The Steelers are still waiting for word on quarterback Aaron Rodgers’s plans for the 2026 season, but they have reportedly moved to add another of head coach Mike McCarthy’s former charges to the roster.
Longtime Steelers reporter Mark Kaboly reports that they have agreed to sign offensive lineman Brock Hoffman.
Hoffman was not tendered by the Cowboys as a restricted free agent earlier this year. He joined the Cowboys in 2022 and played under McCarthy until the coach parted ways with the team after the 2024 season.
Hoffman played 54 games over four seasons in Dallas, including every game over the last three seasons. He started 16 of those contests.
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The Lions have added some defensive depth.
Detroit announced on Friday that the club has signed lineman Payton Turner.
Turner, 27, was with the Cowboys last season. But he missed the year after being placed on injured reserve in late August after suffering a rib injury.
A former first-round pick, Turner spent his first four seasons with New Orleans. His most productive year was in 2024, when he appeared in 16 games and recorded 21 total tackles with 2.0 sacks.
In his 31 career contests, Turner has tallied 5.0 sacks, 11 tackles for loss, and 11 quarterback hits.
Wide receiver T.Y. Hilton has not played in an NFL game since he was with the Cowboys in 2022, so most people probably assumed that he had retired some time ago.
Hilton erased any doubts that might have been lingering on Wednesday. He formally announced his retirement in a post to X.com that thanked the Colts, the Cowboys, fans who supported him, his teammates and his family.
The Colts drafted Hilton in the third round in 2012 and he spent 10 years with the team. Hilton posted at least 1,000 receiving yards in five of those seasons and led the league in receiving yards during the 2016 season. He was a four-time Pro Bowl selection during his time in Indianapolis and closed out his time with the team with the third-most catches and receiving yards in franchise history.
Hilton had 631 catches for 9,691 yards and 53 touchdowns while with the Colts.
Hilton went unsigned for most of the 2022 season, but played three games for Dallas late in the season. His first catch for the team went for 52 yards and he finished the year with seven receptions for 121 yards.
The Bears announced a pair of additions to their defense on Wednesday afternoon.
In addition to the previously reported signing of defensive lineman James Lynch, they also announced that they have signed linebacker Jack Sanborn to a one-year deal.
Sanborn spent the first three years of his NFL career in Chicago, but left to sign with the Cowboys last year. He started five of the six games he played in Dallas and recorded 34 tackles before missing the rest of the season with a groin injury.
Sanborn had 198 tackles, 4.5 sacks, an interception, and a fumble recovery in 48 games for the Bears during his first stint with the team.
The Cowboys released linebacker Logan Wilson last month and he won’t be joining another team for the 2026 season.
Wilson, who will turn 30 this summer, announced his retirement in a post to his Instagram account on Wednesday.
Wilson’s retirement message focused on gratitude for his time with the Bengals. They selected Wilson in the third round of the 2020 NFL Draft and Wilson played with the team until he was traded to Dallas during the 2025 season.
Wilson started 65 of the 76 games he played in Cincinnati and left the team with 541 tackles, 11 interceptions, 5.5 sacks, six forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries. He had 24 tackles and a forced fumble in seven games for the Cowboys.
The Lions signed unrestricted free agent Damone Clark on Wednesday, the team announced.
Clark, 25, finished last season with the Texans, who claimed him off waivers from the Cowboys on Nov. 19.
In six games with Houston, Clark played 23 defensive snaps and 131 on special teams. He made 14 tackles.
The Cowboys made Clark a fifth-round pick in 2020, and he started 17 games for the team in 2023 when he posted 109 tackles and three quarterback hits.
Clark will replace Grant Stuard as a core special teams player. Stuard, who led the team in special teams snaps last season, left in free agency. Clark will join a linebackers room with Jack Campbell, Derrick Barnes, Malcolm Rodriguez and Trevor Nowaske.
Clark has appeared in 55 career games with 26 starts and has totaled 190 total tackles, six tackles for loss, four pass defenses and two forced fumbles.
Cornerback Reddy Steward wasn’t able to talk to other teams after being tendered by the Cowboys as an exclusive rights free agent and he’s now officially back on the roster in Dallas.
The Cowboys announced that Steward has signed his tender. He will make just over $1 million under the terms of the contract.
Steward was claimed off of waivers by the Vikings last August and he went on to appear in every game for the team during the regular season. Steward started in five of those contests.
Steward, who also played one game for the Bears in 2024, finished the year with 63 tackles, 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble.
The 2026 NFL draft is still more than a month away, but five teams have already accumulated two first-round picks.
The Dolphins became the latest team to get a second first-rounder when they agreed to trade wide receiver Jaylen Waddle to the Broncos. Miami will have its own pick (No. 11 overall) as well as Denver’s pick (No. 30).
The Jets have their own pick (No. 2) and the Colts’ pick (No. 16) from the Sauce Gardner trade.
The Cowboys have their own pick (No. 12) and the Packers’ pick (No. 20) from the Micah Parsons trade.
The Browns have their own pick (No. 6) and the Jaguars’ pick (No. 24) from the draft-day trade a year ago that allowed the Jaguars to move up to draft Travis Hunter.
The Chiefs have their own pick (No. 9) and the Rams’ pick (No. 29) from the Trent McDuffie trade.
A sixth team was poised to get a second first-round pick when the Raiders agreed to trade Maxx Crosby to the Ravens, but that trade fell through and the Ravens kept their first-round pick.
Five teams don’t have a first-round pick: The Broncos, Falcons, Colts, Packers and Jaguars.
The teams with two first-round picks all missed the playoffs last season and are attempting to rebuild their roster. A draft with two first-round picks is a big part of the rebuilding process.
Offensive lineman T.J. Bass won’t be leaving the Cowboys as a restricted free agent.
Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that Bass has signed the tender that the Cowboys extended before the start of the league year.
Bass was tendered at the second-round level, which would have required a team to send that pick to the Cowboys as compensation for signing him away. That likely helped lead to the decision to sign the tender, which sets Bass up to make $5.76 million for the 2026 season.
Bass has played in 48 games for the Cowboys over the last three seasons. He started 10 of those contests and is in line to be a top reserve in Dallas again this year.
Cowboys owner and General Manager Jerry Jones says the moves his team has made to bolster its defense have the potential to turn the franchise around.
Jones said for as long as he’s been owner of the Cowboys, he hasn’t seen one aspect of the team improve at the start of free agency the way the Cowboys’ defense has improved this month.
“What we’ve done on defense, plus what we have set up for the draft, plus what we have coming back from our veteran defensive players that really didn’t play that much last year, injury issues, things like that, gives us a lot of promise,” Jones said. “When you have the challenges we had last year, there’s no place to go but up on the defensive side of the ball. Had we played a lick of defense last year, we would’ve had ourselves, I think, a real playoff run.”
This month the Cowboys have traded for pass rusher Rashan Gary, and signed free agent defensive end Otito Ogbonnia, safety Jalen Thompson, cornerback Cobie Durant, safety P.J. Locke and outside linebacker Tyrus Wheat. Jones went into the offseason knowing he needed to improve his defense, and he thinks he’s done so.
