarus who are approved to compete at the Olympics as neutrals will have a chance only “to experience the event” — likely watching from near the river.
• USA Basketball's men's team will see Serbia and South Sudan in two of its three group-stage games at the Paris Olympics, while the U.S. women will open their schedule in a gold-medal-game rematch against Japan in France this summer.
FIBA, the sport's global organizing body, held the draw for the Paris Games in Mies, Switzerland, slotting the fields for the 12-team basketball tournaments. The women's field is complete; the men's field still has four spots that will go to winners of qualifying tournaments in early July before the Olympics open on July 27.
The U.S. men will be coached by Steve Kerr and are seeking a fifth consecutive gold medal, the U.S. women will be coached by Cheryl Reeve and are seeking an eighth consecutive Olympic title. Both are ranked No. 1 in the world, and both programs have been — by far — the dominant force in Olympic basketball since its inception.
Halep loses in first match in 1 1/2 years
Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep returned to professional tennis after getting her doping suspension reduced on appeal, playing her first match in about 1 1/2 years — a 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 loss to Paula Badosa at the Miami Open. Halep looked terrific in the first set, then encountered trouble later, including having a trainer massage her right shoulder during a changeover late in the second.
Halep had not played on tour since testing positive for the banned drug Roxadustat at the 2022 U.S. Open, where she lost in the first round to Daria Snigur of Ukraine 6-2, 0-6, 6-4. A four-year ban that was handed down in 2023 was cut to nine months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport two weeks ago. Two days later, the Miami Open gave Halep a wild-card invitation.
• Former Belarusian hockey player Konstantin Koltsov, who was coaching in the KHL, has died in Florida, police said. He was 42. Miami-Dade Police detective Argemis Colome confirmed Koltsov's death in a statement sent to The Associated Press. Police said the death was an apparent suicide and no foul play was suspected.
Koltsov played in 144 NHL games for the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2003-06 after being selected in the first round of the 1999 draft, putting up 12 goals and 26 assists. Koltsov played most of his career in the Russian Superleague, which morphed into the KHL, finishing with Dynamo Minsk in 2015-16 and going into coaching.