NFL Player News

It’s a great start for his chances of playing against the Texans in Week 13. Doug Pederson said he’d be “full go” in practice earlier and the report proved him prophetic. Bigsby will likely remain in some sort of committee with Travis Etienne Jr. in Week 13, but he’s run so well this year that it’s hard to believe he won’t produce RB2-caliber numbers even despite the split role.

While connecting the dots to the Steelers made some sense — he’s the most-accomplished quarterback looking for a new home, they’re the most-accomplished team with a hole at quarterback — it doesn’t seem like Pittsburgh is all that into Stafford. Dulac believes they would not pay Stafford more than the $27 million that Stafford is currently due. If Pittsburgh isn’t into Stafford, it would seem to lead more credence to the idea that they’ll re-sign Justin Fields or Russell Wilson this offseason.

Khan praised Watt and compared him to Hines Ward and Troy Polamalu in the category of lifetime Steelers. With Watt currently on a $30.4 million cap hit for 2025, it would make sense for the Steelers to get him extended ahead of free agency. The star edge player had 11.5 sacks and was a second-team All Pro this past season, though his impact was diminished down the stretch as he played through an ankle injury.

“We’re there, let’s get it done… signed contract, that’s what needs to happen,” Tobin added. Chase is going into his fifth season and is currently set to play on the fifth-year option. It’s good that the Bengals are aggressively fighting the idea that they are cheap, and Tobin also said the Bengals are “going to reward Ja’Marr,” while adding they “are not trying to insult anybody.” Justin Jefferson currently holds the crown of highest-paid non-quarterback on a $35 million average salary per season, while Nick Bosa’s contract has the highest total value among non-quarterbacks at $170 million. It’s possible that Chase eclipses both numbers by the time the digits stop counting.

Tobin added that the preference with Higgins is “to do a long-term extension.” The Bengals have not officially franchise tagged Higgins yet, but look likely to do so to buy more time for extension discussions. We’d expect the Bengals receiver to get a pretty hefty offer after playing the good solider throughout the 2024 campaign on a franchise tag. He’ll probably at least crack $30 million a season on an extension, which would make him a top-six wideout by average per year.

He stopped short of offering a timeline. The Cardinals’ tight end is entering the final year of his rookie contract and, given that the Cardinals are flush with cap space, would seem to be a candidate to receive that extension before the season starts. McBride had a monster fantasy season with a 111/1146/2 receiving line and figures to be either the first or second tight end off the board (alongside Brock Bowers) in most drafts this offseason.

Watson is reportedly already post-surgery on the torn ACL he suffered in Week 18. Gutekunst added that “everything so far’s been really good. He’s been through this before, so he knows what to expect. It’s a big injury. It may take some time, but he’s got the right mindset, positive attitude toward it.” We’d be surprised (in a good way) if Watson was able to come back at midseason, but not every ACL is the same and it’s possible Watson’s tear was clean enough that he could hit that timeline. The Packers will soldier on with Dontayvion Wicks in Watson’s stead unless they acquire another wideout this offseason.

Sutton undoubtedly wants a raise or an extension after moping through OTAs last offseason and only getting some bandaid incentives added to his deal. Sean Payton also addressed a question on Sutton by saying “all of that will happen in time.” We don’t have a great idea what the timeline looks like for a Sutton extension, but it’s clear Denver’s brass is treating it as a priority this offseason.

Per Paton, Nix was already back in the team’s facility working out. Previous reports stated that Nix was forced to miss the Pro Bowl because of this procedure. It was labeled as minor, though there were no specifics given. Paton told reporters it was not related to Nix’s previous back injury but didn’t elaborate any further. Sean Payton mentioned that Nix played through a turf toe injury, which could be the answer, though Payton didn’t mention the surgery. All told, it does seem like a minor issue that shouldn’t affect Nix’s offseason routine much if at all. Nix enters his second season looking to push past the Wild Card Round exit he was handed via the Bills. As a fantasy asset, his rushing output will have him in the QB1 conversation this summer.

Paton praised Williams further by calling him “one of the best pass protectors in the league.” That’s an interesting quote after he struggled badly at it in 2023, Sean Payton’s first season as Broncos head coach. Williams is set to hit free agency for the first time in March and the Denver Gazzette’s Chris Tomasson reported that the Broncos weren’t expected to re-sign the 24-year-old back. We’d still expect that to be the case even after this quote, but the door is perhaps more open than it seemed a month ago.

“I don’t know if there’s anybody that’s actually done what he’s done in the modern-day football, playing both offense and defense during the course of a season. So he’s definitely a special player,” Borgonzi elaborated. Borgonzi was asked about a handful of the top prospects in the draft in the context of his earlier “generational talent” quote. The quotes show that he praised Hunter fairly generously while mostly avoiding talking about Penn State EDGE Abdul Carter when asked. Is Borgonzi hiding an interest in Carter while being more chatty about someone he intends to pick? It’s easy to read too far into this in either direction. Assuming the Titans don’t take a quarterback, these two seem likely picks for the Titans at No. 1 overall. Unless they trade the pick, that is.