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Freddie Kitchens hired by North Carolina as assistant coach
Freddie Kitchens was a flameout as head coach of the Cleveland Browns, but perhaps he'll find his road to redemption as a college coach.
First, he'll have to climb back up the ranks and for now, that means acting as an assistant coach for Mack Brown at North Carolina.
He'll be UNC's new run game coordinator and tight ends coach.
"Freddie brings a wealth of experience as a head coach, a coordinator and a position coach. We were really impressed with his resume and believe he will mesh nicely with the other members of the staff. In fact, Freddie and our new cornerbacks coach Jason Jones played together at Alabama," Brown said in a statement released by the program. "Freddie has a great offensive mind and his experience will be invaluable both in the meeting rooms and on the field. We're looking forward to getting the Kitchens to Chapel Hill and can't wait to see him work with our talented tight ends group."
Kitchens became a 'name' amongst football coaches for his lone season as head coach of the Cleveland Browns, and not for good reasons. He seemed like a solid replacement for Hue Jackson as interim head coach in 2018 and went 5-3 with that title. Unfortunately, he seemed overmatched as the full-time head coach and went 6-10, and was fired after just one season.
Kitchens coached tight ends for the New York Giants in 2020 and was their senior offensive assistant & interim offensive coordinator in 2021. He worked with the South Carolina Gamecocks last season as a senior football analyst.
A quarterback for the Alabama Crimson Tide from 1993 to 1997, Kitchens started his coaching career back in 1999 at Glenville State as running backs and tight ends coach
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Amid a full-scale offensive line makeover, the Texans are set to move on from a player they took a flier on this offseason. They are releasing Trent Brown, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. The 10-year veteran spent the summer on Houston’s active/PUP list, having suffered a torn patellar tendon during what amounted to a brief cameo in Cincinnati. The Texans needed to either activate Brown or send him to the reserve/PUP list. Option C, however, will be used. This will be the first time a team has released Brown. This release comes as Brown was moving toward a recovery from knee surgery, according to Wilson. But he will head back to free agency instead. The 380-plus-pound blocker having suffered a major knee injury during an age-31 season invited questions about his future, but a reunion with Nick Caserio — a Patriots exec when the team traded for Brown in 2018 — provided a lifeline. The Texans gave Brown a one-year, $2.35M deal with $550K guaranteed. Houston will eat only the $550K in dead money. Brown being nearly recovered is certainly notable, as it could lead to another chance given his history as a starter. Brown has made 96 starts, including three to open last season with the Bengals. Brown had spent the previous three years back in New England, after Las Vegas conducted an O-line makeover in 2021 that involved shedding a big-ticket Brown contract. Brown did not live up to the Raiders deal but became a regular again with the Patriots, starting at both LT and RT during his second stint. Brown has been injury-prone throughout his career, and although the former 49ers seventh-round pick operated as the Pats’ full-time LT during their 2018 Super Bowl-winning season, he has played more than 11 games just once since. The Texans also added two more tackles — Cam Robinson, Aireontae Ersery — this offseason. Robinson has emerged as a trade candidate. With Brown out of the picture, Ersery is moving toward the starting LT job (opposite the versatile Tytus Howard) with 2024 second-rounder Blake Fisher then set to be a swing tackle.
More details emerge on Russell Wilson's impact on star receiver Malik Nabers
It's been an encouraging summer for the New York Giants at the sport's most important position. Rookie Jaxson Dart has flashed plenty of upside throughout the preseason, while there have been numerous reports regarding how current starting quarterback Russell Wilson has had a positive impact on Giants receivers such as second-year pro Malik Nabers, Jalin Hyatt and Wan’Dale Robinson through the summer. For a piece published on Monday, NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated expanded on how Wilson became the leader of the Giants offense even as Dart emerged as one of the stars of the preseason. "Nabers has had a strong summer, and part of it has been the time he’s spent bonding with Wilson," Breer explained. "One story I heard about Wilson setting the tone was the room he rented for recovery and rehab in the team hotel for camp — a room that younger teammates started to gravitate to, with some borrowing from the quarterback’s methods. Nabers was at the top of the list of guys to do that, and it’s shown in how consistent he’s become, as the violent, aggressive, fast style of play he brought into the pros has started to conform to the NFL." The Giants made Nabers the sixth pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, and he played like a potential superstar as a rookie even though his club lacked top-tier talent at the quarterback position. According to ESPN stats, Nabers finished his debut pro season ranked fifth in the league with 109 receptions and seventh with 1,204 receiving yards. In total, he recorded seven touchdown catches over 15 games. While Dart performed well across New York's three preseason wins, Giants head coach Brian Daboll is sticking with Wilson as the club's QB1 for its Week 1 game at the Washington Commanders on Sept. 7. Breer seems to believe fans hoping that Dart will replace Wilson in the lineup as soon as for the Week 2 matchup at the Dallas Cowboys may be disappointed. "Wilson’s been good thus far in being a vocal leader in the meeting room and on the practice field, setting the bar as far as preparation, work ethic and the overall level of expectation," Breer mentioned. "...Wilson seems energized by the coaches’ buy-in on him, and Brian Daboll’s building an offense to lean into what he does well in an effort to get him playing fast with the ball coming out quickly." That's all well and good, but the harsh truth remains that calls for Dart to start will grow quite loud if the Giants are 0-2 ahead of their home opener against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sept. 21. As of Tuesday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Commanders as six-point favorites over the Giants for Week 1.
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Cal Raleigh reaches another milestone with HR against Padres
Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh has done it again. For the 50th time, to be exact. On Monday, MLB's home run leader blasted his 50th long ball of the season, one day after hitting two home runs against the Athletics to set the single-season record for home runs by a catcher in major league history at 49. He ended an eight-pitch at-bat against San Diego Padres starting pitcher JP Sears by hitting a solo shot 419 feet to left field off a 92 mph four-seam fastball, extending his home run lead and pulling him closer to breaking other MLB and club records. Raleigh moved five home runs from surpassing New York Yankees Hall of Fame outfielder Mickey Mantle's single-season home run record for a switch-hitter, who set the mark at 54 in 1961. Raleigh is also seven home runs shy of surpassing Hall of Fame centerfielder Ken Griffey Jr.'s Mariners single-season home run record (56). With more than a month until the regular season concludes on Sept. 28, Raleigh could also topple Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge's AL single-season home run record (62), which he established three seasons ago in 2022. The more records Raleigh breaks in his phenomenal season, the likelier he is to overtake Judge in the AL MVP race. Judge, a two-time winner, was running away with the award early this season, but Raleigh's season-long power surge has made him close to a co-favorite to win the award. Per ESPN Bet, Judge currently leads in odds at -120, followed closely by Raleigh at -105. The gap between the two is shrinking. At the rate Raleigh is playing, it won't be long before it's going, going, gone.
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