Friday’s non-Bills rookie signing:
San Francisco 49ers
West is the 10th member of the 49ers’ draft class to ink his four-year pact. Only second-rounder (and fellow defensive tackle) Alfred Collins is unsigned at this point.
The Saints are signing running back Cam Akers after a successful tryout at mandatory minicamp this week, according to The Athletic’s Diana Russini.
The five-year veteran was a Rams second-round pick in 2020, but didn’t quite live up to his draft billing. He reportedly requested a trade in 2022, but remained in Los Angeles until he was dealt to the Vikings a year later. An Achilles injury limited his 2023 contributions in Minnesota, and Akers became a free agent when his rookie contract expired after the season.
Akers signed with the Texans last offseason and played a tertiary role in the backfield across the first third of the season. He was then traded back to the Texans in October, where he had a similar snap share and added some value on special teams.
In New Orleans, Akers will join a Saints running back room that is currently headlined by Alvin Kamara. 2023 third-rounder Kendre Miller will be looking to carve out a RB2 role with a number of ballcarriers vying for additional snaps. That group includes two former Day 2 picks (Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Velus Jones) and two rookies (Devin Neal and Marcus Yarns), giving Akers no shortage of competition on his new team.
Akers expressed appreciation for his opportunity to try out with the Saints during minicamp, per Rod Walker of NOLA.com, saying “I’m still hungry and I’m young. I’ve got a lot of tread on my tires, and I want to rewrite my story personally.”
When the Broncos agreed on merely an incentive package with Courtland Sutton last year, they are believed to have targeted 2025 as the window for their top wide receiver to be paid. But big seasons from younger players may affect the receiver’s place in a growing Denver extension queue.
Helping the Broncos’ defense become a top-five unit in 2024, Zach Allen and Nik Bonitto earned second-team All-Pro acclaim. A 2023 free agency addition, Allen is entering an age-28 season. Bonitto joins the disruptive interior D-lineman in a contract year; the former second-round pick will turn 26 in September, soon before Sutton will turn 30 (October).
While Sutton has been an integral part of the Broncos’ offense since they traded Super Bowl-era stalwart Demaryius Thomas at the 2018 trade deadline, it is now possible he has lost ground in a push for an extension due to the level jumps Allen and Bonitto made. The two defenders are considered higher extension priorities compared to Sutton, the Denver Post’s Troy Renck notes. Sutton extension talks dragging would bring another complication to what has been a successful but complicated partnership.
The 2018 second-round pick became a mainstay on the trade block between the 2022 and ’24 trade deadlines. The Broncos dangled Sutton during trade windows between this point, nearly sending him to the Ravens (before the AFC North club’s 2023 Odell Beckham Jr. signing) and discussed him with the 49ers last year. Other discussions undoubtedly occurred since 2022, but it was certainly notable when the Broncos turned down a third-rounder from the 49ers for Sutton. The 6-foot-4 performer then became an integral part of Bo Nix‘s rookie-year emergence, cashing in on incentives during his second 1,000-yard season.
Sutton also has run into a timing problem, which we have outlined previously. His four-year, $60MM extension — agreed to in November 2021, before Sean Payton‘s arrival — appeared in step with the market at that time. But after Davante Adams and Tyreek Hill‘s March 2022 extensions brought a sea change, Sutton’s pact began to look Broncos-friendly. The 2024 WR market boom only made matters worse for a player who is now the NFL’s 25th-highest-paid receiver. Sutton posted a 10-touchdown 2023 season, helping Russell Wilson rebound from a disastrous 2022 slate, and helped Nix finish with the second-most rookie-year TD passes (29) in NFL history.
Not only is Sutton the last WR holdover from the John Elway GM period, none of the Broncos’ other wideouts were around before Payton’s 2023 arrival. Denver is betting on development from some younger players at the position, with 2024 seventh-rounder Devaughn Vele at the front of that line. Before missing minicamp, Vele had turned heads during Broncos OTAs, Renck adds.
An unconventional rookie due to serving a Mormon mission while at Utah, Vele will turn 28 this year. He would make for an unusual extension candidate down the road, but for now, Renck offers that the 6-5 target could be viewed as a post-2025 Sutton replacement if extension talks go south. Vele, who caught 41 passes for 475 yards as a rookie, is signed through 2027. He is not expected to miss any training camp time, Payton said (via the Denver Post’s Parker Gabriel). Vele joins Marvin Mims, Troy Franklin and third-round rookie Pat Bryant as Sutton’s rookie-contract supporting cast.
Sutton reported for Broncos voluntary work this offseason and did say extension talks had yielded progress. The Broncos under GM George Paton have also done plenty of extension business during the summer and into the season. Between mid-June and mid-December last year, the team extended Quinn Meinerz, Patrick Surtain, Jonathon Cooper and Garett Bolles. Allen is interested in an extension, and the team has begun talking to Bonitto about a second contract. A host of post-draft priorities are in place after the team’s first playoff berth in nine years.
Bonitto’s market will come in higher than Sutton’s, while Allen leading all interior D-linemen in QB pressures (47) last season will spike his value as well. Sutton would be in good position to be paid as a 30-year-old free agent in 2026, but cashing in ahead of his age-30 season would help. This will be a summer storyline to monitor for a rejuvenated Broncos team.
Only three unsigned first-round picks now remain. The Bills checked theirs off the list Friday, agreeing to terms with Maxwell Hairston on his four-year rookie deal.
Hairston’s agreement leaves only Travis Hunter, Jahdae Barron and Shemar Stewart without contracts from Round 1. Hunter is not expected to sign for a bit, while Stewart is embroiled in a strange stalemate with the Bengals over guarantee language.
[RELATED: Bills Discussed Jaire Alexander Trade With Packers]
The Bills, who also signed fourth-round defensive tackle (and ex-Hairston Kentucky teammate) Deone Walker, have only one pick left to sign. Second-round DT T.J. Sanders remains out of contract, but the second round has served as a sticking point as guarantee value for that draft sector continues to climb. While Walker figures to see a depth role in 2025, Hairston will face pressure to become an immediate starter for a Super Bowl contender.
Projected to become a Bill at No. 30 in Ely Allen’s PFR mock, Hairston indeed ended up in Western New York. He is the Bills’ third Round 1 CB investment since 2017, following Tre’Davious White and Kaiir Elam. Hairston brings elite speed to Buffalo’s secondary. The Kentucky product blazed to a 4.28-second 40-yard dash at the Combine — this year’s fastest clocking — to cement his status as a first-round-level talent. The Bills opted to leave Rasul Douglas in free agency and draft Hairston, adding a rookie-contract complementary piece following their Christian Benford extension.
A Kentucky-record three pick-sixes placed Hairston on the map in 2023, but he followed up the five-INT campaign with only one interception and five passes defensed in an abbreviated 2024. Though, that singular pick was also returned for a score. Hairston’s ball skills draw the most attention, but he works with a keen awareness of how the defense around him is unfolding. A shoulder injury caused him to miss five games last season; the Bills will bet on the 5-foot-11 corner anyway, doing so with a track record of injuries and draft misfires taking place at the position during the Sean McDermott-Brandon Beane era.
White saw injuries blunt his All-Pro momentum, with his ACL and Achilles tears costing the Bills dearly in narrow playoff losses to the Chiefs — as Buffalo CB availability has become a defining component in this series — and eventually leading him out of town as a cap casualty. White, however, is back (on a one-year, $3MM deal). Elam represented one of the biggest first-round busts in Bills history; the team admitted a mistake on him by dealing the 2022 draftee to Dallas in a late-round pick-swap agreement. The Chiefs picked on Elam, thrust into Buffalo’s lineup because of another ill-timed Benford playoff injury, in their AFC championship game win.
The Bills’ latest postseason loss to their nemesis undoubtedly influenced the Hairston investment, and the AFC East powerhouse’s CB depth chart points to the speedy rookie setting up camp atop the depth chart alongside Benford and slot bastion Taron Johnson. The Bills will have Hairston signed through 2028 and will hold a fifth-year option on the contract for 2029.
Formerly a GM candidate, Lake Dawson has not come up on the PFR pages since 2019. But the former NFL wide receiver had remained a key presence in the Bills‘ front office. The longtime Brandon Beane lieutenant, however, is no longer with the franchise. Dawson joined Oklahoma’s staff under new Sooners GM Jim Nagy. The SEC program announced Dawson’s addition as senior assistant GM recently. Dawson, 53, played for the Chiefs from 1994-97, being a regular starter during the back half of Marty Schottenheimer‘s tenure. He has nearly 25 years’ worth of experience on the personnel side, moving from the Seahawks to the Titans to the Browns to the Bills. The Panthers twice interviewed Dawson for their GM job before rehiring Marty Hurney in 2018. Dawson turned down an offer to become the Dolphins’ GM in 2014. The former Tennessee VP of player personnel had been Buffalo’s assistant director of college scouting, but he will follow Joe Schoen in leaving the team for another opportunity.
Here is the latest from the AFC East:
As Roger Goodell nears his third decade as NFL commissioner, he is moving toward another extension. But the league continues to look into successors. The PGA Tour will intervene involving one option.
NFL executive vice president Brian Rolapp is leaving his post to become the PGA Tour CEO, ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter and Seth Wickersham report. Rolapp is viewed as one of the Goodell successor options, but he will move into the golf ranks.
Spending 22 years working in the league, Rolapp had held his executive VP post since 2017. He served as a key presence under Goodell, being viewed as the lead architect of the league’s business and media setup (per ESPN.com’s Mark Schlabach) during what has been a period of extraordinary growth. While Rolapp is departing to work in the golf world, Front Office Sports’ Daniel Roberts notes this departure is not expected to remove him from future consideration to replace Goodell when that time comes. Arthur Blank and Tiger Woods were part of the committee to select Rolapp for the PGA position, per Schlabach.
The subject of Goodell’s successor has come up many times in recent years, but the commissioner — who will begin his 20th year at the helm in September — is expected to receive another extension soon. Owners did not discuss the matter at their recent meeting, but Wickersham told Puck’s John Ourand (h/t Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio) owners want to gather a clearer view of candidates who could take over for the long-serving leader before proceeding down the extension front again.
Rolapp’s exit continues a trend of potential Goodell replacement candidates moving out of the picture, with Florio adding a perception within the league exists that those who do become long-term Goodell lieutenants are not viewed as true candidates to succeed him. As it stands,no clear favorite exists to replace the league’s second-longest-tenured commissioner.
Considering Goodell’s salary hovers in the $60MM range, there will not be a shortage of aspiring commissioners. It will be interesting to see if Rolapp indeed circles back. For now, he will be part of a circuit navigating choppy waters as many of its top golfers left to join the LIV Golf League in recent years.
Miami-Dade County authorities are searching for Antonio Brown. The retired wide receiver is wanted on an attempted murder charge stemming from an incident that occurred at a celebrity boxing match in May, the Washington Post’s David Ovalle reports.
Police are aiming to apprehend Brown on a charge of attempted murder with a firearm; he is to be placed under house arrest pending a trial, according to Ovalle, who indicates a judge signed a warrant in this case Wednesday. Brown battled a number of off-field issues late in his career but nothing on this level. The former Steelers, Raiders, Patriots and Buccaneers pass catcher has not played since his midgame walk-off at MetLife Stadium in December 2021.
Responding to reports of gunshots at the aforementioned boxing event in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood, police detained Brown but later released him. An off-duty officer observed Brown involved in a physical altercation with another man, per Ovalle, who notes observers in the parking lot at the event labeled Brown the shooter. Brown, 36, did not have a weapon on him when officers patted him down, but he is accused of taking a security officer’s gun. Investigators found two spent shell casings and an empty gun holster at the scene, a warrant reads.
A Fort Lauderdale, Fla., resident, Brown is shown on a cellphone video — one obtained by police — punching a man and appearing to take the security officer’s gun before running toward the man he punched, Ovalle reports. The video includes the alleged victim ducking. Meeting with police May 21, the man Brown allegedly punched said the former All-Pro receiver “began to run toward him with a firearm” before shooting at him twice, possibly grazing the man’s neck. He and Brown struggled for the gun, according to the warrant.
Brown walked away as police arrived; the alleged victim, who was treated at a nearby hospital, told police he has known Brown since 2022. Released later that night in May, Brown said on social media people attempting to steal his jewelry “jumped” him. More developments will undoubtedly emerge from this situation, and it continues a spiral for a player once viewed as the NFL’s premier wide receiver.
A first-team All-Pro each season from 2014-17, Brown pushed his way out of Pittsburgh before washing out in Oakland — having played zero games following a trade to the Raiders — and then playing in all of one game upon arriving in New England as a 2019 free agent. Multiple women accused Brown of sexual misconduct, and an eight-game 2020 suspension also covered an incident involving a delivery driver — one that brought felony charges and an eventual no-contest plea — but Brown resurfaced with the Bucs and helped them win Super Bowl LV. The team re-signed Brown in 2021 but waived him after the bizarre incident during a Week 17 game against the Jets.
A domestic battery arrest order for Brown also emerged in December 2022. Brown will be a surefire Hall of Fame candidate when first eligible in 2027, but he now has a significant legal matter to handle.
The Rams rewarded Alaric Jackson this offseason, giving him a big-ticket deal to complete a transition from UDFA to cornerstone left tackle. The recently paid blocker, however, has seen a blood clot issue resurface.
Jackson is navigating a blood clot for the second time as a pro, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports. The Rams believe he will play this season, but they added D.J. Humphries on Thursday as an insurance measure.
A 2022 season that featured just about every Rams O-line starter (and a few backups) go down involved Jackson missing much of it with blood clots. Jackson, who started six games in 2022, missed the Rams’ final nine games due to the blood clot development. The Iowa alum returned in 2023 and beat out Joe Noteboom for Los Angeles’ left tackle job, transforming his career en route to the payday this offseason. But this familiar concern changes the Rams’ outlook on Matthew Stafford‘s blind side.
Joining Ronnie Stanley as a prime left tackle target who did not make it to free agency, Jackson re-signed with the Rams shortly after the team regrouped with Stafford. Both pillars had neared the 2025 league year as question marks, with the Rams allowing their quarterback to talk to other teams. Days before free agency, however, they confirmed another Stafford rework would be completed and then came to terms with Jackson on a three-year, $57.75MM deal that came with $30MM guaranteed at signing.
A Tristan Wirfs bookend at Iowa, Jackson has been a Rams priority for a bit now. They placed a second-round RFA tender on the 2021 find last year, but he missed the first two games of last season due to a suspension under the personal conduct policy. Jackson, 27 in July, returned to play in the team’s next 14 games and receive a top-20 tackle grade from Pro Football Focus. The Windsor, Ontario, native having dealt with this issue before brings an obvious concern, especially as the Rams have seen longtime right tackle Rob Havenstein navigate injury trouble last season.
The longest-tenured Rams performer (as the team’s final link to its St. Louis years), Havenstein missed six games last season. As a result, the 10-year veteran underwent cleanup surgeries on both shoulders this offseason. Havenstein, 33, is expected to be ready for training camp. The team, though, already appeared thin at tackle prior to the Humphries signing. Another Jackson hiatus certainly would deal a significant blow.
While Jackson’s first bout with blood clots came as the Rams’ 2022 Super Bowl title-defense season had already drifted off track, his second affects a much better team. Humphries was part of the Chiefs’ title-defense season last year, but the longtime Cardinals LT did not make it through his first game without an injury intervening. Dealing with many maladies during his career, Humphries saw his rehab from ACL surgery precede a hamstring issue that surfaced his Kansas City debut.
The Chiefs did not give the former first-rounder his job back, sliding left guard Joe Thuney to LT. The team then moved on during the offseason, but Humphries suddenly slides back into a key position with a contending team — one that did not draft a tackle in April.
Shemar Stewart has yet to take the field in spring practices, and he remains unsigned at this point. The first-round Bengals rookie had remained with the team up to this point, but that changed on Thursday. 
Stewart departed the Bengals this morning, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. Team and player remain engaged in a stalemate stemming from certain clauses in his rookie contract. Stewart has yet to sign his pact, one which the Bengals are attempting to differentiate from that of recent Day 1 selections Myles Murphy and Amarius Mims.
Specifically, Cincinnati’s stance that a default at any point of the contract will automatically void the remainder of the pact has become a public point of contention in this situation. Stewart attended the first two days of minicamp while remaining sidelined, drawing praise from his teammates for taking a stand against the team’s proposed contract structure. With it becoming clear no resolution would be coming in the immediate future, Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes Stewart’s departure was aimed at not creating a further distraction.
Thursday marks the third and final day of minicamp and thus the last practice session before training camp next month. No major team meetings or other events will be missed as a result of Stewart’s absence (h/t Sports Illustrated’s Jay Morrison). The Texas A&M product’s attention will remain focused on trying to leverage a deal congruent with those Murphy and Mims received, although he has limited leverage in doing so.
Nonetheless, today’s news means both Stewart and fellow edge rusher Trey Hendrickson will have missed all on-field work during OTAs and minicamp. The latter is angling for an extension after posting a second straight 17.5-sack season. Hendrickson is owed $16MM in the final year of his deal (whereas the top of the EDGE market now sits at $40MM annually) and has threatened to hold out into the regular season absent an extension. Such a development would place increased importance on Stewart, but this year’s No. 17 pick has yet to take any reps so far.
“I think for all the rookies, you’d like them to be on the field,” head coach Zac Taylor said of the Stewart situation (via Pro Football Talks’ Myles Simmons). “But certainly, there’s things that happen over the course of an NFL career and this is one of them right now. So, he’s been in the meetings, he’s been positive that way. He’s been a good learner. And we look forward to getting him back on the field quickly.”
Taylor declined to offer any predictions on when an agreement will be struck with Stewart. Plenty of time remains until training camp, though, meaning this standoff could continue for at least another several weeks.
9:45pm: Providing further details on the matter, Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 notes the alleged victim in this case is Ward’s fiancé. She informed police she had been “assaulted, strangled, and threatened” by Ward. The latter’s official charge is assault family violence impeding breath/circulation, which is a third-degree felony in Texas.
Ward’s fiancé has filed an emergency protective order in the wake of the incident. Meanwhile, Wilson adds Ward has since been released on $30K bail.
9:41am: Texans safety Jimmie Ward was arrested early Thursday morning following an incident at his home in Magnolia, Texas, as detailed by the Houston Chronicle’s Catherine Dominguez and Jonathan Alexander. 
Ward is facing a felony assault family violence charge after being arrested around 5:30am. Per records from the Montgomery County Jail, the 33-year-old stands accused of strangulation stemming from the incident in question. Ward is currently being held without bond.
“We are aware of the report involving Jimmie Ward,” a team statement reads. “We are gathering more information and have no further comment at this time.”
Ward spent the first nine years of his career in San Francisco, spending plenty of time working with DeMeco Ryans along the way. Player and coach have continued their relationship over the past two years with Ryans at the helm of the Texans. Ward has been limited to 10 games in each of the 2023 and ’24 campaigns, but he has operated as a starter when healthy, logging a notable defensive snap share and totaling three interceptions during that time.
The Northern Illinois product originally joined the Texans on a two-year deal, but he received an extension last offseason. Ward is thus under contract for 2025 and is owed $3.25MM for the campaign. A foot injury ended his 2024 season in December, and while he has continued to recover Ward has been sidelined from spring practices. As he continues to work toward full health, his Texans future could now depend on this legal situation.