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![Khalil Mack's Raiders Backup, On This Most Auspicious Day: [Facepalm]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/bekoutfxd05iyio3mkva.jpg)
Khalil Mack's Raiders Backup, On This Most Auspicious Day: [Facepalm]
With All-Pro defensive end Khalil Mack headed to the Chicago Bears, the Raiders will turn to rookies P.J. Hall and Arden Key to step up along their defensive line. Key, in fact, is in line to nab Mack’s starting job. A promotion! So how is the rookie feeling about this latest roster development?...

Reports: Raiders Trade Khalil Mack To Chicago For Two First-Round Draft Picks
The Khalil Mack extension saga in Oakland seems to have drawn to an unexpected close. Rather than reach an agreement with their all-world defensive end, the Raiders have reportedly agreed to trade him to the Chicago Bears....

Q&A: Pepper Johnson On Drinking With Bill Belichick, Spygate, And Why The Jets Can't Get It Together
When I got Pepper Johnson on the phone, I had no idea what to expect. I sure as hell didn’t think we’d talk for four hours. But we did, and I still can’t believe it. I don’t think I’ve talked to anyone else for four consecutive hours in my life. But Pepper’s got stories. ...

Aaron Donald Finally Gets His Money
After playing the first four years of his career on a shitty rookie contract, after two consecutive lengthy offseason holdouts, and after becoming the best defensive tackle in football, Aaron Donald has finally convinced the Rams to pay him....

Maryland Shouldn't Be Playing Football This Weekend
Welcome to the Deadspin 25, a college football poll that strives to be more democratic and less useless than every other preseason poll. Leading up to the college football season kickoff, we will give you previews of the 25 teams that you, the readers, voted to be most worthy of writing about. Now, ...

The College Football Season Began With A UCF Player Carried Off On A Stretcher<em></em>
Thursday night was, for all intents and purposes, the beginning of the college football season, as an actual ranked team in UCF took on UConn in the silliest rivalry in sports. (There’s also a Northwestern-Purdue game, for the true perverts among us.)...

BREAKING: College Football Programs Juice Their Attendance Numbers
Official attendance numbers—at any sporting event—are almost always lies, at least in the sense that they rarely represent the actual number of fans who both paid for a ticket and showed up to the game. We know that instinctively; it’s not a shocking revelation to see it proved as fact. But thanks t...

Alabama Will Be Alabama
Welcome to the Deadspin 25, a college football poll that strives to be more democratic and less useless than every other preseason poll. Leading up to the college football season kickoff, we will give you previews of the 25 teams that you, the readers, voted to be most worthy of writing about. Now, ...

The Hater's Guide To The College Football Top 25
College football, the looser and more fun but also worse version of football played by younger and less well-compensated people than those in the NFL, is back baby. Or maybe is already back? Anyway the timing is complicated, because while the good stuff gets going this weekend, college football’s la...

So, What's Going On With Khalil Mack?
Odell Beckham, Jr. got his money. So did Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Donald is reportedly on the verge of finally getting the Rams to pay him. Khalil Mack, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to be anywhere close to signing an extension with the Raiders....

Virginia Tech Has Its Holes, But This Is Still A Bud Foster Defense
Welcome to the Deadspin 25, a college football poll that strives to be more democratic and less useless than every other preseason poll. Leading up to the college football season kickoff, we will give you previews of the 25 teams that you, the readers, voted to be most worthy of writing about. Now, ...

Zach Smith Is Having A Public Meltdown
Former Ohio State wide receivers coach Zach Smith, who was recently fired from his job after multiple allegations of domestic violence from his ex-wife, Courtney, became public, has spent the afternoon tweeting angrily about his situation. He’s threatened to sue Brett McMurphy, the reporter who orig...

Janoris Jenkins Wanted Someone To Check On His House Just Before A Dead Body Was Found There<em></em>
Giants cornerback Janoris Jenkins was out of town back in June, at the time police say his brother killed a man at the New Jersey home Jenkins owns. But Jenkins asked someone to check on his house the morning Roosevelt Rene’s body was found there, telling that person he had been told his door was op...

The Steelers' Privacy Tarp Would Be No Match For My Espionage Abilities
Last week came reports of the Pittsburgh Steelers erecting a tarp wall at the end of their practice field, apparently for the purpose of keeping prying eyes away from their football activities. When asked about the tarp, head coach Mike Tomlin mentioned “drones and so forth,” and the need for his pl...

Ohio State Releases More Documents From Zach Smith Investigation
This afternoon, Ohio State published a new batch of documents related to the Zach Smith domestic abuse case. The document trove includes previously reported on copies of police reports and the protective order filed by Smith’s ex-wife, Courtney. The school also published new materials, including rec...

Jerry Jones Thinks You're Stupid Enough To Believe An 18-Game Season Would Be "Better For Players"
Roger Goodell and the NFL owners have been agitating for an expanded regular season for a number of years now. Back in 2010, Patriots owner Bob Kraft called the idea of an 18-game season “a win-win all around,” and Goodell said, “There’s a tremendous amount of momentum for it. We think it’s the righ...

Texas A&M Whistleblower Booted By Arizona After Video Surfaces Of Him Calling Black Players "Monkeys"
Last week, former Texas A&M linebacker Santino Marchiol accused his former school of a spate of NCAA violations, in an effort to make his case that he should be allowed to play for Arizona this year because his transfer out of A&M was due to “hardships,” the only way he’d be allowed to play in 2018....

Oh Hell Yeah, UAB Is Back And The Blazers Are For Real
Welcome to the Deadspin 25, a college football poll that strives to be more democratic and less useless than every other preseason poll. Leading up to the college football season kickoff, we will give you previews of the 25 teams that you, the readers, voted to be most worthy of writing about. Now, ...

Hue Jackson Doesn't Sound Real Happy With His Loudmouthed Defensive Coordinator
Browns head coach Hue Jackson was asked Monday about some especially harsh comments defensive coordinator Gregg Williams made about an injury suffered by rookie Denzel Ward, who suffered back spasms after successfully tackling Eagles tight end Zach Ertz in a preseason game. Jackson does not seem rea...

Report: Baylor Secretly Infiltrated Sexual Assault Survivor Groups
According to a report from PR Week, Baylor officials placed a mole within several support groups for sexual assault survivors as a way to control their messaging and keep the university from looking bad....