HEADLINES

Vikings S Harrison Smith Expects To Be Back By Week 4

September 10th, 2025 at 9:58pm CST by Ely Allen

After mulling retirement in the early days of the offseason, Vikings safety Harrison Smith opted to play another year and re-signed to play with the only team he’s ever known. Unfortunately, what may end up being his final season of NFL play got off to an ominous start that’s seen him absent from football activities since August 11. Nearly a full month later, Smith finally spoke publicly on the matter today and asserted that he expects to be back by Week 4 of the regular season.

The first rumors that rolled in at the end of August called Smith’s issue an illness. The ailment caused the 36-year-old to sit out of the team’s final two weeks of training camp, but reports claimed he was expected to make a full recovery. In his first comments since the news broke, per ESPN’s Kevin Seifert, Smith clarified that his struggles were unassociated with his mental health. Though he declined to go into specifics, he assured the media that the nature of the issue was “physical.”

“I’m just trying to get my conditioning up,” Smith said about his plans moving forward. “I’m going to go out there and see how much I can handle and go from there. I’ve already moved around, and I’m moving around well. It’s just volume and conditioning.”

The Vikings pointedly decided not to place him on an injured list at the roster cut deadline; the injured reserve with a designation to return and the reserve/non-football illness list were both viable options. They seemingly opted not to do so because he would have been forced to miss the first four weeks of the season before being eligible to return to the active roster, and they believed he would be ready to return sooner.

Smith appears to be doing his best to reward their confidence in him, as he told the media, “We’re kind of fluid with if I’m ready to go or not, and if I am going to help the team or not. That all matters. But I expect to be back before (the four-week mark).”

Jadeveon Clowney Visits Cowboys

September 10th, 2025 at 9:23pm CST by Nikhil Mehta

9:23PM: Clowney departed the Cowboys’ facility today without having signed a contract. According to Anderson, the plan was just to bring the veteran pass rusher in for a visit and physical with the intention to keep in contact with Clowney as they monitor their situation at the position moving forward.

Clarence Hill Jr. of All City DLLS is less optimistic about Clowney’s chances of landing in Dallas. Hill reports that rumors from inside the building indicate that the Cowboys are “probably not going to” sign Clowney.

9:41AM: The Cowboys are veteran edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney is visiting Dallas on Wednesday, according to Josina Anderson of The Exhibit.

Clowney, 32, will also work out for the Cowboys, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, bringing him one step closer to signing with a new team for the 2025 season. Pending a successful meeting, tryout, and medical evaluation, he could join the team right away, according to WFAA’s Ed Werder.

He was in contact with multiple clubs throughout the summer, but his known aversion to training camp was always going to delay a signing until it was close to the regular season. Clowney didn’t put pen to paper before the regular season as expected and instead let teams evaluate their needs after Week 1.

Having lost Micah Parsons just before the season, Dallas could use some help in their edge rushing room. Dante Fowler is coming off an impressive 10.5-sack season with the Commanders, but the rest of the group has combined for just 11.5 sacks in the last three years. Clowney certainly can’t replace Parsons’ impact, but he can still add experience and depth to the unit. He’s also an underrated run defender, which is sure to appeal to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

However, it’s hard to know what to expect of Clowney as he enters his 12th NFL season. His initial production was underwhelming for a No. 1 pick, but he finished the last two years of his rookie contract in Houston with 18.5 sacks. Since then, Clowney has been inconsistent. Of his last six seasons, two featured at least 9.0 sacks – including 2024 with the Ravens – while three featured 3.0 sacks or fewer. Last year’s performance in Carolina was somewhere in between with 5.5 sacks and nine tackles for loss in 14 games.

Clowney signed a $10MM APY deal last offseason, but will likely receiver lower offers after a disappointing 2024. He could have a similar market to new Eagles edge rusher Za’Darius Smith, who signed a fully guaranteed $4.25MM contract for the 2025 season, per OverTheCap.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/10/25

September 10th, 2025 at 8:32pm CST by Ely Allen

Wednesday’s taxi squad transactions:

Arizona Cardinals

Buffalo Bills

Cleveland Browns

Houston Texans

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Chargers

  • Released from practice squad/injured list (with injury settlement): WR Jalen Reagor

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Washington Commanders

With regular punter Tress Way in danger of missing this week’s Thursday Night matchup in Green Bay with a back injury, Washington has signed the former 49ers veteran as insurance.

NFL Minor Transactions: 9/10/25

September 10th, 2025 at 7:54pm CST by Ely Allen

Here are today’s mid-week minor NFL transactions:

Arizona Cardinals

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

Blount will reportedly be on injured reserve for the remainder of the season after Sunday’s neck injury. After colliding with a ball carrier at the same time as rookie linebacker Cody Simon, who suffered a concussion, Blount was seen in a neck brace after the game.

After Jets head coach Aaron Glenn told reporters that “players who made costly mistakes would not stay on the field,” per Brian Costello of the New York Post, Gipson has been waived from the team. In a close loss to the Steelers, Gipson coughed up a costly fumble. Williams will come up from Cincinnati, and his experience as a return man may hint at how New York might address the loss of Gipson.

The Steelers see two key backups hit injured reserve as they make room for Jabrill Peppers and Pierre. Harrison followed Patrick Queen this offseason as the second linebacker to make the move from rival Baltimore in as many seasons, but he didn’t have an established role on the Steelers defense yet. Thompson joins rookie sixth-round pick Will Howard on IR. Practice squad passer Logan Woodside now stands as QB3 behind Aaron Rodgers and Mason Rudolph.

Cowboys CB DaRon Bland To Miss Multiple Games

September 10th, 2025 at 7:01pm CST by Ely Allen

We saw an early rumor from ESPN’s Todd Archer that Cowboys cornerback DaRon Bland “could be” out for a couple of weeks, but Clarence Hill Jr. of All City DLLS confirmed that Bland will be out for at least two weeks with a right foot injury.

The 26-year-old missed 10 games last year due to a fracture in his left foot after leading the NFL with nine interceptions, 209 interception return yards, and five interceptions returned for touchdowns in his sophomore campaign in 2023 — the five scores in a single season were an NFL record. Bland was able to return from injury for the final seven games of the season, and though he didn’t tally any more interceptions, he still graded out favorably per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), ranking as the 33rd-best cornerback out of 116 players graded at the position.

Dallas only had one of their starting cornerbacks at a time in 2024. Trevon Diggs missed all but one of the final seven games Bland returned for at the end of last year as his knee began to flare up and eventually required major knee surgery. To deal with both injuries, the team leaned heavily on nickelback Jourdan Lewis, who’s no longer with the team, and fifth-round rookie Caelen Carson, who’s currently on injured reserve.

The absence of Bland hurts a bit more considering that Diggs didn’t appear to be ready for a full workload in Week 1. While Bland and trade acquisition Kaiir Elam played all 62 defensive snaps in the team’s season-opening loss, Diggs was only on the field for 26 snaps. With Carson on IR, rookie third-round pick Shavon Revel starting the season on the reserve/non-football injury list, and second-year backup corner Josh Butler starting the season on the reserve/physically unable to perform list, the secondary in Dallas is getting thin.

The team’s healthy cornerbacks currently consist of Elam, seventh-round rookie Trikweze Bridges, Reddy Steward and long-time reserve corner C.J. Goodwin. Diggs is listed without an injury designation but still may be working his way back to full strength. Goodwin, a veteran special teamer, hasn’t made an NFL start since his rookie year in 2016, Steward appeared in one game for the Bears last year, and last week was his second NFL game appearance.

Things may be getting desperate in Dallas. A two-week absence for Bland may be manageable, but the Cowboys may still feel the need to fill out some depth at the position. Veteran cornerback Stephon Gilmore remains unsigned as a free agent, as does former Chargers corner Asante Samuel Jr. Samuel is still a free agent likely because of his injury issues, though, so he might not seem appealing to the Cowboys, but Gilmore started 15 games in his age-34 season in Minnesota in 2024.

Regardless, Dallas will hope to avoid a repeat of 2024 with Bland. Perhaps he’ll be back with no issues in two weeks’ time, but if there’s any risk of further injury to their young star cornerback, they might do well to let him sit a bit longer. Coming off his first game under his new four-year, $92MM extension, the priority will not be getting him back sooner but making sure he’s fully good to go.

Texans Place TE Cade Stover On IR, Promote Harrison Bryant

September 10th, 2025 at 5:28pm CST by Adam La Rose

Cade Stover will be unavailable to the Texans for an extended period. The second-year tight end was placed on injured reserve Wednesday, per a team announcement.

Stover suffered a broken foot in Week 1, so today’s move comes as little surprise. He will now miss the next four games at a minimum. Houston’s tight end depth had already taken a hit with Brevin Jordan being lost for the season.

Now, the position will be even thinner through the early portion of the campaign. Stover made a team-high four catches in Week 1 as the Texans struggled on offense, and he was in line to continue operating as a key figure in the passing game. In his absence, veteran Dalton Schultz will take an an increased role. Stover, whose rookie contract runs through 2027, will aim for a midseason return to the lineup.

The Texans entered Wednesday with a pair of tight end options on their practice squad. As expected, the team is taking the internal route to replace Stover. Veteran Harrison Bryant was promoted to the active roster in a corresponding move to Stover’s IR placement. Bryant has been in the fold since he was included in the John Metchie trade.

That swap prevented the 27-year-old from seeing any regular season time with the Eagles despite signing with them in free agency this spring. Bryant played out his rookie deal with the Browns and took a one-year pact with the Raiders in 2024. The former fourth-rounder has 78 appearances and 33 starts to his name, so he will add experience (but a limited pass-catching presence, based on his production over the past two seasons in particular) to Houston’s offense.

Houston will be part of a doubleheader on Monday night during a game against Tampa Bay. As the team looks to bounce back from its Week 1 loss, the tight end position could be one to watch closely.

Packers Sign Christian Watson To Extension

September 10th, 2025 at 4:46pm CST by Ben Levine

SEPTEMBER 10: The base value of Watson’s new deal is $11MM, ensuring roughly $13MM in total compensation across the next two seasons (h/t Ian Rapoport of NFL Network). $6MM in new guarantees are included, all in the form of a signing bonus. A $1.85MM roster bonus is present for 2026 as well.

SEPTEMBER 9: Christian Watson continues to work his way back from a torn ACL suffered during the 2024 regular season finale. While the Packers wideout isn’t expected to take the field until at least next month, the team is still rewarding him with a new contract.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Packers have signed Watson to a one-year, $13.25MM extension. The receiver was set to play the 2025 campaign on the final year of his rookie deal, but this extension will now keep him in Green Bay through at least the 2026 season. According to Schefter, the Packers wanted Watson to focus on his return from injury in 2025 vs. his impending free agency, leading to today’s deal.

A former second-round pick, Watson spent his rookie campaign playing alongside Aaron Rodgers, with his nine touchdowns and 691 yards from scrimmage still representing career-highs. He’s spent the past two seasons serving as one of Jordan Love‘s key targets, but Watson has yet to truly break out like the organization may have expected.

The receiver averaged a career-high 46.9 yards per game during the 2023 season, but he was limited to only nine appearances thanks to a pesky hamstring issue. He got into a career-high 15 games last season, but he was limited to a career-low 41.3 yards per game and 47.2 success rate. Watson suffered a torn ACL in Week 18, and considering the timing, it was always expected that his recovery time would leak into the 2025 campaign.

That ended up being the case, as Watson landed on the PUP list to begin this season. He’ll be forced to miss the first four games, but there’s a chance he’s back shortly after he becomes eligible. The last we heard, Watson was a candidate to return as early as Week 5, but considering the team’s receiving depth, the Packers may not feel any urgency to immediately get him back on the field.

That depth has also clouded Watson’s future in Green Bay, although today’s one-year extension is somewhat a vote of confidence. Watson finished the 2024 season as the fourth-most targeted WR in Green Bay, and each of the three wideouts ahead of him —Dontayvion Wicks, Jayden Reed, Romeo Doubs — are still on the roster (not to mention TE Tucker Kraft, who has emerged as one of Love’s favorite weapons). The team also added rookie first-round pick Matthew Golden and rookie third-round pick Savion Williams to the squad.

Notably, Watson is the oldest player in the receivers room. While his extension gives him a better chance of carving out a long-term role with the Packers, it seems likelier than not that the 2026 campaign could be his final season in Green Bay.

Steelers Add Incentives To Cameron Heyward’s Deal

September 10th, 2025 at 1:37pm CST by Adam La Rose

SEPTEMBER 10: Heyward’s incentive package is split evenly into two parts, as detailed by Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio. $1.6MM will be earned if Heyward records eight or more sacks and the Steelers reach the playoffs. The remainder will be earned if he posts at least 11.5 sacks and Pittsburgh wins one or more playoff game.

Heyward has hit the eight-sack mark six times in his career, the most recent coming in 2024. He has reached 12 sacks only once in a season (2017), so maximizing these incentives would come as a surprise. Per Florio, Heyward’s scheduled 2026 roster bonus of $12.95MM will drop by $875K in the event he plays less than 30% of the Steelers’ defensive snaps this season; he has surpassed that workload every year since his rookie campaign.

SEPTEMBER 6: A last-minute resolution has emerged in the case of Cameron Heyward and the Steelers. The All-Pro defensive lineman has agreed to a restructure.

Specifically, the Steelers and Heyward worked out a compromise through incentives covering the 2025 season. Additional potential earnings have been added for the coming campaign, as first reported by Ian Rapoport, Mike Garafolo and Tom Pelissero of NFL Network. Incentives worth $3.2MM tied to playoff games and wins are now in place.

Heyward was originally owed $14.25MM in total for the 2025 campaign. As a result of today’s agreement, he can top out at $18MM this year. The 15th-year veteran made it known this summer he was seeking a raise in the wake of a strong showing last season, and he suggested a regular season holdout could take place in the absence of a deal. Yesterday’s comments on the matter implied Heyward would face the choice of missing Sunday’s contest or playing on his existing pact, but that will no longer be the case.

The Steelers have a policy against negotiating extensions during the season and have historically avoided redoing deals with more than one year remaining. Heyward is on the books through 2026 as a result of last year’s extension, something which led to the expectation no agreement would be reached. The team has nevertheless managed to work out a short-term compromise which could see his compensation move closer to the top of the defensive tackle market.

Negotiations on a new contract last offseason proved to be a lengthy process, and ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler confirms Heyward was giving serious thought to sitting out tomorrow’s game without a restructure of some kind being worked out. The seven-time Pro Bowler is now assured to be in place against the Jets in Week 1. Another highly productive season would help a Steelers defense which faces increased expectations based on the team’s busy offseason.

Heyward was limited to 11 games and just two sacks in 2023. He rebounded last year, though, playing every game and notching eight sacks. Those figures helped lead to the fourth first-team All-Pro nod of his career and increased his leverage in seeking a short-term bump in compensation. Even if Heyward reaches his $18MM ceiling in earnings for 2025, that will fall short of what 16 other defensive tackles average per year based on their current contracts.

Of course, at the age of 36, Heyward was not in a position to approach the top of the position’s market on a restructure or an agreement adding new years to his pact. The path to a marginal raise is now in place, however, and attention for team and player will turn to the regular season.

Lions Were In ‘Wait-And-See Mode’ With WR Jameson Willliams After 2024 Season

September 10th, 2025 at 10:53am CST by Nikhil Mehta

The Lions signed Jameson Williams to a three-year extension on Saturday, locking down the young wideout for the foreseeable future.

However, despite Williams’ thousand-yard effort in 2024, Detroit was still in “wait-and-see mode” regarding an extension, per Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. The team still had questions about Williams’ maturity after serving suspensions during the 2023 and 2024 seasons for violations of the league’s gambling and performance enhancing drugs policies, respectively.

However, a strong offseason from the 24-year-old gave the Lions enough confidence to extend Williams for an additional three years off his rookie contract. That will keep him in Detroit through the 2029 season, though precise details on his contract that would better clarify the team’s commitment level remain elusive.

The Lions will be hoping that Williams can walk the straight and narrow for the rest of his stay in Detroit and continue to elevate his game every year. His four-catch, 23-yard performance in Week 1 was underwhelming (as was the entire Lions offense) given his 2024 production, offseason hype, and recent payday, but sweeping conclusions can’t be drawn from one game. While Detroit’s offense may be experiencing a post-Ben Johnson/Frank Ragnow hangover, Williams can still be a dangerous weapon both as a deep threat and a YAC weapon.

NFL To Fine Eagles DT Jalen Carter; No Suspension Coming

September 9th, 2025 at 10:51pm CST by Sam Robinson

No suspension is on tap in connection with Jalen Carter‘s spitting incident. The standout Eagles defensive tackle will be eligible to face the Chiefs in Week 2.

A $57K fine will be levied, with ESPN’s Adam Schefter reporting Week 1 — when Carter was ejected without playing a down — will serve as the third-year DT’s de facto suspension. This fine covers a game check on Carter’s rookie contract.

The Eagles and Carter worked out an arrangement in which future guarantees will not void as part of this NFL-imposed fine, Schefter adds. The team, as should be expected with a player of this caliber, will not seek any signing bonus forfeiture, either. Carter is now in the clear, though this incident will certainly ding a reputation that already sustained hits prior to his Philadelphia arrival.

Because the NFL is treating this like Carter was suspended for a game, the Eagles could have voided his guarantees. With the team undoubtedly eyeing an extension for the 2023 first-round pick — who becomes eligible for a new deal in January — it does not surprise it would work out an arrangement to protect his guarantees and signing bonus money. Having Carter for Week 2 will also provide a significant boost, as the Cowboys pushed the defending Super Bowl champions without the Georgia product available.

Viewed as perhaps the 2023 draft class’ top talent, Carter fell to No. 9 after a handful of teams passed on him. Carter was hit with misdemeanor charges of reckless driving and racing. These charges came in connection with the accident that killed Georgia offensive lineman Devin Willock and recruiting analyst Chandler LeCroy on Jan. 15, 2023 (LeCroy and Willock were in a separate vehicle). Carter reached a plea deal in this case, avoiding jail time, but some teams removed him from their draft boards as a result of the accident. That turned out to benefit the Eagles, who traded up one spot (via the Bears) to nab the high-end DT talent.

A suspension was believed to be in play, as Carter spit on Dak Prescott just after the opening kickoff. The Cowboys quarterback had spit in Carter’s direction prior to the ejection; the 24-year-old D-tackle spit on the star quarterback soon after. Dallas enjoyed success offensively against the Eagles, putting up 20 first-half points. Vic Fangio‘s defense adjusted, as the teams combined for just three points after the second-half lightning delay. But Carter serves as the Eagles’ front-seven anchor; having him available will give them a much better chance of containing the Chiefs in the teams’ Super Bowl LIX rematch.

This ban will presumably influence future punishments for spitting, though players would probably run the risk of an actual suspension if such an act occurs well into a game. Carter being let off without a true ban is due to him not playing a down Thursday night.

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