Before 2011, first-round draft picks rarely agreed to terms on their rookie deals before the Fourth of July. Nowadays, plenty of them sign before Memorial Day.
On Friday, Titans receiver Carnell Tate, the fourth overall pick in the 2026 draft, agreed to terms on his slotted four-year deal.
Like all first-round picks, it’s fully guaranteed.
The contract pays out $51,134,914, with a $33,649,028 signing bonus.
The value of the first-round deals is driven by the spot in which the player was drafted. There’s not much to negotiate. Which has resulted in more and more rookie deals being negotiated quickly.
Tate’s deal put the second (Jets edge rusher David Bailey), third (Cardinals running back Jeremiyah Love) and fourth (Tate) picks under contract. Raiders quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the first overall pick, has not yet signed.
The Titans were awarded wide receiver Courtney Jackson off waivers on Friday.
The Giants waived Jackson on Thursday after he signed a futures contract with the team earlier this offseason.
Jackson spent last season on the Seahawks’ practice squad.
The Broncos signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2025.
Jackson has never played a regular-season NFL game.
The Titans also announced they waived receiver Hal Presley in a corresponding move.
Exactly one month to the day since the first photos of Patriots coach and NFL reporter Dianna Russini emerged, TMZ has supplemented its report regarding the renting of a boat by the pair in June 2021 with a video of them on the dock.
On the surface, the video doesn’t add much to the broader story. Yes, it confirms the accuracy of the prior TMZ account. But it doesn’t tell anyone anything new.
Here’s the broader point, which the TMZ reporting on the Vrabel-Russini situation reconfirms: It’s not going away, and multiple outlets will continue to look for more.
What else is out there? Given that much of the evidence published to date shows little effort to be discreet or secretive, there could be plenty. And it could continue to drip, one drop at a time.
The broader question is whether and when Russini will tell her story. If/when she does, it will be tested against the information already available — and it will invite ongoing efforts to find anything that may contradict whatever she says.
As it relates to Vrabel, there’s the question of whatever he has said privately to explain the situation to his wife and family. If, as could be reasonably expected, a full account of the extent of the relationship was demanded and if the story omitted the Tennessee boat excursion while Russini was noticeably pregnant, that’s another issue Vrabel will have to navigate while focusing on preparations for the 2026 season.
At some point, it could become impossible to balance the issues in his personal life with a job that, once training camp opens, will consume his life. That’s why each additional development matters. And why, at this point, it would be foolish to assume there won’t be more.
Titans quarterback Cam Ward is learning a new offense before his second NFL season and that process appears to be going well.
Offensive coordinator Brian Daboll is responsible for the construction of the scheme that the Titans are going to run this season and he said that the first overall pick of the 2025 draft has proven to be a quick study in their time working together.
“He is a young professional,” Daboll said, via the team’s website. “He wants to be great. He is instinctive. When we are just watching the tape, he is able to communicate the things that he sees and why he did certain things when we watch the tape from last year. When we are installing the new system to him, concepts and things like that, he is able to pick things up very quickly. It has been awesome to work with him.”
Ward and Daboll will have a lot more time to work on honing the quarterback’s fit in the offense and the hope is that the new approach and changes to the roster lead to more positive results than Ward experienced last year.
The Vikings are not officially announcing their interviews for General Manager, but three more candidates for the role have now been reported.
According to multiple reports, Minnesota has put in an interview request for Titans assistant G.M. Dave Ziegler and 49ers assistant G.M. RJ Gillen. Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports notes the Vikings have also put in a request for Chargers assistant G.M. Chad Alexander.
Of this group, Ziegler has previous G.M. experience, having served in that role for the Raiders in 2022 and 2023. He was fired midway through his second season, along with former head coach Josh McDaniels.
Gillen has spent the last 11 seasons with the 49ers. He was promoted to assistant G.M. last year after serving as director of player personnel for two years.
Alexander has been the Chargers’ assistant G.M. since 2024. He was previously with the Ravens’ personnel department from 1999-2018 before serving as Jets director of player personnel from 2019-2023.
