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 Clips
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.
They have to install playing surfaces that meet exacting standards. They have to change the names of the facilities. They have to shut down all other business (such as major concerts) for the duration of the World Cup.
Given the hoops through which the 11 NFL stadiums will have to jump in order to placate FIFA, it’s fair to ask whether it’s worth it.
Ben Volin of the Boston Globe recently took a look at that question. Said an NFL official from a team that won’t be hosting any of the World Cup games, “I know more than a few teams weren’t disappointed to lose the bid.”
That could be sour grapes, because those who won the right to host the matches are crowing about it.
“Can’t sleep,” Cowboys owner and G.M. Jerry Jones said recently, per Volin. “This is a great chance to associate with the worldwide love with soccer, and lets us put a little notch on our belt and share it with what soccer’s about, too. They’ll never be able to take away that we held those games in that stadium.”
Cowboys executive Stephen Jones echoed the sentiment: “We’ll be shut down all summer. But it’s worth it. I mean, this is about brand and, you know, being a part of something special.”
The Joneses wanted to host the matches badly enough to give up their suite for the matches.
“I think I’ve got to go someplace else, but that was a part of it,” Jerry Jones said. “We did a lot of things to make this work.”
The Cowboys, Patriots, Falcons, Texans, Chargers/Rams, Giants/Jets, Chiefs, Seahawks, 49ers, Dolphins, and Eagles will be hosting World Cup games in their stadiums.
The total revenue is projected, per Volin, to be roughly $11 billion. FIFA will pay rent for the stadiums, while keeping the revenue from sponsorships, tickets, suites, merchandise, concessions, and parking.
So how much will the teams get for hosting the World Cup? Per Volin, the terms “have been kept under wraps.”
Given that folks like Jones are not known for doing bad deals, they’ll surely be making more money to host the World Cup matches than they would have made in a normal summer.
Still, it’s a headache. Extra work, extra expenses, extra hassles.
Not to mention the P.R. bruise that comes from the perception/reality that NFL owners who are giving FIFA the surfaces it demands while stubbornly refusing to do the same for pro football players.
Now that the Supreme Court has declined to accept the NFL’s last-ditch effort to force all or part of the Brian Flores case into arbitration, the litigation will finally get going.
And the going could get nasty.
By way of background, I have handled many employment cases. From both sides. After working for years at a firm that focused on representing corporate clients that had been sued (no matter how strong or weak a given case may have been), I decided that I was more interested in representing individuals who had cases I believed to be strong.
So I’ve been there, done that. Many times.
Here’s the reality. No company that has been sued for wrongful termination will admit it. The witnesses will have locked into their stories months before it’s time to take the oath to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Proving that the party line is essentially a lie requires a relentless pursuit of circumstantial evidence to contradict the predictable denial of discrimination, retaliation, etc. (For example, if the plaintiff was fired for violating a specific workplace rule, it’s useful to show that others violated the same rule, without being fired or even disciplined.)
This means that, in the Flores case, his lawyers will aggressively pursue deposition testimony from a wide range of witnesses from the league office and the various teams that have been sued (so far, the Dolphins, Broncos, Giants, Texans, Cardinals, and Titans). Plenty of the witnesses (starting with the Commissioner and any owners) will not react well to being verbally poked, prodded, and pressed for anything beyond the predictable default position: “we didn’t do anything wrong.” These witnesses will emerge from the deposition process feeling anywhere from frustrated to flat-out pissed off.
Flores (along with the other plaintiffs, Steve Wilks and Ray Horton) will deal with the same kind of thing. The lawyers representing the NFL and its teams will look for anything they can find to make them look bad. They’ll dig and dig and dig some more to make the process as uncomfortable as it can be. They’ll throw mud at the wall. They’ll throw mud directly at the plaintiffs. They’ll try to catch them in any potential misstatement, big or small, that could then be characterized at trial as a lie.
In the deposition process, there’s a wide range of latitude when questioning a witness. With no jury present, the lawyers don’t have to worry about being so aggressive (to the point of being openly hostile) that it may alienate the people who will decide the case.
This is what I’d typically say to anyone who was interested in suing a current or former employer: “Think of the worst thing about yourself that you wouldn’t want other people to know. You don’t have to tell me what it is. Just think of what it is. Then, think of what would happen if that thing became public. And then assume that, at some point during this litigation, it will.”
The unofficial playbook for lawyers defending corporate clients against claims of illegal employment practices includes turning the tables on the plaintiff in the hopes of making the plaintiff look as bad as possible when it’s time to present the case to a jury. It gets messy. It gets ugly. And, like the Commissioner and owners who are questioned by Flores’s lawyers, Flores will emerge from his deposition feeling anywhere from frustrated to flat-out pissed off.
That’s how it goes. The discovery process becomes the legal equivalent of a street fight. Which could be bad for the league, the teams, and/or Flores, Wilks, and Horton.
As the snippets of deposition testimony come to light, it will be very good for my current business.
