49ers
- 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan said DT CJ West went on IR with a bone chip in his knee. West will need surgery but it’s not a season-ending injury. (Nick Wagoner)
Cardinals
Cardinals HC Mike LaFleur answered questions from reporters surrounding WR Marvin Harrison Jr., who only has four targets despite playing in 77 percent of the team’s snaps over the first two weeks of the season. Some clips went viral that appeared to show a lack of effort from Harrison and LaFleur wanted to dispute that specifically.
“I don’t see it that way. I think his running style is different than some other people’s — I would say that,” LaFleur said, via Pro Football Talk. “If that’s people’s narrative on him, that’s fine, but I know his teammates don’t feel that way. It’s a long season — we’re two games in. There were some opportunities yesterday that I thought that either the defense dictated that it couldn’t go there or just self-inflicted wounds — it was kind of 50-50.”
- Cardinals QB Jacoby Brissett said the team still has full support in Harrison despite his slow start: “Nobody’s lost confidence in Marv.” (Josh Weinfuss)
- LaFleur understands the talk surrounding Harrison: “I’m not going to sit here and act like I don’t know the narrative going on. This is the league. Naturally stuff comes across my desk. “But in between those walls, Marv is Marv. He’s attacking it every day, just like his teammates.” (Darren Urban)
Rams
- Rams HC Sean McVay said he’s not sure if WR Puka Nacua will play in Week 3 after missing Wednesday’s jog-through, though McVay isn’t concerned about it being a long-term injury. (Sarah Barshop)
- McVay was clear Nacua doesn’t have a hernia, but the team wants to exercise caution with the star receiver: “Usually time is the best thing that allows that thing to heal. And then once you get to a certain point, then I think you feel pretty good moving forward.” (Barshop)
Seahawks
In a podcast interview with Graham Bensinger, Seahawks HC Mike Macdonald revealed there was nearly a big controversy back in 2024 surrounding cheating suspicions from Broncos HC Sean Payton. Seattle had collected a ton of tape of Denver plays from fans posting clips to social media. Payton thought Seattle, which employed some people who had connections to Michigan and Macdonald, had sent employees to Denver’s training camp to collect footage.
“He basically threatened to come out publicly and do a whole Patriot Spygate type of thing,” Macdonald said, via Pro Football Talk. “I’m sitting there like, ‘Oh my god. We didn’t cheat.’ They thought it was a Michigan thing where we had a plant and the whole thing. So we had to counter with him and say, ‘If you come out with this, we’re going to sue you because it’s not true.’”
“It was like the Cold War,” Macdonald added. “He’s like, ‘I’m going to hit the button. I’m going to hit the button.’ ‘Well, we’re going to hit the button.’ None of us hit the button.”
There’s another twist. After this clip was publicized, it was revealed that Macdonald thought it was a pre-interview conversation that was off the record and would not be included. He apologized for stirring things up for his team and the Broncos.
“It’s something that I didn’t intend for public use,” Macdonald said via SB Nation. “Thought it was the most appropriate thing to reach out to Sean and apologize to him for having that end up be public, where it wasn’t meant to. Something that they have to deal with in real-time that wasn’t on their end, that’s where you’re like, ‘Crap.’ It’s a lesson learned. I have to be better in that moment for understanding like, ‘I’m responsible for what I say, no matter the circumstance.’ Whether you’re mic’d up, whether you’re not. Whether you have a certain type of understanding. I fell short in that moment, so it stings for me, but it’s something that I’m going to learn from. It’s a good example that we have to take responsibility for the things we say.”
The two teams play in Week 6 but Payton said there’s not going to be anything extra from the Broncos’ side for that game, calling the whole thing water under the bridge.
“[Mike] and I are good,” Payton said. “Lord knows, I’ve been in his position where you’re talking about something … and the story is three years ago. Now, I don’t know Mike at that time really, but I know [GM John Schneider] really well. And, so, I’m sure my initial call to John wasn’t pleasant, but I would say this, in talking with him, it allowed us to figure out how to handle our training camp relative to just videos.
”And I don’t think anything was intentional by fans, you know what I mean? But at first, you’re kind of thinking, ‘Man, how could … ?’ And then we did some research online of what was available, and that’s kind of how we changed our policy. So obviously, I called shooting before I started looking. And I could only do that with John because, again, he’s someone I’ll have a beer with at the combine. I consider him a good friend.”
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