RBs Omarion Hampton, Kaleb Johnson To Visit Bears
The Bears were recently reported to be among the teams which view Ashton Jeanty in high regard. The Heisman runner-up is thus a prospect to watch in the event he slides to No. 10 in the first-round order, but Chicago is also showing interest in other running backs. 
Omarion Hampton is set to visit Chicago today, Fox Sports’ Jordan Schultz reports. In addition, a pre-draft visit has been lined up with Kaleb Johnson, per Tom Pelissero of NFL Network. Hampton is considered by many to be a first-round prospect, as Schultz confirms, while Johnson is one of several Day 2 candidates at the position.
2024 marked the first season with D’Andre Swift handling lead back duties for Chicago. He notched a new career high in scrimmage yards (1,345) while logging a full campaign for the first time in his career. Two seasons remain on the 26-year-old’s contract, and his base salary for 2025 ($7.39MM) is guaranteed in full. Swift will be counted on to handle RB1 duties for at least one more year as a result, but a rookie could be joining him in the backfield soon.
Hampton has already met with the Cowboys, Steelers and Giants – teams which are spread across the first-round order. While Jeanty is expected to hear his name called early on the draft’s opening night (perhaps by the Raiders at No. 6), a longer wait could be in store for Hampton. The North Carolina product’s stock is still high, but it remains to be seen if he will wind up being a top-20 pick. The Bears would represent a more suitable landing spot in the event of a trade down the order.
Johnson starred during his three-year run at Iowa, earning several accolades along the way. The junior was the Big Ten’s top running back in 2024, and he was a finalist for the Doak Walker Award (given to the best RB in the country). He could very well be the third running back in this year’s draft as a result. The No. 45 prospect on Daniel Jeremiah’s big board, Johnson could be an option for Chicago in the second round. The team owns the 39th and 41st selections as things stand.
Adding along both sides of the line of scrimmage has been a priority this offseason for the Bears, and defensive tackle is viewed as a key remaining need in the lead-in to the draft. Chicago will have plenty of options to choose from at that position throughout the draft, but the team’s work at the top of the running back board makes a move at that spot something to watch for.
Eagles Host S Malaki Starks; Team Interested In Walter Nolen, James Pearce?
The Eagles’ draft plans will depend in large part on how the first-round board shakes out before they are on the clock. A trio of names have emerged regarding Day 1 defenders the team thinks highly of, though. 
Philadelphia has hosted safety Malaki Starks on a top-30 visit, Eliot Shorr-Parks of 94WIP reports. The Georgia product has long been touted as one of the two first-round prospects at the position. Shorr-Parks adds the Eagles have “a ton of interest” in Starks, which comes as no surprise given general manager Howie Roseman‘s history of drafting Georgia defenders.
The junior operated as full-time starter during each of his three seasons with the Bulldogs. Starks earned first-team All-SEC and All-American honors in 2023, a year in which he totaled three interceptions and seven pass deflections. This past campaign included a step back in terms of statistical output, which could hurt his draft stock. Nevertheless, selecting Starks could require moving up the order given the Eagles’ No. 32 draft slot.
The Super Bowl champions traded away C.J. Gardner-Johnson this offseason, creating a need in the secondary. Adding Starks would give the Eagles an immediate replacement candidate on the back end, but it remains to be see if he will wind up in their range. The Dolphins – set to draft 13th overall – were recently reported to be high on him, and several teams in position to select shortly after Miami are no doubt in a similar situation.
If the Roseman and the Eagles elect to trade up, other defenders could be the target. ESPN’s Jordan Reid names defensive tackle Walter Nolen and edge rusher James Pearce as prospects to watch in that respect. Nolen is among the many D-lineman in contention to hear their names called on Day 1, although his draft range is believed to be wider than many other first-round candidates. Adding the junior (who transferred from Texas A&M to Ole Miss in 2024) would help compensate for the loss of Milton Williams in free agency.
Philadelphia likewise has a spot to fill along the edge since Josh Sweat departed on the open market. Pearce, who earned first-team All-SEC acclaim for each of the past two years, is among the top speed rushers in the 2025 class. The Tennessee product has taken a number of visits recently, although – like in Nolen’s case – none of his known meetings have included time with the Eagles. Regardless of if that changes in the near future, they will be among the prospects to monitor closely regarding Philadelphia’s Day 1 approach.
CB Patrick Peterson Retires
APRIL 14: Peterson’s retirement ceremony has indeed taken place Monday, as scheduled. During his speech, he said a meeting after the Super Bowl with owner Michael Bidwill paved the way for today’s announcement occurring at the team’s facility. Peterson noted (via ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss) he feels he could still play in the NFL but prefers to turn his attention to his post-playing days.
APRIL 11: A week after Julio Jones‘ retirement, the player chosen one spot ahead of him in a loaded 2011 draft is walking away as well. Like Jones, Patrick Peterson did not play in 2024. And the decorated cornerback is planning to retire with the Cardinals on Monday, ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter reports.
The former No. 5 overall pick did his best work in Arizona, which selected him in a first round that included Jones, J.J. Watt, Von Miller, Tyron Smith, Cameron Heyward, Cameron Jordan and several other standouts. Several Hall of Famers will come from that first round, and Peterson is likely among them.
Twice a first-team All-Pro as a cornerback and once as a return man, Peterson started his career with eight straight Pro Bowls. The first of those came for return-game work, but among DBs in NFL history, only a handful (Ronnie Lott, Champ Bailey, Steve Atwater, Jalen Ramsey) of post-merger cover men join Peterson as being named to seven Pro Bowls over eight seasons to start a career. Although a 2019 PED suspension brought a step back for Peterson, he did well to rebound upon leaving Arizona for Minnesota in 2021.
A lockdown boundary corner who would follow receivers more than his top peers of the period did, Peterson also displayed durability with the Cardinals. He did not miss a game due to injury in Arizona, going until his first Vikings season — which featured four absences — before seeing a health issue keep him off the field. Peterson helped the Cardinals to two playoff brackets, including a run to the 2015 NFC championship game, and was part of a 2010s defensive crew that featured fellow Pro Bowlers Calais Campbell, Tyrann Mathieu and Chandler Jones. That group splintered near the decade’s end, leaving Peterson as one of the stalwarts on a retooling team.
No second-team All-Pro honors are on Peterson’s resume, which is a bit unusual for a player with his reputation. He earned first-team All-Pro acclaim as a corner in 2013 and 2015. The first of those seasons helped Peterson score a monster extension (five years, $70.1MM) during the 2014 offseason, . The second came as Arizona journeyed to the NFC title game in a season that brought the most wins (13) in a season in the franchise’s 105-year history. Peterson joined Richard Sherman, Chris Harris and Hall of Famer Darrelle Revis on the 2010s’ All-Decade team at corner.
The Cardinals opted not to hand Peterson a second extension, having drafted Byron Murphy 33rd overall in 2019. This came during an early-2020s period that featured a host of quality defenders (Peterson, Jones, Watt, Murphy, Zach Allen) depart. The Vikings gave the LSU alum a one-year, $8MM deal. The 6-foot-1 corner stayed in Minnesota, despite the team changing HCs and GMs in 2022, but did so on a one-year, $4MM pact. Agreeing to a 50% pay cut, Peterson still intercepted five passes in 2022 — including a game-sealing theft of Josh Allen in a shootout win in Buffalo — and helped the team to a 13-4 season. Minnesota did not retain Peterson for his age-33 season, leading to a Pittsburgh one-off. The Steelers, who experimented with Peterson at safety in 2023, released him in 2024.
Peterson aimed to play a 14th season, but corners approaching their mid-30s have trouble landing deals. Peterson may well have received offers, but they clearly did not move the needle financially. He did quite well for himself there, amassing a career-earnings ledger of nearly $114MM. A lucrative rookie contract — the first in the rookie-scale era — and playing out that $70.1MM extension represented the lead drivers of Peterson’s earnings sheet.
The Cardinals cooled Peterson’s punt-return usage after the 2015 season, but he delivered one of this era’s premier seasons by returning four punts for TDs as a rookie. The former shutdown corner will retire with 36 career interceptions — including seven during a breakout 2012 season — and two pick-sixes. Peterson added a postseason INT but only wound up playing in five career playoff tilts. Nevertheless, the former top prospect will retire as one of his era’s top defensive contributors.
Browns Sign DE Julian Okwara
Julian Okwara will play for a third career team in 2025. The veteran edge rusher signed with the Browns on Monday, per a team announcement. 
[RELATED: Browns Leaning Toward Travis Hunter Over Abdul Carter?]
Okwara spent his first four years with the Lions. The former third-round pick made 38 appearances with Detroit, but only four of those were starts. His highest workload came in 2021 with a 40% snap share; Okwara notched five sacks that season, which remains his personal best.
The 27-year-old landed a futures deal with the Eagles last winter, but he was ultimately among the team’s final roster cuts. Okwara quickly found a new home with the Cardinals, though, signing to their practice squad. He was elevated to the active roster in September and remained there the rest of the way. In all, Okwara made 13 appearances with Arizona in 2024, playing one third of the team’s defensive snaps.
That usage rate translated to just one sack and four quarterback pressures, which helps explain why Okwara remained on the open market this deep into free agency. The Notre Dame product will turn his attention to landing a roster spot during the summer as the Browns aim to add depth behind Myles Garrett along the edge. Za’Darius Smith was traded away midway through the 2024 campaign, creating a vacancy in the starting lineup. Former Bucs first-rounder Joe Tryon-Shoyinka signed a one-year deal in free agency, and the Browns still have the likes of Ogbonnia Okoronkwo and Alex Wright in the fold.
Okwara will now join that group as he looks to carve out a role for himself. The Browns entered Monday with roughly $19.5MM in cap space, and this deal will no doubt check in near (or at) the veteran minimum. Cleveland could still look to make further moves before the draft as a result.
Isaiah Simmons To Visit Packers
After two seasons with the Giants, Isaiah Simmons could soon be on the move. The veteran defender is visiting the Packers today, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports. 
Simmons entered the league with the Cardinals, but during his three seasons in Arizona he struggled to carve out an effective full-time role at safety or linebacker. The former No. 8 pick was traded to the Giants in August of 2023 for a seventh-round pick, a sign of how far his stock had fallen during the early portion of his career. Simmons handled a part-time defensive role during his debut season in New York, making a mark in several statistical categories along the way.
That allowed the Clemson product to land another Giants pact, although the decision to replace defensive coordinator Don Martindale with Shane Bowen led to Simmons competing for the starting slot role in training camp. In the end, he saw sparse usage there and at other spots en route to a snap share of only 17%. While Simmons also chipped in on special teams, his inability to lock down a regular role anywhere on defense has helped inform his lengthy stay on the open market.
The 26-year-old had not been linked to any potential free agent landing spots prior to today’s report. Simmons will of course not be an expensive target for the Packers should today’s visit produce an offer. Green Bay has over $31MM in cap space, so a contract being worked out before the upcoming draft would not significantly affect the team’s plans for the remainder of the offseason.
The Packers used a second-round pick to select Edgerrin Cooper last year, adding him to a linebacking corps which also includes Quay Walker (who is the subject of a pending fifth-year option decision) and Isaiah McDuffie (who was re-signed on a two-year deal last month). Simmons could look to join that group in the event he were to sign with Green Bay, although an agreement could also pave the way for work at safety or in a special teams-centered role.
Jets To Host DT Mason Graham
The Jets’ pre-draft work will include a top-30 visit with one of the most highly touted defenders in the 2025 class. D-tackle Mason Graham will head to New York tomorrow, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports. 
Graham has long been regarded as the top defensive lineman available in this month’s draft, and to no surprise he has generated plenty of attention. The Michigan product has already met with the Patriots and Saints, and, more recently, the Browns and Raiders. Each of those teams are set to select in the top 10; the Jets currently own pick No. 7.
New York has done extensive work on Graham, Rapoport notes. The team formally met with the first-team All-American at the Combine, then had dinner with him the night before Michigan’s Pro Day. Coupled with this upcoming visit, that will give first-time general manager Darren Mougey and Co. plenty of information to work with when weighing their options in the first round. It remains to be seen if Graham will be available when the Jets are on the clock, given the connections made between him and teams like the Jaguars (set to pick fifth overall) and those which have previously hosted him.
Several options could be on the table for New York, a team which is known to be high on Penn State tight end Tyler Warren. Offensive tackle Armand Membou is also firmly on the team’s radar, and the Jets could look to trade down if the Missouri product is unavailable. Whether or not Graham is still on the board by that point will of course influence Mougey’s decision to move down the order or which prospect he selects if New York stays put at No. 7.
The Jets’ defensive interior will again be anchored by Quinnen Williams in 2025. The former third overall pick is attached to a $24MM-per-year deal, and he will remain atop a D-line depth chart which has seen plenty of turnover this offseason. Javon Kinlaw, Solomon Thomas and Leki Fotu each departed in free agency, while New York has added Derrick Nnadi, Byron Cowart and Jay Tufele on the open market. As the 2024 Outland Trophy winner, Graham would be expected to take on a key role right away within that group in the event he were to be selected by the Jets.
Browns Could See Significant Cap Relief Due To Insurance Policy On Deshaun Watson’s Contract; Latest On QB’s NFL Future
The Browns have added Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett to their quarterback room this offseason, and the club may still select a rookie passer in this month’s draft. Deshaun Watson has performed poorly during his Cleveland tenure, and with his 2025 availability in doubt, it is eminently possible that he will not play another down for the club.
Recent comments made by Browns co-owner Jimmy Haslam – the first time anyone within the organization publicly admitted the historic and controversial Watson acquisition is a failure – further reinforce that possibility, as ESPN.com’s Daniel Oyefusi writes. Of course, because of Watson’s contract – which was recently restructured for immediate salary cap relief – even a 2026 release with a post-June 1 designation would create a dead money charge of nearly $81MM without any cap savings.
As such, Oyefusi says Watson could stay on the Browns’ roster for the remainder of his thru-2026 deal, though any decisions in that regard will not be made for at least another year. Haslam said the team needs to determine Watson’s health status before making a call, and in the meantime, the 29-year-old passer is rehabbing his Achilles tear.
While the current financial picture related to Watson’s contract looks bleak, there is a real possibility that the situation will improve. We had previously touched on the insurance the club had taken out on Watson’s contract, and as Oyefusi reiterates, the insurance policy allowed Cleveland to obtain cap relief for 2024 after Watson missed 11 games due to injury in 2023. Likewise, the team has realized a small credit for the time Watson missed in 2024.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk adds further context. According to Florio, Watson’s deal contains an addendum that allows the team to recover over $58MM for an injury occurring between the start of the 2024 offseason program and the start of the 2025 offseason program (Watson sustained his season-ending Achilles tear in October 2024 and suffered a second tear in January 2025, and both occurrences fall within the addendum’s timeline). Most of the potential recovery (over $44MM) stems from Watson’s fully-guaranteed salary of $46MM for 2025.
In other words, if Watson is unable to play in 2025, and if the Browns’ prospective claim against the insurance policy is successful, Cleveland could get back over $44MM in cash with a corresponding credit to its cap sheet. Given the stakes involved, though, the insurance carrier may well attempt to find an exclusion or exception that would justify denial of the claim.
Assuming Watson does not engineer a dramatic turnaround to become a quality starting quarterback for the Browns, he will become a free agent at some point in the relatively near future. When that happens, he may not find another NFL opportunity.
Per Oysefusi, executives and agents from around the league have said it is possible that no team will bring Watson on board, even if he is completely healthy.
“If released, I don’t see anyone picking him up,” one NFC executive said. “And then, down the road, the question will be, will he take low-QB money? Would he even be motivated to play at that point?”
A prominent agent offered a different take, saying, “[t]he league is forgiving with quarterbacks that have exhibited high-level talent. There is a shortage of good QB play. That’s why I think a team could take a chance on him if he proves healthy. Some owners could have a problem with that because of the past, but not all.”
The agent makes a fair point, but it has been a few years since Watson has exhibited high-level talent. So while the Browns’ search for their next long-term quarterback and a way out of their now-infamous contractual misstep are the more pressing storylines, it is fair to wonder if Watson has already taken his last snap.
Tom Brady’s Arrival Increased Pete Carroll’s Raiders Interest
Joining the Patriots months after Pete Carroll‘s ouster, Tom Brady later led the team to a last-second win over Carroll’s Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX. The decades-long NFL presences are now working together in an attempt to revitalize the Raiders, with each carrying significant personnel say in a setup that also includes ex-Brady college teammate/Buccaneers coworker John Spytek as GM.
Carroll agreed to join a team that finished 4-13 in 2024. More importantly, the Raiders had become a chaotic operation in recent years. Counting interim leaders, Carroll is the team’s fifth head coach this decade. The team also fired Dave Ziegler after less than two years on the job and then canned Tom Telesco, despite the ex-Charger GM’s Brock Bowers selection, after one season. This instability did not make the Raider job especially appealing to Carroll.
While the 73-year-old coach wanted to return to the NFL, he would not have done so merely to take any available job. The Raiders were not previously near the top of Carroll’s list of return destinations, the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vincent Bonsignore notes. Brady being approved as Raiders minority owner changed the equation for the former Jets, Patriots and Seahawks HC, who said the retired QB’s addition “shifted my thought about what this opportunity was about.”
This job does not feature Carroll installed as a final-say presence in the Raiders’ building. The current Raiders party line points to the three power brokers collaborating, though given how much Mark Davis has praised Brady and involved him in personnel matters, it would not shock if the inexperienced front office presence holds that hammer. In Brady, Davis has a decision-maker who does not have to worry about operating through self-preservation, seeing as he is an owner rather than a top executive or coaching staff presence. This provides Brady stability, and he has been at the heart of the Raiders’ top moves this offseason.
“It brought somebody with football acumen into the organization at the top level,” Davis said of Brady’s role. “Somebody that wasn’t going to be on a five-year contract or a 10-year contract. This was a lifetime deal.”
Although the Raiders could not close deals on Ben Johnson or Matthew Stafford, they came up with a Carroll-Geno Smith reunion. Spytek certainly could owe his GM opportunity to Brady, his Michigan teammate and someone who overlapped with the future Hall of Famer’s three-year Tampa stay. Spytek is now, by a considerable degree, the lowest-profile part of the Raiders’ power trio. It will be interesting to see the level of input Spytek carries, as Carroll spent 14 years holding the anvil in Seattle and Brady has been one of the more hands-on ownership presences — by design — in recent NFL history.
Spytek and Carroll will run the day-to-day operations, Bonsignore adds. Brady also wants the Raiders to make substantial commitments to analytics and game management. They will attempt to do so during the tenure of a historically old head coach.
Set to turn 74 in September, Carroll will soon become the oldest HC in NFL history. He has a three-year deal, which is shorter than standard coaching contracts, to stabilize this Raiders operation. Brady will play a central role in Carroll’s Las Vegas tenure, being perhaps the lead figure in determining if it will work out. But the 14-year Seahawks HC agreed to join a division housing Andy Reid, Sean Payton and Jim Harbaugh due in part to Brady’s arrival.
“I didn’t know how he would be to work with,” Carroll said. “I just competed against him and listened to him over the years and had great admiration and respect. But he is really grounded in his mentality, and that’s what makes him so valuable to us, because we can draw from that.“
LSU WR Kyren Lacy Passes Away At 24
10:07pm: Harris’ apparent suicide took place in a vehicle as he was being pursued by authorities, according to a Harris County (Texas) Sherriff’s report (via ESPN.com). A female family member called police and indicated Lacy discharged a firearm into the ground during a verbal argument Saturday night. Lacy then fled the scene in a vehicle, according to the police report.
Authorities’ pursuit of Lacy ended after a car accident, according to the report, which indicates officers approached the vehicle to retrieve him. Lacy was then found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound; emergency responders pronounced him dead at the scene.
10:28am: Former Louisiana and LSU wide receiver Kyren Lacy passed away last night, as Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football reports. Lacy was just 24, and according to WBRZ 2, he died by suicide.
Lacy’s size (6-3, 212) and route-running acumen made him an intriguing professional prospect. After playing the 2023 slate in the shadow of Brian Thomas Jr. and Malik Nabers, Lacy made the most of his chance to take on WR1 duties for LSU in 2024. In his final collegiate season, he hauled in 58 catches for 866 yards and nine TDs, and he was on track to hear his name called at some point during this month’s NFL draft.
His draft stock took a major hit as a result of his alleged involvement in an accident that left a 78-year-old man dead and injured several others. Although the vehicle Lacy was said to be operating did not make contact with the other vehicles involved, prosecutors say Lacy was passing several vehicles in an area where passing was not permitted. A car in the oncoming lane abruptly braked in order to avoid a collision, and the car behind them swerved left into oncoming traffic to avoid rear-ending the first vehicle. That car then collided head-on with the car that Lacy was allegedly attempting to pass. Lacy then allegedly drove around the crash and fled the scene, failing to stop and render aid, call emergency services, or report his involvement in the crash. He declared for the draft two days later (via Fox8Live.com).
Lacy turned himself in about a month after an arrest warrant was issued, and he was released on a $151K bond. Per WBRZ 2, a grand jury was scheduled to start hearing evidence in Lacy’s case Monday. He was facing charges of negligent homicide, hit-and-run, and reckless operation of a vehicle. His attorney had argued that another driver, not Lacy, caused the fatal accident.
We at PFR offer our condolences to Lacy’s friends and family, as well as the friends and family of Herman Hall, the man who was killed in the collision. We also offer our best wishes to those injured in the accident.
Brandon Graham Open To Return?
Longtime Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham announced his retirement in March, but he recently indicated that he hasn’t fully closed the door on returning to the NFL.
“I’m 90 percent retired,” said Graham in an interview with NFL Network’s Kay Adams, suggesting that he is open to resuming his playing career.
“The 10 [percent] is how much I want to continue to train the way I’m training,” he explained. “I’m training to look good, training for a game is different, but I haven’t really changed that yet.”
Graham mentioned feedback from other retired NFL players who told him to maintain his fitness regimen even after he stops playing. Tellingly, Graham said that he is focused on “making sure that when I do retire, I’m staying in the habit of that.” He also hinted at the potential for a television gig as a commentator or analyst.
However, Graham walked back his initial comments and stopped short of stating his intention to return to the NFL.
“That 10 percent is just in case, but I doubt it because I try to be a man of my word and I don’t want to have to play that back-and-forth stuff,” said Graham. “I’m just going to accept it and just move on, get ready for what’s next.”
Graham turned 37 years old on April 3 after 15 seasons in the NFL, all with the Eagles. He suffered a torn triceps in November that sidelined him until the Super Bowl, in which he re-tore his triceps. The prospect of rehabbing his arm again was one of the motivators for Graham’s retirement, along with his desire to spend more time with his family.
Adams speculated that Graham would be open to returning to the Eagles for a Super Bowl run next season. He declined to confirm or deny that possibility, only saying, “We ain’t there yet.”