It’s Pickett vs. Beck in NFL’s preseason opener
Football
Carson Beck makes his NFL debut and Kenny Pickett starts for his fifth team in four years.
Welcome to the NFL preseason. If you want to see starters play, wait until next month when the games count in the standings. Or watch joint practices.
The exhibition schedule kicks off tonight with Beck and the Arizona Cardinals facing Pickett and the Carolina Panthers in the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio.
The preseason is an opportunity for rookies, backups and players fighting for roster spots to get snaps and showcase what they can do. Most first-round picks won’t play much. Cardinals running back Jerimiyah Love (No. 3 pick) and Panthers tackle Monroe Freeling (No. 19) are sitting out the opener.
Beck, a third-round pick from Miami, will be under center for new Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur. Veteran Jacoby Brissett is Arizona’s starter and Gardner Minshew is the backup.
“I had no clue I was going to start,” Beck said. “Obviously, I thought I was going to play but I really didn’t have any expectations going into any of this. Obviously, our schedule is absolutely crazy right now, practice, meetings. But I’m looking forward to it.”
Beck, who led the Hurricanes to a national championship matchup against Indiana, said he won’t have any butterflies before the game.
“I think the last time I was nervous was maybe when I was 8 years old for our city championship in Pop Warner,” Beck said. “It’s a game at the end of the day. It’s an opportunity to go out there, have fun with your teammates and play the game that I love. It’s what I love doing.”
Pickett, a first-round pick by the Steelers in 2022 who led Pitt to a 14-10 record in two seasons, has bounced around the league.
He spent the 2024 season with the Eagles before Philadelphia traded him to Cleveland last year. The Browns sent him to the Raiders during training camp and he started two games for Las Vegas. The Panthers signed Pickett to back up Bryce Young.
“Just want to go out there and operate a high level,” Pickett said. “All the hard work that we’re putting in practice you want to see come to life on game day and that’s everyone just doing their job and executing.”
Carolina won the NFC South last season with an 8-9 record. But the Panthers led the 12-win Rams in the final minute of their wild-card playoff game before NFL MVP Matthew Stafford threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Colby Parkinson with 38 seconds left for a 34-31 victory.
Commanders
Stefon Diggs is signing with the Washington Commanders, a person familiar with the agreement tells the Associated Press.
The move gives quarterback Jayden Daniels and the offense a proven, experienced wide receiver. Diggs joins Washington for a 12th year in the NFL after playing last season with New England. Diggs had 99 catches for 1,123 yards and five touchdowns in 21 games, counting the Patriots’ playoff run to the Super Bowl.
Diggs previously played for Minnesota, Buffalo and Houston.
Falcons
Atlanta Falcons outside linebacker Jalon Walker will miss the season with a torn ACL, the organization announced.
Walker was carted off the field at training camp on Tuesday after going down following a pass-rush play. The injury was quickly feared to be an ACL tear, as the second-year pass rusher was unable to put any weight on his left leg.
The Falcons selected Walker with the No. 15 pick in the 2025 draft after an outstanding career at Georgia. He immediately bolstered the Falcons’ pass rush, recording 36 tackles, 5.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery in a strong rookie campaign.
Walker’s efforts helped bring the Falcons from the bottom of the sack leaderboard in 2024 to the second-most sacks (57) in the NFL this past season, behind only the Denver Broncos (68).
Chiefs
The home of the Kansas City Chiefs will once again be known simply as Arrowhead Stadium.
The team announced that one of the NFL’s iconic venues had shed its official name — GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium — after the Government Employees Health Association agreed to using the classic, simplified name of the facility going forward.
The Chiefs and GEHA signed a naming rights deal in 2021 that resulted in the name change. But it never stuck among fans, and even players and coaches often forgot to use the official moniker, instead using the name it was christened with upon opening in 1972.
Broncos
Another day at Denver Broncos training camp and another key starter left practice early.
This time, it was star receiver Jaylen Waddle, who left Wednesday’s 2 1/2-hour workout with what appeared to be hamstring tightness. He didn’t return.
Star linebacker Nik Bonitto (left leg), who got hurt Tuesday, and starting center Luke Wattenberg, who left Monday’s practice with an apparent arm injury, both worked out on a side field Wednesday with other injured players.
The Broncos also got a scare during 11-on-11 drills when defensive tackle Malcolm Roach accidentally sent quarterback Bo Nix tumbling to the grass on a safety.
“He wasn’t trying to tackle Bo,” defensive tackle D.J. Jones said. “I mean, it got quiet. It got quiet real quick. Everybody stopped. But he was just doing his job.”
Payton said when the quarterback goes down, it sparks reminders to defenders: “You just gotta be smart,” he said.
Nix is coming off two right ankle surgeries after getting injured in the playoffs and missing the AFC championship game.