Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson’s injury recovery takes another step forward as he’s reportedly expected to begin throwing as early as Tuesday.
Watson has been rehabbing since undergoing shoulder surgery in November for a displaced fracture in his right shoulder socket.
The Browns have signed insurance in Jameis Winston and Tyler Huntley to back up Watson alongside Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who was on the roster with Watson last season and was also injured.
Watson should be ready for training camp.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have had an eventful two days in the quarterbacks room. After trading away Kenny Pickett on Friday, they pull off the trade that everyone has been waiting for from the Chicago Bears.
Per multiple reports, the Bears are sending quarterback Justin Fields to the Steelers for no more than a conditional sixth-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, which can become a fourth-round pick if Fields plays at least 51 percent of Pittsburgh’s offensive snaps in 2024.
Chicago owns the No. 1 overall pick in April’s draft and are expected to select USC signal caller Caleb Williams. The NFL world has been waiting for Chicago to trade Fields to a potential suitor, but the asking price from the Bears was rumored to be multiple No. 1 picks, as they got last offseason for the No. 1 pick.
The Steelers now have Russell Wilson and Justin Fields in the quarterbacks room.
MARCH 15 STEELERS TRADE PICKETT The Pittsburgh Steelers have traded quarterback Kenny Pickett to the Philadelphia Eagles per reports on Friday.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports Pittsburgh will receive a third-round pick, No. 98, and two 2025 seventh-round picks. In addition to the quarterback, Philadelphia will receive a fourth-round pick, No. 120, to complete the deal.
Pickett was taken by the Steelers as the No. 20 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft and started 24 games for Pittsburgh in the last two seasons. Pickett’s record of 14-10 wasn’t good enough as his inconsistent play and injuries hampered his hometown Steelers.
The Pitt Panther led six fourth-quarter comebacks with seven game-winning drives, but is overall play was not impressive. When Pickett went down with an ankle injury last season, Mason Rudolph stepped in to start, and remained the starter even after Pickett was healthy.
The signing of Russell Wilson this week made both Rudolph and Pickett expendable, and both are now with other teams after Rudolph was traded to Tennessee this week.
Former Ravens, Jets and Browns quarterback Joe Flacco has inked a deal with the Indianapolis Colts per a report from Adam Schefter.
The 2023 Comeback Player of the Year signed a one-year deal worth up to $8.7 million with $4.5 million guaranteed per the report.
Flacco is expected to back up starter Anthony Richardson who is coming off a season-ending injury from last season.
Former Saints and Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston has agreed to join the Cleveland Browns on a one-year, $4 million deal.
The former No. 1 overall pick in 2015 joins his third team after five seasons as the starter in Tampa Bay and four as a backup in New Orleans.
In 2019, Winston threw for 5,109 yards, joining just six other quarterbacks in NFL history to do so. Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Ben Roethlisberger and Dan Marino are the others.
Ex-Raven Joe Flacco joined the Browns last season as an injury replacement after Deshaun Watson and Dorion Thompson-Robinson went down, and led Cleveland on a short playoff run.
Flacco expressed a desire to return to Cleveland in 2024 but the team remained non-committal to the former Delaware signal caller.
PITTSBURGH Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson has been told by his team that he is out the door. Many teams in need of a franchise signal-caller are showing interest, and that includes the Baltimore Ravens’ AFC North rival Pittsburgh Steelers.
Wilson met with the Steelers on Friday and per Josina Anderson, the visit went “great” and he reportedly spoke with offensive coordinator Arthur Smith for hours.
On Sunday night, per Adam Schefter, the two sides agreed to terms for a one-year deal that’s team-friendly. The Broncos will reportedly pay $38 million of his salary.
Wilson joins an AFC North division that already includes elite quarterbacks in Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow and Deshaun Watson.
The Cincinnati Bengals placed the franchise tag on wideout Tee Higgins, extending the time the team can negotiate a long-term deal with the Clemson product.
If they can’t reach an agreement, Higgins will play next season on the tag for a guaranteed $21.8 million.
Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin told Bengals Wire, “We want him on the roster. As soon as we got the salary cap numbers, there was no point lingering on this.”
Head coach Zac Taylor said the team wasn’t going to let Higgins get away.
“He’s one of the top receivers in this league, and we don’t want that just walking out of the building. So when you’ve got an opportunity to put a tag on him and keep him in the building and let him play at least another season for us, I think that’s critical,” Taylor said.
Texas Longhorns wideout Xavier Worthy set a new 40-yard dash time at the NFL Combine on Saturday, and Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta was on hand to witness it live.
He was clearly impressed by the speed of Worthy, as evidenced by his real-time reaction.
Worthy was clocked with the lighting-fast time of 4.21 seconds on his second try, passing John Ross III’s record by .01 seconds. The Longhorns receiver reached 24.21 miles per hour according to Next Gen Stats.
LIn 2023, the NFL trade deadline came after Week 8, and some teams would like it adjusted.
Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry appeared on PFT and said he and other teams have proposed pushing the deadline back two weeks for 2024, to after Week 10 of the regular season.
The extra time could give teams more time to decide if they should be buyers or sellers, and put the NFL deadline more in line with other leagues on the schedule.
Any change requires the approval of 24 of the 32 teams at the league meetings in March.
LThe NFL free agent wide receiver pool is less crowded as of Monday morning as the Cincinnati Bengals have officially placed the franchise tag on wideout Tee Higgins.
That’s one less open market target for teams like the Ravens, who will most likely be active in their search for a wideout this offseason.
That still leaves big names like Mike Evans and Calvin Ridley, as well as Baltimore incumbent Odell Beckham Jr. who are all set to become free agents when the new league starts on March 13
The Ravens could also address the need in April’s NFL Draft.
Former NFL cornerback and current analyst Richard Sherman has reportedly been arrested for DUI per Fox 13 in Seattle.
Washington State Patrol confirmed to Fox 13 that the ex-NFLer was arrested early Saturday morning, and the King County Jail roster indicates Sherman was booked at 4:51 a.m.
Sherman has served as an analyst on Amazon Prime Thursday Night Football for the past two seasons and joined FS1’s Undisputed last year.
Sherman spent time with the Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers during an 11-year career.
CNBC reports that Amazon has agreed to pay the NFL $150 million for the rights to stream a Wild Card game during the opening weekend of the 2024 playoffs.
That news comes on the heels of Peacock paying $110 million to broadcast the Chiefs-Dolphins Wild Card game last season, bringing in a record number of streamers.
The Saturday night contest brought in an average of 23 million viewers and 16.3 million devices streaming at once, doubling the record for a single day in the history of Peacock.
Amazon currently pays an average of $58.8 million per game to stream Thursday Night Football.
Former Maryland Terrapins men’s basketball coach Lefty Driesell passed away his family announced on Saturday. He was 92.
Maryland announced they would honor Driesell with a moment of silence before their Saturday matchup with No. 14 Illinois. They’ll also break out 1970s throwback uniforms previously worn on Jan. 21 when the Terrapins honored Driesell.
Driesell coached Maryland from 1969-1986 and ushered the Terrapins into national prominence until the death of All-American Len Bias
Former Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco has won Comeback Player of the Year at the NFL Honors Awards ceremony Thursday night.
