Titans’ Brian Callahan On No. 1 Overall Pick
Current reporting suggests Miami (FL) quarterback Cam Ward has clearly established himself as the best passer in the 2025 draft class. As such, the Titans – who were considered likely to trade down from their No. 1 overall selection not too long ago – are seemingly prepared to make Ward the top pick in next month’s draft.
Of course, Tennessee head coach Brian Callahan is not going to tip his team’s hand at this stage of the process, and new GM Mike Borgonzi recently said all options (including a trade-down) are still on the table (via Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk). Nonetheless, Callahan confirmed – assuming the Titans retain their No. 1 choice – the club will be picking one of a short list of four players.
“I think it’s a short list at No. 1 for sure, it’s all the guys that I think are worthy of it, the ones that everyone talks about out there, and between Travis [Hunter] and Shedeur [Sanders] and [Ward] and Abdul Carter, I think those are, that’s the top of the draft for me,” Callahan recently told NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero (via NFL.com’s Coral Smith).
Callahan added, “[t]here’s going to be a lot of good ones certainly that come after them, but I think those at this moment are the best players in the draft and at the top of it.”
Carter is an elite pass-rushing prospect who has been closely linked to the Browns and their No. 2 overall pick in recent days. Hunter is a rare two-way phenom whom some teams primarily project as a cornerback at the professional level, with other teams valuing him more highly as a wide receiver. Both Carter and Hunter have long been viewed as the top overall talents in the 2025 class, though the fact that Ward and Sanders play quarterback naturally elevates their stock quite a bit.
With the 2025 crop of QBs generally considered a weak one, Borgonzi’s January comments indicating he would not pass on a “generational talent” with the first pick in the draft signaled to many that the Titans – who are not just a quarterback away from contention – would eschew a signal-caller at the top of the draft board and would instead select Carter or Hunter. Ward’s pre-draft ascension and the importance of the quarterback position may have changed the team’s thinking in that regard, though Callahan’s comments – if taken at face value, that is – suggest Carter and Hunter are still in the mix.
It is also notable that Callahan named Sanders as one of the four players worthy of the No. 1 selection. Much has been made about Sanders’ draft stock and the possibility that he might fall out of the first round entirely, as well as the fact that other QB prospects like Jaxson Dart and Tyler Shough may have surpassed him on some team’s boards. Callahan’s remarks support the notion that, notwithstanding the rumors surrounding Sanders’ potential slide, the Colorado product remains an early-first round candidate. Despite the Ward-to-Tennessee momentum, the Titans will host Sanders on a private workout.
“We’re getting closer for sure; all of the processes are moving right along,” Callahan said of his second draft as a head coach. “I would say we have a pretty good feel for what direction we’re headed by early April here, and you put the final touches on it and tie the bow over it by the time you get to the draft.”
Broncos Were Only Interested In Cooper Kupp, Stefon Diggs At Reduced Rate; Team Still In Veteran WR Market?
Prior to his March release, the Broncos were reportedly uninterested in trading for former Rams receiver Cooper Kupp. Once Kupp became a free agent, though, there was said to be mutual interest in a Kupp-Denver relationship.
[RELATED: Cowboys, Patriots Balked At Kupp’s Asking Price]
Nonetheless, Mike Klis of 9News.com hears the Broncos’ involvement in the Kupp sweepstakes was cursory at best, thanks largely to the receiver’s asking price. If the club could have landed the Super Bowl LVI MVP at a discounted rate, it might have done so. But once it became clear no discount would be forthcoming, Klis said Denver did not pursue Kupp (who ultimately signed a three-year, $45MM deal with the Seahawks).
The Broncos were never publicly connected to Stefon Diggs, whose reworked contract with the Texans expired at the end of the 2024 season. Klis says the club would have been interested in Diggs if he could have been had at a discount, but as was the case with Kupp, it soon became apparent the four-time Pro Bowler was not interested in a pillow contract. And he did not need to be, as he recently signed a three-year, $69MM accord with the Patriots.
To be clear, Klis is not suggesting Denver was motivated by frugality here. Head coach Sean Payton said back in February that he felt more highly of his cadre of wideouts than some league observers, and assuming that was not simply coach-speak, it stands to reason that the club would not overextend itself for 30-something WRs who are dealing with recent injury and production concerns.
The team was prioritizing a tight end upgrade, and it accomplished that goal by scooping up Jaguars cap casualty Evan Engram, who should provide a notable boost to the passing game. Plus, even though their Kupp and Diggs interest did not get past the preliminary stage, the fact that they made inquiries at all suggests to Klis that the Broncos – Payton’s comments notwithstanding – are still in the veteran receiver market. Which makes sense, given the lack of proven production on the team’s depth chart behind WR1 Courtland Sutton.
In Klis’ estimation, Keenan Allen and Elijah Moore are two of the most logical free agents for Denver to pursue, with Tyler Lockett representing another possibility. Adding a player like that would lessen the team’s urgency to select a wideout early in April’s draft while also providing a worthy complement to Sutton and breakout candidate Marvin Mims.
Eagles RT Lane Johnson Intends To Play Through 2027 Season
The Eagles recently extended right tackle Lane Johnson through 2027 by adding one year to his existing deal. The transaction served the dual purpose of rewarding a franchise icon with an additional $30MM in guaranteed money while also lowering his 2025 cap charge. Nonetheless, Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer said at the time the extension was announced that Johnson may retire before his contract expires.
If Johnson has his druthers, though, he will play out his term of club control. “I feel really good. I think I can play out the contract,” the soon-to-be 35-year-old blocker said (via McLane).
Shortly before the 2024 season got underway, Johnson said he believes he can play until he is 40, thereby joining the likes of Jason Peters and Andrew Whitworth in that rarefied air for offensive linemen. In the same statement, though, Johnson acknowledged it was perhaps more realistic for him to play another two to three years.
At the time he made those comments, another three seasons would have taken Johnson through the 2026 campaign. As such, it is notable that he believes he can see out the 2027 add-on to his contract, which would take him through his age-37 season.
While factors unrelated to on-field performance, such as familial obligations and long-term health, are often instrumental in a player’s decision to retire, Johnson’s play has not shown any signs of regression even as he has entered his mid-30s. He just received his third consecutive (and sixth overall) Pro Bowl nod for his 2024 work, which was instrumental in Philadelphia’s second Super Bowl championship. The two-time First Team All-Pro graded out as Pro Football Focus’ fifth-best offensive tackle out of 81 qualifiers last year, and outside of his injury-shortened 2020 season, he has not finished lower than 13th in PFF’s grading system in any of the last nine years.
Now that Brandon Graham has retired, Johnson is all that remains of the Eagles’ “Core Four” that featured Johnson, Graham, Fletcher Cox, and Jason Kelce. At the moment, it sounds like that venerable quartet has a good chance of keeping its final member in the league for three more years.
Shedeur Sanders Unlikely To Fall Out Of First Round; Jets, Giants, Browns, Steelers In Play
One of the more intriguing storylines in this year’s draft coverage is Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders’ stock and how long Sanders might have to wait to hear his name called after the draft opens on April 24. There has been some chatter that the scion of Colorado HC and NFL legend Deion Sanders could slip out of the first round entirely, though ESPN’s draft analysts do not expect that to happen.
In a subscribers-only roundup of the latest draft rumors, ESPN’s Jordan Reid says he does not anticipate Sanders falling past the Jets, who hold the No. 7 overall selection. New York saw its latest swing at a first-round QB prospect (Zach Wilson) fail spectacularly, a miss that undermined the fortunes of otherwise talented rosters and precipitated the failed Aaron Rodgers experiment.
Gang Green signed Justin Fields to a two-year, $40MM contract earlier this month, and while there is still some hope that Fields can grow enough as a passer to sufficiently complement his running ability and to turn himself into an upper crust QB1, the short-term nature of the deal illustrates his current deficiencies in that regard. Sanders may be an imperfect prospect, but his reportedly poor performance in team interviews does not undo the touch, accuracy, and pocket presence he displayed on the field. It would thus not be terribly surprising to see the Jets’ new regime, with its 2025 starter already in place, take a shot at a high-upside talent.
One player who has been something of a forgotten man in the constant QB-related chatter surrounding the Jets is 2024 fifth-rounder Jordan Travis. Travis was in the midst of a terrific final season at Florida State in 2023 when he suffered a gruesome ankle injury that torpedoed his own draft stock. New York took a flier on him last year, though he redshirted his entire rookie season while rehabbing the injury.
According to Travis’ agent, Deiric Jackson, the Jets’ since-ousted staff rushed Travis’ rehab, thereby undermining his chances of seeing game action in 2024.
“His rehab with the Jets was not the best,” Jackson said (via ESPN’s Rich Cimini). “They tried to rush him. It was too fast. There was pressure on the coaching staff and they tried to get him going sooner than the timeline really was. That caused the setback, and we had to shut him down completely.”
The nature of the setback Jackson mentioned is unclear, though Cimini says new HC Aaron Glenn and his staffers are excited to work with Travis. At the moment, the former Seminole is behind Fields and veteran Tyrod Taylor on the depth chart, and drafting a player like Sanders would immediately put Travis’ Jets future in doubt. But if the club takes a different route in the draft, Travis could get enough reps to prove himself worthy of at least a backup job down the road.
For all of the talk suggesting Ole Miss signal-caller Jaxson Dart or even Louisville’s Tyler Shough may have surpassed Sanders on draft boards around the league, Reid believes the Giants – who own the No. 3 overall pick – would be hard-pressed to pass on Sanders. With Cam Ward looking increasingly likely to go to the Titans at No. 1 overall, one AFC executive told Reid the Giants are praying the Browns take a top non-QB talent with the No. 2 pick, thus leaving Sanders available to be selected at No. 3. Just yesterday, we learned that Big Blue’s signing of Jameis Winston would not preclude the hot-seat tandem of GM Joe Schoen and HC Brian Daboll from signing a veteran passer like Rodgers or Russell Wilson and adding a QB via their top draft choice.
In the same subscribers-only piece cited above, ESPN’s Field Yates confirms Sanders has a legitimate chance to be a top-three choice and is unlikely to fall out of the top 10-15 selections (despite some sources expressing their worry about making Sanders a top-10 pick). Similarly, Yates and Reid colleague Matt Miller notes the chatter about a dramatic Sanders slide has not come from anyone employed by an NFL club.
Miller acknowledges the Browns remain a viable landing spot for Sanders, and he believes the Steelers and their No. 21 pick represent the prospect’s floor. Pittsburgh has designs on a championship run in 2025, as it recently acquired and extended WR D.K. Metcalf and is seemingly making a hard push for Rodgers. That said, HC Mike Tomlin’s famous streak of .500-or-better seasons rarely leaves the team in position to draft a premium QB prospect, and the 41-year-old Rodgers (and even the 36-year-old Wilson, if the Steelers revisit that possibility) are obviously short-term fixes. The pre-draft concerns that could lead to Sanders falling a bit could also represent a real opportunity for Pittsburgh, as was the case when its AFC North rival Ravens nabbed Lamar Jackson with the No. 32 pick in 2018.
Cowboys, Patriots Balked At Cooper Kupp’s Price; Pats Wrote ‘Blank Checks’ For Chris Godwin?
After veteran WR Cooper Kupp was released by the Rams, he generated a healthy market and quickly found a new club. Just two days after his release, the Super Bowl LVI MVP joined the Seahawks on a three-year, $45MM contract.
The $15MM average annual value on Kupp’s Seattle deal surpassed initial expectations. The Cowboys, who were known to be in the market for a pass-catching sidekick for CeeDee Lamb, were connected to Kupp, but even the $12MM AAV that was originally believed to be the asking price for the former Rams target was seen as too rich for Dallas’ liking.
Elaborating further on that point, ESPN’s Adam Schefter notes Lamb and Cowboys QB Dak Prescott called Kupp in an effort to recruit him to Dallas. Per Schefter, the club was indeed interested before bowing out due to financial considerations.
“[T]he Cowboys reached out about Cooper Kupp, and they were interested,” Schefter said on a recent podcast (via Clarence Hill Jr. of All City DLLS). “Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb, who I understand it, were on the phone with Cooper Kupp talking to him about the idea of coming to Dallas, and it was floated out there. And then the Cowboys heard the numbers, and they were at numbers the Cowboys weren’t going to get to.”
With massive contracts for Prescott and Lamb already on the books and another one for Micah Parsons in the works – despite a current lack of traction on that front – Dallas’ reluctance to make additional notable commitments to its cap sheet has been well-documented. Nonetheless, the team does hope to compete for a postseason berth in 2025, and signing Parris Campbell one day after Kupp agreed to join the Seahawks may not have been an ideal consolation prize for the Cowboys’ QB1/WR1 duo (especially since Brandin Cooks has now rejoined the Saints).
Interestingly, the Patriots, who entered the offseason with easily the most cap space in the NFL and who still lead the league in that regard, were also unwilling to exceed a certain threshold for Kupp. New England has been on the lookout for a high-end receiver for some time and was named as a suitor for Kupp. However, just like the Cowboys, the Pats bowed out when it became clear how much money Kupp was going to command (as Mike Giardi of the Boston Sports Journal implies).
Despite the season-ending ankle injury that Chris Godwin suffered in Week 7 of the 2024 season, New England seemingly had no reservations about his price point. We already knew the Pats were preparing to make an aggressive push for Godwin, who reportedly left money on the table to re-sign with the Bucs. As it turns out, he might have left quite a lot of money on the table.
In a recent appearance on 95.3 WDAE (h/t Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk), Tampa Bay GM Jason Licht said, “[t]here were several teams that inquired but there was one that kept writing him blank checks. We got to a point of what we could do in order to keep everything together and add some pieces here, and he took it.”
Naturally, Licht did not name the blank check writer, but as Smith notes, the Patriots are believed to have extended a very lucrative offer. We may never know how high New England was willing to go to land Godwin, though QB Drake Maye cannot fault the club for its efforts to add to his supporting cast.
With Godwin off the market, the Pats recently turned their attention to free agent wideout Stefon Diggs. As of the time of this writing, a deal with the four-time Pro Bowler is not imminent.
49ers Tried To Bring Back LB Dre Greenlaw After Broncos Commitment; Latest On De’Vondre Campbell, Kyle Juszczyk
The 49ers have seen a host of high-profile talent depart in free agency and, outside of blocking tight end Luke Farrell, have not authorized an FA contract with an average annual value above $4MM. However, as Matt Barrows of The Athletic (subscription required) confirms, the club did try to re-sign linebacker Dre Greenlaw even after he had agreed to join the Broncos.
We heard back in February that San Francisco and Greenlaw were discussing a new contract, though GM John Lynch suggested even then that the 27-year-old defender could look to test the free agent market. According to Barrows, that market may have been slow to heat up but eventually became a “dogfight” that included the incumbent Niners. Barrows does not provide details on Lynch’s final pitch to Greenlaw, who ultimately signed a three-year, $31.5MM deal with Denver.
The contract is relatively light on full guarantees, which allows the Broncos to escape the pact fairly painlessly in 2026. It also underscores the fact that Greenlaw has a notable injury history; he played in only two regular season games in 2024 thanks to the Achilles tear he suffered in Super Bowl LVIII at the end of the 2023 campaign, and he also missed 14 games in 2021 due to a groin injury.
When healthy, though, Greenlaw teamed with Fred Warner to form one of the league’s best LB duos, and Greenlaw also has developed a reputation for being strong in coverage. His track record of high-level production, combined with a weak collegiate class of linebackers, helped him generate significant competition for his services.
After losing out on that competition, the 49ers – who presently have a number of recent Day 3 draftees like Dee Winters penciled in as Warner’s running mate – could look to the free agent market to bolster the position. Some of the more notable names still available include C.J. Mosley, who made plain he intends to continue his playing career, and E.J. Speed, who tallied 142 tackles for the Colts last season.
In terms of starting experience, De’Vondre Campbell also stands out as one of the more accomplished LBs on the market, but obviously his relationship with San Francisco is beyond repair. After signing with the 49ers as a Greenlaw insurance policy last March, Campbell started 12 of the team’s first 13 games of the 2024 season. Greenlaw returned in Week 15, thereby relegating Campbell to a reserve role. Then, when Greenlaw and Winters sustained injuries during that Week 15 contest, Campbell was asked to go into the game. He refused, thus leading to a suspension and the forfeiture of just over $260K in salary and roster bonuses (h/t Spotrac).
Last month, Campbell published on X a series of NSFW posts referencing the situation, though he did not go into detail as to why he refused to enter the Week 15 game.
“It’s been 2 months and I have yet to address the situation cause I know the truth and don’t care to clear anything up. … I ain’t addressing s***. I’m rich and never have to work another day of my life and I told Kyle Shannahan [sic] and John Lynch that when they FaceTime me and begged me to come out there an hour after Green Bay cut me.”
Campbell, 31, has amassed just under $40MM in career earnings. His posts suggest he is content with not continuing his playing career, and given the way his San Francisco tenure ended, teams may be reluctant to bring him aboard anyway, even for a modest salary.
While the 49ers were unable to entice Greenlaw back to the team after he tested the open market, Lynch & Co. were successful in re-signing fullback Kyle Juszczyk less than a week after releasing him. The Steelers hosted Juszczyk on a visit, and the nine-time Pro Bowler indicated in a recent interview on SiriusXM NFL Radio that other clubs were interested as well (via Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk). His brief time as a 2025 free agent solidified his desire to remain in the Bay Area, and he returned to the Niners on a two-year pact featuring an AAV just less than what he was due to make prior to his release (but which presumably helped carve out some 2025 cap space).
“They put it in my court, whether I wanted to be released or continue to negotiate a pay cut,” Juszczyk said, while adding he was told by the 49ers that their financial constraints are real. “I think it’s good to see what your market is, so they gave me the opportunity to do that. Me and my agent, we went to work and we had some interested teams, we explored those possibilities. … I wanted to be a Niner and we were able to get to a number I was comfortable with and we made a deal and I couldn’t be happier.”
As Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle observes, the club’s decision to sign Farrell to a notable contract made more sense upon Juszczyk’s release, as it suggested the tight end would take on a portion of the FB’s blocking responsibilities. With Juszczyk back in the mix, Farrell is still likely to see significant playing time, but his presence will allow George Kittle to spend more time running routes and less time showing off his admittedly formidable blocking skills.
Ravens Willing To Trade TE Mark Andrews?
Although Ravens tight end Mark Andrews has not been previously named as a trade candidate, Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic says Baltimore could look to move the three-time Pro Bowler despite seeing his $4MM roster bonus trigger last week. It does not sound as if the club is actively marketing Andrews, and Zrebiec says it would take a “legit offer” to pry him from the Ravens, but it is nonetheless notable that the team is even open to the possibility.
Andrews, 29, entered the NFL in the same year as quarterback Lamar Jackson, as the Ravens selected the Oklahoma product in the third round of the 2018 draft. He has been one of Jackson’s most trusted targets from the jump, establishing himself as one of the league’s premier pass-catching tight ends in the process. He also holds the franchise record for most receiving touchdowns (51) and is close to overtaking Derrick Mason for most receiving yards in franchise history (5,777). He is entering the final year of the four-year, $56MM extension he signed in September 2021.
Even as Baltimore has added more talent to the WR and TE positions over the past few years, Andrews has remained a key cog in the offense and even set a career-high in touchdowns (11) in 2024. The team has not advanced to the Super Bowl in the Jackson era but is constructed to make another playoff push in 2025, and removing Andrews from its offensive attack would seemingly run counter to those aspirations (his costly errors in this year’s divisional-round loss to the Bills notwithstanding).
Of course, the Ravens would not seek to move on from Andrews simply because of his missteps in the Buffalo contest. Instead, any trade would presumably be designed to acquire notable draft capital to inject more cost-controlled talent into the roster, which is a goal for any club with a top-of-the-market QB contract on its books.
Plus, fellow tight end Isaiah Likely – who is nearly five years younger than Andrews – has proven himself to be a highly-effective weapon and is (like Andrews) entering a platform year. In addition to netting about $5MM of cap space in 2025, trading Andrews could pave the way for a Likely extension while extracting more value from Andrews than a future compensatory pick (if he were allowed to leave in free agency in 2026, that is).
Zrebiec says Baltimore was never going to release Andrews, and he does not specify what type of offer would convince Ravens brass to pull the trigger on a trade. After he was rumored as an extension candidate last year, though, it presently appears as if Andrews’ future with his original club is murkier than expected.
Saints DE Cameron Jordan Returning On Restructured Deal
MARCH 18: The Saints will have Jordan back on a one-year deal worth $6.1MM, according to OverTheCap. This pay cut will see Jordan’s base salary dropped to the league minimum, but that is for cap purposes, as the Saints — in an on-brand move — have four void years included in the new deal. Jordan’s cap number checks in at $9.78MM.
While Jordan joins Tyrann Mathieu in accepting a redone deal to stay in New Orleans, the all-time Saints great leaving in 2026 will be costly. If Jordan does not re-sign before the 2026 league year, the Saints will be tagged with $18.76MM in dead money.
MARCH 12: After making it known that he intended to continue playing in 2025, Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan is making it happen. Though Jordan profiled as a release candidate, Mike Triplett of NewOrleans.Football confirms that the team and Jordan have reached an agreement that will keep him in New Orleans for his 15th season. 
It is believed that Jordan, who was due $12.5MM in 2025, is accepting a pay cut. After all, despite again starting a full slate of games last season, Jordan finished the year with a 47% snap share, which was by far the lowest mark of his career (he had never appeared in less than 70% of the Saints’ defensive snaps).
Along with the reduced playing time came a corresponding downturn in overall performance. For the first time since his rookie season all the way back in 2011, Jordan finished with a below-average Pro Football Focus grade; his 57.4 overall mark placed him 87th out of 119 qualified edge defenders, and his 54.3 pass rush grade was especially jarring in light of the sack artist’s history of production in that regard.
Jordan, who will be 36 by the time Week 1 rolls around, has just six sacks across the past two seasons after never posting fewer than 7.5 from 2012-22. At this stage of his career, the potential Hall of Famer and eight-time Pro Bowler is clearly a rotational piece.
Clearly, however, the Saints’ new regime and new DC Brandon Staley have prioritized continuity on the edge; New Orleans recently restructured the contract of defensive end Carl Granderson and agreed to re-sign Chase Young. The club also acquired Davon Godchaux via trade in an effort to fortify the interior of the D-line.
Jordan, who has reportedly become accustomed to treating the Saints’ final home game each year as if it could be his last in the Superdome, will have at least one more last hurrah.
Ely Allen contributed to this post.
Rams QB Matthew Stafford Intends To Play In 2026; Team To Retain TE Tyler Higbee, RT Rob Havenstein For 2025
Before the Matthew Stafford sweepstakes got underway this offseason, a competition in which the Raiders and Giants emerged as the top contenders to acquire the Rams’ Super Bowl-winning quarterback via trade, Stafford first had to determine whether he was even going to continue his playing career in 2025. A little over a week after Los Angeles’ divisional-round loss to the Eagles, Stafford told his club he would not be retiring.
Both player and team knew after their 2024 restructure that Stafford’s contract would need to be revisited again if their relationship was to continue, and this year, the Rams gave the veteran passer permission to speak with other teams to determine his value. Although both Las Vegas and New York were prepared to part with draft capital and authorize a two-year contract featuring up to $100MM in guarantees, Stafford decided to stay with the Rams on another reworked pact.
Head coach Sean McVay recently confirmed that, just as the parties did last year, compensation due later in Stafford’s contract was accelerated to this season, and that is what facilitated an agreement. The exact financial details are not yet known, but what is clear is that Stafford’s thru-2026 deal was not extended. As such, if and when the parties find themselves in the same position next offseason – which McVay expects – there will be no more future years from which to borrow money. In other words, an actual extension and/or raise will need to be hammered out to keep Stafford with the Rams in 2026 and perhaps beyond.
Of course, that assumes the 37-year-old passer will want to keep playing in 2026. While a player’s thoughts can always change, Stafford does not sound as if he intends to again contemplate retirement after the upcoming campaign.
On a recent episode of Travis and Jason Kelce’s New Heights podcast, Stafford said, “I’m going to be [with the Rams] at least another year, and hopefully some after that” (via Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk).
Stafford went on to call this offseason’s uncertainty “a little nerve-wracking,” and though such uncertainty appears to await next year as well, it may be entirely contract-related rather than retirement-related. Although Stafford always preferred to remain with McVay and the team that has employed him for the last four seasons, his use of the word “hopefully” indicates he still may not finish his career with the Rams.
The beyond-2025 futures of Los Angeles TE Tyler Higbee and RT Rob Havenstein are also uncertain, as both players are entering platform years. McVay recently confirmed, however, that both will be back with the club this season (via Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic).
As Rodrigue notes, the fact that Higbee and Havenstein have one season left on their existing deals warranted such confirmation from the head coach (as did the fact that both of them are coming off injury-impacted seasons). Higbee, 32, has operated as the Rams’ full-time starter at tight end since 2017, but he sustained a torn ACL and MCL in the 2023 postseason that delayed his start to the 2024 slate (he also suffered a chest injury in this year’s wildcard round, though he returned for the divisional-round matchup, catching seven balls for 54 yards and a score).
Havenstein, who is entering his age-33 season, has been a stalwart at right tackle since joining the Rams as a second-round pick in 2015. He has never earned a Pro Bowl or All-Pro nod, but he has started all 141 games in which he has appeared and has consistently generated good to excellent marks from Pro Football Focus. His return will be key for an aging QB and a team that has designs on another postseason run.
Ravens Sign QB Cooper Rush
The Ravens have a new backup in place for QB Lamar Jackson. Per Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, Baltimore is signing Cooper Rush to a two-year deal worth up to $12.2MM.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Rush will receive $4.2MM in guaranteed money, and Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic notes the true value of the two-year accord is $6.2MM. Rush can earn an additional $6MM in incentives (including playing time incentives) that presumably will only be hit if Jackson sustains an injury.
Luckily for the Ravens, their star passer and two-time MVP has been able to play a full slate of games over the past two years, so the club’s decision to invest minimally in the backup QB position with players like former UDFA Tyler Huntley and noted journeyman Josh Johnson has been a non-issue. That said, Zrebiec reported earlier this month that Baltimore could be in the market for an upgrade (subscription required), and the team has found one in Rush.
Cowboys QB1 Dak Prescott missed five games due to injury in 2022 and nine more in 2024, and Rush capably filled in for him on both occasions. In 14 career starts, the Central Michigan alum has compiled a 9-5 record, including a 4-4 mark last season. In 2024, Rush completed just over 60% of his passes for 1,844 yards and 12 touchdowns against five interceptions.
As that TD:INT ratio suggests, the 31-year-old has been lauded for his ability to avoid mistakes. He does not offer much in the running game, so in the event he needs to relieve Jackson and his dual-threat abilities, offensive coordinator Todd Monken will need to adjust the offense accordingly. Still, Rush is a quality backup that can keep a club afloat for a stretch, and despite the strong rapport that Johnson and Jackson established, the Ravens clearly felt a more significant expenditure was necessary (though Zrebiec does leave open the possibility that Johnson could return as a third-stringer).
In light of Prescott’s market-topping contract and the massive extension for Micah Parsons that is looming on the horizon — to say nothing of CeeDee Lamb‘s high-end deal — Cowboys COO Stephen Jones recently indicated Dallas would allow Rush and fellow signal-caller/reclamation project Trey Lance to seek greener pastures elsewhere. David Moore of the Dallas Morning News believes the club will add a passer on Day 3 of next month’s draft and allow that player to compete with Will Grier for the backup gig in 2025.