NFL Player News

Smith is probably no longer available in trade talks and appears a better handcuff for Lewis than Mike Anderson at this point. He’s probably got the third-down duties locked up, at least.

Per The Athletic’s Daniel Popper, Stanford doctors have been treating Harris’ eye injury, and ESPN’s Kris Rhim reports that “the Chargers haven’t seen the extent of Harris’ injury yet.” Harris’ agent previously said the injury is “superficial” in nature, and he expects Harris to be ready for the regular season. Hopefully, the Chargers’ team doctors agree with the assessment.

Smith spent his first two NFL seasons with the Giants (2021-2022), logged time on the Jets and Raiders’ practice squads in 2023 before being signed by the Browns in 2024. He concludes his career with two tackles and six quarterback pressures on defense, plus three more tackles on special teams.

Per Cabot, the team has “stressed to Judkins and his agent, Todd France, that Judkins must make his domestic incident the high priority over football.” The Browns’ intent is open to interpretation. One read, however, is that the team is clearly distancing itself from the second-round rookie. Yesterday, ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio wrote that Judkins could be placed on paid leave after signing his contract. Just one year ago, the Browns’ fellow second-round pick and former Ohio State player, DT Mike Hall Jr., was placed on paid leave after being charged with domestic violence. It appears as though even the paid leave option may be unpalatable for the organization this time.

Henley played through a torn labrum for four months while breaking out in his second NFL season last year. The 25-year-old totaled 92 tackles, 13 quarterback pressures, six pass breakups and one interception. He now has ample time to ramp up ahead of the 2025 NFL season.

Barron is one of the last first-round picks to sign, getting a four-year, $18.07 million deal with a fifth-year option. He joins a secondary with star CB Patrick Surtain leading the group. His last season out of Texas, Barron won the Jim Thorpe award for best defensive back and now is slated for the Broncos’ slot role. This leaves the Bengals’ Shemar Stewart as the last first-round pick unsigned. The Broncos have just RB R.J. Harvey unsigned among their rookie class - he is one of the 30 second-rounders unsigned due to contract guarantee disputes.

Rourke was selected by the 49ers in the seventh round of the 2025 NFL Draft. He played through all of his final college season at Indiana with a torn ACL and was expected to miss time as he recovers for his rookie year. Expected to be placed on the non-football injury list, Rourke is unlikely to be an impactful backup behind Brock Purdy this season. Mac Jones will maintain the No. 2 spot on the quarterback depth chart.

Jackson will be able to be activated off the PUP list at any time during training camp, but apparently will not be ready as camp starts. If he remains on the PUP list through the 53-man roster deadline, he’ll be locked into missing a few weeks at the beginning of the season.

This is in the context of stretching the field a little more than the Falcons did in 2024, something they struggled to do at times with Kirk Cousins under center. The Athletic’s Josh Kendall also adds “The coaching staff won’t ask Penix to curtail his aggressiveness. In fact, it’s the trait they are most excited about.” A more balanced offensive approach could raise all ships in Atlanta — and it’s something that might be necessary for them as they try to stave off regression with almost no new players added to the room.

“Hampton has a chance to be an immediate difference-maker in the run game, a player with the explosiveness to score anytime he touches the ball. And he could be getting the bulk of the first-team work early in camp,” Popper continues. This is hardly an endorsement that Hampton is going to be RB1 in Los Angeles from Week 1, but Harris’ eye injury has at least complicated things early in training camp. There’s a non-zero chance that Hampton takes the baton and runs with it before Harris is ready to come back.