Chiefs WR Rashee Rice: “I’ve Learned So Much”
This offseason has been one filled with legal troubles for Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice. Rice is facing a total of eight felony charges stemming from a hit-and-run incident in Dallas on the evening of March 30, an incident in which he and another driver were believed to be street racing (with Rice allegedly reaching a speed of 119mph). About a month later, Rice was accused of punching a photographer at a Dallas nightclub.
During his meeting with police about the hit-and-run matter, Rice reportedly accepted “full responsibility” for his role, and his attorney later indicated that his client intends to cover the expenses of the victims, though Rice is being sued for over $1MM in actual damages and $10MM in punitive damages by two of those victims. The photographer that Rice allegedly struck subsequently asked police to not file charges against the second-year wideout, and the investigation was reportedly closed shortly thereafter.
While it seems as though Rice will not face charges for his encounter with the photographer, that incident could nonetheless impact the suspension that the Chiefs expect the NFL to hand down at some point. The league may wait until the hit-and-run legal process plays out before issuing sanctions, but once that happens, the alleged assault — as well as an incident that took place while Rice was still in college, in which the then-SMU player or a member of his party fired shots into an empty vehicle belonging to a member of the school’s basketball team — may well factor into the punishment.
In the meantime, Rice is free to take part in all team activities, and he was a full particpant in the Chiefs’ OTAs. Yesterday, he participated in a youth football camp in Kansas City alongside a number of the team’s other top receivers, and he offered his first public comments on his situation (via ESPN).
“I’ve learned so much from [the hit-and-run],” Rice said. “All I can do is mature and continue to grow from that. This (the youth football camp) is a step in a better direction for me.”
While vowing to improve as a person, Rice added, “[a]ccidents and stuff like that happen, but all you can do is move forward and walk around being the same person, try to be positive so that everybody can feel your love and your great energy.”
As a rookie in 2023, Rice was the Chiefs’ most effective wide receiver, and whenever his seemingly inevitable suspension is levied, KC will feel his absence. The team did address its WR corps in a meaningful way this offseason, adding Marquise Brown in free agency and another speed merchant, Xavier Worthy, in the first round of the 2024 draft. The club recently agreed to a re-up with Mecole Hardman and is still rostering Justin Watson, Skyy Moore, and Kadarius Toney.
Latest On Jets’ Haason Reddick
JUNE 4: When speaking to the media on Tuesday, Jets head coach Robert Saleh confirmed Reddick has been absent from the team throughout the offseason (video link via SNY’s Connor Hughes). Saleh has yet to be in contact with the two-time Pro Bowler, though he added he expects Reddick to attend next week’s mandatory minicamp. Missing out on OTAs will cost Reddick a $250K workout bonus, Cimini notes.
JUNE 2: One of the newest members of the Jets’ roster, edge defender Haason Reddick, has not been present for the club’s two OTA sessions that have been open to the media, as Rich Cimini of ESPN.com observes. Presumably, Reddick has not participated in any of New York’s six OTAs to date.
Of course, those sessions are voluntary, though players often stay away in order to drive home the point that they are seeking a new contract. That could certainly be the case with Reddick, who was acquired via trade with the Eagles earlier this year and who is entering the final season of the three-year, $45MM contract he signed with Philadelphia in March 2022.
Reddick’s $14.5MM base salary for the upcoming campaign is non-guaranteed, and while he made it clear that he did not request a trade from the Eagles and hoped to remain with the club, the fact that he is underpaid relative to his market value and will be the beneficiary of a lucrative new deal in the near future certainly drove GM Howie Roseman‘s decision to move the accomplished sack artist.
Obviously, extension talks between Reddick and Philadelphia were unsuccessful. And while it was speculated that Reddick and the Jets would discuss a new contract upon his arrival, Cimini says that if negotiations have indeed taken place, nothing to that effect has been made public.
At his introductory press conference in April, Reddick suggested he would be amenable to a multi-year accord with Gang Green but would also be willing to play out the 2024 season and hit the open market next year. One way or another, the Jets will be counting on him to spearhead their pass-rushing contingent, particularly since their 2023 sack leader, Bryce Huff, defected to (coincidentally) the Eagles in free agency.
If Reddick does maintain the level of production he has established over his past few seasons — he has averaged over 12.5 sacks per year from 2020-23 — he will certainly be in line for a monster payday in 2025 (if he does not get one before then). There are currently 12 edge rushers with contracts featuring average annual values of at least $20MM, and Reddick’s production and record of durability give him a strong case to join that group. Whether he elects to skip the remainder of OTAs and/or any portion of mandatory minicamp or training camp as part of that endeavor remains to be seen.
Ravens Hope OLB David Ojabo Will Be Cleared By Training Camp
The Ravens allowed Jadeveon Clowney, who recorded 9.5 sacks in 2023, to depart in free agency, and they have not added a veteran replacement. Additionally, Baltimore did not select a pass rusher until the third round of this year’s draft (Adisa Isaac), so the club will be counting on several young, internal options to step up as it seeks to replicate its league-leading sack production (60 total sacks) from last season.
One such youngster is David Ojabo. The Ravens selected Ojabo in the second round of the 2022 draft, taking a chance on a player with first-round talent whose stock fell because of an Achilles tear he suffered during Michigan’s pro day that year. Since the Ravens knew beforehand that Ojabo would essentially have to redshirt his rookie year, the fact that he appeared in only two games that season did not set off any alarm bells.
Unfortunately, he sustained what was originally described as a knee/ankle injury in the club’s Week 3 loss to the Colts in 2023, and he was later diagnosed with a partially-torn ACL.The four snaps he tooks in that Week 3 contest would be his last action of the 2023 campaign.
In March of this year, head coach John Harbaugh said that Ojabo is healthy and predicted a breakout season for the 24-year-old defender. That may well be the case, but as Matt Ryan of the team’s official website writes, Ojabo has been limited in Baltimore’s offseason work and will not be a full participant in the upcoming mandatory minicamp.
“His timeline, I believe, is somewhere in training camp,” Harbaugh said. “It won’t be minicamp, but it’s at some point in time once we get back for training camp.”
Like Clowney, Kyle Van Noy was a late signing who enjoyed unexpected success in Baltimore’s Mike Macdonald-coordinated defense in 2023, and he was rewarded with a new two-year accord in April. He is now the unquestioned veteran leader of an edge rush group that has plenty of promise in the form of Ojabo, Isaac, and 2021 first-rounder Odafe Oweh, but little by way of proven production. Of course, the pressure that Justin Madubuike can generate from the interior of the D-line helps to ease the burden of the edge defenders to some degree, though a quality third professional season from Ojabo would obviously be a major boost to the team’s 2024 fortunes and the player’s future earning power.
Baltimore did get a little creative with Ojabo’s roster spot this year, designating the Nigerian-born ‘backer as an international player who qualifies for a roster exemption. That move gives the Ravens the right to carry one more player than they would otherwise be allowed to have.
Patriots Reportedly Made Strong Push for WR Xavier Worthy
The Patriots, in an effort to weaponize their offense and give future starting quarterback Drake Maye some receiving talent whenever he takes the reins, selected two receivers in April’s WR-rich draft: Ja’Lynn Polk (No. 37 overall) and Javon Baker (No. 110 overall). The Polk selection in particular has been the subject of significant discussion among prominent NFL reporters and talking heads.
That has nothing to do with Polk himself. Rather, we heard early last month that New England, which originally held the No. 34 overall pick, had attempted to move up to No. 32 to acquire South Carolina wideout Xavier Legette. And on a recent episode of The Pat McAfee Show, former NFL exec Michael Lombardi said the Patriots were also targeting a different Xavier: Texas receiver and 40-yard dash record holder Xavier Worthy (video link).
The Bills, the original owners of the No. 28 pick, traded that choice to the Chiefs, allowing Buffalo’s playoff tormentors to add Worthy to Patrick Mahomes‘ arsenal. However, Lombardi says that New England was “in high-speed pursuit of Worthy” and “wanted Worthy badly.” Lombardi appears to suggest that while the Patriots made the Bills an offer for the No. 28 choice, Kansas City’s offer — the Nos. 32, 95, and 221 selections in exchange for Nos. 28, 133, and 248 — was more valuable than New England’s.
If that’s the case, one can understand why Bills GM Brandon Beane would have accepted the Chiefs’ proposal, especially since the Patriots and Bills are division rivals. That said, New England is firmly in rebuild mode while Buffalo has immediate championship aspirations and has been repeatedly thwarted by KC in its title pursuits, so handing the Chiefs a player that many believe could become Tyreek Hill 2.0 in Andy Reid‘s offense is a move that will come under plenty of scrutiny should Worthy live up to his potential.
In addition to Worthy, the Bills denied the Patriots a shot at Legette and flipped the No. 32 pick to the Panthers, who moved up one spot to nab the former Gamecock (Buffalo, which had a major WR need of its own, ended up selecting Florida State receiver Keon Coleman with the No. 33 choice that originally belonged to Carolina). After the Chiefs chose Worthy, five wideouts were drafted between Nos. 31 and 37. The Patriots had hoped to move toward the front of that wave, but after Legette went off the board, they stepped back by moving from No. 34 to 37 and landing Polk.
The receivers selected during the late first through early second rounds of the 2024 draft would be compared to each other anyway as their careers unfold, though the fact that multiple clubs were jockeying for position to select specific pass catchers within that window adds another layer of intrigue to those future conversations. At present, it looks as if the Patriots missed out on several of their top targets, but Polk has plenty of upside and may eventually make New England happy that it was unable to swing a draft-day deal with its AFC East foe.
Latest On Saints DEs Cameron Jordan, Chase Young
Saints stalwart Cameron Jordan underwent surgery earlier this year to address the significant ankle injury he sustained in November. While the eight-time Pro Bowler was able to play through the injury, he was clearly limited by it down the stretch of the 2023 season, and he ultimately recorded just two sacks (his lowest total since his rookie year in 2011).
Fortunately, Jordan is on the mend. He told reporters, including Mike Triplett of NewOrleans.Football, that he is running again and participating in walk-throughs, and he hopes to do some on-field work by the end of OTAs and minicamp (the last OTA session is on June 6, and the club’s three-day mandatory minicamp commences on June 11).
Despite the diminished sack total, Jordan still played fairly well in the eyes of Pro Football Focus, securing a solid 73.5 overall grade that positioned him as the 41st-best edge defender out of 112 qualified players. That is off the pace of his elite performances from 2015-21 but right in line with his 2022 work. His overall mark was pulled down by a middling 63.8 pass rush grade, though there is hope that a healthy ankle will at least allow him to replicate the counting stats he accumulated in 2022, when he tallied 8.5 sacks, 66 total tackles (13 TFL), and a pair of forced fumbles.
One way or another, it appears that Jordan, who will turn 35 in July, has another two years to go in his illustrious playing career. The Cal product inked an extension last August that keeps him under club control through 2025, which he expects to be his last season. In classic Saints fashion, the team restructured his contract in March to clear cap space.
Joining Jordan on the New Orleans defensive front is free agent acquisition Chase Young, who has yet to get the big-money deal that he was doubtlessly eyeing when the Commanders made him the No. 2 overall pick in 2020. Young, of course, earned Defensive Rookie of the Year honors that season but struggled with a serious knee injury thereafter, though he did manage to post 7.5 sacks between the Commanders and 49ers in 2023. While he can earn up to $13MM on his one-year pillow contract with the Saints, most of that value comes in the form of per-game roster bonuses.
Young’s market was limited in part by the fact that he required neck surgery this offseason, and while the Saints were comfortable with his prognosis, they knew he would need some time to recover. As Triplett notes, Young will likely remain in “walk-through mode” through minicamp, which is consistent with earlier reports that he would be sidelined into training camp in July.
Latest On Broncos’ Center Competition
The cap-strapped Broncos saw one of last year’s top offensive performers, center Lloyd Cushenberry, sign with the Titans in free agency, leaving Denver with a major question mark at the pivot as it ushers in yet another new era at quarterback. 2022 fifth-rounder Luke Wattenberg will certainly have a chance to become the club’s starting center, but as Ryan McFadden of the Denver Post writes, the Broncos are also high on 2023 seventh-round selection Alex Forsyth.
McFadden says that the team views Forsyth as a potential starting-caliber center, which jibes with the comments that GM George Paton made on the matter earlier this year. Forsyth’s candidacy is buttressed by the fact that he served as the snapper for quarterback Bo Nix, the No. 12 overall selection in this year’s draft, when the two were at Oregon in 2022.
Wattenberg, meanwhile, started 16 games at center while in college, but he has played sparingly in his two years in the professional ranks, with most of his reps coming at the guard positions. And though his 129 total snaps certainly qualify as a small sample size, he has not played particularly well in that limited action.
The Broncos did sign Sam Mustipher to a one-year contract in April, and he has the experience that Forsyth and Wattenberg lack, having played 52 games (42 starts) in the NFL. He served as the Bears’ full-time pivot from 2021-22, but the fact that he was non-tendered by Chicago last year and had to settle for a one-year pact with the Ravens — and the fact that he did not even crack Baltimore’s initial 53-man roster — underscores his middling performance in the Windy City. The soon-to-be 28-year-old blocker did start two games for the Ravens last season in relief of the injured Tyler Linderbaum, and he performed reasonably well as a stopgap.
As McFadden notes in a separate piece, Wattenberg was working with the first-team offense in OTAs earlier this week, while Forsyth worked with the second unit. Still, the center competition in Denver appears to be wide open, despite the fact that Forsyth did not see any action at all in his rookie campaign. Sooner rather than later, Nix will take the reins at quarterback, and there is a good chance he will have a familiar face snapping him the ball.
Latest On Falcons LB Troy Andersen
After seeing action in all 17 games (five starts) as a rookie in 2022, Falcons linebacker Troy Andersen opened the 2023 season as a full-time starter alongside Kaden Elliss in Atlanta’s defense. Unfortunately, the shoulder and pectoral injuries he sustained in Week 3 sidelined him for the remainder of the campaign, and his replacement — 2022 UDFA Nathan Landman — piled up 110 tackles, three forced fumbles, two sacks, and an interception in his stead.
As D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes, Andersen has no limitations as he participates in OTAs, with the player himself saying, “yeah, I feel good. Kind of back to normal. Hopefully, better than normal. Yeah, it’s pretty good.”
Landman has been working with Elliss and the first-team defense, while Andersen has been finding his footing with the second-team unit and fifth-round rookie JD Bertrand. But given Andersen’s draft pedigree — he was a second-round draft choice in 2022 — it is fair to assume that he will at least push for a starting role, and Ledbetter actually lists Andersen as a starter ahead of Landman on his depth chart.
The Falcons are transitioning to a 3-4 alignment under new head coach Raheem Morris, so there will be an opportunity for Elliss, Andersen, and Landman to get plenty of burn, and Morris indicated that all three players could be on the field at the same time on some occasions.
“Watching those three guys out there, man, it’s been fun to watch,” Morris said. “You’re talking about some big humans that can move really quickly and do some special things, particularly with the ball and getting in the way and getting in the way of passing lanes. They do so many good things, it’s almost like three different coaches sitting in a room at the same time. It is going to be exciting to get them on the field. Maybe all at the same time, because they have that type of ability that warrants more playtime.”
Elliss is the big-money member of the trio, having signed a three-year, $21.5MM contract with Atlanta last March. He held up his end of the bargain, recording 122 tackles and four sacks while grading out as Pro Football Focus’ 20th-best linebacker in the league out of 82 qualifiers in 2023.
Landman also fared well in the eyes of PFF’s metrics, finishing as the site’s 28th-best LB. PFF dinged him for his work in pass coverage — something many ‘backers struggle with — but he more than made up for it with his performance against the run.
As such, Morris and defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake have a good problem on their hands when it comes to finding reps for all of their linebackers, and the return of Andersen will further bolster a defense that finished 11th in total yardage last season. In his two games in 2023, the Montana State product notched 19 total tackles (including one TFL) and a half-sack.
Ravens Officially Convert Malik Cunningham To WR
When the Ravens signed 2023 UDFA Malik Cunningham off the Patriots’ practice squad in December, it was widely assumed they were doing so with an eye towards installing Cunningham as quarterback Lamar Jackson‘s backup for the upcoming season (and perhaps beyond). However, as Ryan Mink of the Ravens’ official website notes, Cunningham is now listed as a wide receiver on Baltimore’s roster.
The Ravens allowed Jackson’s former backup, Tyler Huntley, to depart in free agency while re-signing 38-year-old journeyman Josh Johnson, which appeared to set the table for a Johnson v. Cunningham battle for the QB2 role. Instead, head coach John Harbaugh anointed Johnson as the second passer on the depth chart earlier this month, and at the time, we heard that Cunningham may transition to wideout.
The transition has been made official, as the Ravens are apparently comfortable with their quarterback situation after selecting Devin Leary in the sixth round of this year’s draft (Leary and UDFA rookie Emory Jones will compete for the QB3 job). Cunningham, whose rawness as a passer is what caused him to go undrafted last spring, is nonetheless a highly-athletic talent for whom the Patriots designed a special package of gadget-type plays when he was on their roster.
While Cunningham only saw action in one game (six snaps) with New England, he will now have a chance to focus exclusively on his craft as a receiver. According to Mink, the Louisville product has shown promise in that role in the early stages of the Ravens’ offseason program.
Baltimore did not make an effort to re-sign Odell Beckham Jr., a key ancillary weapon in last year’s passing attack, and the team also saw Devin Duvernay defect to the Jaguars in free agency. Despite a re-up for Nelson Agholor, those departures left the Ravens a little thin at the WR position, especially given Rashod Bateman‘s history of injury troubles. Like the 2023 edition of Duvernay, free agent acquisition Deonte Harty is likely to see more action as a return specialist than on offense.
The club did add Devontez Walker in the fourth round of April’s draft, and tight ends Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely have proven themselves to be terrific pass catchers, but Cunningham still appears to have a decent chance to carve out a spot for himself in the WR room. Behind Zay Flowers, Bateman, and Agholor, the rest of the Ravens’ wideouts are either unproven or ticketed for a third phase role, so if Cunningham continues to perform well as the summer progresses, he and Jackson — who were actually teammates at Louisville in 2017 — could find themselves on the field together when the regular season rolls around.
Latest On Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders’ 2025 Draft Stock
There was a historic run on quarterbacks in the 2024 draft, with six signal-callers picked in the first 12 selections. In addition to the fact that QB is the most important position in sports, the flurry of passers flying off the board was partially explained by the talent of this year’s crop and the current belief that the 2025 class of prospects is not a particularly deep one.
Of course, much can change between now and next April, and there will surely be a number of players who author standout performances in their final collegiates seasons and put themselves on the radar of teams eyeing franchise quarterbacks. One player that we already know will be a focus of such clubs is Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders.
Sanders, the son of NFL legend and Colorado head coach Deion Sanders, was eligible to declare for the 2024 draft, though he elected to remain in school for one more season. Per Jason La Canfora of the Washington Post, there is a variance of opinion as to where Sanders would have been picked if he had entered the 2024 draft, but a number of top execs believe the Buffaloes’ star will be firmly in the No. 1 overall discussion in 2025.
The GM of one club who could be in the market for an elite QB prospect next year said of Shedeur, “absolutely, he was a first-round pick [in 2024]. Absolutely. There would have been seven [QBs taken in the first round]. We obviously didn’t do as much work on him as the other quarterbacks once he announced he wasn’t coming out, but he would have been in the top three [quarterbacks] for us this year, I think, had he gone through the entire process. He probably would have been up there with [Caleb] Williams and [Jayden] Daniels.”
The Buffaloes were the talk of college football at the beginning of the 2023 season, when they stormed out to a 3-0 start with the dynamic father/son duo leading the charge. The bloom fell off the rose pretty quickly, though, as Colorado lost eight of its nine conference games to finish at the bottom of the Pac-12 standings.
For his part, Shedeur completed just under 70% of his passes for 27 touchdowns against just three picks last year. That followed an even more impressive 2022 season in which he connected on over 70% of his pass attempts and piled up 40 TDs and only six picks, although that performance came as a member of Jackson State, the FCS program that his father coached before he moved to Boulder.
An agent who recruited many members of the 2024 class of QBs told La Canfora that the Commanders would have seriously considered Sanders if he had entered in the 2024 draft, while a different talent evaluator who is employed by a team that did select a QB this year said, “I would have been stacking him right there with Daniels or [Drake] Maye. Definitely would have had him before [Michael] Penix, [J.J.] McCarthy or [Bo] Nix. If this kid comes out, he’s going in the top five or six picks. He could be the first pick of [the 2025] draft.”
Several of La Canfora’s sources said that Deion’s involvement in the process could be a complicating factor, with one such source calling him a “loose cannon,” but that will surely not deter a team who places a first-round grade on Shedeur. If the younger Sanders can put together a 2024 showing similar to his 2023 output, it sounds as if he could be the first player off the board in April 2025.
Latest On Commanders’ Nickname, Logo
The Commanders have used their current nickname for the past two seasons after spending the prior two years as the Washington Football Team and the 83 years before that as the Washington Redskins. Last summer, a group led by Josh Harris purchased the club, and although there have been rumblings that new ownership may want to change the name or even revert back to the Redskins, that is not the case, per Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post.
Prior owner Dan Snyder, who repeatedly insisted that the “Redskins” moniker would never change, finally succumbed to sponsorship pressure to make a switch towards the end of his tenure. Harris & Co. have said before that there is no intent to change the current name, but recent events have made some skeptical of that proclamation.
For instance, during the club’s rookie minicamp earlier this month, new head coach Dan Quinn wore an (unlicensed) T-shirt that featured the feathers that were a prominent part of the Redskins’ logo dangling from the stylized “W” that represents the entirety of the current Commanders’ logo (via JP Finlay of NBC Sports Washington).
As Eric Flack of WUSA9 wrote last week, Sen. Steve Daines (R-Montana), a key member of the Congressional committee advancing a bill that would give Washington, D.C. control of the RFK Stadium site — which would be used for a new stadium for the Commanders — is demanding that the team bring back the Redskins’ logo. To be clear, Daines is not advocating the use of the “Redskins” name, and in remarks prepared for a hearing on the proposed legislation, he wrote, “[m]ake no mistake, this logo was inspired and envisioned by [Blackfeet Tribe member Blackie] Wetzel as a tribute to Native Americans. It is not a caricature. It is a description of pride and strength. Of courage and honor.”
Additionally, the team recently posted birthday wishes to longtime linebacker London Fletcher on X, and in so doing, it used an image prominently featuring the Redskins’ helmet. As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk observes, the team’s social media birthday wishes to Fletcher in prior years included images in which the Redskins’ logo was not visible.
As Florio opines in a separate piece, “there are no accidents,” and he believes matters like Quinn’s T-shirt are “trial balloons” to test the public response to the old name and logo (although the team had no official comment on the T-shirt). While it would be hard to imagine Harris deciding to bring back the “Redskins” name, it would be less difficult to see the team incorporate elements of the prior logo, especially in light of the merchandising sales it could generate.