NFL Player News

Gray is in good position to handle a bigger role in his second NFL season, according to Dan Duggan of The Athletic.

New lead back Devin Singletary is unlikely to dominate backfield snaps the way Saquon Barkley did last season, leaving more work on the table for Gray and other backups. A 2023 fifth-round pick, Gray played in 13 games as a rookie, taking 23 touches for 70 yards on 65 snaps. Competition for backup roles behind Singletary doesn't appear especially fierce in New York, with Gray joined by fifth-round rookie Tyrone Tracy, veteran journeyman Deon Jackson, fourth-year pro Gary Brightwell and a couple of young UDFAs (Jashaun Corbin, Dante Miller).

GM Nick Caserio said Tuesday that he expects Pierce to be "a big part" of the Houston offense this upcoming season, Tyler Milner of Sports Radio 610 reports.

The 2022 fourth-round pick ran for 939 yards in 13 games his rookie season but then managed just 416 yards in 14 games last year. Pierce nosedived from 4.3 YPC to 2.9, losing his starting job to Devin Singletary in the process. Singletary is with the Giants now, but Pierce nonetheless appear destined for a backup role after the Texans traded for Joe Mixon and gave him an extension. The team then waited until the sixth round of the 2024 NFL draft to select a running back, taking a player (Louisville's Jawhar Jordan) who six months older than Pierce and might only be used as a kick return specialist. In other words, Pierce has a nice opportunity to keep the second spot on the depth chart despite his subpar performance last season, though Dare Ogunbowale remains a threat to get playing time in obvious pass situations.

The Steelers declined their 2025 option on Harris' contract, Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

This comes as somewhat of a surprise after Harris has posted three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons since being selected 24th overall in the 2021 NFL Draft. Most impressively, Harris has never missed a game at a position that sees so many injuries. He's been a model of toughness and durability, even if the stats haven't particularly jumped off the page with a career 3.9 yards-per-carry average. Harris, however, did rush for a career-best eight touchdowns last season, averaging a three year-best 4.1 yards per carry. Harris is now tentatively schedule to hit free agency next March, though Adam Schefter of ESPN notes that the Steelers aren't ruling out reaching a deal with the 26-year-old running back before then.

With D'Andre Swift signed this offseason and Roschon Johnson entering his second season, Herbert is viewed as potential trade bait, Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic reports.

Herbert is entering the final year of his rookie deal that is set to pay him a non-guaranteed $1.055 million salary, and the coaching staff is high on Johnson headed into his second season after he was taken in the fourth round of the NFL Draft last year. Swift inked a three-year, $24 million deal in March. After leading the NFL averaging 5.7 yards per carry in 2022, Herbert battled ankle and back issues last year, missing five games on injured reserve in the middle of the season. Travis Homer is also on the roster as a special teams ace. Herbert doesn't play special teams.

Walker is expected to remain the No. 1 running back for the 2024 season after the Seahawks didn't select a running back in the NFL Draft.

The Seahawks did sign George Holani and TaMerik Williams as undrafted free agents, per Michael-Shawn Dugar of The Athletic, but neither player presents a real threat to Walker's job. While Walker and 2023 second-round pick Zach Charbonnet split snaps last season, Walker was still the clear No. 1 back with 219 carries for 905 yards (4.1 YPC) and eight touchdowns. He added 29 receptions for 259 yards and a score. The Seahawks added three linemen in the draft, including third-round pick Christian Haynes, so they're hoping their offensive line will show more consistency this year.

Brooks (knee) remains on track to be cleared for training camp, Mike Kaye of The Charlotte Observer reports.

Brooks said the ACL tear he suffered in November didn't come with any damage to other ligaments -- a factor that likely contributed to the Panthers' confidence making him the first back selected in the 2024 NFL Draft (46th overall). He's begun running and plans to resume cutting soon, with the intention of participating at the start of training camp in late July, shortly after his 21st birthday. Brooks didn't play much at Texas until Bijan Robinson left for the NFL, but once he got his chance the results were impressive, with Brooks recording 1,139 rushing yards and 286 receiving yards in 11 games last season. In Carolina, he joins a backfield with veterans Chuba Hubbard and Miles Sanders, though it isn't clear if the latter will have a role after his poor showing last season.

Elliott's one-year, $2 million contract with the Cowboys includes $1.75 million guaranteed, and he can earn up to $1 million more via incentives, Todd Archer of ESPN.com reports.

All of the incentives require Dallas making the playoffs, with the other parts entailing Elliott playing more than half the team's snaps ($500,000), scoring 10 touchdowns ($250,000) or reaching 1,100 yards from scrimmage ($250,000). He did all three of those things in 2021, and two of the three in his most recent season with the Cowboys (2022). A one-year sojourn to New England proved less productive, though Elliott handled some huge workloads late in the season after Rhamondre Stevenson suffered a high-ankle injury, averaging 14.8 carries and 5.2 catches over the Patriots' final six games. The Cowboys probably won't call on him that often, even with their other backfield options -- Rico Dowdle, Deuce Vaughn, Royce Freeman, Malik Davis and Snoop Conner -- being less than stellar. The Cowboys didn't draft a running back in April, and none of their veterans besides Elliott has ever run for more than 521 yards in a season.

Scott agreed to terms on a one-year contract with the Rams on Tuesday, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports.

Scott spent his first six seasons in Philadelphia, but he will now get a fresh start in Los Angeles. While he was never a major part of the Eagles' offense during his tenure, he saw his role as a third-down back shrink during the 2023 campaign. The 29-year-old will presumably be behind Kyren Williams and rookie Blake Corum on the Rams' depth chart, and Scott will compete with Ronnie Rivers and Zach Evans for the No. 3 role.

Rookie third-round pick Trey Benson is unlikely to take Conner's starting job but may eventually force a timeshare in the Cardinals' backfield, according to KC Joyner of The Athletic.

Conner has missed multiple games in each of his seven NFL seasons, though never more than six in any one year, so any competition for touches could sort itself out. His 2023 included career highs for rushing yards (1,040) and yards per carry (5.0), with the downside being his fewest targets (33) and catches (27, 2.1 per game) since he was a barely-used rookie with Pittsburgh in 2017. The lack of receiving volume was partially a product of Emari Demercado getting playing time in passing situations, and it's worth noting that the Cardinals have two other backs in Michael Carter, DeeJay Dallas with track records as passing-down specialists. That said, Conner still figures to be the starter and lead runner, with Benson being the main threat to poach carries and TDs even if other guys are in the mix on passing downs.

The Packers drafted MarShawn Lloyd in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft to join Jacobs and AJ Dillon in their remade backfield, Matt Schneidman of The Athletic report.

The decision to release Aaron Jones and sign Jacobs as a replacement likely had a lot to do with the latter being younger, larger and more capable of handling big workloads. It's nonetheless a bit difficult to project Jacobs' touch/snap counts for the upcoming season, as coach Matt LaFleur has almost always used a two-back approach when he's had his top two RBs healthy. On the other hand, there were many instances when LaFleur leaned heavily on Jones or Dillon, or Jamaal Williams before that, when one of Green Bay's top backs wasn't available, rather than giving a third-stringer a larger role. The extent of Jacobs' usage may depend on LaFleur's confidence in Dillon and/or Lloyd moreso than Jacobs' perceived ability to take on huge workloads. Dillon plodded through 2023 and has seen his YPC drop each of his seasons in the NFL, while Lloyd looks faster and more explosive but comes with glaring ball-security issues after fumbling eight times on 325 touches during his college career.