Sports briefs 10/29
NFL
The Kansas City Chiefs signed Justin Tucker to their practice squad on Wednesday, giving the five-time All-Pro kicker a second chance in the NFL after serving a 10-game suspension last year for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.
Tucker spent 13 seasons with the Ravens, earning a reputation as one of the league’s best kickers, before his tenure in Baltimore ended in controversy. The Baltimore Banner reported in 2025 that he had been accused of sexual misconduct by 16 massage therapists at high-end spas, accusations that Tucker called “unequivocally false” and “tabloid fodder.”
The Ravens released him that May. And while Tucker was never criminally charged or sued in civil court, the NFL suspended him for the first 10 games of the 2025 season, which Tucker served as a free agent; he became eligible for reinstatement last November.
“He’s done his suspension, you know? Took care of that business,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Wednesday, “and I’ll leave it at that.”
Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker has struggled mightily the past two seasons, missing a pair of kicks in Sunday’s loss in Seattle, and the signing of Tucker provides some competition for him.
• Myles Garrett will not practice with the Los Angeles Rams this week, and the star defensive end will miss his seventh consecutive game for his new team on Sunday.
Coach Sean McVay said that the Rams will not open the practice window this week for Garrett, who has been on injured reserve since undergoing knee surgery last month following his zero-tackle debut for the Rams in Australia.
Garrett has yet to make any impact at the halfway point of his first season with the Rams (3-4), who traded edge rusher Jared Verse and three high draft picks to Cleveland for the reigning AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year. McVay hasn’t given any timetable for the return of the superstar who was expected to be a focal point of the Rams’ revamped defense.
College football
Sam Houston fired coach Phil Longo on Wednesday with the Bearkats at 1-7 this season.
The Bearkats finished 2-10 in 2025 and are 3-17 overall and 1-11 in Conference USA since he was hired in December 2024.
NBA
Ernie Johnson will retire as host of “Inside the NBA” in June, capping a 37-year run with the popular studio show.
Johnson announced his decision on Wednesday, saying, “It’s just time,” and that the decision was his alone.
“As the years have gone by and I turned 70 this past summer, folks have asked me, ‘So, how long are you going to keep doing ‘Inside?’ This will be my last season,” he said in a video posted on social media.
Johnson began on “Inside the NBA” in 1990 when it was on TNT and TBS; the show moved to ESPN last year. The quartet of Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal has made the program – which has won 21 Sports Emmy Awards – a model for other studio shows.
College basketball
The NCAA has decided against penalizing Mississippi basketball coach Chris Beard, meaning his program faces no further penalties related to an infractions case involving a former assistant coach who committed tampering violations.
Beard “was not personally involved in the violations, was not aware of the impermissible contact and promoted an atmosphere for compliance,” the NCAA announced in a statement. “Thus, the parties agreed that he should not receive any penalties.”
The NCAA found that former assistant Wes Flanigan had “impermissible recruiting conversations with the advisor of a student-athlete from another school who had not entered the transfer portal.”
The player, who was not identified, subsequently entered the portal but never visited Ole Miss and wound up at another school.