NFL

Branch was highly effective on manufactured touches at Georgia and the Falcons could use a wideout who specializes in YAC. He stayed after practices to get extra reps on the jugs machine and got reps as both a kick and punt returner. Those may not have direct impacts on his fantasy value, but it can’t hurt to see him doing the little things every day. He will likely top out as the team’s third receiver to start the year. That role could quickly grow if he outshines Jahan Dotson and Olamide Zaccheaus.

Steinberg claimed this in his written opposition to the prosecution’s motion to require Arnold to wear an ankle monitor while on home confinement ahead of his trial. That, of course, would prevent him from being with another team. Arnold is facing multiple felony charges after being arrested in connection with a February robbery and kidnapping in Tampa Bay. It’s hard to believe multiple teams are willing to sign Arnold given the charges levied against him, and it’s possible the court doesn’t even allow him to travel to those teams. The NFL can also step in and place him on the commissioner’s exempt list, so we would be shocked if he plays football anytime soon.

According to the official NFL transaction wire, Thomas and CB Ajani Carter were waived from injured reserve by the Texans Wednesday. Thomas is a former fifth-round pick of the Cardinals and appeared in 18 games for Arizona between 2024-2025. Carter was an undrafted free agent out of Houston in the class of 2025. He appeared in two games for the Texans last season. Neither players saw significant snaps and will now be released with injury settlements.

Machota noted Blue’s pass-catching ability as the biggest reason for him to potentially see some work behind Williams. Blue caught 42 passes for 368 yards and six scores during his final season at Texas. He then flopped as a rookie, seeing just one catch and 38 carries in total. The bulk of his opportunities came in a meaningless Week 18 game. Still, Dallas did nothing to address their backfield depth this offseason and head coach Brian Schottenheimer has talked up Blue’s work ethic this time around. With a strong training camp, Blue could cement himself as a change-of-pace option for the Cowboys, putting him on the menu for fantasy drafters in deeper leagues.

Hill ended 2025 on injured reserve because of a neck issue. He was reportedly a cut candidate during the offseason and the team selected Clemson running back Adam Randall on Day Three of the draft. It seemed possible that the team planned on replacing Hill this year, but Zrebiec shot that idea down, at least for the start of the season. Zrebiec answered, “I can’t see that happening from the jump,” in reference to a question about Randall opening the season as Baltimore’s backup running back. Hill caught 21 passes for 169 yards and a touchdown in 10 games last year. He also punched in a pair of touchdowns on the ground despite running just 18 times. His ceiling is extremely limited, even in the event of a Henry injury, but Hill should have some standalone RB4 value in PPR leagues.

Solak’s prediction was among his bold predictions for the 2026 NFL season. Prescott having a shot at 5,000 yards, Solak said, would hinge on the Cowboys remaining a fast-paced offense in 2026. Last season the Cowboys led the league in play clock remaining at the snap and offensive plays per game, leading to 600 passes for Dak — a career high. The wideout duo of George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb won’t hurt matters for Prescott, who has eclipsed 4,500 passing yards three times in his NFL career. Pickens’ downfield ability was reflected in Prescott finishing sixth in deep ball accuracy last season. “The volume will be there for Prescott to not just lead the league in passing in 2026 but to once again challenge for the 5,000-yard milestone,” Solak said. Quarterbacks have thrown for more than 5,000 yards just 14 times in league history.

Waldron joined the Jaguars as their passing-game coordinator last season after an unsuccessful stint as the Bears’ offensive coordinator in 2024. 2025 was a bit more fruitful, with Trevor Lawrence passing for 4,007 yards, 29 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions in the regular season. Waldron gets a promotion with the addition of assistant head coach in his role. Special teams coordinator Heath Farwell also received a promotion to add associate head coach to his role.

The NFL, NFLPA and Sorsby combined to reach a settlement wherein Sorsby resolves any claims on the league not holding a supplemental draft in exchange for being eligible for the 2027 draft with no additional discipline for any prior conduct. That last bit of the sentence is the key part, enabling teams to select him in 2027 without fear of a suspension. (Barring new evidence, of course.) It never made much sense for Sorsby to try to test the NFL given how easy it would have been for the league to retaliate against him. This is probably a pretty decent outcome for him, all things considered. We have no idea where or how he’ll play in 2026 at this point, but he figures to be a risky Day 2 pick if he can’t show improvement on some football field.

Mahomes is well ahead of the normal ACL/LCL rehab timeline, as Breer notes, but it wouldn’t be surprising if the Chiefs remained cautious with Mahomes in training camp and didn’t necessarily throw him in 11-on-11 settings the second he was first cleared. Still, it does seem like Mahomes is in pretty good shape to start Week 1 from all early offseason indications. It’ll just be a matter of how quickly the Chiefs and Mahomes want to push it.

In other words: Brissett isn’t necessarily gunning for an extension, but he definitely wants to be paid like a starting quarterback if he’s going to start. Brissett’s contract calls for just $1.5 million in guarantees in 2026. It feels like the Cardinals could make this headache go away pretty easily if they wanted to based on this report — it’s not like Brissett is asking for future money, and the Cardinals have $35 million in cap space. But if they did that, they wouldn’t be the Arizona Cardinals.