Category : Red Zone Rumors

The 49ers turned over their roster this offseason. They parted ways with eight starters, who have a combined 54 years of NFL experience. They added 17 rookies to the roster and have 38 players on their 90-player roster who have two or fewer seasons of experience. This 49ers team, unlike

The Chargers did not exercise the fifth-year option on the contract of offensive lineman Zion Johnson, Daniel Popper of TheAthletic.com reports. The option would have paid Johnson $17.560 million for 2026. He now goes into the 2025 season in the final year of his contract and scheduled to become a

The Senate Finance Committee will be holding a hearing on Tuesday regarding the ongoing migration of sports from broadcast TV to streaming. One requested witness has opted to pass. John Ourand of Puck reports that Commissioner Roger Goodell has declined an invitation to participate. The letter to Goodell from Finance

Hall of Fame offensive lineman Steve Hutchinson spent five years in Seattle, wearing No. 76. While his number isn’t retired, rookie first-rounder Grey Zabel wanted to be sure Hutchinson was OK with Zabel wearing it. “He was all for it and super excited for it,” Zabel told reporters on Thursday,

The Nikefication of the NFL will continue. One of the overlooked items that emerged during the draft is this: Starting in 2025, the NFL will introduce “Rivalries” jerseys inspired by the communities of the teams. The first wave, debuting in 2025, will cover the teams of the AFC East and

Pre-draft chatter about prospects can be strategic. Teams that like a player (and hope to draft him) will be inclined to traffic in negativity. Teams that don’t like a player (and hope someone above them will pick him) like to fuel a player’s hype. With Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders, there

Running back Omarion Hampton had to wait until the 22nd overall pick to hear his name called in the first round of the draft last week, but he was more concerned with the team doing the picking than the number of the pick. Hampton said on The Jim Rome Show

Not long after Boston College edge rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku found out he was heading to Dallas, his phone rang again. It was Micah Parsons calling, welcoming him to town. “It’s going to be fun,” Ezeiruaku said, via Tommy Yarrish of the team website. “He reached out after the draft. He

The Panthers have picked up the fifth-year option on left tackle Ikem Ekwonu’s contract. He is expected to get a long-term deal, something the Panthers did for defensive lineman Derrick Brown and cornerback Jaycee Horn in the same situation. The only question is: When? “I have no timeline, honestly,” Ekwonu

Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers didn’t do much to hide his frustrations when the ball didn’t come his way during his rookie season and it doesn’t sound like he’ll be any more circumspect in his second season. The question of whether wide receivers are divas came up during Nabers’s appearance

The Raiders had left tackle Kolton Miller participate in its voluntary offseason program this week. The team still has not seen Brock Bowers. The second-year tight end remains in Georgia, finishing up his college degree, Vinny Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. Bowers had a historic rookie season, breaking

Every May, most teams must decide whether to exercise the fifth-year option on one or more first-round draft picks from three years earlier. If exercised, the team delays the player’s opportunity to hit the open market by another year. For players drafted in every other round, there’s no way to

The Cowboys are declining the fifth-year option of cornerback Kaiir Elam, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reports. The team acquired Elam in a trade with the Bills this offseason. Buffalo will receive a 2025 fifth-round selection and a 2026 seventh-rounder, while sending a 2025 sixth-round choice to the Cowboys along with

The Titans will decline the fifth-year option on the contract of wide receiver Treylon Burks, as expected, Paul Kuharsky of paulkuharsky.com reports. The comments of Chad Brinker, the team’s president of football operations, on Monday hinted at the decision. Burks, 25, tore his anterior cruciate ligament in Week 6 last

The Texans opened up a spot on their 90-man roster Thursday. The team announced that they have waived defensive tackle Jayden Peevy. Peevy signed to the team’s practice squad last November and signed a future contract with the team in January. Peevy did not appear in any games for the

Packers General Manager Brian Gutekunst said recently that he wants linebacker Quay Walker on the roster in 2026 one way or another, but it won’t be under the terms of the team’s fifth-year option on his contract. Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com reports that the team will not exercise that option.

The Raiders made an addition to their receiving corps on Thursday. They announced the signing of free agent wide receiver Collin Johnson. No terms were included in the announcement. Johnson was a 2020 fifth-round pick of the Jaguars and moved onto the Giants as a waiver claim the next year.

One bad interview killed Kramer’s coffee-table-book-about-coffee-tables tour. Bill Belichick’s book tour has survived. Belichick has a public appearance on Tuesday, May 6, in New York. It’s an NYU event, with Belichick and Suzy Welch. (Tickets are free.) In the email that Belichick’s girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, posted earlier this week, Belichick

Tyler Lockett recently joined the Titans, giving them a strong veteran receiver to help rookie quarterback Cam Ward. In his Thursday press conference, Tennessee head coach Brian Callahan said he feels good about adding the longtime Seahawk. “He [has been] a productive player for a long time,” Callahan said. “On

For the first time ever, one player is among the favorites for a full-season award on both sides of the ball. DraftKings has Jaguars receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter near the top of the list for both offensive and defensive rookie of the year. On the offensive side, Hunter has +750 odds,

When Mike Vrabel took the Patriots’ head-coaching job earlier this year, he was clear that Drake Maye’s ability to handle the on-field responsibilities of a quarterback were a big reason for his decision. Maye’s skills weren’t enough to win games on their own, howerver, and the Patriots have made moves

As North Carolina coach Bill Belichick tries to fetch a mop and a bucket, the mess is spreading. Via the Daily Mail, Belichick’s daughter-in-law has publicly criticized Jordon Hudson for her role in the disastrous CBS interview. Responding to Instagram comments supporting Hudson as a publicist who was simply doing

The Cardinals selected Marvin Harrison Jr. with the No. 4 overall pick in last year’s draft. It was seen as a strong pick at the time, and even though his numbers weren’t off the charts, Harrison delivered a solid rookie season. But entering 2025, head coach Jonathan Gannon says Harrison

After the Giants traded up to take quarterback Jaxson Dart in the first round last week, head coach Brian Daboll made it clear that Russell Wilson remains in the top spot on the depth chart. Daboll added “that’s how it’ll be once we get started here in the spring” after

Shedeur Sanders was far from the only draft pick who got a prank call telling him he was drafted before he really was. Eagles sixth-round quarterback Kyle McCord revealed after he was drafted that he had received multiple prank calls from the Philadelphia area before he got the real call

Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy was able to play only one preseason game during his rookie year. But as he detailed this week, he still gained a lot from sitting and watching things unfold over the course of 2024 — particularly from now-Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold. Darnold had the best year

Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon did not expect to land cornerback Will Johnson in the second round of the draft. During an appearance with Adam Schein of Mad Dog Sports Radio, Gannon said that the team had Johnson “graded very high” going into the second night and that the team’s

The Eagles only made one first-round pick in 2022, but they wound up with three decisions to make about fifth-year options this offseason. Defensive tackle Jordan Davis was the player they picked and they later made trades for wide receiver Jahan Dotson and guard Kenyon Green. We learned this week

Bills General Manager Brandon Beane said this week that the team wants to have running back James Cook on the team beyond the 2025 season, but making that happen will require the use of a franchise tag or an agreement on a long-term contract. Cook made his desired salary of

The Bengals exercised their fifth-year option on cornerback Dax Hill’s contract on Wednesday in a move that was a strong sign of their belief in Hill’s talent and a show of confidence in his ability to return from a torn ACL. Hill was playing well before being injured in Week

The Eagles suffered heavy losses to their defense in free agency, and then they used their first five picks in the 2025 NFL draft on defensive players. But General Manager Howie Roseman says there were no reaches for positions of need. Roseman told Rich Eisen that he was prepared to

The Ravens are locking in safety Kyle Hamilton for 2026. Baltimore announced the club has exercised the fifth-year option on Hamilton’s rookie contract. Hamilton will now be paid $18.6 million in his fifth season. “We are exercising the fifth-year option for Kyle Hamilton, with the goal of working toward a

Before edge rusher Abdul Carter got a real call from the Giants that would make him the third overall pick in the 2025 draft, he got a fake call telling him the Jaguars were taking him at No. 2. Carter’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, told Adam Schefter of ESPN.com about the

Horns down payment. Via Kirk Bohls of the Houston Chronicle, the University of Texas will pay $35 million to $40 million for its 2025 football roster. The number includes what likely will be $20.5 million in revenue sharing plus NIL payments from the Texas One Fund. The spike in money

Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich made his first public comments about the prank call made to Shedeur Sanders during the draft. Ulbrich’s 21-year-old son Jax took Sanders’s phone number, which was provided by the NFL, off of his father’s unsecured iPad with the intent of facilitating a call that purported

On Sunday, CBS Mornings debuted an interview with North Carolina coach Bill Belichick. It did not go well. Three days later, North Carolina has issued a quote from Belichick. “I agreed to speak with CBS Sunday Morning to promote my new book, ‘The Art of Winning — Lessons from My

The Raiders drafted Tennessee wide receiver Dont’e Thornton in the fourth round, and General Manager John Spytek says few receivers ever to play the game have his athletic makeup. Spytek said Thornton is an athlete like Calvin Johnson and DK Metcalf, but a player who wants to do more than

The Lions will be getting an early start to training camp because they are playing in the Hall of Fame Game against the Chargers this summer and it appears that has led to a change in plans for their offseason program. When the NFL initially announced key offseason dates for

Andrew Van Ginkel’s first season with the Vikings went about as well as anyone could have hoped. The edge rusher was voted a second-team All-Pro after recording 79 tackles, 11.5 sacks, two interception returns for touchdowns, six passes defensed, and a forced fumble. It was the first time that Van

Tight end Austin Hooper had a head start on his Patriots teammates when it came to adapting to the team’s new head coach. Hooper played for Mike Vrabel in Tennessee during the 2022 season and said “it was a tougher transition” than he expected. Hooper said he was used to

Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during a Week 3 practice in 2023. During the rehab process, he did not rehab at the team facility full time. Diggs now is rehabbing the same knee after chondral bone graft surgery Jan. 23, which entails

Steelers defensive back Ryan Watts injured his neck in the final preseason game against the Lions last summer. The injury originally was called a stinger, but Watts landed on season-ending injured reserve before the start of his first season. The Steelers released Watts on Monday, announcing that doctors, the Steelers

The Chiefs made several roster moves Wednesday, according to the NFL’s transactions wire. They released tight end Anthony Firkser and linebacker Shaun Bradley and waived tight end Baylor Cupp, offensive guard McKade Mettauer and safety Jason Taylor II. The Chiefs received an international roster exemption for offensive tackle Chu Godrick.

In the aftermath of the NFL’s decision to fine the Falcons $250,000 and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich $100,000 “for failing to prevent the disclosure of confidential information distributed to the club in advance of the NFL Draft,” the NFL has created the impression that the Falcons, not the league, gave

Buccaneers G.M. Jason Licht has been making the media rounds in the aftermath of the draft. Appearing with Rich Eisen, Licht made a fairly significant disclosure about Tampa Bay’s first-round pick, Ohio State receiver Emeka Egbuka. “He was super-high on our board,” Licht said of Egbuka, via JoeBucsFan.com. “You know,

Evan Neal is moving to guard. Paul Schwartz of the New York Post reports that Neal will compete for the right guard job. Greg Van Roten and Aaron Stinnie also are candidates for the position. Neal’s move is not a surprise given General Manager Joe Schoen said earlier this month

When 60 Minutes did an Aaron Rodgers profile that painted him as sensitive and he complained about it, CBS News issued a statement that said “it was obvious we got it right.” The statement issued by CBS News on Wednesday was far less entertaining, but far more important. In response

The Raiders are adding to their front office from a division rival. Per Albert Breer of SI.com, Las Vegas is hiring Brian Stark to be the club’s assistant General Manager under new G.M. John Spytek. Stark was previously Denver’s director of college scouting. He was in that role for eight

The Patriots are not picking up the fifth-year option on the contract of offensive lineman Cole Strange, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reports. The option would have fully guaranteed Strange $16.685 million for 2026. The move is not a surprise given Cole missed most of last season after tearing the patellar

Free agent wide receiver Elijah Moore is heading to Buffalo. The Bills have agreed to a one-year deal with Moore. It’s worth “up to” $5 million, according to multiple reports. What Moore would need to do to make the full $5 million is not known, but he presumably wouldn’t have