The Rams will not have one of their starting cornerbacks for the rest of the year.
Head coach Sean McVay announced in his Wednesday press conference that Jaylen Watson will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery.
“It’s the right thing to do for him, even though it sucks because he’s been a real bright spot for us,” McVay said, via Greg Beacham of the Associated Press.
Watson, who signed with the Rams as a free agent in the offseason, recorded 24 tackles with nine passes defensed and one interception in seven games.
In his 60 career games for Kansas City and Los Angeles, he’s tallied 33 passes defensed and four interceptions.
The Commanders have lost a pair of defensive tackles to season-ending injuries and they added one to help fill out the ranks on Wednesday.
They announced that they have signed defensive tackle Ricky Barber off of the practice squad. Javon Kinlaw and Daron Payne both landed on injured reserve due to season-ending injuries this week.
Barber signed with the Commanders as an undrafted free agent in 2025 and appeared in two games. He had five tackles and a sack in that action, but has not been elevated to the active roster yet this year.
The Commanders also announced that they have signed defensive tackle Daniel Ekuale to their practice squad.
With 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk finally doing what he should have done months ago, the ball will return to the team’s court.
The process for being reinstated from the reserve/left squad list is believed to be administrative. (Then again, the process of applying for the supplemental draft was believed to be administrative, too; Brendan Sorsby learned otherwise.) Once the league reinstates Aiyuk, the 49ers will have to put him on the roster, trade him, or cut him.
The 49ers could emerge from the situation with a roster exemption, which would buy them some time — and which would force Aiyuk to follow through on the obligation to show up, take a physical, and see what happens next.
The 49ers would then have options. Aiyuk would have to take a physical. If he fails, the 49ers could deem it to be a non-football injury. That would allow them to park him on the reserve/NFI list and not pay him.
They could try to trade him before Tuesday’s deadline, but no trade would happen without Aiyuk restructuring his contract to the league minimum, or something close to it. A trade seems highly unlikely, given that his 2026 base salary is $26.150 million.
The simplest outcome would be for the 49ers to cut him, and to let him sign wherever he wants. (If they cut him after the trade deadline, he’d have to pass through waivers. No one would claim his contract as it’s currently written.)
The biggest question is whether the 49ers will simply wash their hands of Aiyuk or play hardball with him. Hard feelings linger, given the way the relationship disintegrated.
It all comes down to whether the 49ers want to spend the time and effort necessary to make it as difficult as they can for him to get what he clearly wants: The ability to sign with any team he chooses.
He has said he wants to play for the Commanders. It’s still unknown whether the Commanders would want him. It’s also unknown whether anyone else would want him.
None of that matters until the 49ers release him. It’s possible, in theory, that they try to find a way to keep him on ice without paying him.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced five nominees who have advanced to the next round of consideration for their 2027 class on Wednesday.
The five nominees who will be under consideration for election are Ralph Hay, Robert Kraft, Virginia McCaskey, Doug Williams and John Wooten. A subcommittee for the Contributor category will discuss the five nominees and select one for the full selection committee to vote on ahead of the Super Bowl.
Kraft was that choice last year, but the Patriots owner fell short of election from the full committee. Hay, who owned the Canton Bulldogs and took part in the founding of the NFL, also advanced to this round during the last cycle.
McCaskey owned the Bears from 1983 until her death in 2025 while Williams won a Super Bowl as Washington’s quarterback before working in the team’s front office. Wooten played in the NFL, worked as a scout and became chair of the Fritz Pollard Alliance in 2003.
Commanders defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw’s season is reportedly over.
Kinlaw went on injured reserve this week due to a knee injury. Adam Schefter of ESPN reports on Wednesday that he had surgery to repair an MCL injury and that he will miss the rest of the season as a result.
It’s the second veteran defensive tackle that the Commanders have lost for the season in recent weeks. Daron Payne will be out for the rest of the year with a foot injury.
Kinlaw started six games before his injury and he had 13 tackles and a sack in those appearances. He is signed for 2027 with a non-guaranteed base salary of $12.9 million and a $16.9 million cap hit.
