Steelers WRs coach Drake dies
Career assistant worked with All-Pros Fitzgerald, Brown
Darryl Drake, the Steelers wide receivers coach who spent more than 30 years molding players at the position at the college and professional level, died. He was 62.
The team said Drake, who joined the coaching staff in 2018, died early Sunday morning. No cause of death was immediately released.
“Darryl had such an impact on the players he coached and everyone he worked with throughout his career,” Steelers president Art Rooney II said. “He was a passionate coach and had a tremendous spirit toward life, his family, his faith and the game of football.”
Drake, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, played at Western Kentucky. He spent one season in the Canadian Football League and participated in a pair of NFL training camps before returning to Western Kentucky to pursue a master’s degree. He went into coaching as a graduate assistant at Western Kentucky in 1983, the beginning of a career that included stops in the college ranks at Georgia, Baylor and Texas.
“He had a tremendous impact on those who he coached and those who were fortunate to call him a teammate,” WKU athletic director Todd Stewart said. “WKU Football was better because of our association with him.
Drake reached the NFL as a receivers coach in 2004 with the Bears. He moved on to the same position with the Cardinals in 2013 before joining Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin’s staff in 2018. Drake’s pupils through the years include Cardinals star Larry Fitzgerald, longtime NFL wide receiver Brandon Marshall and Antonio Brown, who played for Drake in 2018 before being traded to the Raiders last spring.
“I’m heartbroken for anyone who had the privilege to know Darryl,” Fitzgerald tweeted. “As a man, a coach, a husband, and a father, he was as good as they come.”
The Steelers brought in Drake last summer to work with a young receiving corps that included JuJu SmithSchuster and James Washington.
Vikings trade for kicker:
Looking for solutions for their longtime kicking issues, the Vikings acquired Kaare Vedvik from the Ravens on Sunday.
Vedvik has kicked and punted for the Ravens, who were set at the position with Justin Tucker and Sam Koch.
Vedvik spent the entire 2018 season on the non-football injury list for the Ravens after he was assaulted and suffered injuries.
The Viking also have veteran kicker Dan Bailey, who missed seven fieldgoal attempts last season with a career-worst 75 percent conversation rate, and punter Matt Wile in camp.
Jets lose Johnson:
Jets cornerback Trumaine Johnson will be out indefinitely after suffering a hamstring injury during practice Sunday.
Johnson, the team’s most accomplished corner, was injured on a long interception return. He came out after that play and never returned to practice.
Last season in 10 games, Johnson had four interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
Extra points:
Broncos RB Theo Riddick, a pass-catching specialist who signed with the team a week ago, will miss six to eight weeks after suffering a shoulder injury during a 22-14 preseason loss to the Seahawks on Thursday . ... Jets K Chandler Catanzaro retired after a shaky start to camp. Catanzaro, 28, signed with the Jets during the offseason. He struggled during camp, and missed two extra points in the Jets’ 31-22 preseason loss to the Giants on Thursday. The Jets signed K Taylor Bertolet to replace Catanzaro . ... Cardinals executive VP and COO Ron Minegar was arrested Saturday night in Chander, Ariz., on suspicion of DUI. Minegar, 60, has been with the team since 2000.