NFL Player News

The Lions signed Smith to a reserve/future contract Wednesday, Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 Houston reports.

Smith will head to Detroit after spending time with both the Saints and Broncos this past season. He made his lone appearance in 2023 with the latter team, recording no receptions over nine snaps on offense in a Week 8 win over the Chiefs.

The Chiefs activated Moore (knee) from injured reserve Wednesday, Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 Houston reports.

After designating Moore for return from IR on Jan. 17, the Chiefs had until Wednesday to add him back on the active roster, or his season thus would be over. Now that the transaction has been made, Moore has a chance for his first game action since Week 15 in the Chiefs' Super Bowl LVIII matchup with the 49ers this Sunday. In order to gain active status, Moore likely will need to increase his practice participation this week after he was listed as a limited participant on all three of Kansas City's practice reports last week. Wednesday's upcoming injury report will reveal whether not not Moore is that much closer to being available to the offense again.

Williams (knee) said Jan. 8 that he's "slightly ahead" of schedule in his rehab from an ACL tear, Omar Navarro of the Chargers' official site reports.

Williams also mentioned that he liked playing in former offensive coordinator Kellen Moore's scheme, having caught 19 passes for 249 yards and a touchdown prior to suffering the ACL tear late in a Week 3 game. He'll have a more run-focused coordinator in Greg Roman if he's back with the Chargers in 2024, something that's far from assured given Williams' $20 million in non-guaranteed compensation for the final year of his contract. He had surgery Oct. 25, exactly one month after suffering the ACL injury, and he seemingly anticipates being ready for Week 1 of the 2024 season.

Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen made it clear Tuesday that he's hopeful the team will re-sign Evans, an impending free agent, Greg Auman of Fox Sports reports.

Evans and quarterback Baker Mayfield have expiring contracts, and wide receiver Chris Godwin is scheduled for $20 million in non-guaranteed compensation for the final year of his deal in 2024. The possibility of significant change can't be ignored, but Coen's opening press conference left little doubt that part of his motivation for taking the Tampa Bay job was an expectation that the team's core playmakers would be retained. The former Rams and University of Kentucky offensive coordinator talked about how much easier it is to design an offense with a downfield, perimeter threat like Evans, and Coen also mentioned that he plans to move Godwin back to the slot as his primary alignment. A franchise tag for Evans would cost $28.4 million -- 120 percent of his 2023 cap charge -- while Mayfield's tag number likely would be around $35 million. The Buccaneers have a third candidate for the tag in 25-year-old safety Antoine Winfield, whose salary would be about $17 million. Re-signing Evans first would help the team's short-term cap flexibility, allowing the Buccaneers to shift much of his $12.2 million cap hit from void years into future seasons.

Dell (leg) started light pool work in January, and doctors have been pleased by the wide receiver's progress during rehab thus far, Will Kunkel of FOX 26 Houston reports.

Kunkel notes that Dell is still a long ways away from being in game shape and wouldn't have any shot to play if the Texans had advanced to the Super Bowl. The third-round pick suffered a broken fibula Week 13, following four consecutive games with at least eight targets, 50 yards and one touchdown. Dell finished his rookie season averaging 4.3 catches for 54.5 yards and 0.64 touchdowns per game, despite exiting two games early with injuries and playing only 48 percent of snaps on offense Week 1. Not counting those three games, Dell averaged 5.1 catches for 77.3 yards and 0.88 touchdowns on 8.5 targets. The Texans haven't passed along much information regarding Dell's rehab since he had surgery Dec. 4, but Kunkel's report at least suggests the wideout is coming along well in his recovery. The Houston offense appears in good hands moving forward with C.J. Stroud throwing passes to Dell and fellow 2023 breakout star receiver Nico Collins.

Bourne recently said that he's ahead of schedule in his rehab from knee surgery and would like to re-sign with the Patriots this offseason, Mike Reiss of ESPN.com reports.

The 28-year-old suffered an ACL tear to his right knee in Week 8, bringing an early end to a season in which he was averaging career bests of 4.6 catches and 50.8 receiving yards per game. Bourne is now scheduled for unrestricted free agency in March, and while he hopes to stay in New England under a new coaching staff, he acknowledged that he's not actually sure what the future will hold. He has a physical therapist living with him as part of his rehab process after Nov. 15 surgery, hoping to strengthen the quad and leg around his injured knee. Ben Volin of The Boston Globe adds that Bourne is in Las Vegas for the Super Bowl, with the wideout noting Tuesday that his rehab is going well and that he hopes to "get [his] name out there" for potential suitors in free agency.

Sherfield caught 11 of 22 targets for 86 yards and one touchdown while playing in all 17 regular-season games in 2023.

Sherfield had one big prime-time moment during the division-clinching win over the Dolphins in Week 18, which just so happened to come against his former team. Other than that, he didn't have many opportunities come his way since the Bills had several superior options at wide receiver, tight end and running back. Sherfield was on a one-year deal, but with fellow wideout Gabe Davis a good bet to move on in free agency, the Bills may try to bring Sherfield back on a similar contract.

The Cardinals signed Chisena to a reserve/future contract Tuesday, Josh Weinfuss of ESPN reports.

Chisena will return to Arizona after filling a special-teams role with Baltimore during the playoffs. He spent time on both the Cardinals' active roster and practice squad during the regular season before being released in January. The 26-year-old wideout will compete for a roster spot in 2024.

Diggs said Friday that he isn't sure if he'll be back with the Bills in 2024 but told Cameron Wolfe of NFL Network that, "I don't have any surprises for you right now."

There was a lot of speculation last spring about Diggs' relationship with the Bills, and more specifically with QB Josh Allen. The wideout said he "gets tired" of the questions about him and Allen, noting that he's already addressed the situation (or lack thereof) multiple times. Diggs has four years remaining on the extension he signed in April of 2022, but there's nonetheless been trade speculation in recent weeks, as the deal doesn't have any guaranteed money remaining and his production dropped considerably in the second half of the 2023 season. On the other hand, Buffalo doesn't have much else at wide receiver -- especially with Gabe Davis scheduled for free agency -- and the first half of 2023 featured one of Diggs' most productive stretches with the team, including five 100-yard games within the first six weeks and seven TDs through nine weeks. He had just one more TD and no 100-yard games thereafter, with his catch rate nosediving to 58.7 percent over the final eight games of the regular season even though he saw less volume (7.9 targets per game) and the Bills won six of those contests. Diggs then finished the season on even more of a low note, dropping a deep ball midway through the fourth quarter of a 27-24 playoff loss to Kansas City. It sounds like the 30-year-old is open to all possibilities for his NFL future at this point.

New Bucs offensive coordinator Liam Coen said Tuesday that he anticipates moving Godwin back inside to the slot, Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Godwin took 32 percent of his snaps from the slot in 2023, down from 60 percent the previous year and 53 percent in 2021. His volume didn't suffer too much (130 targets), but his catch rate plunged to 63.8 percent after four straight years above 71 percent, and he finished with his lowest per-game averages for receptions (4.9) and receiving yards (60.2) since 2018 -- which was also the last time his slot rate dipped below 49 percent. While perfectly capable on the perimeter, Godwin is probably at his best inside. The shift to more outside work last season apparently stemmed from the Bucs' belief that it might help keep him healthy, and while Godwin did in fact play every game for the first time since 2018, he's nonetheless expected to man the slot more often with the team shifting from Dave Canales to Coen as offensive coordinator. It sounds like a good thing for his fantasy value, especially given that Godwin also gets a lot of playing time in two-wideout formations, unlike many other slot guys.