Newsstand News & Rumors

Vikings, OLB Andrew Van Ginkel Agree On Extension

April 29th, 2025 at 3:11pm CST by Sam Robinson

Andrew Van Ginkel impressed upon reuniting with Brian Flores, enjoying a productive season as a pass rusher to help the Vikings finish the season as a top-five defense. The team will reward the former Dolphins defender for his work.

The Vikings are giving Van Ginkel a one-year, $23MM extension, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The deal comes nearly fully guaranteed, with $22.4MM being locked in. Minnesota now has Van Ginkel signed through 2026. This will bring a significant bump for Van Ginkel, who was due a $10.78MM 2025 base salary that featured $4MM guaranteed.

Coming up earlier this offseason as an extension candidate, Van Ginkel drew interest from the Rams and Eagles last year. He has shown himself to be a viable starter on the edge — after previously working as a backup.

Reinserted into Miami’s starting lineup as a pass rusher due to Jaelan Phillips‘ 2023 injury, Van Ginkel upped his free agency stock in the weeks that followed. He signed a two-year, $20MM Vikings deal in 2024. That contract was to void if no extension occurred before the start of the 2026 league year. The Vikings have checked off that piece of business Tuesday.

Van Ginkel, 29, built on his 2023 pass-rushing production by registering 11.5 sacks last season. The former Dolphins fifth-rounder, who arrived during Flores’ first offseason in charge, accumulated an impressive 18 tackles for loss and 19 QB hits last season. Van Ginkel had previously never posted 10 TFLs in a season. In addition to his sack production, Van Ginkel also intercepted two passes and returned both for touchdowns in his Vikings debut. He now has three pick-sixes in two years.

Minnesota acquired a second first-round pick in 2024. While most assumed it was to become key ammo in the franchise’s quest to select a quarterback, the Vikings — after seeing the Patriots decline their trade-up offer for Drake Maye — then traded up from that spot (via the Jaguars) to take edge rusher Dallas Turner at No. 17. Despite the lofty investment, Turner played behind Van Ginkel and big-ticket free agent signee Jonathan Greenard. This extension certainly looks like that setup will continue in 2025.

This one-year bump resembles the Bengals’ 2023 move for Trey Hendrickson, though it comes after just one Van Ginkel season. Hendrickson signed a one-year, $21MM extension in 2023, doing so after he had outplayed his previous deal during his first two Bengals seasons. Van Ginkel’s profile does not check in on Hendrickson’s level, minimizing the chance he and the Vikings will later be at odds. Instead, a former Day 3 draftee collected a key payment during an offseason in which the Vikings both moved on from Sam Darnold and saw Kirk Cousins‘ $28.5MM dead money hit come off the books.

The Vikings have J.J. McCarthy signed through 2027, affording them opportunities to make payments previously unrealistic due to Cousins’ six-year tenure (and seven-year run on the payroll). They will bet on Van Ginkel, who has scheme familiarity but a thin record of consistent pass-rushing production. Also seeing early-career time as an off-ball linebacker, Van Ginkel had previously topped out at six sacks in a season (2023). But he has settled as an edge presence.

The Vikings, who lost Patrick Jones in free agency, will continue to send a Greenard-Van Ginkel-Turner pass rush at opponents, with this contract ensuring all three are signed for at least two more seasons.

49ers, George Kittle Agree To Extension

April 29th, 2025 at 8:10am CST by Adam La Rose

Extension talks with George Kittle have produced an agreement. The All-Pro tight end announced during an appearance on the Bussin’ With the Boys podcast that he has signed a new deal.

This will be a four-year pact, per Kittle. The deal is worth $76.4MM in total and includes $40MM in guarantees. The latter figure consists of $35MM locked in at signing along with $5MM in guarantees covering the 2027 campaign. 2025 had represented the final year of Kittle’s contract, but he is now on the books through 2029; his scheduled cap charge for the coming year ($22.03MM) will no doubt be lowered as a result of the agreement.

This deal carries an annual average value of $19.1MM, surpassing the AAV of Trey McBride‘s recent Cardinals extension. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk cautions, though, that the final year of the contract contains an inflated figure to push that mark from $18MM to its record-breaking point. Kittle had been attached to a $15MM-per-year pact, but his future has now been secured by means of another lucrative 49ers commitment on the offensive side of the ball.

Kittle surpassed 1,000 receiving yards for the fourth time in his career in 2024, and his eight touchdowns marked the second-highest total in a single season for him to date. That production helped his leverage in contract talks, and prior to the draft it was reported team and player were far apart on terms. Originally, the 31-year-old was absent from the start of voluntary offseason workouts. Kittle did attend on Friday, though, and NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport notes negotiations gained steam from that point on.

A report stating the former fifth-rounder was aiming to become the league’s highest-paid tight end – with that being the reason for his early absence – drew a public rebuttal from the six-time Pro Bowler himself. Nonetheless, Kittle is now atop the position’s financial pecking order as he looks to remain a mainstay in the pass and run games for San Francisco. The team’s list of remaining extensions now includes quarterback Brock Purdy and linebacker Fred Warner, both of whom are in attendance for the start of offseason work.

The 49ers made 11 selections in this year’s draft, tied for the most in the NFL. None of those picks were used on a tight end, an indication the team would continue relying on Kittle (along with free agent addition Luke Farrell) for 2025 and beyond. San Francisco’s season did not go according to plan last year as the team dealt with a slew of injuries at key positions. Kittle continued a run of making at least 14 appearances which dates back to 2021, though, and the 49ers will be counting on that stretch of availability extending deep into his career.

As San Francisco prepares for a period with Purdy attached to one of the league’s most lucrative deals, the team also has big-ticket commitments in place with Kittle, wideout Brandon Aiyuk and running back Christian McCaffrey. If that nucleus is to guide the 49ers to a Super Bowl, Kittle will no doubt continue operating as a central figure in the team’s success.

Browns Trade Up To No. 144 For QB Shedeur Sanders

April 26th, 2025 at 11:16pm CST by Ely Allen

The slide finally stops here. The Browns have traded up with the Eagles to select Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders at No. 144 overall. In exchange for the pick that lands the Buffaloes passer, Philadelphia collects pick Nos. 166 and 192.

The Browns had acquired pick No. 166, a fifth-rounder, from the Texans, who in turn had received it from Buffalo in the Stefon Diggs trade. The 192nd pick was sent to Cleveland by the Bears in exchange for defensive tackle Chris Williams, and they had received it originally from Miami in exchange for Chase Claypool.

Sanders has weathered one of the least-anticipated Draft Day slides in NFL history. At one point projected to be in competition with Cam Ward for the No. 1 overall pick, Sanders slowly saw his draft stock begin to fall throughout the pre-draft process. As scouts and analysts really dove into the 23-year-old’s tape, it became apparent that he wasn’t the top quarterback in the class and that he perhaps was not second-best. As it turns out, he is the sixth passer to come off the board in the 2025 NFL Draft, 144 picks into the event and six picks into the fifth-round. Some have attributed a perceived lack of maturity and the resulting attitude as a factor that drove down Sanders’ stock, in addition to a questionable skillset.

As to why the Browns chose to select him after this historic slide, Zac Jackson of The Athletic provided a quote from general manager Andrew Berry. Berry told the media that he couldn’t “speak to why the market priced him the way it did,” saying, “We had our own internal evaluation…once it got to a price we felt was a pretty steep discount, it just made sense.”

Now that he’s headed to Cleveland, Sanders’ slide is strictly a thing of the past. Nobody will care where he got drafted if he can make a serious impact for the Browns. His competition begins with fellow rookie, and third-round selection out of Oregon, Dillon Gabriel. You don’t have to look back too far to find the last team to draft two quarterbacks in the same draft, as the Patriots did so last year with Drake Maye and Joe Milton. The Browns are the first team in the common draft era, though, to take two quarterbacks (Gabriel and Sanders) and two running backs (Ohio State’s Quinshon Judkins and Tennessee’s Dylan Sampson) in the first five rounds of a single draft.

The Browns now have five quarterbacks on their roster competing for, maybe, three spots. Expected starter Deshaun Watson suffered a second tear of his Achilles tendon in January and could be unavailable for the entire 2025 NFL season. Cleveland acquired two former starters and recent backups this offseason, signing veteran Joe Flacco and trading for 2022 first-round pick Kenny Pickett, and now Gabriel and Sanders join the fold. Flacco obviously has experience with the current staff after his 2023 campaign with the team, after which he won Comeback Player of the Year. Pickett has shown value as he’s been traded around since being drafted by the Steelers three years ago, but after failing to establish himself as a starter, he seems destined to work as an experienced backup.

There are a couple of ways the roster could play out in Cleveland. If Watson is healthy enough to play, we’ll likely see Flacco and Pickett as the prime competitors for the starting job, with the loser of the battle likely taking on QB2 duties. If Pickett wins the starting gig, Flacco would surely outrank both Gabriel and Sanders as the primary backup. If Flacco wins, though, I could see Gabriel and Sanders being given an opportunity to supplant Pickett for the primary role. Should one of the rookies do so, expect Pickett to be up for his third trade within the course of his rookie contract.

If Pickett can secure the QB2 role (behind Flacco), though, the battle between Gabriel and Sanders becomes critical for roster spots, and given his draft position, it appears the staff already has a slight preference towards Gabriel. With Watson presumably on an injured list, the Browns could opt to keep three quarterbacks on the 53-man roster, allowing them to retain the loser of the QB3-battle on the practice squad. If they decide to only keep two quarterbacks on the roster, though, provided Pickett does not get traded, Gabriel and Sanders could see themselves struggling to make the team as a rookie.

Giants Acquire No. 25, Select QB Jaxson Dart

April 24th, 2025 at 11:22pm CST by Ben Levine

There was some speculation about the Giants jumping back into the first round as they pursued a QB, and the front office has made that a reality. Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News reports that the team has acquired pick No. 25 from the Texans. The Giants will use their new pick to select Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart.

Full trade details:

Giants acquire:

2025 first-round pick (No. 25)

Texans acquire:

2025 second-round pick (No. 34)
2025 third-round pick (No. 99)
2026 third-round pick

With the Titans committed to Cam Ward at No. 1, holding there despite multiple Giants offers (one of which including the team’s 2026 first-round pick), Big Blue pivoted to the draft’s second wave of QBs. The team did extensive homework on some of the draft’s other top passing prospects. That included Dart, but it also included Shedeur Sanders, who was generally considered the second-best player at his position.

There was some speculation that a team could make a move up the draft board to select the Colorado product early in the first round, and there was some belief that the Giants could even ignore the draft’s blue chip prospects and simply use No. 3 on Sanders. Instead, Sanders — after a report the Giants were split on the two-year Colorado starter — ended up falling all the way to No. 25, and the Giants made the move…to select Dart.

It’s a pretty stunning development, but it may not be as much of an indictment on Sanders as it is a vote of confidence for Dart. The Ole Miss product recently came up as a player Brian Daboll liked, and the prospect quickly evolved from a potential Day 2 pick into a potential Day 1 pick throughout the pre-draft process. Daboll-Dart connections had developed for a bit leading up to the draft, and the fourth-year HC may well be staking his job on the SEC prospect — after Dave Gettleman-era draftee Daniel Jones defined the first three years of Daboll and GM Joe Schoen‘s tenure.

Dart had three strong seasons at Ole Miss, but he took it to another level in 2024. The prospect finished the campaign having completed 69.3 percent of his passes for 4,279 yards, 29 touchdowns, and only six interceptions. Dart also continued to show some ability on the ground, compiling 495 rushing yards on 124 carries. Thanks to an impressive showing at the Senior Bowl, Dart separated himself from the likes of Quinn Ewers and Jalen Milroe…and he apparently did enough to jump Sanders on the draft board.

Dart, 22 in May, will now join a Giants squad that was clearly hunting for a future signal caller. The Giants obviously believe in Dart’s ability considering the investment, but with Daboll and Schoen on the hot seat, leadership may not be inclined to immediately toss the rookie into the starting lineup.

The Jones era came to an end last season, and Tommy DeVito is the only holdover from the former QB grouping. Since free agency started, the team added a pair of notable veterans in Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston, and both of those players will surely sit above their new rookie teammate on the depth chart. Wilson notably only inked a one-year contract with New York, and while Winston’s deal is for two seasons, Dart could have a pathway to a starting gig in 2026. Whether the current regime is around to see it remains to be seen.

Jaguars Acquire No. 2 Pick, Select WR/CB Travis Hunter

April 24th, 2025 at 11:20pm CST by Ben Levine

The Jaguars are making major moves up the draft board. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that Jacksonville has acquired the No. 2 pick from the Browns. The Jaguars are using that second overall selection on Colorado’s Travis Hunter.

Full details of the trade:

Jaguars acquire:

2025 first-round pick (No. 2)
2025 fourth-round pick (No. 104)
2025 sixth-round pick (No. 200)

Browns acquire:

2025 first-round pick (No. 5)
2025 second-round pick (No. 36)
2025 fourth-round pick (No. 126)
Browns 2026 first-round pick

It’s a stunning development, although not completely unfounded. We heard earlier today that the Jaguars were sniffing around at a trade up the draft board, with their sights set on Hunter. There were occasional rumblings that the Browns would consider moving back, but it was assumed they’d stay put and select one of the draft’s few blue chip prospects.

Cleveland was a popular potential landing spot for Hunter, but instead the two-way threat will suddenly land in Jacksonville. The Heisman winner has remained insistent that he aims to continue playing at both receiver and cornerback as a pro. Hunter also indicated that teams were receptive to that idea, stating that the concept of playing on offense and defense in the NFL has not been an issue for the teams he has spoken with.

The Jaguars are coming off a disappointing season that led to sweeping changes in leadership. Liam Coen has been brought in as head coach, with ex-Rams exec James Gladstone guiding the front office. That duo is making an immediate swing that they’re hoping will turn around the fortunes of the organization.

On offense, Hunter would provide Trevor Lawrence with another dynamic option. 2024 first-round pick Brian Thomas was a hit, as the wideout finished his rookie campaign with 1,330 yards from scrimmage and 10 touchdowns. Hunter and Thomas will form perhaps the best young receiver duo in the NFL, and there’s a belief the 2025 second-overall pick will ultimately settle into an offensive role.

The team may not feel as much urgency to use the rookie on the defensive side of the ball, although Hunter is also considered an elite prospect at cornerback. He split snaps nearly evenly during his Heisman-winning 2024 season. The team returns their top three CBs from 2024 (Tyson Campbell, Jarrian Jones, Montaric Brown) and they added Jourdan Lewis in free agency. That could allow Hunter to serve in a rotational role as he juggles playing both sides of the ball as a professional.

Hunter was considered one of the draft’s elite prospects following his headline-grabbing 2024 campaign. The Colorado star finished the season with 1,263 yards from scrimmage and 16 touchdowns, and he added another 36 tackles and four interceptions on defense. He beat out Ashton Jeanty narrowly for the Heisman and had been earmarked for the No. 2 draft slot for weeks.

After making a pre-draft trade with Houston involving Day 3 picks — including a fifth-rounder this year — Cleveland will now land the fifth overall pick, plus an early second and a future first. The Browns were often connected to Hunter or Abdul Carter, and it was expected that they’d resist trade inquiries and opt for the blue chip prospect. Instead, the Browns will turn to the second tier of draft options.

Lions Sign S Kerby Joseph To Record-Setting Extension

April 23rd, 2025 at 11:25pm CST by Ely Allen

Just before last year’s draft, the Lions secured their future by signing both offensive tackle Penei Sewell and wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown to long-term extensions. This year, they’ve decided to do the same, rewarding a first-team All-Pro season by making Kerby Joseph the highest-paid safety in the NFL. Per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Joseph and Detroit have agreed to a four-year, $86MM extension.

We don’t have any guaranteed numbers on the deal yet to stack against the current top deals in the league, but Joseph’s $86MM in total value is more that Antoine Winfield Jr.‘s $84.1MM. Winfield also held the highest average annual value at $21.03MM per year, which will be eclipsed by Joseph’s $21.5MM per annum.

We knew all the way back when the Lions got eliminated from the playoffs that they would be exploring an extension for their All-Pro safety this offseason. They reiterated those intentions earlier this month, as well, adding that star defensive end Aidan Hutchinson‘s expected extension was also on the docket.

The reason Joseph’s extension likely took priority over Hutchinson’s is because, unlike Hutchinson, Joseph was not a first-round pick. As a first-round selection, Hutchinson’s rookie contract includes a fifth-year option that the team can exercise to extend his obligations to the team for a year longer than the standard four-year rookie deal. Because of this, Hutchinson and the Lions will likely have plenty more time to work out an extension. Joesph, on the other hand, was headed into the final year of his rookie contract.

In just three years of play, Joseph has already established himself as one of the league’s best at the position. Not only did he lead the NFL with nine interceptions in 2024, but he also leads the league in interceptions since he entered the NFL in 2022 with 17. Add in 31 passes defensed and 247 tackles and Joseph has proven that he deserved to be awarded with an All-Pro selection and a record-setting extension this year.

The Lions will hope that securing Joseph will give them the league’s top defensive backfield duo in the NFL for years to come. Today’s extension ensures that Joseph will return alongside Brian Branch next year. Branch, a Pro Bowler last year with seven interceptions and 29 passes defensed in his first two seasons, was drafted in the second round a year after Joseph. Both safeties were ranked as top-five safeties per Pro Football Focus (subscription required) with Joseph notching the position’s highest overall and coverage grades and Branch notching the positions best run defense grade. Branch will likely be a target for extension himself in the next offseason.

For now, though, the Lions will rejoice in their securing of Joseph and the elimination of safety as a position of need in the draft. It was never considered a position that needed improvement, but with Joseph on a long-term deal, there’s no danger of needing to draft a safety to eventually take over for a free agent departure.

Eagles Extend C Cam Jurgens

April 21st, 2025 at 9:38pm CST by Adam La Rose

The Eagles have made yet another lucrative commitment along the offensive line. Center Cam Jurgens has a new deal in place, the team announced on Monday.

This will be a four-year, $68MM extension, per Jurgens’ agent (h/t ESPN’s Adam Schefter). The pact includes $39.4MM guaranteed. As a result of the agreement, Jurgens is now on the books with Philadelphia through the 2029 season.

Jurgens did not log any starts during his rookie campaign, but he saw plenty of time in 2023, operating as a full-time starter at right guard when healthy. Last offseason, the retirement of center Jason Kelce created a vacancy at center. As expected, Jurgens took over in that role. The 25-year-old thrived while doing so, earning a Pro Bowl nod and helping the Eagles win the Super Bowl.

In the wake of that success, Philadelphia has proceeded with yet another big-ticket commitment up front. This deal carries an average annual value of $17MM, which ranks second amongst centers. Only Creed Humphrey ($18MM per season) is attached to a more lucrative pact in terms of AAV. Jurgens has moved to the top of the position’s pecking order in terms of guaranteed compensation, however.

The Nebraska product ranked 31st amongst qualifying guards in 2023 with respect to his PFF evaluation. Jurgens took a step forward last season, grading out as PFF’s 14th-best center. Continued development will be key as the Eagles look to remain dominant along the O-line. The defending champions now have four major contracts on the books up front.

Left tackle Jordan Mailata and left guard Landon Dickerson each received long-term extensions last offseason, and as a result they are set to remain in the fold for years to come. Right tackle Lane Johnson recently had one year added to his pact, putting him on track to continue playing through 2027. Jurgens will aim to remain a key figure up front moving forward as Philadelphia looks to replace Mekhi Becton at the right guard spot with incumbent Tyler Steen, trade acquisition Kenyon Green or a rookie added this week.

Jurgens played through back issues during the Eagles’ postseason run, and he underwent surgery shortly after the Super Bowl. A full recovery in time for training camp was expected at the time of the procedure, and today’s news obviously marks a sign of confidence the former second-rounder will not be affected by the injury in the future. Provided that proves to be the case, Jurgens will be counted on to operate as Philadelphia’s center for years to come.

Bears Extend CB Kyler Gordon

April 17th, 2025 at 9:45am CST by Nikhil Mehta

APRIL 17: Gordon’s pact contains $28MM in new guarantees, as detailed by Over the Cap. That figure includes a $10MM signing bonus; his base salaries for 2025 ($1.26MM) and ’26 ($10MM) are locked in as well. The deal also contains $510K in per-game roster bonuses from 2026-28, and Gordon will receive a $1MM roster bonus if he is on the team by the third day of the league year in 2028.

APRIL 13: The Bears agreed to terms with cornerback Kyler Gordon on a three-year, $40MM contract extension, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Gordon, the 39th overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, was entering the final year of his rookie contract and Bears general manager Ryan Poles identified an extension as a “priority” at league meetings at the beginning of April. Less than two weeks later, the 25-year-old is under contract through the 2028 season as a vital piece of Chicago’s secondary.

Gordon’s $13.33MM APY and $31.25MM in guaranteed money are the highest of any nickel defender in the NFL, surpassing the deal signed by Jalen Pitre last week. Gordon’s salary still places him outside of the league’s top-20 highest-paid cornerbacks, reflecting the smaller market for players who line up almost exclusively in the slot.

Gordon hasn’t spent a significant amount of time on the boundary since his rookie year, when he started 14 games and notched three interceptions. He then moved into the slot full-time in 2023, which featured two more interceptions in 13 appearances as well as a stint on injured reserve. Gordon appeared in 15 games in 2024 and finished the year as the Bears’ second-highest-graded defender by Pro Football Focus (subscription required).

This is the second straight offseason in which Chicago extended one of its young starting cornerbacks. The team signed 2020 second-rounder Jaylon Johnson to a four-year, $76MM extension in March 2024, and another second-round corner, Tyrique Stevenson, will be extension-eligible after the 2025 season. After extending Gordon, the Bears now have all three signed through 2026.

The Bears’ remaining candidates for offseason extensions are left tackle Braxton Jones and linebacker T.J. Edwards, both of whom are entering the last year of their rookie deals.

Dolphins, CB Jalen Ramsey To Explore Trade

April 15th, 2025 at 10:29pm CST by Adam La Rose

Jalen Ramsey has been with the Dolphins for the past two seasons, but his time in Miami may soon be coming to an end. Team and player have mutually agreed to “explore trade options,” Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL Network report.

No deadline is in place for a potential deal to be worked out, per the report, but the draft looms as a logical deadline on that front. Cornerback already represents a position of need for the Dolphins with Ramsey in the fold. Moving on from the seven-time Pro Bowler would create an even larger vacancy at that spot, but Rapoport and Pelissero note it would not come as a surprise if a trade were to take place.

The No. 5 pick in the 2016 draft, Ramsey quickly established himself as one of the league’s top cover men during his tenure with the Jaguars. Midway through his fourth season in Jacksonville, he was traded to the Rams and subsequently extended on a five-year, $100MM deal. Ramsey remained in Los Angeles through the end of the 2022 campaign, earning a pair of his three first-team All-Pro nods along the way. He was then traded again, however, this time to the Dolphins.

Upon arrival in Miami, Ramsey agreed to a restructure but he later worked out another lucrative accord. This past September, the Florida State product signed a three-year extension averaging $24.1MM. That figure moved him back to the top of the pecking order in terms of annual compensation for corners at the time, although the market has since continued to move upward. Ramsey is on the books for four more years, although he is only due a guaranteed base salary for 2025.

The 30-year-old already collected a $4MM roster bonus last month, but the remainder of his compensation – including $21.1MM fully locked in – would become the responsibility of his new team in the event of a trade. Miami would be hit with a $25.21MM dead money charge if a deal were to be worked out before June 1, making a pre-draft deal financially challenging. If a swap were to occur after June 1, by contrast, the Dolphins would see $9.92MM in cap savings while generating only a $6.75MM dead money hit.

Ramsey is set to carry a cap charge of $16.66MM in 2025, but that figure is scheduled to spike in the coming years. Another restructure of his pact on the part of an acquiring team would thus come as no surprise, although the number of suitors will be limited based on finances. As teams prepare to add their draft classes to their offseason rosters and make late-stage free agent moves, few have enough idle cap space to comfortably absorb Ramsey’s deal; it will be interesting to see how much of a market exists on the trade front.

After being limited to 10 games by a knee injury in 2023, Ramsey logged a full campaign last season. He notched a pair of interceptions (continuing his streak of recording at least one every year in the league), and added 11 pass deflections. Pro Football Reference listed Ramsey with underwhelming numbers in coverage, but PFF evaluation in that department helped him land a top-10 grade for corners. While age and finances will give plenty of teams pause, Ramsey (when healthy) will still be counted on to operate as a versatile No. 1 corner if he lands on a fourth career team.

The Dolphins will once again have Kader Kohou in place to handle slot cornerback duties next season, but their decision to cut Kendall Fuller left them in need of drafting a starting-caliber option on the perimeter. That situation will be duplicated if Ramsey winds up being dealt, a scenario worth watching for over the coming days.

Saints’ Derek Carr Battling Shoulder Injury, Weighing Surgery

April 14th, 2025 at 5:00pm CST by Sam Robinson

APRIL 14: With plenty of uncertainty looming over this situation, Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated reports Carr’s camp has informed the team the current issue stems from the fact his 2023 AC joint sprain never healed in full. Especially if that is the case, surgery will no doubt receive strong consideration. As the draft draws nearer, New Orleans’ 2025 outlook under center remains uncertain.

APRIL 11: As the Saints determine if they want to make a significant quarterback investment, they have another issue to deal with regarding their current starter. While coming to New Orleans as one of the NFL’s most durable players, Derek Carr has run into frequent health concerns.

His latest involves a shoulder malady, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport. This issue could affect Carr’s regular-season availability, Rapoport adds, as surgery is being considered. Carr missed seven games last season, seeing oblique and hand injuries lead to the low attendance number. The Saints restructured Carr’s contract recently, locking in the 11-year veteran for at least one more season and making a 2026 separation more costly.

Prior to coming to New Orleans, Carr had missed just three games due to injury in nine Oakland/Las Vegas seasons. One of those was a playoff game due to a broken leg suffered in Week 16 of the 2016 season. Carr returned in time for the 2017 campaign. With the Saints, however, the experienced starter continues to see hurdles appear. This latest comes at a rather significant time, as a Saints franchise that has not selected a quarterback in the first round since Archie Manning (1971) considers breaking that streak.

It is unclear how or when Carr sustained this injury. While “what they knew and when they knew it” questions are natural here, The Athletic’s Dianna Russini adds the possibility of shoulder surgery has not surprised the Saints. With the Saints’ massive dead money numbers tied to Carr’s contract stemming from signing bonus proration and void years, an offsite injury affecting guarantees would not matter significantly with regards to an earlier-than-expected separation. But Carr’s offseason outlook certainly looks cloudy in light of this news, with Russini noting there is curiosity around the league about there being more to this story. The 2023 signee remains signed through 2026.

Carr sustained an oblique tear in Week 5 last season; the issue sidelined him for three games. A fracture on his nonthrowing hand, sustained in Week 14, moved Carr out of the picture to close the season. While some uncertainty cropped up between the Saints’ Kellen Moore HC hire and the team’s decision to go through with another restructure, Carr had been penciled in to continue as the team’s starter for a while. As it stands, the Saints are not prepared to be without their first-stringer.

The team has resisted calls for a rebuild, with Carr the main impediment at this point. A surgery that could sideline the starter for part of the 2025 season would stand to impact the team’s thinking in the draft, though a priority of finding a long-term successor will naturally be more important during the late-April event.

The Saints have been closely tied to Quinn Ewers as a potential Day 2 option, while a recent report did not peg them as surefire Shedeur Sanders suitors. As presently constructed, the Saints would not present Sanders or another rookie with a great opportunity to hit the ground running. They are coming off a 5-12 season and did add much of note to their roster on offense. The perennially cap-strapped team is again out of those woods, but the options for adding a short-term stopgap are minimal right now. Ex-Day 3 picks Spencer Rattler, the team’s primary Carr replacement in 2024, and Jake Haener remain rostered.

Joe Flacco joined the Browns today, and the Seahawks completed a QB reunion of their own — with Drew Lock. That takes two clear options off the table, leaving Carson Wentz and a potential Ryan Tannehill unretirement as unexciting solutions. Aaron Rodgers technically remains a free agent, but he has been hesitant on any non-Vikings-based chance to continue his career.

Rodgers showing much interest in the Saints would surprise, and it is still too early to speculate on full-fledged solutions due to the lack of information about Carr’s injury. But this is obviously a concern that will need to be closely monitored. The Saints begin their offseason program Monday.

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