Teams making decisions about picking up the fifth-year options on the contracts of their 2023 first-round picks now know how much that will cost.
The NFL revealed the values on Friday afternoon. There are four levels of compensation at each position. Players who have made multiple Pro Bowls as an original selection are at the top followed by players with one Pro Bowl selection and players who have hit playing time milestones before reaching the lowest level.
Panthers quarterback Bryce Young and Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud were the first two picks of that draft and both of them reached the playing time level of compensation. That will leave them with fully guaranteed salaries of $25.904 million if the teams decide to exercise the options, but longer-term extensions are also a possibility now that they have finished their third seasons.
The full list of 2023 first-rounders — there were 31 that year because the Dolphins were stripped of their pick — and their fifth-year option salaries appears below:
1. Panthers QB Bryce Young — $25.904 million (playing time).
2. Texans QB C.J. Stroud — $25.904 million (playing time).
3. Texans DE Will Anderson — $21.512 (Pro Bowl).
4. Colts QB Anthony Richardson — $22.483 million (base).
5. Seahawks CB Devon Witherspoon — $21.161 million (multiple Pro Bowls).
6. Cardinals OT Paris Johnson — $19.072 million (playing time).
7. Raiders DE Tyree Wilson — $14.475 million (base).
8. Falcons RB Bijan Robinson — $11.323 million (Pro Bowl).
9. Eagles DT Jalen Carter — $27.127 million (multiple Pro Bowls).
10. Bears OT Darnell Wright — $19.072 million (playing time).
11. Titans OG Peter Skoronski — $19.072 million (playing time).
12. Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs — $14.293 million (multiple Pro Bowls).
13. Packers DE Lukas Van Ness — $14.475 million (base).
14. Steelers OT Broderick Jones — $19.072 million (playing time).
15. Jets DE Will McDonald — $14.475 million (base).
16. Rams CB Emmanuel Forbes — $12.633 million (base).
17. Patriots CB Christian Gonzalez — $18.119 million (Pro Bowl).
18. Lions LB Jack Campbell — $21.925 million (Pro Bowl).
19. Buccaneers DT Calijah Kancey — $15.451 (playing time).
20. Seahawks WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba — $23.852 million (Pro Bowl).
21. Chargers WR Quentin Johnston — $18 million (playing time).
22. Ravens WR Zay Flowers — $27.298 million (multiple Pro Bowls).
23. Vikings WR Jordan Addison — $18 million (playing time).
24. Giants CB Deonte Banks — $12.633 million (base).
25. Bills TE Dalton Kincaid — $8.162 million (base).
26. Jets DT Mazi Smith — $13.391 million (base) Smith was traded to the Jets by the Cowboys.
27. Jaguars OT Anton Harrison — $19.072 million (playing time).
28. Bengals DE Myles Murphy — $14.475 million (base).
29. Saints DT Bryan Bresee — $13.391 million (base).
30. Eagles LB Nolan Smith — $13.752 million (base).
31. Chiefs Felix Anudike-Uzomah — $14.475 million (base).
Texans Clips
The Texans and quarterbacks coach coach Jerrod Johnson have parted ways, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports.
The one-sentence tweet from Schefter leaves plenty of questions: Was the parting mutual, or did the Texans fire Johnson? Why now, in the middle of the Scouting Combine?
The Texans kept offensive coordinator Nick Caley despite C.J. Stroud’s struggles this season, notably in the divisional playoff loss to the Patriots.
Johnson interviewed for offensive coordinator positions over the past two hiring cycles, and now, with the Texans’ late move, most coaching jobs around the league are filled.
He was the Texans’ quarterbacks coach for three seasons after one season as the Vikings’ assistant quarterbacks coach.
The Texans are expected to add quarterbacks coach to Jerry Schuplinski’s title, Jonathan Alexander of the Houston Chronicle reports. He currently is senior offensive assistant/pass game coordinator.
Joe Mixon didn’t play last season, due to an off-field injury to his foot. It’s an injury that remains a mystery.
General Manager Nick Caserio revealed the running back underwent surgery for his injury this offseason but would not elaborate on the injury.
“He didn’t do anything off the field,” Caserio told Aaron Wilson of KPRC. “It wasn’t like he was riding a snowmobile or anything like that. I would say it was more of a medical condition or situation that didn’t really improve as much as everyone would hope.
“I’m not trying to evade the question. I think that’s the reality of the situation. He didn’t jump off a building. He wasn’t cliff diving or anything like that. He wasn’t doing anything irresponsible. It was a freak thing. Honestly, I’ve never seen it. It’s just the condition.”
Caserio has had conversations with Mixon’s agent, Peter Schaffer, but the Texans are expected to release Mixon with a failed physical, per Wilson. Releasing Mixon would save the team $8.5 million.
Mixon’s future is unknown.
“I’ve said this multiple times: I’m not trying to be evasive; it’s a moving target,” Caserio said. “So, we’ll kind of see what the availability is going to be, what the prognosis is for the season, and then ultimately try to figure out what makes sense for everybody involved.”
Texans General Manager Nick Caserio did his best on Tuesday to shut down chatter about the team considering a trade involving quarterback C.J. Stroud.
Stroud is heading into his fourth NFL season and the Texans have advanced to the divisional round in each of his first three years, but Stroud performed poorly while throwing four interceptions in Houston’s playoff loss to the Patriots last month. That helped fuel talk about a possible trade that Caserio emphatically refuted while in Indianapolis for the Scouting Combine.
Caserio said, via multiple reporters, that speculation about the Texans trading Stroud is “moronic” and that the quarterback is “not going anywhere” ahead of the 2026 season.
The Texans will have choices to make about how long they want to commit themselves to Stroud this offseason. He is eligible for a contract extension, but the team could opt to exercise their option on his contract for 2027 while waiting to make moves toward a longer deal at some point in the future.
The NFL has added two current head coaches to the league’s Competition Committee.
Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell and Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans are the new additions to the group. Former Bills head coach Sean McDermott is no longer on the 11-person committee.
Broncos head coach Sean Payton and Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel also joined the group this year. Former Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin and former Dolphins General Manager Chris Grier joined McDermott in leaving the group.
The committee, which is co-chaired by former Falcons CEO Rich McKay and Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones, reviews all competitive aspects of the game. That includes playing rules and they will meet before the Combine to begin determining any potential changes to present to league ownership for a vote at league meetings later in the offseason.
The other current members of the committee are Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn, Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles, 49ers General Manager John Lynch, Giants co-owner John Mara, and Rams head coach Sean McVay.
The Browns have narrowed their search for a new defensive coordinator to replace Jim Schwartz.
Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com reports that the Browns are choosing among Texans passing game coordinator Cory Undlin, Browns linebackers coach Jason Tarver and Falcons passing game coordinator Mike Rutenberg.
Undlin and Rutenberg interviewed in person this weekend.
Undlin and Tarver have NFL coordinator experience, and both coaches have extensive experience working under Schwartz. That would allow the Browns to keep a successful system in place.
Undlin served as defensive coordinator of the Lions in 2020, and Tarver was defensive coordinator of the Raiders from 2012-14.
Tarver has worked as the Browns’ linebackers coach the past six seasons, including the past three under Schwartz, and Undlin worked under Schwartz from 2016-19 in Philadelphia. Undlin has spent the past three seasons as the Texans’ passing game coordinator.
Rutenberg became the Falcons’ defensive pass game coordinator in 2025 after four seasons as linebackers coach for the Jets.
The Browns are getting closer to finding their defensive coordinator.
Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com reports that they are interviewing a pair of candidates in person this weekend. Texans defensive pass game coordinator Cory Undlin and Falcons defensive pass game coordinator Mike Rutenberg have advanced to this round of the search.
Undlin has worked for the Texans since 2023 and was the secondary coach for the 49ers for two years before moving to Houston. He spent the 2020 season as the Lions’ defensive coordinator.
Rutenberg moved to Atlanta for the 2025 season and worked under Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich for four seasons as the linebackers coach with the Jets.
When former Dolphins coach Brian Flores filed his lawsuit against the NFL and multiple teams in February 2022, the claim of systemic and chronic racial discrimination made it a landmark attack against the league. Flores’s efforts have had, to date, a much more significant impact.
Through a series of rulings during a four-year war over the question of whether the claims of Flores, Steve Wilks, and Ray Horton will be resolved in open court or (as the league strongly prefers) arbitration controlled by the Commissioner, Flores and company have torn down the league’s longstanding method for forcing employee legal claims into a secret, rigged, kangaroo court.
The problem is simple. The league wants civil cases filed against it to be determined not by an independent party but by the league itself. Finally, independent judges with the power to do so are telling the NFL that it cannot do so.
“The court’s decision recognizes that an arbitration forum in which the defendant’s own chief executive gets to decide the case would strip employees of their rights under the law,” attorneys Douglas H. Wigdor and David E. Gottlieb said Friday, after the latest decision scrapping the league’s practices. “It is long overdue for the NFL to recognize this and finally provide a fair, neutral and transparent forum for these issues to be addressed.”
And that’s really the next step. Instead of maintaining its current Hail Mary pass to the U.S. Supreme Court, the NFL should do the right thing and abandon the heavy-handed practice of insisting that lawsuits filed against the league be presided over by the Commissioner.
The Commissioner, who recently defended the practice by saying, essentially, “it was like that when I got here,” shouldn’t want to do it. It’s a hopeless and irreconcilable conflict of interest.
Few if any other companies attempt to stack the deck in such a laughable, third world, banana republic way. Most companies realize it’s more than sufficient to force employees into arbitration handled by one of the various companies (like the American Arbitration Association) that exist for that purpose.
It’s still a much better forum for corporate America than the traditional judge-and-jury process. Especially since the various companies that provide arbitration services tend to skew toward the interests of the businesses that are responsible for creating the system that funnels them so much business.
But that’s not good enough for the NFL. Its longstanding approach to arbitration is proof positive that it wants to completely control anything and everything it can.
Finally, the NFL is losing control over legal claims made by non-players. The consequences sweep far beyond Flores, Wilks, and Horton. Every other team and league employee who is compelled to agree to the arbitration term in their contracts now have a pathway to avoiding a fundamentally unfair and un-American approach to justice.
For that reason, maybe it will be useful for the league to keep pushing its appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Assuming that at least five of the nine justices of the highest court in the country see this game for what it is, the end result will be a published opinion that becomes the law of the land as to the league, all of its teams, and every current and future employee who have no choice but to agree to a contract that forces them to allow the Commissioner to have final say over any and all grievances they ever may pursue.
The NFL’s secret, rigged, kangaroo court is on life support.
In the lawsuit filed four years ago by former Dolphins coach Brian Flores, the presiding judge has reversed a prior order sending some of the claims to arbitration. Now, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has concluded that all claims will be litigated in open court.
The ruling means that the Flores claims against the NFL, the Dolphins, the Giants, the Broncos, and the Texans will be handled in court, not arbitration. It also applies to the claims made by Steve Wilks against the Cardinals, and by Ray Horton against the Titans.
Friday’s decision flows from last year’s ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which denied arbitration as to the remaining Flores claims based on the NFL’s insistence that Commissioner Roger Goodell control the process. That same “fatal flaw” (as Judge Valerie Caproni described it) impacts all efforts to compel arbitration.
The league will undoubtedly fight the result. Although Goodell defended the practice during last week’s Super Bowl press conference, it is fundamentally unfair for the person hired and paid by the teams to be resolving legal claims made against his employers. No one in that position can be fair and impartial.
The NFL hates external oversight. It wants to control its business, and it hopes to keep any dirty laundry tightly under wraps.
The league previously filed a petition for appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on the question of whether the arbitration requirement is legitimate. Whatever the final outcome, it’s long overdue that the highest court in the country examine and resolve whether it’s appropriate for any organization to require employees to submit their legal claims not to an independent party but to the boss.
The Texans want to build a new team headquarters with indoor and outdoor practice fields in a Houston suburb, and they’ve gained support from Harris County to do so.
County commissioners voted today to approve an agreement to work with the Texans on building the headquarters on an 83-acre site in Bridgeland, about 35 miles from Houston, according to the Houston Chronicle. Currently, the Texans’ headquarters are at NRG Stadium, where they play their home games, and the team has had scheduling conflicts at times with the stadium being used for other events.
“To be able to move off-site would be more optimal for us,” Texans owner Cal McNair told the Houston Chronicle. “This would allow us to really be able to focus the organization and get us all in one place and not have all these distractions to the team. We want something world-class to match where we’re headed, and to be competitive on the business side and on the football side. I think this allows us to do this a little bit better.”
The plan is for the Texans to use 22 acres of the 83-acre development and the rest to be used by hotels, restaurants, entertainment events and other uses. The Texans plan to have their training camp at the facility and host high school football as well.
