The rumors started on Sunday. They could not be corroborated until today.
Chargers running back Najee Harris was indeed injured in a fireworks accident during July 4 weekend.
From his agent, Doug Hendrickson: “Najee Harris was present at a 4th of July event where a fireworks mishap resulted in injuries to several attendees. Najee sustained a superficial eye injury during the incident, but is fully expected to be ready for the upcoming NFL season.”
The Chargers did not respond to a request for comment on the matter. When Harris reports for training camp next week in advance of the July 31 Hall of Fame game, Harris will (along with all other players) undergo a full physical.
The rumors persisted all week until the dam broke via a report from Cam Inman of the San Jose Mercury News regarding the fact that Harris had been injured on July 5 in Antioch, California. Inman’s report had no specifics as to the extent or severity of the injury. Inman reported that Harris received treatment at John Muir Hospital in Concord and later at Stanford Hospital.
Multiple other people were injured during the incident.
The original rumors were that Harris had lost an eye. The official word from his camp is that it’s a “superficial eye injury.” The next development will come when he has his training camp physical.
Harris, a first-round pick of the Steelers in 2021, signed a one-year deal with the Chargers in March. He has rushed for more than 1,000 yards in each of his four NFL seasons.
Cornerback Jalen Ramsey posted a picture of a Steelers jersey with his name and the No. 5 earlier this month and the Steelers confirmed that their new acquisition will be sporting the digit this fall.
The Steelers posted a picture of Ramsey in a Steelers uniform with the number he’s been wearing since the 2021 season. Ramsey wore No. 20 after being drafted by the Jaguars and kept wearing it with the Rams in 2020 before switching after the NFL relaxed restrictions on which players can wear which numbers.
The Steelers still list punter Cameron Johnston as wearing No. 5 on their online roster, but there will presumably be an announcement of a new number for him in the near future.
Ramsey and tight end Jonnu Smith were acquired in a trade with the Dolphins last month. Smith has not been issued a number by the Steelers yet.
Tim Rooney, the nephew of Steelers founder Art Rooney Sr. and a long-time executive for the Steelers, Lions, and Giants has died. He was 84.
Via Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Rooney passed on Tuesday morning, after a short bout with cancer.
A coach at Villanova, Tim Rooney joined the Steelers in 1972, as one of four scouts. The others were Art Rooney Jr., Dick Haley and Bill Nunn. Tim Rooney served as director of pro scouting, where he scouted opponents and evaluated players already in the league.
Per Fittipaldo, Tim Rooney is often credited for the drafting of Hall of Fame linebacker Jack Lambert. It was Tim Rooney who took coach Chuck Noll to watch Lambert play at Kent State.
Tim Rooney stayed with the Steelers through 1979, the last of their four Super Bowl-winning seasons of the 1970s.
After spending time with the Lions, the Giants hired Tim Rooney in 1985 as director of pro personnel. He stayed in that role until 1999, before later returning in a part-time capacity. Which means he won at least six Super Bowl rings during his NFL career.
“He was a great guy,” Hall of Fame head coach Bill Parcells said of Tim Rooney, via Fittipaldo. “When you’re a head coach, you need someone to tell you the truth. Tim was our pro personnel guy, and that was his job. We had daily interaction every day talking about the roster. We had a lot of talks and became close. That enhanced our relationship. He understood me, and I understood him.”
We extend our condolences to Tim Rooney’s family, friends, and colleagues.
The controversial claim that the much-discussed Jeffrey Epstein client list doesn’t exist would not ordinarily overlap with the NFL. But there’s not much about Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers that is ordinary.
In early 2024, Rodgers stirred up a firestorm of controversy for Pat McAfee and ESPN by suggesting that ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s name appears on the Epstein list.
“There’s a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, really hoping that [Epstein list] doesn’t come out,” Rodgers said on McAfee’s show. That prompted Kimmel to threaten to sue Rodgers.
McAfee apologized for his involvement in the situation. ESPN called Rodgers’s remark a “dumb and factually inaccurate joke.” Rodgers whined about ESPN’s comment.
The broader point is this. Rodgers’s in-season habit of appearing every Tuesday on McAfee’s show has been more trouble than it’s worth. If Rodgers is serious about being fully focused on football during what he’s “pretty sure” will be his best season, the team’s best interests (and his own) would include avoiding a platform in which he gets way too comfortable and says way too many things that will potentially cause way too much criticism and distraction from the task of winning as many football games as possible.
It’s against our best interests to say that. Rodgers is good for business. If he sticks to his midweek and post-game press conferences, the season will be far less interesting.
The end of the season is likely to be far more interesting for the Steelers if Rodgers were to commit to making the week-to-week experience less interesting, by avoiding situations in which the smartest guy in the room might say something stupid.
Almost a year ago, wide receiver Chase Claypool suffered a toe injury in Bills training camp that was initially described as day-to-day but ended up being so serious that it cost him the entire season. Now Claypool is unsigned, but says he’s ready to have the best year of his career.
Claypool wrote on social media that he needed extensive medical treatment and rehab but is now capable of doing everything he’s ever done on the football field.
“I tore a ligament and a tendon in my second toe and have been rehabbing, working out, and recovering every day for the past year,” Claypool wrote. “I am back to being the strongest and fastest I’ve ever been and couldn’t be more excited to step back out on the field and let my actions speak for themselves. I deeply and truly believe that the pieces will align, and I will work my way into the position to show off what’s been suppressed these last two years.”
The 27-year-old Claypool has talent, which is why the Steelers drafted him in the second round in 2020 and why the Bears traded a second-round pick to acquire him in 2022. But after a promising first couple of seasons in Pittsburgh, his production plummeted. In 2023 he caught just eight passes while playing for two teams, the Bears and Dolphins, and then didn’t play at all in 2024.
Claypool has fallen a long way from when he was one of the NFL’s best rookie receivers five years ago, but he has shown enough in his NFL career that some team will likely give him a chance to show in training camp that he really is stronger and faster than ever.
We’ve recently taken a look at the coaches on the hot seat for 2025. This week, a reader asked the same question as it relates to quarterbacks.
Plenty of them are feeling the heat, or should be, this season. Let’s take a look at each spot, based on the loose arrangement of the conferences and divisions that has been tattooed onto my brain.
Justin Fields, Jets: His contract has $10 million in guarantees that spill into 2026. That’s not enough to guarantee him two years as the starter. He needs to do enough in 2025 to earn 2026 — and beyond.
Tua Tagovailoa, Dolphins: His contract guarantees his pay through 2026. If the Dolphins fall flat and change coaches, the next coach likely will want a fresh start at quarterback. While the cap charges will complicate a split before 2027, every high-end quarterback contract eventually leads to a big cap charge when the relationship ends. The next coach (and the next G.M., if owner Stephen Ross cleans house) may want to rip the Band-Aid off in one motion.
Aaron Rodgers, Steelers: He says he’s pretty sure this is his last year. If he doesn’t play well enough for the Steelers in 2025 and if he wants to keep playing in 2026, the Steelers may give him the same cold shoulder that Russell Wilson got after 2024.
All Browns quarterbacks: With Jacksonville’s first-round pick in their back pocket, the Browns could be in position to get a future franchise quarterback in next year’s draft. That raises the stakes for every quarterback currently on the Cleveland roster. Because there’s a chance none of them will be the starter in 2026.
Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson, Colts: It already feels like Jones will be the Week 1 starter. He’ll then have a chance to lock the revolving door the Colts have had since Andrew Luck retired. If he doesn’t, the Colts will be looking elsewhere in 2026. As to Richardson, his best play is to play better than he ever has, if and when he gets the chance.
Trevor Lawrence, Jaguars: Every new coach wants his own quarterback, except when the coach inherits a true franchise quarterback. But Tony Dungy landing with Peyton Manning doesn’t happen very often. And it’s not clear whether Lawrence is a short-list franchise quarterback. He was on track to be one as of 2022. The past two years haven’t been good enough, long-term contract notwithstanding. What do coach Liam Coen and G.M. James Gladstone want? If Lawrence doesn’t play better in 2025 than he did in 2024, Lawrence and everyone else may find out in 2026.
Geno Smith, Raiders: He’s being mentioned simply to say he’s not on the hot seat. He has $18.5 million in guarantees for 2026, and his close ties to Pete Carroll will keep Smith around for at least two years. (Unless, of course, a certain minority owner decides otherwise.)
Dak Prescott, Cowboys: He’s probably not on the hot seat, because his $60 million per year contract would wreak havoc on the salary cap if the Cowboys were to cut or trade him (yes, he has a no-trade clause, but he can waive it) in 2026. The complication for the Cowboys is that his $45 million salary for 2027 becomes fully guaranteed on the fifth day of the 2026 league year. They’re basically stuck — all because they waited too long to give him his second contract, and then waited too long to give him his third contract.
Russell Wilson, Giants: If he’s the Week 1 starter (if Jaxson Dart lives up to his first-round draft stock, Wilson shouldn’t be), the clock will be ticking. Immediately. In 2004, the Giants benched Kurt Warner after nine games for Eli Manning, even though the Giants were 5-4 at the time. When Dart is ready, Dart will play. Even if Wilson makes it through 2025 without getting benched, he’ll have to do plenty to keep Dart on the sideline for 2026.
Jordan Love, Packers: He’s not on the hot seat per se, but he needs to play better in 2025 than he did in 2024. If not, he will be on the hot seat in 2026. The wild card in Green Bay is new CEO Ed Policy, who operates as the de facto owner of the team.
J.J. McCarthy, Vikings: He’s getting his shot to play, after a knee injury wiped out his rookie season. Anything other than an outright disaster will ensure his status for 2026. At worst, he’d have to compete with a more established veteran next year.
Tyler Shough, Saints: He’ll need to do enough in 2025 to earn the chance to do well enough in 2026 to get the Saints to not pursue the grandson of Archie Manning in 2027. (And, yes, I think Arch Manning will spend two years as a college starter before entering the draft.)
Bryce Young, Panthers: In year three, he needs to continue the growth he showed late in the 2024 season, in order to secure a fourth season, the fifth-year option, and ideally (for him) a second contract.
Kyler Murray, Cardinals: His contract gives him two more years of financial security. But this is the team that drafted Murray a year after using the 10th overall pick on Josh Rosen (not Lamar Jackson). So who knows what the Cardinals will do if Murray doesn’t propel the team into contention this year?
Sam Darnold, Seahawks: He has a one-year deal, as a practical matter. And the Seahawks seem to really like rookie Jalen Milroe. Darnold will need to play very well to secure his status for 2026.
Matthew Stafford, Rams: It’s not the “hot seat” as much as it’s a mutual understanding that player and team are taking things one year at a time. After the season, both sides will have to recommit. Whether the Rams will want to do that depends on how Stafford plays in 2025, and on their other options for staffing the position in 2026.
That’s a lot of names. But it’s no surprise. There aren’t many true, unquestioned, year-after-year franchise quarterbacks. And the teams that don’t have one are always hoping to find one.
It has created more quarterback movement in recent years than ever before. Plenty of the names listed above will be on the move in 2026.
The Steelers and linebacker T.J. Watt continue to be at odds regarding his next contract. And the Steelers don’t seem to be very stressed out about it.
Even if, as we’ve heard, the current gap between the Steelers and Watt is significant, the gap necessarily will narrow when the final stages of the negotiations begin.
The last time around, those negotiations lasted deep into training camp and the preseason, with Watt holding in and not practicing until the deal was done. It worked, with Watt then getting a record $28 million per year in new-money average.
This time, the Steelers seem to believe (based on our discussions with those familiar with the team’s approach) that, when their best number is put on the table, Watt will take it.
Our guess (and it’s just a guess) is that the Steelers hope to stay closer to the Maxx Crosby range of $35.5 million, with Watt hoping to surge past Myle Garrett’s $40 million per year.
What if, at the end of the day, the Steelers offer a deal worth $38 million per year? Once that offer is extended (if it is), would Watt give up, essentially, $2.1 million per week (based on 18 checks per season) and hold out into the regular season?
Of course, the Steelers could be underestimating Watt’s resolve. If he’s dug in when it comes to matching or beating Garrett, maybe Watt would still say “no” to anything less than $40 million per year.
And if the Steelers hope to regard the Garrett contract as another Cleveland albatross contract akin to the Deshaun Watson deal, there’s another wrinkle to consider. The Micah Parsons contract will undoubtedly match (or likely exceed, perhaps significantly) the Garrett deal.
At this point, shouldn’t Watt wait to see what Parsons gets? The Parsons package will only drive the current market higher, making Watt’s case for more than Pittsburgh’s best offer even stronger.
However the Parsons negotiations play out, the Watt situation is fairly simple. He’ll either accept the Steelers’ best offer, or he won’t. And if the Steelers believe it will be good enough to pay him extremely well but not as much or more than other top defenders, they’ll find out whether he’ll take it.
Watt has considerable leverage. The Steelers going all in this year. They’re 1-11 when he misses games due to injury. Not having Watt would offset everything else they’ve done in an effort to win enough regular-season games to get to the playoffs — and to win a postseason game for the first time in Watt’s career.
Plenty of Steelers fans want to see coach Mike Tomlin on the hot seat. Today’s announcement of a new contract for G.M. Omar Khan provides an indirect answer to the question of whether Tomlin’s time is running short.
It is not.
This year’s dramatic change to the manner in which the Steelers build their team has sparked speculation that, if going all in from a personnel standpoint doesn’t deliver the team’s first playoff since the 2016 season, the desperation that transformed the team’s offseason acquisitions could lead to even more dramatic changes in 2026.
But the Steelers are still the Steelers, even if they’re not currently acting much like the Steelers. And the Steelers rarely if ever change coaches.
They’ve had three since 1969. And while Chuck Noll seemingly got a big of a nudge into retirement (at only 59) after the 1991 season, they don’t fire coaches.
Or General Managers. Yes, Tom Donahoe got a little more than a nudge. But with Khan getting an extension, the message is clear. Even though the 2025 Steelers have taken a different approach to adding players, they’re still the Steelers when it comes to the jobs that extend through the various iterations of the roster.
Khan is staying. Tomlin is staying.
Unless, of course, Tomlin decides he wants to go.
Steelers General Manager Omar Khan has been busy this offseason and he’s now set for several more years at the helm of the franchise.
The Steelers announced that they have signed Khan to a three-year contract extension. Khan replaced Kevin Colbert in the G.M. position in 2022 and he is now signed through 2028.
“I am excited to announce we have signed Omar to a new three-year contract,” Steelers president Art Rooney II said in a statement. “Omar and his team have done a great job over the past three years in constructing our roster through the NFL Draft, strategic trades, and free agency. We look forward to continuing that trend that will lead to even more success on the field.”
The Steelers have made the playoffs in the last two seasons, but they have not won a game in the postseason since the 2016 campaign. Khan’s work to change that this year included signing quarterback Aaron Rodgers and trading for wide receiver DK Metcalf, cornerback Jalen Ramsey, and tight end Jonnu Smith while shipping wideout George Pickens to Dallas.
Khan’s next task will be dealing with edge rusher T.J. Watt, who did not attend any of the team’s offseason work while looking for a contract extension of his own. However things play out with Watt, Khan is set to make many more decisions about the direction of the franchise in the coming years.
Jonnu Smith had the best year of his career with the Dolphins in 2024, setting new personal single-season highs in receptions (88) and yards (884) — marks that also set franchise records for a tight end. He also tied a career-high with eight receiving touchdowns.
Smith’s season went so well that he had a desire to be with the club for the rest of his time in the NFL.
But when he and the club could not reach an agreement on a new deal, Miami instead traded him to Pittsburgh earlier this week.
In an appearance on former teammate Terron Armstead’s podcast, Smith noted that the way everything’s gone down since the end of the season has been somewhat of a surprise.
“I didn’t foresee this happening with how the season went for me individually,” Smith said, via David Furones of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “I had aspirations of ending my career in Miami, with it being home for me, my children, my family. But I understand the business side of it, and it didn’t work out. I’m grateful. I’ve got no ill feelings toward Miami and nobody in the organization.”
Smith, 29, had signed a two-year, $8.4 million deal with the Dolphins in the 2024 offseason. But he had outplayed that base salary in his first season with the club, with his representation and Miami starting talks on a potential new deal right after the year ended.
“We started this conversation in January with Miami and, obviously, giving me the run-around, ‘We’ll [get] back to it,’ ” Smith said. “Obviously, they had some things they had to address, and I understand that. I was patient with them throughout the whole entire process, and eventually it came to a point in time where they told me that they just can’t do it and they weren’t economically in a position to pay me like a Pro Bowl tight end.”
So, the Dolphins traded him and Jalen Ramsey to the Steelers, where he’ll reunite with his former offensive coordinator with Tennessee and head coach with Atlanta, Arthur Smith.
“I’m in a situation where I’m appreciated,” Smith said. “You always want to be where you’re most valued and appreciated, and that’s the situation that I found myself in with Pittsburgh.”
