Former Wisconsin linebacker named to AP NFL All-Pro first team

Former Wisconsin linebacker named AP First Team All-Pro

Former Wisconsin and current Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Zack Baun received yet another impressive accolade on Friday.

Baun, who represented the Badgers from 2015-19, was named to the 2024 AP All-Pro first team. He is one of three inside linebackers on the unit along with Fred Warner (San Francisco 49ers) and Roquan Smith (Baltimore Ravens).

Other notable names on the unit include edge Myles Garrett (Cleveland Browns), edge Trey Hendrickson (Cincinnati Bengals), lineman Chris Jones (Kansas City Chiefs) and cornerback Patrick Surtain II (Denver Broncos).

With the nomination, the Brown Deer, Wisconsin native becomes the 15th former Badger to earn NFL All-Pro status.

Baun did virtually everything for the Eagles this season. In 16 starts, the 28-year-old tallied 151 total tackles 11 tackles for loss, five forced fumbles, four pass deflections and 3 1/2 sacks. With the output, he became the first player in NFL history to record at least 150 tackles and five forced fumbles in a single season.

ProFootballFocus also named Baun its ‘Breakout Player of the Year’ for the 2024 slate with a 90.1 overall grade, the highest among any linebacker in the league. On top of everything, Baun is also a Pro Bowler for the first time in his five-year career.

The most impressive part of Baun’s season revolves around his previous four years as a pro. After amassing 88 combined tackles and two sacks from 2020-23 with the New Orleans Saints, Baun shattered his previous career-high totals in historic fashion.

Fueled by Baun’s stellar play at inside linebacker, the Eagles defense finished the season leading the league in total defense (280.9 yards allowed per game) and third in points allowed per game (18.1). The NFC’s No. 2-seed will now square off against a dynamic Green Bay Packers offense on Jan. 12 in Philadelphia.[anyclip-media thumbnail=”undefined” playlistId=”undefined” content=”dW5kZWZpbmVk”][/anyclip-media]

Going deep on UCLA’s quarterback depth in 2025

The Bruins lack experience at quarterback heading into 2025. This could be a wild ride.

Though football season is many months away, the UCLA Bruins are hard at work building their program for 2025. After a bevy of offseason moves along the coaching staff and in the transfer portal, UCLA football head coach DeShaun Foster’s team will look very different in 2025. The most notable shakeup for the 2025 season will be the quarterback position.

After finishing his redshirt senior season, former Bruin Ethan Garbers will no longer be with the program, leaving a significant hole in the lineup. In an up-and-down season with the Bruins, Garbers finished with 2,727 yards on 69.6% passing with 16 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

In addition to Garbers’ departure, the Bruins lost three more quarterbacks. Chase Griffin and Nick Billoups finished their final season of eligibility with the Bruins after the 2024 season. After starting one game last season against Penn State, the Bruins lost Justyn Martin to the transfer portal.

Today, the Bruins have only four remaining quarterbacks on their roster heading into 2025, not including incoming freshmen, none of whom have taken a snap in the Big Ten, let alone the NCAA.  The Bruins quarterback room consists of rising sophomores Henry Hasselbeck, Dermaricus Davis, Karson Gordon, and redshirt sophomore Luke Duncan.

Though the transfer portal could change the Bruins’ fortunes in an instant, at the moment, UCLA has a severe lack of experience at the quarterback position.

As the offseason turns into the preseason for UCLA, the quarterback competition will begin to heat up, and front-runners for the job will emerge.

For newly hired Tino Sunseri, his abilities as both a quarterback coach and offensive coordinator will be tested as he and the coaching staff separate the wheat from the chaff in the UCLA quarterback room.

North Carolina ‘making up ground’ for top 2025 recruit

Is UNC basketball trending up for a big five-star recruiting target?

The North Carolina Tar Heels have just one target left in their 2025 recruiting class after missing out on AJ Dybantsa who elected to go to BYU. With just two commitments in the 2025 class, UNC really needs to land Caleb Wilson for their class.

And they are apparently making up ground.

The Atlanta, Georgia native is getting close to picking a school in his commitment. While it’s down to North Carolina and Kentucky, some believe the Wildcats are the favorites in this recruitment. However, the Tar Heels are reportedly making up ground in this recruitment.

Joe Tipton of On3 was on the Kentucky Sports Radio podcast and asked about Wilson. His response is interesting.

“Everything that I’ve heard suggests that UK is in the driver’s seat,” Tipton said. “However, last night I got a text from a source and he basically said that Carolina has made up ground. To be honest, I was shocked when I read that text just because everything has pointed to UK. . . If Carolina has made up ground, it would come as a surprise to many of the sources that I have spoken to. Although, it is possible that Hubert Davis and the Tar Heels are motivated to land him.”

From Tipton’s perspective, he does believe Kentucky is the favorite still int his race. But with UNC making up ground, it feels like there’s potentially good news on the horizon for the Tar Heels and this very talented five-star recruit.

Follow us @TarHeelsWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of North Carolina Tar Heels news, notes and opinions.

Is Ben Roethlisberger trying to fire up Steelers with his NFL wild-card pick?

Pittsburgh Steelers legendary quarterback Ben Roethlisberger picked against his former team, going with the Ravens in the NFL wild-card game.

When Ben Roethlisberger, a Pittsburgh Steelers legend and future Hall of Famer, picked the Baltimore Ravens to beat his former team in tomorrow’s NFL wild-card playoff game, fans were left scratching their heads. Could Big Ben really be betting against his beloved team? Or is this a clever tactic to rally the Black and Gold faithful and light a fire under Mike Tomlin’s squad?

Steelers fans know how much Roethlisberger bleeds Pittsburgh. With 18 seasons as the face of the franchise, he’s no stranger to the Ravens-Steelers rivalry. While some might see his pick as a slight, others recognize it as classic reverse psychology. If anyone knows what fuels this Steelers team, it’s Big Ben.

Whether it’s a genuine pick or a motivational ploy, Steelers Nation can only hope Roethlisberger’s words inspire his former teammates to silence their critics.

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4 Raiders received AP All Pro votes

Brock Bowers wasn’t the only Raiders player to receive votes for the AP All Pro team. There were three others.

Friday, the Associate Press announced their All Pro First team. On that team was Raiders rookie TE Brock Bowers, who led all tight ends with 101 votes and 27 first team votes.

The next most votes went to 49ers George Kittle with 88 votes and 22 first team votes.

But there were three other Raiders players who also received All Pro votes. And they may not be the players you think.

For instance, Maxx Crosby received no votes. Despite being named to the Pro Bowl.

The three who did receive votes were LB Robert Spillane, P AJ Cole, and LS Jacob Bobenmoyer.

Spillane received five votes, with no first team votes. It was Zach Baun, Fred Warner, and Roquan Smith who led the way to be named to the First Team.

Cole received 18 votes with five First Team votes. Detroit’s Jack Fox got the nod with 62 votes.

Bobenmoyer received five votes with one First Team vote. While it was former Raiders long snapper Andrew DePaola who took home the honors with 60 votes.

What one NFL insider is hearing about Jaguars’ head coaching candidate Aaron Glenn

Here is what one NFL insider is hearing about Jaguars’ head coaching candidate Aaron Glenn.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are scheduled to interview Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn for their head coaching opening on Saturday.

However, NFL insider Josina Anderson is hearing that the Jaguars aren’t the ones destined to land Glenn.

Anderson would post on X that one league source has told her that coming into the week, their feeling was that it will be the Saints and Jets who are going to end up “battling it out” over Glenn.

Glenn is one of 10 head coaching candidates that the Jaguars have requested to interview. So far it’s been reported that, along with Glenn, Lions’ offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and head coach Robert Saleh have accepted their requests.

Despite the Lions’ defense dealing with a litany of injuries this season, Glenn and that unit have overcome them and continued to operate at a very high level, finishing the regular season ranked seventh in scoring defense.

Glenn has been the Detroit defensive coordinator since the 2021 season.

Pro Bowl snub Kerby Joseph reacts to being selected First Team All Pro

Kerby Joseph was very excited when he heard he was named First-Team All Pro.

Lions safety Kerby Joseph was one of, if not the biggest snub from the Pro Bowl roster this season. The Associated Press helped rectify that problem by naming him to the First Team All-Pro.

Joseph received 37 first-place votes, leading all safeties. He is joined on the First Team with Green Bay Packers safety Xavier McKinney (31 first-place votes).

Joseph led the NFL with nine interceptions, yet was left off the Pro Bowl roster in favor of McKinney at the strong safety position, a position that only sent one player on the roster. He now has the accolade of being the top vote-getter among safeties for the All Pro team, an honor many will argue is more prestigious than the Pro Bowl.

Speaking with Rob Maaddi of the Associated Press, Joseph said he “wasn’t really too mad” about being left off the Pro Bowl team. He was just as happy seeing fellow safety Brian Branch make the Pro Bowl. Joseph added: “You all know what I’m capable of. You can check the stats.”

Maaddi then dropped the news that Joseph made the First Team and Joseph was very excited. “I made All Pro?” Joseph asked. “You made All Pro,” Maaddi replied. “They know what’s up,” Joseph said.

Pretty safe to say Joseph isn’t too upset anymore that he wasn’t selected to go to Orlando. His end goal is New Orleans anyway, not Orlando.

Drew Brees talks partnership with Bounty, Super Bowl heading to New Orleans

Saints quarterback Drew Brees and former Patriots star Rob Gronkowski have partnered with Bounty paper towels, and are headed to New Orleans together for the Super Bowl:

Drew Brees and Rob Gronkowski’s playing days are behind them, but they’re doing big things off the field. And they are doing it together. Both players have partnered with Bounty paper towels ahead of this year’s Super Bowl LIX at the Caesars Superdome, and I caught up with them earlier this week.

“I’m a Bounty man, I’ve been with them for about three years now and I’m fired up to be once again,” Gronkowski told me. “Every year I have a wingman. Last year, it was Julian Edelman, who was my teammate on the New England Patriots for nine years.”

Partnering with Brees especially appealed to Gronkowski because of the fact he has such strong connections to the Big Easy.

Gronkowski continued: “And, now this year, with the Super Bowl being in New Orleans, I needed a final wingman out there to show me the city, because I’ve never really been there before. Who is better to do that than Drew Brees?”

Brees has brought a lot of success to the city that it has not seen since he left the field there.

“He’s brought the Super Bowl to the city there and is basically the mayor there,” Gronkowski said. “He knows all the things about that place, knows all of the restaurants, so I call up Drew, asked him to be my wingman, and he accepted it with no problem.”

The former Saints quarterback was immediately on board with the idea and Gronkowski’s thinking behind it.

“He loved the saying — you can’t have football without wings and you can’t have wings without Bounty,” Gronkowski said. “Loved that I’m from Buffalo, and I love my buffalo wings … But whenever I eat them, I always cause a mess and it gets cleaned up by my quicker picker upper, Bounty paper towels. So, I appreciate Drew tagging along this year.”

Brees echoed Gronkowski’s thoughts and said he was greatly looking forward to the pair teaming up down in the bayou.

“I’ll be his wingman any time,” Brees said. “I’m excited to get Gronk out to New Orleans and I can’t believe he’s never been down there before. We’re going to have a great Super Bowl there.”

Super Bowl LIX is set for Sunday, Feb. 9 at the Caesars Superdome. Like Brees and Gronkowski, we’ll be watching.

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Is Justin Jefferson an All-Pro? NFL announces 2024 selections

On Friday, the Associated Press announced the selections for the 2024 All-Pro team, did Justin Jefferson make the first team?

The NFL has a lot of high honors, from The Walter Peyton Man of the Year Award to the MVP Award; everyone is playing for something intentionally or not. While a lot of people will want to focus on Pro Bowl selections because there is game attached to it, the selection to an All-Pro team is what should be held in a much higher regard.

On Friday, the Associated Press announced the selections for the 2024 All-Pro team, did Justin Jefferson make the first team?

Not only did Justin Jefferson make the All-Pro team, he was a unanimous selection from the 50 writers. His former college teammate Ja’Marr Chase, who plays for the Cincinnati Bengals, was also unanimous.

Jefferson was just one of two unanimous selections.

This is the second time that Jefferson has been selected to an All-Pro team. The first came in 2022, when he caught 128 passes for 1,809 yards and eight touchdowns. He didn’t quite replicate that production this season, but he was very good, catching 103 passes for 1,533 yards and 10 touchdowns.

4 Panthers receive votes for AP’s 2024 NFL All-Pro Teams

The Panthers haven’t had an All-Pro since Christian McCaffrey in 2019. But these four players earned some recognition for their 2024 seasons . . .

Not one member of the Carolina Panthers, for a fifth straight year, was selected to either of The Associated Press’ All-Pro Teams. A handful of their players did, however, get a bit of recognition.

Four Panthers received at least one vote from the national panel of 50 media members—cornerback Jaycee Horn (one), running back/kick returner Raheem Blackshear (nine), linebacker/special teamer Jon Rhattigan (one) and long snapper JJ Jansen (two).

Horn played a career-high 15 games in 2024 while also recording bests in combined tackles (68), tackles for a loss (five), sacks (2.0) and passes defensed (13). The fourth-year defender and former eighth overall draft pick was selected to his first Pro Bowl a week ago.

Blackshear returned the most kickoffs (31) for the second-most return yardage (791) in the NFL this season. He averaged 25.5 yards per attempt.

Rhattigan played 369 of his 370 total snaps on special teams. He tallied 12 tackles.

Jansen ended his 16th pro campaign by playing in his 260th straight game. He is the seventh player in league history to appear in at least 260 games for one team.

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