NFL News

The Rams still don’t list Kyren Williams as their punt returner on their depth chart, but he will serve in that role this season. The team wants to maximize his talents, getting him the ball more than the 264 times he touched it last season. Williams had only three punt returns and one kick return last season. “Being who I …

Wide receiver Robbie Chosen didn’t make the 49ers and his next bid to get into the lineup will come in more familiar surroundings. The Dolphins announced that they signed Chosen to their practice squad on Thursday. Chosen caught four passes for 126 yards and a touchdown while appearing in nine games for the Dolphins last season. Former Seahawks wideout Dee …

Last month, pass rusher Shaq Barrett retired, before his first training camp with the Dolphins even started. Earlier today, he didn’t rule out the possibility of returning to the NFL. With one team in particular. In the unlikely event he returns. “I’m not returning anywhere,” Barrett said on the Up & Adams show, via JoeBucsFan.com. “I’m happily retired. But if …

Wide receiver Kadarius Toney’s Chiefs tenure ended with a whimper when he was placed on waivers this week, but the ending isn’t making General Manager Brett Veach think any differently about the decision to bring him to Kansas City. Veach traded third- and sixth-round picks to the Giants for Toney during the 2022 season and watched the wideout appear in …

The Giants brought Jakob Johnson back to the practice squad after releasing him on Tuesday and he’s now back on the active roster. Johnson was signed off the practice squad after the Giants put offensive lineman Austin Schlottmann on injured reserve. Head coach Brian Daboll said that Schlottmann is set to miss an extended period of time. Johnson has played …

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he does not expect to sign Dak Prescott to an extension before the opener, but that does not preclude the team from continuing to negotiate into the season. In the end, though, it’s the quarterback’s decision. He holds all the leverage with no-trade and no-tag clauses. Prescott can choose to hit free agency in March, …

In the NFL, mysteries invite speculation. And there’s a true mystery regarding Dolphins receiver Odell Beckham Jr. He signeda $3 million deal with the team and passed the physical, as far as anyone knows. But he then failed to pass his pre-training camp physical, landing on the Physically Unable to Perform list. He participated in some of the team’s offseason …

The Cardinals did some roster gymnastics and the result is the return of linebacker Krys Barnes to the 53-man roster. Barnes was released on Tuesday and he returned to the practice squad Wednesday for a brief layover before Thursday’s move back to the active roster. Cornerback Elijah Jones went on injured reserve in a corresponding move. Barnes had 55 tackles …

Report: Aiyuk, 49ers agree to four-year, $120M contract extension originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area After many months of uncertainty, the 49ers and Brandon Aiyuk are sticking together, after all. The 49ers and Aiyuk completed an at-times contentious contract negotiation by agreeing to a new four-year, $120 million deal, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo and Ian Rapoport reported Thursday, citing …

Louis Rees-Zammit and Travis Clayton are the latest players to have quit rugby to pursue a career in the NFL. It has proved a difficult task. Only Jordan Mailata has managed to make the transition. “It recalibrates what you think is hard,” says Christian Scotland-Williamson, one of those who missed out. So as Rees-Zammit and Clayton prepare for the next …

The clock struck 12. The deal is done. In a deadline-driven industry, the deadline finally arrived for the 49ers. And they moved to their bottom-line position. And receiver Brandon Aiyuk took the deal. PFT has confirmed that the 49ers and Aiyuk have agreed to terms on a four-year, $120 million extension. Adding in his pre-existing 2024 salary of $14.1 million, …

Drake Maye might be ready, but the Patriots aren’t ready for the rookie quarterback to start yet. Coach Jerod Mayo said “a lot of factors led to this choice.” Mayo didn’t say it, but the state of the Patriots’ offensive line surely played a part. David Carr, the No. 1 pick in 2002, was ruined as a rookie when he …

Rams quarterback Stetson Bennett showed enough in the preseason for coach Sean McVay to be comfortable with him as the primary backup for the first two weeks of the season. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Quarterback Stetson Bennett got the news from Rams coach Sean McVay in a Houston hotel elevator. It was the morning of the Rams’ …

The Broncos signed inside linebacker Kristian Welch, the team announced Thursday. They waived inside linebacker Levelle Bailey in a corresponding move. Welch, a fifth-year player, was released by the Packers on Tuesday despite tying for the team lead with 16 tackles in the preseason and leading the NFL with two interceptions. He has appeared in 57 games with the Packers …

The NFL does so well that even its games that don’t mean anything still draw plenty of viewers. Even with major events like the Olympics going on. Via Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal, the total TV and digital audience for the 2023 preseason averaged 1.93 million viewers, up slightly from last year’s 1.91 million average. This year, the Hall …