GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Cam Ward, Travis Hunter, Abdul Carter and 12 other prospects will walk the red carpet at Lambeau Field before going backstage at the NFL draft theater to wait for their name to be called Thursday night.
All their hard work paid off. It’s time to enjoy the moment before joining their new teams to work even harder.
“I think a lot us prospects had a big dream and we’re accomplishing it right now,” Ward said. “Not a lot of people get this opportunity and I’m going to make the most of mine.”
Ward shouldn’t wait long. The Tennessee Titans are poised to select the Miami quarterback with the No. 1 overall pick. Hunter, the two-way star and Heisman Trophy winner from Colorado, is likely heading to the Cleveland Browns with the second pick. Carter, a premier edge rusher out of Penn State, is a favorite to go third to the New York Giants but that’s not guaranteed.
“Definitely got a good feeling with them,” Carter said about New York. “We’ll see what happens tomorrow.”
There’s a lot of uncertainty entering this draft, especially surrounding the quarterbacks and Shedeur Sanders. Ward, Sanders, Jaxson Dart and Jalen Milroe could make it four QBs in the first round, though the consensus is fewer will go.
Running back Ashton Jeanty is making a push to sneak into the top five, tight end Tyler Warren is a potential top-10 pick and wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan has a chance to be in the top 15.
It’ll be a draft loaded with players in the trenches. It’s possible more than half the first-round picks will be offensive linemen and defensive linemen.
Carter, Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham and Texas A& M edge Shemar Stewart are attending the draft so they’ll get a chance to hug NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on stage.
LSU tackle Will Campbell and Alabama guard Tyler Booker are the offensive linemen who’ll hear their name called in person.
The Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl by dominating the Kansas City Chiefs in the trenches. They also had elite skiller players Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.
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Draft prospect, Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter, works with local youth football players and Special Olympics athletes during the league's annual prospect clinic ahead of the NFL football draft Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Draft prospect Travis Hunter of Colorado works with local youth football players and Special Olympics athletes during the league's annual prospect clinic ahead of the NFL football draft Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
FILE - Miami quarterback Cam Ward watches a drill at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Saturday, March 1, 2025. (AP Photo/George Walker IV,File)
NEW YORK (AP) — The R&B singer Cassie returned to the witness stand Wednesday in ex-boyfriend Sean “Diddy” Combs' sex trafficking trial and described a vicious beating he gave her that was caught on surveillance video at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.
The video showed Combs hitting, kicking and attempting to drag Cassie back to their room. She said it happened as she was leaving one of the degrading encounters with male sex workers that Combs orchestrated and called “freak offs.” After the footage was leaked last year, Combs apologized.
Prosecutors have accused Combs of exploiting his status as a powerful music executive to violently force women into drugged-up sex parties. Combs is charged with five counts, including sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion. He denies all of the allegations.
Combs’ attorneys have acknowledged that he could be violent, but they say the sex he engaged in was consensual and that nothing he did amounted to sex trafficking or racketeering.
Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, was being questioned by the prosecution. Combs’ lawyers were expected to begin their cross-examination later Wednesday, when they would get the chance to challenge her credibility or poke holes in her account of what happened.
Jurors on Wednesday were shown photographs of Cassie’s swollen lip after the 2016 hotel attack. She testified that she took the selfies during her Uber ride after leaving the hotel and that she wore sunglasses because she had a black eye. Once home, she said a friend saw her injuries and was “super upset” because she’d “seen me with black eyes and busted lips before.”
Cassie said her friend called police, but that after police arrived, she declined to reveal who had injured her, so they left. “In that moment, I didn’t want to hurt him that way,” she said. “I wasn’t ready.”
She also testified that Combs kept texting her after she left the hotel. She said he claimed police were about to arrest him. And, when she refused to take his calls, she said Combs told her that if she didn’t pick up the phone, he would never talk to her again.
Jurors were then shown pictures of Cassie and Combs at a movie premier soon after the hotel attack. Cassie described bruises on her body that were visible in the photographs and said she was unable to cover up all the damage with makeup. She wore dark sunglasses to cover up her black eye.
During her first day of testimony on Tuesday, she spent hours recounting grotesque and humiliating details of life with Combs, including the many freak offs that were held over a decade until about 2017 or 2018.
Cassie said she was 22 when Combs first asked her to take part in a freak off, with the first one occurring in his Los Angeles home with a male stripper. It left her feeling dirty and confused, but relieved that Combs was happy, she said.
“It was his fantasy,” she said. “He was controlling the whole situation. He was directing it.”
She described being pressured into multiday sexual encounters with sex workers while Combs gave directions. She also recounted being beaten numerous times by Combs when she did things that displeased him — like smiling at him the wrong way.
The freak offs took place in private, often in dark hotel rooms, unlike Combs’ very public white parties in the Hamptons that attracted A-list celebrities.
Cassie accused Combs of getting her to submit to him by threatening to publicly release videos of her with male sex workers, and she feared more violence if she refused his demands.
“I feared for my career. I feared for my family," she testified. "It’s just embarrassing. It’s horrible and disgusting. No one should do that to anyone.”
Cassie met Combs in 2005, when she was 19 and just at the start of a career as a singer, model and actor. She had a hit song, “Me & U,” in 2006 off an album released by Combs' Bad Boy Records.
Combs, who was 37 when they met, nurtured her career early on and also became her boyfriend for a decade.
Cassie left Combs' record label in 2019 and then sued him in 2023, accusing him of years of physical and sexual abuse. The suit was settled within hours but dozens of similar legal claims followed, sparking the criminal investigation against him.
Combs, 55, has been jailed since September. He faces at least 15 years in prison if convicted. The trial is expected to last about two months.
Associated Press writer Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.
Sean Diddy'Combs, far left, and attorney Marc Agnifilo, second from left, listen as witness Cassie Ventura, far right, answers questions from assistant US Attorney Emily Johnson, center, with Judge Arun Subramanian presiding in Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)
Sean Diddy'Combs, far left, and attorney Marc Agnifilo, right, sit at the defense table during witness testimony in Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)
Cassie Ventura takes an oath before testifying in Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)
Cassie Ventura wipes tears from her eye while testifying in Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)
