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NFL

Jordan Love weds Ronika Stone; David Bakhtiari seemingly trolls Aaron Rodgers in congrats post

The 2025 offseason was wedding season for Green Bay Packers quarterbacks past and present.

One of them was a bit more out in the open than the other.

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Shortly after former Packers and current Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers revealed he had gotten married — but did not reveal his wife’s identity and said she preferred to stay out of the public eye — current Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love tied the knot.

Love married his longtime girlfriend, Ronika Stone, a professional volleyball player for the San Diego Mojo. Stone posted photos and videos from the wedding this past weekend on her Instagram story.

Earlier this offseason, Love discussed his role in planning the wedding.

“Ronika’s been really involved with handling all the stuff,” Love said. “I’ve been weighing in on some of the things, some of the different areas. I’m sure a couple weeks out it might pick up, get a little more hectic with it right around the corner. It’s been awesome. We’re excited, we’re ready for it, so excited to get that going.”

Former Packers offensive lineman David Bakhtiari attended Love’s wedding. Bakhtiari even poked fun at his close friend Rodgers while posting a video from Love’s wedding, saying, “Love is love. Congrats to the Loves. Just happy at least one of my quarterbacks invited me to their wedding.”

Love is love. Congrats to the Loves.

Just happy at least one of my quarterbacks invited me to their wedding ? pic.twitter.com/Z4VtdtO9OF

— David Bakhtiari (@DavidBakhtiari) June 30, 2025

NFL

'Mac's capable of being a starter': Mac Jones being coached hard by 49ers in attempt to revive career

  • Nick WagonerJul 1, 2025, 06:00 AM ET

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      Nick Wagoner is an NFL reporter at ESPN. Nick has covered the San Francisco 49ers since 2016, having previously covered the St. Louis Rams for 12 years, including three years (2013 to 2015) at ESPN. In over a decade with the company, Nick has led ESPN’s coverage of the Niners’ 2019 and 2023 Super Bowl run, Colin Kaepernick’s protest, the Rams making Michael Sam the first openly gay player drafted to the NFL, Sam’s subsequent pursuit of a roster spot and the team’s relocation and stadium saga.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — After an early June organized team activity, new San Francisco 49ers quarterback Mac Jones walked to a podium in the bowels of Levi’s Stadium and answered questions for about 11 minutes.

As Jones patiently responded to queries about everything from how he was nearly picked by the Niners in the 2021 NFL draft to why he believes coach Kyle Shanahan can get his career back on track, something was clearly nagging him.

On the practice field moments earlier, Jones had struggled, throwing an interception directly to cornerback Derrick Canteen and missing a handful of open receivers, including an overthrow to rookie wideout Jordan Watkins on a deep ball.

Throughout his media session, Jones alluded to his misfires on multiple occasions, opening a window into the first thing that he and the 49ers must fix as he steps into the No. 2 quarterback role behind Brock Purdy: rebuilding his ability to trust what he sees and cut it loose.

“My goal is to really just have great attempts like, you know, is the ball supposed to go there?” Jones said. “And if it is, then let it fly and be committed to it. Sometimes when you watch my film, it wasn’t a full commitment throw and I want to get better at that. … That’s the whole point of football is to try those throws, learn from them, and then when you get to the game you can say, ‘Hey, I can do this,’ or ‘I’m going to check this one down, you know, I’m trying to protect the ball.’ So, I’ve learned the hard way in a way.”

Indeed, Jones has taken a far more circuitous route to the red and gold of the 49ers than many observers would have expected when he entered the NFL out of Alabama in 2021. At the time, the Niners sent a trio of first-round picks and more to the Miami Dolphins to move from No. 12 to No. 3 to select their franchise quarterback.

Although Jones was widely regarded as the likely choice for most of the run-up to that draft, the Niners ultimately selected North Dakota State’s Trey Lance. Jones tumbled to the New England Patriots with the 15th pick.

After being drafted No. 15 overall in 2021 by the Patriots and then being traded to the Jaguars in 2024, Jones hopes to learn from 49ers and get his career back on track. AP Photo/Jeff Chiu

As it turned out, neither Lance nor Jones would be the long-term answer for the Niners or Patriots, respectively, and both teams quickly moved on to other options. Jones was shipped to Jacksonville after a promising rookie season (56.9 QBR) gave way to a pair of disappointing years in which he posted QBRs of 38.4 in 2022 and 37.5 in 2023.

That one-year stop with the Jaguars offered Jones seven starting opportunities, with Editor’s Picks

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“To watch him go through those three weeks working on some technique things and just how we see football, I’m hoping it helps him and he enjoys it,” Shanahan said.

Rough practice days aside, enjoying his new place of employment hasn’t been a problem for Jones to this point. He’s made it clear that he likes being coached hard and that he’s craved the challenge that Shanahan and his staff have put before him.

Jones’ chance to learn the basics of Shanahan’s offense extends beyond the coaching staff.

In another fateful twist, when he was a young player at Alabama, Jones once played host for a recruiting visit by a young quarterback named Purdy. The pair spent that night in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, hanging out and playing video games, and though Purdy ultimately opted for Iowa State, Jones has enjoyed watching Purdy grow into the quarterback who recently signed a five-year, $265 million contract extension with the 49ers.

For Jones, Purdy offers a daily reminder of how developing in the right place with the right coaching staff can pay big dividends.

Before signing with the Niners, Jones also noted the ascent of Best of NFL Nation

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NFL

Trevor Lawrence among five Jaguars with something to prove

  • Michael DiRoccoJun 28, 2025, 06:00 AM ET

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      Michael DiRocco is an NFL Nation reporter at ESPN and covers the Jacksonville Jaguars. He previously covered the University of Florida for over a decade for ESPN and the Florida Times-Union. DiRocco graduated from Jacksonville University and is a multiple APSE award winner.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Running back Travis Etienne Jr. knows this could be his last season with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He is currently playing on the fifth-year option of his rookie contract for the franchise that drafted him 25th overall in 2021.

But putting any time into thinking about that would be a waste, he said. He’d rather focus on bouncing back from a disappointing 2024 and proving he’s capable of being a reliable playmaker again.

“I know I’m a great player. Everyone knows I’m a great player and it is just really just relying on your work,” Etienne said as the Jaguars wrapped up their three-day mandatory minicamp. “I feel like the work that I’m putting in this offseason is going to only propel me throughout the season no matter where I’m at. And I feel like for me, how I’m approaching it, if I do everything I can before the season, the season’s going to take care of itself.

After losing his rookie season to a Lisfranc injury, Etienne rushed for 2,133 yards and 16 touchdowns and caught 93 passes for 792 yards and one touchdown in 2022-23. Last season his production dipped significantly — 558 and two rushing touchdowns and 39 catches for 254 yards — as second-year player Tank Bigsby became the team’s top back (766 yards and seven TDs).

Part of Etienne’s decline could be attributed to the way he was used over the past two seasons in former head coach Doug Pederson’s offense. In 2022, 25.4% of his carries came outside the tackles and he averaged 8.3 yards per rush. Those numbers dipped in 2023 (23.2%, 3.7 yards per carry) and 2024 (21.3%, 3.0 yards per carry).

Etienne is at his best when he’s on the edge and in space, and he likes that new head coach Liam Coen’s offense seemed to put him in those spots a lot during the spring.

“He’s been getting me a lot in space,” Etienne said. “I love me one-on-one with anybody and just being able to make that first man miss and being able to get the extra yards. I feel like Liam has a great knack for getting the players the ball. It’s more so players than plays with Liam and he has a great feel for the game.”

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Coen liked what he saw from Etienne in the spring, especially his consistency.

“Every day, everything we have asked him to do he has done at a good click for us,” Coen said. “The ability in the screen game, to hand him jet sweeps, his vision so far in the run game’s been good. He’s done everything we’ve asked him to do and more.”

That’s a good sign because in addition to Bigsby, the Jaguars drafted two running backs:

Lawrence isn’t in danger of going anywhere: He signed a five-year, $275 million extension with $200 million guaranteed last June, but he has yet to play at a high level over a full season and has battled six separate injuries over the past two seasons, including two concussions in an 11-month span.

Making things more difficult is that he’s learning his third offense since the Jaguars drafted him first overall in 2021.

Lawrence has been chasing the success he had between a 17-game stretch from Week 9 in 2022 to Week 8 in 2023, when he completed 69% of his passes (second-best in that stretch to Justin Herbert’s 69.5%) for 4,208 yards and 24 touchdowns with six interceptions (third lowest among QBs who started 10 or more games). The Jaguars went 13-4 over that period.

That’s a pretty good stretch, but the expectations for the player once tabbed a generational prospect are higher, especially when it comes to touchdown passes and turnovers. Lawrence has not thrown more than 25 in a season (2022) and he leads the NFL in turnovers (68) since he entered the league despite playing seven fewer games than Josh Allen (67 turnovers), who is the only other player with 60-plus turnovers.

There is optimism that Coen will be the coach to finally get a big season out of Lawrence, especially after Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield threw a career-high 41 TD passes and a career-high 4,500 yards in 2024 in his lone season with Coen as his offensive coordinator.

Coen has completely reworked Lawrence’s footwork, which he said is vital to Lawrence being able to operate the offense effectively.


Harrison was a marginally better player in his second season (83.1% pass block win rate, 60th among tackles; 71.7% run block win rate, 51st among tackles) than he was as a rookie (80.2% pass block win rate, 67th among tackles; 69.4% run block win rate, 61st among tackles). But the Jaguars expected more growth out of the 27th overall pick in the 2023 draft.

He didn’t make big strides in the spring, either. He missed one of the OTAs open to the media because of an illness and when he was healthy and participating in the OTAs and minicamp open to the media he rotated with free-agent signee Chuma Edoga with the starters.

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It got worse for Jones when Campanile revealed his defense is heavy on zone coverage, which is something Jones said he never played in high school or college. Montaric Brown, who started 10 games outside last season, is good in zone coverage and worked with the starters throughout the spring.

“[Brown] loves to compete,” Campanile said. “Whether it’s on the line of scrimmage, he’s not afraid to challenge people, he’ll challenge guys at the top of the route and try to play with technique. But whatever he’s got to do to strain and make the play, he’s been doing that, which is awesome. That’s what we’ve been preaching, and he’s been doing it every day.”

Jones has had to take a crash course in zone coverage, and Campanile said he likes the extra work that Jones put in over the spring. Jones will be given a chance to compete for playing time, both outside and at nickel, but the Jaguars signed nickel back Jourdan Lewis in free agency so it’s unlikely Jones beats him out.

It may be hard for Jones to find much playing time in 2025.

NFL

Bucs ink Bowles, GM Licht to multiyear extensions

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have signed coach Todd Bowles and general manager Jason Licht to multiyear contract extensions, it was announced Thursday.

“Jason and Todd’s leadership has been critical to our organization’s success. The winning culture they have established has us well positioned for the future,” Buccaneers owner/co-chairman Joel Glazer said in a statement. “The continuity and stability they provide will play a large role in our ability to compete for additional championships.”

The team didn’t provide terms, but sources told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler that Bowles’ deal is a three-year extension through the 2028 season.

Bowles, 61, enters his fourth season as the team’s head coach with a 27-24 record and having won three consecutive NFC South titles from 2022 to 2024. His 27 regular-season victories are the franchise’s second-best total through three seasons behind Bruce Arians, his predecessor.

“I am excited to continue working with Jason for years to come as we build on the success we’ve enjoyed and keep reaching for even bigger and better goals,” Bowles said in a statement. “… I also appreciate the confidence that the Glazer Family has shown in my abilities to lead this football team. It is a responsibility I do not take lightly and am honored to have.”

Bucs coach Todd Bowles (left) and GM Jason Licht have signed multiyear extensions with the team. Tampa Bay has won four straight NFC South titles — three with Bowles — and is the only NFC team to reach the playoffs in each of the past five seasons. Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire

Licht is currently the NFL’s fifth-longest-tenured traditional general manager, entering his 12th season with the Bucs.

The Bucs finished 10-7 last season, losing to the Editor’s Picks

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Tampa Bay leads the NFL in total snaps and starts by homegrown players drafted in Rounds 1-5 since 2014.

“I am very grateful to the Glazer Family for the trust and belief they have shown in what we are doing here,” Licht said in a statement. “I am also very excited to continue working alongside Todd well into the future as we continue our mission of finding and developing talented players and chasing additional championships for our fans.”

Under Bowles, who served as the Bucs’ defensive coordinator before being promoted to head coach, the team’s defense has ranked among the NFL’s best since 2019, leading the NFL in rushing defense (93.8 yards per game), opponent yards per carry (4.0), and fumble recoveries (68), while placing second in sacks (281.0) and fifth in red zone efficiency (53.8%).

Overall, Bowles has a 53-65 record as a head coach. In addition to three games as interim coach of the Miami Dolphins in 2011, Bowles spent four seasons on the sidelines with the New York Jets from 2015 to 2018, going 24-40.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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“If you think about it, I've never held a job in my life. I went from being an NFL player to a coach to a broadcaster. I haven't worked a day in my life.”
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