One of the hot topics on Tuesday at the Scouting Combine was the future of Eagles receiver A.J. Brown. And while the Eagles are saying all the right things regarding Brown’s future in Philly, odds as to his next team have emerged.
At DraftKings, the current favorites are the Eagles, at -130.
Next on the list is the Patriots, at +275. The Chargers land at +750, with the Bills at +900.
A return to the Titans is a +1000 bet. The Raiders are +1400, with the 49ers, Dolphins, and Ravens at +1600.
Eagles G.M. Howie Roseman made it clear that they’ll listen to any team that makes any offers about Brown or any other player. The question is whether another team will make the Eagles an offer they won’t refuse.
Bills Clips
Graffiti at the new Bills stadium shut down construction for nearly a week. And a six-figure reward offered by the general contractor on the project has boosted the effort to crack the case.
Via WBEN, the investigation has focused on two construction workers as “primary suspects” for the vandalism of four luxury suites in the facility.
A $100,000 reward was offered by Gilbane|Turner. It prompted, per WBEN, a “flood of calls” to a tip line.
The graffiti consisted of “spray-painted pornographic images, quite a few of them,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz recently told WIVB. “It seemed to be stating that an individual was LGBTQ because of the way the statements were made. Everything about it is bad, attacking someone for their sexual orientation is bad.”
The vandalism caused significant damage to the stadium.
“The estimate that I’ve received today is, it costs more than $150,000 in damage because it’s a lot of work that has to be redone,” Poloncarz said. “With the way the paint was used, you can’t just wipe it off. It’s permanently damaged, some areas where they have to take tile off the wall, retile, redo items.”
The stadium is due to open in 2026.
The Bills will bring defensive tackle Phidarian Mathis back for the 2026 season.
The team announced that Mathis has signed a new one-year deal with the team. He was set to become an unrestricted free agent next month.
The Bills also confirmed that they have re-signed offensive lineman Alec Anderson to a one-year deal.
Mathis had 13 tackles in six games for the Bills last season. He also appeared in one playoff game.
Mathis played in 23 games over three seasons with Washington before making the move to Buffalo. He had 25 tackles and a fumble recovery during his time with the NFC East squad.
The Bills will be moving into a new stadium for the 2026 season and they’ll commemorate the moment with a patch on their jerseys.
The team unveiled the design for a patch that they’ll wear for their first home game at the new Highmark Stadium. The date for that game will be revealed later in the offseason when the 2026 schedule is announced.
A Bills logo is depicted over a rendering of the new stadium with “Inaugural Season” and 2026 on the top and bottom of the circular design.
The Dolphins, Patriots, Jets, Chiefs, Chargers, Bears, Lions, and Ravens will be visiting Buffalo during the regular season and the identity of the first opponent will be announced with the rest of the schedule.
Competition Committee co-chairman Rich McKay does not expect there to be a lot of rules changes heading into the 2026 season, but his group is discussing many aspects of the game this week as they prepare for any proposed tweaks to the current rulebook.
One area that has come up in meetings are the rules that govern what is or isn’t a catch. That part of the game came back into focus during the divisional round of the playoffs when a long pass to Bills wide receiver Brandin Cooks was ruled an interception after the ball moved from Cooks’ hands to Broncos safety Ja’Quan McMillian as the wideout hit the ground. Officials ruled that Cooks did not fulfill the rules for possessing the ball before McMillian took it away, which was disputed by former Bills head coach Sean McDermott and others after the Broncos went on to win the game.
It also appeared to be a different ruling than officials came up with on similar plays at other points during the season and McKay said on Sunday that the committee “had a long discussion” related to the catch rules. He also said that the way plays look when subjected to replay has to be part of any conversation about how the rules are written moving forward.
“I think the issue on catch/no catch is that our technology today is just extraordinary,” McKay said, via longtime NFL reporter Mark Maske. “And so the ability to go frame by frame and slow things down is . . . a great solution for a lot of things, but it does present challenges for others. And you need to make sure that your rules as written don’t just match up [with] what’s on the field, but how it’s looked at in replay.”
The lack of a full replay review or full explanation of the ultimate ruling on the field during the Bills-Broncos game didn’t help create confidence that the ruling was the correct one. It’s unclear if a change to how the rules are written would have avoided the ensuing controversy, but the lack of other proposals could lead the committee to devote more time to devising language that would avoid the same kind of conjecture about future plays.
Bills offensive lineman Alec Anderson will stay in Buffalo in 2026.
Anderson signed a one-year, $3 million contract with $1.8 million guaranteed, his agent told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
After originally signing as an undrafted free agent out of UCLA in 2022, Anderson has played his entire career in Buffalo, spending two years on the practice squad before making the active roster for the last two seasons. Anderson would have become a restricted free agent, but now the Bills have locked him up.
A versatile lineman who can play center, guard or tackle, Anderson has played every game for the last two years, with six starts. He’ll have a chance to compete for a starting job in 2026.
Bills tackle Dion Dawkins has beef with JetBlue.
Via Jenna Lemoncelli of the New York Post, the Bills tackle recently claimed that employees of the airline stole items from his fiancé’s bag during a recent flight from Los Angeles to Ft. Lauderdale.
Dawkins said jewelry and “Rolex watches” were taken.
“We take these reports very seriously and have launched a thorough investigation into the matter,” a JetBlue spokesperson said in a statement to WIVB.com. “In addition to conducting a comprehensive internal review, we will coordinate closely with law enforcement and other airport authorities to support their efforts and help ensure the issue is fully addressed.”
Dawkins should do more than complain on social media. He should file a police report. The authorities should investigate. It can’t be very hard to figure out which employees had access to the bags from the moment they were dropped off to the moment they slide onto the belt.
The Broncos are hiring Ronald Curry as their wide receivers coach, Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports reports.
Curry was the quarterbacks coach for the Bills the past two years.
He worked with Sean Payton in New Orleans before that, spending six years with the Broncos’ head coach there. Curry was in New Orleans two additional years.
Curry was an offensive assistant (2016-17), the wide receivers coach (2018-20), the quarterbacks coach (2021) and the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator (2022-23).
Curry, 46, began his NFL coaching career as an offensive assistant with the 49ers from 2014-15.
The Raiders have hired Al Holcomb as a senior defensive assistant, Mike Garafolo of NFL Media reports.
New defensive coordinator Rob Leonard, a first-time coordinator who is 38, has never worked with Holcomb. But the fact that Holcomb is 55 and with coordinator experience gives Leonard somebody to lean on.
Holcomb was the Bills’ linebackers coach the past two seasons after one season as senior defensive assistant.
The Raiders have yet to announce a linebackers coach, but it does not appear Holcomb will serve as a position coach.
Holcomb began his NFL coaching career with the Giants in 2009, and spent four seasons there as a defensive quality control coach (2009-10) and a defensive assistant (2011-12). He was the linebackers coach with the Panthers from 2013-17 before going to the Cardinals as the defensive coordinator and assistant head coach.
Holcomb departed Arizona after one season and joined the Browns for one season as its linebackers coach and run game coordinator. He returned to Carolina for three seasons as defensive run game coordinator and then assistant head coach, defense in 2022 before the Panthers fired Matt Rhule, which led to Holcomb being named interim defensive coordinator.
Construction at the new Bills stadium was suspended on Monday after the discovery of graffiti.
Via WBEN.com, work stopped after graffiti was discovered at several locations within the facility. It’s believed the incident occurred over the weekend.
“Graffiti was found in both finished and unfinished areas of the stadium project site,” Gilbane|Turner, one of the lead contractors, said in a statement.
“We suspended work and launched a full investigation in partnership with trade contractors and unions to send a clear message about how seriously we take this matter. . . . Gilbane|Turner maintains zero tolerance for graffiti, vandalism or defacement of property on our project.
“This behavior is unacceptable and does not reflect the standards we expect on this project.”
No specifics were provided as to the contents of the graffiti.
The suspension comes after construction fell a “bit behind schedule” during the winter. The stadium is due to open for the 2026 season.
