Texans wide receiver Tank Dell has not played in an NFL game since December 2024, but a return to the lineup appears to be on the horizon.
Dell dislocated his kneecap and tore several ligaments in his knee during a game in Kansas City and missed all of last season while recovering from his injuries. Dell did limited work during the team’s offseason program this year and said over the weekend that he feels ready for a full plate when the team gets to training camp this summer.
“I always knew that’s the main thing, and I always kept that at the front of my head,” Dell said, via Aaron Wilson of KPRC. “It’s been a roller coaster ride, to say the least. It’s been a long journey, but I’m built for it, and I’m ready for it, and I was ready for it. I’m getting through it, and it’s light at the end of the tunnel, so I’m almost there.”
Dell was a 2023 third-round pick and he had 98 catches for 1,376 yards and 10 touchdowns in his first 25 NFL appearances. A return to past form would likely earn Dell a key spot in the team’s receiving group and would make for a happy ending to the painful interruption to his playing career.
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The new Patrick Mahomes contract covers eight seasons and averages, from signing, a payout of $63.093 million per year. That pushes the market to unprecedented heights. And it brings into focus the next wave of quarterback deals.
So let’s take a look at the quarterbacks who’ll use the Mahomes contract as a key data point for ongoing or upcoming negotiations.
Lamar Jackson, Ravens.
Jackson has wanted a new deal for more than a year. His current contract averaged $52.5 million per year from signing. At the time it was finalized, he was the highest paid player in the league. He has now slid down to the bottom of the top 10. Mahomes getting to $63.09 million, especially while still recovering from a torn ACL, will only strengthen Lamar’s resolve.
Jackson currently has $104 million remaining on his current contract, over the next two years. With a no-tag clause, he can kick the can through the next two seasons and become an unrestricted free agent. It gives him significant leverage, and Mahomes’s contract likely nudges Lamar’s reasonable expectations from at least $60.1 million per year (based on Dak Prescott’s latest deal) to at least $63.1 million annually.
Joe Burrow, Bengals.
In 2023, after his first three NFL seasons, Burrow agreed to a seven-year deal with an average from signing of $44.28 million per year and a new-money average of $55 million. He has four years left with a total payout of $163.539 million, an average of $40.88 million.
His recent restructuring was a cap-creation device, with no new money. The Bengals, who are extremely careful with money, may not be inclined to tear up the current deal and replace it with a new contract.
For his part, Burrow may not be inclined to extend his commitment to the team. His discontent after three straight non-playoff seasons has become more obvious. As he enters his seventh season in Cincinnati, Burrow could be thinking about reaching the same conclusion Carson Palmer did after his eighth.
Baker Mayfield, Buccaneers.
He has said talks on a deal that would extend his $33.3 million per year contract are nowhere close to where he thought they’d be. The Buccaneers could tag him in 2027, or they could let him hit the open market.
Some think the Bucs wouldn’t use the franchise tag; with a 2026 cap number of $39.975 million, Mayfield’s 2027 franchise tender would be at least $47.97 million. There’s a sense in some circles that the Bucs believe they’ll ultimately offer him more than anyone would in free agency, if a new deal isn’t done before Mayfield’s self-imposed deadline of the start of training camp.
C.J. Stroud.
The Texans repeatedly have proclaimed that he’s their guy. But they have yet to do for him what they’d done for cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. and defensive end Will Anderson — sign the first-round pick to a new deal before his fourth season.
The challenge at this point comes from putting a number on his second contract. There’s a broad range when it comes to veteran quarterback pay. Where would Stroud fit?
Currently, the number would be lower than it could be for Stroud, if he has a strong fourth season. Since the Texans realize that, at this point, they’d be only bidding against themselves, there’s no reason to rush the process.
Caleb Williams, Bears.
The first overall pick in the 2024 draft becomes eligible for a new deal after the 2026 regular season. And Williams has been very focused on the business realities of the NFL, from even before he was drafted.
When the time comes for Williams to get a new deal, the Mahomes number will drive the discussion. Especially if Williams continues to be on a trajectory that could put him among the top four or five quarterbacks in football.
We’ve already heard talk of Williams having expectations that would be more than eye-popping. And we also expect that Williams will make it known that he wants his contract not after the 2026 postseason ends, but promptly upon the opening of the window for a new deal after the Bears face the Vikings in Week 18.
Why carry the injury risk into the 2026 postseason? No quarterback on his rookie deal has tried to do that, even though the CBA wrinkle has been hiding in plain sight since 2011.
Jayden Daniels, Commanders.
Like Williams, Daniels becomes eligible for a new deal after the 2026 regular season. His main goal should be to reestablish himself after a disappointing and injury-plagued second season, during which he played only seven of 17 games.
If Daniels returns to his rookie form, he’ll be joining Williams as a quarterback looking for a second contract.
Drake Maye, Patriots.
The player who finished second in the MVP voting to cap his second season also has his window open after the 2026 regular season. And the Patriots will be hoping that, like Tom Brady before him, Maye will be less inclined to break the bank and more inclined to ensure that there will be cap space to have a quality team around him.
Brady, who entered the league as the 199th overall pick, had naturally lower expectations early in his career. Maye, the third overall pick who was denied the commensurate reward due to the rookie wage scale, may not be as charitable as Brady was.
Bo Nix, Broncos.
Nix’s window likewise opens after the 2026 regular season. He’ll need to show he has fully recovered from the foot injury suffered late in the AFC playoff win over the Bills. And he’ll need to do even more in Sean Payton’s offense to unlock a major deal.
Regardless, there’s a new high bar — and his contemporaries from the 2024 draft could add more data points.
That raises another question, as to Williams, Daniels, Maye, and Nix. Who goes first? There will be a competition among the agents to emerge with the best deal. This could prompt some of them to wait until the others jump in the pool first.
Sam Darnold, Seahawks.
Darnold’s three-year, $100.5 million contract from 2025 was structured to give the Seahawks an escape hatch after one year. It wasn’t structured to force the team back to the table if Darnold leads the team to a Super Bowl win.
With $27.5 million in base pay and up to $5 million in available incentives, Darnold would be justified to seek a new deal. The Seahawks may want to wait until 2027.
Regardless, Mahomes’s new contract will be a factor, whenever it’s time to sit down and work out a new contract.
More than 90 percent of the players selected in the 2026 NFL draft have signed their rookie contracts. Among the players who remain unsigned, there are two big clusters, at the top of the third round and the top of the fourth round.
The first six players drafted in the third round are still unsigned: Cardinals quarterback Carson Beck, Broncos defensive tackle Tyler Onyedim, Raiders defensive end Keyron Crawford, Eagles tackle Markel Bell, Bears tight end Sam Roush and 49ers edge rusher Romello Height.
The first seven players drafted in the fourth round are also unsigned: Raiders cornerback Jermond McCoy, Bills tackle Jude Bowry, Jets defensive tackle Darrell Jackson Jr., Cardinals defensive tackle Kaleb Proctor, Chargers wide receiver Brenen Thompson, Texans guard Febechi Nwaiwu and 49ers defensive tackle Gracen Halton.
Those 13 players make up the majority of the 2026 draft picks who haven’t signed their rookie contracts yet.
Bills General Manager Brandon Beane said on the team’s YouTube show that high third and fourth-round picks are encouraged by the players’ union to ask for contract provisions that the players in the previous round are getting.
“A lot of years it was the third round took forever,” Beane said. “The union is constantly trying to push down everything from the second round into the third round, and then the third round to make the fourth round better. In this CBA it feels like the fourth round has become more difficult.”
Beane said he understand why Bowry’s agent doesn’t want him to sign until he sees what other fourth-round picks can get, but he thinks it will work itself out before training camp.
“Sometimes agents are a little afraid to do something if the guy in front of them hasn’t done it,” Beane said. “They don’t want to look bad. It’s all recruiting. Jude’s been great. Until it’s done it’s not done, but we’re optimistic.”
A handful of first- and second-round picks also remain unsigned. Every player picked in the fifth, sixth and seventh rounds has signed.
Texans defensive end Will Anderson left no doubt about his expectations for the 2026 season when he spoke to reporters at OTAs last week.
Anderson said that the Texans “most definitely” have Super Bowl aspirations after advancing to the divisional round of the playoffs the last three seasons and that they “want to be a household name defense” as they make that run. Anderson received a massive contract extension to be the leader of both of those efforts earlier this offseason and he was asked if he feels more pressure to produce as a result of that pact.
“No, honestly, it didn’t add any pressure,” Anderson said. “I kind of changed my mind when I look at pressure. I always say, it’s not pressure, it’s an opportunity. It’s an opportunity to go out and continue to be yourself. I think now the only thing that’s risen is I want to hit that next stage of my game, not because of the contract, but because I owe it to myself because I know how much hard work I’ve put in. I know what I’ve put into this game, so that’s what I want for myself. It’s really nothing about the money, it’s just about the work that you’re putting in, the preparation and the process.”
It’s not hard to imagine Anderson making a run at winning defensive player of the year while at the forefront of one of the league’s top units, but the Texans’ bigger goals will take contributions on both sides of the ball. His fellow 2023 first-rounder C.J. Stroud will be central to the offensive side and his bid for an extension of his own is another case of opportunity knocking in Houston.
The NFL likes to boast about its growing popularity overseas, but there’s at least one sign that foreign fans are deciding NFL tickets aren’t worth the price.
Tickets to the October 18 Texans-Jaguars game at London’s Wembley Stadium are not selling well. General tickets have been on sale since May 29, and it remains easy on ticket sites to find large blocks of tickets available. Searching ticket sites, fans can find blocks of 12 seats together in many sections of the stadium.
The popular NFL UK Tickets social media account, which tracks ticket availability for NFL London games and is not affiliated with the league, posted a seating map showing many tickets remain unsold.
“Can’t actually believe how badly the Texans v Jaguars game has sold. Over a week of the general sale and this is a snap shot of what the stadium looks like. Gone are the days of selling out the first day, people voting with their feet and staying away due to price,” NFL UK Tickets posted.
Replies to that post show many UK-based fans saying the NFL has made tickets too expensive, with some saying it’s cheaper to fly to the United States to see an NFL game than to buy tickets in their own home country.
The NFL will play a record nine international games this year and plans even more next year, with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suggesting that the league may eventually play 16 games overseas, with every team leaving the country once. Poor ticket sales may be the only thing that could slow down the NFL’s aggressive international plans.
The Texans have agreed to terms with first-round offensive lineman Keylan Rutledge on his four-year rookie contract, Aaron Wilson of KPRC reports.
His signing leaves fourth-round offensive guard Febechi Nwaiwu as the final unsigned draft pick. Second-round defensive tackle Kayden McDonald, second-round tight end Marlin Klein, fourth-round linebacker Wade Woodaz, fifth-round safety Kamari Ramsey, sixth-round wide receiver Lewis Bond and seventh-round Aiden Fisher previously signed.
The Texans traded up two spots to draft Rutledge with the 26th overall pick out of Georgia Tech.
He can play center or guard and has spent the offseason working with the first-team at center.
Rutledge earned first-team All-ACC honors and was a third-team All-American.
The Texans announced a pair of roster moves on Thursday morning.
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They have signed tight end Louis Hansen to their 90-man roster. Wide receiver Jalen Walthall was waived in a corresponding move.
Hansen was undrafted out of the University of Connecticut earlier this year and he tried out for the Texans during their rookie minicamp. Hansen had 46 catches for 463 yards and four touchdowns over three seasons with the Huskies. He also played in three games over two years for Michigan prior to his transfer.
Walthall signed with the Texans in May. He was undrafted after playing at Incarnate Word and Hawaii.
The Texans signed undrafted free agent offensive lineman Derrick Graham on Tuesday, the team announced.
Graham recently worked out for the Texans.
He played for Texans offensive line coach and run game coordinator Cole Popovich at Troy University before transferring to Texas A&M and then following former Troy coach Jon Sumrall to Tulane. Graham is the son of Derrick Graham Sr., who played nine NFL seasons.
The Texans cut offensive guard Sidy Sow on Monday in a corresponding move.
Graham earned first-team all-conference at Tulane.
The outlook for Texans linebacker E.J. Speed’s recovery from a quadriceps injury is a little bleaker than it initially appeared to be.
Word last month was that Speed suffered a partial tear of his quad while lifting weights and that he’d be able to return to the field during the 2026 season. Speed went in for surgery and Aaron Wilson of KPRC reports that a further examination of the injury showed that he actually suffered a full tear.
The injury has been repaired surgically, but Speed is now expected to miss the entire season.
Speed started in nine of his 16 regular season appearances last season and played as a reserve in both of the team’s playoff outings. He had 65 tackles across all 18 games.
Azeez Al-Shaair and Henry To’oTo’o are in line to start at linebacker for Houston this fall. Jake Hansen, Marte Mapu, Jake Hummel, and fourth-round pick Wade Woodaz are among the team’s other options.
The Texans parted ways with offensive lineman Sidy Sow on Monday.
They announced that they have waived Sow off of their 90-man roster. They did not add anyone, so they have an open spot to fill on the roster at the moment.
Sow joined the Texans’ practice squad last year and made one start at guard in his two appearances for the team. The 2023 fourth-round pick started 14 games for the Patriots over the course of his first two NFL seasons.
Wyatt Teller, Ed Ingram, Evan Brown, first-round pick Keylan Rutledge, and fourth-round pick Febechi Nwaiwu remain in the mix at guard for the Texans.
