NFL Player News

Brown suffered a career-altering torn Achilles in 2022 and was released by both the Cowboys and 49ers before signing with the Panthers. He is likely to serve as a camp body as he pushes to make the team at the nickel corner position. The Panthers currently lack depth in the secondary behind starters Jaycee Horn, Xavier Woods, Jordan Fuller, and Dane Jackson, meaning the veteran could work his way into a backup role if he shows out in camp.

Hunter said he would refuse to play for a team that did not allow him to play both corner and wideout. “Because I’ve been doing it my whole life, and I love being on the football field,” he told CBS Sports. “I feel like I could dominate on each side of the ball, so I really enjoy doing it.” Hunter in 2024 played 713 offensive snaps and 748 defensive snaps, “which made him the only player since at least 2017 with at least 250 snaps played on both offense and defense in a single season,” according to CBS Sports Research. Colorado head coach Deion Sanders, a mentor to Hunter, said Hunter could easily play both sides of the ball as a pro since physical contact in the NFL is “minimal.” Pro Football Focus graded Hunter as last season’s second best cover corner. The most likely outcome for Hunter, 21, would include a full-time defensive role in the NFL with a package of receiver snaps in certain situations. He’s expected to go in the first ten picks of the 2025 draft.

Russini said Shough’s draft prospects have spiked over the past two weeks, going from a second- or third-round selection to a possible first rounder. That, of course, depends on how desperate quarterback-needy teams will be on the first night of the NFL Draft. An anonymous head coach told Russini that Shough, who threw for nearly 3,200 yards, 23 touchdowns, and six interceptions in his final collegiate season, is the best QB prospect in the entire 2025 draft class. Shough, who will be 26 in September, played seven years of college football, including stints at Texas Tech and Oregon. Pro Football Focus graded Shough as 2024’s fifth best passer. His adjusted completion rate in 2024 ranked 25th out of 93 qualifying QBs. It would be surprising if a team aggressively pursued the older quarterback prospect as a first-round selection.

It appears the Giants are very much considering using their first-round pick on Sanders, whose draft prospects are all over the place in the run-up to the 2025 NFL Draft. “When this happens so late in the process either there’s a big disagreement in their building on their evaluation or their [sic] reacting to new information,” said former Jets GM and current ESPN analyst Mike Tannenbaum. Sanders could go in the top five picks or drop out of the first round altogether depending on how the Giants, Browns, and other quarterback-needy teams approach the first night of the draft. Sanders, who threw 64 touchdowns in two seasons on his father’s Colorado team, would compete with Jameis Winston and Russell Wilson for New York’s Week 1 starting job.

Rapoport added that “it wouldn’t be a surprise if [Ramsey] played elsewhere in 2025.” The Dolphins owe Ramsey $25.1 million in 2025, and don’t seem eager to keep him onboard after an underwhelming two seasons in Miami. Ramsey has five interceptions for the Dolphins over 27 games, missing significant time with various injuries, including a lingering knee issue. Ramsey in 2024 was graded by Pro Football Focus as the league’s 24th best cover corner out of 133 qualifying cornerbacks. Entering his age-31 season, Ramsey could be a candidate for a draft-day trade. Teams don’t value older corners highly so he may not cost much to acquire.

Meyers is entering the final year of a three-year, $33 million contract signed in the 2023 offseason and coming off an 87/1027/4 receiving line in 2024. McFadden writes that the team views Meyers as a “key player” on the roster. Meyers could probably come close to a $20 million AAV in a new contract given the way the market is trending — that’s about what Stefon Diggs got from the Patriots this offseason after a lengthy wait.

Rarely do you see a beat writer go with the word “need,” but here we are. Kansas City clearly had no juice in the running game all last season as Pacheco struggled to run at his established level after returning from a broken leg. Kareem Hunt was a steady veteran pounder but couldn’t hit a second gear. Taylor notes that Brett Veach has been quoted as saying running backs in Andy Reid’s offense “need to be a better receiver than a runner” and ties them to Georgia back Trevor Etienne.

Graff writes this in the context of a mock draft where he selects Bhayshul Tuten for the Patriots, but this is not the first time this offseason a beat writer has mentioned running back as a potential position of need for the Patriots behind Stevenson. Tuten ran the fastest 40-yard dash at the combine at 4.32. Other running backs on the podium for the 40 in Indianapolis included Texas’ Jaydon Blue (4.38) and SMU’s Brashard Smith (4.39), so they could also be interesting Patriots targets.

“I’m open and optimistic about the fact that I’ll be able to be here for the rest of my career,” Sutton added. The timeline for Sutton’s extension has been downplayed a bit by the Broncos this offseason and it sounds like they’re probably just waiting to figure out what happens in the draft to lock down a figure. Sutton was an unhappy camper last season after getting only a band-aid adjustment to his contract, but responded with one of the best seasons of his career.

Breer writes a pretty rough profile of Sanders’ current prospects, reporting he doesn’t believe Sanders is going in the top three and that it’d be “surprising” if he went in the top 10. “I’m having a really hard time finding coaches or scouts who believe Sanders is a first-round talent,” is the lede of that section of the column. The draft landscape is always shifting and we’ve seen perceived first-round quarterbacks like Will Levis and Malik Willis tumble out of Day 1 — it’s possible that Sanders will be the next to join that list.

Regarding his injury, Breer writes that the “Saints knew about this shoulder issue. What I’m less sure about is if they view it as something that was actually threatening his 2025 season. The story I’ve heard is that Carr’s camp has told people that this actually stems from his ’23 AC joint sprain, which never fully healed.” The implication here seems to be that Carr wanted to play for former Saints coach Dennis Allen and may not be as thrilled to play under Kellen Moore. That Carr would really threaten to go under the knife to fix his arm rather than play out the 2025 season as a starter seems hard to believe, but his status with the Saints even beyond that appears to be shaky at the moment. New Orleans holds the No. 9 pick in the draft and could look to take a quarterback early to address the room.