NFL Player News

Last month Lachey (6'7/220) narrowed his list down to two schools, Iowa and Michigan State, taking official visits to both schools. Ultimately it was Kirk Ferentz’s program that won out, with the three-star citing the culture of the program and the opportunity to play early as the reasons for his decision. “I’d say the culture they have there is what really helped me make the decision,” Lachey told HawkeyeReport.com. “I’d also say the bond that I made with the players and the other commits really pushed me there as well. I think I’ll fit in really well. The opportunity is to play a lot and be able to get the ball a lot as well.” Iowa’s done a very good job of developing tight ends during Ferentz’s tenure as head coach, with two (T.J. Hockenson and Noah Fant) being selected in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft. Lachey is Iowa’s 22nd commit in the 2020 class.

“With improvements in those areas as a senior in college, teams expected him to be in the first-round conversation in the 2027 draft class. But the gambling cloud hanging over his draft projection makes this an unprecedented situation. Is there enough time before July’s supplemental draft for teams to fully understand his recovery and mindset?” Brugler adds. Brugler’s been in the draft game for a long time and has a lot of sources, so we believe this carries some weight even if it wouldn’t be wildly surprising to see Sorsby selected in the second or third round of the supplemental draft. It’s clear that Sorsby has the tools to play in the NFL and also clear that gambling is a line that many franchises will refuse to cross, but it only takes one.

Pace was fired by the Falcons after a few years in the building. His appointment as “football advisor” rather than something closer to his old “VP of football operations” gig appears to point to him losing some clout in the process. He’s probably not a threat to become a general manager again at this point.

Reporters haven’t spotted McConkey at recent practices, though Harbaugh said he will participate in individual drills today. This is likely just a minor injury and Harbaugh has said it “isn’t a big concern.” We’ll keep an eye on this but it probably shouldn’t impact his best ball position much from what we know now.

Jordan returns to the Big Easy for a 16th season. He’ll get an incentive-laden deal per Ian Rapoport. Jordan has played 48 and 54 percent of the snaps for the Saints over the past two seasons, respectively. He’ll be part of — but not the linchpin of — New Orleans’ pass rush rotation in 2026.

TeSlaa looks to be penciled into the three-wide set next to Jameson Williams and Amon-Ra St. Brown. It’s hard to understand how TeSlaa will generate much in the way of targets — he sure didn’t last year when he was on the field — but the Lions could have a good enough offense that TeSlaa finds his way on the WR4 radar this year either way. TeSlaa notched six touchdowns on 27 targets last year.

Most of the league-wide scuttlebutt on Sorsby as coaches get in front of microphones for the first time since it was announced he’ll try the supplemental draft has been negative or tepid. Todd Monken told reporters earlier in June that “I don’t think we’re in a position to want to go down that road,” when asked about Sorsby. Today, Aaron Glenn pretended he didn’t know what gambling was and Brian Schottenheimer said he has no opinion on Sorsby. We’ll see where he ends up, but it sure doesn’t look like it will be Cleveland.

The “we’ll see” from Stefanski yesterday wound up being “no.” In other words, Falcons mandatory minicamp will be the Tua Tagovailoa show. Penix is a more realistic candidate to be ready to go in training camp. However, ceding these reps to Tagovailoa will probably put the veteran quarterback in the lead of their upcoming battle heading into camp. It feels likely that both quarterbacks will get a shot at some point, barring Tagovailoa turning back the clock a few years.

If the Saints cut bait on Alvin Kamara, Neal would probably be in the battle for the RB2 spot as things currently stand on the roster. This seems minor enough that we probably wouldn’t be concerned about it, but Neal was dinged up towards the end of last year and it’s worth keeping an eye on.

Schottenheimer said it’s “nothing to be concerned about.” We mostly agree, but every once in a while these situations become more serious or linger for a bit. Prescott figures to be a top-15 fantasy quarterback this year, though he won’t quite have the game scripts he had last year if Dallas’ defense can improve from “abysmal” to “regular bad” unit.

Cooper was arrested for six different charges over the last few weeks, including second-degree assault and domestic violence. It’s certainly a situation that could lead to an NFL suspension at some point once all due diligence is taken care of. Cooper’s status appears to be uncertain going forward.