Vikings WR Rondale Moore Dies At 25
10:05pm: As noted by Jay Skeeba of WHAS11, the Coroner’s Office in Floyd County, Indiana has autopsy has been scheduled for tomorrow. New Albany Police Chief Todd Bailey said Moore was found dead in a garage of a suspected self-inflicted gunshot wound.
8:07pm: Rondale Moore passed away on Saturday, a Vikings source confirmed to Dianna Russini of The Athletic. The receiver was 25 years old. At this time, the team is in the process of gathering details surrounding Moore’s death. 
A second-round pick of the Cardinals in 2021, Moore entered the league coming off a college career which showcased plenty of potential. As a freshman at Purdue, he earned All-American honors while delivering strong production as a receiver and a returner. Moore only played another seven games in college, but his draft stock remained high.
Across three seasons in Arizona, Moore saw his playing time fluctuate. His production remained relatively consistent as he operated as a secondary option in the passing game while also seeing time as a runner. In March of 2024, Moore was traded to the Falcons in a straight swap for quarterback Desmond Ridder.
That set him up for a new chapter in his NFL career, but it did not prove to be possible. Moore suffered a season-ending knee injury mere months after being dealt to the Falcons. His rookie contract expired before having the opportunity to play for the team. Moore’s first trip to free agency generated interest and resulted in a one-year Vikings agreement.
While making his preseason debut for Minnesota, however, Moore suffered another major knee injury. That one also resulted in a season-long absence. After rehabbing the latest ailment, Moore was on track to test the market once again in March. In total, Moore played 40 combined regular and postseason games.
Chargers Unlikely To Be Active In Free Agency
The Chargers are currently projected to have nearly $83MM in cap space for the 2026 offseason. That could lead to a spending spree, but such an approach should not be expected. 
Joe Hortiz is entering his third offseason as the Bolts’ general manager. The veteran executive’s time in Los Angeles was preceded by a lengthy stint with the Ravens, a team known for emphasizing the draft in its roster-building philosophy. Hortiz has maintained a similar approach to that of the Ravens so far in his GM tenure, and that can be expected to continue this year.
“I don’t want to spend recklessly,” Hortiz recently said (via ESPN’s Kris Rhim). “If you chase perceived needs in free agency, in the draft and more often than not overpaying or making a mistake. So, we do have to be calculated. We have to be smarter.”
The Chargers find themselves in need of additions along the interior of the offensive and defensive lines this spring. The team’s pass rush setup could also be much different relatively soon, as both Odafe Oweh and Khalil Mack are pending free agents. Hortiz will have a number of key decisions to make over the coming months. Los Angeles currently has six draft picks, including one in each of the first four rounds.
Some of the team’s positional needs will no doubt remain largely unfilled until April, as is common practice around the league. Nevertheless, the Chargers could manage to win at least one notable bidding war on the open market given their financial flexibility. A continued emphasis will no doubt continue to be placed on retaining in-house players, of course. The new pact for Teair Tart is a recent example of strong Los Angeles performers landing notable commitments from Hortiz and the front office.
There are other candidates to be re-signed in short order, and the Bolts also obviously have a list of extension candidates to work on leading up to Week 1. There could still be room for a splashy outside addition or two, but much of the team’s resources will likely be aimed elsewhere.
Jets Undecided On RB Breece Hall; Transition Tag Could Be In Play?
Breece Hall looms as one of the top franchise tag candidates for 2026. That option has not been taken off the table by the Jets so far, but others are being weighed as well. 
New York remains undecided on the Hall front at this time, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports. As expected, an extension was not worked out during the regular season, although the team is still interested in retaining its lead running back. A new Hall deal keeping Hall in the fold is one possibility in this case, Fowler confirms.
He adds, however, that the transition tag is seen by some around the league as an expected move on the Jets’ part. Applying the franchise tag to running backs this offseason is projected to cost roughly $14.5MM. The transition tag will check in at a rate of approximately $11.73MM, by contrast. Players who receive the transition tag are free to speak with outside teams and sign an offer sheet; unmatched offer sheets do not result in draft compensation.
As a result, the transition tag is rarely used in the NFL. Whether or not the Jets give serious thought to applying it in Hall’s case will be interesting to monitor. The 24-year-old has managed to remain durable and consistent since suffering an ACL tear during his rookie season. Hall topped 1,300 scrimmage yards for the third consecutive season in 2025, and he surpassed 1,000 on the ground for the first time despite playing on one of the league’s worst offenses.
A payday (relatively speaking, considering the nature of the running back market) should be coming shortly. Hall could wind up being the top back in free agency if the decision-making tandem of general manager Darren Mougey and Aaron Glenn – which was not in place when he was drafted – opts to move in a different direction. A long-term agreement could result in pact averaging $12MM or so per year, but it would give the Jets flexibility with respect to Hall’s cap charges while keeping him at a rate similar to that of the transition tag.
New York is currently fourth in the NFL in projected cap space, so absorbing the one-year cost of a franchise or transition tag would be more feasible for that team than most others. Finding a replacement in the backfield could become a priority for the Jets through either free agency or the draft, but that may not prove necessary depending on how they operate leading up to the tag deadline.
Minor NFL Transactions: 2/21/26
Saturday brought about one minor move in the NFL:
Houston Texans
- Signed: OL Jarrett Kingston
Kingston was on track to be one of Houston’s exclusive rights restricted free agents this spring. Instead, a new Texans deal has been worked out. Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 reports this is a one-year, $1.1MM pact with a $15K signing bonus representing the only guaranteed money. A $10K workout bonus is also present in the deal, and Kingston can earn it during the offseason program. The 26-year-old made a pair of appearances with Houston in 2025.
Browns LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah Unlikely To Play Again
Browns linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah hasn’t taken the field since he suffered a severe neck injury in Week 8 of the 2024 season. Owusu-Koramoah spent all of last season on the reserve/PUP list. It is now “doubtful at best” that the 26-year-old will play again, Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com reports.
As a former Notre Dame standout, Owusu-Koramoah earned ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors and the Butkus Award in 2020. That convinced the Browns to spend a second-round pick on Owusu-Koramoah the next spring. He went on to establish himself as a cornerstone defender for the Browns over three and a half seasons.
Owusu-Koramoah combined for 20 starts in 25 games in his first two years in Cleveland. He hit the 70-tackle mark in both seasons while totaling 10 TFL and four forced fumbles. Owusu-Koramoah took on a bigger role in 2023, a career year in which he piled up 101 tackles, 20 TFL, 3.5 sacks and two interceptions in 16 games (13 starts).
Owusu-Koramoah’s breakout showing in 2023 led to both a Pro Bowl alternate nod and a new contract. The Browns awarded him a three-year extension worth up to $39MM in August 2024. With 61 tackles, 10 TFL, three sacks and a pick, Owusu-Koramoah continued to deliver over his first eight games that season. Unfortunately, it appears that eight-game stretch will go down as his last.
Owusu-Koramoah remains under contract with the Browns through 2027. He’s owed a guaranteed $11.03MM next season.
Browns Could Pursue Packers LT Rasheed Walker In Free Agency
Packers left tackle Rasheed Walker is the top pending free agent at one of the game’s most valuable positions. Between his track record as a capable starter and his age (26), Walker is going to cash in sometime soon. As Walker nears a trip to the open market in March, Cleveland is a potential suitor to keep an eye on, Cameron Wolfe of NFL Network reports.
The Packers have until March 3 to place the projected $27.76MM franchise tag on Walker, whom they stole in the seventh round of the 2022 draft. It doesn’t look as if general manager Brian Gutekunst will go that route, though.
“I don’t feel like Gutey is motivated enough to tag Rasheed,” a league source told Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports.
Gutekunst drafted Walker, but retaining him has appeared unlikely for at least a few months. The GM said last week that the Packers are prepared to give 2024 first-rounder Jordan Morgan a shot at left tackle. He’ll play next season for a much cheaper price than Walker, a starter since he took over for longtime Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari early in 2023.
Walker has racked up 48 starts in the past three years, including 15 last season. Pro Football Focus ranked Walker an underwhelming 52nd among 89 qualifying tackles in 2025. However, as PFR’s Adam La Rose noted in his Packers Offseason Outlook, starting left tackles don’t often reach free agency. When they do, they get paid. The demand outweighs the supply, which bodes well for Walker.
Flashing back to last March, former Steelers left tackle Dan Moore Jr. joined the Titans on a four-year, $82MM deal with $50MM in guarantees. Walker could fare similarly on his next contract. The cap is set to rise by over $20MM in 2026, putting Walker in an even stronger position than Moore was in that regard.
As for a potential Browns-Walker union, it makes sense on paper. Their offensive line was an injury-ravaged unit in 2025, and now it’s facing an overwhelming number of offseason departures. Pending free agent guard Wyatt Teller bid goodbye to Cleveland on Instagram earlier this week. Guard Joel Bitonio, also a pending free agent, is mulling retirement. Center Ethan Pocic and the tackle tandem of Cam Robinson and Jack Conklin are also without contracts for 2026.
Adding to the Browns’ issues up front, tackle Dawand Jones has suffered season-ending injuries in all three years of his career. Jones began 2025 as the Browns’ starter on the left side, but a Week 3 LCL tear and a hamstring avulsion forced him out for the rest of the year. He is under contract for another season, but if the Browns still see Jones as a starter, they could bring in Walker and use the former at right tackle. Jones has garnered more experience on the right side than the left during his injury-plagued career.
Nahshon Wright Interested In Re-Signing With Bears
Coming off a breakout 2025 season, pending free agent cornerback Nahshon Wright is in a far better position than he was when he reached the open market a year ago. In one of last offseason’s best buy-low pickups, the Bears added Wright on a one-year, $1.1MM deal in April. Bringing him back in 2026 will cost far more.
Discussing his future with SiriusXM NFL Radio, the 27-year-old Wright said he “would love to be back in Chicago.” Wright revealed that there has been contact between his agent and the team, but he hasn’t heard any specific “contract details.”
Wright was a 2021 Cowboys third-round pick who started in just three of 32 games in Dallas over his first three seasons. The Cowboys cut the cord on the Oregon State product when they traded him for Vikings corner Andrew Booth in August 2024. The change of scenery didn’t work out for either player.
In Wright’s case, he spent most of the year on the Vikings’ practice squad. In the lone game he played, all 15 of his snaps came on special teams. The Vikings re-signed Wright to a reserve/futures deal in January 2025, but they released him April 7.
A day after Minnesota waved goodbye to Wright, he landed on his feet with NFC North rival Chicago. The 27-year-old ended up an integral part of the Bears’ meteoric rise in 2025, and he earned his first Pro Bowl trip in the process.
Wright, who caused just one takeaway in his first four years in the NFL, led the league with eight last season. In 17 games and 16 starts, Wright finished with 80 tackles, 11 passes defensed, five interceptions (including a 74-yard pick-six), three fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles. The former bench player was on the field for 97% of defensive snaps for an NFC North-winning team that advanced to the divisional round.
One of the game’s tallest cornerbacks, the 6-foot-4 Wright is now on his way to the market among the top options at his position. If the Bears don’t re-sign Wright before the legal tampering period begins March 9, there should be no shortage of interest from other clubs in need of a starting outside corner. Because of his limited track record, it may be a “buyer beware” situation. But that’s not going to stop some team from giving Wright a significant raise in the next few weeks.
Seahawks WR Jaxon-Smith Njigba Discusses Potential Extension
After winning Offensive Player of the Year and a Super Bowl in 2025, Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba is eligible for a contract extension this offseason. The Seahawks will prioritize a new deal for the three-year veteran, but they would unsurprisingly have to pay a steep price to lock him up.
Smith-Njigba told Jonah Javad of WFAA he’s “not too pressed” to work out an extension right now. At the same time, though, the 24-year-old declared, “I believe I deserve to be the highest paid at my position.”
That’s not an outlandish statement, especially with the salary cap constantly on the rise. The cap in 2025 was $279.2MM. It’s poised to climb anywhere from $301.2MM to $305.7MM next season. Smith-Njigba and Rams rival receiver Puka Nacua, who’s also in line for an extension this offseason, should be among the beneficiaries.
Both JSN and Nacua have arguments to surpass the contract the Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase secured last March. Chase inked a four-year, $161MM pact with $112MM in guaranteed cash last March. He now tops his position in total money, average annual value and guarantees.
Since the Seahawks drafted Smith-Njigba 20th overall in 2023, he has emerged as yet another star receiver from Ohio State. Smith-Njigba, who has never missed a game, has seen his production steadily increase in each season.
A starter in just three games as a rookie, Smith-Njigba hauled in 63 receptions for 628 yards and four touchdowns. He became a full-time starter in Year 2, during which his numbers skyrocketed to 100-1,130-six. The uptick in production led to the first of two straight Pro Bowls for the 6-foot, 197-pounder.
Smith-Njigba spent the vast majority of his first two years working with a middling quarterback in Geno Smith, but the Seahawks shook up their QB room to great results in 2025. A few days before the free agent market opened, the Seahawks agreed to send Smith to the Raiders for a third-round pick. That temporarily left them without a starter, but the Seahawks addressed the vacancy a few days later.
After a long-awaited and unexpected breakout 2024 with the Vikings, former first-rounder Sam Darnold joined the Seahawks on a three-year, $100.5MM pact. Now a championship-winning QB, Darnold hit it off with Smith-Njigba in their first season together. The wideout ranked first in the league in yards (1,793), tied for first in 20-plus yard receptions (27), fourth in catches (119), fifth in targets (163), and tied for sixth in TDs (10). Along with OPOY and Pro Bowl honors, he was named a first-team All-Pro.
While Smith-Njigba has one more guaranteed season on his rookie contract, the Seahawks will sign off on his fifth-year option by May 1. Doing so would at least temporarily set Smith-Njigba up to play 2027 on a projected $24.39MM salary. That looks like a bargain for JSN, who may land a record extension before then.
Cam Ward To Resume Throwing In March
Despite taking an NFL-high 55 sacks in 2025, Titans quarterback Cam Ward managed to start every game of his rookie season. Last year’s first overall pick didn’t quite make it through the campaign unscathed, though. He suffered a sprained AC joint in his throwing shoulder in a Week 18 loss to the Jaguars, forcing an early exit in the season finale.
Ward, who did not require surgery, is on track in his recovery a month and a half later. The 23-year-old is about two or three weeks from throwing, according to Cameron Wolfe of NFL Network. In the meantime, Ward is focusing on lower-body work with his personal quarterbacks coach, Darrell Colbert Jr. Colbert told Wolfe that “they want to get Ward’s feet back right” before he resumes throwing.
Between the lack of weaponry around him and an in-season coaching change, Ward did not walk into an easy situation in Tennessee. During a 3-14 season, he completed 59.8% of passes for 3,169 yards, 15 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Ward posted a traditional 80.2 quarterback rating while finishing last among qualifying passers in QBR (33.2). He also checked in toward the bottom of the league in yards per attempt (5.9).
There is optimism Ward’s second year will go much better, and it begins with new head coach Robert Saleh‘s staff. Saleh hired an established offensive coordinator, Brian Daboll, to mold the Titans’ prized signal-caller.
Ward, cognizant of Daboll’s success with a young Josh Allen in Buffalo, is “very excited” to work with the coach, Wolfe reports. The two already began forming a rapport when Daboll was the Giants’ head coach during the pre-draft process last year, Wolfe adds. Ward was Daboll’s top-ranked QB then, and the Giants unsuccessfully tried to trade up from third overall to draft the Miami product.
New York, which drafted pass rusher Abdul Carter with its pick, later traded back into the first round to select former Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart at 25th overall. Dart began the season on the bench, but Daboll named him the starter in place of a struggling Russell Wilson in Week 4. Although Dart performed well under Daboll, the Giants fired the coach after a 2-8 start.
Despite a 20-40-1 record in three-plus seasons with the Giants, Daboll was under consideration for head coaching jobs with the Titans, Bills and Raiders in January. Those teams went in other directions, leaving Daboll to accept his fifth offensive coordinator gig in the pros. If Daboll works wonders with Ward in 2026, a second head coaching opportunity could be in the cards next winter.
Jets Finalize 2026 Defensive Coaching Staff
The Jets have set their defensive coaching staff for the 2026 season, per team writer Eric Allen, with Ben Bolling, Ronald Booker, and Colin Bauer emerging as the final additions.
Bolling, 32, will take over as New York’s linebackers coach. He served as the Texans’ assistant linebackers coach in 2025 after four years as a defensive assistant on DeMeco Ryans‘ staff. Bolling previously worked as an assistant coach at Campbell University, where he played wide receiver from 2021 to 2025.
Booker just finished a five-year stint with the Cardinals, where he served as a defensive assistant and quality control coach. A former defensive back himself, Booker will primarily be working with the Jets’ nickel corners in 2026. Four players had over 100 slot snaps in New York in 2025, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required): safeties Malachi Moore and Jordan Clark and cornerbacks Jarvis Brownlee and Michael Carter. Only Moore and Brownlee are still on the roster for 2026, so Booker will be coaching them as well as any nickels the Jets acquire this offseason.