Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy will be coaching Aaron Rodgers again this season and another one of his Packers stars came up during last week’s OTAs.
Charles Woodson won defensive player of the year and helped the Packers to a Super Bowl while playing a versatile role in the back end of their defense. That came after a long and successful run at cornerback with the Raiders and changing positions gave his career a stellar second act.
Steelers secondary coach Joe Whitt was on the Packers’ staff in those days and he believes Steelers defensive back Jalen Ramsey “has a similar skill set, similar size, similar speed” to the Hall of Famer. Whitt said he expects the Steelers to use Ramsey in a similar fashion as a result and McCarthy concurred with that view of how Ramsey fits into their plans.
“When Charles came to Green Bay — when we moved him inside and he played the nickel — I thought his game went to a whole different level,” McCarthy said, via Chris Harlan of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “I thought Jalen has the same ability. He’s a special piece to our defense. He can play nickel, he can play corner, he can play dime and can also play safety. I’m really looking forward to working with him, but yeah, I can see exactly why Joe says that. That’s an excellent comparison.”
Ramsey is still getting used to the new defense things and said that things “have to evolve,” but that he has taken pride in “being able to do different things” on the field and the prospect of a back half of a career similar to Woodson’s should be an appealing one.
Back in March, it looked like the Raiders would enter their next era under head coach Klint Kubiak with a new quarterback but without their top edge rusher.
But then the Ravens backed out of the trade for Maxx Crosby.
Now Crosby and No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza are poised to lead Las Vegas together, on opposite sides of the ball.
Crosby, who is still rehabbing his left knee after undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus, told reporters on Wednesday that his first impressions of Mendoza have been very positive.
“He’s an awesome kid,” Crosby said, via transcript from the team. “Everyone knows his ability, what they’ve seen, especially this past season at Indiana. It couldn’t have been a greater year for an individual player at a college level, winning the Heisman, winning the Natty, not losing a game, having a game-winning touchdown in the national championship. Like, he checked every single box and some, but now you come to the NFL and you’re on ground zero.
I think that’s what the most important thing is when you’re a young guy coming in the league, is realizing that.
“It’s like, listen you don’t just come in and say, OK now you just start where you left off in college — that’s not the reality. You come here and you have to earn your respect all over again and build up trust within your teammates, your coaches and the whole nine. So, Fernando has been awesome. He’s a great kid. He has great work ethic. I had a lot of the young guys over at the house, we watched Game 7 [of the NBA Western Conference Finals], and Fernando was unfortunately behind me in a game of horse, and I destroyed him. I got him out of there quick. So, he’s got to work on the jump shot, but ultimately he’s a competitor and he’s learning and getting better every single day. So, I’m really excited for what he’s going to bring to this team, and you can already feel just his energy on a daily basis has been extremely consistent.”
Fortunately for the Raiders, the club isn’t counting on Mendoza to excel at basketball.
With veteran Kirk Cousins around, it remains to be seen when Mendoza will ascend to QB1. But Mendoza is undoubtedly going to be a big part of Las Vegas’ future.
The Ravens backed out of a trade for Maxx Crosby in March after the edge rusher failed their physical. The team reportedly was concerned about Crosby’s durability because of a degenerative issue in his knee.
Crosby and the Raiders don’t share those concerns.
He is back with the Raiders and still rehabbing from a January surgery to repair a torn meniscus on Jan. 7. Crosby jogged and stretched with teammates at Wednesday’s OTA before going inside to continue his physical therapy.
Crosby expects to be back soon.
“I’m at the point where I’m almost there, but I forget that I need to relax a little bit, so that’s kind of been the biggest battle right now,” Crosby said, via Ryan McFadden of ESPN.
Crosby played through the left knee injury from Week 7 last season before going on injured reserve on Dec. 27.
“Ultimately, it has probably been the best [rehab] by far, and we’re not even to the finish line,” Crosby said. “It’s been better because I’ve been able to focus on other things. Whether that’s being in the weight room, like I’m moving more weight than I ever have, and doing things in a different way, and being able to get my body the proper rest that it actually needs.
“This has forced me to have to take a step back in certain areas and not run 8,000 yards on the field every single day.”
Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby says he has long since moved on from the failed attempt to trade him to the Ravens.
“I don’t really want to talk about that, to be honest. It’s water under the bridge. It’s a long time ago,” Crosby said. “I’m here and I want to be here and I’m excited to be here and I’ve got a lot of work to do. It’s water under the bridge.”
The Raiders and Ravens agreed in March to a deal that would have sent Crosby to Baltimore in exchange for two first-round draft picks, but the Ravens nixed the trade after giving Crosby a physical and raising concerns about the health of his knee. Crosby is still rehabbing his knee injury but is attending voluntary offseason work and described himself as “almost back” to being healthy enough to fully participate in practice.
“I want to be out there and be part of the team,” Crosby said. “I just love what I do and I love playing football and I love being on the field.”
The Raiders have a new coaching staff, and Crosby said he’s excited to play for them.
“We have an extremely smart and great leader of men in Klint Kubiak,” Crosby said.
And it’s a coaching staff Crosby is fully committed to playing for, three months after thinking he was on the way out.
Raiders tight end Brock Bowers made five catches for 103 yards in Week 1 of last season, but he injured his knee. He played through it the following three games, making only 14 catches for 122 yards before the Raiders shut him down until Week 9.
Bowers made 64 receptions for 680 yards and seven touchdowns in 12 games in 2025, well short of his rookie season.
He is again full speed, while practicing with the team in organized team activities.
“I feel great,” Bowers said Thursday. “I mean, it feels good to be back out there, practicing at full speed. Getting back into football with all the guys again. I had a good offseason working out, staying healthy and trying to get back to 100 percent.”
That is great news for Kirk Cousins and Fernando Mendoza, as the Raiders have their top weapon back in his 2024 form when he earned first-team All-Pro honors.
