HEADLINES

Chargers RB Najee Harris Injured In Fireworks Incident

July 14th, 2025 at 9:40pm CST by Ben Levine

July 14: Harris avoided a significant injury, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, but he may not be ready for the start of Chargers training camp on Thursday. Rapoport said that Harris “will be on the field sooner rather than later,” adding that his availability for the start of the season is not under question.

Missing a few early practices is unlikely to affect Harris’ status in the Chargers’ running back room, but it will afford Hampton the opportunity to take RB1 reps in his absence.

July 10: Chargers running back Najee Harris was injured during a Fourth of July fireworks accident, according to Rick Hurd, Nate Gartrell, and Darren Sabedra of The Mercury News. The running back’s agent, Doug Hendrickson, released a statement assuring that his client only suffered superficial injuries and will be good to go for the 2025 campaign.

“Najee Harris was present at a 4th of July event where a fireworks mishap resulted in injuries to several attendees,” Hendrickson said in his statement (via ESPN’s Adam Schefter). “Najee sustained a superficial eye injury during the incident, but is fully expected to be ready for the upcoming NFL season.”

There were a handful of recent online rumors surrounding Harris and a fireworks incident. Fortunately, many of those rumblings proved to be overblown, as the veteran RB apparently managed to avoid a serious injury. According to The Mercury News, other individuals were hurt in the accident, although the severity of those injuries hasn’t been revealed.

Of course, any fireworks incident will bring back memories of Jason Pierre-Paul, who suffered a serious hand injury during a 2015 accident. That incident required the pass rusher to have his right index finger amputated. To JPP’s credit, the defender played another nine seasons following that injury.

After spending the first four seasons of his career with the Steelers, Harris joined the Chargers this offseason. The RB hasn’t necessarily lived up to his first-round billing, although he has managed to top 1,000 rushing yards in each of his four NFL seasons. Harris is expected to lead the RB room in 2025, although the Chargers did use a first-round pick on North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton.

Minor NFL Transactions: 7/14/25

July 14th, 2025 at 8:19pm CST by Nikhil Mehta

NFL teams are beginning to adjust their rosters as players report for training camp. Here are the latest minor moves from around the league:

Carolina Panthers

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Molden ended the 2024 season on injured reserve after suffering a broken fibula in Week 17. He re-signed with the Chargers this offseason and was expected to be ready for training camp after offseason surgery. However, his placement on the PUP list indicates that he needs more time before returning to the field. The reason for the other PUP placements is unknown, as teams are not required to report injuries during the offseason. The five Chargers placed on the PUP list can be activated at any time.

NFL Pursuing Over $12MM In Legal Costs From NFLPA Over Collusion Grievance

July 14th, 2025 at 7:36pm CST by Nikhil Mehta

The NFL is seeking more than $12MM of legal fees and costs from the NFLPA stemming from the collusion grievance that has dominated headlines in the past month, according to ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr. and Kalyn Kahler.

This is the latest move in an ongoing battle between the league and the players’ union over guaranteed money. The issue has come to the forefront this offseason after an arbitrator’s ruling on the collusion case came to light. (Thirty of the 2025 draft’s 32 second-round picks also remained unsigned as they seek more guaranteed money on their rookie deals. On Friday, Chargers wideout Tre Harris became the first official holdout.)

The NFL’s decision to pursue legal costs came immediately after the NFLPA filed an appeal of the collusion ruling last Tuesday. That’s no coincidence, according to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer; the league used the potential to recoup legal fees as leverage to get the union to agree to a confidentiality agreement and discourage an appeal. The confidentiality agreement, however, seemed to draw out the standoff by extending the CBA-mandated 10-day appeal deadline for the NFLPA and giving the NFL “additional time to seek reimbursement of its legal costs,” per Van Natta and Kahler.

Once the ruling became public, pressure mounted on the NFLPA to appeal. The union did so, and the NFL followed through on its threat, though it remains unclear if the league is actually entitled to the money, per Breer.

Regardless, the back-and-forth ensures that the collusion grievance and the issue of guaranteed money more generally will remain in the spotlight, as will the overall leadership of NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell. The confidentiality agreement concealing the collusion ruling would seem to fly in the face of the transparency Howell promised when he was hired by the union. The ruling was only shared with lawyers and select executives on either side of the case, according to Van Natta and Kahler. Howell is also facing accusations of a conflict of interest after it was revealed that he worked as a part-time consultant for a private equity firm that has been approved by the league to pursue a minority stake in an NFL team.

OLB Jalyx Hunt Expected To Start For Eagles

July 14th, 2025 at 5:05pm CST by Nikhil Mehta

The Eagles are moving into a new era of edge rushers after the retirement of Brandon Graham and the departure of Josh Sweat in free agency.

Since 2018, Graham and Sweat has accounted for 209 appearances, 116 starts, and 7,050 snaps in Philadelphia, though Graham largely played a rotational role in the last three years. Still, the Eagles will have to replace both players’ snaps to maintain a pass rush that helped power their championship run.

Leading the edge room will be 2023 first-rounder Nolan Smith. He emerged as a starter partway through the 2024 season and Graham’s triceps injury in Week 12 only increased his role. Smith finished the regular season with 6.5 sacks and added 4.0 more in the playoffs while playing 76.8% of the Eagles’ defensive snaps.

The primary candidate to start opposite Smith is 2023 third-round pick Jalyx Hunt, per Dave Zangaro of NBC Sports Philadelphia. Hunt started his rookie year as a healthy scratch and finished it as a playoff hero with 1.5 sacks in the postseason. This offseason, he added weight and impressed Eagles All-Pro right tackle Lane Johnson in spring practices. Graham also said on the Ross Tucker Podcast that Hunt had put on some “good weight,” adding that “the sky’s the limit for him.”

With a pair of 24-year-olds set to start this year, the Eagles added veteran edge depth this offseason by signing Azeez Ojulari and Josh Uche to one-year deals. Both flashed as impact players earlier in their career – Ojulari with 8.0 sacks as a rookie in 2021 and Uche with 11.5 sacks in 2022 – but consistency has been lacking since. Ojulari missed 22 games in the last three years due to injury, while Uche only logged 5.0 sacks in the last two seasons, but both will have a rotational role right away with the potential to eat into Hunt’s snap share if he falters.

On the interior, the Eagles will be looking to Jordan Davis and Moro Ojomo to replace Milton Williams alongside Jalen Carter on pass-rushing downs. Ojomo is leading the battle coming out of the spring, per Geoff Mosher of PhillyVoice, but Carter’s untapped physical potential will keep him in the running. Fourth-round rookie Ty Robinson was an impressive pass-rusher at Nebraska, but he will have to prove himself against his new teammates this summer before he gets a crack at the rest of the league.

T.J. Watt Not Expected To Engage In Holdout; Steelers Not Seeking Trade

July 14th, 2025 at 2:45pm CST by Adam La Rose

JULY 14: While a holdout would come as a surprise based on the mandatory fines which would be incurred, Outkick’s Armando Salgero reports Watt is the seen as the likeliest player amongst those engaged in a contentious negotiation to take that route. Steelers players are set to report on July 23, and it will be interesting to see how Watt handles the situation.

JULY 11: No movement has taken place recently on the T.J. Watt extension front. Still, the situation is unlikely to result in a training camp holdout.

The former Defensive Player of the Year is expected to attend training camp, Mark Kaboly of the Pat McAfee Show reports. That comes as no surprise, since a holdout would lead to mandatory fines. In the absence of an extension, a hold-in (whereby players attend camp but do not participate in on-field work) would be more likely. Watt took that route during negotiations on his 2021 extension.

Kaboly adds team and player remain in a holding pattern at this point. Matters such as term and guarantees, but also overall value, are causing the ongoing holdup in this situation. It would be a good sign if there were only one or two sticking points, but there doesn’t appear to be any common ground, at the moment. As a result, Watt could very well find himself engaging in contract talks deep into the summer. Back when he signed his 2021 extension, an agreement wasn’t reached until only three days before the start of the regular season.

With the standoff in the negotiations, teams around the league have been calling to inquire on his availability, but Kaboly maintains that the Steelers have not made any such calls themselves. The team clearly wants to retain his services for the 2025 season, but after a disappointing stretch to end 2024, they’re hesitant to commit to anything long-term.

The four-time first-team All-Pro and seven-time Pro Bowler turns 31 this season, and though he reached double-digit sacks in 2024, the 11.5 total was his lowest since his rookie season (not counting and injury-riddled 5.5-sack 2022 campaign). Despite a strong 10-3 start to the year, the Steelers found themselves falling from the division lead as they lost their final four games of the season, while the rival Ravens won their final four. Watt was held sackless for the last three games of the regular season, and in both the regular season finale and the playoff loss in Baltimore, Watt failed to add a single statistic to the box score.

The ninth-year veteran defender will continue to push for the deal he wants, though, and a resolution may not end up coming until early September.

Ely Allen contributed to this post.

DT Kyon Barrs Lines Up Cardinals, Bengals Visits

July 14th, 2025 at 2:01pm CST by Adam La Rose

Kyon Barrs was unable to make an NFL roster last offseason but he will attempt to do so in 2025. The defensive tackle has a pair of free agent visits lined up.

Barrs will work out with the Cardinals and Bengals this week, Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 reports. The 6-foot-2, 290-pounder went undrafted in 2024. He joined the Titans shortly after the draft but wound up spending training camp with the Seahawks. Barrs was among Seattle’s final cuts shortly before the regular season.

Immediately after being waived, the five-year Pac-12 performer was retained via a practice squad deal. Barrs wound up being cut from the Seahawks’ taxi squad in September, however. He did not receive another look at the NFL level for the remainder of the season, leading to a campaign spent in the UFL this spring. Playing for the Arlington Renegades, Barrs racked up 23 tackles and one sack.

That level of production has landed Barrs – who amassed 120 stops, five sacks and 13 tackles for loss during his five-year college career – back on the NFL radar. Prior to spending the 2023 campaign at USC, Barrs played at Arizona. A Cardinals agreement would thus come with a degree of familiarity.

The interior of the defensive line saw plenty of turnover in the case of the Cardinals this offseason. Khyiris Tonga, Naquon Jones and Roy Lopez each departed this spring. Calais Campbell returned to the team as a free agent, though, and Arizona’s first-round pick was used on defensive tackle Walter Nolen. Barrs would aim to carve out a role as one of many new faces at the position during training camp.

The Bengals’ training camp will open amongst uncertainty on the edge given the Trey Hendrickson and Shemar Stewart contract situations, but the team’s interior D-line could be a talking point as well. B.J. Hill was re-signed on a three-year, $33MM pact while Sheldon Rankins was released. The latter was limited to only seven games during his one-and-done Cincinnati campaign, but he operated as a full-time starter over that span. The Bengals did not use any of their draft picks on interior defenders.

Both the Cardinals and Bengals currently have over $30MM in cap space at the moment. As a result, a one-year deal for Barrs depending on how his visits pan out will not be a problem.

Latest On Browns RB Quinshon Judkins

July 14th, 2025 at 12:29pm CST by Adam La Rose

Browns rookie Quinshon Judkins was arrested this past weekend has has since been charged with misdemeanor domestic battery. Further details have emerged regarding the running back’s case.

Judkins’ arrest report documents the specifics of the alleged incident (h/t Tom Pelissero of NFL Network). On July 7, the accuser – a woman who was in a relationship between May and December 2024 and again from June 2025 onwards with Judkins – was struck with a closed fist in the chin/lip area and later hit in the left arm and thigh, per the report. The alleged victim initially did not contact police out of concern for the damage it would do to Judkins’ NFL career.

After discussing the matter with family and friends, though, the accuser later filed the report which led to Judkins’ arrest. The second-rounder was booked into Broward County Main Jail in Florida on Saturday and remained in custody overnight. An updated story on the situation from Chris Easterling of the Akron Beacon Journal notes Judkins was released Sunday on a $2,500 bond.

The arrest report notes the accuser still had “visible bruising on her chin area” as of July 12. She also provided police with a photograph taken on July 8 detailing her injuries from the previous day. That evidence will be included in the legal process as it plays out; only after its conclusion will the NFL launch an investigation of its own and determine if supplemental discipline under the personal conduct policy is necessary.

One of the top prospects in a deep 2025 RB class, Judkins was selected 36th overall. The Ole Miss and Ohio State product is one of two rookies Cleveland has in the backfield, a group which no longer includes Pro Bowler Nick Chubb. Judkins, 21, will face high expectations when he sees the field at the NFL level. The time at which that will take place is uncertain as training camp approaches, though.

Bears TE Colston Loveland On Shoulder Recovery

July 14th, 2025 at 11:39am CST by Adam La Rose

The rehab process from an AC joint sprain cost Colston Loveland time during spring practices. The Bears rookie will soon receive clarity on his participation outlook in training camp.

“It’s been good. There haven’t really been live bullets flying yet,” Loveland said at a youth football camp in Michigan this weekend (via MLive’s Aaron McMann). “We’ll really know in camp once I get out there, doing a lot more stuff.”

Surgery on his right shoulder put Loveland in position to be fully cleared in time for the start of the regular season. Last month, head coach Ben Johnson said the No. 10 pick is expected to receive a clean bill of health at some point during training camp, which in the Bears’ case will see rookies report this Saturday. The team will no doubt proceed with caution in this situation, but continued progress in the rehab process will be welcomed by all parties.

Loveland’s latest comments suggest he has not encountered any setbacks to date. His limited action in spring drills consisted of non-padded practices, however, so training camp participation will be notably different. It will be interesting to see if his next medical evaluation reveals any cause for a delay in Loveland receiving full clearance sometime this summer.

Chicago already has Cole Kmet in place at the tight end spot for 2025 and beyond, but Loveland will be expected to contribute as a pass-catcher at the position early and often in his career. The All-Big 10 performer’s ability to do that will of course be impacted by his involvement in training camp and the preseason. As a result, it will be interesting to see when he receives the green light for a full workload this summer.

Lions’ Aidan Hutchinson Addresses Health Entering Training Camp

July 14th, 2025 at 10:06am CST by Adam La Rose

Aidan Hutchinson confirmed in May that he received full medical clearance after completing the recovery process on his broken leg. To no surprise, then, no limitations are expected for the Lions Pro Bowler during training camp.

“I’m exactly where I need to be,” Hutchinson said in an interview with CBS Sports’ Ryan Wilson (video link). “Every year I’ve been able to improve on my own physical attributes along with the mental ones, so I feel like every year I take a step. Despite having that rehab this offseason, I feel like I’m in the perfect spot and exactly where I need to be going into Year 4.”

2025 will be a critical campaign for the former No. 2 pick as he and the Lions look to rebound from last year’s early postseason exit. Hutchinson’s absence was a key factor in Detroit’s defensive performances after his Week 5 injury. Up to that point, he was in contention to receive the Defensive Player of the Year award with 7.5 sacks and 27 QB pressures on that statsheet. If Hutchinson can remain healthy through the coming campaign, the Lions’ pass rush will be in a strong position.

Of course, a clean bill of health will also crucial from a financial standpoint in this case. Hutchinson is eligible for an extension, and at the age of 25 (as of next month) he is a prime candidate to be among the top earning edge rushers. The position’s market stands at $40MM annually for now, but T.J. Watt and Micah Parsons are both candidates to surpass that figure before Week 1. The Lions are aware of the rough cost of a new deal for Hutchinson, and an expectation emerged this spring that talks with the Michigan product were likely to accelerate in the wake of his recovery.

No updates have emerged on the extension front since then, but time still remains for Hutchinson and the Lions to hammer out a lucrative deal. Doing so just before or sometime during training camp will be more feasible based on his health situation.

Steelers Evaluating T.J. Watt’s Trade Value

July 13th, 2025 at 10:09pm CST by Nikhil Mehta

The Steelers’ standoff with T.J. Watt continues amid the star edge rusher’s desire to become the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL.

The impasse in negotiations has naturally led to trade speculation. Though teams have reportedly inquired about Watt, the Steelers’ position has been clear: they have no intention of moving the current face of their franchise.

However, the Steelers have been evaluating Watt’s trade value, according to Mark Kaboly of the Pat McAfee Show (via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk). Kaboly said on 93.7 The Fan that Pittsburgh is “obviously inquiring” about the potential return of a Watt trade, characterizing it as “due diligence” as the team is still focused on retaining their all-time sack leader.

Still, exploring Watt’s value on the trade market could give the Steelers information to help them in their negotiation and decision-making process. Lowball offers would indicate that other teams would not sign Watt to a top-of-the-market extension and instead see him as a one-year rental. More aggressive valuations would suggest that other teams see Watt as a long-term investment and may be willing to meet his contract demands.

This is a common practice for teams in contract stalemates, especially with older players. Taking calls on Watt is unlikely to inspire the Steelers to trade him, but it will clarify his value around the league and help them hone in on agreeable extension terms.

Of course, it is possible that another team could blow the Steelers away with their offer and get newly-extended general manager Omar Khan to consider moving the four-time All-Pro. Teams in similar situations have reverse course once the trade compensation hits the table, and Pittsburgh’s desire to add a top quarterback prospect in the 2026 draft may make them more willing to consider a deal. It’s worth noting, however, that interested teams are likely contenders who will only get better by adding Watt, capping the value of their draft picks, which will likely be late in the round.

The expectation remains that Watt and the Steelers will find a way to agree on terms before the season starts. Watt skipped OTAs and minicamp, but is not expected to hold out from training camp. However, he has never expressed any desire to leave Pittsburgh and seems unlikely to demand a trade to fulfill his financial wishes.

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