NFL Player News

McCaffrey is eligible to be activated from injured reserve next week, but the 49ers get Seattle on Thursday Night Football, giving them a short turnaround to their next game. Given the extent of McCaffrey’s multiple Achilles injuries, a Week 6 return was never realistic. Schefter noted that McCaffrey could return in Week 7 versus the Chiefs, but named Week 10 versus the Bucs as a more reasonable date. The 49ers get their bye in before that game, so holding McCaffrey out for two more contests after next week would give him another seven days of rest. For now, Jordan Mason will lead the way as San Francisco’s top back. He will rank as a weekly RB1 for as long as CMC remains out.

A “glue guy” role player for the Chiefs’ undermanned receiver corps the past three seasons, Watson will serve the same role in Houston as the Texans wait on Tank Dell (leg) to get healthy behind Nico Collins. Houston is also presumably moving on from Robert Woods, and is unsure if Stefon Diggs (ACL) will be back. Despite those depth issues, we would fully expect 29-year-old (next month) Watson to remain in the 15-20 reception range for 2025.

Hours after agreeing to a deal with safety Cam Bynum, the Colts were at it again. Ward joins the team on a three-year deal that could net him up to $60 million, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, and will be due $20 million at signing. Ward is a former UDFA from the 2018 draft class who emerged as a starter during his second season with the Chiefs. He’s proven over time to be a reliable defender in coverage, and was voted to his first Pro Bowl in 2023 while also being named as a second-team All-Pro. His 23 pass breakups led the league that season. New defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo continues to get pieces to add to a secondary that ranked among the league’s worst last season.

Two weeks shy of his 28th birthday, Taylor was a late summer trade addition for Chicago last year. His three sacks for the Bears were a new career low after three decent-ish years with the Seahawks. Taylor has struggled to develop into more than a rotational pass rusher, but that is all he needs to be for the Texans’ amped up pass rush.

Now on the wrong side of 30, Dobbs arrives as Jacoby Brissett’s replacement as Drake Maye’s caddy. We would assume Dobbs is firmly ahead of second-year pro Joe Milton on the depth chart. Although overexposed as as a multi-week starter, Dobbs’ dual-threat game has an “any given Sunday” element to it. You have a chance. Just not if you need to start him for two months. Considering Maye’s propensity to take mammoth rookie hits, Dobbs has fairly decent odds of seeing 2025 playing time, but hopefully not.

Stylistically, Thompson-Robinson is a slightly better fit in the Eagles’ offense, which relies heavily on Jalen Hurts’ mobility. The former fifth-round pick has struggled in his first two seasons as a pro, throwing for a forgettable 880-1-10 in 15 career games while adding another 35-187-0 on the ground. DTR will have a chance to compete with Tanner McKee for the Eagles’ QB2 job, and should be considered the underdog in the camp battle after McKee impressed in limited action last season.

This is the literal bare minimum the Browns could do as they begin to rebuild their quarterback room from the Deshaun Watson fiasco. Pickett is an infinitely more qualified starting option than Thompson-Robinson, but he would still be amongst the league’s worst starters, at least before coach Kevin Stefanski immerses him in his system. The question now becomes if 27-year-old Pickett (in June) is paired with a rookie from either the No. 2 overall spot or Day 2. Seeing as the Browns just extended Myles Garrett and are veering away from a rebuild, it would seem a signal caller would be the first-round choice. We just don’t know right now. Were Pickett to start, he would undoubtedly oversee a run-heavy attack where he is tasked with throwing deep far less often than either Joe Flacco or Jameis Winston were.

It’s apparently a multi-year extension, but the terms are not yet available. A former Panther who signed up with Jim Harbaugh last spring, Bozeman remained replacement-level last season, but he almost never misses a snap. That’s a valuable commodity along the rugged interior of an offensive line. 2025 will be Bozeman’s age-31 campaign.

The Titans mark the fourth team Barton has played for in the last four years, but unlike previous seasons, he won’t be on a one-year contract. The six-year vet has tallied 100-plus tackles in three-straight seasons, and earned the highest PFF grade of his career (66.1) while playing on a career-high 1,053 snaps last year with the Broncos. Barton is a surefire tackler, but struggles in pass coverage. That said, the Titans were in the market for an upgrade at linebacker after the trade for Ernest Jones came up short last season, and Kenneth Murray Jr. has proven more useful as a depth piece.

Adams’ tender will be worth $3.2 million if he signs. If he signs an offer sheet elsewhere and the Jets decline to match, they will receive zero compensation since Adams entered the league as an undrafted free agent. Adams has averaged roughly 800 snaps over the past two years at the back end of the Jets’ defense. More of an asset in coverage than run defense, he’s a replacement-level player, but one who has earned his way onto the field.

Brown has started 19 of the last 30 games he’s appeared in for the Rams, totaling 75 tackles, eight TFLs, and a half sack over that span. Despite the starts, Brown has been utilized as a rotational player, as the 472 defensive snaps he saw last season marked the most of his four-year career. The Panthers narrowly missed out on signing coveted DT Milton Williams. Brown is a low-end consolation prize that can still prove helpful in the right situation.