The Lions have reached a deal with their second free agent defensive back of the week.
Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reports that they have agreed to sign cornerback Roger McCreary. It is a one-year deal for McCreary, who joins Christian Izien as newcomers to the defensive backfield in Detroit.
McCreary was a Titans 2022 second-round pick and he played in 55 games for the team before being traded to the Rams during the 2025 season. McCreary had 12 tackles for the Rams in nine games across the regular season and playoffs. He had 253 tackles, three interceptions, four sacks, and a forced fumble while in Tennessee.
Terrion Arnold, D.J. Reed, Ennis Rakestraw, Khalil Dorsey, Rock-Ya Sin, and Nick Whiteside are also on hand at cornerback for the Lions.
Rams Clips
In the past, the NFL sold the Week 1 international game on a one-off basis. This year, that’s changing.
John Ourand of Puck reports in the latest edition of his Varsity newsletter that the 49ers-Rams game in Melbourne has been folded into a package of five or six total games.
Per Ourand, Fox and YouTube were interested in the Melbourne game. Now, whoever gets it will be buying other games, too.
As Ourand surmises, the four international games that flowed back to the NFL as part of the ESPN merger presumably will be included in the new package. The possible (which is more fairly termed “likely”) Thanksgiving Eve game could be part of it, too.
It could result in a payday landing somewhere between $500 million and $1 billion, over and above the billions the NFL will receive from its existing broadcast-rights packages.
The package is being sold at a time when the league is believed to be negotiating an extension of the broader deal with CBS, with the possible plan to move on to Fox and the other companies that currently hold the rights to the existing windows.
The NFL plans to play the Melbourne game on either Wednesday, September 9, or Thursday, September 10, with the Seahawks’ home opener landing on the other day.
Then there’s the question of whether the NFL will find another new standalone window or two. Christmas Eve is surely already in play this year, since it lands on a Thursday. How about Christmas Eve Eve? Or another stray Wednesday — like, say, Wednesday, November 11 (Veterans Day)?
The league is looking for more and more ways to stuff cheese into its 11-figure pizza. Mark Cuban once said of the NFL appetite for expanding into more nights of the week, “Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.”
The more accurate phrase seems to be this: Pigs get fat, hogs get fatter, whales get fattest.
For their first four pro seasons, Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson were teammates on the Chiefs.
Now they’ll continue to be teammates on the West Coast, as the Rams traded for McDuffie and signed Watson in free agency as the club looks to reshape and improve its secondary in 2026.
In his introductory press conference with Los Angeles media on Thursday, McDuffie said he’s glad to continue playing alongside Watson.
“I was stoked,” McDuffie said of hearing the news Watson would be joining him in L.A. “I was calling him two days before they even signed him like, ‘Bro, you never know. We might get you. We might get you. Keep an open mind.’ Literally, it dropped, and I called him again like Puka [Nacua] screaming at the top of my lungs like, ‘Look at this! Can you believe it?’
“He’s one of those guys that I love to tell his story. He is a seventh-round pick. Not a lot of people believed in him. He worked hard day in day out. Again, he’s one of those guys that was able to live out his dreams as a Kansas City Chief. The relationship and the respect I have for ‘J-Wat’ knowing what he’s going to bring to this team, the hard work, the grit, the attitude and the overall swag of being a football player. I think it would be really helpful having both of us in here adding to the culture.”
As for Watson, he called it “the best feeling ever” to continue playing with McDuffie.
“You don’t come in feeling like you don’t know anyone,” Watson said. “It’s not only just any teammate. It’s one of my closest teammates from my previous team. I was super excited. I’m super happy to share the field with him and hopefully we can do some great things here.
“When you play with a corner that good, it raises your level of play,” Watson added. “Whether you are watching him in a game, you are just stealing the little things from him. Watching him in practice reps, it makes you want to play to a higher level.”
The relocated flag football tournament, which has moved from Saudi Arabia to L.A. due to the war in the Middle East, has added more participants.
Via Sports Business Journal, Fanatics announced the full roster of players earlier this week.
In addition to the active NFL players previously named (Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, Eagles running back Saquon Barkley), more current pro football players will take part: Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty, Eagles receiver DeVonta Smith, Saints running back Alvin Kamara, Rams receiver Davante Adams, 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk, Chargers safety Derwin James Jr., and Steelers safety Jalen Ramsey.
Several current free agents also will play: Von Miller, DeAndre Hopkins, Deebo Samuel, and Stefon Diggs.
The recent pivot to the inclusion of the U.S. men’s national flag football team as one of the three teams in the tournament likely will make the tournament more competitive. The flag players will hope to show they are better suited to represent the United States in the Olympics in 2028.
That will do nothing to reduce the risk of injury associated with the event. If the free agents haven’t signed by March 21, any sort of injury could complicate their effort to find a new NFL team.
And, yes, the risk of injury is lower than the risk they assume when suiting up and playing full-contact tackle football. There’s still risk, as promising young NFL running back Robert Edwards once learned the very hard way.
The two teams of current and former NFL players and various non-football players will be picked from the pool of players on March 19.
Tom Brady is the ringleader of the tournament. And, as one team executive recently opined, there’s no way Tom Brady would be playing in a flag football tournament if he was still playing in the NFL.
Regardless, the flag football tournament, which will be televised by Fox, could be interesting extra-screen viewing during the second round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
The Cowboys hope to have a better defense in 2026 and they have added another piece they hope helps them accomplish that goal.
Agent Malki Kawa told Adam Schefter of ESPN that cornerback Cobie Durant has agreed to a deal in Dallas. It’s a one-year pact worth up to $5.5 million.
Durant was a 2022 fourth-round pick in Los Angeles and has been a regular in the Rams’ secondary since entering the league. He had 40 tackles, three interceptions and a fumble recovery in 2025.
The Rams moved in a different direction at corner by acquiring Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson this week, so Durant will move on to Dallas to try to boost their pass defense.
The Dolphins have added a pair of players on Thursday afternoon.
Miami has agreed to terms with receiver Tutu Atwell and cornerback Marco Wilson, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Atwell, 26, was a second-round pick in the 2021 draft, spending his first five seasons with the Rams. He was on the field for 10 games in 2025, catching just six passes for 192 yards with one touchdown.
He’s appeared in 64 games with 27 starts in his career, recording 105 catches for 1,535 yards with five TDs.
Wilson, 27, appeared in four games for the Bengals last season. A fourth-round pick in 2021, Wilson has totaled 20 passes defensed with three interceptions in his 64 career games.
Yes, quarterback Kyler Murray will visit the Vikings on Thursday — his agent, Erik Burkhardt, has confirmed that to NFL Media.
But here’s the interesting twist, via Tom Pelissero of NFL Media: Burkhardt told him that Murray plans to meet by Zoom on Wednesday night and Thursday with executives from three to five teams that potentially have a quarterback need in 2027.
Possibilities (as we see it) include the Jets, the Steelers, the Browns, the Falcons, and the Rams.
It gives Murray an opportunity to get a head start on free agency next year, which underscores the likelihood he’ll sign a one-year, $1.3 million deal for 2026.
That makes a no-tag clause critical. He needs to be able to hit the market next year, if for whatever reason he plays well and doesn’t get a solid offer to stick around with the Vikings, or whoever he signs with.
The Vikings continue to be the clear favorite. There’s really no one else. And, as of last season near the trade deadline, the Vikings were one of the teams in which Murray was interested.
Quarterback Kyler Murray is currently a free agent. That may not last long.
John Gambadoro of 98.7 FM in Phoenix reports that Murray will visit the Vikings on Thursday.
From Gambadoro’s tweet: “A starting spot is a priority, and Minnesota does offer that and a deal could be done in the next 24 hours. But Murray and his camp are expected to explore several options as a backup in 2026 for teams that could need a starting QB in 2027 over the next 24 hours.”
One team that has interest in Murray as a backup for 2026, we hear, is the Rams. And with Matthew Stafford on a year-to-year plan, L.A. could need a starter by 2027.
Still, as immediate starting options go, the Vikings present the best opportunity. Unless the Steelers snap out of their Aaron Rodgers 2.0 fever dream.
Murray’s appeal, beyond his skills, comes from his availability at only $1.3 million for 2026. He should insist on a no-tag clause for 2027, so that he’ll have maximum leverage if he plays in 2026 like he did in the early years of his career.
Johnny Mundt wasn’t unemployed for long.
Cut by the Jaguars on Monday after completing one year of a two-year deal with the Jaguars, Mundt has signed with the Eagles.
Via Mike Garafolo of NFL Media, it’s a one-year deal.
Mundt, 31, spent his first five seasons with the Rams, arriving as an undrafted free agent. He played the next four in Minnesota, before signing in Jacksonville a year ago.
He was a member of the Super Bowl LVI championship team, but he had landed on injured reserve in October with a torn ACL.
The hiring of Sean Mannion as Philly’s offensive coordinator makes Mundt a logical fit; he knows the offense that Mannion will be bringing from L.A.
Before free agency, it was widely believed that the Cardinals would make a play for quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. And they did.
But they agreed to terms with quarterback Gardner Minshew instead.
So what happened? Via Ben Volin of the Boston Globe, talks between the Cardinals and Garoppolo “hit a snag.” That prompted the Cardinals to pivot to Minshew.
The Rams have said they’d like to have Garoppolo back. He has served as the primary backup to Matthew Stafford for the past two years.
Regardless, the most clear alternative for Garoppolo didn’t come to fruition. He remains free to talk to any team, and to come to terms whenever and wherever he wants.
