Pittsburgh Steelers

Nov. 5 (UPI) — The disruption of federal benefits that help feed families spurred a Pittsburgh man to create a front-yard food bank to help others as the federal government remains shut down.

A.J. Owen. 36, resides in the Pittsburgh suburb of Whitehall, and initially started his ad-hoc food pantry after completing a $150 food run with his two sons about a week ago, according to TribLIVE.

Owen has large plastic bins containing canned goods and other foods placed on portable tables in his front yard for those who need food and for others to leave food donations.

“The amount of donations we received and the amount of people coming and getting food is both so gratifying and so horrifying,” Owentold TribLIVE.

“So many people need help,” he added, “and I’m so happy to be a resource for them.”

Owen said he initially started the food pantry to teach his sons about the need to help others, but it has become a much greater endeavor, as affirmed by a recent visit from Good Morning America and its cameras.

The single father notified others of his effort on social media, which resulted in additional food donations — including one donation that he said was thousands of dollars’ worth of $100 bills from an anonymous person.

He found the money stuffed in an envelope inside his mailbox with a note saying, “May God prosper and bless your food pantry,” Owen told ABC News.

“My body started shaking,” he said. “I started crying.”

He also said, “This was the best cry ever because whatever you want to believe, an angel truly came down and blessed us that day. And we’ve been good ever since.”

Owen didn’t say how much money was in the envelope, other than it added up to “thousands” of dollars.

He posted a video of the anonymous donation on social media, which drew millions of views and prompted others to visit and donate more food.

Among them were Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end Yahya Blackand his fiancé, who donated “tons of food,” Owen said on social media.

Owen did not say if his food pantry effort might outlast the federal government shutdown, which entered a record 36 days on Wednesday and temporarily disrupted funding of the federal government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

In a swap of former All-Pro defensive backs on Monday, the Pittsburgh Steelers acquired cornerback Jalen Ramsey and tight end Jonnu Smith from the Miami Dolphins for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick and a draft pick swap.

Ramsey posted about the trade, which includes the Steelers’ 2027 fifth-round pick to the Dolphins in exchange for a seventh-round pick, on social media. “Breaking my own news!” he wrote alongside a celebratory announcement video on Instagram.

The deal ended persistent speculation that Ramsey might be traded to the Rams, for whom he played from 2019-22. At the Rams’ mini-camp in Maui two weeks ago, coach Sean McVay downplayed the chance of acquiring the three-time All-Pro, who is due to earn $26.6 million this season. Ramsey’s salary-cap number will increase substantially in the next few seasons, according to Overthecap.com.

“Usually, those are scenarios and situations that you have to have plans in place prior to executing some of the decisions that have occurred,” McVay said, perhaps referencing the contract adjustment that quarterback Matthew Stafford received and the signing of free-agent receiver Davante Adams. “Definitely don’t want to rule anything out … but there would be some obstacles that are real that are in the place of maybe preventing that from occurring.”

Rams cornerbacks include returning starters Darious Williams and Ahkello Witherspoon, with Cobie Durant, Emmanuel Forbes Jr., Josh Wallace and Derion Kendrick competing for playing time.

Smith — who enjoyed a career year in 2024 with 88 catches and eight touchdowns for the Dolphins — will receive a one-year contract extension worth $12 million. He joins returning starter Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington at tight end in Pittsburgh.

The Steelers have prioritized improving at cornerback this offseason, signing free agent Darius Slay Jr. in addition to trading for Ramsey, who has 24 career interceptions. Incumbent starter Joey Porter Jr. also returns.

The Steelers had grown disenchanted with Fitzpatrick, who was named All-Pro in 2019, 2020 and 2022 but had only one interception in the last two seasons after moving from free safety to strong safety.

Fitzpatrick was drafted 11th overall in 2018. The Dolphins traded him to the Steelers two games into the 2019 season along with fourth- and seventh-round picks for first-, fifth- and sixth-round picks.

Looks like we won’t have Aaron Rodgers to kick around much longer.

The four-time league MVP said Tuesday on “The Pat McAfee Show” that he’s “pretty sure” the upcoming NFL season — his first as quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers and 21st overall — will be his last.

And after that, Rodgers said, he won’t be seen or heard from ever again.

“When this is all done, it’s Keyser Söze. You won’t see me,” Rodgers said, referring to the elusive villain in “The Usual Suspects.” “I won’t be in the public. I don’t want to live a public life. … I’m not going to be in in the public eye. When this is done, I’m done, and you won’t see me. And I’m looking forward to that.”

It might seem a tad difficult to imagine Rodgers willingly disappearing from public consciousness for any significant period of time. In addition to being one of the all-time greats at quarterback, Rodgers has kept a pretty high profile in popular culture over the last two decades.

He’s been in countless commercials. He filled in as host of “Jeopardy.” He made the short list of possible running mates during Robert Kennedy Jr.’s presidential bid (that spot ultimately went to Nicole Shanahan). He was in romantic relationships with such famous women as Olivia Munn, Danica Patrick and Shailene Woodley.

In recent years, Rodgers also has become known for his sometimes controversial opinions that he has been more than willing to share during his regular appearances on McAfee’s show and other platforms.

But, Rodgers insisted Tuesday, “I don’t want the attention,” although he acknowledged, “I know that’s a narrative out there.”

After 18 seasons with the Green Bay Packers and two with the New York Jets, Rodgers signed a one-year deal with the Steelers as a free agent this summer. At mini-camp this month, the Super Bowl XLV MVP told reporters that he had recently gotten married. He has not publicly revealed his wife’s name.

On Tuesday, Rodgers spoke for nearly four minutes about perceived invasions of his and his wife’s privacy. He accused paparazzi of “stalking” the two of them and asserted that unnamed media outlets had been either publishing sensitive information about the couple or just making things up about them.

“What happened to common decency about security and a personal life that we now have to dive into your details of where you live and what you’re doing and who you’re with and who your wife is and if you even have a wife,” Rodgers said. “Because my wife is a private person, doesn’t have social media, hasn’t been a public person, doesn’t want to be a public person. But now that somehow is a weird thing?”

He added: “My private life is my private life, and it’s going to stay that way. And I’m with somebody who wants to be private, and if and when she wants to be out, and there’s a picture, she’ll choose that. And she deserves the right to that.

“But the entitlement to information about my private life is so f— ridiculous and embarrassing. Like, hey, do what you got to do. But just try and leave me out of a conversation, Sports World, for a month. Try and just leave me out, my personal life, my professional life. Try not to talk about me. … Just see if you can do that.”