NFL Player News

X-rays came back negative, but it’s possible Martellus Bennett’s backup has a high-ankle sprain. Pascoe has just three catches in eight games.

“A source in Minnesota actually said that’s been talked about within their building,” Hughes added. McCown probably is worthy of an offensive coordinator shot after a successful stint as Vikings quarterback coach, and Flores is certainly deserving of another head coaching role after the job he did with the Vikings defense this year. We have no idea who invited Ryan Grigson to the discussion — does Trent Richardson work for the Jets? — but at least in theory it’s interesting to talk about the idea of porting a large chunk of the Vikings braintrust over to New York.

So far we only have John Spytek and Sullivan down as general manager candidates for the Raiders, who are operating a lot like a team who might consider a package deal for their head-coaching hire with that hire’s preferred general manager candidate. (In other words: They will give Ben Johnson the GM of his choice.) Sullivan has already interviewed with the Titans once, making the second cut for that job, and has also had an interview with the Jets.

Smith has played 192 regular season games and will turn 36 in February. He pondered retirement before this season, eventually agreeing to come back on a restructured contract in March. But Smith said this won’t be “the same as last offseason” because “My life’s different ... I’m older.” Smith enters the 2025 season as a free agent, but it doesn’t sound like he’s especially likely to continue playing.

Higbee was hospitalized after leaving the game with a chest injury because he was “spitting up a little bit of blood.” That’s our sport, folks. It’s great news for the Rams that he appears to be good to go for Sunday because he looked excellent before leaving, catching 5-of-5 targets for 58 yards and helping stake them to an early lead. He may have taken over the No. 2 role from what looks to be a declining Cooper Kupp. Higbee will be a worthwhile DFS play this weekend.

He suffered a broken collarbone against Los Angeles on Saturday. Stover caught four passes for 28 yards against the Chargers in the Wild Card Round and finishes his rookie season with a 15/133/1 receiving line. There’s no reason to expect the team to move on from Dalton Schultz in the short-term, but Stover could eventually become Houston’s No. 1 tight end in 2026 once getting out of Schultz’s contract becomes less onerous.

Johnson will go down in Texans 3:30 PM CT Wild Card Saturday history as “one player who caught a pass once.” The receiver has been waived three times this year and mercifully, we don’t think there’s another team left that will claim him this year. He finishes the season with a 33/375/3 receiving line in 12 games and will hit the high-risk one-year bin in free agency. NBC Houston’s Aaron Wilson reports that he was visibly upset after the game over his role in the offense — an offense he just arrived to three weeks ago. Entering his age-29 season, we may have seen the end of Johnson as a fantasy football asset. Certainly NFL teams are telling us that very loudly by their actions this season.

The fact that Rees got the first interview was pretty telling about the direction that this search was going. Cleveland also interviewed Falcons tight end coach Kevin Koger, Seahawks quarterbacks coach Charles London, Saints OC Klint Kubiak, and Dolphins QB coach Darrell Bevell for the position. Rees, a former Notre Dame quarterback, coordinated their offense from 2020-2022 and the Alabama offense under Nick Saban in 2023 before taking a position with the Browns as their tight ends coach and passing game coordinator. Rees won’t call plays — that is Kevin Stefanski’s job — but this is still a big promotion for a 32-year-old and one that marks him as a potential NFL head coach at some point.

Clements coordinated the Bills offense in 2004-2005 and the Packers from 2012-2014, but he is most known as a quarterbacks coach. He was Green Bay’s quarterbacks coach from 2006-2011, winning a Super Bowl in the process as he helped develop Aaron Rodgers into one of the NFL’s best. The 71-year-old has served as Packers quarterback coach for the last three seasons after a short stint in Arizona. He’s also coached quarterbacks for the Saints, Chiefs, and Steelers over a career that started more than 30 years ago.

This was regarded as a likely outcome following the Cowboys parting ways with McCarthy yesterday. The former Saints offensive coordinator from 2000-2004 has worked with GM Mickey Loomis before, and the Saints have prioritized trying to find people with experience in their building in this coaching search. McCarthy will speak with the Bears ahead of this interview, and those are the only two teams he’s talking to at this point. We’d expect more teams to follow shortly.

Today’s main character has emerged. The Falcons defense had a mini-resurgence after their bye week under recently-fired Jimmy Lake, but weren’t able to sustain it down the stretch against the Commanders and Panthers with a chance to get into the playoffs. Michigan finished sixth in defensive FEI (Fremeau Efficiency Rating) last season under Martindale’s eye, and the longtime NFL defensive coordinator looks to be eyeing a return to the professional ranks. He’s also interviewing with the Colts on Friday.