Red Raiders beat Wildcats for Coffee Cup

Minnesota Vikings tight end TJ Hockenson provided an update on his surgically repaired right knee Friday, indicating he's made good progress but has a long way to go. Hockenson, the eighth overall pick by the Detroit Lions in 2019, suffered ACL and MCL damage in a Week 16 loss to Detroit and had surgery delayed until Jan. 29 because of swelling. "They (the team) haven't really put a timeline on it," Hockenson said this week via NFL Media. "We're just kinda taking it day by day, week by week. There's just so many variables that you can go through in this process. "I'm doing really good right now. We're attacking each process. I'm attacking each one and it's been awesome. The progression has been incredible." NFL.com speculated Hockenson might miss the season's first few weeks but the two-time Pro Bowler might be ready to take the team flight to London for a Week 5 matchup with the New York Jets. Traded to Minnesota by the Lions during the 2022 season, Hockenson had 60 catches, three of them touchdowns, for 519 yards in those 10 games with the Vikings. He became a major component of the Minnesota offense last season, with 95 receptions for 960 yards, scoring five touchdowns in 15 games before his season was cut short. Hockenson's four-year, $66 million contract runs through 2027. The team signed veteran tight end Robert Tonyan on Thursday. -Field Level Media

Cowboys, Texans road favorites Week 1

More than three months before Week 1 of the 2024 NFL season, the Cowboys and Texans are among the early-line favorites on the first Sunday of the regular season. Dallas is a two-point favorite at Cleveland and the Texans are giving a point at Indianapolis. Circa Sports published its Week 1 lines on Friday afternoon with the Cincinnati Bengals leading the way as the largest favorite -- nine points over the New England Patriots. The Buffalo Bills (-7.5) are the only other team giving more than five points in the opener. The first game of the regular season, Super Bowl ring night at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, has the Chiefs set at 2.5-point favorites over the Baltimore Ravens. A rematch of the NFC divisional playoffs in Detroit between the Lions and Rams features the highest projected point total at 50.5. The full lineup for Week 1 with odds and point totals (over-under) from Circa Sports: Thursday, Sept. 5 Baltimore at Kansas City (-2.5, 47.5) Friday, Sept. 6 (Brazil) Green Bay vs Philadelphia (-1, 48.5) Sunday, Sept. 8 Jacksonville at Miami (-3, 49) Pittsburgh at Atlanta (-2.5, 43) Minnesota at NYG (-1.5, 41) Carolina at New Orleans (-5, 40) New England at Cincinnati (-9, 42.5) Tennessee at Chicago (-4.5, 43.5) Arizona at Buffalo (-7.5, 48) Houston (-1, 48) at Indianapolis Las Vegas at LA Chargers (-3.5, 43) Washington at Tampa Bay (-4, 41.5) Denver at Seattle (-5, 41) Dallas (-2, 44) at Cleveland LA Rams at Detroit (-3.5, 50.5) Monday, Sept. 9 NY Jets at San Francisco (-5, 44.5) --Field Level Media

Mystik Dan will look to win the second leg of the Triple Crown when he takes on seven other horses in the Preakness. He won the Kentucky Derby by a nose in the race's closest finish since 1947. Kenny McPeek's horse, who was a Derby long shot, did not open as the Preakness favorite. But Bob Baffert-trained Muth was scratched Wednesday after spiking a fever upon arrival at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. Muth's absence makes it a field of eight for the race.

Dakorien Moore, the No. 1-ranked receiver in the Class of 2025, announced he has decommitted from LSU. The 247Sports composite also lists him as the No. 3 overall player in the class. Moore, from Duncanville, Texas, made the announcement on social media Thursday night. He had been committed to coach Brian Kelly's Tigers since last August. "I want to express my sincere gratitude to Coach Kelly and the entire LSU community for their tremendous support of my family and me," he said. "I am incredibly blessed and deeply appreciative of the opportunity the coaching staff has given me to play football at the collegiate level. "After careful and extensive consideration, my family and I have decided that it is in my best interest to decommit from LSU. I want to emphasize that despite this decision, I will not be considering any recruitment offers." 247Sports predicted that Moore would land with home-state Texas, which will make its Southeastern Conference debut this fall. --Field Level Media

Netflix, NFL unwrap football for Christmas through 2026

Treading further into territory once reserved for NBA broadcasts, the NFL plans to continue airing games on Christmas Day beyond the 2024 doubleheader on Netflix announced on Wednesday. NFL Vice President of Media Hans Schroeder said Thursday the league already has outlined plans for Christmas games in 2025 and 2026. Since Christmas is on a Saturday in 2027, it's a near certainty regular-season games will be played that day, too. "Amazon will have their traditional Thursday night game in primetime on Christmas on Thursday next year, and we'll have another game on Netflix in the afternoon," Schroeder said on a conference call discussing the league schedule for the 2024 season released Wednesday. "Netflix will have a game on Friday the year after that (2026). We'll use how we think about '25 to form how we go into '26." With Christmas falling on a Wednesday in 2024, the four teams involved were scheduled for Saturday games the week before to emulate the Saturday-to-Thursday game week schedule. Traditionally, the NBA is the only game competing for airtime with a scarce sports broadcast schedule on Christmas Day. After ratings showed sincere interest from fans in Christmas games in 2023, the NFL claims it decided to commit to more in future seasons. All three games had more than 27 million viewers according to Nielsen, ratings that piqued the interest of the NFL. The games were peeled out of the full network broadcast agreements and Netflix reportedly bid $75 million for each of its three holiday games. VP of Broadcast Mike North said the NFL "wasn't thinking about" scheduling on Christmas 2024 at this time last year. "When you saw the viewership numbers for Christmas for the tripleheader last year, and the tripleheader the year before -- I think it's four of the last five years that we've played on Christmas -- the fans have spoken," North said. "They want the games there and our broadcast partners want the games there." --Field Level Media

The Atlanta Falcons released outside linebacker Ade Ogundeji on Thursday. Ogundeji, 25, recorded 75 tackles, three sacks and one fumble recovery in 32 career games (27 starts) in his first two seasons with the Falcons. He was selected by Atlanta in the fifth round of the 2021 NFL Draft out of Notre Dame. Ogundeji injured his foot during training camp last August, landed on injured reserve and sat out the 2023 season. --Field Level Media

The Jacksonville Jaguars added three players on defense Thursday, signing defensive backs Terrell Edmunds and Tre Flowers, as well as linebacker Ty Summers. The Jaguars also waived linebacker Dequan Jackson and cut ties with wide receiver Wayne Ruby on a injury settlement. Edmunds, 27, was a first-round draft pick in 2018 and played his first five seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers before splitting time with the Tennessee Titans and Philadelphia Eagles in 2023. In 95 career games (79 starts), Edmunds has 458 tackles, six interceptions and 28 passes defended. Flowers, 28, has 283 tackles with four interceptions and 22 passes defended in 90 games (44 starts) over six seasons for the Seattle Seahawks (2018-21), Cincinnati Bengals (2021-22) and Atlanta Falcons (2023). Summers, 28, has 60 tackles in 67 games (one start) for the Green Bay Packers (2019-21) and New Orleans Saints (2022-23), while also playing three games for the Jaguars in 2022. --Field Level Media