GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Nick Niemann wasted no time finding a new team, with the linebacker and special teams standout reporting to the Green Bay Packers one day after the Houston Texans cut him.
Niemann said he caught a 5 a.m. flight Wednesday to begin practicing with the Packers.
“That’s how it goes around the league,” Niemann said. “You get a new opportunity, you’ve just got to dive in and learn as you go and hit the ground running.”
Green Bay made room for Niemann by releasing cornerback Micah Robinson, a seventh-round pick from Tulane.
The 27-year-old Niemann should provide a boost to the Packers’ special-teams units.
He played 64 games over the four seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers, who selected him out of Iowa in the sixth round of the 2021 draft. Niemann led the Chargers in special teams tackles in 2021 (14) and 2024 (11) and tied for the team lead in 2023 (eight).
Niemann described to reporters what makes a good special-teams player.
“Just having a good feel and having a trigger, being physical, playing fast and being disruptive is pretty much it,” Niemann said. “That’s what I try to do.”
Niemann played only 5% of the Chargers’ defensive snaps but was on the field for 80% of their special teams plays last year. He played 74% of the special teams snaps and 21% of the defensive snaps in 2023.
He signed with Houston in free agency but was left off the Texans’ 53-man roster.
“I was caught a little bit by surprise but, at the same time, they also have a deep linebacker room,” Niemann said. “It was very competitive, so you want to think positive but, at the same time, it’s a business and it’s hard to make a roster. Just got to accept it and move on.”
Niemann now finds himself adjusting to a new team and new city just over a week before the start of the season. His family’s football background helps him adapt to such changes.
Niemann’s older brother, Ben, has played linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs (2018-21), Arizona Cardinals (2022), Denver Broncos (2023) and Detroit Lions (2024). Their father is Iowa assistant defensive line coach Jay Niemann.
“We moved around a lot just because my dad was a coach,” Niemann said. “We kind of just moved to a new place, you don’t know anyone. It’s kind of like it was me and my brother, and that’s just how it was every time we moved, and just kind of bonded over the football life that we had.”
Niemann hopes he sticks around a while at his latest stop.
“Just coming into an organization with this fan base, this history — everyone has good things to say about this,” Niemann said. “I’ve talked to other guys that have played here and it’s nothing but good stuff to say, from the staff, fans, support staff, the community feel here of everyone is living and breathing Packer football. I just can’t wait to be a part of that.”
QB Jordan Love took snaps from the shotgun and under center Wednesday after practicing on a limited basis last week.
Love, who had surgery on his left (non-throwing) thumb earlier this month, has said all along he will be ready for the Sept. 7 opener with Detroit.
S Omar Brown said it was a collapsed lung that caused him to spend a week in the hospital after the Packers’ Aug. 16 preseason game at Indianapolis. Brown, who appeared in two games for Green Bay last season, was placed on injured reserve Tuesday. … WR Jayden Reed, WR Dontayvion Wicks, G Aaron Banks and C Elgton Jenkins returned to practice Wednesday. CB Nate Hobbs (knee) and WR Savion Williams (hamstring) and DE Barryn Sorrell (knee) remain out.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
FILE - Houston Texans linebacker Nick Niemann warms up before an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis,File)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to five years in prison Friday in the first verdict from eight criminal trials over the martial law debacle that forced him out of office and other allegations.
Yoon was impeached, arrested and dismissed as president after his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024 triggered huge public protests calling for his ouster.
The most significant criminal charge against him alleges that his martial law enforcement amounted to a rebellion, and the independent counsel has requested the death sentence in the case that is to be decided in a ruling next month.
Yoon has maintained he didn’t intend to place the country under military rule for an extended period, saying his decree was only meant to inform the people about the danger of the liberal-controlled parliament obstructing his agenda. But investigators have viewed Yoon’s decree as an attempt to bolster and prolong his rule, charging him with rebellion, abuse of power and other criminal offenses.
In Friday’s case, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Yoon for defying attempts to detain him, fabricating the martial law proclamation, and sidestepping a legally mandated full Cabinet meeting and thus depriving some Cabinet members who were not convened of their due rights to deliberate on his decree.
Judge Baek Dae-hyun said in the televised ruling that imposing “a grave punishment” was necessary because Yoon hasn’t shown remorse and has only repeated “hard-to-comprehend excuses.” The judge also restoring legal systems damaged by Yoon’s action was necessary.
Yoon’s defense team said they will appeal the ruling, which they believe was “politicized” and reflected “the unliberal arguments by the independent counsel.” Yoon’s defense team argued the ruling “oversimplified the boundary between the exercise of the president’s constitutional powers and criminal liability.”
Prison sentences in the multiple, smaller trials Yoon faces would matter if he is spared the death penalty or life imprisonment at the rebellion trial.
Park SungBae, a lawyer who specializes in criminal law, said there is little chance the court would decide Yoon should face the death penalty in the rebellion case. He said the court will likely issue a life sentence or a sentence of 30 years or more in prison.
South Korea has maintained a de facto moratorium on executions since 1997 and courts rarely hand down death sentences. Park said the court would take into account that Yoon’s decree didn’t cause casualties and didn’t last long, although Yoon hasn’t shown genuine remorse for his action.
South Korea has a history of pardoning former presidents who were jailed over diverse crimes in the name of promoting national unity. Those pardoned include strongman Chun Doo-hwan, who received the death penalty at a district court over his 1979 coup, the bloody 1980 crackdowns of pro-democracy protests that killed about 200 people, and other crimes.
Some observers say Yoon will likely retain a defiant attitude in the ongoing trials to maintain his support base in the belief that he cannot avoid a lengthy sentence but could be pardoned in the future.
On the night of Dec. 3, 2024, Yoon abruptly declared martial law in a televised speech, saying he would eliminate “anti-state forces” and protect “the constitutional democratic order.” Yoon sent troops and police officers to encircle the National Assembly, but many apparently didn’t aggressively cordon off the area, allowing enough lawmakers to get into an assembly hall to vote down Yoon’s decree.
No major violence occurred, but Yoon's stunt caused the biggest political crisis in South Korea and rattled its diplomacy and financial markets. For many, his decree, the first of its kind in more than four decades in South Korea, brought back harrowing memories of past dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s, when military-backed leaders used martial law and emergency measures to deploy soldiers and tanks on the streets to suppress demonstrations.
After Yoon's ouster, his liberal rival Lee Jae Myung became president via a snap election last June. After taking office, Lee appointed three independent counsels to look into allegations involving Yoon, his wife and associates.
Yoon's other trials deal with charges like ordering drone flights over North Korea to deliberately inflame animosities to look for a pretext to declare martial law. Other charges accuse Yoon of manipulating the investigation into a marine’s drowning in 2023 and receiving free opinion surveys from an election broker in return for a political favor.
A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shouts slogans outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol waits for a bus carrying former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs as police officers stand guard outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A picture of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is placed on a board as supporters gather outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
