Football

Ex-NFL star Torrey Smith is firing back at the people mocking him for wearing a life vest on a recent fishing trip ... saying, "I’m going to do my part to make sure I make it home."

Several fellow NFLers like Warren Sapp and Kamu Grugier-Hill commented on Smith's IG post on Thursday ... questioning why the athlete would bother wearing the vest.

"To the folks that clowned me about my life jacket (I know most were jokes) this is a serious issue," Smith said on Friday. "I’m new to boating and I respect the water so I’m going to be safe."

The Super Bowl champ -- who points out he knows how to swim -- says that ability alone can't prevent drownings ... and he's not willing to take the risk.

Of course, Smith's post comes days after Naya Rivera's tragic death ... when the actress accidentally drowned in Lake Piru after swimming with her son. Officials say she wasn't wearing a life vest.

Smith also shared an article breaking down stats on life vests and why they're so critical ... even if people are confident on a boat.

"Nothing is promised but I’m going to do my part to make sure I make it home."

The Canadian football League's Edmonton Eskimos -- one of the most decorated teams in CFL history -- is now planning on changing its team name after some say it's offensive to Inuit people.

It's a similar situation to the controversy in the NFL with the Washington Redskins -- the team had long pointed to research which showed most Inuit people did not find the name offensive.

But, there has been public outcry in recent months from Inuit groups and leaders who claim the name is racist -- and now sponsors are threatening to walk if the team doesn't change it quick.

The team had pushed back for a while -- even releasing a statement saying the club name should be considered a tribute to the Inuit people because it invokes “toughness, hardiness and the ability to perform in cold weather."

But now, the team has apparently decided to make a change -- with TSN reporting they WILL move on from the name with an official announcement coming soon.

It's a pretty big deal -- considering the team has used the nickname since 1949.

The Edmonton franchise is legendary in the CFL -- with 14 Grey Cup titles since 1954.

Earlier this week, the NFL's Washington franchise also decided to drop their team nickname after major Native American groups spoke out against it.

"If Asante Samuel walked up right now, I wouldn't know his face."

That's Darrell Green's reaction to Asante Samuel's recent criticism of his Hall of Fame resume ... and, yeah. OUCH!!!

Don't get it too twisted though ... DG says it's not exactly meant to be a slight to Samuel -- he tells us it just means he's not taking the former New England Patriots cornerback's comments to heart.

"Truthfully," Green told us, "I don't think I've ever met him. I don't know his face if he walked up."

If you missed it ... in order to boost his own Hall of Fame resume, Asante went after Darrell on Twitter earlier this month, calling out his career stats.

"With all do respect can someone explain to me why Darrell Green is considered a great?" Samuel wrote. "He played 19 years and was mostly a nickel back. 54 INT's in 19 years. Talk to me????"

Asante was blasted by many over the tweet -- with Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy essentially telling the guy to do some research.

"Darrell Green played on the outside, not as a nickel," Dungy said. "He traveled with the best receiver and was a TOP ECHELON CB for almost 2 decades!!"

Green tells us he appreciated Dungy coming to his defense ... but added he believes his career numbers more than speak for themselves.

"There's enough information if he really wanted to know that he could have found," Green said.

FYI -- Green played 20 years for Washington and won 2 Super Bowls and made 7 Pro Bowls before he was inducted into Canton in 2008.

Still, Darrell tried his best to take the high road with Samuel ... adding, "I hope he gets in the Hall of Fame."

Fifteen former female Washington NFL team staffers claim they were sexually harassed and verbally abused during their time with the org. ... and they say it was relentless and repeated.

It's all in a new bombshell Washington Post report ... which claims the culture with Washington's NFL team was toxic and demeaning toward women in the workplace.

In the report, one of the women, 31-year-old Emily Applegate -- a former marketing coordinator who spent one year with the club before leaving in 2015 -- claims, "It was the most miserable experience of my life."

"And we all tolerated it," she added, "because we knew if we complained -- and they reminded us of this -- there were 1,000 people out there who would take our job in a heartbeat."

Applegate says she was told by a high-ranking exec to wear revealing clothes "so the men in the room have something to look at."

She also says the same superior constantly verbally abused her, and once called her "f**king stupid."

Applegate says she would meet with a female co-worker in the bathroom on her lunch breaks ... and they would cry together over the alleged harassment.

The report also says 14 other women echoed Applegate's claims ... sharing similar stories, but choosing to remain anonymous over fears of litigation.

In one of the most salacious allegations ... some of the women claim men in the facility -- including team trainers -- would stand at the bottom of a staircase near the entrance to team headquarters and would stare up female employees' skirts.

In fact, the women say this was such a well-known problem among the females in the office ... employees warned others to avoid the staircase at all costs.

In another allegation ... a female employee said at the team's training camp in Richmond, Va., she was "propositioned basically every day" by team officials for late-night visits.

Several of the team employees accused of harassment in the report have been fired by Washington in the last few days.

Bombshell allegations from Evelyn Lozada -- who says Chad Ochocinco abused her MULTIPLE times during their relationship, despite his claims to the contrary.

Lozada -- who was married to the ex-NFL star for less than a month in 2012 -- released an emotional video Thursday claiming Chad is straight-up LYING about physical abuse in their relationship.

As we previously reported, Ochocinco was arrested for domestic battery on August 11, 2012, when he headbutted Lozada during an argument, causing a massive bloody gash.

Johnson was later cut from the Miami Dolphins as a result -- and his NFL career never really got back on track.

On Wednesday, Ocho mentioned the incident on Twitter -- saying, "I lost my temper for once in life for 3 seconds & it cost me a lifetimes worth of work."

He added, "I got it all back plus some after getting a 2nd chance & NOTHING will ever get me out of that happy space again."

The problem ... Evelyn says Chad isn't telling the truth and it's causing her tremendous pain.

"For this man to sit up there and say that he lost his temper for 3 seconds is infuriating to me," Lozada said ... "It's messages like this, tweets or whatever the hell it was, that are triggers for me."

"People read this on social media and are coming at me talking about 'oh you made this man lose his job' it's like if you're gonna speak the truth, I want you to speak the truth as to what the situation was."

"It wasn't the first time, it wasn't the first time!"

"And, one of the things I'm always gonna do is I'm always gonna live in my truth, whether it's good, whether it's bad, whether it's ugly, I'm not going to let anybody take away my f**king truth and put this perception out there for a pity party as if you made one mistake."

Evelyn continued, "And, I'm trying to move on from this. But, as a victim, how am I supposed to move on?!"

"What happened to me that day and other days, I didn't deserve. I didn't deserve that."

Danica Patrick has unfollowed Aaron Rodgers on Instagram ... and we all know what that means -- BREAK UP?!!?!?!

NOOOOOOO!!!!

Seems the couple has called it quits after two years of dating -- shocking considering they were publicly trading "I love yous" ... and had even shacked up together at a recently purchased $28 MILLION mansion in Malibu.

In fact, it was just back in December when Danica posted a super mushy birthday message for Aaron on IG -- saying, "Happy birthday to my best friend and favorite person in the world. You are the one I want to tell my best and worst days to first."

She also dropped an "L-Bomb."

"This journey we are on.... it’s a really really good one. I love you. Happiest of birthdays yet!!!!!!"

Before that, Jenny McCarthy asked Danica on her SiriusXM show back in November about a possible wedding at some point -- and while DP admitted she WANTED to get engaged, she wasn't trying to rush it.

The Green Bay Packers superstar and ex-NASCAR driver started dating back in 2018 ... after initially meeting at the 2012 ESPYs.

We've reached out to reps from both camps -- but so far, radio silence. Seems no one's ready to talk yet.

Patrick previously dated race car driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -- but they broke up in 2017. Danica had said she was ready to get engaged -- but Stenhouse refused to pull the trigger and that was that.

Rodgers previously dated Olivia Munn but they split in 2017.

Remember when a random liquor store worker beat out every national reporter in breaking the insane Patrick Mahomes deal??

The Kansas City Chiefs decided to team up with the infamous tweeter for another go-round on Thursday ... to officially announce a new contract with star defensive tackle Chris Jones!!

WELL, before any major outlet had a scoop on the Mahomes news, Katie Camlin of Plaza Liquor in KC sent out the following -- "A front office employee for the Chiefs came in and bought 6 bottles of Dom Perignon."

"Said there's a big signing today. He said it's not Chris Jones, so my guess is a Mahomes deal."

We all know by now that Katie was absolutely right in her prediction ... with Mahomes inking a record-breaking, 10-year deal worth up to $503 MILLION.

As a way to pay homage to the epic moment, the Chiefs worked with Camlin for a re-enactment for the Jones deal -- a 4-year, $85 million extension.

"OMG. Chiefs came in again. Six more bottles. My guess is CHRIS JONES!!" Camlin tweeted in the vid.

Of course, ESPN's Adam Schefter ended up breaking the news on Tuesday ... which Camlin joked was out of generosity.

"I let @AdamSchefter have that one."

Myles Garrett says he won't let his helmet-swinging attack on Mason Rudolph define his career ... and he's ready to put the "small bump in the road" behind him for good.

The Cleveland Browns superstar was suspended a total of 6 games in 2019 after he hit the Steelers QB during a game against Pittsburgh on November 15.

The 24-year-old -- who just inked a massive 5-year, $125 MILLION extension to stay in CLE -- spoke with local media for the first time since the incident on Thursday ... and said he's ready to prove it was a one-time thing.

"My life is much bigger than one moment," Garrett said. "Me, the Browns, and my teammates are going to look past that."

"That will be just a small bump in the road."

Garrett says he's not concerned about being labeled a "dirty player" ... and he won't be "walking on eggshells" on the field to make sure he isn't viewed that way.

"That's just life," Garrett added. "You have one mistake and people are going to come after you."

"Me, I'm just going to keep on playing my game, not worrying about what people say. It's just a bump in the road. I know my teammates will have my back to de-escalate and keep it to football."

Remember, Garrett previously told TMZ Sports he saw his suspension as a "blessing in disguise" ... and has used his time away from the game to stay in insane shape.

Garrett -- who accused Rudolph of using the n-word during the incident -- added he hasn't spoken to anyone with the Steelers organization in the months following ... but welcomes the opportunity to hash things over with the QB and coach Mike Tomlin.

"Women lie. Men lie. The stats don’t. Go do your homework."

Ezekiel Elliott has clearly hit a breaking point with critics of his game ... the Dallas Cowboys star just went OFF on an epic rant -- clapping back at haters who say he's lost a step.

"Check the stats," Zeke said. "Since I entered this league I have dominated year in, year out. Put some RESPECT on my name."

The 24-year-old has come under fire on multiple occasions in the last few days ... one anonymous coach last week ranked him as the 11th-best RB in the NFL.

Just days later, meanwhile, his Madden rating came out ... and he was only a 92 overall -- making him just the 4th best back in the game.

Zeke decided to lash out against the criticism Thursday ... insisting he's still the same dude that busted into the league in 2016 and destroyed everybody.

"Almost 1800 scrimmage yards and 14 TD’s with no training camp [last season] and now im not the same back," Elliott said.

"I do appreciate the standard you guys hold me to though lol. But I promise you no one holds me to a higher standard than myself."

NFL star Tyrann Mathieu has paid for the funeral costs of a 9-year-old boy who was killed in a horrific shooting in New Orleans, TMZ Sports has learned.

Devante Bryant was shot in the head on July 13th in a mysterious attack on a bunch of kids. Two other teenagers -- 13 and 16 -- were also shot, but they survived.

Cops are investigating but so far, they don't seem to have any idea about why someone would commit this horrible act.

When Tyrann -- who's from Louisiana -- found out about the killing, he wanted to help the family and felt paying for the funeral costs would allow them to focus on grieving for their son.

"Young black children should not be dying from gun violence," the Kansas City Chiefs superstar tells TMZ Sports.

"Devante didn’t even have a chance to live his life before it was tragically taken away from him."

"My goal is to help stop the violence and help my community to show and empower children from my community that there is another way, one child at a time."

"I wanted to help the Bryant family because I am from the 7th Ward and I felt that pain. I have a 7-year-old son that lives in New Orleans and I couldn’t imagine something happening to him at that age. He is only 2 years younger than Devante."

"My heart goes out to the Bryant and Howard Family."

If you have any information about the shooting -- please reach out to the New Orleans PD.

Bad news, Cowboys fans ... Dak Prescott did NOT reach a long-term deal with Dallas at the deadline Wednesday -- reportedly turning down over $100 MILLION guaranteed.

The superstar QB had been in contract talks with Cowboys brass all offseason about getting an extension done ... but the two sides just couldn't meet in the middle.

26-year-old Dak will now play on the franchise tag in 2020 -- which locks him in as Dallas' QB for only this season at $31.4 million.

Dallas' final offer to Dak was set to pay the 2-time Pro Bowler between $33 and $35 million every year, with over $100 million guaranteed ... NFL Network's Jane Slater reported Tuesday.

But, Prescott reportedly wanted fewer years on the deal ... and the Cowboys wouldn't budge -- so now it'll be back to the negotiating table next offseason.

It ain't all horrible news for either side ... Dak's still getting paid BIG money this season, and Dallas will have another year to decide if it wants to pony up Patrick Mahomes-type money for the quarterback.

And, if things are still undecided by this time in 2021 ... the Cowboys have the option of franchise tagging Prescott again for roughly $37 million.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- one of the most diehard Washington NFL fans on Earth -- says he's STOKED the team is changing its name ... calling the old moniker "a dark cloud" over the franchise.

"For me, personally, I’m ready for a new chapter," the NASCAR legend said on his Dale Jr. Download podcast this week.

"I'm ready for this conversation to no longer be part of my experience as a fan of the team, and the debate over this and the frustration over it and how it affects the franchise."

Dale's been ride-or-die with Washington for decades ... he's got all sorts of memorabilia and often publicly comments about the team after wins and losses.

So, when team owner Dan Snyder pulled the plug on the "Redskins" name ... everyone was wondering if Dale approved -- and the 45-year-old said wholeheartedly yes.

"It's a dark cloud over it all the time and it’s not going away," Earnhardt Jr. said of the name. "And, it’s hard to continue to support the franchise when this is part of the conversation."

"So, I'm great to break completely clean and start an entirely new identity and future. I think it will be great for the organization, the people that work in that company, the players that play for that team and anybody that plays for that team in the future. So, I'm good with it."

Dale didn't give any suggestions for a new name ... although he did seem to like the rumored "Red Wolves" option -- saying the fanbase could have fun with that one.

This is NOT good ...

Hundreds of people ignored social distancing guidelines and partied their asses off at Devin White's "Trail Ride" charity event over the weekend ... and video of the scene is alarming.

The Tampa Bay Bucs linebacker -- despite surging COVID-19 cases in Louisiana -- decided to press forward with his 2nd annual "Trail Ride" event in Cotton Valley on Saturday.

The problem? Hundreds -- if not thousands -- of people attended ... and even though White said he'd urge hand-washing, mask-wearing and social distancing, it's clear those precautions weren't followed seriously throughout the evening.

Check out footage from the event ... partygoers can be seen mask-less, dancing amid a sea of people. At one point, you can even see 22-year-old White partying without a mask.

We reached out to Louisiana State Police, as well as the Webster Parish Sheriff's Office, for comment on the event ... but so far no word back yet.

But, reps for both departments had told us last week officers would be at or near the scene of the party to assist in traffic control ... although neither said definitively if they'd help enforce social distancing guidelines.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Cotton Valley, C.C. Cox, told TMZ Sports he was allowing the party to happen because, "That's what he wants to do, he can do it, you know?"

"We need to play. This state needs it. This country needs it."

LSU head coach Ed Orgeron is making it crystal clear he wants the football season to happen despite the global pandemic ... telling Vice President Mike Pence he's ready to kick things off in the fall.

Coach O spoke out on his stance in a round table conversation with the VP at Tiger Stadium on Tuesday ... saying he believes they can "handle" the coronavirus while going through with the season.

"I don't think we can take this away from our players, take this away from our state and our country," Coach O added.

"We need football. Football is the lifeblood of our country."

Of course, the 2020 season is up in the air due to the pandemic ... and SEC commish Greg Sankey has expressed concern with the status of the season.

While a decision won't be made until later this month ... O made it clear ... his Tigers will be prepared to defend the title.

Houston Texans star Kenny Stills was one of nearly 100 people arrested during a protest in Louisville on Tuesday ... and the WR took his mug shot in a Breonna Taylor shirt.

The 28-year-old NFL player joined 86 others in a massive protest outside the home of Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron to seek justice for Taylor.

As part of the demonstration, the group of people -- which included "Real Housewives Of Atlanta" star Porsha Williams -- sat on Cameron's lawn and chanted ... urging him to levy charges against the cops involved in Taylor's tragic death.

A Lousiville Metro Police Dept. spokesperson says officers eventually told the group to leave ... but when they refused, all 87 were put in cuffs and hauled off to jail.

We're told Stills and the others were booked on 3 charges, including felony "intimidating a participant in a legal process."

As you can see in his mug shot, Stills was clearly NOT happy to be at the station ... and his shirt read, "Breonna Taylors Killers Are Still Police."

The LMPD spokesperson added of the incident, "The protestors chose to occupy the front yard of a home owned by the Kentucky Attorney General and continuously chant towards he and his neighbors."

"At his request, they were trespassed from the property. All were given the opportunity to leave, were told that remaining on the property would be unlawful, and chose not to leave."

Stills has consistently been one of the most vocal NFL players over the years when it comes to the search for social justice ... he's taken knees during the national anthem and has even tatted "Black Lives Matter" on his leg.

According to jail records, Stills was still in custody as of Wednesday morning.