NFL Player News

Although GM Rick Spielman conceded that Brinkley’s durability is a concern following hip surgery, beat writer Jeremy Fowler reports the team is “still banking on him to play a prominent role.” Brinkley was merely dealing with minor soreness in minicamp and should be healthy by August.

Cooper was arrested on Thursday night and booked into a Douglas County jail on Friday. Few details are known about his arrest outside of the charges, but the veteran pass-rusher is reportedly scheduled to go before a judge on Friday with another hearing scheduled for Monday, per an article put out by TMZ. Cooper totaled eight sacks for the Broncos last season and is in the second year of a four-year extension he signed in 2024.

While an exact site is still to be determined, the Bears have officially planned to move from their home state of Illinois. In a statement announced by the team on Friday, chairman George McCaskey and president and CEO Kevin Warren said “we believe a world-class stadium project in Hammond will transform the region.” We’ll likely know the exact location in the near future, but the team is one step closer to a state of the art indoor stadium.

Lawrence becomes the latest first-round pick to sign his rookie deal. The UCF pass-rusher was one of two defensive players taken by the Cowboys in the first-round of this year’s draft as they hope to drastically improve a defense that allowed the most points per game (30.1) and third-most yards per game (377.0) last season. Lawrence totaled seven sacks in 12 games in his final season for the Knights while also breaking up three passes and forcing two fumbles. While he won’t fully make up for the loss of Micah Parsons, there’s hope he can generate a little more pressure on the quarterback after the Cowboys managed just 35 sacks last season.

On one hand, it’s “just” OTAs. On the other hand, this is the second reporter to suggest there’s a noticeable difference between what Murray and McCarthy offer at the position. We’re less than a full week removed from ESPN’s Kevin Seifert saying the gap between the two QBs is “not close,” and now, Ragatz is all but suggesting the same in his most recent article. While there have been reports of McCarthy making strides as a passer this offseason, the bar has been set so low after 2025’s debacle, that any marginal improvements could garner praise for JJMC at this point. We’ll get a better sense of where things really stand between Murray and McCarthy when the pads come on in training camp, but Murray continues to sound like the clearcut QB1 to start the season, despite the Vikings’ best efforts to suggest the winner of this camp battle hasn’t already been determined.

Mayfield is in the final year of the three-year, $100 million extension he signed with the Buccaneers in 2024 and is seeking another long-term deal to remain with the team. Speaking on Friday, Mayfield said that while negotiations are currently ongoing, that he will stop those talks once training camp starts up, putting somewhat of a deadline on when a new deal could be reached. The 31-year-old signal-caller is entering his first season without Mike Evans, and is coming off a year in which he threw for 3,693-26-11 in 17 games. Mayfield is just two years removed from throwing for a career-high 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns, but a lot has changed since then between the loss of Evans and former OC Liam Coen. We’ll see if a new deal is reached before camp, or if Mayfield will be positioned to play out 2026 in a contract year in hopes of earning a lucrative pay day next offseason.

The Bears took Thieneman 25th overall in this year’s draft in hopes of bolstering a secondary that allowed the fifth-most passing touchdowns and fifth-highest NY/A last season. The former Oregon Duck tallied eight interceptions in 39 games during his college career and was one of the most athletic players at his position (9.71 RAS) in the draft. He should slot in as an immediate starter for the Bears this season.

This comes almost a month after Rosenblatt said he believed Mitchell felt “pretty locked into the No. 2 receiver role.” The 23-year-old receiver spent part of last season with the Jets after being traded from the Colts at last year’s deadline. Mitchell saw 58 targets come his way in eight games with the Jets last season and posted a 24-301-2 line while going for 50-plus yards in two of those games. The upgrade from Brady Cook to Geno Smith should work wonders for Mitchell as far as target quality is concerned, and he’s reportedly shown good chemistry with Smith during OTAs. Currently going as a late-round draft pick in best ball leagues, Mitchell has the chance to be a nice value in deeper fantasy leagues if he can earn a meaningful role opposite Garrett Wilson.

Wolfe continues to beat the drum for Sanders, despite recent reports indicating QB Deshaun Watson was pulling ahead in the competition. Wolfe also believes that Sanders’ play is forcing head coach Todd Monken to postpone making a decision to name a starting quarterback. The battle may continue into training camp. Sanders has reportedly improved his downfield passing and processing, and has an “aura” about him that some in the building find compelling. Wolfe closes the segment by wondering aloud whether one of these quarterbacks can convince the front office to forego drafting a quarterback next year. We’ll believe it when we see it, but for now, it sounds like Sanders has pulled even with Watson.

Over the course of his career, Brown has openly discussed the maintenance his knees require. He underwent cleanup procedures in both knees in 2021. Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf recently acknowledged that Brown has managed a degenerative knee condition in one of his knees since entering the league in 2019. Despite receiving treatment regularly, Brown has been a 1,000-yard receiver in six of his seven NFL seasons. We expect him to continue playing at a high level, but he could fall into the WR1/2 range this summer. Regardless, he is the Patriots’ clear-cut WR1.

Kupp operated as the Seahawks’ WR2 last season, though The Athletic’s Mike Dugar reported in March that WR Rashid Shaheed’s new deal “suggests a demotion” could be on the way for Kupp. Regardless, Kupp loves “playing this game too much” to slow down now. If Kupp can retain his WR2 role on the Seahawks, he will likely only be a matchup-based FLEX option.