49ers Revise Contracts For QB Mac Jones, C Jake Brendel
The 49ers have amended a pair of contracts. Quarterback Mac Jones and center Jake Brendel have agreed to revised deals, according to reports from Tom Pelissero of NFL Network and Spotrac.
Jones, who is entering the second season of a two-year, $7MM pact, is getting a $300K roster bonus after performing well as Brock Purdy‘s backup in 2025. He now stands to earn $3.55MM during the upcoming season and could make another $2.25MM in incentives, per Pelissero. Meanwhile, the 49ers converted $3.02MM of Brendel’s money into a signing bonus, opening up approximately $2.27MM in cap space. They have around $70MM to play with, which is easily the most in the NFL.
As the 15th overall pick in 2021, Jones impressed during his rookie season in New England. But after guiding the Patriots to a 10-7 record and a playoff berth that year, his performance declined significantly. The Patriots cut ties with Jones in 2024 when they traded him to the Jaguars for a sixth-round pick. After enduring another poor season while filling in for an injured Trevor Lawrence over seven starts in Jacksonville, Jones rebounded in his first year in San Francisco.
With Purdy out for eight games, the 27-year-old Jones helped the 49ers to a 5-3 record during a 12-win, playoff-bound season for the club. While throwing 13 touchdowns against six interceptions, Jones established new career highs in completion percentage (69.6), yards per attempt (7.4), passer rating (97.4) and QBR (62.3). Given that Purdy is entrenched atop the 49ers’ depth chart, Jones went into the offseason as a potential sell-high candidate. The 49ers reportedly set an “astronomical” asking price, but nobody bit. That’s OK with general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan, who have made it clear on multiple occasions that they believe the 49ers are a better team with Jones on their roster.
Brendel will count $3.14MM against the 49ers’ cap in 2026, the last season of a four-year, $16.5MM accord. He is also on track to remain on their books for $3.6MM during a void year in 2027. In the meantime, the soon-to-be 34-year-old will play his sixth season in San Francisco in 2026. As the 49ers’ No. 1 center since 2022, Brendel has started in 66 straight appearances. He had two absences last year, dashing his bid for a fourth full season in a row, but was effective when on the field. Brendel ranked as Pro Football Focus’ eighth-best center among 37 qualifiers.
Bears Host DE A.J. Epenesa
The Bears have not made any notable defensive end acquisitions this offseason, but they are “keeping tabs on potential options,” according to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune. A.J. Epenesa, who is among the established free agent veterans left at the position, worked out for the Bears last week, Biggs reports.
Epenesa, a 2020 second-round pick who spent his first six seasons in Buffalo, briefly came off the board when he agreed to sign with the Browns in late March. That deal collapsed as a result of a failed physical, and Epenesa is still looking for a team over two months later. The 27-year-old worked out for the Dolphins last month, but it is unclear whether they are considering signing him.
Although he couldn’t pass the Browns’ physical, Epenesa did not miss significant time with injuries as a member of the Bills. He played between 14 and 17 regular-season games each year in Buffalo, where he mostly served as a rotational player. Epenesa was a 13-game starter in 2024, but he combined for just six starts in his other five seasons as a Bill. The former Iowa Hawkeye has notched 53 quarterback hits, 24 sacks, 21 pass deflections and four interceptions in 91 games as a pro.
Epenesa racked up six to 6.5 sacks in each season from 2022-24, but the number dropped to 2.5 over 16 games last year. He also added 32 tackles, four PDs and a pair of picks while playing 44.6% of defensive snaps as a depth piece behind Greg Rousseau and Joey Bosa. He ended the campaign as Pro Football Focus’ 86th-ranked edge defender out of 119 qualifiers.
While the Bears’ turnover-happy defense helped the team to an NFC North title in 2025, the unit finished just 26th in sacks (35). Montez Sweat, who totaled a team-leading 10 sacks, remains atop the Bears’ defensive end group. Austin Booker, Dayo Odeyingbo and Shemar Turner are also among their returning options. Odeyingbo inked a three-year, $48MM pact with the Bears in March 2025, but the former Colt missed nine games with an Achilles tear and chipped in just one sack when healthy. The Bears expect Odeyingbo back for training camp, though they could still pick up Epenesa or someone else before the season opens.
Epenesa is part of a market that features better pass rushers in Bosa, Cameron Jordan, Jadeveon Clowney, and a couple of other former Bills teammates in Von Miller and Leonard Floyd (also an ex-Bear). He is likely to sign for less than each of them, especially after failing a physical. That could matter to a Chicago team that has around $6.46MM in effective cap space (via OverTheCap), which ranks 23rd in the league.
NCAA Denies QB Brendan Sorsby 2026 Reinstatement; Appeal Expected
The Brendan Sorsby saga took another turn Tuesday. The NCAA has denied the Texas Tech quarterback reinstatement for the 2026 season, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reports.
Gambling violations led to Sorsby’s current predicament, leaving him on the outside looking in with regards to playing for the Red Raiders. Texas Tech is expected to appeal the NCAA’s decision, The Athletic’s Justin Williams adds. Sorsby is seeking clarity by June 22, the deadline for the NFL’s supplemental draft.
Sorsby entered a treatment program following news that the two-time transfer had made “thousands of online bets on a variety of sports via a gambling app” since 2022, and Thamel adds the quarterback has completed this 35-day in-patient treatment rehab in Goodyear, Ariz. Sorsby is expected to return to Lubbock, Texas, soon, as a Lubbock County court date looms June 1.
The first step on Sorsby’s attempt to return to college football — where a $6MM NIL deal would await from Texas Tech — did not go his way. Sorsby had requested an expedited resolution from the NCAA, as the supplemental draft deadline looms. The supplemental draft peaked in relevancy decades ago and has been canceled a few times in recent years. Sorsby being part of the event this year would change the proceedings, though as our Adam La Rose noted in his most recent PFR mailbag, NFL teams figure to take the gambling component into consideration when determining a possible investment — which would cost a corresponding 2027 draft choice.
The next chapter here will come June 1, when Sorsby’s eligibility case has been assigned a temporary injunction hearing. Sorsby played in one game with Indiana in 2022 and served as the Hoosiers’ primary starter in 2023. He transferred to Cincinnati in 2024 and worked as the Bearcats’ starter over the past two seasons. He had emerged on the radar as a QB to monitor and was squarely on the 2027 draft radar after transferring to Texas Tech. The gambling issues have stonewalled Sorsby’s career, but clarity will emerge soon.
Sorsby has hired high-powered attorney Jeffrey Kessler to represent him. While a return to the college ranks and the lucrative NIL package from the Big 12 program remains the passer’s goal, NFL teams will soon learn if another potential 2026 option will be available.
The supplemental draft’s heyday came in the 1980s, when the likes of Cris Carter, Bernie Kosar, Brian Bosworth and Bobby Humphrey emerged. Kosar’s 1985 path represents the most notable supplemental draft tale, but QBs have been taken in the years since as well. The Cowboys sacrificed a 1990 first-round pick by taking Steve Walsh in the 1989 supplemental draft, while the Cardinals did the same for Timm Rosenbach that year. The Giants forked over their 1993 first-round pick to take Dave Brown in the ’92 supplemental draft, while the Raiders provided the next (and most recent) chapter at the position by using a third-round pick to add then-QB Terrelle Pryor in 2011.
Sorsby would be poised to join these ranks if the courts do not rule in his favor. Otherwise, a potentially awkward 2026 season at Texas Tech would be on track to commence before his NFL arrival.
Cardinals OLB Josh Sweat Drawing Trade Interest
Josh Sweat delivered a productive first season with the Cardinals, but the team finished 3-14. Three years remain on Sweat’s contract, but teams are exploring the possibility of Arizona unloading it.
The Cardinals have received trade calls on Sweat, according to veteran insider Jordan Schultz. Although the Cards retained DC Nick Rallis — after multiple candidates dropped out of the running — Schultz adds Sweat is close with since-fired HC Jonathan Gannon. Sweat played under Gannon — now the Packers’ DC — in Philadelphia and rejoined him in Arizona last year.
Entering his age-29 season, Sweat is tied to a four-year deal worth $76.4MM. Sweat’s 2026 compensation is guaranteed, but no guarantees are in place beyond this year. The former Eagles standout is due $9.78MM in base salary this season, presenting an interesting opportunity for a Cardinals team that replaced Gannon with Mike LaFleur.
Sweat, however, is coming off a career-best season in the sack department after finishing with 12. The recent explosion on the edge rusher market also gives the Cardinals a bargain with Sweat, whose $19.1MM AAV is now less than a third of where Will Anderson Jr.‘s top-market AAV stands ($50MM). Arizona will surely set a high asking price.
The Cardinals also did not make a notable investment at edge rusher this offseason. The team passed on Arvell Reese at No. 3 overall, choosing Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love. Arizona did not draft an edge rusher and returns a modest Sweat supporting cast. The Cardinals have converted ILB Zaven Collins under contract to go with Baron Browning and BJ Ojulari. None has produced on the level of Sweat, who commanded a big-ticket free agency deal on the strength of a strong 2024 playoff showing that helped the Eagles win Super Bowl LIX.
With the Cardinals seemingly aiming to add a first-round quarterback in 2027, collecting additional assets would make sense in the event a team or multiple teams finish with worse records in 2026. Sending Sweat elsewhere would be a way to do so, though it would significantly deplete the team’s pass rush. The Vikings just collected two third-round picks from the Eagles for Jonathan Greenard, who is also entering an age-29 season (Minnesota had wanted a second-rounder). It is not known if Sweat wants a new contract, but it would not surprise based on where he is in the position’s updated pecking order 14-plus months after he signed his Arizona deal.
Sweat’s AAV ranks 22nd among edge rushers. Among those contracts above him, 14 were agreed to after his March 2025 Cardinals commitment. The ninth-year veteran (2.5 sacks in Super Bowl LIX) has also proven durable, not missing a game due to injury since 2020. That certainly strengthens Sweat’s trade value, though it is not known if the Cardinals are interested.
The same GM (Monti Ossenfort) is in place from Sweat’s signing, and he may well be on the hot seat after the team’s 3-14 finish in the exec’s third year atop the Arizona front office. Sweat’s name circulating this far in advance of the season will make him a player to monitor, with the Cardinals likely to entertain seller’s trades before the deadline. Though seller’s trades regularly include contract-year players, Sweat would be an appealing commodity due to his wildly team-friendly deal that runs through the 2028 season.
Supreme Court Declines To Hear NFL Appeal In Brian Flores Lawsuit
Brian Flores‘ discrimination lawsuit against the NFL is one (key) step closer to seeing open court. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from the NFL on Tuesday that sought to keep the matter within the league’s private arbitration process, per Lindsay Whitehurst of the Associated Press.
Flores’ lawyers have successfully argued in lower courts that contracts requiring non-player employees – i.e. coaches and executives – to settle disputes via arbitration are nonenforceable. (Player contracts operate under a collective bargaining agreement, which puts them in a separate category.) Commissioner Roger Goodell has the power over that process, including selecting arbiters, creating a conflict of interest for cases in which the league is a party.
The Supreme Court could have heard the appeal and intervened in the case to rule on the enforceability of arbitration clauses in NFL employee contracts. The league’s filing was specifically worded to narrowly apply to sports leagues to avoid bigger questions about the validity of similar processes in other businesses, as noted by Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio. Instead, the ruling of lower courts will remain in place, keeping Flores’ lawsuit on track for a jury trial in federal court.
“We respect the Supreme Court’s decision not to grant review,” an NFL spokesperson said (via Florio).“Regardless of the forum, we are fully prepared to defend ourselves as this matter proceeds.”
Flores’ lawyers, David Gottlieb and Douglas Wigdor, were understandably more positive about the Supreme Court’s decision.
“We are pleased that the Supreme Court declined to accept the NFL’s appeal,” they said in a statement. “The NFL must now accept that its commissioner cannot be the arbitrator over discrimination claims against the league and its teams. We look forward to litigating these claims in court.”
However, the Supreme Court’s decision is unlikely to accelerate an outcome in this case. The NFL will continue to throw up every legal roadblock it can to keep Flores’ claims from seeing the light of open court. The private arbitration process itself is an example of how the league tries to keep disputes – especially high-profile ones alleging racial hiring discrimination – out of the public eye. That also means that this latest update increases the chance of an out-of-court settlement, perhaps before Flores’ legal team can go through the discovery process and gather even more ammunition for their suit.
Roger Goodell: NFL Is ‘Engaging With’ Florida AG On Rooney Rule
The NFL’s ongoing battle with the state of Florida over the Rooney Rule took another turn this month when attorney general James Uthmeier issued a 15-page subpoena to the league with a June 12 deadline to comply.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has since said (via Yahoo Sports’ Jori Epstein) that the league is “engaging with” Uthmeier, who was appointed to his position last year. To keep it, he must win an election this fall, making his attack on the Rooney Rule seem like an attempt to seize on a hot-button issue and raise his political profile. After all, the Rooney Rule is the prominent diversity hiring initiative of one of the biggest public-facing businesses in the world, making it an easy target for DEI opponents.
The league stood by the Rooney Rule in their initial public response, but quietly formalized some changes in the background. One was the softening of language related to minority hiring on the league’s webpage; another was acknowledging the end of a previous program that mandated each team to have a minority offensive assistant on their coaching staff.
The NFL also kicked off their revamped accelerator program in May. It was originally created in 2022 with a focus on increasing diversity in head coach and general manager positions by giving high-potential minority coaches and executives specialized training and networking opportunities.
The league canceled the accelerator program last year, stirring speculation that the league was looking to avoid DEI-related scrutiny from the Trump administration. This year, it returned with a very different scope. Previously, only minority coaches and executives participated, but just half of this year’s group are minorities. That does not appear to be an accident, as the NFL sent a memo to all 32 teams in March
“The May accelerator is intended to focus on advancing talent from underrepresented groups while remaining open to qualified senior-level candidates of all backgrounds,” the memo reads (via ESPN’s Adam Schefter). Senior vice president of league leadership and inclusion Jonathan Beane said (via Epstein) that the NFL wanted to “ensure that there is access and opportunity for everyone to compete for these very elite, exclusive roles.”
The focus has also shifted from creating a new leadership pipeline to helping the most qualified candidates take the final step into head coach or general manager positions.
“We wanted to make it a little more strict and elevated, really focusing on top talent that are really positioned to get that top position,” Beane said.
This year’s class includes several mainstays on the interview circuit over the last few years, as well as Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bienemy and Chargers offensive coordinator and former Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel. (It’s fair to wonder why McDaniel, who was hired by Miami when he was 38 years old, had interest from several teams when he was fired this offseason, and still has a play-calling coordinator job, is participating.)
The changes to the accelerator program could be seen as another attempt to appease Uthmeier by minimizing the diversity focus of the league’s hiring initiatives with the hopes of precluding a legal battle. But depending on his objectives (and their relevancy to his upcoming election), he may force the NFL to publicly account for the Rooney Rule and other diversity programs regardless of any minor alterations they have already made.
Minor NFL Transactions: 5/26/26
Today’s minor moves:
Cleveland Browns
- Signed: CB Tyron Herring
- Waived/injured: CB DeCarlos Nicholson
Houston Texans
- Signed: LB K.C. Ossai
K.C. Ossai is back with the Texans. The Louisiana product joined Houston as an UDFA last offseason but didn’t make the 53-man roster. He caught on with the Dolphins practice squad late in the year and was retained via a reserve/futures contract, but he was cut by Miami earlier this month. The linebacker had a standout collegiate career with the Ragin’ Cajuns, including a 2024 campaign where he tallied 115 tackles.
Steelers Re-Sign DL Dean Lowry
The Steelers have finally agreed to a new deal with Dean Lowry. The team announced that they’ve signed the free agent defensive lineman to a one-year deal. To make room on the roster, the Steelers have waived defensive tackle Jahvaree Ritzie.
There were reports last month that the two sides had agreed to a new contract. However, that was quickly dismissed, as the Steelers wanted to give the veteran more time to return to playing shape. The 31-year-old is working his way back from a torn ACL suffered last summer.
Lowry joined the Steelers on a two-year, $5MM contract during the 2024 offseason. He mostly served as a backup during his first season in Pittsburgh, getting into about 20 percent of his team’s defensive snaps in his 12 appearances. The veteran suffered a torn ACL during last year’s training camp that erased his entire 2025 campaign. We heard previously that Lowry had been given medical clearance, and the Steelers are apparently happy enough with his recovery to bring him back for another season.
The former fourth-round pick turned into a dependable starter during his long stint in Green Bay, where he started 80 of his 111 appearances. He tallied 15.5 sacks, 23 TFLs, and 34 QB hits during his seven seasons with the Packers. He left for the Vikings on a two-year deal in 2023, but a pectoral injury limited him to only nine games that year. Lowry was cut loose after only one season in Minnesota.
While he’s unlikely to return to his early-career production, Lowry will still provide the Steelers with some veteran continuity on the defensive line. Isaiahh Loudermilk and Daniel Ekuale are both out the door, with Sebastian Joseph-Day representing Pittsburgh’s reinforcement up front. Derrick Harmon, Cameron Heyward, and Keeanu Benton will still command the majority of the snaps on the DL, but Lowry should be a dependable depth piece and special teamer.
Ritzie went undrafted out of North Carolina in 2025 before catching on with the Patriots. He had a brief stint on New England’s practice squad before getting cut in September. He caught on with Pittsburgh in January via a reserve/futures contract.
Ravens, Lamar Jackson Did Not Progress During February Extension Talks; QB Reports For OTAs
Lamar Jackson surfaced at Ravens OTAs Tuesday, ending another notable offseason hiatus. Considering the Ravens are implementing a new scheme — under OC Declan Doyle — Jackson showing up for offseason work is a bit more important than it has been in recent years.
New HC Jesse Minter said he and Jackson, who has frequently missed voluntary portions of offseason workouts in the past, had held discussions on when the two-time MVP would show up. With that having taken place, Jackson noise will naturally shift back to his contract. As it stands, the Ravens are in a bind on the latter front.
The Ravens restructured Jackson’s contract in March, doing so shortly after Trey Hendrickson‘s commitment to the team. Baltimore cleared nearly $40MM in 2026 cap space but moved a substantial chunk of money onto its 2027 balance sheet. While Jackson’s 2026 cap hit dropped to $34.39MM, his 2027 number ballooned to $84.34MM. With Jackson carrying no-trade and no-tag clauses, this situation looks a lot like where the Cowboys were with Dak Prescott before his record-smashing extension.
Dallas was facing a doomsday scenario in which Prescott left as a 2025 free agent and dropped a punitive dead money sum — stemming from multiple restructures — on the team’s payroll upon doing so. With the Cowboys giving Prescott a favorable extension at the March 2021 franchise tag application deadline, the player held historic leverage and used it.
The Cowboys reached a four-year, $240MM extension with Prescott hours before their season opener in 2024. That contract remains unapproached, from an AAV standpoint, nearly two years later. Among QBs signed for more than one year (excluding rookie deals), only Deshaun Watson saw a greater percentage of his contract guaranteed; Prescott received $231MM of his $240MM guaranteed in total.
Jackson is a far more accomplished player than Prescott, having soared to two MVP awards and delivered his best statistical season — in 2024 — in a year that brought a second-place MVP finish (but a first-team All-Pro nod). The Bills took care of the player who finished first in that historic MVP race (Josh Allen) with a six-year, $330MM extension, doing so despite their franchise QB having four seasons left on his previous deal. The Ravens’ efforts to extend Jackson — a stated goal ahead of free agency — did not produce a resolution, leaving the team in a time crunch with two seasons remaining on his five-year, $260MM contract.
The Ravens made an attempt to extend Jackson in February, according to Sportsboom.com’s Jason La Canfora, but those efforts went “nowhere.” A recent PFR mailbag delved into this topic, with our Adam La Rose indicating the ideal time to extend Jackson came before free agency this year. A new deal would have reduced Jackson’s 2026 cap hit without creating that bloated $84.34MM 2027 figure. Jackson’s contract would also create a $42.47MM dead money bill for the Ravens if they do not extend him before the 2028 league year. With the no-trade and no-tag clauses in place, Jackson holds Prescott-like leverage.
Prescott had seen a 2020 ankle injury sideline him but had mostly stayed healthy between then and his September 2024 payday, though he suffered a significant hamstring injury weeks after the contract was finalized. Jackson does not have a major injury on his NFL resume but has dealt with a number of issues that have kept him off the field or limited him.
This includes last season, when a hamstring injury led to a three-game absence (and an injury reporting controversy). Jackson also missed Week 17 with a back issue, running his games-missed count (including a 2022 wild-card game) to 15 — not counting his Week 18 rest in 2023 — since the 2021 season.
It is worth wondering if the Ravens view Jackson as a sufficiently safe bet as his 30s near. The QB’s resume and negotiating leverage points him toward a deal well north of Prescott’s, and the ninth-year Baltimore passer (who remains without an agent) has been a shrewd negotiator in the past. He played out his rookie contract, breaking off 2022 negotiations, and requested a trade while on the franchise tag in 2023. The Ravens and Jackson came to a five-year, $260MM agreement in April 2023, after it became clear Baltimore would not complete a fully guaranteed contract like Cleveland did for Watson (though, three-year fully guaranteed proposals did emerge before the 2023 extension).
Entering his age-29 season, Jackson has 1,081 career rushing attempts. At the eight-season mark, that is 152 more than any other QB in NFL history. The run-game wear and tear on Jackson will factor into his second extension more than his first. For now, it should still be assumed the Ravens will hand Jackson a record-setting extension. But potential longevity concerns will be something to monitor when extension talks intensify. A new deal remains the organization’s goal.
It will be interesting to see if the new-look franchise makes an aggressive effort to have this deal done with with two years remaining on his previous contract. The Cowboys did not do that in 2023, and it proved costly. The Ravens’ upcoming effort will help illustrate how they believe their future Hall of Fame QB will age.
Giants Audition DT Eddie Goldman
Following the Dexter Lawrence trade, the Giants added two 30-something defensive linemen by bringing in Shelby Harris and D.J. Reader. That upped the team’s count of D-linemen north of 30 to three, as Roy Robertson-Harris has one season remaining on his two-year contract.
But Robertson-Harris went down with an Achilles tear last week. The Giants are back in the DT market, and another veteran option is on the radar. Eddie Goldman worked out for the team today, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport tweets. Goldman, who missed the 2022 and ’23 seasons after retiring, spent last year with the Commanders.
Goldman is now 32, and he went through an early-2020s stretch that featured three full-season absences (the ex-Bears DT opted out of the 2020 season due to COVID-19 concerns). But the veteran nose tackle resurfaced with the Falcons in 2024, playing 17 games. The Commanders signed him last year, and he started in six contests.
A mainstay for the Bears in the 2010s, Goldman landed an extension with Chicago in 2018. After joining the Falcons in free agency in 2022, he retired. Atlanta gave Goldman an opportunity to return in 2023, but he landed on the team’s reserve/left squad list months later and missed all of that season as well. The Falcons gave Goldman a third chance in 2024, and he stuck with a return that year. After spending the 2024 season as a Falcons backup, Goldman joined the Commanders on a one-year deal worth $1.26MM.
The Giants have not placed Robertson-Harris on IR yet, and The Athletic’s Dan Duggan notes Reader and Shelby Harris were not present at last week’s OTA workout open to the media. The team will be counting on Reader and Harris post-Lawrence, with 2025 third-round pick Darius Alexander also present as part of this quantity-based D-line staffing effort. The Giants also signed Leki Fotu, Sam Roberts and claimed Zacch Pickens as part of an offseason overhaul. The Bengals sent the Giants the No. 10 overall pick for Lawrence, and that move gave the Giants O-lineman Francis Mauigoa. Big Blue did not address its D-line in the draft until Round 6 (Bobby Jamison-Travis), helping lead to the Reader and Harris additions.
Operating more as a run stuffer than interior pass rusher during his career, Goldman tallied four tackles for loss last season. In 321 defensive snaps, Pro Football Focus ranked Goldman 81st among 127 qualified interior D-linemen. Goldman missed four games last season, suffering two concussions.
Considering Goldman’s past retirement decisions, it is interesting he is on the workout circuit following a concussion-marred campaign. But he is an 89-game starter who held a key role on a No. 1-ranked defense (Chicago’s 2018 edition). The Giants are determining what the Florida State alum has left, and they certainly have not shied away from aging DT help this offseason.