NFL Player News

After a standout 2010 season, Rachal lost his starting job early under first-year coach Jim Harbaugh and watched Adam Snyder play right guard the rest of the way. Still only 26 and the former 39th pick in the draft, Rachal may draw interest from the linemen-needy Redskins. Rachal should come cheap, and Washington OL coach Chris Foerster was Rachal’s position coach in 2009-2010.

The Cardinals released LB Milo Eifler in a corresponding move. Both Russell and Eifler are special teams contributors, though Russell has been more productive in this regard, racking up nine special teams tackles in three NFL seasons to the two Eifler totaled from 2021-2024.

Per NBC Houston’s Aaron Wilson, the deal is worth $16.458 million and comes with an $8.609 million signing bonus. Williams was an effective player at Ohio State, racking up 71 tackles, 20 TFLs and 13 sacks over four seasons. He joins a Lions defensive line rotation that was hit hard by injuries last season. Williams will be asked to meaningfully contribute in year one.

With just nine offensive snaps to his name through two NFL seasons, Broeker will likely be competing for a roster spot this summer. He earned a 62.4 PFF special teams grade last year, logging 42 special teams snaps, 40 of which as a member of the field goal and extra point blocking unit. The Steelers waived C Lecitus Smith in a corresponding move.

Bryant spent four seasons with the Patriots after signing on as a 2020 undrafted free agent. He signed with the Texans last offseason, debuting in Week 6 and logging 156 defensive snaps through their Divisional Round playoff loss to the Chiefs. He tallied 15 tackles and three forced incompletions during that span.

Johnson didn’t give a timeline for his return, only saying “it remains to be seen” when Burden will be back. Burden landed on the ball during a practice at the end of rookie minicamp and was checked out by trainers to close the session. The current soft tissue injury is presumably related to that incident. While it’s early in the summer and we fully expect Burden to be back sooner rather than later, it’s not a great start to the offseason for the rookie. Burden is entering a crowded receiver room with a quarterback learning his second offense in as many seasons. Even OTA reps are valuable for the newcomer. Burden will likely open the year as the Bears’ WR3, making him a bet on late-season production for fantasy purposes.

Wilson told reporters he has had contract talks “here and there” with the team. It doesn’t sound like anything is imminent, but at least some progress has been made. The Jets picked up Wilson’s fifth-year option this offseason, keeping him under contract through 2026 with a $16.8 million cap hit for the final year. Wilson has yet to have a true breakout season, peaking at 1,104 yards on 101 grabs last year. On the other hand, he has been plagued by subpar to downright awful quarterback play for three seasons, depressing his counting stats. It’s possible things turn around in that department with Justin Fields under center this year, though Fields has been an erratic, run-first passer for much of his career.

All eyes will remain on Buffalo to start the 2025 offseason program with Hard Knocks coming to town. Coming off a year that saw Josh Allen nab his first MVP, only to be bounced from the playoffs by Patrick Mahomes once again, Buffalo was a natural choice to the the focal point of the HBO show. The NFC East will be featured division for the in-season edition of Hard Knocks. With both NFC Championship participants residing in the division, it was another easy choice for the producers of the show.

Kempski said his understanding is the Eagles were very encouraged by what they saw from Shipley as a rookie. Shipley played sparingly as the team’s RB3 last year and turned 30 carries into a measly 82 yards. He was, however, playing exclusively in the fourth quarter of decided games, so it’s hard to take much away from his limited reps. The Eagles let Gainwell walk in free agency and only added AJ Dillon during the offseason, all but guaranteeing Shipley’s spot as Saquon Barkley’s backup. Though that isn’t enough of a role to put him on the redraft radar, Shipley is a solid last-round pick in deeper formats.

It was widely believed that the play was on the chopping block this week, but the Eagles pulled out all the stops, including flying in Jason Kelce for the meetings, to save their free touchdown play. Even after taking things to a second, more private session for further discussion, the ban did not receive the required 24 votes to pass. The ban could have shifted a few touchdowns from Jalen Hurts to Saquon Barkley, but the Eagles were always going to be the league’s best team in short-yardage situations. Hurts has at least 13 rushing touchdowns in each of the past three seasons. He remains a top-five fantasy quarterback with the tush push still in the playbook.

Teams were only able to declare an onside kick in the fourth quarter before this change. They will now kick from the 34-yard line instead of the 35. The change is designed to increase the success rate of onside kicks, which sat at a dismal six percent last year. It’s hard to imagine such a minor tweak meaningfully changing the numbers on onside kicks. The NFL has refused to let the kickoff and, by extension, the onside kick die, but things continue to trend in that direction every year. Detroit’s proposal to change the playoff seeding rules was tabled while the tush push’s fate will be decided shortly.