OFF AND RUNNING
Source: Broncos getting Strnad back on 1-year deal
Inside linebacker Justin Strnad reportedly agreed to a deal with the Carolina Panthers, but a source confirmed Tuesday night that he’d changed his mind and is instead returning to the Denver Broncos on a oneyear deal.
Strnad, a fifth-round Denver pick in the 2020 draft, had been with the club for his entire first rookie contract. The former Wake Forest linebacker didn’t play a defensive snap for Vance Joseph in 2023 but appeared in all 17 games as one of the Broncos’ most reliable special teams players. He racked up 395 special teams snaps, or 84% of Denver’s work in the third phase. That number led the team, narrowly edging out CB Tremon Smith’s 391.
Now Strnad will be back for another season and figures again to be a core special teams player. The inside linebacker room looks slightly different, with Cody Barton in for Josey Jewell, but he’ll have familiar faces there in Alex Singleton, Jonas Griffith and perhaps Drew Sanders.
Had he taken the deal with Carolina, Strnad would have reunited with Jewell and also former Broncos defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero and inside linebackers coach Pete Hansen.
Jets sign former Chargers WR Williams to 1-year deal
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.
HOCKEY
Former Belarusian player Koltsov dies at 42
MIAMI >> Former Belarusian hockey player Konstantin Koltsov, who was coaching in the KHL, has died in Florida, police said Tuesday. He was 42.
Police said the death was an apparent suicide and no foul play was suspected.
Koltsov served as an assistant coach for Salavat Yulaev Ufa the past two seasons. He also was an assistant on staff for the Belarusian men’s national team.
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.
PARIS OLYMPICS
IOC excludes Russian, Belarusian athletes from opening ceremony
GENEVA>> 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 Tuesday.
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.
Russia and Belarus are barred from team sports at the Olympics because of the war in Ukraine and the IOC has laid out a twostep vetting procedure for individual athletes from those countries to be granted neutral status.
BASEBALL
Bauer allowed to pitch for the Diablos Rojos
MEXICO CITY>> Trevor Bauer was cleared to play in the Mexican League because he was not convicted for charges of sexual assault, according to the executive president for the Diablos Rojos club, Othón Díaz.
Bauer, the 2020 NL Cy Young Award winner, is slated to play five games for Diablos Rojos that included a weekend exhibition against the New York Yankees.