Chargers’ Rashawn Slater, Joe Alt Recovering Ahead Of Schedule
The Chargers were unable to overcome major injuries to starting offensive tackles Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt last year, but there is optimism the two will return at full strength next season. Slater and Alt are ahead of schedule in their recoveries, according to general manager Joe Hortiz (via Kris Rhim of ESPN).
The Chargers spent recent first-round picks on Slater (No. 13 in 2021) and Alt (No. 6, 2024). When healthy, the investments have been worth it. Slater was so impressive over his first four seasons that the Chargers awarded the left tackle a four-year, $114MM extension last July. He now ranks first among tackles in guaranteed money ($92MM), second in average annual salary ($28.5MM) and third in total value.
Not even two weeks after he signed the mega-extension, Slater succumbed to torn patellar tendon that cost him the entire season. It was the second serious injury for the 27-year-old Slater, who missed 14 games in 2022 as a result of a ruptured biceps tendon.
Right ankle problems dogged Alt last year and forced him to undergo season-ending surgery in November. Despite playing just six games, Alt earned his first Pro Bowl nod. That will increase the price of Alt’s fifth-year option in a couple of offseasons, which is not ideal for the Chargers, but they’ll worry about that down the line. For now, the hope is Alt will put together his first 17-game season in 2026. He almost accomplished that as a rookie, but a knee injury led to a single absence.
Even with Slater out for all of 2025 and Alt on the shelf for most of it, the Chargers reeled off a second straight 11-win season and went to the playoffs. But fill-in tackles Trey Pipkins, Bobby Hart, Jamaree Salyer and Austin Deculus were in over their heads subbing for a pair of stalwarts. Stuck behind a porous line, star quarterback Justin Herbert took a beating in a 54-sack regular season. That continued during a six-sack drubbing in a 16-3 loss to the Patriots in the wild-card round.
As long as Slater and Alt are healthy, Herbert should play behind a much better group of blockers in 2026. Hortiz has upgraded at center in replacing the retired Bradley Bozeman with free agent addition Tyler Biadasz. He may have improved at right guard, where the Chargers switched out Mekhi Becton for Cole Strange. Left guard is an obvious weakness in the wake of Zion Johnson‘s departure in free agency, but the Chargers are likely to address it early in the draft.
CB Jermod McCoy Could Slip In Draft Over Knee Concerns
Former Michigan cornerback Will Johnson was a potential first-round pick entering last year’s draft, but he slid to No. 47 (to the Cardinals) amid concerns over his knee. Tennessee corner Jermod McCoy may end up in a similar situation this year. While McCoy is arguably one of the two most talented players at his position, teams are wary over his knee.
McCoy missed all of last season as a result of a torn ACL, but the former second-team All-American showed no ill effects at Tennessee’s pro day on March 31. He ran a 4.37-second 40-yard dash, logged a 38-inch vertical jump and registered a 10-foot, 7-inch broad jump. McCoy’s ACL is “fine,” according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, though he reports “the concern is about a bone plug that was used to repair a cartilage defect in his knee.” Doctors believe McCoy could require another surgery to replace the bone plug, which would include a long recovery.
With the first round two nights away, one team told Connor Hughes of SNY it has taken McCoy off its board. At least four clubs have red-flagged his knee, per Hughes. Although Albert Breer of SI.com regarded McCoy a potential top-10 pick a week ago, he now considers the 6-foot, 188-pounder a prime candidate to fall down the board. Based on what Breer has heard, teams are not worried about whether McCoy will be ready for next season. Rather, they are unsure about his longevity. That is the same reason Johnson lasted as long as he did in the 2025 draft. Johnson went on to play well during a 10-start rookie year, but he missed five games as a result of groin, back and hip injuries.
If McCoy is poised for a draft free fall, the other top corners in the class would stand to benefit. Thanks in part to McCoy’s health woes, LSU’s Mansoor Delane looks like the clear-cut favorite to become the first corner taken on Thursday. He has a good chance to go in the top 10, Breer reports. Colton Hood (also from Tennessee), Clemson’s Avieon Terrell and San Diego State’s Chris Johnson are a few other first-round hopefuls.
Jaguars To Trade Up For Jadarian Price?
Having lost four-year starter Travis Etienne to the Saints in free agency, the Jaguars could target a running back early in the draft. The Jags will try to move up in Round 2 for Notre Dame’s Jadarian Price if he “starts to slip,” Tony Pauline of Essentially Sports reports.
Thanks to last year’s Travis Hunter trade, the Jaguars will enter this week’s draft without a first-round pick. They are set to make their first selection at No. 56, five spots below where Dane Brugler of The Athletic places the 51st-ranked Price among this year’s prospects. Jacksonville boasts a total of 11 picks, including three in the third round, which could create the opportunity to go up for Price if the team covets the 5-foot-10, 203-pounder.
Price is widely considered the No. 2 back in this class, trailing Fighting Irish teammate and slam-dunk early first-rounder Jeremiyah Love. While playing second fiddle to Love from 2024-25, Price averaged over 6.0 yards per carry on 233 attempts and racked up 18 rushing touchdowns. With Love also serving as a major receiving threat, Price caught just 15 passes in college, but he made a significant impact in the third phase of the game. As a kick returner last year, Price averaged a tremendous 37.5 yards on 12 runbacks and found the end zone twice.
In the event the Jaguars do not land Price, they will address the position in the third round, according to Pauline, who points to Nebraska’s Emmett Johnson as a potential option. The Jaguars “like” Johnson, who dazzled last year en route to first-team All-America honors. Johnson rushed for the fourth-most yards in the nation (1,451) on 251 attempts, scored 15 touchdowns (12 on the ground, three in the air) and caught 46 passes. He is Brugler’s fourth-ranked RB heading into the draft.
Adding a running back in the draft would be the latest investment in the position for the general manager-head coach tandem of James Gladstone and Liam Coen. With Gladstone and Coen in charge for their first draft last year, they spent a fourth-rounder on Bhayshul Tuten and a seventh-rounder on LeQuint Allen. Those two remain in the mix, and the Jaguars picked up ex-Commander Chris Rodriguez on a two-year deal with a fully guaranteed $6.2M in free agency. Tuten, Allen and Rodriguez could soon have company in the form of Price, Johnson or at least one other rookie.
Minor NFL Transactions: 4/21/26
A couple of teams made minor moves on Tuesday…
Minnesota Vikings
- Waived: DL Jaylon Hutchings
New England Patriots
- Signed ERFA tender: FB Jack Westover
Westover entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the Seahawks in 2024, but they waived the Washington alumnus before his rookie campaign. He caught on with the Patriots that year and has since played all 20 of his games with the organization. Last year was the first 17-game season for Westover, who picked up two starts and played 402 snaps (237 on offense, 165 on special teams). Westover caught one pass for no gain.
Jets Cancel Top-30 Visit With David Bailey
APRIL 21: Nearly a week after canceling Bailey’s top-30 visit, Jets general manager Darren Mougey cleared things up, sort of. According to ESPN’s Rich Cimini, Mougey told the media, “In regard to David, we had good touch points with him at the combine, we went to his pro day, had a good dinner with him, and we were just kind of juggling our 30 (visits) and how to use them. I wouldn’t look too much into a cancellation because there was other ones that we may have changed, as well.”
He went on to note that visits can be utilized for medical checks, recruiting, opportunities for departments other than scouting to get time with a prospect, and “sometimes…it’s a smokescreen.” While he may have intentionally muddied things up with his final comments, Tony Pauline of EssentiallySports reported today that nearly all his league contacts are hearing that Bailey will be New York’s selection at No. 2 overall in two days.
APRIL 15: Draft rumors move quickly in the final weeks leading up to Day 1 of the big event. Just five days ago, Texas Tech edge rusher David Bailey became the betting favorite to land with the Jets at the No. 2 overall pick. Just this evening, Connor Hughes of SportsNet New York reported that the team had canceled a top-30 visit that Bailey was supposed to attend.
There’s a lot of unspoken context here that’s worth mentioning. Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk commented that “it is unclear when Bailey was scheduled to visit,” confirming that, if a top-30 visit with the Jets had been announced for Bailey, it hadn’t been widely reported. Considering, as well, that today was the final possible day teams could host prospects for top-30 visits, just after 5pm on the final day seems an odd time for this information to break. It just as easily could’ve been reported that they ran out of time to get in a visit with Bailey, or it could’ve gone unreported and unnoticed altogether.
As Ryan Dunleavy of New York Post Sports suggests, the meaning of this report could taken in very different ways. The most obvious meaning would be that the Jets don’t intend to draft Bailey and chose not to waste his time with a visit. It could also mean the exact opposite: that the Jets know all they need to know about the Red Raider pass rusher, and they don’t need an additional visit to feel secure in drafting him. Dunleavy points out that, because the Jets have the No. 2 overall pick and the top overall pick is all but written in stone, there isn’t much potential benefit to throwing up this smokescreen.
One thing such a smokescreen could instigate to potentially benefit the Jets is trade interest. There may be teams interested in trading up for a top pass rusher, and they may not want to settle for whoever isn’t taken between Bailey and Ohio State’s Arvell Reese. We’ve seen rumors that the Cardinals, Giants, and other teams in the top 10 have shown interest in trading down, and perhaps the Jets wanted to get their phones ringing, too, to see what might be available to them.
The headline caused a bit of a stir this evening, but it remains to be seen if it will affect the current betting lines associated with each pick and player. Regardless, the intent should become much more clear eight days from now, when a selection is announced for the No. 2 overall pick.
Giants Host DT Benito Jones
With Dexter Lawrence no longer in the fold, the Giants are in obvious need of help along the interior defensive line. Cognizant of that, the Giants hosted free agent defensive tackle Benito Jones on Tuesday, per Howard Balzer of CardsWire.
Unable to successfully renegotiate with the disgruntled Lawrence, the Giants traded him to the Bengals for the No. 10 pick last weekend. The Lawrence-less Giants are now perilously thin at the position, and finding an adequate replacement for the four-time Pro Bowler in free agency or even the draft will be a tall order. Nevertheless, Jones would at least give the Giants an experienced option with plenty of starts under his belt. The same applies to D.J. Reader, who met with the Giants earlier this month. Lawrence was still on the roster then.
Jones went undrafted in 2020, but the Ole Miss product has managed a 71-game, 38-start career over five seasons divided between Miami and Detroit. Jones put together a 17-game, 15-start with the Lions in 2023. He did the same with the Dolphins in 2024. The Dolphins re-signed Jones last year and got another 14 games and eight starts from him. He ended the season on IR with a back injury.
While Jones has racked up a solid amount of on-field action, his production has not been particularly strong. He has never topped 26 tackles, six QB hits or 1.5 sacks in any season. The 335-pounder has also struggled in the estimation of Pro Football Focus, which ranked his performance 105th among 127 D-tackles last year. PFF has been especially bullish on Jones’ work against the run, having assigned him below-average marks in that department four years in a row. That doesn’t seem ideal for the Giants, who allowed the second-most rushing yards in the NFL in 2025, but they are nonetheless considering Jones as the post-draft wave of free agency nears.
49ers Expected To Retain Mac Jones
Although 49ers quarterback Mac Jones entered the offseason as a potential trade candidate, he has stayed put so far. That is not expected to change, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The market for Jones has not “heated up,” Schefter adds.
As a first-round rookie in 2021, Jones got off to a promising start in helping lead the Patriots to the postseason. There was hope the Patriots had found a long-term successor to Tom Brady, but Jones’ career hit the skids in his second year. After he struggled in New England through 2023, the team traded him to Jacksonville for a sixth-round in the ensuing draft. The change of scenery did not work out for Jones, who struggled over 10 games and seven starts while filling in for an injured Trevor Lawrence.
While Jones’ stock remained relatively low going into free agency last March, he still scored a two-year, $7MM pact with San Francisco. The 49ers did not make the highest offer for Jones, but he took less to land in a good spot under offensive guru Kyle Shanahan. For the second straight year, Jones had to step in for an injured starter. It worked out far better in 2025. With Brock Purdy missing nine games, Jones posted a 5-3 record at the helm and recorded some of the best numbers of his career. The 27-year-old completed 69.6% of passes, averaged 7.4 yards per attempt, tossed 13 touchdowns against six interceptions, and put up a 97.4 traditional rating and 62.3 QBR.
After Jones helped them earn a playoff berth last year, the 49ers reportedly tagged him with an “astronomical” asking price. As of early March, they wanted at least a second-rounder for Jones. Nobody has met their demands, and with offseason QB movement mostly finished, it does not appear anyone will.
Aside from the Steelers, who are waiting on Aaron Rodgers, everyone has a starting quarterback or at least a competition in place a few months in advance of training camp. The Colts kept Daniel Jones around on a pricey contract to remain their starter. Elsewhere, the Dolphins (Malik Willis), Vikings (Kyler Murray), Falcons (Tua Tagovailoa), Raiders (Kirk Cousins), Jets (Geno Smith) and Cardinals (Gardner Minshew) have all brought in notable veteran signal-callers. All of those players will either open next season as a starter or vie with an in-house signal-caller for the job. Meanwhile, unless the Browns veer away from their planned Shedeur Sanders–Deshaun Watson battle, Jones probably is not a fit in Cleveland. That’s likely fine with the 49ers, who have been content to keep Jones all along.
When asked in January about a potential Jones trade, Shanahan said: “As any player on our team, including myself and John (Lynch), you always listen to people and trade offers, but we’re also not into getting rid of good players. So, I’d be very surprised if Mac wasn’t around us next year.”
Saints Open To Trading Spencer Rattler?
Tyler Shough impressed after the Saints gave him the starting job around midseason last year, showing promise after losing a competition to Spencer Rattler in training camp. Rattler now faces an uncertain NFL future.
Although resilient GM Mickey Loomis drafted Rattler, the quarterback was acquired to develop in a previous offensive system. Drafted during Klint Kubiak‘s year as the Saints’ play-caller, the former South Carolina and Oklahoma prospect has two years left on his rookie contract. Rattler came up as a possible trade option earlier this year, and ESPN’s Adam Schefter mentions the third-year QB as a player who could be moved before or during the draft.
The Saints have given Rattler 14 starts; he is 1-13 as a first-stringer. While New Orleans has not fielded a particularly good roster around Rattler — with Alvin Kamara, Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed down for much of his time starting 2024 — Shough fared better with this cast as a half-season 2025 starter. Shough finished as the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year runner-up, taking the Saints out of QB consideration in this draft.
Rattler, 25, completed 67.7% of his passes in Kellen Moore‘s offense last year — a dramatic uptick from 2024 — but averaged just 6.2 yards per attempt. Rattler finished with an 8:5 TD-INT ratio, being benched after the Saints’ seventh loss. Shough went 5-4 in his starts. Shaheed played just one game during Shough’s starter stint, being traded to the Seahawks two days later; Kamara also missed six games during the Shough starter portion of the season.
Rattler will not carry too much in terms of trade value, but his status bears watching after the Saints signed Zach Wilson in free agency. New Orleans gave the former No. 2 overall pick a one-year, $1.4MM pact that includes nearly $600K guaranteed. That does not exactly protect the underwhelming passer from being released, but Wilson being brought in under Moore is notable for his chances of backing up Shough this season. No other QBs are on New Orleans’ roster.
The Jets came up as a potential Rattler suitor before reacquiring Geno Smith via trade, but a subsequent early-March report indicated the Saints had not yet received trade calls. The draft serves as a second trade window on the NFL calendar annually, and it will be interesting to see if the Saints do field calls on a player who will be competing for a backup job this offseason.
Seahawks Pursuing Trade-Down Move From No. 32
John Schneider‘s GM tenure has seen plenty of trades involving first-round picks. Although the GM has stayed in his first-round draft slot(s) in each of the past three years, the two-time Super Bowl winner has a history of trading out of his top draft position.
Seattle has traded four first-round picks for veterans during Schneider’s 16-draft GM run, acquiring Percy Harvin (2013), Jimmy Graham (2015) and Jamal Adams (2020). Schneider has traded down from his first-round position in six other drafts. In three of those drafts, Schneider has traded down at least twice from his first-round draft slot. Although the results of this process have not always panned out — with some unremarkable returns forming in Rounds 1 and 2 in several Seattle drafts — Schneider has a pattern. Back at the mountaintop, the Seahawks are aiming to return to their Round 1 M.O.
[RELATED: Traded Draft Picks For 2026]
Schneider said it is “no secret” (via The Athletic’s Michael-Shawn Dugar) the team is looking to trade down from No. 32. The Seahawks hold just four selections in this draft — Nos. 32, 64, 96 and 188. Two of Seattle’s picks went to New Orleans for the since-re-signed Rashid Shaheed. No team enters this draft with fewer selections than the defending champions.
The Seahawks will be willing to trade the No. 32 pick to an NFC West rival, Schneider added (via ESPN.com’s Brady Henderson). The Seahawks have done so in the past, moving down in 2017 to allow the 49ers to select linebacker Reuben Foster. There have been 35 intra-divisional draft trades since 2002, per Henderson. That Foster-based swap was the only Schneider-era Seattle pick flip inside the NFC West.
“We’ve talked within our division,” Schneider said. “That was kind of frowned upon for a while, like you don’t trade within your division. Everybody in our division, we would trade with. We have good relationships with all three of those teams. You’re maneuvering around the board to try to help your team no matter what. So, when you look at it through that lens, you’re basically not concerned about [helping another team].”
Seattle’s decisions to stay in its draft slot recently have paid dividends. The team held onto its Broncos-obtained No. 9 pick in 2022, selecting Charles Cross. Denver’s other pick sent in the Russell Wilson trade — No. 5 overall in 2023 — gave Seattle Devon Witherspoon. The Seahawks’ own 2023 selection became Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and they did not move down to select either Byron Murphy or Grey Zabel over the past two years.
The Seahawks’ No. 32 pick could conceivably be a gateway for the Cardinals to climb up for Ty Simpson and pick up a fifth-year option on the polarizing QB prospect, though it is certainly possible Arizona would need to move higher than 32 for the Alabama passer. Other teams could be calling by then, perhaps if one of the tackles falls to the end of Round 1, but this is not viewed as a particularly strong draft. That could lead Seattle to stay at No. 32 and perhaps trade down in Rounds 2 or 3 to add to its four-pick total.
Steelers’ Alex Highsmith, Nick Herbig Seen As Trade Candidates; Highsmith Likelier To Be Dealt?
APRIL 21: It seems the Steelers may be willing to listen but would need to be wowed by an offer to actually move one of Watt’s wingmen. The odds of Highsmith or Herbig being traded are “minuscule,” according to the Pat McAfee Show‘s Mark Kaboly.
“Yeah, it happens every year — it happens throughout the year, not just now,” GM Omar Khan said regarding trade interest. “People will call and say, ‘Hey, any interest in this player, in trading this player for this player?’ Or they’ll call and say, ‘Hey, we have this player we would consider. You guys interested?’ There’s a lot. I’d say maybe probably less than 5% of those calls actually turn out to be something.”
APRIL 19: The Steelers presently boast an enviable trio of pass rushers in T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, and Nick Herbig. Although GM Omar Khan recently said “you can’t ever have enough” pass rushers, rival clubs apparently believe Pittsburgh is willing to deal from that perceived surplus, as Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports details.
Per Robinson, Highsmith and Herbig are “floating around front offices” as possible trade targets in the run-up to the draft, with one high-ranking personnel executive expressing his belief that the Steelers will move one of them. Robinson reports Highsmith is the likelier trade candidate.
Highsmith’s contract situation is one of the reasons for that. The 28-year-old (29 in August) still has two years remaining on the four-year, $68MM extension he signed in August 2023 and is owed $14.5MM in base pay in 2026 and $17.5MM in 2027, with cap hits in excess of $20MM in both of those seasons. The year before he signed the contract, he posted 14.5 sacks, but he has failed to hit double-digits in any of the last three campaigns and missed time due to injury in both of the past two.
On the other hand, Highsmith’s upcoming salaries are palatable for a talented edge defender, and he will likely not require a contract adjustment in 2026, as Robinson suggests. Herbig, meanwhile, is four years younger than Highsmith, is entering the last year of his rookie deal, and is viewed as an ascending player. He has performed well despite mostly operating in a platoon capacity, notching 5.5 sacks in 2024 (when he had a 50% snap share) and 7.5 in 2025 (60%).
Khan has expressed a desire to extend Herbig, and as noted above, he believes the importance of quality edge defenders justifies an allocation of resources that would keep all three of Watt (who enjoys a $41MM average annual value on his current deal), Highsmith, and Herbig in the fold. However, retaining Herbig may be impractical unless either Highsmith is traded or Herbig agrees to a team-friendly extension, and Robinson indicates another strong showing in ‘26 could lead to a $20MM/year deal for Herbig if he hits the open market.
So while it is far from a guarantee that Khan will pull the trigger on a trade jettisoning one of his top pass rushers, it is easy to see why other clubs believe he will be amenable to such a move. Quarterback uncertainty continues to loom over the Steelers, but as we get closer to the draft, Khan has plenty of non-QB matters to keep him busy.