Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson is the ultimate team player. And he’d ultimately never say publicly if he wanted to be traded to a new team.
Teams looking for a receiver should make the call.
Few players are untouchable, when it comes to a trade. And even if the Vikings would hang up the phone and not listen, teams that need a high-end pass-catcher should try.
The Rams currently are in a pickle, thanks to the placement of Puka Nacua on injured reserve, where he joins Davante Adams. The Chiefs could use help at the position, too.
Ditto for the Steelers, who (like the Chiefs and Commanders) have interest in Jaguars receiver Brian Thomas Jr.
Then there are the 49ers, who are always lurking when it comes to possibly making a big move.
Regardless, it makes sense to make the call. If the Vikings aren’t going to make a move for a functional quarterback, they should stockpile picks and give Jefferson a chance to chase the championship that won’t happen in Minnesota — especially if they waste his seventh season by not upgrading at the quarterback position.
Yes, a trade would come with a 2027 cap charge. The Vikings also would avoid the $30 million he’s due to make in 2027, and the upgrade to meet the increased market that he surely already wants.
At the end of the day, it’s one or the other. Trade for a better quarterback, or trade Jefferson to another team. Of the available options, doing neither makes the least sense.
Steelers Clips
The NFL announced a couple of changes to kickoff times for Week 11 of the 2026 season.
The Jaguars and Giants were originally scheduled to start their game at MetLife Stadium at 1 p.m. ET on November 22, but the game will now get underway at 4:25 p.m. ET. The Steelers’ visit to Philadelphia to face the Eagles was set for that time and it will now take over the 1 p.m. slot.
Both games will still be broadcast by CBS and the Jaguars-Giants contest is now set to be the network’s national game during that window. It’s a sensible change as both teams are leading their divisions while the Eagles, who have a bye in Week 10, will carry a seven-game losing streak into their matchup with the Steelers.
A Raiders-Broncos game in Denver will also start at 4:25 p.m. ET and the Jets-Chargers game in Los Angeles will be the lone 4:05 p.m. ET start that weekend.
Hall of Fame linebacker Jack Ham, who now serves as a radio analyst for Penn State football, was hospitalized in Seattle on Saturday after experiencing a medical emergency.
Penn State coach Matt Campbell said after the 28-25 win over Washington that Ham was assisted by play-by-play announcer Steve Jones.
“If it’s not for Steve, what he did, I don’t know if we have as good a news as we do right now,” Campbell said, via Adam Rittenberg of ESPN. Campbell added that Jones’s efforts to save Ham were “heroic.”
Ham is in stable condition.
Ham, 77, has served as the Penn State radio analyst since 2000. He won four Super Bowls, made eight straight Pro Bowls, and was named first-team All-Pro six consecutive times in a 12-year career with the Steelers.
Ham was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1988, after retiring from football in 1982.
Browns defensive end Jared Verse is getting upset.
Well, even more upset.
Verse, who was miffed at being dumped on his head by Steelers guard Mason McCormick on an extra-point try last Sunday — and at his teammates for not rushing to his defense, will surely be unhappy to learn that the NFL didn’t fine McCormick for his WWE move.
McCormick was flagged for unnecessary roughness on the play.
It’s unclear why the league didn’t fine McCormick. The league never explains the basis for not imposing a financial penalty on a given player.
Regardless, the league was as unbothered by the play as the other Browns players were. And it’s likely that Verse will have something to say about it after Sunday’s game at the Saints.
The NFL Players Association announced on Friday that they have named Steelers long snapper Christian Kuntz their Community MVP for Week 9 of the 2026 season.
Kuntz recently donated $10,000 to Pittsburgh Morrow school to help open a resource room that will benefit more than 200 students every month. Kuntz also helped stock that room with clothing and food while his foundation hosted its inaugural Kuntz 4 Ki6s Halloween Bash for 80 children from nine local nonprofit organizations.
“I am incredibly honored to be named this week’s NFLPA Community MVP,” Kuntz said. “Pittsburgh is home to me, and being able to make a positive impact in the community that I grew up in is extra special. Football has given us this platform, and I believe it’s important to use that to make a difference beyond the field.”
The NFLPA will donate $10,000 to Kuntz’s foundation and he will join the other weekly MVPs in being eligible for the Alan Page Award at the end of the season.
The Ravens haven’t had much to celebrate Thursday night, but Derrick Henry gave the home fans something to cheer.
Henry had 51 first-half rushing yards, which was enough to move him into seventh on the all-time rushing list. He passed Jerome Bettis (13,662) and LaDainian Tomlinson (13,684) in moving from ninth to seventh.
Curtis Martin is next on the list, with his 14,101 career rushing yards ranking sixth all time.
Henry entered the night with 632 yards for the season and 13,650 in his career.
Over the past four seasons, Henry has averaged 1,578 yards. He has averaged 85 yards per game in his career.
Henry will need to play another three to four years to break Emmitt Smith’s record of 18,355 yards.
Smith was 35 years old in his final season of 2004. Henry turns 33 in January.
Smith said earlier this year that he believes Henry has a chance to break his record.
Browns defensive end Jared Verse was picked up and thrown to the ground by Steelers guard Mason McCormick on Sunday, and McCormick wasn’t the only person Verse was upset with afterward.
Verse told reporters in Cleveland today that he was upset both by McCormick’s cheap shot and by his teammates’ reaction, or lack thereof. Verse thought the rest of the Browns’ players should have had his back, and didn’t.
“To be quite honest with you, that was the play that made me really angry,” Verse said. “I was already upset about the game, the way things were moving, but at that point it became deep. You’re doing dirty shit, you’re trying to sweep my legs out. That honestly could have put me in a position to not be able to finish the season, put me in a position to change my life in a very bad aspect, so that upset me. The lack of reaction by those around me had upset me a lot. They were focused on the game and everything like that, but a similar play happened to Derek Barnett on the next field goal, and I spazzed, I lost it. Because those are my brothers, those are my teammates, and when you do something like that to them, it upsets me deeply. We have to get better, we have to be aware. These are my teammates, these are my brothers, and we’re not fighting for each other.”
Verse said he addressed his feelings with his teammates. Verse did acknowledge that he brought some of it on himself by the trash talk he was directing at the Steelers, but he still felt that his teammates should have protected him when it escalated from verbal to physical.
“That’s a conversation that we’ve had, we’ve spoken about,” Verse said. “I made my concerns known, I’ve made my issues known about the situation, but also, I didn’t put them in a position to let them know that, I didn’t let them know beforehand I was going to talk to the Steelers and Steeler Nation. I’ve got to be better.”
Verse, the 2024 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year who arrived in Cleveland in the trade that sent Myles Garrett to the Rams, has been a disappointment this season. His teammates may be wishing he’d focus a little less on talking trash and getting into altercations on the field, and a little more on sacking the opposing quarterback — something he hasn’t done yet this season.
Let Russ coach.
Former NFL quarterback Russell Wilson, who’s in his first year as a member of The NFL Today on CBS, is exploring a possible Saturday gig.
Via Adam Schefter of ESPN, Wilson interviewed on Tuesday for the head-coaching vacancy at NC State.
Wilson spent four years at NC State, from 2007 through 2010, before transferring to Wisconsin after the Wolfpack opted to go with Mike Glennon for 2011.
The 10-time Pro Bowler has no coaching experience. The reported favorite for the job, former NFL and NC State quarterback Philip Rivers, has high-school coaching experience only.
If nothing else, the interview puts Wilson on the radar screen for other coaching jobs, at the college and pro level. His potential aspirations to coach were not, before now, widely known.
Browns defensive end Jared Verse gave the Steelers some fuel ahead of Sunday’s games by sharing his thoughts about the team being dirty and vowing to “make Pittsburgh ours” in Week 8.
That’s not how things played out. Verse assisted on one tackle in the Steelers’ 27-6 home win. Steelers players took some pleasure in roasting Verse after the game and dropping him on his head during it, but neither the result nor the Steelers’ reactions caused Verse to rethink his approach to the Browns’ longtime antagonists.
“I stand by everything I say, and as a man you have to naturally do that,” Verse said, via Ashley Bastock of Cleveland.com. “I think we could have definitely did more to just to present ourselves as the team that we are. I don’t know who the hell that team was that walked out there that presented themselves. We didn’t do enough across the board, from the first quarter to the last quarter.”
Verse won’t see the Steelers again this season unless the two teams meet in the playoffs and the Browns’ chances of getting there would be improved if Verse can find a way to make an impact on the field rather than on the bulletin board. He has 18 tackles and no sacks on the season, which certainly isn’t the kind of production the Browns were hoping to see from a player they had high hopes for after acquiring him in the offseason trade of Myles Garrett to the Rams.
Contenders usually aren’t sellers at the trade deadline. But the Jaguars have a receiver who, for whatever reason, hasn’t really clicked with the coaching staff that arrived in 2025.
As a result, 2024 first-rounder Brian Thomas Jr. has interest in a fresh start. And multiple teams are believed to be interested in acquiring him.
Currently, the Chiefs, Steelers, and Commanders have interest.
The Steelers, we’re told, have greater interest in Colts receiver Josh Downs. Downs, however, is Kansas City’s Plan B, if they can’t get Thomas away from the Jaguars.
Thomas had 1,282 receiving yards as a rookie. In 2025, his output dipped to 707 yards. This year, Thomas has 10 catches for 117 yards and two touchdowns.
During Sunday’s 42-7 romp over the Colts, Thomas was targeted twice, catching one pass for 12 yards and the first touchdown of the day.
The Jaguars have no real incentive to move him, unless they get a big offer. The problem is that their price tag doesn’t reflect his current usage.
Beyond the question of whether they’d trade him at all is whether they’d send him to an AFC contender.
The Commanders aren’t much of a contender at all this season; they’d presumably want Thomas for 2027 and, once the fifth-year option is exercised, 2028.
Still, trading him carries risk. If, once he’s gone, Jakobi Meyers or Parker Washington get injured, the Jaguars will wish they still had him.
