Falcons To Release WR/ST KhaDarel Hodge
The Falcons are expected to release wide receiver/special teams ace KhaDarel Hodge, per NFL insider Jordan Schultz.
Hodge, 31, arrived in Atlanta in 2022 and took up core special teams duties with a rotational role on offense. After three straight one-year deals, a Pro Bowl in 2024 earned him a two-year, $5.5MM contract signed last offseason.
Hodge continued his special teams work in 2025 and joined the field goal block team for the first time in his career. His participation on offense was reduced to just six snaps per game, and a shoulder injury landed him on injured reserve in December, ending his season. Hodge finished with just three catches for 31 yards on offense and nine total tackles on special teams.
By releasing Hodge, the Falcons will save $2.64MM against the salary cap with a $625k dead cap charge, per OverTheCap. They will still have only $14MM in cap space heading into the new league year, though extending Kyle Pitts off the franchise tag would reduce his 2026 cap hit. Atlanta also have several restructure candidates who would allow them to free up more money entering free agency.
Hodge’s special teams experience should draw him some interest in free agency. He may not be a dynamic receiving threat, but he can eat run-blocking snaps on offense. However, his grades from Pro Football Focus (subscription required) have dipped in that regard in recent years. Plenty of teams still value consistency and stability on special teams; perhaps Hodge could follow former Falcons special teams coordinator Marquice Williams to the Raiders, where he is now a senior special teams assistant.
Bobby Wagner Plans To Play In 2026
Playing his age-35 season in 2025, Commanders linebacker Bobby Wagner continued to excel. The 2025 Walter Payton Man of the Year does not have a contract for next season, but he “fully intends” to play, veteran insider Jordan Schultz reports.
A 10-time Pro Bowl whose resume also includes six first-team All-Pro nods, Wagner has mixed durability with outstanding production over a combined 14 years with the Seahawks, Rams and Commanders. The future Hall of Famer is now coming off his fourth straight 17-game season and his second in Washington, which has signed him to two straight one-year deals. The Commanders inked Wagner to an $6MM guarantee in 2024 and then bumped the number to $8MM a year ago.
While the Commanders sputtered to a 5-12 record after going 12-5 in Wagner’s first season, he remained a bright spot in 2025. Although Wagner went without either a Pro Bowl invite or an All-Pro selection for the first time since 2013, he finished fifth in the NFL in tackles (162) and eighth in pressures (20). Wagner was one of just two players to pile up 150-plus tackles and miss fewer than 10, according to Mason Cameron of Pro Football Focus. He also notched nine QB hits, eight tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, four passes defensed and two interceptions.
Along with his gaudy counting stats, Wagner finished as PFF’s seventh-ranked linebacker among 88 qualifiers. The 6-foot, 242-pounder was especially effective as a pass rusher (third) and a run defender (fifth).
With his Commanders future up in the air, Wagner is on track to join a crowded market of free agents at his position. The likes of Devin Lloyd, Demario Davis, Lavonte David, Quay Walker and Nakobe Dean are just a few of many established names seeking contracts. Wagner is one of the oldest of the bunch, but as someone who continues to log sky-high production, he’ll have no trouble securing another nice payday on a short-term pact.
Latest On Cardinals, QB Kyler Murray
11:40am: The Cardinals will explore trade options for Murray at the Combine this week, per OutKick’s Armando Salguero, who offers the Jets as a potential destination. With a weak quarterback draft class behind projected No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza, a 29-year-old with three years left of a reasonable-priced contract could draw some interest on the trade market.
9:33am: This year’s round of Combine GM interviews generated an early refrain. This this week represents the GM-speak Super Bowl, and nothing seems to be off the table. Monti Ossenfort joined fellow GMs using this phrase by indicating the Cardinals are keeping their options open with Kyler Murray.
A subsequent report, however, brought an unexpected development. Ossenfort responded in the affirmative to a question about having talked to Murray after his injury-shortened 2025 season. But a source informed ESPN.com’s Josh Weinfuss no communication has taken place between GM and player yet this offseason.
Ossenfort indeed indicated “all options are on the table” at quarterback. No dialogue between Ossenfort and Murray through late February certainly points to the Cardinals moving toward a separation. Previous reports have pegged Arizona as hoping to move on via trade, but assumptions of a release have taken hold thus far.
Murray, 28, missed 12 games last season but has made 87 starts at QB for the Cards; only Jim Hart and Neil Lomax have topped that among passers in franchise history. Murray is Arizona’s longest-tenured QB1 since Lomax’s seven-plus-season run in the 1980s. While a January report did not close the door on the Cardinals running it back with Murray, a new chapter appears on tap.
It would behoove the Cardinals to get rid of Murray by March 15, the day $19.5MM of his 2027 base salary becomes guaranteed. Thanks to a player-friendly extension structure that brought early vesting dates, Murray is already guaranteed $36.8MM for next season. The Cardinals would surely have to pay down some of the eighth-year QB’s contract in a deal, but finding a taker would benefit their salary cap outlook.
Murray is owed nearly $23MM in base salary in 2026. The Cardinals convincing a team to take on part of that would create cap savings — even in a pre-June 1 swap. Were the Cardinals to cut Murray, they would almost definitely need to designate him as a post-June 1 release (when $54.7MM in dead money would be split over two offseasons). Like Russell Wilson in 2024 (or Tua Tagovailoa this year, in all likelihood), Murray would then be cut on Day 1 of the league year. That comes March 13, which would allow the Cardinals to avoid that $19.5MM 2027 guarantee.
The Ossenfort-Mike LaFleur tandem has kept matters close to the vest here, though a report connected the NFC West club to Malik Willis. The Cardinals will have the Dolphins, known Willis suitors after hiring ex-Packer staffers at GM and HC, outflanked in cap space for Willis — whose market appears promising but hazy due to his limited experience — but it is certainly premature to say the former Titans draftee-turned-Packer backup would be a better option than Murray.
While the Raiders are poised to draft Fernando Mendoza at No. 1, the Cardinals could circle back to one of the other options in this top-heavy class. But one season remains on Jacoby Brissett‘s contract, giving Arizona some options in the likely event Murray is done in the desert.
Chargers Want To Re-Sign OLBs Khalil Mack, Odafe Oweh
The Chargers are not expected to be aggressive with outside free agents; that keeps with the team’s Joe Hortiz-Jim Harbaugh regime trend through two offseasons. But the Bolts do have some high-end UFAs-to-be they want to retain.
Guard Zion Johnson is unattached, as are their two Tuli Tuipulotu sidekick options — Khalil Mack, Odafe Oweh. Although Tuipulotu is now extension-eligible after a breakthrough third season, Hortiz wants both Mack and Oweh back.
[RELATED: Charger OLBs To Be In Demand As FAs]
“They know we want them back,” Hortiz said of Mack and Oweh, via The Athletic’s Daniel Popper. “When players go into free agency, once the season ends, it takes a little bit of time, but we’ll keep chipping away at it, and we’ll see if we can get something done with them. I have no problem having a bunch of great edge rushers.”
Mack played out a one-year, $18MM deal — the highest non-QB one-year pact in NFL history — and turned 35 on Sunday. Missing time with a dislocated elbow, Mack was back after the four-game IR minimum to help a Bolts pass rush refueled by the Oweh trade. The Chargers and Ravens swapped picks along with Oweh and safety Alohi Gilman. Both are moving toward free agency. Oweh impressed after a slow start in his final Ravens stretch. After registering zero sacks with Baltimore last year, he surged to 7.5 in 12 Los Angeles games.
As we covered in our Chargers Offseason Outlook piece, the team holds more than $80MM in cap space and can reach around $100MM with reasonable cuts. That would keep the door open for another Mack contract, and both an Oweh re-signing and Tuipulotu extension could coexist considering all the space available. The Chargers have not spent much on defense since Harbaugh’s arrival, but an Oweh re-signing would change that. No Tuipulotu extension talks have commenced yet, per Hortiz.
L.A. is not expected to tag Oweh; that move is projected to cost upwards of $28MM. This would be a way to ensure the 2021 first-rounder stays, but the team still has until March 9 to conduct exclusive negotiations with the 27-year-old EDGE’s camp. If Oweh reaches the market, he will join Jaelan Phillips, Trey Hendrickson, Kwity Paye and Bradley Chubb among this FA class’ top edge rushers.
Mack has played the past four seasons with the Bolts, accepting a pay cut in 2024 and re-signing in ’25. While Mack has only produced one season with more than eight sacks as a Charger (17.5 in 2023), he has remained a productive cog into his mid-30s.
Hortiz was less definitive about the team’s stance with Johnson, who saw his fifth-year option declined in 2025. Addressing Johnson’s free agency, the third-year GM said the Chargers will “see how the market goes, if he gets to the market.”
With this year’s guard class including several older players, Johnson could cash in. Popper projects a deal that could reach $20MM per year. Johnson joins Ed Ingram, Dylan Parham and Daniel Faalele as notable first-time UFA guards. The 2022 Bolts first-rounder has been durable — among the only Charger O-linemen able to make that claim — and has served as a four-year starter.
Declining to address whether the Chargers would move off Mekhi Becton‘s two-year, $20MM contract after a disappointing season, Hortiz said the team will “try” to replace the recently retired Bradley Bozeman in free agency. The veteran center loomed as a cut candidate but opted to retire after eight seasons.
Sean Payton Expects Broncos To Extend GM George Paton
George Paton worked with the Saints to acquire Sean Payton‘s rights in 2023, giving up power in the process. The Super Bowl-winning head coach is the lead Broncos decisionmaker now, stepping into that role after Paton’s disastrous 2022.
Denver’s decision to hire Nathaniel Hackett and complete a trade-extension sequence with Russell Wilson set the franchise back, moving Paton to a hot seat considering his lack of a past with the incoming HC. But the Payton-Paton tandem has worked well together, hitting on some key draft choices and completing a round of team-friendly extensions.
[RELATED: Payton Cedes Play-Calling Duties To Davis Webb]
Paton is in the final year of a six-year contract, one agreed to after he succeeded John Elway as Broncos GM. Although rumblings about Vikings interest in a reunion with Paton surfaced, Payton expects an extension for the GM to happen soon.
“It’s overdue,’’ Payton said, via the Denver Gazette’s Chris Tomasson. “I say that respectfully to the process, but he and I have a great working relationship. So my job wouldn’t be as fun or as exciting if he wasn’t a part of it. That should be something that gets handled quickly.”
Denver’s power brokers engineered two playoff berths despite the record-setting Wilson dead cap on the payroll. Wilson’s $32MM number did not impede the Broncos on their path to the AFC’s No. 1 seed. That money is now off the books, giving the team an opportunity to build around Bo Nix‘s rookie contract. The Broncos agreed on a host of extensions last year, paying the likes of Zach Allen, Courtland Sutton and Nik Bonitto a year after extending Patrick Surtain, Garett Bolles, Jonathon Cooper and Quinn Meinerz. Six 2025 Pro Bowlers came from that septet, giving Paton more momentum after his rocky start.
Elway lasted 10 years in the GM chair, stepping down after the 2020 season. The Broncos hired Paton, the former Vikings assistant GM who had long been a GM candidate. After three years working with Payton, the seasoned exec looks set to sign another contract this offseason (as lame-duck status would await otherwise).
Elsewhere on the Broncos’ staff, Tomasson adds they are hiring recent Drake staffer Kyle Kempt as an offensive assistant. A former Iowa State quarterback in the 2010s, Kempt served as Drake’s QBs coach last season. He was a Matt Campbell assistant with the Cyclones for six years prior to the Drake move.
49ers Holding Out Hope For Brandon Aiyuk Trade, In Talks With Jauan Jennings
Brandon Aiyuk will not be a 49er in 2026. John Lynch confirmed that last month. For now, though, the former All-Pro wide receiver remains on San Francisco’s roster and will be part of it for a bit longer.
Lynch said from the Combine that Aiyuk will remain with the team until the start of the league year (March 11), indicating (via The Athletic’s Matt Barrows) a trade will be sought. The Combine serves as an annual venue to gauge trade interest, and Lynch plans to do so with Aiyuk.
Although the 49ers’ options are limited here, they could hope for late-round compensation — perhaps from a team not confident in luring the seventh-year veteran in free agency. The 49ers worked with Aiyuk during his 2024 trade saga, and he had multiple destinations — Cleveland, New England — he preferred to avoid then. It does not seem like the team would do the disgruntled wideout any favors, though a team trading for Aiyuk’s contract would need assurances he would be content with such a move — especially after the events of the past year.
The 49ers voided Aiyuk’s guarantees last July, representing rarely traversed terrain for a player who did not incur a suspension. Issues with Aiyuk’s rehab effort triggered that decision, and Kyle Shanahan said he was unable to reach the 27-year-old pass catcher after a certain point. That led to his placement on the reserve/left squad list.
Due to bonus proration, an Aiyuk trade would cost the 49ers $29.59MM in dead money. They were tagged with a receiver-record $34.12MM in dead cap from the Deebo Samuel trade. With the 49ers only receiving a fifth-round pick for Samuel, the upcoming Aiyuk trade/release will mark a disappointing ending for the team with its long-running wideout tandem.
It would seem the 49ers will need to release Aiyuk, who has missed 1 1/2 seasons due to an ACL tear suffered in October 2024. Aiyuk did not suffer a clean tear, and his strange 2025 course creates questions for teams as well. After being rather deep at receiver for a while, the 49ers were low on bodies there in 2025. They have more questions to answer as free agency nears.
Jauan Jennings is unsigned after receiving only an incentive package last year. The 28-year-old pass catcher has overachieved as a former seventh-round pick, and this offseason represents his window to cash in. After expressing interest in re-signing Jennings, Lynch said the team has spoken with the free agent-to-be. Though, the 49ers will gauge his market at the Combine. Their exclusive negotiating window expires March 9 when the legal tampering period begins.
After a 975-yard 2024 season, Jennings produced 643 yards — to go with a career-high nine touchdown receptions — last season. With Aiyuk shelved and Ricky Pearsall regularly unavailable, the 49ers relied on Jennings. After signing his two-year, $11.89MM extension when he was the team’s WR3 alongside Aiyuk and Samuel, he could return as San Francisco’s top wideout. Though, the 49ers will certainly be looking at outside help at this position.
Wide receiver is not the only place housing priority free agents. Kicker Eddy Pineiro is also unsigned. While the kicker/punter tag is the cheapest available, Lynch said (via The Athletic’s Vic Tafur) the in-season signee will not be tagged.
The 49ers are interested in re-signing Pineiro, who became the team’s Jake Moody replacement. Pineiro, 30, made 28 of 29 field goals in his 14-game San Francisco season. He led the NFL in make rate. OverTheCap projects the kicker/punter tag to come in around $7MM. The 49ers will look to re-sign Pineiro at a lower rate.
Chiefs To Resume Trent McDuffie Extension Talks
Known for letting cornerbacks serve as one-contract players in the Andy Reid era, the Chiefs will strongly consider making an exception. Trent McDuffie extension talks, which began last year, are set to resume.
The Chiefs and their top defensive back negotiated during the 2025 offseason but could not come to terms on an extension prior to Week 1. While Kansas City hammered out a deal with fellow 2022 first-round pick George Karlaftis, McDuffie is on a higher level at his respective position. The prospect of McDuffie pursuing a market-setting contract came up in November, and his camp will have another chance to present a sales pitch to the Chiefs.
[RELATED: Assessing Chiefs’ Offseason Blueprint]
“We had a lot of dialogue with Trent last spring, last summer. He’s first out of the gate,” Chiefs GM Brett Veach said, via Fox4’s Jared Bush. “Looking forward to get with him and obviously Trent’s a great player. We’d certainly love to have Trent back for the long term.”
Going back to Marcus Peters, the Chiefs have not shown interest in paying corners over the past decade. They traded Peters and L’Jarius Sneed and let Steven Nelson, Kendall Fuller and Charvarius Ward walk. Jaylen Watson is expected to join that one-contract group, being set for free agency next month. One season remains on McDuffie’s rookie deal, which the team extended through 2026 via the fifth-year option.
McDuffie, 25, has been the Chiefs’ top cornerback since arriving in the 2022 first round. Chosen with the first-round pick obtained from the Dolphins in the Tyreek Hill trade, McDuffie has played well outside and in the slot. He is a two-time All-Pro, but because no original-ballot Pro Bowl honors have come his way, the Chiefs landed a discount on his fifth-year option (which checks in at $13.63MM).
Even after the Chiefs completed their latest Patrick Mahomes restructure, they are still projected to be more than $3MM over the cap. It would behoove Kansas City to extend McDuffie and reduce his cap number. The Chiefs’ history at this position should keep a potential blockbuster trade on the radar, in the event McDuffie’s price point (as Hill’s did amid 2022 negotiations) exceeds the team’s comfort zone. Though, the Chiefs could also string this process out — as they did with Orlando Brown Jr. in ’22 — via a franchise tag next year.
But the team, which re-signed its D-line and linebacker pillars (Chris Jones, Nick Bolton) over the past two offseasons, will explore what it will take to extend its secondary ace this week in Indianapolis.
Offseason Outlook: Los Angeles Rams
A playoff institution once again, the Rams played in what ultimately became a 1990s-style de facto Super Bowl. While this year's NFC championship went the Seahawks' way, before Seattle thrashed an overmatched Patriots team in Super Bowl LX, this Rams nucleus extended its season by a week for the second straight year.
Los Angeles' recent draft classes have done well to reopen the team's Sean McVay-era Super Bowl window, after a disastrous Super Bowl LVI title defense brought a speedbump. This offseason will bring a good problem of sorts for McVay and GM Les Snead, with a strong 2023 draft class now extension-eligible. Without a fifth-year option on any of those picks, the Rams have work to do with a batch of young players. Oh, and another Matthew Stafford negotiation. That will also carve out some space on the PFR pages.
Coaching/front office:
- Extended head coach Sean McVay, general manager Les Snead
- Offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur became Cardinals' head coach
- Promoted pass-game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase as OC replacement
- Hired Bubba Ventrone as special teams coordinator
- Senior offensive assistant Alex Van Pelt hired as Falcons' QBs coach
- Added Kliff Kingsbury as assistant head coach; Brian Johnson hired as senior offensive assistant
- Scheelhaase interviewed for Bills, Browns, Raiders, Ravens, Steelers' HC jobs, withdrew from Raiders search
- DC Chris Shula interviewed for Browns, Cardinals, Dolphins, Raiders, Ravens, Steelers' HC jobs
- Parted ways with DBs coach Aubrey Pleasant; Jimmy Lake named replacement
- Hired Robert Woods as assistant WRs coach, Brian Allen as assistant O-line coach
- Pleasant interviewed for Browns, Cardinals, Chargers, Raiders' DC jobs
- Assistant general manager John McKay interviewed for Dolphins' GM job
Few HC hires in NFL history have been as transformative as the Rams' 2017 McVay decision. The franchise had missed 12 straight playoff brackets, and the L.A. market was treated to a first-year dud as the Jeff Fisher era wrapped. McVay reinvigorated the relocated organization, and the Rams went 7-for-9 in postseason berths in the coach's 30s. This included three NFC championship game cameos, two Super Bowl berths and the franchise's first L.A. championship since 1951.
John Lynch: 49ers, Trent Williams ‘On The Same Page’
11:08pm: Speaking with the media on Tuesday, 49ers general manager John Lynch sounded optimistic about Williams’ future (via Clayton Holloway of NFL Network). “Good and productive meetings,” Lynch said. “Trent loves being a Niner. We love having Trent as a Niner. We’re all on the same page… I feel very positive where that’s going.”
3:09pm: Future Hall of Fame left tackle Trent Williams still has one year left on his contract with the 49ers, but he could end up on the free agent market early. Williams and the 49ers are struggling to reach an agreement on an amended deal that would lower his $38.84MM cap hit, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports. If they don’t find common ground, a release would be expected, per Schefter.
Williams would be a shocking addition to this year’s class of free agents. Although the 12-time Pro Bowler is set to play his age-38 season in 2026, he would immediately become the best offensive tackle available. For now, the Packers’ Rasheed Walker is in line to lead the market. The 26-year-old Walker has age on his side, but he is not on Williams’ level as a blocker. Case in point: Pro Football Focus ranked Williams third among 84 qualifying tackles in 2025. Walker checked in at No. 53.
Williams has been consistently elite since he entered the NFL as Washington’s first-round pick (No. 4 overall) in 2010. The former Oklahoma Sooner came off the bench once in 14 games as a rookie, but he has started in every other one of his 204 career appearances. Williams made the Pro Bowl in seven straight seasons with the Commanders from 2012-18. He remained under contract in 2019, but a standoff with the team led Williams to sit out for the entire season.
Washington traded the disgruntled Williams to San Francisco for third- and fifth-round picks in April 2020. The 49ers did not hand Williams a new contract immediately, but he played out another Pro Bowl season and inked a six-year, $138MM extension in March 2021. The pact made Williams the game’s highest-paid offensive lineman.
After Williams posted three straight first-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl seasons to begin his contract, the 49ers reworked it in September 2024. The three-year, $82.66MM agreement came with a guaranteed $48MM, a record for a non-quarterback over the age of 35. That deal is still in place, but it doesn’t appear that will be the case for much longer.
If there’s any knock on Williams (other than age), it’s durability issues. Excluding the year he held out, Williams has missed between one and seven games in every season since 2014. He played his third 16-game season in 2025, yet another Pro Bowl campaign, but it could go down as his last in San Francisco.
Not only would the 49ers subtract an O-line cornerstone in releasing Williams, but it would hurt from a cap standpoint. If done by April 1, it would yield $34.15MM in dead money and just $4.69MM in savings. Designating Williams a post-June 1 cut would save the 49ers $15.52MM in 2026, though they would have to spread approximately $44MM in dead money over the next two seasons.
Colts Working On Re-Signing Daniel Jones, Alec Pierce; Franchise Tag In Play
FEBRUARY 24: Colts general manager Chris Ballard said at the Combine (via Chappell) that the team was planning to retain both Jones and Pierce. He added that “both sides are driven to get it done,” and characterized the ongoing negotiations as “very positive.”
Ballard also acknowledged the possibility of using the franchise tag on one of the two players, saying “it’s not what we want to do, but it’s a tool we have.”
FEBRUARY 23: The Colts were one of the biggest stories in the NFL in 2025, for reasons good and bad.
The good was a surprising 8-2 start anchored by an even more surprising player: quarterback Daniel Jones. The bad was an 0-7 finish to the year, which included Jones’ fractured fibula and torn Achilles in Week 13 and Philip Rivers‘ dramatic return to the NFL as his replacement.
The Colts had vastly different strengths of schedule during the two halves of their season, with a relatively easy slate to start and a murderer’s row of opponents down the stretch. That, combined with Jones’ injury, makes it hard to know if the current iteration of the team can compete in 2026.
The Colts seem to think so. They are pursuing extensions with Jones and wide receiver Alec Pierce, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. Both are slated to hit free agency in March after breakout years in Indianapolis.
Jones, 28, did not just put up the best numbers of his career in 2025. He finished the year ranked among the NFL’s top 10 quarterbacks in yards per attempt, yards per game, completion percentage, passer rating, and total QBR. He also led three game-winning drives and three fourth-quarter comebacks in just 13 starts.
The seven-year veteran’s play started to slip before his injuries, which are not expected to sideline him into the 2026 season. But his injury history is a concern, and he did not get the chance to prove himself against many top defenses.
That makes Jones’ valuation a little tricky, but somewhere in the region of $35MM would make sense. Fellow 2018 first-round reclamation projects Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield signed for similar amounts after re-establishing themselves as starting-caliber QBs. Jones and the Colts have mutual interest in reaching a deal, according to Pelissero.
Pierce, 25, posted career-highs of 47 receptions and 1,003 receiving yards. He also led the NFL in yards per reception for a second year in a row. With George Pickens likely to be tagged by the Cowboys, Pierce could be the top wideout available in free agency. The Colts will try to lock him up before he hits the open market, but that may require an offer well over $20MM per year.
Discussions with both players “have been good” thus far, per FOX 59’s Mike Chappell, with negotiations expected to continue at the Combine in Indianapolis this week.
A franchise or transition tag is an option for Jones or Pierce (though not both), per Pelissero, though the latter makes far more sense for their valuations. A transition tag for Jones would cost $40.8MM, while Pierce’s would cost $25MM. However, those numbers would be on the high-end for a potential long-term deal and the tagged player would be able to negotiate with other teams.
The Colts are currently projected to have $35.7MM in cap space in 2026, per OverTheCap, with ways to create upwards of $50MM more. The team could afford to extend both players, or extend one and tag the other while still having room to address other needs in free agency.