Steelers activate rookie quarterback Will Howard from injured reserve and sign veteran cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. to their practice squad

November 13, 2025

(File Photo: Source for Headline Photo: Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Will Howard (18) warms up prior to an NFL preseason football game against the Carolina Panthers, Aug. 21, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Brian Westerholt, File)

(File Photo: Source for Photo Below: FILE – Los Angeles Chargers cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. warms up before an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sept. 22, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Asante Samuel Jr. spent the last few months recovering from spinal fusion surgery by doing some distance running in hopes of being ready whenever a team called looking for help in the secondary.

Now it’s time to sprint.

The Pittsburgh Steelers signed the veteran cornerback to their practice squad on Wednesday in hopes the 26-year-old can eventually give the NFL’s worst pass defense a boost.

Samuel hadn’t been on the field in a team situation in more than a year until he jogged out for practice shortly after his signing was announced.

“It meant the world to me,” Samuel said. “Just being out there, putting on a helmet, putting on cleats, going at it, competing with other guys that’s trying to accomplish the same goal as me.”

Well, maybe not the exact same goal.

Samuel spent his first four seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers, who selected him in the second round of the 2021 draft. He collected six interceptions in 50 games, plus three in a playoff loss to Jacksonville in 2022.

Yet his time in Los Angeles was cut short last fall, when Samuel was limited to just four games as the series of “stinger” injuries that had been a constant for years became too much. He ended the year on injured reserve, then entered free agency in March before undergoing surgery in April.

“I just wanted to take my time and weigh all the options,” he said. “I didn’t want to rush anything and just let my body heal on its own and then get the surgery and let it heal again.”

The idea of the surgery was initially daunting for a player who had never been under the knife before. He knew, however, that plenty of others had faced the same procedure and successfully returned. So he kept the faith and now considers himself as healthy as he’s ever been.

Samuel had the surgery done in Pittsburgh. He was cleared to return to football activities in October and now finds himself back in the Steel City trying to get up to speed as quickly as possible for an injury-riddled and inconsistent secondary that will face another stiff test when Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and the Cincinnati Bengals (3-6) visit Acrisure Stadium on Sunday.

While Samuel declined to say whether he could be available by this weekend, he doesn’t have to look far to find someone who worked their way onto the field in short order. Safety Kyle Dugger started for the Steelers against Indianapolis earlier this month just days after being acquired in a trade with New England.

“I’m trying to maximize every day and do whatever the coach is telling me,” Samuel said.

That might be getting in the game this weekend.

Veteran cornerback Darius Slay remains in the concussion protocol and did not practice on Wednesday, leaving the Steelers thin behind Joey Porter Jr., Brandin Echols and James Pierre.

Pittsburgh was torched by Joe Flacco & Co. in Cincinnati a month ago. Chase set a Bengals single-game record with 16 receptions on a night Flacco lit up the Steelers for 342 yards and three scores, symbolic of a season in which Pittsburgh has allowed more yards passing than any other team in the league.

Pierre, in line to make the fourth start of his five-year career if Slay is unavailable, welcomes the help.

“Like Coach (Mike) T(omlin) says, just jump on a moving train, stick your hand in the pile,” Pierre said. “We know what he can do.”

NOTES: Pittsburgh activated rookie quarterback Will Howard from injured reserve on Wednesday. The sixth-round pick had been out with a hand injury. … The Steelers also released running back Trey Sermon from the active roster and cut defensive back Darrick Forest from the practice squad.

(File Photo: Source for Headline Photo and Photo Below: Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Will Howard (18) warms up prior to an NFL preseason football game against the Carolina Panthers, Aug. 21, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Brian Westerholt, File)

Pirates ace Paul Skenes wins first Cy Young Award and Tigers star Tarik Skubal goes back-to-back

November 13, 2025

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes delivers during the second inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The individual trophy cases for Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal are growing increasingly full.

The next step in the evolution of baseball’s two best pitchers is winning — preferably where they are.

The 23-year-old Skenes capped his blistering rise to stardom by capturing the National League Cy Young Award on Wednesday night. The Pittsburgh Pirates ace was a unanimous choice by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, the honor coming minutes after Skubal won baseball’s premier pitching prize in the American League for the second straight year as the anchor of the Detroit Tigers.

As gratified as they are by the recognition, both said they are eager for their respective teams to get in on the act in 2026.

That’s where things get tricky.

The 28-year-old Skubal is entering his final year of club control, and while he would like to stay in Detroit beyond next season, he’s also well aware the Tigers could trade him as a business decision, considering the hefty raise the left-hander figures to command should he hit the open market as a free agent.

It’s much the same for Skenes, who remains under team control for the rest of the decade but found himself pushing back against a report that he’s already told teammates he is eager to move on.

“I don’t know where that came from,” Skenes said. “The goal is to win and the goal is to win in Pittsburgh.”

The Pirates finished last in the NL Central in 2025, well off the pace of front-running Milwaukee. The first pitcher since Dwight Gooden with the New York Mets in the mid-1980s to win Rookie of the Year one season and a Cy Young Award the next remains optimistic Pittsburgh is closer to contending than most think.

“The way that fans see us outside of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh is not supposed to win,” Skenes said. “There are 29 fan bases that expect us to lose. I want to be a part of the 26 guys that change that.”

Skenes — selected first overall by the Pirates in the 2023 amateur draft after a standout career at Air Force and LSU — did his part in 2025, leading the majors in ERA (1.97) while striking out 216 batters in 187 1/3 innings during his first full season in the big leagues.

Yet even with his brilliance, Skenes needed a little late help from Pittsburgh’s woeful offense to avoid becoming the first Cy Young-winning starting pitcher to finish with a losing record. Skenes won three of his final four decisions to finish 10-10.

That so-so win/loss mark didn’t stop the towering 6-foot-6 right-hander from placing atop all 30 ballots. Philadelphia left-hander Cristopher Sánchez received every second-place vote, and World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Los Angeles Dodgers finished third.

Sánchez’s 2029 option price increased by $1 million to $15 million and his 2030 option price by $1 million to $16 million as a result of being a Cy Young Award finalist.

Skubal received 26 first-place votes in the AL from a separate BBWAA panel. The other four went to runner-up Garrett Crochet of the Boston Red Sox. Hunter Brown of the Houston Astros came in third.

Although disappointed to be out of contention, Skenes said playing out the string was “a blessing” individually in some ways.

“It allowed me to try some new things in August and September that I wouldn’t have gotten to try if we were playing for the playoffs,” he explained.

Skubal and the Tigers have gotten a taste of October baseball each of the last two seasons, thanks in large part to his ascendance.

A year after taking a massive step forward by winning the AL pitching Triple Crown on his way to being a unanimous Cy Young winner, Skubal backed it up by serving as the anchor for the Tigers during a volatile season in which they squandered a 15 1/2-game lead in the AL Central and were caught by Cleveland down the stretch.

Detroit got a bit of revenge in the wild-card round, beating the division-champion Guardians in three games following a 14-strikeout gem by Skubal in the series opener.

Yet as fun as the season was at times, the disappointment of falling short of the ultimate goal lingers.

“Ending the season on a loss is not a fun thing,” Skubal said. “You can be proud of what we accomplished, but you want to end the season with a win … the one in October or maybe deep in November you get to play in.”

Skubal is the 12th hurler to win baseball’s top pitching honor in consecutive years, joining a group that includes Hall of Famers Randy Johnson and Pedro Martínez, who was the last American League pitcher to go back-to-back, for Boston in 1999 and 2000.

“I think a lot of it is not being complacent with who I am today,” Skubal said. “I still think there’s more to tap into. I don’t think this is the finished version of myself.”

And he doesn’t think this is the finished version of the Tigers.

“You want to win this award as many times as you can in your career, but I’d gladly trade a Cy Young for a World Series,” Skubal said.

Skubal was 13-6 with an AL-leading 2.21 ERA and 240 strikeouts in 195 1/3 innings during the regular season. Then he went 1-0 with a 1.74 ERA in three playoff starts for Detroit, which was eliminated by Seattle in their Division Series.

Crochet led the American League in innings (205 1/3) and strikeouts (255).

Brown’s top-three finish earned Houston an extra pick after the first round of next July’s amateur draft under the prospect promotion incentive in the 2022 collective bargaining agreement.

Skubal’s historic run comes with a chance for him to cash in as potential free agency looms. Economics aside, Skubal would be just fine sticking in the Motor City.

“I’ve given everything I have to this organization. I want to be a Tiger for a very, very long time,” he said. “I’m just going to do what I do and not really focus on any of that stuff.”

Skenes and Skubal both started the All-Star Game this year. The only other time the two All-Star Game starters won the Cy Young Awards in the same season was 2001, when Johnson and Roger Clemens accomplished the feat.

MVP awards for both leagues will be handed out Thursday.

Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani is a heavy favorite to repeat in the NL and win for the fourth time overall, including twice in the AL.

New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge is seeking his third AL MVP in what could be a close vote with another top contender, Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh.

Ex-NFL star Antonio Brown gets $25K bail and GPS monitor on Miami attempted murder charge

November 12, 2025

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Antonio Brown arrives for an NFL football game against the New York Jets, Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Corey Sipkin, File)

(AP) Former NFL star wide receiver Antonio Brown will be released on $25,000 bail and must wear a GPS ankle monitor on an attempted murder charge in Florida, a judge ordered Wednesday.

Brown, 37, has pleaded not guilty to the second-degree attempted murder charge, which carries a potential 15-year prison sentence and a fine up to $10,000 if he is convicted. His lawyer, Mark Eiglarsh, said Brown would return to his home in Broward County, Florida, while the case proceeds.

“He no longer has a passport. He’ll be living at his home. I look forward to working with him zealously on this case,” Eiglarsh told Circuit Judge Mindy Glazer at a bond hearing.

Brown appeared at the hearing via video wearing a red jail shirt and spoke only to answer questions from the judge. Prosecutors had sought pretrial detention, contending Brown is a high-paid former professional athlete with the resources to flee.

According to an arrest warrant, Brown is accused of grabbing a handgun from a security staffer after a celebrity boxing match in Miami on May 16 and firing two shots at a man he had gotten into a fistfight with earlier. The victim, Zul-Qarnain Kwame Nantambu, told investigators that one of the bullets grazed his neck.

Brown’s attorney said Wednesday that the affidavit is mistaken and that Brown actually used his personal firearm, and that the shots were not aimed at anyone.

“It was my client’s own gun,” Eiglarsh said.

Based on his social media posts, Brown had been living in Dubai for several months. In a social media post after the altercation, Brown said he was defending himself because he was “jumped by multiple individuals who tried to steal my jewelry and cause physical harm to me.”

Eiglarsh said Brown has unspecified business interests in Dubai and always intended to turn himself in on the attempted murder charge.

“He didn’t flee to Dubai,” the lawyer said. “He always had a desire and intention to answer this case.”

Brown, who spent 12 years in the NFL, was an All-Pro wide receiver who last played in 2021 for Tampa Bay but spent most of his career with Pittsburgh. For his career, Brown had 928 receptions for more than 12,000 yards and accounted for 88 total touchdowns counting punt returns and one pass.

Refunds available for gift card balances for Pittsburgh International Race Complex after its closure

November 12, 2025