Football

Both of Tom Brady's boys are now following in his footsteps ... the NFL legend just revealed his youngest son is beginning his football career this year -- albeit at a position that's a whole lot different than Dad's.

Brady said on his "Let's Go!" podcast Monday that Ben -- the 13-year-old who he shares with Gisele Bündchen -- told him recently that he's stepping onto the gridiron in 2023.

However, Tom said the kid won't be under center like he was.

"I was like, 'What do you want to play?'" Brady said. "And he's like, 'Tight end. I want to be like Gronk.'"

Brady, though, didn't seem disappointed one bit with the decision ... saying he actually texted Rob Gronkowski immediately after Ben broke the news to him.

"I'm like, 'Yo, my boy wants to be like you,'" Brady said. "And he loved it. He's like, 'That's so great.'"

Brady added on the pod that he's now preparing Ben for games ... explaining he spent a large portion of his Sunday night throwing the pigskin around with the teenager to get him accustomed to catching balls.

"He's going to be a little beast," Brady said.

Of course, Ben is now the second of Brady's offspring who will strap on the shoulder pads and helmet ... his eldest boy, Jack, has already been shining on high school fields as a quarterback.

It doesn't matter what number Ezekiel Elliott is rocking on the field, 'cause he won't have to choose between digits off it -- the New England Patriots star just copped a diamond chain that reps both his old AND new look ... and we're told it's worth a whopping $260k!!

TMZ Sports has learned, Zeke wanted a new piece in honor of his new No. 15 with the Pats ... so he hit up celeb diamond setter Gabriel French for the job.

But, Elliott -- who inked a one-year, $3 million deal with the Pats this offseason -- isn't leaving his Cowboys career in the past ... 'cause the pendant's reverse side displays "21," the number he wore during his time in Dallas.

We're told the pendant was made with 70 carats of VVS emerald and brilliant cut diamonds ... and the Cuban chain consists of 70 carats of emerald and round cut diamonds.

Gabriel has worked with a ton of big names in the NFL over the years ... including Odell Beckham, Jr., Jalen Hurts, Amari Cooper and Aaron Donald.

Antonio Brown's tenure as the owner of the National Arena League's Albany Empire was apparently much worse than previously imagined ... with two former players claiming the former NFL superstar threatened to pull a gun on them in a heated exchange.

Dwayne Hollis and Darius Prince detailed the confrontation in an interview with ESPN ... saying the whole incident was sparked by a social media tribute to former teammate Mo Ruffins, who died last year.

The post was quickly deleted from the Empire's account without explanation ... so when Hollis and Prince ran into AB at a local cigar lounge, they wanted answers.

The players allege Brown -- who was still fresh off buying his part of the team at the time -- got pissed over their approach, and told his assistant, Ryan Larkin, to go out to his car to get his weapon.

"AB looked at Ryan and was like, 'Hey, man, you still got the AR in the car? Go get it,'" Prince told the outlet. "Then I was like, I'm not going to allow this dude to walk out of here after you just threatened us."

Prince says cooler heads eventually prevailed and they were able to have a conversation ... but made it clear the threat rubbed him the wrong way.

It's no secret -- AB essentially ran the Empire into the ground in a matter of months, with former players and staffers accusing him of being a nightmare to work with ... eventually leading to the team getting booted from the league.

Ex-NFL star Ricky Williams says the league is moving in the right direction by loosening its stance on cannabis in recent years ... but tells TMZ Sports he's hoping Roger Goodell's organization goes one step further by allowing teams to treat players with marijuana after games.

Ricky -- who was suspended five times and missed a chunk of his career for violating the league's substance abuse policy -- believes society is going through a big transformation when it comes to accepting the benefits of cannabis and psychedelics ... and he's hoping the NFL follows suit.

FYI -- the NFL changed its marijuana policy in 2021 ... electing to only test players once a year and handing down less punishment if someone is popped for the drug.

Ricky is thrilled with the league's changed stance on cannabis but feels it would have great benefits for players if they were encouraged to use marijuana instead of pills during recovery.

"I think the next step, though, is at the end of a game, if we're on the plane ride home, the trainer is walking down the aisle and has two capsule cases -- one of Ambien, and the other one of Vicodin," Williams said. "And he's walking down the aisle and saying, 'Do you need any of this, do you need any of this?'"

"And the truth is, for football players, we do need something because it hurts, and you're all revved up and it's hard to calm down go to sleep. And I'd love to see cannabis as being one of those things that the trainer is walking down the aisle and offering to those players."

Ricky -- who legally changed his name to Errick Miron recently -- has been an advocate for the cause for decades ... and is outspoken on the positive effects cannabis had on his mental health throughout his career.

Now, Ricky's own lifestyle brand, "Highsman," is going strong ... and he said the whole experience has been nothing but positive.

Tom Brady and Irina Shayk are still on as a couple, even though lately it hasn't always looked that way ... TMZ has learned.

Sources with direct knowledge tell us the couple is, indeed, continuing to date and that they're still romantically involved. Obviously, we haven't seen much evidence of them canoodling in public the way we did in July and August ... but we're told they're an item.

It's unclear what the deal was with Irina's PDA post featuring her ex, Bradley Cooper, just a couple weeks ago ... but, clearly, it hasn't scared Tom off -- as he's still seeing her.

Remember, Irina threw everyone for a loop when she threw up a topless shot of herself and shirtless pic of BC as well ... where they certainly seemed to be getting cozy on the beach, which led folks to believe they might be getting back together. They share a kid, after all.

Unless she's in some kind of open relationship -- which isn't what we're hearing on our end -- then you can assume it was just a platonic thing ... and relatively harmless.

TMZ broke the story about Tom and Irina first linking up ... she spent the night at his pad here in L.A. for two days in a row -- and they were seen being affectionate in his car. After that, they were again spotted going in and out of the same London hotel a few weeks later.

There've been reports that Tom wasn't bothered by Irina's spotlighting of her baby daddy -- and there was even a claim they aren't necessarily in a committed relationship either.

Isaiah Hodgins' two kids will be in his heart, on his mind AND plastered to his feet this season ... 'cause TMZ Sports has learned the Giants receiver just copped some custom spikes to honor his two babies.

Cleat artist Joe Castro is the man behind the sweet pieces ... and he tells us the receiver actually reached out to him recently with the idea.

Castro took a bit to get the kids' faces painted on the Nike cleats just right ... but in the end, they came out great.

Featured on one of the shoes is Hodgins' son, who was born in 2020. On the other is Hodgins' newborn daughter.

Unclear when Hodgins will rock the blue-and-white spikes ... but it might just be next week, when NY opens its season against the Dallas Cowboys.

The New York wideout isn't the only NFL player who will rep his kids on his cleats this season ... Jackson also made customs for Bears defensive tackle Gervon Dexter -- who got his son and the mother of his child on his Nike cleats recently as well.

Book your tickets to Las Vegas in February, Jets fans ... 'cause your team is going to the Super Bowl there this season!!!

... at least, that's according to New York legend Joe Klecko, who tells TMZ Sports he truly believes, with Aaron Rodgers now under center, his old team will make it to the Big Game this year.

"I do think they will," the newly minted Hall of Famer said out in NYC this week. "Absolutely!"

"With our four-time MVP, how could you not go to the Super Bowl!?"

Of course, while Klecko is biased (he played for the Jets for 11 seasons) -- he didn't always feel Rodgers would be the game-changer for his former squad.

Back in February, he said on The Mike Francesa Podcast that he actually preferred it if the Jets would have gone after Derek Carr instead of Rodgers.

Seems, though, after watching the quarterback completely submerge himself into his new team and city ... Klecko is all in.

Justin Gatlin is officially retired from competing, but that doesn't mean the USA track legend's done running ... in fact, the Olympic gold medalist is currently perfecting his 40-yard dash, and believes he can run a blistering 4.19 seconds!

"The project is Project 40. I ran a 4.2 yesterday, first day of practice," Gatlin told Michael Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs weekdays on FS1).

FYI, the fastest 40 ever electronically timed at the NFL Combine was 4.22 by John Ross in 2017. Chris Johnson holds the second-best time at 4.24.

Justin believes he can beat that time by a substantial margin.

"I'm thinking a 4.19. I definitely can dip under the 4.2s, for sure!" Gatlin said confidently.

Ultimately, Gatlin wants to train athletes to be quicker on the field or court.

"I've been training since I've left the world of track and field and I have an idea that I wanna be able to do speed agility training or professional athletes, being football, baseball, basketball, that's why we're here."

Justin says they're often a debate about who's faster ... and while he does want to rep for the track athletes, he also wants to help out other pros in different sports.

"There's a lot of talk about track and field athletes and football players, who's faster and I said you know what, this is what we work on. We work on speed constantly and I wanna show the world that we understand speed, we're the king of speed but I also wanna teach speed to other athletes that want [to learn.]"

Justin sure sounds like someone who still has the competitive juices flowing ... so we asked him if there was a chance he could make a comeback competitively, despite being 41 years old.

"Let's say if I get myself back into shape and say 'Hey, you know what? I wanna get back in track and field,' especially Olympic year coming up, it's not far-fetched."

"I've been away from the track, what, I retired in 2021? I'm not that far off. I think that if I wanna come back, I can make that Olympic team for sure."

There's more with Gatlin ... including whether he'd be down to race Tyreek Hill -- "Cheetah" -- who most fans believe to be the fastest player in the NFL.

So, would Justin race Cheetah? Damn straight.

"I think [Tyreek's] a remarkable athlete. He has a big background in track and field. He grew up running track and field. He still uses track and field workouts to make sure his speed on the football field is superior."

Gatlin continued ...  "And when it comes to me racing Tyreek, holla at me in about eight weeks. I'll be ready for you, man. If you want that, I can give you that smoke.

We also talked to Justin about Noah Lyles ... both his epic performance at World's and his shading of NBA "world champions!"

Kenneth Gainwell's feet are going to be looking out of this (Astro)world when the Eagles take the field next week ... 'cause the tailback just copped some awesome Travis Scott-inspired cleats for Philadelphia's opener!!

TMZ Sports has learned the footballer reached out to cleat master Rodney Jackson to get some heat for the Birds' Week 1 game against the Patriots ... asking for some spikes that resembled the exclusive Travis Scott x Air Jordan 1 Low OG Olive F&F pair that pays homage to Scott's new album, "Utopia."

Of course, Jackson -- who's been in the custom cleats business since 2015 -- didn't take long to deliver the goods ... whipping up an amazing pair in about three and a half weeks.

You can see the spikes look exactly like the AJ1 x Travis Scotts ... all the way down to the "Utopia" branding on the back -- and Jackson said he was super happy with how they came out.

"I wanted to capture every detail of the shoe and the right leather texture," Jackson tells us.

Gainwell -- a former fifth-round pick out of Memphis -- will have a big opportunity to show them off against New England ... he's expected to be a workhorse for Philly following the departure of last year's starter, Miles Sanders.

It was complete chaos at the scene just seconds after Robert Quinn allegedly crashed his truck into four cars in a South Carolina neighborhood ... with one woman screaming at the ex-NFL star, claiming he had hit her.

The alleged incident all unfolded on Aug. 15 in Summerville ... when, according to a 911 call obtained by TMZ Sports, Quinn and a woman were arguing about the vehicles he had been accused of running into.

You can hear in the background of the police audio ... a woman was yelling at a man appearing to be Quinn, demanding he get off her property.

When dispatch asked what was going on ... the caller said, "My mom's talking to the guy that did it and he's like a little too close to her" -- but a short time later, things seemed to turn violent.

In the background of the call, a woman can be heard shouting, "You just hit me!" -- with dispatch quickly adding, "Male just hit the complainant's mother."

Despite the apparent physical confrontation, you can hear in the audio a verbal one still continued, with Quinn seemingly offering to buy the woman two new cars.

"Is he offering to buy your mom two cars?" dispatch asked the caller.

"He just totaled two of our cars just now," the caller responded. "And my neighbor's car, and my other neighbor's car. He just hit four cars."

The caller then added, "He pushed my mom in the head, he hit her in the head."

Later, the caller said of Quinn ... "He's acting like he's drunk. I think he's been drinking or something else."

Cops eventually arrived on the scene ... but, according to police documents, officers say the ex-Dallas Cowboys pass rusher bolted from the area before they could question him. They added that following a search of Quinn's wrecked vehicle, they discovered a "partially empty bottle" of Crown Royal Apple whiskey on the passenger side floorboard.

Ultimately, Quinn -- a current free agent -- turned himself in later in the week... and was hit with seven total charges stemming from the incident -- including hit-and-run and assault.

Kim Zolciak's estranged husband Kroy Biermann has filed new docs in their ongoing divorce saga ... and now he's asking the judge for permission to sell their Georgia home, ASAP.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Kroy's asking for an emergency hearing to authorize selling the $3 million family pad, citing their serious financial troubles.

The sale of the house -- where he says they've lived for their entire marriage -- could help cover what Kroy describes as "significant debt" they've built up over the years. He even mentions how he sold some of his stuff just to cobble together mortgage payments, and avoid a foreclosure auction earlier this year.

Kroy, through his lawyer, Marlys A. Bergstrom, says despite the "financial devastation" Kim brought to their family, he continued to make monthly payments on the place to hold off the auction ... but says it was a struggle every month.

The former NFL player claims he sold some of his designer backpacks, and other personal items to help come up with the dough, and even begged Kim to sell her purses -- something he says she refused to do.

Well, he admits she did sell some things, but he adds this dig ... "Ironically, she has been selling purses, hers and her daughters' and other high end fashion items including her infamous wigs. However, none of the funds garnered from the sale of these items have gone towards the mortgage, or any other bills."

Matthew Stafford's wife is admitting she made a mistake by going public with the quarterback's communication struggles in the locker room ... calling it, "probably the worst thing I've done when it comes to him."

Kelly made headlines after revealing the 35-year-old Rams star wasn't connecting with his younger teammates on her "Morning After" podcast last week ... when she said the Super Bowl champ has found difficulty vibing with guys compared to years past.

Now, Kelly is regretting her decision to share that info ... telling Local 4 in Detroit, "That was tough. I say all the time, probably not the best if your wife’s name is in the media, if it’s talking about sports."

"I felt pretty bad last week," she added. "I put my foot in my mouth pretty good last week."

The mother of four explained she thought the topic was relatable ... and she still believes it to be a true statement.

"But I'm not in an NFL locker room, I'm not spending every day with these teammates."

Rams coach Sean McVay commented on Kelly's statements earlier this week ... saying he took it like more of a joke at Matthew's age instead of a real issue within the team.

Legendary Dallas Cowboys scout Gil Brandt -- who helped America's Team draft Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach -- has died ... Jerry Jones announced.

According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame ... the former talent evaluator passed on Thursday morning.

He was 91 years old.

"We are so deeply saddened by the passing of Gil Brandt – a true icon and pioneer of our sport," Jones said in a statement. "Gil was at the very core of the early success of the Dallas Cowboys and continued to serve as a great ambassador for the organization for decades beyond that."

Brandt joined the Cowboys in their inaugural season in 1960 -- and helped the team select its first-ever draft pick ... Hall of Famer Bob Lilly.

He would go on to work for the org. for nearly 30 years ... drafting legendary players like Staubach, Aikman, Rayfield Wright and Bob Hayes.

Brandt became known for his implementation of computers and psychological tests to grade prospects ... and his systems ultimately led to the creation of the now-famous NFL Scouting Combine.

Following his departure from the Cowboys after the 1989 season ... he would go on to be a key contributor and draft analyst for NFL.com.

"His dedication to, and passion for, this game left a lasting impact on generations of Hall of Fame players and coaches," Jones said. "There are very few people that have been able to have the kind of generational impact that he did. Gil was as dedicated to growing this league and sport as anyone ever was, and we are all grateful and better for it."

Call Zay Flowers Kodak Purple and Black ... 'cause the young Ravens receiver had the whole team going wild during Baltimore's rookie talent show this week -- crushing his performance of Kodak Black's biggest song!!

Superstar quarterback Lamar Jackson documented the whole act ... with footage showing the former Boston College standout getting in front of his teammates and doing a rendition of the Florida M.C.'s "No Flockin'."

Flowers certainly pandered to the audience -- Kodak has a ton of fans in the Ravens locker room ... and he's even hit up games and hung out with Jackson in the past, as the two are close friends.

While Jackson initially clowned Flowers -- who also hails from the Sunshine State -- for having to pull up the lyrics on his phone, it's safe to say the signal-caller gave his stamp of approval ... as he cheered on his teammate throughout the song.

The receiver also got a ton of help from the room ... with all the guys joining in on rapping along to the 2015 track.

The rookie initiations this season have been pretty impressive -- as we previously reported, Jets rookie Jerome Kapp also showed off his mic skills as he recited Eminem's famous diss from "8 Mile."

Lionel Messi was back on the pitch in Florida for the first time in nearly a month Wednesday night ... and, as has become tradition, celebs flocked to see him -- including Floyd Mayweather and Alix Earle, who got VIP treatment at the game.

The new MLS superstar had maybe his quietest night since joining Inter Miami -- scoring zero goals in a 0-0 tie against Nashville SC -- but A-listers were spotted throughout DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale enjoying the GOAT in action nonetheless.

Mayweather and Earle, flanked by NFL superstar Jaylen Waddle, got prime seats and field access as guests of Miami mogul David Grutman.

Ken Griffey Jr. even showed up too ... though he chose to grab a media credential instead of suite seats -- opting to shoot the game with his camera instead of rubbin' elbows in the stands with the stars.

At one point, however, the MLB legend was able to link up with Mayweather -- who was also with friend Lionel Khoury -- sharing an embrace with the boxer and getting in a pic.

Unclear how much facetime all of the celebrities got with Messi -- the soccer player was, after all, busy trying to scrape out another win for his squad -- but everyone was grinning ear-to-ear throughout the night nonetheless.

They'll all have to wait a bit to do it again -- Messi's not set to play in Ft. Lauderdale 'til Sept. 9 now -- unless, of course, they want to fly out to Los Angeles this weekend to see him vs. LAFC.

The explosion at Caleb Farley's home that took the life of the NFL player's father was so mortifying ... multiple people phoned cops in a panic, saying it "sounded like a bomb" had gone off in the neighborhood.

TMZ Sports has obtained several 911 calls from the night Farley's residence in Mooresville, N.C. blew up without a moment's warning ... and you can hear in the audio, people were terrified.

One caller told dispatch that the explosion was so loud, it woke them up ... and rattled their doors and windows.

"I'm telling you," the caller said, "it went off. You could feel it. Then it rippled all through. It sounded like thunder coming through."

Another person who had dialed 911 urged first responders to arrive quickly ... saying the blast was so violent, "I thought somebody was actually kicking my door in."

As we previously reported, Farley's home exploded just around midnight on Aug. 22. The Tennessee Titans cornerback's dad, Robert Farley, was found deceased in the rubble. Another man was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.