NFL Player News

An undrafted free agent out of Southeastern Louisiana last season, Hughes appeared in three games for the Rams. It bodes poorly for his future that he couldn’t even make it to final cuts for a team with the league’s reigning worst offensive line.

Dell missed the entire season after tearing his ACL, MCL, and LCL against the Chiefs in Week 16 of the 2024 season. The fact that the head coach is still optimistic is noteworthy, and Dell probably will slot in as Houston’s No. 2 receiver in 2026 assuming he bounces back and is fully recovered from the surgeries. Dell’s return, should it come to pass, will be a development that will make it hard to see Jayden Higgins or Jaylin Noel boosting their fantasy stock in 2026.

It is just a day after the Texans’ season ended, so it’s an unsurprising non-answer. It’s still noteworthy that the answer wasn’t exactly an affirmative, no-questions-asked, yes. “There is a lot of negative talk right now and he understands that,” Ryans said in an answer about how his message to Stroud is to block out the noise. Stroud’s catastrophic playoff performance will likely leave him getting his fifth-year option picked up this offseason, but neither Stroud nor the Texans should exactly be giddy about negotiating off his 2025 season. We’d be surprised if a long-term extension was coming before the conclusion of 2026 — if it comes at all.

Ryans continues to downplay any conversation surrounding Mixon, who missed all of the 2025 season with a foot injury. It was reported in late December that some of Mixon’s issues stemmed from some procedures he got “on his own, away from the Texans,” which could complicate his future with the team and the contract he signed that will keep him with the team through 2026. It’s impossible to say where things truly stand with Mixon and the Texans right now after Ryans and the team spent a full season avoiding the topic, but it seems unlikely he would return to the team next season given how things have played out since Mixon was mysteriously injured last offseason.

Caley’s Texans finished 19th in DVOA in the regular season, but actually picked things up fairly well after an uninspiring 3-5 start. It would be a little surprising to see the Texans move on from the 42-year-old in his first season as an offensive coordinator, but we would have called it a little surprising to see Bobby Slowik get canned after 2024 as well. This will be a situation to watch until we get better clarity.

Dobbins will have a chance to practice and suit up for the AFC Championship Game against the Patriots, something head coach Sean Payton hinted at earlier this month. Dobbins suffered a Lisfranc injury in Week 10 and has been sidelined ever since. Dobbins has rushed 153 times for 772 yards and four touchdowns this season while averaging an impressive 5.0 YPC. How this week of practice goes will likely be the deciding factor in whether or not the Broncos choose to activate him from injured reserve, but with Bo Nix (ankle) already out for the remainder of the playoffs, they will take any help they can get from other playmakers.

It was truly a storied courtship as the Lions ... never were directly reported to have interviewed Petzing. We’re not sure who Petzing’s agent is, but he needs to put in some work with the #sources next go around. It’s possible that Kevin Stefanski’s elevation to Falcons head coach hurried this hire along, as Petzing coached under Stefanski in Cleveland and would have been a potential offensive coordinator candidate for the Falcons as well. Petzing did not exactly oversee a complex and exciting offense in Arizona as both Kyler Murray and Marvin Harrison Jr. flatlined, though he did oversee the renaissance of the Jacoby Brissett Pass Yards Machine as well. We’re surprised this is the direction the Lions went, but as long as Dan Campbell is overseeing things, it’s hard to drastically downgrade the Lions skill position players for fantasy purposes.

“This wasn’t about Schoen; the coach definitely feels he can work with the GM. Harbaugh wanted the ability to impact the entire operation, from security to training to analytics to media relations to staff size to assistant salaries to relocation expenses to you name it. And yes, in the unlikely event there’s a stalemate on draft day between Harbaugh and Schoen, there’s no longer any question who will prevail,” O’Connor writes. Well then. Joe Schoen begins the Harbaugh Era as a convenient scapegoat the second it takes more than a year to get things going in the right direction. What could go wrong for him?

The Raiders continue to roll through interviews in hopes of securing a head coach who can last more than 1.5 seasons at the helm — something that hasn’t been done since Jon Gruden was with the team from 2018 to 2021. Kubiak hasn’t fielded too many interview requests this coaching cycle, but is also expected to interview with the Steelers in the coming days after the team put in a request last week. Kubiak had his first taste of action as an NFL offensive coordinator this season with the Niners and helped lead the team to the 10th-most points and seventh-most offensive yards this season. One year of experience may not be enough for Kubiak to land a head-coaching job this cycle, but he league is clearly taking notice of the work he’s done, and is likely drawn in by the family bloodlines along with the experience under Kyle Shanahan.

McDaniel has now met with the Browns, Ravens, and Raiders to discuss their head-coaching vacancies and interviewed with the Buccaneers to discuss their opening at offensive coordinator. The former Dolphins coach has plenty of suitors on the open market, but he seems unlikely to take a job as a coordinator until he has explored all possible options for head coaching gigs. McDaniel already has a second interview with the Browns lined up, which will presumably take place later this week.

It’s a lateral move, however, Pitcher would be leaving for a job where he’d actually get to call plays. Head coach Zac Taylor actually gave Pitcher the chance to interview even though he could have blocked it. It’s eye-catching, if nothing else. Pitcher joins a crowded OC interview pool for the Bucs that includes Mike McDaniel, Brian Callahan, Zac Robinson, Mike Kafka, and Todd Monken.