Bills LT Dion Dawkins Looking For New Deal Next Year
Just last offseason, the Bills extended their blindside blocker Dion Dawkins through the 2027 NFL season. In an interview this summer, though, Dawkins expressed an expectation for a new deal after the 2025 season, per Michael Silver of The Athletic. 
“I should get another deal after this year,” he reasoned to his interviewer. “I’m getting better every year.”
To be fair, this is likely something he’s discussed with the Bills front office. The 31-year-old left tackle has always been a team player. That much was evident this week, when Dawkins agreed to a restructured deal in order to free up some cap space, per ESPN’s Field Yates. Buffalo converted $9.79MM of Dawkins’ original $11.05MM salary for the 2025 season into a signing bonus. Doing so created $7.83MM of cap space this season.
While a $9.79MM signing bonus is certainly incentive enough, it’s easy to imagine the Bills agreeing to discuss another extension next season in order to get the reworked deal across the finish line. At the end of the season, Dawkins will still have two years remaining on his contract. Getting an extension with that much time on a deal is often a challenge, but it wouldn’t be unheard of or unwarranted.
Since coming to Buffalo as a second-round pick, Dawkins been a stalwart at left tackle for the Bills. Pro Football Focus (subscription required) has always graded him favorably as one of the better and more consistent tackles in the NFL, but he just recently started earning acclaim as a Pro Bowler in each of the past four seasons.
He may not, technically, be getting better every year, but his consistency has been a crucial contributor to the team’s success in recent years. His current contract’s annual average value of $20.02MM ranks 18th among NFL linemen, and if he delivers another strong season, it would make sense to reward him with a deal that pushes him a bit further up that board.
49ers ‘Aren’t Overly Concerned’ With RB Christian McCaffrey’s Calf Issue; McCaffrey Will Start In Week 1
SEPTEMBER 7: McCaffrey will start in the Niners’ regular season opener, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. A source told Schefter that CMC is “good to go.”
SEPTEMBER 6: When star running back Christian McCaffrey‘s name appeared rather suddenly on the 49ers’ injury report Thursday, a lot of fans (and fantasy owners) likely experienced some PTSD remembering McCaffrey’s 2024 campaign. For whatever it’s worth to those people, “the 49ers aren’t overly concerned” about his status this year, according to Dianna Russini of The Athletic. 
Following a season in which McCaffrey delivered a first-team All-Pro season and won Offensive Player of the Year, McCaffrey was a surprising scratch for the team’s Week 1 matchup after being limited in practice the week before with a leg issue. He had remained optimistic throughout the week about his ability to play, but when he tested his calf the day of the game, it “didn’t feel right” and the team and player opted to let him rest.
When he still couldn’t go in Week 2, the 49ers opted for an injured reserve stint. A headline-grabbing trip to Germany hinted just how bad things might be, and after returning for a four-game stretch, McCaffrey was shut down again in Week 14, this time for the remainder of the season.
The year, the offseason buzz has been all about how McCaffrey had moved past the injuries and had no physical limitations in offseason workouts. In addition to the prior offseason’s promise to reduce his regular season workload — a promise perhaps made on a monkey’s paw — the team was dedicated to reducing his offseason workload this year, as well.
Then, on Thursday, McCaffrey removed himself from practice after “tweaking his calf,” per Vic Tafur and Matt Barrows, also of The Athletic. McCaffrey asserted that the decision was precautionary in nature and not indicative of his availability, saying, “I feel great about where I’m at. Unfortunately, when you have an injury history like I have, sometimes when you don’t practice, things get, uh, blown out of proportion. But, like I said, I feel great.”
The optimism mirrors similar sentiments displayed a year ago, but Tafur and Barrows point out some differences. They say that last year, McCaffrey was frequently bothered by flare-ups of Achilles tendonitis in both legs, requiring sporadic practice appearances throughout the summer. This year, aside from the occasional veteran rest day, McCaffrey hadn’t needed to limit himself at all until Thursday.
Still, the player and team claim his rest yesterday was done out of an abundance of caution. He warmed up with the team on Friday but worked out with trainers off to the side as a non-participant in practice. He’s listed as questionable for tomorrow afternoon’s season opener in Seattle, but according to multiple sources, he’s not in a lot of pain, and he feels great about where he’s at. Even if he does miss some time, though, the team feels comfortable that newcomer Brian Robinson can help fill in.
Minor NFL Transactions: 9/6/25
With our first slate of Sunday games tomorrow, we’ll see our first slew of standard gameday practice squad elevations. Here are today’s minor transactions:
Atlanta Falcons
- Elevated: WR David Sills, RB Carlos Washington Jr.
Baltimore Ravens
- Elevated: TE Zaire Mitchell-Paden
Buffalo Bills
- Elevated: G Kendrick Green, K Matt Prater
Carolina Panthers
- Signed from practice squad: DT Jaden Crumedy
- Placed on IR: CB Damarri Mathis (story)
Cincinnati Bengals
- Elevated: DT Mike Pennel
Denver Broncos
- Elevated: FB Adam Prentice, LB Levelle Bailey
Detroit Lions
- Signed from practice squad: RB Jacob Saylors
- Elevated: LB Anthony Pittman
- Placed on IR: T Jamarco Jones
Green Bay Packers
- Elevated: CB Micah Robinson
Houston Texans
- Elevated: FB Jakob Johnson
Indianapolis Colts
- Elevated: LB Austin Ajiake, RB Ulysses Bentley IV
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Elevated: T Ricky Lee
Las Vegas Raiders
- Elevated: WR Alex Bachman, S Terrell Edmunds
Los Angeles Rams
- Elevated: RB Cody Schrader
Miami Dolphins
- Elevated: K Riley Patterson, RB Jeff Wilson
New England Patriots
- Signed from practice squad: DT Cory Durden
- Elevated: CB Corey Ballentine, LB Mark Robinson
- Released: DT Jeremiah Pharms
New Orleans Saints
- Signed from practice squad: DE Fadil Diggs
- Elevated: TE Jack Stoll, DE Jonah Williams
- Waived: QB Jake Haener
New York Giants
- Elevated: DT Elijah Garcia
New York Jets
- Elevated: WR Tyler Johnson
- Placed on IR: G Alijah Vera-Tucker (story)
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Elevated: CB James Pierre
San Francisco 49ers
- Elevated: WR Russell Gage, LB Curtis Robinson
Seattle Seahawks
- Elevated: CB Shaquill Griffin, DT Quinton Bohanna
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Elevated: DT Adam Gotsis, G Michael Jordan
Tennessee Titans
- Elevated: C Corey Levin, DT Carlos Watkins
Washington Commanders
- Elevated: C Michael Deiter, WR Chris Moore
Each NFL team is granted up to two standard gameday practice squad elevations each game, allowing them to call up two members of their practice squad who are able to play in that weekend’s game. After the game is played, the elevated players revert back to the practice squad with no transaction required. This differs from the situation with somebody like Crumedy in Carolina. With Mathis’ placement on injured reserve opening a spot on the 53-man roster, Crumedy has been promoted from the practice squad to the active roster, where he will remain until he is cut or his contract expires.
Practice squad players can be called up a maximum of three times under a single practice squad contract. If a team wants to call up a player who’s been called up three times already, the team will usually sign the player to their active roster for a game, cut them after, and then sign them to a new practice squad contract. Under the new contract, the player would be eligible to be elevated for three more games.
As the Dolphins await Jason Sanders‘ return from IR, Patterson was named the winner of a kicking audition with three other veteran kickers. Miami will be able to elevate him three times but will have to promote him to the active roster for any games between that and Sanders’ activation. Similarly, Prater will likely be on the same plan in Buffalo.
Haener’s stint on the Saints’ active roster was short-lived as the team decides to move forward with only two quarterbacks. Spencer Rattler will handle starting duties to begin the campaign with second-round rookie Tyler Shough serving as his backup.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/6/25
Here are today’s only practice squad transactions:
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: WR David Sills
- Released: DT Simeon Barrow Jr.
The Falcons released Sills yesterday but still wanted him to play in their season opener tomorrow. In order to make that happen, Atlanta needed to sign him to the practice squad so he can be a standard gameday elevation in Week 1.
Cowboys Working On Likely Record-Setting Deal For LG Tyler Smith
While left guard Tyler Smith and pass rusher Sam Williams were quickly identified as the next priorities following the announcement of cornerback DaRon Bland‘s extension, it seemed like those deals might be destined for dates further off as the regular season fast approached. Smith had remarked that “everything will happen in due time,” and due time may be sooner than expected. 
According to Clarence Hill Jr. of All City DLLS, Dallas is still working towards a long-term deal for Smith, and that deal could reportedly be a record-setting one. After watching wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and quarterback Dak Prescott sign extensions more expensive than they needed to be as the Cowboys reacted to a market set by deals done earlier in the offseason last year, and after watching Micah Parsons depart in part due to the team’s lack of urgency in working towards legitimate negotiations, it would be extremely satisfying to watch Dallas set the market before it has a chance to inflate.
The Cowboys exercised Smith’s fifth-year option before the draft, ensuring that he’d be under contract for at least the next two seasons, but considering how the option groups interior linemen and tackles in the formula determining the fifth-year salary, it’s unlikely that Dallas will allow Smith to play out his fifth season under the option. More likely, the option was picked up as a sign of dedication to getting an extension worked out sooner rather than later.
To clarify about Smith’s expected deal being potentially record-setting, it would likely only set a record among interior offensive linemen. Left tackles tend to pace the market, and Chargers tackle Rashawn Slater leads the NFL currently with an average annual value of $28.5MM. The highest-paid right tackle isn’t far behind, though, as Detroit’s Penei Sewell slots in at $28MM per year. The highest-paid guard, though, doesn’t show up until after eight tackles have been listed, with Chiefs guard Trey Smith making $23.5MM per year on average.
Now, there’s a couple reasons why a potential deal may set a new mark among guards. First off, in only three years of play, Smith already has three accolades to his name as a two-time Pro Bowler and a second-team All-Pro, all earned during the two seasons in which he started at guard. Another reason is the fact that he has a season in which he didn’t start at guard; as a rookie expecting to play guard, Smith stepped in for an injured Tyron Smith to start every game of the season but one at left tackle.
Smith can lean on analytics, as well, to support his case. As a rookie unexpectedly starting as Prescott’s blindside blocker, Pro Football Focus (subscription required) graded Smith as the league’s 25th-best tackle out of 81 players graded at the position. When he bumped back in to guard in his sophomore campaign, PFF slotted him in at 11th of 79. He followed that up last year with a ranking of 15th out of 77 guards. Despite the varying relative position rankings, Smith’s overall grades have been consistently strong and have improved year after year.
Not only is Smith among the cream of the crop at his normal position, but the 24-year-old has also proven he can play at a high level as a tackle if need be. Smith is young and talented and likely has room to grow yet. In a league that has seen its strongest teams win big by winning in the trenches, Dallas would do well to lock Smith down before he shows just how big of a contract he could get on the open market or before some other guards push the market ceiling up higher than it is now.
UNC, Bill Belichick Ban Patriots Scouts
Despite recent news that a Bill Belichick statue may be coming to Gillette Stadium (per ESPN’s Mike Reiss), some bad blood apparently remains between the rookie collegiate head coach and his former NFL team. 
The University of North Carolina, where Belichick now runs the football program, has reportedly banned the Patriots’ scouts from attending practices at its facility this season, according to ESPN’s Kalyn Kahler and Ben Volin of the Boston Globe. Patriots scouts are also not allowed to attend the Tar Heels’ home games, due to the team’s purported mistreatment of Belichick since he left New England.
Per Volin, the unfair treatment most likely refers to the Apple TV docuseries The Dynasty. The 10-part series, reported to be an independent project but with a copyright held by Kraft Dynasty LLC, focuses quite a bit on pinning the loss of quarterback Tom Brady and the team’s Super Bowl loss to the Eagles on the head coach, while glossing over many of the franchise’s successes under Belichick. Volin adds that NFL Films was originally meant to be involved in the project but stepped away due to the negative tone towards Belichick.
“Why would we let them in our home after how they have treated Belichick since he left?” a source with the Tar Heels said to The Globe. “We will help our players to the fullest, and we will help their scouts over the phone and sharing of film, but being treated fairly is a two-way street.”
ESPN was met with similar undertones of pettiness when they reached out to UNC general manager Michael Lombardi for comment, and he replied with a curt “good luck” before hanging up the phone.
The comments of The Globe’s source ring a bit hollow in their commitment to help their players. Lombardi and the Heels’ pro liaison Frantzy Jourdain were the ones who informed New England of their ban a day before one of the team’s scouts was scheduled to visit in August.
Scouts from other teams informed ESPN that UNC, under Belichick’s directive, is offering limited access to all NFL personnel. It’s not the ban the Patriots have received, but teams can “speak only with Jourdain,” and the Tar Heels’ college relations website, a page only NFL personnel have access to, reportedly says that “scouts will have zero access to coaches or other personnel people,” with the term “zero access” appearing twice more across the site. Per Kahler, one scout claimed that the Tar Heels limit scouts to watch only three periods of practice, while other schools mostly allow full practices to be watched.
All of this gatekeeping could be extremely harmful to the NFL prospects of players on the UNC football team. Obviously, much of the work in scouting comes from watching games and game film to evaluate the abilities of student athletes, but scouts often enjoy several benefits at school facilities, as well. Scouts are able to get in-person assessments at practices, and often, relationships are made with position coaches, personnel staff, and strength coaches that allow scouts access to candid testimonies on a player’s character or work ethic. By severing any access to those kinds of connections, NFL hopefuls won’t have anyone trustworthy advocating on their behalf.
The odd closed-door protocol hardly makes sense for the Patriots, though a line can easily be drawn to retribution against a former employer, but expanding that policy to the rest of the NFL feels disrespectful to the student athletes and neglectful of the duties of a college football program. It will be interesting to see how much these boundaries extend into the pre-draft process, in regard to the school’s pro day and private workouts with teams, but one hopes Belichick and Co. won’t continue standing in the way of their players and the NFL.
When reached for comment, ESPN reports that Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel told the media, “That’s an individual choice, and we’ll cross that bridge when we start looking at players. I’m going to focus on our football team. That’s their prerogative to make the decisions that they feel like are the best for them. We’ll have to find other ways to get the information for any players that we want to look at at North Carolina.”
Nikhil Mehta contributed to this post.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/5/25
Here are Friday’s practice squad moves heading into the first weekend of the NFL season:
Las Vegas Raiders
- Signed: WR Phillip Dorsett
Philadelphia Eagles
- Signed: WR Javon Baker
- Released: OLB Antwaun Powell-Ryland
Minor NFL Transactions: 9/5/25
Here are Friday’s minor transactions as we await Game 2 of the 2025 season, including today’s standard gameday practice squad elevations for the Chiefs and Chargers:
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed off Panthers’ practice squad: DT Sam Roberts
- Released: WR David Sills
- Released (with injury settlement): CB Grayland Arnold
Chicago Bears
- Waived (with injury settlement): C Doug Kramer
Cincinnati Bengals
- Waived (with injury settlement): TE Tanner McLachlan
Green Bay Packers
- Waived (with injury settlement): S Omar Brown
Indianapolis Colts
- Waived (with injury settlement): K Maddux Trujillo
Kansas City Chiefs
- Elevated: DT Marlon Tuipulotu
Las Vegas Raiders
- Placed on reserve/retired list: WR Amari Cooper (story)
Los Angeles Chargers
- Elevated: LS Rick Lovato, T Foster Sarell
Each NFL team is granted two standard gameday practice squad elevations each game, allowing them to call up two members of their practice squad that are able to play in that weekend’s game. After the game is played, the elevated players revert back to the practice squad with no transaction required. This differs from a transaction like we saw earlier today wherein wide receiver Justin Shorter was signed to the Raiders’ active roster from their practice squad. He is now permanently on the team’s 53-man roster until they cut him or until his contract expires.
Practice squad players can be called up a maximum of three times under a single practice squad contract. If the team wants to call up a player who’s been called up three times already, team’s will usually sign the player to their active roster for a game, cut them after, and then sign them to a new practice squad contract. Under a new contract, the player would be eligible to be elevated for three more games.
Latest On Ravens’ Recovery Outlooks
September 3: Likely is not expected to play in Baltimore’s regular-season opener against the Bills on Sunday night, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. He avoided landing on the IR to start the season, raising hopes that he would be available early in the season. However, his 2025 debut will not come in Week 1, but his recovery is proceeding smoothly.
Cornerback Jaire Alexander is practicing for the first time since August 9 as he dealt with a knee issue, per ESPN’s Jamison Hensley. However, fullback Patrick Ricard has been absent since August 14 and seems “highly questionable” to play in Buffalo, per Zrebiec.
August 30: The Ravens have worked to improve how they’re taking care of their players in the offseason and training camp ever since the 2021 season saw them lose Gus Edwards, J.K. Dobbins, Rashod Bateman, Devin Duvernay, Lamar Jackson, and even their mascot, Poe, to season-ending injuries. They aren’t immune to preseason injuries, though, and a few updates have come through on the injuries Baltimore is dealing with.
Early in the preseason, the Ravens saw rookie sixth-round cornerback Bilhal Kone go down with a season-ending knee injury. At this point, Kone’s now undergone full repairs on the torn ACL and MCL, as well as the lateral meniscus damage. His recovery timeline, per Jordan Schultz of FOX Sports, is set to be around 10-12 months. It will be a tough road back for the rookie out of Western Michigan, but barring any setbacks, he should be able to make his NFL debut in 2026.
A player with a much shorter recovery timeline, tight end Isaiah Likely is expected to be back “at some point in the early part of the season,” per Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic. Likely needed surgery for a broken bone in his foot at the beginning of the month. Many expected that he may end up on injured reserve with a designation to return, but the Ravens kept him on the active roster, meaning that they don’t expect Likely to miss the first four weeks of the season.
Zrebiec also gave an update on rookie third-round offensive tackle Emery Jones. He’s starting the season on the reserve/non-football injury list as he recovers from surgery a week after the combine for a shoulder injury that Baltimore knew all about when they drafted him. They’ll allow some time for him to get back in shape once healthy, so there’s no rush, but it sounds like they do expect him to get on the field as a rookie at some point.
Jaguars’ Travis Hunter To Start On Offense, Come Off Bench On Defense
Another revelation with the onset of teams’ unofficial depth charts came in Jacksonville, where ESPN’s Adam Schefter notes that rookie No. 2 overall pick Travis Hunter has been listed as a starting wide receiver on offense but a backup cornerback on defense. It’s an intriguing development in what has been a closely-watched situation concerning Hunter’s ability to play both ways at the NFL level. 
In Colorado last year, Hunter won the Heisman Trophy after playing 753 of a possible 871 (86%) snaps on offense and 776 of a possible 938 (83%) snaps on defense. Hunter did so all while ranking as a top-performing player at both wide receiver and cornerback. In fact, he won both the Fred Biletnikoff Award for the NCAA’s best wide receiver and the Chuck Bednarik Award for the NCAA’s best defensive player.
In the NFL last year, triple-crown wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase played 1,053 of a possible 1,136 (93%) snaps on offense and Defensive Player of the Year Patrick Surtain II played 1,054 of a possible 1,233 (85%) snaps on defense. For more realistic comparisons, top rookie wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. played 822 of a possible 1,033 (80%) snaps on offense and Eagles cornerback Quinyon Mitchell — finished second in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting — played 1,158 of a possible 1,320 (88%) snaps on defense.
There are multiple challenges that experts cite as issues that could keep Hunter from continuing to work as a two-way player in the NFL. As noted in the difference of possible snaps counts above, NFL seasons are much longer than college football seasons. Chase’s offense played 265 more snaps than Hunter’s — a 31% increase — and Mitchell’s defense played 382 more snaps than Hunter’s — a 41% increase. That’s a lot of extra snaps for a player to be on the field, even if they have displayed outstanding endurance by playing both ways in college.
It may seem unfair to hold Hunter up to the expectations of award winners and the top rookies from last year, but the only reason Hunter could be a two-way starter in the NFL would be if he is truly starting-caliber on both sides of the ball. If playing on both sides of the ball takes away from his ability to be starting-caliber on either side, it feels as if his value would be better served focusing on one side of the ball.
For much of the draft process, it was believed that most teams viewed Hunter as either a wide receiver or a cornerback, with most slotting him in on defense. That made it seem likely that he may be a starting cornerback who may enter the offense for specialty plays or situations here and there, but the opposite seems to be the case now in Duval. Now, it appears that he will be a starter at wide receiver and rotate in off the bench in the secondary.
It’s hard to say whether the Jaguars are truly entertaining the idea of playing Hunter on both sides of the ball all season, as they have in training camp and the preseason, or if this depth chart is how rookie head coach Liam Coen is breaking it softly to Hunter that his focus is going to be on the offense. We won’t truly know until Sunday, when Hunter’s Jaguars host the Panthers and rookie wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, a player Hunter did a good job of defending over two years in college.
Indeed, while Schefter confirmed in a subsequent report that Hunter would be an every-down wide receiver and situational corner in the team’s regular season opener against Carolina, the team still plans to vary his usage throughout the course of the year. There may be some weeks when he is used as both a full-time wideout and CB, and even his Week 2 snap counts could look very different than his Week 1 deployment.
It will be interesting to watch so many aspects of Hunter’s use in the NFL this year. How much will he see the field on defense as a backup cornerback to Tyson Campbell and Jarrian Jones? Will the rookie be prominently featured on the offense in a receiving corps alongside Thomas and Dyami Brown? If Jacksonville does play him both ways, will they limit his time on both sides of the ball or will they play him as much he wants to go? Does overuse result in poor play or potential injuries? With so many answers waiting in the near future, Sunday can’t come soon enough.