NFL Player News

Ryan led the Jets to a 46-50 record during his six seasons as their head coach (2009-2014) and led them to the playoffs in each of his first two seasons. A strong start led to a tumultuous ending, as the Jets went just 12-20 in Ryan’s final two seasons, but his tenure with the team has been the best of any coach the Jets have hired since firing Ryan after the 2014 season. Ryan’s coaching style wore on people at times and likely played a role in the Bills dismissing him in 2016 after going, but his reputation as a player’s coach is also well-noted. Ryan’s presence would immediately improve whatever defense he takes over, but he would need to find an immediate answer to the team’s quarterback woes, something he could not do during his first stretch with the team.

The 2024 undrafted free agent has not logged any regular season snaps. The Steelers correspondingly waived DT Jacob Slade with an injury designation.

Parsons shared his side of things in a detailed social media post, saying the Cowboys refuse to engage with his agent, who has been told by the team that Parsons agreed to a deal with Jerry Jones during an informal conversation about “leadership” that transpired in March. Despite consistent media reports indicating that the deal’s framework was already in place, Parsons writes, “not one demand has been made by my agent about [money,] years or anything else.” Parsons adds that he was willing to sign an extension early in the offseason instead of waiting for the pass rusher market to repeatedly reset as new deals rolled in. Parsons closes the statement by saying he submitted the trade to co-owner Stephen Jones personally. Should Parsons be traded or sit out regular season games, his absence would hamper the defense’s ability to stop opposing offenses from scoring, which correspondingly increases Dak Prescott’s expected passing rate.

Sources tell The Athletic that “ESPN is expected to have access to RedZone, NFL Network, seven more regular-season games, the NFL’s fantasy football business, as well as the potential to integrate special features (including betting) and potentially more assets.” Programs will be available via “ESPN’s forthcoming direct-to-consumer service that will formally launch in the next few weeks,” which will cost $29.99 per month. Pricing for NFL Media programs is unknown, as is the deal’s duration. Regulatory approval is expected to take nine months to one year.

Pickett has missed the last few days with a hamstring injury, but returned on Friday to participate in individual drills. The fourth-year signal-caller did not work in team drills, but could see his workload ramp up in the coming days if things continue to progress in a positive direction. Assuming he’s good to go for the start of the season, Pickett figures to open the year as the Browns’ QB2, with Joe Flacco slated to open as the team’s starter barring any unexpected developments.

Canales cited the team’s youth as a reason to get in some preseason reps. It will be our first chance to get a live look at Young in a game environment after the former No. 1 overall pick has reportedly turned in a solid start to camp, which is a promising sign coming on the heels of his strong close to his 2024 season. Young and the Panthers hope a young receiving corps, coupled with the return of Adam Thielen, will prove to be enough to elevate an offense that ranked outside the top-25 in passing yards and yards per attempt last season. The Panthers will play host to the Browns next Friday in their first preseason game.

Wicks missed practice earlier in the week with a calf injury, but the third-year receiver was spotted on the field Friday, suggesting his injury was fairly minor. Wicks has a chance to play a key role for the Packers early in the year as Christian Watson (knee) continues to work his way back to the field.

Worthy’s entering the league’s concussion protocol sounds like something that was done out of precaution by the team. The second-year receiver reportedly did not suffer a brain injury upon further evaluation on Thursday and should be good to go after the scare. He was seen back on the practice field on Friday after missing the previous day’s session.

Williams suffered a calf injury in Thursday’s practice and was sidelined on Friday as a result. Glenn said the decision to give Williams a few weeks to recover is “precautionary,” so it doesn’t sound like this will be something that carries over into the season. Williams missed time in 2022 with a similar injury, and Glenn added that “he understands exactly how you have to operate” to ensure proper healing. Glenn totaled 37 tackles and six sacks in 2024 on his way to his third Pro Bowl. At this point, we would expect Williams to be good to go when the Jets play host to the Steelers in Week 1.

Richardson’s stock continues to rise after a tumultuous offseason that had some questioning whether or not he’d be ready for camp due to a shoulder injury. The former first-round pick reportedly turned in another strong practice on Thursday that featured a handful of deep passes that left Steichen praising his level of play thus far. The Athletic’s James Boyd believes the QB camp battle between Richardson and Daniel Jones is “neck and neck” thus far, which may lead to a more drawn-out process to determine the Week 1 starter against the Dolphins. We would still expect both Jones and Richardson to make starts at some point in the season, but the gap between the two signal-callers may not be as wide as initially thought after Richardson turned in one of the worst quarterback performances in recent memory last season.

This is about as strange a negotiation as one could imagine. According to Russini, Parsons and owner Jerry Jones “spoke directly’ about a deal on multiple occasions this offseason, with the team reportedly believing a deal had been reached during those discussions. However, Parsons believed “the talks were just conversations” and ultimately wished for his agent to handle negotiations. Russini then reports that when Parsons’ agent attempted to reach out, the team “declined to engage with him and told Parsons that they believed they already had a deal.” It goes without saying that things aren’t great between Parsons and the Cowboys, with reports their relationship having completely “deteriorated.” Parsons is expected to become the highest-paid non-QB in league history whenever a deal is reached. While that would almost certainly go a long way in repairing things, there’s little reason to believe a deal is on the horizon at this point in time.