Steelers ‘Believe’ Aaron Rodgers Wants To Play; Door Remains Open For Return
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers became a free agent when the Jets released him last March, but finding his next team was a slow process. Retirement was a legitimate option before the future Hall of Famer caught on with the Steelers in the first week of June.
Rodgers’ preference last year was to join the Vikings, but after they didn’t reciprocate, he settled for the Steelers’ one-year, $13.65MM offer. The 42-year-old remained a serviceable starter in Pittsburgh, which he helped to 10 wins and an AFC North title. Longtime head coach Mike Tomlin resigned after an ugly loss to the Texans in the wild-card round, leaving Rodgers’ future up in the air.
For a little while, it seemed likely Rodgers would follow Tomlin out the door and either sign elsewhere as a free agent or retire. Walking away from the team or the game are still possible outcomes, but the Steelers are willing to reunite Rodgers with head coach Mike McCarthy. Rodgers played for McCarthy in Green Bay from 2006-18. The signal-caller won two of his four MVPs and the lone Super Bowl of his career under McCarthy.
Asked about Rodgers on Tuesday, Steelers general manager Omar Khan stated (via Myles Simmons of PFT): “The door’s open to have Aaron back. I’ve had conversations with him — I spoke to him last week. Mike McCarthy’s spoken to him. He knows how we feel about him. Right now, we’re proceeding [as if] he’s a free agent and he’s not on the roster. But, he knows how we feel about him.”
While the Steelers are awaiting an official decision from Rodgers, they “believe” he wants to play a 22nd season in 2026, according to Mark Kaboly of The Pat McAfee Show. Regardless of whether that proves to be the case, it does not appear Rodgers will leave the Steelers twisting in the wind for an extended period this offseason.
Based on his conversations with Rodgers, Khan said, “I think neither side wants to have this drag on like it did last year.”
Getting an answer sooner than later would be beneficial for the Steelers, who don’t have a clear-cut starting QB option on their roster. Mason Rudolph has not risen above decent backup status in his six-year career, while 2025 sixth-rounder Will Howard went through his rookie season without taking a snap.
Lions LT Taylor Decker Returning In 2026
Lions left tackle Taylor Decker headed into the offseason considering retirement, but he will return in 2026. In an Instagram post on Tuesday, Decker announced that he will stick around for an 11th season.
Now the Lions’ longest-tenured player, Decker joined the franchise as the 16th overall pick in the 2016 draft. The former Ohio State Buckeye immediately became a full-time player in Detroit.
Decker has started in all 140 career appearances, including 14 last season, but a series of injuries have taken their toll on the 2024 Pro Bowler. Decker has missed at least two games in each season since 2022, his fourth and most recent full campaign, and has undergone five major surgeries as a pro.
Decker most recently went under the knife last offseason to address nagging shoulder issues. Although Decker opened training camp on the active/PUP list, he made it back in time for the Lions’ season opener. The 6-foot-7, 324-pounder continued battling shoulder trouble throughout the season, leading to three absences. The pain was severe enough that Decker required eight steroid injections to alleviate it.
Despite his latest injury-related adversity, Decker is in line to play the second season of the three-year, $60MM extension he signed in July 2024. The soon-to-be 33-year-old Decker and stalwart right tackle Penei Sewell will team up as the Lions’ bookends for at least another season. However, there is less certainty elsewhere on the line.
Graham Glasgow, the Lions’ starting center in 2025, may hang up his cleats after struggling to replace early retiree Frank Ragnow. Meanwhile, injuries have dogged left guard Christian Mahogany since his time at Boston College. The 2024 sixth-rounder has only played 18 games in two years, though he started in all 11 appearances last season.
Tate Ratledge was a bright spot as a second-round rookie last year, but it is unclear if he’ll stay at right guard or move to center in 2026. When he met with the media on Tuesday, Lions general manager Brad Holmes called Ratledge a “real option” to handle center. At the same time, though, he hinted at adding a veteran this offseason, per Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.
“It’s a very important position,” Holmes said. “You’ve got to handle a lot of information. There’s some rookies that have been able to handle it. But you’ve just got to find the right one, whether it’s Day 1, Day 2, or Day 3. If you find the right one, he can. But really the kind of obvious way to (to plug that spot) is (to get) a player who has already done it.”
Baltimore’s Tyler Linderbaum will easily be the prized center on this year’s free agent market, but that’s only if he makes it there. The Ravens have already made Linderbaum a “market-setting” offer to stay, GM Eric DeCosta announced. The Bills’ Connor McGovern and the Panthers’ Cade Mays are not on Linderbaum’s level, but those two pending free agents won’t be cheap either. The Packers’ Sean Rhyan and the Saints’ Luke Fortner may represent a couple of less expensive possibilities for the Lions.
Cowboys Willing To Make Brandon Aubrey NFL’s Highest-Paid Kicker
As a pending restricted free agent, Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey does not have a contract for next season. It isn’t for lack of effort on the Cowboys’ part. The team has presented Aubrey an offer that would make him the highest-paid kicker in the NFL, Clarence Hill Jr. of All City DLLS reports.
The length of the Cowboys’ proposal isn’t known, but they offered Aubrey around $7.5MM per year, according to Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News. With Aubrey seeking nearly $10MM per annum, there is a sizable gap between the two sides. Despite that, talks have been “positive,” Watkins writes. Their discussions date back to the summer.
The Chiefs’ Harrison Butker leads all kickers in total money, average annual value and guarantees on the extension he signed in August 2024. Butker was 29 when he agreed to a four-year, $25.6MM deal with $17.75MM in guarantees. Aubrey will play his age-31 season in 2026, though it works in his favor that the cap has risen significantly since Butker re-upped with the Chiefs.
Despite his advanced age, Aubrey is only a three-year NFL veteran. He began his professional athlete career as a soccer player before changing sports. After Aubrey spent two seasons with the USFL’s Birmingham Stallions, the Cowboys brought in Aubrey in July 2023. The move has worked out brilliantly for both parties.
Aubrey, who has gone to the Pro Bowl in each of his three seasons, owns an 88.2% success rate (112 of 127 ) and a 97% mark on extra points (126 of 130). He nailed a career-best 65-yard try in 2024 and followed it up with a 64-yarder in 2025. But after hitting 94.7% of his field goals in his first year, he checked in at just over 85% in each of the past two seasons.
In knocking in 36 of 42 kicks in 2025, Aubrey finished 21st in the league in conversion rate (85.7%). As of now, the Cowboys don’t believe that’s worth $10MM per year. They have other expensive priorities to address, including the future of pending free agent wide receiver George Pickens. The Cowboys will also focus on much-needed defensive upgrades this offseason.
If Dallas doesn’t have a new pact in place for Aubrey, the team figures to place either a first- or second-round tender on him by the March 11 deadline. Going the first-round route would cost a projected $8.11MM, while the second-rounder would come in at $5.81MM.
Broncos OC Davis Webb To Call Plays
After an impressive three-year run as the Broncos’ quarterbacks coach, Davis Webb earned a promotion to offensive coordinator three weeks ago. There was initially no word on whether Webb or head coach Sean Payton would call offensive plays, but an answer came Tuesday. Payton revealed that he will pass primary play-calling duties to Webb in 2026, Mike Klis of 9News was among those to report.
While the 62-year-old said he still expects “to call some plays on game days” (via Klis), this move represents a seismic shift for Payton. Over his 18 years on the job (15 in New Orleans, three in Denver), the one-time Super Bowl winner has acted as the main play-caller. He first considered handing off those responsibilities to Webb during the 2025 season, according to James Palmer of The Athletic.
Payton noted that he has full trust in the 31-year-old Webb, a former NFL quarterback. He gave Webb a trial run as the Broncos’ play-caller in a preseason win over the Cardinals last August. While it was just an exhibition game, the results – 27 points, 562 yards – were stellar.
Before the Broncos promoted Webb to replace the fired Joe Lombardi, other teams gave him serious consideration as both a head coach and offensive coordinator candidate. The Ravens, Bills and Raiders all discussed their HC openings with Webb. He reached the second-interview stage with the Raiders before bowing out of the race. The Raiders also joined the Eagles in meeting with Webb for their OC gig.
Returning to Denver for his fourth year, Webb will take on a far bigger role than he had as a QBs coach/passing-game coordinator in 2025. He’ll grab the reins of an offense that ranked 10th in yards and 14th in points during an AFC West-winning season. If Webb holds his own calling plays for the Broncos’ Bo Nix-led offense in 2026, he could be an even more popular candidate in next winter’s HC hiring cycle.
Troy Vincent: Tush Push Ban Not Proposed Before Deadline
The Eagles’ reliance on the tush push, a play they introduced in 2022, helped power them to a Super Bowl championship in 2024. Last February, a couple of weeks after the Eagles crushed the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX, the Packers proposed a tush push ban.
Led by since-retired team president/CEO Mark Murphy, Green Bay lobbied to “prohibit an offensive player from pushing a teammate who was lined up directly behind the snapper and receives the snap, immediately at the snap.”
Commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL’s committees on competition and health and safety supported the Packers’ proposal. Nevertheless, after a heated debate across the league, it did not receive enough votes to pass last May. Twenty-one of the league’s other 32 teams were in agreement with the Packers. They fell two votes shy of the required 24.
The tush push was a legal play again in 2025, but as of September, momentum toward eliminating it was reportedly growing. However, it appears it will remain part of the game next season. Troy Vincent, the league’s executive vice president of football operations, said Monday that a new call to ban the play did not come in this year (via veteran reporter Mark Maske).
“Haven’t seen one,” Vincent revealed. “And that deadline has passed.”
The Packers’ new president/CEO, Ed Policy, and all other teams apparently did not feel strongly enough to submit a fresh proposal. It’s not especially surprising in the wake of comments that NFL competition committee co-chairman Rich McKay made on Sunday (via Mike Reiss and Kevin Seifert of ESPN).
“There’s no team proposal that I’ve seen from it,” McKay said. “So, I wouldn’t envision it. But you never know.”
As part of their proposal last year, the Packers pointed to player safety and pace of play among their reasons for requesting a tush push ban. A season has passed since then, and the league still has not publicized any health data related to the play, Reiss and Seifert note.
While the Eagles and the rest of the league may continue running the tush push, Vincent said the NFL could consider doing something “about aiding the runner. I mean, we saw players being literally picked up and kind of walked into the end zone. Is that really what we want?”
Dolphins Add Jon Robinson To Front Office
New Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan is adding a former GM to his front office. The Dolphins are hiring Jon Robinson as a senior personnel executive, according to Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL Network.
Robinson met with the Jets about their GM gig in December 2024 and later conducted two interviews with the Jaguars for their vacant post last winter. He didn’t land either position, though, and will now return to the NFL for the first time since the Titans fired him as their GM in December 2022.
Before his seven-year reign in Tennessee, Robinson worked in scouting roles with the Patriots from 2002-12. He left the dynastic Pats to serve as the Buccaneers’ director of player personnel from 2013-15.
The Titans’ firing of Robinson came as a surprise at the time. While the club finished a lackluster 7-10 in 2022, it was 7-5 when owner Amy Adams Strunk canned Robinson. His teams won between nine and 12 games in each season from 2016-21. The Titans earned four playoff berths and two AFC South titles along the way, but they never got past the conference championship game.
Robinson’s ouster happened to come shortly after Eagles receiver/ex-Titan A.J. Brown torched his former club for eight catches, 119 yards and two touchdowns in Week 13. The timing was curious, though Strunk said she had already decided Robinson’s fate before the Titans lost a 35-10 blowout that day. Despite extending Robinson’s contract during the previous offseason, she quickly grew displeased with his roster.
Robinson was wise to spend a 2019 second-round pick on Brown, who developed into a star. On the other hand, in trading Brown to the Eagles for a first- and third-round pick in 2022, Robinson wasted a prime asset. He used the first-rounder, No. 18 overall, on former Arkansas wideout Treylon Burks. The Titans waived Burks last October after he busted over three years in their uniform.
Robinson’s last draft in Tennessee also included third-round quarterback Malik Willis. In assessing the former Liberty passer then, Robinson said: “He was the best player on the board, and excited to add him to the team. … Good arm, athletic, moves around well. Got a really good skillset. Throws a good ball. He is tough to tackle.”
Although Willis did not pan out with the Titans after Robinson chose him 86th overall, that pick is aging better. Willis’ stock is soaring on the heels of a successful two-year stint as Jordan Love‘s backup in Green Bay. Now two weeks away from hitting free agency, Willis will cash in big in March as he seeks a starting job. Robinson’s new team is among the rumored suitors.
New Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley, the Packers’ defensive coordinator during Willis’ time there, reportedly wants to sign the 26-year-old. Sullivan also came to South Florida from Green Bay. The fact that the GM who drafted Willis is now a member of Miami’s front office adds yet another interesting connection between the team and the coveted QB.
Minor NFL Transactions: 2/23/26
Here is Monday’s lone minor NFL transaction…
Buffalo Bills
- Re-signed: DT Phidarian Mathis
Mathis came into the NFL in 2022 as a Commanders second-round pick, but he has not lived up to his draft stock. The former Alabama lineman missed all but one game as a rookie as a result of a calf injury. Mathis went on to combine for 22 appearances from 2022-23, though he came off the bench in all of those games and totaled just 25 tackles. The Commanders waived Mathis in December 2024. The Jets claimed the 312-pounder, but he was unable to crack their roster last summer.
Around three weeks after the Jets cut him, Mathis caught on with the Bills’ practice squad in early September. The 27-year-old went on to play in six games and pick up 13 tackles on 120 defensive snaps. Mathis will remain in Buffalo on a one-year pact.
Rams Add Kliff Kingsbury, Robert Woods To Staff; Aubrey Pleasant Not Returning
Kliff Kingsbury agreed to join the Rams’ coaching staff on Feb. 6, but his specific role was not publicized for over two weeks. The Rams announced Monday that Kingsbury will work as an assistant head coach.
Kingsbury is officially returning to Southern California three years after serving as an offensive analyst at USC. After coaching star quarterback Caleb Williams that year, the former Cardinals head coach returned to the NFL as the Commanders’ offensive coordinator in 2024.
The Bears chose Williams first overall in the 2024 draft. Kingsbury wound up helping the No. 2 pick, Jayden Daniels, to an otherworldly rookie campaign. Not only did the dual-threat signal-caller earn Offensive Rookie of the Year honors, but he guided the Commanders to the NFC title game. Philadelphia steamrolled Washington that day, 55-23, and the Commanders did not bounce back last season.
With Daniels and No. 1 wide receiver Terry McLaurin battling injuries that cost them a combined 17 games, the Commanders’ offense plummeted from fifth in scoring to 22nd in the matter of a year. The team reversed its record from 12-5 to 5-12, and Kingsbury reportedly clashed with Commanders general manager Adam Peters and head coach Dan Quinn along the way.
Kingsbury and the Commanders went their separate ways Jan. 6, but he drew plenty of interest in the month before he agreed to partner up with McVay. The 46-year-old interviewed for head coaching vacancies in Baltimore and Tennessee. He also talked to those two teams and the Giants about their offensive coordinator openings.
Brian Johnson, Kingsbury’s colleague in Washington, will rejoin him on Los Angeles’ staff. After two years as the Commanders’ assistant head coach/offensive pass-game coordinator, he’ll serve as a senior offensive assistant.
The Rams’ offensive staff will also include one of their former wide receivers, Robert Woods. A highly successful Ram from 2017-21, Woods retired from playing on Feb. 17. The 33-year-old will now reunite with McVay, who’s bringing Woods aboard as an assistant WRs coach.
McVay also hired former Rams offensive lineman Brian Allen, one of Woods’ old teammates, as an assistant OL coach. The 30-year-old Allen played his entire career as a member of the Rams, with whom he started in 32 of 50 games from 2018-23. He was the Rams’ No. 1 center on their Super Bowl-winning 2021 team.
In other adjustments to his offensive staff, McVay promoted WRs coach Eric Yarber to senior offensive assistant/WRs and upgraded Rob Calabrese from offensive assistant to WRs coach. Jimmy Lake will move from senior defensive assistant to pass-game coordinator/defensive backs coach, while Michael Hunter will come in as an assistant DBs coach. Hunter held that job at Ohio State over the past two seasons.
Lake’s promotion suggests the Rams will not retain Aubrey Pleasant, who is no longer listed among their coaches. It’s unclear why the sides appear to have parted ways.
Pleasant first worked for McVay as the Rams’ cornerbacks coach from 2017-20. After dividing the next two seasons between Detroit and Green Bay, he returned to the Rams as their pass-game coordinator/DBs coach in 2023. He continued to handle the PGC role from 2024-25, but McVay also bumped him to assistant head coach.
Pleasant landed D-coordinator interviews with the Cardinals, Browns, Raiders and Chargers earlier this winter. Those teams hired different candidates instead, but perhaps he’ll take an assistant position with one of them or some other club.
NFL Not Expected To Make Big Changes To Kickoff Setup
With the NFL’s onside kick setup failing to provide enough drama, executive vice president Troy Vincent suggested last October that changes could be in store in 2026. Replacing the onside kick with a fourth-and-15 or fourth-and-20 play was at least a possibility then.
Current rules dictate that the onside kicking team has to announce its intentions in advance. It was already difficult for the kicking team to recover an onside try before the league introduced that change in 2024. Unsurprisingly, it has been even more of a challenge since then. A meager five of 52 onside attempts were successful last season.
Multiple sources told Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk that introducing a fourth-and-13 play as an onside kick replacement would be addressed this offseason. However, the competition committee did not have discussions regarding a fourth-and-long alternative during Sunday’s meeting at the scouting combine, according to Vincent (via Kevin Seifert of ESPN). Any tweaks to the onside kick would require 24 votes to pass. There does not appear to be much support across the league for such a radical change, though, per veteran reporter Mark Maske.
“When it was first proposed, it picked up a couple of votes,” Vincent said Monday. “And then it just kind of stalemated. I don’t think there was … much appetite.”
Then the Buccaneers’ head coach, Greg Schiano first floated the fourth-and-long idea to commissioner Roger Goodell over 13 years ago, according to a 2012 Time Magazine piece. Schiano’s suggestion came a couple of years after one of his former Rutgers players, Eric LeGrand, was paralyzed from the neck down while making a tackle on a kickoff in 2010. The NFL has since made other significant adjustments to the kickoff in the interest of player safety.
When discussing the kickoff with the competition committee on Sunday, special teams coaches voiced concerns over returners and tacklers suffering concussions (via Maske). However, there will not be any “major changes” to the 2-year-old dynamic kickoff format this offseason, Maske reports. Jeff Miller, the league’s executive vice president, said “the competition committee, the health and safety side agree that we’re definitely on the right track.”
The league moved the touchback spot from the 30-yard line to the 35 in 2025, leading to a massive increase in action. Returners took the ball back on 74.5% of kickoffs last season. The number checked in at 32.8% in 2024.
Chargers C Bradley Bozeman Announces Retirement
After eight seasons in the NFL, Chargers center Bradley Bozeman is hanging up his cleats. The 31-year-old announced his retirement on Instagram on Monday (via Adam Schefter of ESPN).
The Chargers were the third team for Bozeman, an Alabama product who entered the league as a sixth-round pick of the Ravens in 2018. With Matt Skura then serving as the Ravens’ center, Bozeman’s lone start during a 14-game rookie season came at left guard. Bozeman became a full-time starter at left guard in 2019, his first of three straight 16-game seasons.
After Skura left the Ravens to sign with the Dolphins in 2021, Bozeman switched back to center. It turned out to be the last season in Baltimore for Bozeman, who accepted Carolina’s one-year offer in 2022.
Although Bozeman only started in 11 of 17 games in his first season in Carolina, he was impressive enough for the Panthers to bring him back on a three-year, $18MM contract. The 325-pounder notched a 17-start season in the first year of the deal, but the Panthers released him in March 2024.
A week after his Carolina tenure ended, Bozeman moved to the West Coast on a one-year agreement with the Chargers. Bozeman made just over $1.1MM during another 17-start season, leading the Chargers to award him a raise on a two-year, $6.5MM accord last March.
While Bozeman was again a full-time starter over 16 games in 2025, Pro Football Focus ranked his performance last among 37 qualifying centers. His struggles were among a handful of problems up front for the Chargers, who went without injured left tackle Rashawn Slater for the season and didn’t have right tackle Joe Alt for most of it. As a result of the Chargers’ O-line woes, quarterback Justin Herbert took the league’s second-most sacks (54).
The Chargers may have been in the market for a center this offseason had Bozeman kept playing in 2026. They definitely will be now that Bozeman is walking away after 129 games and 110 starts in the league. His exit will clear the way for yet another new starting pivot for the Chargers. The Bolts have not used the same primary starting center for three straight years since longtime staple Nick Hardwick retired in 2014.