The 2021 regular season is just around the corner, and NFL Network has you covered with wall-to-wall training camp coverage each day starting at 1 p.m. ET. Follow along here for some of the best sights, sounds and moments from "Inside Training Camp Live" and around the NFL.
- The Philadelphia Eagles gave longtime tight end Zach Ertz permission to seek a trade this offseason, but with no deal struck by the start of training camp, the 30-year-old took the practice field on Wednesday. Eagles general manager Howie Roseman told reporters he expects Ertz to be on the roster at the start of the season, via Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer. "It's really good to see him out there," Roseman said, adding he's "excited" to have Ertz present at camp. While we haven't heard from Ertz himself on the matter yet, the eight-year veteran's presence alone avoids a hostile standoff. Ertz, the Eagles all-time reception leader for TEs, will have to compete with Dallas Goedert for snaps in 2021 coming off a disappointing season.
- Pete Carroll believes a Jamal Adams extension will come soon as he delivered the latest update on contract talks with the Seattle Seahawks standout safety. "The conversations have been ongoing for some time and been very amicable," Carroll told reporters Wednesday. "He's in a good place. They've worked really hard to this point. I'm very hopeful that it's going to get taken care of here soon, very soon." Adams did not practice on Wednesday, but Carroll clarified it was not contract-related, but because he's dealing with the aftermath of shoulder and hand surgeries. "Well he's got some stuff that's in question," Carroll said. "[Had] shoulder surgery and he had surgery on both hands, so he's got some stuff that he would be working anyway. He's getting work here. He wouldn't be working yet. So it's OK at this time right now. He's out there for the walkthroughs, he's in the meetings and all that kind of stuff, he's doing everything."
- Jaguars quarterback Gardner Minshew has already made it clear he won't settle for No. 2 behind No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence. The third-year quarterback is getting a chance to prove himself as the Jags begin training camp. Reporting from Jaguars practice Wednesday, NFL Network's James Palmer said Minshew took the first two reps of the team's first seven-on-seven drills with Lawrence taking the next two. Palmer added that the QBs trotted out on the field in the same order for 11-on-11 drills. The arrangement of QBs taking reps is only speculative, for now, but first-year head coach Urban Meyer has maintained he would bring a competitive spirit to Jacksonville. Handling the No. 1 overall pick is no easy task, with early conjectures running amok on even the most menial details. While an injury hamstrung his 2020 season, Minshew failed to hold his starting job, going 1-7 in his eight starts.
Veteran linebacker Myles Jack gave Palmer some insight on Lawrence's first day of camp. "It was cool because you see the draft and everything and you hear the hype," said the Jaguars veteran. "So, I'm getting in my stance and I'm seeing him getting underneath and when you start seeing him sling the ball man, you're like, 'OK, this is what a No. 1 overall pick looks like.' You know what I mean? So, in my experience I've played against a lot of great quarterbacks and to see a young guy come in and the touches that he puts on the ball, the passes he can make, throwing receivers open -- he's got a very good understanding. Will he make mistakes as a young guy? Of course. But I think he'll be here for a long time and he'll be a staple for Jacksonville."
- Washington pass rusher Chase Young is staying grounded after being awarded the 2020 AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year honor. Speaking with NFL Network's LaDainian Tomlinson, Young expressed his views on Year 2 and how Washington can maintain a defense that took the league by storm in 2020. "I feel like not focusing on the past and not focusing on the future and just focusing on the present -- just try to be our best right now," Young said. "I fell like if we do that, I think on Sundays we will go out and be one of the best again." The WFT defense harassed opposing quarterbacks all season with 47 sacks, finished with the second-best yards-allowed-per-game average (191.8) and was the catalyst to an unforeseen playoff berth. Asked by L.T. if Washington learned from losing to the Super Bowl-winning Bucs defense in the playoffs, Young asserted the same type of philosophy. "Just really lock in more. That was one of our worst games -- we had like 10 explosives in one game and we'd never had that the whole season," Young explained. "I feel like we really just gotta be consistent every game. I feel like how that's going to happen is we gotta be at where our feet at. We can't be too focused on the future and we can't worry about the past -- we gotta be at where out feet at -- and I think we can do it."
- There's no better time for Patrick Mahomes to work on his ridiculousness. The Chiefs quarterback dropped a dime to Tyreek Hill during seven-on-seven practice Wednesday, offering an enhanced version of his no-look pass by casually changing his arm angle to sling an accurate side-armed heave that whizzed by defenders. Linebacker Anthony Hitchens could be seen in good coverage in the short clip and the deflating look of cornerback Charvarius Ward after Hill's catch perfectly encapsulates the unbelievable talent of Mahomes.
- Drew Lock and Teddy Bridgewater are firmly entrenched in a competition this summer and the Broncos quarterbacks spoke on the matter after Wednesday's practice. Lock, who threw 18 interceptions in 13 starts last season, believes his attitude on the field has changed. "I feel like the chances that I do take are more calculated," Lock said, via team reporter Aric DiLalla. "The gunslinger mentality can still be there, but it's got to be a calculated gunslinger." Lock also mentioned he put on 10 pounds this offseason, saying he feels he put on some "grown man strength" before quipping that he's "not going through puberty anymore." Bridgewater, who was acquired for a sixth-round pick from Carolina, proclaimed that he's the man for the job, saying, "I'm a survivor. You can throw me in the jungle and I'm going to come out with a fur coat, and a headband made out of some leaves. I feel like it's just about surviving at this point." The Lock-Bridgewater QB battle will be a big storyline through the preseason and whoever wins the job will have the opportunity to lead a complete Broncos squad.
- Entering a fresh start with a new team, Colts quarterback Carson Wentz expressed his happiness after his practice debut. "I've always been wired that way, to have high expectations," Wentz said, via the team website. "And coming in here, I could feel it in the spring right after the trade, the culture was different. It's a family. It truly feels like a family. Football, it's always talked about in the locker room, all that's always talked about is it's a family, it's a family. But something feels different here." Wentz's enthusiasm showed up on the practice field and his extra level of energy had to be dialed back at times according to the 28-year-old veteran. "I was telling coach [Marcus] Brady before coming out here, I'm a little amped up, gotta tone it down," Wentz said. "[It] feels like the first day of school again, coming out here, beautiful setting for training camp, you got farmland all around you, my type of place. So it was a lot of fun out there today and like I said early on, had to tone it down a little bit and was a little amped up."
Jimmy Garoppolo had a noticeably different disposition at the podium one day after being named the starting quarterback by coach 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan. The often polite and pleasantly tame QB gave sarcastic answers that playfully exemplified the type of teammate Jimmy G is. The good-natured attitude shouldn't be considered a sign of complacency as the veteran looks to rebound from an injury-marred season with a rookie replacement waiting in the wings. "I'm as motivated as it gets," Garoppolo said, via the team's senior reporter Keiana Martin. Asked about the potentially awkward situation involving rookie Trey Lance, Garoppolo smiled, saying, "I don't know what you're talking about," according to Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle. Garoppolo eventually expanded on the competitive dynamic with Lance: "When you let it happen organically, I think that's when it's at it most natural and you can build a normal relationship between two people," he said. "Anything he needs I'm willing to help him."
Shanahan told reporters receiver Mohamed Sanu is in a "much better place" entering his second stint with the club. Shanahan added that Sanu, whose impact took a hit over the last season-and a half following a bad ankle sprain during his late-season run with the Patriots in 2019, told the 49ers this offseason that "he's back." Garoppolo, in his own way, championed Sanu's comeback effort: "He's looking [expletive] good."
- The first days of training camp are bringing the excitement out of everyone, including Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden.
