Judge makes stunning decision for NFL in 'Sunday Ticket' case, plus Justin Herbert's concerning injury

Welcome to the Friday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!

Don't be surprised if you see fireworks coming out of NFL headquarters today, and that's mostly because I'm pretty sure that's the only way to celebrate when you have a $4.7 billion judgment against you THROWN OUT. The judge in the 'Sunday Ticket' case overturned the verdict on Thursday night, which means the NFL won't have to fork over any money in the case.

We'll be going over the decision in today's newsletter, plus we'll be breaking down Chicago's win over Houston in the Hall of Fame Game. Yup, there was actual football on last night. After going 172 days without football, we finally got an NFL game and it was amazing. Sure, it only lasted three quarters, but it's preseason football, so if you think about it, that's all we needed.

As always, here's your daily reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter or you can tell people you run into at the grocery story. That also works. To get them signed up, all you have to do is click here .

1. Justin Herbert suffers worrisome injury

The Chargers got a big dose of bad news on Thursday after Justin Herbert was diagnosed with plantar fascia in his right foot, which is an injury that will almost certainly keep him from seeing any action during the preseason.

Here's what we know about the situation:

• Herbert will be in a boot for at least two weeks. The team announced that their star quarterback will have his right foot in a boot for the next two weeks and once that's over with, Herbert will go through a "graduated return to play." Assuming everything goes well, Herbert will be back on the field for Week 1, but if he suffers any sort of setback, the Chargers might not have him back for the opener. Also, plantar fascia is a tricky injury and even if he's on the field for the opener, the foot issue could be one that continues to bother him well into the early portion of the season.
• Jim Harbaugh's response to the injury. The Chargers' first-year coach said the team will be moving full steam ahead without Herbert on the field. "The preparation, the work continues," Harbaugh said, via ESPN.com . "He's not on the field, in practice, but in the meeting room, still in the training environment, that chemistry, that rapport you build with those position players, with his teammates, that continues."
• Herbert's injury is definitely a setback. With a new coaching staff in place, the Chargers are implementing a new offense this year and Herbert's injury means that he'll be missing at least two weeks of practice. That's two weeks where he won't be learning the new offense on the field, which is definitely a setback.
• Chargers' backup QB situation. The Chargers currently have three quarterbacks on the roster besides Herbert in Easton Stick, Max Duggan and undrafted rookie Casey Bauman. If Herbert were to miss Week 1, Stick would most likely be the starter. That being said, if the Chargers go out and sign a more experienced backup in the next week or two, that could be a sign that they don't think Herbert will be ready for the start of the season.

You can check out our full story on Herbert's injury here .

2. Judge makes stunning decision for NFL in 'Sunday Ticket' case

The NFL scored a huge victory in court on Thursday when U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez decided to overturn the $4.7 billion verdict against the league that was handed out back in June.

Here's a closer look at what went down:

• Judge believed that two of the witnesses were unreliable. Gutierrez didn't like that a good chunk of the plaintiffs' case revolved around the expert testimony of Dr. Daniel Rascher and Dr. John Zona. Both men talked about what kind of damages the NFL should be looking at, and Gutierrez did not like their logic. "The court agrees that Dr. Rascher's and Dr. Zona's testimonies based on their flawed methodologies should be excluded," Gutierrez wrote. "And because there was no other support for the class-wide injury and damages elements of the plaintiffs' claims, judgment as a matter of claw for the defendants is appropriate."
• Gutierrez threw out the case. The judge could have ordered a new trial, but instead, he did something almost totally unexpected: He simply threw out the case. Not only did the testimony from the two expert witnesses bother him, but he was also unhappy with the jury. In his ruling, he made it clear that if he hadn't thrown out the case, he probably would have ordered a new trial based on the "jury's irrational damages award."
• NFL off the hook for a $4.7 billion payment. As you can imagine, the NFL was thrilled with Gutierrez's decision. "We are grateful for today's ruling in the Sunday Ticket class-action lawsuit," the league said in a statement after the ruling was announced. "We believe the NFL's media distribution model provides our fans with an array of options to follow the game they love, including local broadcast of every single game on free over-the-air television. "

If the NFL had lost the case, the league could have actually been on the hook to pay out more than $14 billion since total damages can be tripled in federal antitrust cases. You can read more about the case here .

3. Hall of Fame Game: Recapping Bears' rain-shortened win over Texans

The 2024 NFL preseason got off to a surprisingly fun start on Thursday night with the Bears beating the Texans 21-17 in the Hall of Fame Game. For the most part, the HOF Game usually puts you to sleep by the fourth quarter, but that wasn't an issue in this game because they didn't EVEN PLAY a fourth quarter.

Let's check out some of the highlights from last night:

• The game was called in the third quarter. The two teams didn't even get to finish the third quarter and that's because the NFL decided to call the game after inclement weather hit the stadium in Canton, Ohio. After the storms started, the NFL delayed the game for a nearly 40 minutes before making the decision to call it. There was 3:31 left in the third quarter when the game ended, so it probably wasn't a very fun night for anyone who bet on the game.
• Brett Rypien stole the show. The Bears quarterback played a total of four possessions and he led Chicago to a touchdown on three of those. Rypien finished 11 of 16 for 166 yards along with three touchdown passes. Two of his scoring throws came from more than 20 yards out. Rypien's favorite target was Collin Johnson, who finished the night with three catches for 56 yards and two touchdowns (Johnson's only catch that didn't go for a TD was a wildly impressive 27-yard gain just before halftime that you can see here ).
• We finally got to see the new kickoff. After spending more than four months talking about the new kickoff rule, we finally got a taste of it on Thursday night. There were a total of eight kickoffs in the game and seven of them ended up getting returned, which is a number the NFL was likely thrilled with. Also, there were no huge returns by either team. The longest one came from Chicago's John Jackson III, who had a 31-yarder. Other than that, no one else had a return that even went 25 yards. If you missed the game and want to see the new kickoff rule in action, you can check out the opening kickoff from the game here .

If you want to read more about the game, you can check out our full takeaways here .

4. Hall of Fame induction is Saturday: Here's what you need to know

If you're planning to watch the Hall of Fame induction ceremony this weekend, you better make sure you have nothing planned around noon on Saturday because that's when the ceremony starts. After years of holding the enshrinement ceremony in prime time, the Hall of Fame moved the ceremony to noon ET in 2022, and that's where it will be once again this year. (The ceremony will be televised by both ESPN and NFL Network.)

The Hall of Fame's Class of 2024 consists of seven players. Here's the order of induction for the ceremony, along with the name of the person who will be presenting each new Hall of Famer:

• Dwight Freeney (Jim Irsay)
• Steve McMichael (Jarrett Payton)
• Randy Gradishar (Tom Jackson)
• Devin Hester (His mom, Juanita Brown)
• Patrick Willis (His sister, Ernicka Willis)
• Julius Peppers (Carl Carey)
• Andre Johnson (Gary Kubiak)

There will actually be a unique part of the broadcast this year. Since McMichael is currently in poor health, he'll be getting enshrined at home in Chicago. That will happen right after Freeney's Hall of Fame bust is unveiled.

If you want to read more about this year's Hall of Fame class, be sure to click here .

5. Ranking the top rookie standouts from training camp so far

With most rookies now finishing up their second week of training camp, we thought now would be a good time to stop and take a look at how they're doing. Cody Benjamin did that today by ranking the top rookie standouts from around the NFL through the first two weeks of training camp;.

Let's take a look at three rookies who Cody has at the top of his list:

1. Giants WR Malik Nabers. "While Marvin Harrison went ahead of Nabers in the first round, it's hard to say any rookie has single-handedly added more electricity to his team's offense than the splashy LSU product. Hardly a day goes by without Nabers securing a highlight-reel grab , either going deep or working the sidelines, and it's easy to forecast him opening 2024 as Daniel Jones' No. 1 target."
2. Cardinals WR Marvin Harrison Jr. "Heralded as the consensus top pass catcher of the 2024 rookie class, Harrison has lived up to the hype in the desert, by all accounts."
3. Patriots WR Ja'Lynn Polk. "Wondering why vets like JuJu Smith-Schuster are squarely on the roster bubble in New England? Polk is a big reason. The second-round Washington product has been especially tough in the red zone and fighting for 50-50 downfield balls, per Tyler Sullivan , and may well be the No. 1 wideout on the team."

Cody ranked a total of nine rookies, and I promise you, they weren't all receivers. If you want to check out his full list, you can do that here .

6. Extra points: DeAndre Hopkins out at least a month

It's been a busy 24 hours in the NFL, and since it's nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you.

• Hopkins expected to miss four to six weeks. The Titans receiver suffered a knee injury in practice at some point this week and it could cause him to miss the first week or two of the season ( Details here ). If Hopkins only sits out four weeks, he should be back in time for Week 1, but if he's out six weeks, he could be forced to miss Tennessee's first two games.
• Geno Smith dealing with multiple injuries. The Seahawks quarterback has sat out of practice in each of the past two days after suffering injuries to his knee and hip. Smith underwent testing on Thursday and the testing didn't reveal "anything significant," according to ESPN , so the Seahawks will now hope that Smith can tolerate the pain he's currently dealing with so he can keep playing. You can read more about Smith's situation here .
• Cleveland proposes more than $460 million in stadium renovations . The Browns are looking to get a new stadium, but it appears Cleveland has other ideas. The city wants to renovate the existing stadium, and to get the Browns on board, Cleveland is offering a package that's worth up to $461 million. Browns general manager Andrew Berry recently said that he would like to see a dome built , but right now, that seems unlikely.
• Bengals starters expected to play first week of preseason . When it comes to the first week of the preseason, the Bengals might end up being one of the most exciting teams to watch and that's because Zac Taylor is planning on playing his starters. "The first game -- I've got targeted the first game," Taylor said, via PFT . "I'm not setting anything in stone right now, but I'm optimistic that's where it's trending for our team." Taylor had previously said that Joe Burrow will likely be playing, so he could be among the starters out there next week for Cincinnati's Aug. 10 game against Tampa Bay.