NFL Player News

Coach John Harbaugh and GM Eric DeCosta both suggested this week that they'd like Beckham to re-sign with the Ravens, Clifton Brown and Ryan Mink of the team's official website report. "[Beckham]'s become a great friend of mine and a friend to the Ravens," DeCosta said Tuesday. "I think we'll just kind of assess and see what happens over the next couple of weeks."

Beckham presumably would have to accept a major pay cut after signing a one-year, $15 million contract last offseason. He made some big plays but was never a full-time player after the first few games, ultimately finishing with 35 catches for 565 yards and three TDs in the regular season. Harbaugh has already mentioned viewing Rashod Bateman as a starter for 2024, in which Beckham would be coming back as the third/fourth wide receiver. The team recently re-signed Nelson Agholor, ensuring they'll have a veteran presence behind Bateman and Zay Flowers even if Beckham ends up signing elsewhere.

The Buccaneers appear committed to re-signing Evans before the start of free agency, even if there is a financial strain on the team's cap situation, Jenna Laine of ESPN.com reports. "He's an unprecedented player. We want him to be a Buc for life. We're working towards that," general manager Jason Licht said Tuesday.

Licht admitted the team would probably have to "strain a little bit" to reach a deal that's palatable for Evans, who is coming off his 10th consecutive 1,000-yard season. Evans also recorded 13 touchdowns in 2023 -- tying for the league lead.

Colts general manager Chris Ballard said Wednesday that Pittman will be on the team's roster for the upcoming season, whether via contract extension or the franchise tag, Nate Atkins of The Indianapolis Star reports.

Pittman is approaching free agency for the first time in his NFL career, but the Colts aren't planning on giving him a chance to explore the open market. Indianapolis has until March 5 to decide whether to place the franchise tag on Pittman, which would result in him taking home a salary of approximately $21.8 million for 2024. However, the team seemingly prefers to work out a longer-term extension with Pittman, provided the two sides can come to an agreement. The Colts haven't used the franchise tag since 2013, and Pittman himself has said he would prefer a multi-year contract, per Stephen Holder of ESPN.com.

General manager Chris Grier said Wednesday that the Dolphins have "no thoughts of trading [Waddle]," Cameron Wolfe of NFL Network reports.

Grier dismissed recent rumors of Waddle being a trade candidate, saying "he'll be around here for a long time." Teammate Tyreek Hill recently weighed in on social media to dispel talk about such a trade, as did Waddle himself, so it's unsurprising to see the Dolphins' brass take a similar stance. The third-year pro recently became the first wideout in Miami's history to record three straight 1,000-yard seasons, posting a 72-1,014-4 receiving line across 14 regular-season games in 2023. Waddle has one more year on his rookie deal, plus a potential fifth-year option, giving the Dolphins plenty of time to negotiate a long-term contract.

Smith said in a Feb. 8 interview that he isn't too worried about a contact extension, Jeff McLane of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports. "It's all in God's hands," Smith said. "At the end of the day, extension or not, I'm going to have to come in and do what I have to do."

While eligible for a contract extension following his third NFL season, Smith is almost certain to end up under team control through 2025 via the fifth-year option on his rookie contract. The Eagles will need to officially pick up Smith's fifth-year option by May 2. In Smith's case, he'll be earning a fully guaranteed $15.59 million for the 2025 season, which is well below what he would receive on the open market. A holdout would be more likely in 2025 than 2024, though it isn't entirely impossible that he sits out training camp this summer if he's frustrated with his initial extension talks with the Eagles.

Ravens head coach John Harbaugh reiterated Tuesday that he expects Bateman to "take a big step" forward in 2024.

According to Ryan Mink of the Ravens' official site, Harbaugh made similar comments earlier this month, noting that the 2021 first-round pick will be a starter in 2024 and is expected to take on more snaps. On the other hand, the Ravens have already re-signed wideout Nelson Agholor, and Harbaugh said he's also hoping to keep soon-to-be free agent Odell Beckham around. Neither Agholor nor Beckham would automatically block Bateman from a starting job, but both could be threats to his quantity of snaps and routes, just as they were in 2023. Bateman seemed to get open more often as the 2023 season unfolded, perhaps regaining some explosiveness with time after undergoing season-ending Lisfranc surgery the year prior. A breakout of sorts is certainly possible, but it probably wouldn't translate to much production in fantasy terms, given that the Ravens routinely rank near the bottom of the league in pass attempts and have wideout Zay Flowers and tight end Mark Andrews to account for a large chunk of the targets.

Kansas City will release Valdes-Scantling on Wednesday, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com reports.

Valdes-Scantling's only chance of remaining with the Chiefs would have been to restructure the final year of his three-year, $30 million contract, but Kansas City will instead cut him loose to save roughly $12 million in cap space. The savings are a necessity for the Chiefs, who are hoping to retain defensive stalwarts L'Jarius Sneed and Chris Jones this offseason on longer-term deals. Valdes-Scantling did little across 16 regular-season games in 2023, with just 21 catches for 315 yards and one touchdown on 42 targets. Back in 2022, he essentially doubled that production in one extra game played. The 29-year-old deep threat will now look to find a complementary role in a wide receiver corps elsewhere in the league.

Head coach Dan Campbell indicated that Williams is set for an increased role in 2024, Tim Twentyman of the Lions' official site reports. "[Williams] is going to push to be a full-time starter, and that's what we're looking for. Everybody grows at a different rate. Maybe it's taken him a little bit longer, but he is developing and growing. The kid has come on. We got high hopes for him and see him continuing to grow," Campbell said Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine.

Williams technically became a starter Week 7 of last season, but he never topped 70 percent of the offensive snaps in a single game until Detroit's season-ending loss to the 49ers in the playoffs. The 2022 first-round pick also saw just 3.5 targets per game after joining the starting unit. Given that the likes of Josh Reynolds and DJ Chark have regularly topped 80 percent of the offensive snaps while serving as the No. 2 wideout behind Amon-Ra St. Brown in recent years, Williams at least has considerable room to grow from a playing-time standpoint, especially with Reynolds set to become an unrestricted free agent. However, neither Reynolds nor Chark saw more than 4.7 targets per game in a season with Detroit, and none of the top-36 wide receivers in per-game half-PPR scoring saw less than 5.6 targets per game in 2023. With St. Brown and Sam LaPorta presumably the centerpieces for the passing game of a run-first Lions offense, Williams may need to rely upon touchdowns and explosive plays to pay off as a difference-making fantasy asset in 2024.

49ers general manager John Lynch said Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine that the team wants to sign Aiyuk to a long-term contract extension, Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Lynch spoke strongly about Aiyuk's future, saying "we've got a nice track record of extending guys and [Aiyuk] is a guy we'd like to keep around." Now entering the fifth and final year of his rookie contract, and coming off a standout 75-1,342-7 receiving line across 16 games in 2023, the wideout will be set for a big payday regardless of what team he ends up with. Aiyuk has improved upon his yardage and touchdown totals each season in the NFL, so it wouldn't be unheard of for him to take another step forward during the 2024 campaign.

Raiders GM Tom Telesco said Tuesday that Adams won't be traded this offseason, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports.

Adams has three seasons remaining on his contract, including a full guarantee on his $16.89 million base salary for 2024. The number is reasonable enough that he'd have considerable trade value, but it sounds like the Raiders are more inclined to keep him around, figuring the 31-year-old wideout can not only help them win games but also help ease the transition for whoever ends up playing quarterback. That said, Telesco might change his mind if another team makes a strong offer.