After a busy off-season, Damar Hamlin is back, Odell Beckham Jr. is a Raven, Sean Payton leads the Broncos, and 10 players are out because of gambling violations.
“The Blind Side” played on sports fans’ penchant for too-tidy narratives, our columnist writes. A legal battle between the N.F.L. player and the family depicted in the film seeks to answer questions the dramatization looked past.
Michael Oher, whose life was depicted in the 2009 film, says in a lawsuit that he was never fully adopted by the family that took him in and was swindled into signing away his decision-making powers at 18.
Talks between the N.F.L. team and its star quarterback had stalled last month, with Jackson at one point announcing he had requested a trade. Instead, he is set to be in Baltimore for the near future.
Five Black presidents have been hired to lead N.F.L. teams, an influx some hope could provide a blueprint for diversifying leadership even as the league struggles to improve head coaching searches.