NFL Player News

It was an ugly opening day for Etienne. Not only did he evenly split the backfield workload with Tank Bigsby, but Bigsby was far more effective (73 yards) and Etienne managed to lose a fumbled near the goal line in the fourth quarter — a score that would have effectively ended the game. If his Week 1 usage is any indication, Etienne will be more touchdown reliant than many had predicted coming into the season. He did, however, work as the team’s primary pass-catching back. He’ll take on a tough Browns defense in Week 2.

Olave has been on blood thinners after a blood clot was discovered in his lung prior to Week 18 of last season, restricting the alpha wide receiver to individual drills up to this point in the offseason program. The good news is that he’s reportedly set to get off blood thinners in less than two weeks, after which he will look to gain clearance to return to unrestricted football activities. The veteran wide receiver is set to play the 2026 season on the fifth-year option of his rookie contract, making the coming season of utmost importance to his future in New Orleans.

He also admitted that his follow-up procedure was because he was dealing with bone spurs. There’s not really any doubt that Nix will be ready for training camp at this point, and the Broncos seem to be taking it easy with him during mandatory minicamp.

McConkey echoed Jim Harbaugh’s message that he doesn’t view it as a significant concern. It is at least a mild one considering it’s costing McConkey reps in a new offense, and could grow into a bigger one if he’s sidelined longer than the internal estimate. That said, most players recover from hamstring strains in weeks instead of months and there’s no reason to believe McConkey won’t be ready for camp.

Pickens’ current ADP is in the 20-30 range and we expect most analysts will give him a little bump now that he’s not holding out of camp. CeeDee Lamb’s health clearly played a role in Pickens’ 2025 season, as did Dallas’ cataclysmically bad defense. Still, he has a real chance to finish as a WR1 this year and full reps at training camp can only help him out as he plays out the franchise tag.

“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.