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Dolphins LB Making the Most of Opportunity By Playing New Position

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Dolphins LB Making the Most of Opportunity By Playing New Position


Zeke Vandenburgh is grateful the Miami Dolphins didn’t simply waive him injure when he was a rookie free agent, and one year later he’s rewarding the team’s decision to keep him around.

Whether that leads to a spot of the 53-man roster is debatable, maybe even doubtful, but Vandenburgh certainly has shown he’s not out of place at this level.

After spending all of the 2023 season on injured reserve with a knee injury, Vandenburgh has been among the young defenders who have made themselves noticeable so far in training, and he’s done it at a different position — inside linebacker.

But the former college edge defender is thankful for this opportunity regardless, fully aware that most players in his situation last year simply would have been waived-injured.

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“At that point I had never put on shoulder pads. I had not done anything for the team or earned anything from the organization,” Vandenburgh said after practice Friday. “So for them to do that, that was huge. Like looking back, who knows where I would be right now in my career if they chose to go another route. So every day I’m here it’s a huge blessing walking in this facility.”

Vandenburgh, who played collegiately at Illnois State, said the new position is not “completely foreign.” He played Mike (middle linebacker) in high school and during his early days at Illinois State.

“But in terms of learning how to move like an inside linebacker again, all the lateral movement, change of direction,” Vandenburgh said. “It’s not all setting the edge, downhill, rushing the passer. So there’s definitely a learning curve for that, but like I said, I’m trying to learn from the guys in the room and just get better each day.”

Vandenburgh’s natural pass rushing skill-set on the inside will likely be on display as his biggest strength when he is sent on a blitz. He said that learning the playbook and doing his job will be another.

“I take a lot of pride in my teammates being able to say that they trust me. That when I’m out there, they know I’m going to know the call,” Vandenburgh said. “I’m going to know where guys should line up, know what checks to make. So that can be the hardest part sometimes, playing inside with all the communication. In the NFL playbook, there’s so much to it, so many different calls, so many different checks. So, I would say just studying, watching film, that would probably be a good attribute.”

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Dolphins linebacker coach Joe Barry has plenty of talent to work with in the linebacker room. David Long Jr. is an established veteran and free agent acquisition Jordyn Brooks will most likely start alongside Long in the middle. Duke Riley and Anthony Walker Jr. are both capable linebackers, too.

Vandenburgh sees the rest of the room as educators.

“They’ve been huge. Jordyn Brooks, he’s a good friend at this point. … Anthony Walker, I’ve been watching his film all summer from OTAs and his feet are just so clean and his reads,” Vandenburgh said. “A lot of the split safety stuff that we do, watching his tape, really helped me make some progressions from the spring. I feel like I’m doing better than I was in OTAs, just learning from those guys. And, I mean, Duke, David Long, all these guys are just experienced players that every day I’m just trying to pick up something from them, whether it’s a walkthrough, practice, meetings. There’s just a lot to learn. I’m learning so much every day, so it’s a lot of fun.”

While making plays certainly would help Vandenburgh’s chances of making the active roster — he still has to be considered a long shot at this point — he said head coach Mike McDaniel has preached to the players about not trying to do too much, to “lock in and do your job.”

“So that’s all I’m worried about. Whatever the call is, I’m gonna lock in, do my job to the best of my ability, sprint to the ball, try to get a shot on the ball, and then good things happen from there,” Vandenburgh said.

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Vandenburgh suffered a knee injury last season after OTAs that could have easily spelled an end to his time in South Florida. Vandenburgh called it a “freak injury.”

“I was just warming up, getting down on the floor, and my knee buckled and I ended up tearing my meniscus,” Vandenburgh said. “So it just goes to show like God’s in control; you can’t really control anything like so you might as well go out there and play with this reckless abandon for your body because you can take one wrong step walking down the street and get hurt, so it gives you good perspective and like I said I’m just really grateful to be here today.”



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Jaylen Brown bidding war? Haslem drove this? All the fallout from Antetokounmpo trade to Miami

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Jaylen Brown bidding war? Haslem drove this? All the fallout from Antetokounmpo trade to Miami


It was the blockbuster deal of the NBA offseason: After years of will-he/won’t-he, two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo has been traded to Miami.

It also feels like the first domino of what will be some other big moves — including possibly a Jaylen Brown bidding war and trade. At NBC, we’ve explained the Antetokounmpo trade, named its winners and losers, and broken down how it will impact fantasy teams. Still, the fallout from this trade just keeps coming. Here are some other notes and analysis surrounding Antetokounmpo’s move to Miami.

Jaylen Brown bidding war?

Boston tried to say, “We weren’t shopping Brown, it was only because this was Giannis Antetokounmpo.” Except a few years back, they said the same thing when Brown was rumored to be part of a trade offer for Kevin Durant. From Brown’s perspective, you don’t want to be the person in the relationship where your partner is always looking around for an upgrade.

Other teams are expecting Boston to make Brown available, and there could be a bidding war, something articulated well by ESPN’s Brian Windhorst on the network’s “Get Up.”

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“What I expect to happenis a bidding war for Jaylen Brown. In the most recent days, teams have been preparing for this eventuality, that it wouldn’t be the Boston Celtics who won the Giannis sweepstakes and that there would be a Jaylen Brown market. And now we’re going to watch that. I think it’ll take time to play out.”

If Brown becomes available, look for Houston and Atlanta to be at the front of the line for him, with a number of other teams — Portland has said it’s interested — in the mix. The challenge will be matching his salary, which is $57.1 million next season and totals about $183 million over the next three years. Brown is coming off his best season as a pro, averaging 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game.

Boston kept young players out

Why did Milwaukee ultimately choose the Miami offer over Boston? In part because, while Brown would have been the best individual player the Bucks could have gotten in return, they wanted more — specifically a young player like Baylor Scheierman and Hugo Gonzalez, and Boston would not put them in the offer, reports Shams Charania of ESPN.

Boston’s final offer was Brown and two unprotected first-round picks. Milwaukee preferred Miami’s offer… or at least one key person did.

Bucks co-owner Haslam pushed for Miami trade

Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Jimmy Haslam also owns the NFL’s Cleveland Browns — a team that dealt with a trade demand from future Hall of Famer Myles Garrett. Then came the Antetokounmpo saga with the Bucks.

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That led Haslam to push for the “certainty” of the Miami offer because he didn’t want to see Brown come to Milwaukee and force his way out in a couple of years, something Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports reported right after the trade went down.

Report: Haslam a ‘driving force’ in Giannis trade

Mike Florio looks at Jimmy Haslam’s reported role in the blockbuster Giannis Antetokounmpo trade and analyzes Haslam’s involvement as owner of the Cleveland Browns.

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That was a concern of others in the Milwaukee front office, reports Sam Amick and Eric Nehm at The Athletic, who add there had been signs in recent weeks that Brown didn’t really want to land in Milwaukee.

Herro happy

Brown may not have wanted to go to Milwaukee, but Tyler Herro — who is a Milwaukee native — is excited to go home in the trade, reports NBA insider Chris Haynes.

Except Herro may not be staying in Milwaukee—there are multiple reports that the Bucks are listening to offers to trade him again. At the front of that line may be Detroit, which is looking for shooting and secondary ball-handling to pair with Cade Cunningham, and Herro fits that bill.

Is Anthony Edwards next?

Once one superstar is traded, the insatiable NBA trade rumor machine starts looking for the next star who might be on the move.

Is it about to be Anthony Edwards’ turn in the spotlight? ESPN’s Tim MacMahon said on the latest Hoop Collective Podcast, “The NBA vultures are swirling around Ant in anticipation of him potentially becoming the next superstar who’s available in the trade market.” Multiple reports in recent years have said Edwards has been frustrated with the team building in Minnesota, dating back to when it traded away Karl-Anthony Towns to save money.

This is not happening fast. Minnesota has no intention of trading Edwards right now, and he still has three fully guaranteed years at $156.9 million left on this contract. There is no pressure to move him, and Edwards would deny he is even thinking about leaving.

That said, teams file these kinds of things away and just wait.

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Fiery, fatal crash shuts down southbound lanes of Don Shula Expressway in southwest Miami-Dade

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Fiery, fatal crash shuts down southbound lanes of Don Shula Expressway in southwest Miami-Dade



An investigation is underway after a man was killed in a fiery crash with a truck on the Don Shula Expressway in southwest Miami-Dade early Tuesday morning, according to officials.

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The Florida Highway Patrol said that a white Mercedes coupe was headed south on SR 847 (Don Shula Expressway), near Southwest 104th Street when it crashed into the back of a truck.

A large fire broke out after the crash, and investigators said that the driver of the Mercedes, who was only identified as an adult Hispanic male, died at the scene.

The fiery crash forced officials to shut down the southbound lanes of the roadway, and drivers were being asked to seek an alternate route.

Heavy delays were reported behind the crash, and delays also started to build in the northbound lanes near the scene.

The southbound lanes have since reopened.

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No other information was released.



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Miami Heat slip behind Boston Celtics in Giannis Antetokounmpo race

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Miami Heat slip behind Boston Celtics in Giannis Antetokounmpo race


The Miami Heat woke up Monday no longer in control of the chase they had led for weeks. With the 2026 NBA Draft set for Tuesday and the Milwaukee Bucks closing in on a resolution to the Giannis Antetokounmpo saga, Miami suddenly finds itself in a two-team race it is no longer favored to win.

ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Monday that Antetokounmpo is expected to be moved before the draft, with the Heat and Boston Celtics emerging as the two finalists. The Bucks have narrowed their talks to those clubs, sources told Charania, and are weighing two dramatically different packages for the former two-time MVP.

For a fan base that spent the better part of a month believing Miami was the team to beat, the shift landed hard. The Heat are still in it. They are simply no longer the favorite.

A two-team race with a Tuesday deadline

Milwaukee set the timeline itself. Bucks ownership signaled in May that it wanted Antetokounmpo’s future settled by the start of the draft, and Charania reported Monday on ESPN’s “Get Up” that a trade is expected to land in line with that cutoff.

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Charania framed the two bids as opposites. One is built around an established star, the other around youth and draft capital, and he described the negotiations bluntly.

“These conversations have been a blood bath,” Charania said.

He also stressed that whatever happens, it will not balloon into a multi-team construction the way other blockbusters have. Whether the deal closes Monday or Tuesday, Charania said, it is expected to be a one-to-one trade between Milwaukee and one of the two finalists, with no third team folded in. That detail matters for Miami, because it removes one of the lifelines the Heat had been counting on.

Boston changed the math with Jaylen Brown

For most of the buildup, Miami held the perceived edge because the Celtics were reluctant to part with Jaylen Brown. That changed over the weekend. The Stein Line’s Marc Stein reported Monday that Boston emerged “with a real shot” to win the race built around a Brown-centric offer, with Milwaukee willing to consider a swap even without a third team to absorb his contract.

That is the development that flipped the race. Brown is a five-time All-Star and a former NBA Finals MVP coming off the best statistical season of his career, having averaged a career-high 28.7 points per game as Boston’s centerpiece. He is also a bona fide star Milwaukee can plug in immediately, which speaks directly to ownership’s stated preference to get a recognizable face back rather than a stack of prospects.

The money works, too. A Brown-for-Antetokounmpo framework lines up cleanly under the salary cap, and from Milwaukee’s vantage point, flipping one star for another carries better optics than entering a full teardown empty-handed.

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Prediction markets moved with the news. Per Kalshi data, Miami’s implied odds slid from the low 60s into the mid-30s on Monday while Boston vaulted toward roughly 70 percent. Those figures shift by the hour and should be read as a temperature check rather than a forecast, but the direction of the swing is the story.

What Miami is putting on the table

Tyler Herro Miami Heat

The Heat’s pitch leans on volume and flexibility rather than star power. Reported frameworks have centered on Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Nikola Jovic, with Kasparas Jakucionis and multiple future first-round picks also in the mix, and Miami holds the No. 13 overall pick in Tuesday’s draft.

It is a thoughtful offer for a rebuilding team. It is also, by definition, not a star, and that is the gap Boston is now exploiting.

There is a limit to how far Miami is willing to go. Bam Adebayo is the only player truly untouchable in the Heat’s discussions, and Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald reported that the front office does not want to strip the roster and its draft capital down to the studs to get a deal done. That restraint is understandable given the franchise’s history of swinging big and missing, most painfully on Damian Lillard three years ago, but it also means Miami may be unwilling to match a price Boston now appears ready to meet.

The case for the Heat to lose this race

There is a real argument, voiced by some of the league’s most prominent analysts, that Miami should be careful what it wishes for. Zach Lowe and Bill Simmons both cautioned against the Heat gutting their young core for an aging star, with Lowe warning that the long-term cost could hollow out the roster.

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“The concerns I think are very real for Miami,” Lowe said.

The basketball context behind that caution is hard to ignore. Antetokounmpo is 31 and coming off the most injury-plagued season of his career, appearing in just 36 games amid groin, calf and knee issues while the Bucks finished 32-50 and missed the playoffs, snapping a run of nine straight postseason appearances.

He still produced when available, averaging 27.6 points, 9.8 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game, but his looming free agency in 2027 is depressing his trade value across the league. For a Heat team that went 43-39 and has been hunting a co-star for Adebayo since dealing Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors, the math of trading a future for a 31-year-old’s prime window is genuinely fraught.

What happens next

The next 24 hours should decide it. Milwaukee has telegraphed the draft as its internal deadline, and the expectation is a resolution before Tuesday night, though multiple insiders have noted the saga could still spill into free agency if the Bucks decide their leverage is better served by waiting.

For Miami, the stakes are stark. Landing Antetokounmpo would end years of frustrated superstar pursuits and reset the franchise’s ceiling overnight. Losing him to Boston, again on the doorstep of a deal, would sting in a way Heat fans know all too well. Either outcome arrives soon, and for the first time in this chase, the Heat are watching it unfold without holding the best hand.



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