Houston Texans quarterback Tyrod Taylor is ready to contribute in his first season in Houston after spending the last two seasons backing up Philip Rivers and Justin Herbert in Los Angeles. Taylor has plenty of experience, winning a Super Bowl as a backup with Baltimore in 20212 and playing in 43 games for the Buffalo Bills from 2015 to 2017. The 11-year veteran has completed

The Los Angeles Chargers plan to run their offense this year through second-year quarterback Justin Herbert, which isn’t much of a surprise after he won Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2020. “I wanted our offense to run through Justin Herbert I wanted him to make it work and I think that’s what’s been fun to sort of get started,” head coach Brandon Staley said.

Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Bryan Edwards is projected to start alongside Henry Ruggs III and Hunter Renfrow in three-wide sets this year despite the fact that Edwards got hurt and lost his job to Nelson Agholor in 2020. But Agholor is now gone, and Edwards will compete with newcomer John Brown. Las Vegas has high hopes for Edwards, even after he made just 11

Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs III, who disappointed with just 26 catches for 452 yards in 13 games as a rookie after being a first-round pick, has worked hard this offseason to get bigger and has impressed quarterback Derek Carr. “Man, he’s been impressive,” Carr said. “The way he’s running routes. He’s being violent in his cuts. I think something clicked in his

The Indianapolis Colts are intrigued by the first impressions that rookie tight end Kylen Granson (fourth-round pick) and rookie wide receiver Mike Strachan (seventh round) gave them during offseason practices. Granson is the more likely of the two to play early on in 2021 because he offers a different skill set than Jack Doyle and Mo Alie-Cox. The Colts view Granson in a similar role

If healthy, San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jalen Hurd is an ideal fit for head coach Kyle Shanahan’s “big slot” No. 3 receiver role. But because of Hurd’s injury issues early in his career, he remains a big unknown entering training camp. Hurd would take on significant run-blocking responsibilities in that role, but he could also frequently be flexed out to receiver. The 25-year-old could

The Cleveland Browns may put more on quarterback Baker Mayfield’s plate this year now that he’s heading into the second straight season with the same head coach and play-callers for the first time in his career. It could give Mayfield more freedom to change the tempo of the offense when he sees fit. Most of the key offensive pieces around Mayfield are returning as well,

The Los Angeles Chargers plan to run their offense this year through second-year quarterback Justin Herbert, which isn’t much of a surprise after he won Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2020. “I wanted our offense to run through Justin Herbert I wanted him to make it work and I think that’s what’s been fun to sort of get started,” head coach Brandon Staley said.

The Jacksonville Jaguars signed quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the No. 1 overall pick, to a four-year, $36.8 million deal on Monday, according to a source. The deal includes $24.1 million in guaranteed money and the standard fifth-year option. The Jaguars haven’t officially named Lawrence as the Week 1 starter in his rookie year, but it’s only a matter of time before that happens. Lawrence has all

San Francisco 49ers running back JaMycal Hasty could begin the 2021 season on the practice squad. And that’s with Jeff Wilson Jr. (knee) expected to miss around half of the season after tearing his meniscus. When healthy, Raheem Mostert will be the team’s primary back, with rookie second-rounder Trey Sermon battling Wayne Gallman II for the primary backup duties. The 49ers also selected Elijah Mitchell

Los Angeles Chargers running back Justin Jackson could be on the bubble heading into training camp behind Austin Ekeler, rookie Larry Rountree III and Joshua Kelley. Ekeler is the team’s obvious lead back, but it gets sketchy after that. Kelley rarely played towards the end of last season and was careless with the football at times. Jackson was impressive in his rookie season but has

New England Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore has been in a contract standoff with the team, but he still doesn’t expect to be traded after skipping mandatory minicamp last month. The Patriots haven’t replaced Gilmore with another cornerback, and the two sides are expected to ramp up contract talks at some point before training camp at the end of the month. The 2019 Defensive Player of

Tennessee Titans tight end Anthony Firkser will be the starter this year and figures to be factored heavily into the team’s red-zone plans, according to head coach Mike Vrabel. Both Jonnu Smith and MyCole Pruitt are gone from last season, so there is opportunity for Firkser. He will be the primary pass-catching tight end, while Geoff Swaim is primarily a blocking tight end. Smith was

Tennessee Titans running back Darrynton Evans figures to have a large role as a third-down and matchup specialist behind workhorse Derrick Henry this year. Evans, drafted in the third round last year, only managed to play in five games in his rookie season and had 14 carries for 54 yards while adding two catches for 27 yards and a touchdown. He took repetitions at receiver

Free-agent wide receiver Josh Gordon has officially submitted his reinstatement papers to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and is hoping to be with a team for training camp, according to a league source. The league has been randomly drug testing Gordon for the last three months, and he has passed all tests. Off-the-field issues with substance abuse have continued to be a problem for the 30-year-old

Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott looks “way quicker, way more elusive, more fluent,” according to personal trainer and running backs coach Josh Hicks. Elliott’s improvements were also noticeable during organized team activities and minicamp. “Zeke looks great,” quarterback Dak Prescott said. “He’s in the best shape of his life.” Elliott, the rushing champ in 2016 and 2018, had career-lows in rushing yards (979), yards

New York Giants tight end Kyle Rudolph (foot) said he “won’t miss any football” after having offseason foot surgery that kept him out of organized team activities and minicamp this spring. The 31-year-old signed a two-year deal worth up to $14 million in free agency. He didn’t commit to being back on the field for the start of training camp, but he’s following a plan

The Pittsburgh Steelers are expected to sign free-agent kicker Sam Sloman, pending a physical, to an undisclosed deal on Thursday, according to a source. Sloman kicked for the Los Angeles Rams and Tennessee Titans as a rookie last season. The 23-year-old seventh-round pick of the Rams made 72.7 percent of his field-goal tries with LA before landing in Tennessee and kicking the game-winning field goal

Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor’s late-season surge in his rookie year made it obvious that he is the team’s starter heading into 2021, and The Athletic’s Zak Keefer expects Taylor to get the bulk of the carries. The team will have some plays scripted for Marlon Mack and Nyheim Hines, but the running game will flow through Taylor. Head coach Frank Reich said Taylor

New York Jets tight end Chris Herndon not only lost some first-team repetitions at minicamp to Ryan Griffin and Tyler Kroft, but the former fourth-round pick also struggled to pick up the new playbook. The 25-year-old was supposed to be the team’s tight end of the future when they drafted him in 2018, but he has just 32 catches for 294 yards and three touchdowns