Former Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant wants to see Jerry Jones protesting.

Dez Bryant wants to see Jerry Jones. He wants to see Stephen Jones. He wants action.

The former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver — and current NFL free agent — is asking the Jones’ to make themselves publicly part of the protests in Austin, Texas. These protests are of course in response to the police brutality of people of color in America, specifically the senseless death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Bryant, 31, isn’t the only player who wants the NFL to be part of sweeping social reform in the country. The league saw some of its most prominent black stars create a video on Thursday night demanding support, including Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, Arizona Cardinals receiver DeAndre Hopkins, New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley, Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott and many others.

In 2017, the league saw legions of players kneeling during the national anthem in protest of black communities suffering from police brutality. Jones spoke against the peaceful demonstrations then. However, Jones eventually joined hands with his players and knelt during a game in Arizona against the Cardinals as a show of solidarity.

Bryant was on that team, his last campaign with the Cowboys.

Certainly, it would go a long way both in locker rooms and the public eye to see league owners out front, or involved in a protest. Bryant is calling for the Jones’ to make a move. We’ll see if they decide heed his advice.

Trevor Lawrence is the presumptive No. 1 pick of the 2021 NFL Draft, and the New England Patriots landing him is worst-case scenario for their opponents.

Bill Belichick landing Trevor Lawrence for his final act? Not bad. For the New England Patriots, anyway.

The football world expects Lawrence to be the top pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, with the junior out of Clemson finally becoming eligible after two fantastic seasons to this point with the Tigers.

However, not everyone within the league is excited about the prospect. Why? Because they’ll need to play against him, and maybe while he’s wearing the Flying Elvis logo on his helmet.

According to Mike Sando of The Athletic, there are teams worried New England will purposefully lose ample games this upcoming year to be in position for Lawrence.

Frankly, the worry s overblown. The Patriots aren’t anywhere near bad enough to lose enough games to be sitting with the No. 1 pick come next April.

New England doesn’t have much at quarterback — we think — in Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer, but it still has a good offensive line, Belichick on the sideline and a few playmakers on offense in Mohamed Sanu, Julian Edelman and N’Keal Harry.

The Patriots also have a good defense even with the losses of linebackers Kyle Van Noy and Jamie Collins. The secondary has an argument to be the league’s best and while the pass-rush isn’t great, Belichick has long been terrific at manufacturing pressure.

New England is no longer a dominant team. It may well miss the playoffs. But the likelihood of the Patriots being worse than the Jacksonville Jaguars? Not great.

Alex Smith is attempting an incredible NFL comeback despite 17 surgeries after suffering a spiral break in his right leg. An ESPN doc has triggered major support.

Alex Smith isn’t giving up. Despite shattering his right leg as the Washington Redskins quarterback on Nov. 18, 2018, Smith is still hopeful he can return to an NFL field.

On Friday night, ESPN produced a wonderful documentary on his recovery entitled Project 11, an hour-long special via E:60. Although Smith almost lost his limb due to infection after the initial operation, he has progressed to the point of considering a legitimate attempt at strapping on the pads once more. He has three years left on his contract with the Redskins.

During and after the documentary aired, there was an outpouring of both support and wonderful towards Smith.

Smith’s career to this juncture has been quite the journey. Drafted No. 1 overall in 2005 by the San Francisco 49ers, Smith endured seven different offensive coordinators over his first seven campaigns before settling in with head coach Jim Harbaugh and OC Greg Roman.

Despite bringing the 49ers to overtime of the 2011 NFC Championship Game and playing his best football through nine games in 2012, he lost his job to Colin Kaepernick after sustaining a concussion against the St. Louis Rams.

Smith was traded in the offseason to the Kansas City Chiefs, where he promptly reached the Pro Bowl three times. Smith helped lead the Chiefs to their first postseason win in 22 years, hammering the Houston Texans 30-0 in the 2015 Wild Card round.

Following the 2017 campaign, Smith was dealt to the Redskins for cornerback Kendall Fuller and a third-round pick, making room in Kansas City for Patrick Mahomes. Smith was 6-3 during his first season with the Redskins before his leg injury. He has not played since.

Tom Brady is regarded as the greatest quarterback ever, winner of six Super Bowls. Yet at age 42, he wants to prove more with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

He should be content.

Tom Brady should by all normal conventions be at home, raising his children, sitting by Gisele’s side as they run off the school. They should be thinking about life after retirement, albeit about 20 years earlier than most can.

Instead, Brady is trading in his New England Patriots jersey for Pewter Power and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After two decades in Foxborough and six rings, Brady is ready for his next challenge, one he detailed the reasons for expertly at The Players Tribune.

Perhaps Brady is solely leaving because he wants to try his hand at something different before hanging up the spikes. Then again, this paragraph in his piece is telling:

They’ve welcomed me as one of their own. They want to listen to what I have to say. I’m excited to be embraced fully for what I can bring to the Bucs. In turn I’m ready to embrace fully a team that is confident in what I do — and what I bring — and is willing to go on this ride with me.

Brady doesn’t clearly state it, but reading between the lines, he wanted a voice in New England. he got one in Tampa Bay. Maybe head coach Bill Belichick was simply unrelenting in holding onto power, or maybe Brady felt awkward attempting to broker for more of a say in the building he’d been in since his early 20s.

Either way, he now gets a chance to be a leader in every sense.

For the Buccaneers and Brady, a rebirth they both hope leads to glory.

The Los Angeles Rams and Chargers will soon share a stadium, and may also share the screen on HBO’s Hard Knocks.

For the first time in the history of HBO’s Hard Knocks, the series will feature two different NFL teams.

Those teams are believed to be the Los Angeles Rams and the Los Angeles Chargers.

Assuming there is one, both teams are sure to have interesting training camps as turnover and big changes are aplenty across the board.

For the Rams, they will have to move on without Todd Gurley as their running back, as they look to again become a Super Bowl contender. The team was featured on Hard Knocks in 2016 when they first moved from St. Louis and back to LA. At the time, Jeff Fisher was the head coach, and he made headlines by releasing Nick Foles via phone call. It was Jared Goff’s rookie year, so viewers got an insight into his early development.

The Chargers have never been featured on the Hard Knocks series as they have been one of the most consistent teams in the NFL with Phillip Rivers as their quarterback. That era is now over, with Rivers in Indianapolis and Tyrod Taylor lined up as the starter. Taylor could be in for a battle though, as the Chargers will likely select a QB early in the upcoming 2020 NFL Draft. If the team trades up and is able to land Tua Tagovailoa, the Hard Knocks season would be can’t miss TV just to see the Tua and Tyrod battle.

Of course, NFL Films is preparing as though the NFL will have a regular training camp schedule, but that is all up in the air with the current COVID-19 situation. After months without sports though, football fans will be clamoring for it to happen and to be able to see behind the scenes training camp action in Los Angeles.

During a call with several prominent sports commissioners, President Trump said he believes the NFL season will start on time and hopes to have fans back in arenas in August and September

Saturday morning, President Donald Trump held a conference call with major sports league commissioners, which included Roger Goodell (NFL), Adam Silver (NBA), Rob Manfred (MLB), Gary Bettman (NHL), Cathy Engelbert (WNBA), Jay Monahan (PGA Tour), Dana White (UFC), Vince McMahon (WWE), Don Garber (MLS) and John Middlebrook/Jim France (NASCAR).

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Adrian Wojnarowski, Trump said on the call that he believes the NFL season will start on schedule in September. He also believes fans will be able to fill arenas and stadiums again in August and September, though medical professionals may not share Trump’s outlook on that being a realistic possibility during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

ESPN also reports that Silver told the group their leagues were the first to shut down, and they would love to be among the first to help restart the economy once they received the “all clear” from health officials.

On this front, President Trump suggested the possibility of the leagues banding together and lobbying for tax credits that used to exist for entertainment expenses. These included the ability to deduct tickets and concessions from taxes, giving fans incentive and easier means to return to sporting events despite the financial hardships of this current quarantine situation.

Stay tuned for more details on this story as they develop.