Category: General

General

Former Alabama quarterback Mac Jones on the move in NFL free agency

Mac Jones is finally going to join the San Francisco 49ers.

In the 2021 NFL Draft, the Jacksonville Jaguars chose Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence at No. 1 and the New York Jets picked BYU quarterback Zach Wilson at No. 2. It wasn’t hard to find mock drafts that had the Alabama All-American QB going to the 49ers at No. 3.

Instead, San Francisco chose North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance.

Four years later, Jones has made it to San Francisco.

The 49ers have reached an agreement with Jones on a two-year, $7 million contract, NFL Network and ESPN reported on Wednesday night, after the quarterback became an unrestricted free agent on Wednesday afternoon.

San Francisco has an established starting quarterback in Brock Purdy.

In 2024, injuries to Lawrence allowed Jones to start seven games for Jacksonville in the final season of his rookie contract.

Jones started a 12-7 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Nov. 1 and a 52-6 loss to the Detroit Lions on Nov. 17. Lawrence’s return to the lineup lasted less than one half, and Jones took the rest of the snaps for the Jacksonville offense after entering a 23-20 loss to the Houston Texans on Dec. 1.

Beginning with that game, Jones completed 134-of-202 passes for 1,395 yards with eight touchdowns and five interceptions and ran for 77 yards on 21 carries. Over the final six weeks of the regular season, Jones ranked eighth in the NFL in passing yards.

The Jaguars won two of Jones’ final five starts – both against the Tennessee Titans – to finish the season with a 4-13 record. The largest final margin in any of the games was seven points.

In the 2021 draft, the New England Patriots used the 15th selection on Jones after he’d directed Alabama’s CFP national-championship team through an undefeated 2020 season.

Jones started all 42 games that he played for the Patriots. He led a playoff squad and went to the Pro Bowl as a rookie. But New England’s record in Jones’ starts in 2022 and 2023 was 8-17, and he was benched with six games remaining in the 2023 campaign.

New England traded Jones to the Jaguars last offseason and used the third pick in the 2024 NFL Draft on North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye.

In 52 NFL regular-season games, Jones has completed 1,035-of-1,570 passes for 10,590 yards with 54 touchdowns and 44 interceptions and run for 419 yards and two touchdowns on 145 carries.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.

General

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay had something to say about Ryan Kelly on Wednesday. The former Alabama All-American has started every game at center for the NFL team when healthy since joining the Colts in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft.

But on Wednesday, the Minnesota Vikings announced they had reached an agreement with Kelly that will bring him to the team as an NFL free agent.

“It’s been an honor to watch Ryan represent the Horseshoe,” Irsay wrote on social media, “and he will forever be a part of the Colts family. Ryan is the only center our franchise has ever selected in the first round of the NFL Draft, and he developed into an All-Pro and Pro Bowl player over nine seasons. As great as he was on the field, Ryan, along with his wife, Emma, made just as big of an impact off the field. They’ve used their platform to advocate for families and bring awareness to Count the Kicks and Concerns of Police Survivors in addition to other community initiatives. Their courage, strength and resilience have been an inspiration to so many. We will always have a special place in our hearts for Ryan, Emma, Mary Kate, Ford, Duke and Stella Kelly.”

The Kellys lost their daughter Mary Kate to a miscarriage during the 2021 season. But they turned their pain into advocacy for improved prenatal health care.

Kelly also shared a message on social media on Wednesday.

“Thank you, Indy,” Kelly wrote. “Nine years of memories with people and players I’ll forever call family. I loved every year I got to play in this city and for this organization. Forever a special place in mine and my family’s heart.”

Kelly is coming to the Vikings for a two-year, $18 million contract that includes $9 million in guaranteed money.

Kelly joined Indianapolis from Alabama’s 2015 CFP national-championship team as the 18th selection in the 2016 NFL Draft. He was a unanimous All-American and the winner of the Rimington Trophy as the nation’s best center in 2015.

Kelly has started all 121 regular-season and three playoff games in which he has played across his nine NFL seasons. Kelly earned Pro Bowl recognition in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.

General

5-time Pro Bowl linebacker C.J. Mosley cut in the NFL

The New York Jets continued their housecleaning on Wednesday night by releasing five-time Pro Bowl linebacker C.J. Mosley.

The former Alabama All-American’s release follows the departures of wide receiver Devante Adams and quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

“It is hard to move on from a player like C.J. Mosley, who has given everything of himself to an organization,” said Aaron Glenn, the Jets’ new head coach. “From everything we learned about C.J., he is a passionate leader who put the New York Jets first and got the most out of his teammates. We wish him and his family the best as he moves forward with his career.”

Toe and neck injuries limited Mosley to 110 defensive snaps in four games in 2024, and his backup, former Auburn safety Jamien Sherwood, led the NFL in solo tackles playing in Mosley’s place.

The Jets signed Sherwood to a three-year, $45 million contract on Wednesday to keep him from departing in free agency.

After receiving Pro Bowl recognition in four of his five seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, Mosley joined the Jets as a free agent in 2019 for a five-year, $85 million contract that made him the highest-paid inside linebacker in the NFL.

In his first two seasons with New York, Mosley played in two games. He sustained a season-ending injury in the second game of the 2019 season, and he sat out the 2020 season under the NFL’s plan to play during the coronavirus pandemic.

Mosley returned to the field in 2021, and over the next three seasons he recorded 478 tackles, the fourth-most in the NFL during that span. He was a Pro Bowl selection in 2022.

But before the 2024 season, Mosley signed a restructured deal, taking less money in a two-year, $17.25 million contract to stay with the Jets, who were facing a $21.5 million salary cap hit in the final year of the linebacker’s original deal with the team.

“I want to thank C.J. for his leadership and countless contributions to the New York Jets,” said Darren Mougey, the Jets’ new general manager. “C.J. is a consummate professional and consistently held in the highest regard both in our building and around the NFL. I wish him and his family all the best moving forward.”

The Jets cut Mosley even though the team owes him $4.25 million in guaranteed salary for the 2025 season, and his release also leaves dead money on New York’s salary-cap obligations for the coming season.

By designating Mosley as a post-June 1 release, the Jets will be able to spread across the next two seasons the $16.434 million in dead money that would have counted against the 2025 cap.

“C.J. was the epitome of a class act as a teammate, player and leader for the last six seasons,” Jets chairman Robert Wood Johnson said. “The passion and commitment he brought each day to the organization inspired his teammates to give their all. We sincerely thank C.J. for his countless sacrifices and dedication and wish him all the best moving forward.”

Mosley was a two-time All-State linebacker for Theodore High School. In 2009, he earned the Class 6A Lineman of the Year Award and recognition as a Parade All-American.

At Alabama, Mosley was a consensus All-American in 2012 and a unanimous All-American in 2013, when he earned the SEC Defensive Player of the Year Award and the Butkus Award as the nation’s best linebacker. Mosley played for two national-championship teams with the Crimson Tide.

Mosley entered the NFL as the 17th pick in the 2014 NFL Draft.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.

General

Former Alabama lineman released by Browns halfway through $57 million contract

The Cleveland Browns have released defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson halfway through a four-year, $57 million contract, the NFL team announced on Wednesday.

In a bookkeeping maneuver, Cleveland is releasing Tomlinson with a post-June 1 designation.

Cutting Tomlinson with a post-June 1 designation will subtract $6.412 million from the Browns’ salary-cap obligations for 2025 and $30.937 million over the next three years. Without the post-June 1 designation, Tomlinson’s release would leave $17.151 million on the books for Cleveland’s 2025 salary cap and $36.327 in dead money for the next three years.

By cutting Tomlinson on Wednesday, the Browns avoided paying the defensive tackle a $750,000 roster bonus on Saturday.

During the 2024 season, Tomlinson played and started in 16 games. He recorded a career-low 26 tackles with six tackles for loss, three sacks and a career-high 18 quarterback hits as the Browns posted a 3-14 record a year after going to the playoffs.

Tomlinson came back to play in all but one of Cleveland’s games after he had arthroscopic knee surgery on July 26. His recovery prevented him from practicing until Aug. 27.

A second-round selection from Alabama in the 2017 NFL Draft, Tomlinson has played in 125 regular-season games and two playoff contests.

After starting every game in four seasons for the New York Giants, Tomlinson left in free agency for a two-year, $21 million contract with the Minnesota Vikings in 2021. After two seasons with Minnesota, Tomlinson moved in free agency again for Cleveland’s four-year offer.

During his NFL career, Tomlinson had recorded 342 tackles, 19 sacks, 36 tackles for loss, 67 quarterback hits, seven pass breakups, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.

General

Man convicted in Birmingham dancer’s 1982 rape and murder pleads guilty to killing teen in Boston in 1980

An Alabama man convicted in the 1982 murder of a Sammy’s Go-Go dancer has pleaded guilty a Massachusetts murder of a sex worker.

Steven Fike, 65, entered his guilty plea Wednesday to a reduced charge of manslaughter in the 1980 killing of 19-year-old Wendy Dansereau at a Boston motel.

“After 45 years, and thanks to advances in DNA science, the collection of evidence by Alabama authorities, and the perseverance of investigators here,’’ said Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden, “Wendy Dansereau’s family at last has an answer about who was responsible for her tragic death.”

Fike received a 13 to 15-year sentence to run concurrently with his Alabama sentence. He will be returned to Alabama to serve out his life sentence.

Fike was first linked by DNA in 2019 to Dansereau’s murder and then arrested for the crime in 2022.

A Birmingham native described as a drifter, Fike was convicted when he was 23 years in the Jan. 30, 1982, rape and murder of Patricia Ann Culp, a dancer at Sammy’s on Third Avenue West in Birmingham.

He was sentenced to life in prison and is an inmate at Elmore Correctional Facility.

The 20-year-old Culp was last seen entering the Hiway Host Motel on Bessemer Super Highway.

Her body was later found in a ditch, in about six inches of water, alongside Interstate 59 in Tuscaloosa County.

An autopsy later showed Culp died from “a severe blow to the back of her head.”

The manager of the Birmingham motel testified that Fike and Culp arrived in the early morning hours of Jan. 30, 1982, at the motel in a red car. They registered and went to Room 330.

The next morning the housekeeper discovered that one of the beds in Room 330 had been stripped and all the linens, bedspread, and blanket were missing from the room. Traces of blood were found in various areas of the motel room, including on the mattress.

Several witnesses testified they saw Fike at the Omelette Shop near the Birmingham Airport about 10 a.m. Jan. 30. He was seen driving a red Mustang.

Later that morning, Fike bought some new shoes. He then went to the Ramada Inn near the airport around 1 p.m. where he was seen changing clothes in the men’s room at this time.

Fike gave a bag containing shoes and keys to the Ramada Inn desk clerk. He then had the driver of the Ramada Inn van take him to get cigarettes and drop him at the airport.

Later that day, one of the security officers for the Ramada Inn noticed a red Mustang with a broken window.

When he looked inside the car, he found a tote bag which contained a sheer nightgown, panties, make-up and a pill bottle with the name Patricia Culp on it.

Photographs of Culp were found in the glove compartment. Blood was found in the trunk of the car, and a tire tool with hair fibers on it was also recovered in the trunk.

Fike was identified as the suspect after investigators composed a sketch of the suspect through witness descriptions and then police files.

A murder warrant was issued, and a nationwide alert sent to law enforcement agencies across the country. Fike was eventually arrested in Atlanta.

In Dansereau’s killing, Massachusetts authorities said an employee of the Hotel Diplomat in Boston’s South End discovered Dansereau’s body inside a hotel room on March 18, 1980.

She had been sexually assaulted and strangled.

Assistant District Attorney John Verner the room showed signs of a struggle

Dansereau had a red scarf tied around her neck with ligature marks under the scarf. Her clothes were found scattered around the room and her bra was damaged.

The investigation determined that Dansereau had entered the hotel earlier with a customer.

The medical examiner collected oral, anal and vaginal samples during the autopsy. Despite the best efforts of investigators, the case went unsolved, Verner said.

In 2011 investigators entered the sample evidence into the national Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) and obtained a match between a vaginal sperm sample and DNA obtained from Fike after his conviction in Alabama.

Partially-smoked cigarettes from the hotel room also matched Fike’s DNA, Verner said.

When interviewed by Boston homicide detectives in April 2018 in Alabama, Fike denied ever having been in Boston. He continued his denials when confronted with the evidence of his DNA in Dansereau’s body, Verner said.

Fike placed himself in Keene, NH around the time of Dansereau’s murder.

Police reports from Keene show that Fike committed a petty larceny about 12 hours before Dansereau entered the Diplomat Hotel with a customer, Verner said.

General

Tuberville says Americans will have to suffer with tariffs: ‘No pain, no gain’

The American people are going to have to cope with hardship as President Donald Trump slaps tariffs on imports, Alabama’s senior senator said Wednesday.

Tommy Tuberville, the former Auburn University football coach-turned-Republican U.S. senator from Alabama, likened the suffering to the “pain” experienced by his players while they developed under his tutelage.

“No pain, no gain — that’s what we used to tell our football players,” Tuberville said during a Wednesday appearance on Fox Business.

“There’s going to be some pain with tariffs,” Tuberville conceded, “but tariffs got us back as the strongest economy in the world when President Trump was in [office] the first time. He knows what he’s doing.”

Tuberville dismissed criticism from Democrats who blamed the tariffs on the stock market slide and signs the economy has not improved.

“Democrats, get out of the way, shut up. You have no answers, you didn’t do anything right in the last for years with Joe Biden,” the senator said.

Continuing with the sports metaphors, Tuberville said Republicans “have a gameplan, Trump has a gameplan along with [Commerce Secretary] Howard Lutnick … we can turn this thing around…”

Trump’s use of tariffs to extract concessions from other nations points toward a possibly destructive trade war and a stark change in America’s approach to global leadership. It also has destabilized the stock market and stoked anxiety about an economic downturn.

He has separate tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, with plans to also tax imports from the European Union, Brazil and South Korea by charging “reciprocal” rates starting on April 2.

The European Union announced its own countermeasures on Wednesday. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that as the United States was “applying tariffs worth 28 billion dollars, we are responding with countermeasures worth 26 billion euros,” or about $28 billion. Those measures, which cover not just steel and aluminum products but also textiles, home appliances and agricultural goods, are due to take effect on April 1.

Tuberville claimed Trump’s economic policies are the “last chance” to save the country.

“If we can’t get it done now with tariffs and with pulling regulations and getting people back to work and cutting our debt and cutting the amount of spending, we’re not going to have the country we’ve had before,” Tuberville said. “So people just need to listen, learn from this. Understand it’s short-term pain. We’re gonna get this turned around. President Trump knows exactly what he’s doing and he has a gameplan — something Democrats didn’t know anything about.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

General

Former Auburn defensive back leaving New England Patriots after 9 NFL seasons

After nine seasons with the New England Patriots, former Auburn cornerback Jonathan Jones is changing teams in NFL free agency.

Jones is joining the Washington Commanders for the 2025 season on a one-year contract, the Boston Herald and ESPN reported on Wednesday. Terms were not disclosed.

Jones’ departure comes after the Patriots agreed on a three-year, $54 million contract with another free-agent cornerback from Auburn, Carlton Davis, this week.

In 2024, Jones played in every New England game and was on the field for 712 defensive snaps and four special-team plays. Jones recorded 58 tackles, six passes defended and two forced fumbles.

Of Washington’s top two outside corners last season, Benjamin St-Juste has left for the Los Angeles Chargers and former Auburn standout Noah Igbinoghene became an unrestricted free agent on Wednesday.

Jones joined the Patriots as a free-agent rookie in 2016. He had gone undrafted even though he ran a 4.33-second 40-yard dash at that year’s NFL Scouting Combine.

As a rookie, Jones got on the field for 64 defensive snaps and 307 special-teams plays. In each of the next four seasons – until a shoulder injury limited him to six games in 2021 – Jones’ defensive snaps increased and his special-teams appearances decreased.

Jones returned from the injury in 2022 as an every-game starter in the New England secondary. Jones had developed into the Patriots’ regular slot corner, then showed versatility beyond that role. After the departure of Pro Bowler J.C. Jackson in free agency, Jones stepped into the vacated outside-corner spot in the 2022 season. He played a career-high 894 defensive snaps while posting career bests with four interceptions, 11 passes defended and three forced fumbles and making 69 tackles.

Jones played in eight postseason games with the Patriots.

As a rookie, he was on the field for 22 special-teams plays in New England’s 34-28 overtime victory against the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI on Feb. 5, 2017.

An injury prevented Jones from playing in Super Bowl LII to cap the 2017 season, and New England lost to the Philadelphia Eagles 41-33 in the NFL championship game.

For the 2018 postseason, Jones shadowed Kansas City Chiefs All-Pro wide receiver Tyreek Hill in the AFC Championship Game, then switched to safety for a special defensive scheme that led to a 13-3 victory over the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII.

In 132 regular-season games, Jones has recorded 436 tackles, 11 interceptions, 57 passes defended, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.

Jones became a free agent after completing a two-year, $19 million contract.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.

General

Alabama schools lose $16 million for fresh produce due to USDA cuts

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has cut millions of dollars in funding that Alabama schools used to buy fresh produce from local farms, according to the state department of education.

About $16 million for local produce such as apples, watermelon, corn and satsumas will no longer be available, state Department of Education Superintendent Eric Mackey said Wednesday.

“It will be hard to replicate the program without federal funds because it’s a pretty expensive program,” Mackey said. There’s currently no state funding for this program, and he said it carries a high ticket price.

More than 40 states have participated in the Local Food for Schools Purchase Assistance or Cooperative programs in previous years, according to news reports. The program began during the pandemic.

The USDA has halted more than $1 billion nationwide in funding for food from local farms and ranchers, according to Politico.

Most school lunch food comes from food service companies, like those that restaurants use. Students will still get school lunches, but specific options may change.

Mackey said Alabama is one of the leading states with “farm-to-table or farm-to-school” collaborations.

He said he hopes to work with the agriculture commission to find a workaround.

Alabama worked with the Deep South Food Alliance, New North Florida Cooperative, Durbin Farms and other small farmers and school produce distributors to obtain fresh produce, according to the USDA.

School nutrition directors also are bracing for potential rollbacks to programs that expanded funding for school meals, The Associated Press reports.

General

Miss Manners: My friend called me rude for not hearing her

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I have a moderate hearing loss on one side and pretty severe hearing loss on the other side. A lot of folks don’t know I have a problem, because the hearing aids they make now are great — hard to see, and my hair covers them.

However, my hearing is sometimes affected by things like seasonal allergies, and I’m often the last to realize.

I was talking with some friends, partly in Spanish (my second language) and partly in English, with some fellow teachers. I asked my friend a question in English, not realizing someone on my deafer side had started talking.

He had made a joke in Spanish and I didn’t quite catch what was going on. After he left, my friend really doubled down on how rude I had been.

Obviously I felt sorry as soon as I understood, which probably took a little extra time due to the language barrier. I told her I really didn’t hear him speak and I would never have interrupted him if I had. She continued to tell me she felt bad for him and that I was rude.

Of course, I told the other friend later that I hadn’t heard him and I was sorry for making an awkward moment. He was really sweet about it because he knows I am not rude by nature.

I know hearing loss can be hard to see and sometimes difficult to predict, depending on the nature of it. But I wonder if this other friend, who insisted on calling me rude even after I explained that I couldn’t hear, knows how bad that sounds for folks with a disability.

I thought about telling her how it comes across, but that would feel like I was just trying to get sympathy. I just wouldn’t want her to show the same lack of understanding to someone else with a disability — for her sake, too. Am I wrong?

GENTLE READER: Demonizing someone with a disability is, of course, unspeakably rude. (So is demonizing someone without a disability.)

But this can be settled without resorting to such heavy artillery. Even if your hearing were perfect and you merely failed to hear the joke because of a momentary lapse of attention, what you did was not The Rudest Thing That Ever Happened. It was a minor, unintentional infraction, erased by your subsequent apology.

It was far ruder of your friend to dwell on it. Forget about it and, if this person raises it again, thank her and tell her you dealt with it.

Please send your questions to Miss Manners at missmanners.com, by email to [email protected], or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.

General

Decatur man acquitted of capital murder in fatal 2017 double shooting

A north Alabama jury acquitted a Decatur man Wednesday of capital murder in the 2017 shooting deaths of two men.

Kevin Deloney Jr., 27, of Moulton, was found not guilty in the Lawrence County slayings of Lawrence Jimmy Lee Bolding and James Lemark Madden, WAAY reported.

Deloney’s acquittal was not yet in Lawrence County court records as of early Wednesday evening.

Bolding, 34, of North Courtland, and Madden, 41, of Muscle Shoals, were shot to death in North Courtland in July 2017.

Their bodies were found on Bolding’s property on Rosa Parks Street around midnight July 7, 2017. Bolding’s body was in the front yard, and Madden was found inside a trailer on the property, Lawrence County Sheriff Gene Mitchell said at the time.

Also charged in the case was Tamorris Oneil Bolding.

His case was dismissed in October 2017 by a Lawrence County District Court Judge Angela D. Terry after she determined there was not probable cause to prosecute Bolding.

Since his arrest, Deloney filed multiple motions to dismiss his case, arguing that his constitutional right to a speedy trial was violated.