The New York Jets have stuck by head coach Adam Gase far longer than anyone expected, but it’s only a matter of time before he is fired. While a coaching search hasn’t even begun, candidates to become the next head coach are already emerging.

Heading into Week 14, the Jets are 0-12 and remain “ahead” in the race for the No. 1 overall pick. Whenever Gase is fired, with the decision likely to come after the regular season ends, the search will be on for the presumptive coach of Trevor Lawrence.

Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com reported on comments made by Bill Cowher’s fellow CBS NFL analyst Boomer Esiason, who suggested the longtime Pittsburgh Steelers coach could be itching to get back to roaming the sidelines.

“[Cowher] was showing me and Nate [Burleson] film of him coaching on the sideline where he was mic’ed up, and we looked at each other like, ‘Hmm, what does that mean? Is he sending a message?’ I’ve worked with him for 14 years and I’ve never seen that.

He’s the one that told me the Jets job is going to be really attractive, and they could hire whomever they want, and he told me he loves [G.M.] Joe Douglas.”

The Pittsburgh Steelers are undefeated no more. The leaders of the AFC North suffered their first loss of the season to the Washington Football Team on the earlier Monday Night Football game yesterday. It was close; the Football Team kicked a field goal with just over two minutes remaining to take a three-point lead, then the first Ben Roethlisberger pass of the Steelers' attempted go-ahead drive was tipped and subsequently intercepted. Dreams of 16-0 disappeared at the same time.

Going slightly defeated instead of undefeated is surely a disappointment for the black and yellow, but it isn't that bad. There are still four weeks of football yet to play and Pittsburgh remains in the driver's seat for one of the two top seeds in the AFC. But Washington exposed the Steelers' biggest obstacle standing between themselves and a deep playoff run: Roethlisberger's inability or refusal to throw the ball deep.

Big Ben threw the rock 53 times against the Football Team and averaged only 5.75 yards per attempt. It marks his third straight game with an average of less than six yards per attempt. Two of those three games were wins, but only one quarterback has averaged less than six yards per attempt on the year (Sam Darnold, averaging 5.9 yards per completion). Roethlisberger has failed to reach that mark four times this season.

The Carolina Panthers' rash of positive COVID-19 tests has met a minor, but positive development.

After placing eight players on the reserve/COVID-19 list on Monday, the Panthers did not have any new positive COVID-19 tests overnight, NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported. Three of the players who landed on the list were positive, while the other five were identified as close contacts, Pelissero added.

Jalen Hurts will be the starting quarterback Sunday when the Philadelphia Eagles face the New Orleans Saints, the team announced Tuesday.

Carson Wentz will head to the bench and take on backup duties.

Hurts replaced Wentz in last Sunday's loss to the Green Bay Packers, sparking a mini-surge from the inconsistent Eagles offense.

The Cincinnati Bengals need cornerbacks in the worst way possible right now, and there’s an available former first-round pick at the position who can help.

Per Paul Schwartz of the New York Post, the Bengals are one of several teams interested in signing cornerback DeAndre Baker.

Baker, who was a first-round pick of the New York Giants in 2019 by way of the Georgia Bulldogs, was released by his former team over the Summer after he was arrested in May for multiple counts of armed robbery and aggravated assault. He was placed on the commissioner’s exempt list before his release.

COVID-19 is on the rise across the United States, causing government officials to warn against unnecessary travel and attending any large gatherings. But Cowboys owner Jerry Jones remains committed to increasing the number of fans attending home games despite the increased number of coronavirus cases.

"My plan was to increase our fans as we went through the season, and we followed that plan," Jones said during an interview with 105.3 The Fan radio. "We've had almost a third of the attendance in the NFL. I'm proud of that. Our stadium is particularly suited for airiness, openness, air circulation...".

If you thought Antonio Brown wouldn’t be a distraction in Tampa, think again.

On Monday, the Miami Herald released a troubling report involving Brown. According to the report, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver had an outburst in Hollywood, Florida last month.

Brown allegedly destroyed a surveillance camera and threw a bicycle at a security guard shack. No charges were field against Brown, but it’s worth nothing the NFL wasn’t aware of this incident prior to reinstating him.

Early this season, the NFL could go weeks at a time without a player testing positive for COVID-19. That’s no longer the case.

In the last week, 17 players tested positive, and that’s a number that has to be concerning to the league, and to anyone who wants to see the season completed.

Cleveland Browns wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. is once again not a happy camper following the team’s blowout Week 6 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. It has now led to more rumors regarding a potential trade ahead of the Nov. 3 NFL trade deadline.

After winning four consecutive games following their season-opening blowout loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the Browns fell this past Sunday to Pittsburgh by the score of 38-7. Beckham caught all of two passes for 25 yards in the 31-point defeat.

Even after winning four in a row prior to Sunday’s outing, Beckham was clearly frustrated on the sideline. It adds another layer to rumors suggesting that he might not be long in Cleveland.

This belief was backed up by respected Browns insider Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com in an in-depth piece after Week 1. It has now taking on new meaning following Sunday’s events in Pittsburgh.

If the Browns were to deal their most-talented offensive player, here’s a look at the most-likely trade scenarios.

The Chiefs on Monday captivated the NFL with 245 yards rushing and a touchdown on 46 carries in a 26-17 win over the Buffalo Bills.

Recently signed running back Le’Veon Bell also took notice.

With the Chiefs running through and around the Bills’ defense throughout the first half, Bell took to social media and tweeted: “I can’t wait.”

The feeling is mutual.

“We don’t turn away good players, and he’s a good one,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said of Bell after the game.

At this point, calling for Adam Gase to be fired is too easy. All the stats, facts, and figures highlight a man with a proven track record of being totally unqualified to lead an organization into battle on any given Sunday.

And yet Gase remains the head man in charge of the J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets for another week...and possibly the 10 weeks after that. It's a confounding decision by management to keep him in the building and left me with only one logical explanation for why they're doing it: to make Gase pay for accepting the job of Jets head coach the same way he's made them pay for offering it in the first place.

Now, onto the stats...

Gase has gone 7-15 as head coach of the Jets and is 30-40 in his career as a head coach including his three seasons with the Dolphins.

When the New York Jets released running back Le’Veon Bell last week, it was the first clear sign that they were focusing more on the future than the present. Still, there was some room for interpretation because of the friction between Bell and coach Adam Gase.

But on Sunday night, when the Jets traded starting defensive tackle Steve McLendon to the Bucs for two future late-round picks, general manager Joe Douglas sent out the NFL's version of the Bat-Signal to other executives across the league: the Jets are open for business.

The trade deadline is on Nov. 3, two weeks from Tuesday. And the Jets, who are 0-6 and have shown zero evidence that they can turn things around, are in fire sale mode.

But how many players are their talent-bare roster will actually draw interest from other teams. And are there any players on this team the Jets should keep no matter what?

Here’s a look at some of the team’s most prominent names (outside of the rookies, who Douglas drafted less than six months ago and almost certainly won’t be moving on from) and how it might play out.

QB Sam Darnold

The situation: A few short months ago, trading Darnold before the end of his third season was unthinkable. But the 23-year-old quarterback has yet to break through and the Jets seemed destined for the No. 1 overall pick, where Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence will likely be waiting. It would be risky to move Darnold now — especially if the Jets don’t get the No. 1 overall pick or if Lawrence decides to stay in school. And the Jets have given every indication that they still have faith in Darnold, so a trade seems unlikely.

Other factors: Darnold’s inconsistent play lowers his trade value, which is another reason a deal is unlikely. And with 10 games left in the season, there’s still time for him to prove that he’s capable of being their quarterback of the future. He could return from his shoulder injury as soon as this weekend against the Bills.

George McCaskey didn’t know what to think. For nearly two decades, the Chicago Bears chairman has known Brian Urlacher and deeply admired his gregarious and generous personality. As much as McCaskey always loved watching the Bears Hall of Fame linebacker play, he always was struck even more by how easily Urlacher connected with teammates, how kind he was to everyone at Halas Hall, how his positive energy lifted so many.

McCaskey never has forgotten how active Urlacher often was with the Bears' “Home Team Hand-Off” program, regularly buying and supplying charities with tickets to games without anyone in the outside world knowing.

“Those tickets would go to so many various charities — Midtown Educational Association, Special Olympics Illinois and a whole host of other organizations,” McCaskey told the Tribune in 2018. “The program continues to this day. But Brian was the one who really propped it up. That told me that he was incredibly generous, that he didn’t want anyone to know about it, that he does the right thing when people aren’t looking. He gets it. That’s what being a leader and being a Bear means.”

That’s why McCaskey was so frozen, confused and bothered two weeks ago when some of Urlacher’s divisive social media activity created a stir.

The Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans have been bitter rivals on the field for the past decade and wanted to begin the 2020 season on a more positive note: joining together for a moment of unity before kicking off the first game of the year.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and a nationwide conversation on systemic racism and police brutality, it was meant to be a moment to celebrate common goals among players.

Not all of the fans in a limited-capacity Arrowhead Stadium agreed.

As the two teams locked arms at midfield, a chorus of boos rained down from the stands, stunning some of the players who demonstrated.

At last, after what felt like the longest and most arduous offseason in league history, the NFL officially returned on Thursday night.

The Kansas City Chiefs raised their Super Bowl banner and proceeded to dispatch the visiting Houston Texans 34-20 at a sparsely attended Arrowhead Stadium. But the final score, the stats and highlight plays .. none of them matter in the grand scheme of things.

Thursday night was bigger than just a football game. The 2020 NFL season opener actually represented two celebrations of defiance and determination.

Defiance and determination of a league, whose owners and chief executives resolved throughout the offseason that they would not bend to the deadly pandemic that nearly brought our country to a complete halt in the spring and has altered our way of life at virtually every turn.

Defiance and determination of players, who this offseason had finally seen one too many persons of color fall prey to police brutality, systemic oppression and racism, and thus committed to using their platforms to demand change, regardless of whomever their message angered.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has changed his stance on players kneeling for the anthem but it wasn’t because he really cared about how the players feel, it’s really because he didn’t really have a choice. If he would have said players couldn’t kneel during this climate he would have been ridiculed by the majority of the players in the locker room.

He does care a lot about the fans and the money they bring in. On his weekly appearance on 105.3 The Fan radio show, Jerry talked about how it would be a huge issue if the fans turned away from the team over players protesting the anthem.

The Ravens are interested in Dez Bryant, but they will not consider Antonio Brown, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (on Twitter). Lamar Jackson has pushed for the Ravens to sign his workout pal, but owner Steve Bisciotti is not interested.

There was, at least, a glimmer of hope recently when head coach John Harbaugh told reporters that he’s willing to “look at any and every player” and that Brown is “no exception.” Brown, apparently, is an exception.

The owners of the Cleveland Browns say they support Baker Mayfield's plan to kneel for the national anthem in 2020 ... hoping it will lead to more "thoughtful dialogue" about tough issues in the future.

The star QB has said multiple times he plans to kneel during the anthem in 2020 -- claiming it will shine a spotlight on police brutality and social injustice ... which he recently described as "human rights issues."

Jimmy Haslam and his wife, Dee, were asked about Baker's comments on Sunday -- and they insist the organization will support "freedom of speech" and expression for any Browns player who wants to take a knee.

Tom Brady's decision to leave the New England Patriots after 20 years was stunning, but the 43-year-old quarterback revealed that it wasn't an easy decision to make.

In an interview with NBC Sports' Peter King, Brady provided a bit more insight into his decision to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this offseason.

"I thought long and hard about making the decision," Brady told King. "I put a lot of really careful thought into everything that I really valued. I probably listed 20 different things that were important. I had a weighted scale about what was not so important.

The coronavirus pandemic has caused adjustments throughout the sports world, but the NFL is unlikely to cancel the season regardless of events.

"I think I've heard [Commissioner] Roger Goodell is determined to get this season played, ending in a Super Bowl, whenever it's played. Like, extremely determined," Peter King of NBC Sports reported Monday.

Despite the canceled preseason and the delayed start to training camps, the 2020 regular season remains on schedule to begin Sept. 10 with a matchup between the Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.

Myles Garrett exposed several screenshots of racist DMs he received via Instagram on Saturday.

“Attention all ladies, this man is obviously in need of some attention because he won’t stay out of my dms at 5am. If you’re into racists hit em up on insta,” he tweeted alongside the screengrabs.

Just a few months after being wanted for alleged armed robbery, the NFL has reinstated Seattle Seahawks cornerback Quinton Dunbar off the Commissioner’s Exempt list.

Dunbar was placed on the exempt list, along with New York Giants cornerback DeAndre Baker, on July 27 as they faced charges of armed robbery. While Baker now potentially faces 10-plus years in prison, Dunbar can return to the practice field this week, according to NFL.com.

Originally, Dunbar was facing multiple charges that put his NFL career in jeopardy, The 28-year-old turned himself into police days after he was accused of involvement in stealing money and watches from people at a house party.

Dwayne Haskins is not guaranteed to start in Washington this season.

Washington head coach Ron Rivera said today that if Alex Smith is cleared to play almost two years after a severely broken leg, he would be given every opportunity to beat out Haskins for the starting quarterback job.

“This could be a very interesting challenge for us because of Alex Smith,” Rivera said, via Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post.

The Washington Football Team swiftly moved on from Derrius Guice on Friday after the running back was arrested on domestic violence charges.

During a video conference Monday, coach Ron Rivera explained the decision to cut Guice.

"I made a decision I believe was in the best interest of the organization, players and our fans going forward," Rivera said. "A very difficult decision. Any time you have to release a very talented young football player, it's always a tough decision. But this type of circumstance, this type of situation, we take those allegations very, very seriously. And we had to make a decision going forward. Sometimes it's one of these things where there are processes. ... Each circumstance is unique, each one will be handled and dealt with differently, to what we believe is best for the organization going forward."

Rivera said he talked to players over the weekend and explained to them the circumstances and the choice to cut a talented young player.

No deal is done until it’s done, and the deal between the NFL and the NFL Players Association regarding the parameters for pro football in a pandemic still isn’t done.

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, negotiations continue regarding the precise language of the final document, with terms supposedly settled nine days ago still in play.

Most significantly, the NFL does indeed want to shorten the window for opting out from the agreed duration of seven days after the finalization of the agreement revising the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson has tested positive for COVID-19, the team announced Sunday.

Pederson informed his players Sunday after a second positive test confirmed his diagnosis, according to ESPN's Tim McManus.

The 52-year-old is asymptomatic and feeling fine.

The NFL will continue the fight against systemic racism during Week 1 of the 2020 season with a number of measures, including the messages "It Takes All of Us" and "End Racism" stenciled in the end zone borders.

Jason Reid of ESPN's The Undefeated reported the news, noting the league sent a memo to teams on Monday informing them of its plans.

The memo said the idea behind the end zone messages is to show "how football and the NFL brings people together to work as one and use our example and our actions to help conquer racism."

Tom Pelissero of NFL Network shared examples of helmet decals honoring George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and Botham Jean, among others, and signage in end zones that teams and players will use as well.

The U.S. Navy SEALs are investigating a video from a fundraiser last year in Florida that showed a K-9 demonstration using a “Colin Kaepernick stand-in.”

The video was originally posted in January 2019, but didn’t go viral until this past weekend. It showed what appeared to be Navy SEAL dogs attacking a man wearing a Colin Kaepernick jersey during a demonstration.

A second video shows the dogs taking the man in the Kaepernick jersey down.

FINALLY, THE ROCK HAS COME BACK TO ... PRO FOOTBALL!?

The WWE legend just teamed up with an investment group to snatch up Vince McMahon's XFL league for $15 million, the league confirms in a statement.

The league had filed for bankruptcy after being resurrected for the 2020 season -- and was supposed to be auctioned off to highest bidder on Monday.

But, Dwayne Johnson and his partners -- Dany Garcia (Rock's business partner and ex-wife) and partners at RedBird Capital (led by Gerry Cardinale) -- swooped in and bought it up this weekend before it hit the auction block.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made it known on that Tom Brady has passed his initial COVID-19 tests and will arrive at the facility Monday.

The news was shared in a round-about-way with a Twitter post.

Players cannot enter team facilities until they have passed the first wave of COVID-19 testing.

The NFL will continue the fight against systemic racism during Week 1 of the 2020 season with a number of measures, including the messages "It Takes All of Us" and "End Racism" stenciled in the end zone borders.

Jason Reid of ESPN's The Undefeated reported the news, noting the league sent a memo to teams on Monday informing them of its plans.

The memo said the idea behind the end zone messages is to show "how football and the NFL brings people together to work as one and use our example and our actions to help conquer racism."

Tom Pelissero of NFL Network shared examples of helmet decals honoring George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and Botham Jean, among others, and signage in end zones that teams and players will use as well.

Antonio Brown retired then unretired this past week. A week after creating more headlines, the All-Pro receiver could finally get what he’s been hoping for – a shot at returning to the NFL and a definitive suspension for the upcoming season.

After being investigated by the NFL for multiple sexual misconduct accusations, then pleading no contest to a felony burglary with battery charge stemming from an incident in January, the NFL could soon announce Brown’s suspension.

Will Antonio Brown play in the NFL again?

Antonio Brown is vying for a return to the NFL after he spent the past year in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Brown burned plenty of bridges between his arrest, off-field behavior and being released by two NFL teams. Fortunately for him, NFL teams can’t seem to say no to his talent.

Multiple teams are interested in Brown, but that doesn’t come without some conditions.

Conceding that the 2020 season will “not look like other years,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell sent a letter to fans detailing the league’s plans to play during the coronavirus pandemic.

NFL veterans began reporting to training camps this week. In his letter, Goodell wrote that COVID-19 “has turned the world upside down,” while also confirming that all preseason games have been canceled.

The league and the players’ union reached an agreement Friday on a plan to play this season. That included canceling all preseason games. Team facilities were closed down by the commissioner in late March and slowly began reopening this summer, The Associated Pressreported.

Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Frank Clark intends to honor LeGend Taliferro, a four-year-old Kansas City boy shot and killed while sleeping on Monday.

According to 41 Action News reporter McKenzie Nelson, Clark has been in contact with Taliferro’s mother, Charron Powell, about paying for the child's funeral costs.

Clark also plans to play in Taliferro’s name when the Chiefs open the season against the Houston Texans on September 10.

The Kansas City Chiefs entered the 2020 offseason knowing full well they were going to face the challenge of attempting to retain their key players. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes is set to become the highest paid player in the NFL, and given their lack of cap space currently due to some bad deals (i.e. Anthony Hitchens), re-signing stud defensive tackle Chris Jones is nigh impossible.

Negotiations between Jones and the Chiefs have stalled, and the tackle himself let it be known that he'd be willing to sit out the entire season, a la Le'Veon Bell, if he isn't given the contract he deserves. We normally wouldn't suggest a team ever trade a player like Jones, but they might have no choice in the matter. Kansas City would be better off receiving a trade package for Jones rather than letting him walk for nothing.

Back in 2008 the New York Giants stunned the New England Patriots, beating them 17-14 in Super Bowl XLII to ruin the Pats' attempt at a perfect season. It was the first of a pair of heartbreaking Super Bowl losses to Eli Manning for Tom Brady and company. New England fans did not take it well.

Patriots fan Sean Murphy and an accomplice really did not take it well and wanted to rewrite history a bit. So they stole 27 of the Giant's championship rings, claiming the team didn't deserve them.

According to Bloomberg's Zeke Faux, Murphy, a career "cat burglar," read in an article that the Giant's Super Bowl rings were being manufactured in a E.A. Dion Inc., a Rhode Island jewelry store. He decided then that he would set out to snatch them.

The news release from the Washington NFL club on Friday carried the date at the top: July 3, 2020.But it might just as well have used the title of that 1950s Johnny Mathis tune: “The Twelfth of Never.”

The notice said that the Washington football club would launch a thorough review of its team name. That means, in effect, the name is gone. Can you imagine, in today’s world, conducting a “thorough review” and deciding otherwise?

I covered the issue of Native American team names in sports for decades, beginning in Buffalo in the 1970s, and I covered controversies surrounding Washington’s NFL team name for USA TODAY for years before I retired last year.

In fact, I’m the one who coaxed that famous quote from the team’s owner, Daniel Snyder. Maybe you know it: “We’ll never change the name. It’s that simple. NEVER — you can use caps.”

That all-caps quote had a life of its own from the moment it was published, in 2013. Native Americans who oppose the team name bristled at its dismissive tone.

Multiple NFL figures recently have been talking about Colin Kaepernick. The question now becomes whether the talk will lead to action.

There’s still no reason to believe it will. Indeed, there’s no indication that anyone has actually reached out to Kaepernick or his representatives to discuss a potential visit or tryout or contract or anything. And so the question is whether the league hopes that it can talk about him just enough over the next few weeks until the eyes and ears of the nation move on to something else, or whether the talk about Kaepernick will indeed result in someone talking to Kaepernick about restoring him to an NFL team.

It still feels different now than it ever has, that someone will eventually and inevitably invite Kaepernick to show what he can do, and potentially to compete for a roster spot. Amazingly, he still hasn’t gotten a tryout with a team in nearly 40 months since becoming a free agent.

The Seahawks came the closest of anyone to doing it. Following a visit in 2017 that caused the Seahawks to conclude that Kaepernick is a starter and thus couldn’t be a backup and thus they had no interest in signing him (which makes many wonder why they brought him in for a visit in the first place), the Seahawks decided in early 2018 to give him a workout. The workout reportedly was canceled after the Seahawks sought a commitment that he wouldn’t kneel during the national anthem.

Everybody knows Jerry Rice as the greatest wide receiver in NFL history, but one of his children are in the fight of their life against an invisible enemy.

Jada Symone Rice has not only been hospitalized with Covid-19, but she stated she was moved to ICU the other day as she continues to fight off the deadly disease.

“My baby has been in the fight of her life…COVID IS THE DEVIL… BUT GOD! She has turned the corner and Thank God has battled through the worst of it! Jada is doing wonderful today! She was administered convalescent plasma last night, and she did extremely well with it! They are also starting to ween her off oxygen today. She has had EVERY MEDICATION UNDER THE SUN to help her battle COVID!”

Jamal Adams is not stressing at all.

On Thursday, the Jets star safety reportedly told the team that he wants to be traded. During the 2019 NFL season, the Jets reportedly considered trading the star safety to Dallas, but nothing ever came of it.

Just hours after he demanded a trade, the former first-round pick was spotted on the golf course smoking a cigar.