Steelers Sign P Cameron Johnston
Cameron Johnston is back in Pittsburgh. The veteran punter has signed a one-year deal, the team announced on Tuesday. 
Johnston was with the Steelers in 2024, but he was limited to just one game that season due to injury. The 34-year-old Australian split his time between the Bills and Giants last season, making four total appearances. He will now look to reclaim the punting gig in Pittsburgh.
Corliss Waitman has served as the Steelers’ punter since Johnston went down. That could continue moving forward, although Waitman is a pending restricted free agent. It will be interesting to see if today’s move has any impact on Pittsburgh retaining Waitman on a new deal.
Johnston is a veteran of 105 combined regular and postseason games. He had a busy stretch with the Eagles and Texans spanning 2018-23, including one year (2021) in which he led the NFL in punts (88). The former UDFA has averaged 47.7 gross yards per punt with a net of 42.0 over the course of his career.
The Steelers lined up a pair of key moves on offense Monday, agreeing to a trade for wideout Michael Pittman Jr. and a signing of running back Rico Dowdle. The team’s quarterback position is still unsettled, and arriving at a final decision on that front will of course be a key priority in the near future. In any case, the punter spot has been addressed regardless of what happens with Waitman.
49ers Setting ‘Astronomical’ Price On QB Mac Jones
With Malik Willis just scoring a three-year, $67.5MM deal with full guarantees through 2027, the 49ers are sitting on a valuable asset. Their two-year, $7MM contract for Mac Jones includes one more season, and San Francisco saw how capable the former New England first-rounder was during his debut Bay Area slate.
Although the Dolphins filled their quarterback need, a few bridge-type jobs remain available. Teams are still calling the 49ers on Jones, but The Athletic’s Dianna Russini describes a price clubs are deeming “astronomical.” This is not the first time we’ve heard the 49ers setting a high price on their backup, and considering Brock Purdy‘s 2025 injury trouble, it makes sense for the team to stand firm here.
Last week, a report emerged indicating the 49ers are targeting more than a second-rounder in a return. And we have heard for weeks the 49ers will not part with Jones without a big asset coming back. This illustrates how high Jones’ trade value has climbed — and highlights the supply-and-demand ratio at this position — after the once-demoted Patriots starter was dealt to the Jaguars for a sixth-rounder in 2024. After making eight starts in 2025 — to the point the skill gap between he and Purdy was being debated — Jones is a hot commodity.
Debating Jones’ effectiveness outside Kyle Shanahan‘s system is worthwhile; after all, Jimmy Garoppolo fizzled in Las Vegas. But Sam Darnold‘s recent success, after a year as Purdy’s backup, will do nothing to cool Jones’ market. The 49ers could also determine they can groom a similar backup behind Purdy, possibly opening the door to the team ultimately taking the best offer this offseason and using the asset in the draft. The 49ers could lose this opportunity soon, as Jones will be a 2027 free agent. But he also represents valuable injury insurance for one of the NFL’s most injury-prone teams.
The Jets are trading for Geno Smith, and the Falcons are signing Tua Tagovailoa. But a handful of teams — the Browns, Steelers and Vikings among them — are still looking for options. The Cardinals agreed to sign Gardner Minshew, pairing him with Jacoby Brissett. That might not be Arizona’s last QB move, but after being connected to Willis, the team may stand down and wage a stopgap-type battle. Meanwhile, the 49ers are waiting for a monster offer for a player who held little trade value not too long ago.
Broncos To Release LB Dre Greenlaw
MARCH 10: The Broncos are planning to use one of their two allotted post-June 1 designations to make this release. Greenlaw will be cut Wednesday as a result, the Denver Gazette’s Chris Tomasson tweets. A post-June 1 move will save $8.19MM in cap space for the Broncos, though they cannot use that money until June.
MARCH 9: Agreeing to terms to bring back Alex Singleton and Justin Strnad, the Broncos are bailing on their other primary 2025 linebacker. Dre Greenlaw is out after one season, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport tweets.
Greenlaw was due to see a $2MM salary guarantee this week. The Broncos will not pay that and will instead move on from the increasingly injury-prone talent. Because of Greenlaw’s Super Bowl LVIII Achilles tear and the ensuing near-season-long absence in 2024, the Broncos were able to sign him by guaranteeing one year of a three-year contract. Denver will use the escape hatch in the deal.
Before training camp, Greenlaw suffered a quad injury. He then sustained a separate quad injury during camp, leading to an IR placement to start the season. The former Fred Warner San Francisco sidekick then sustained a hamstring injury in December, costing him time to close the regular season. While Greenlaw returned for the playoffs, he played just eight regular-season games — losing another due to a suspension — during his time as a Bronco.
Formerly one of the NFL’s best linebackers, Greenlaw has seen his stock fall since that seminal Achilles tear. While that made a significant difference in the 49ers’ defensive plan against the Chiefs in an overtime loss, Greenlaw played only a few dozen snaps in 2024. The 49ers still out-offered the Broncos — though, it was never specified if that meant in total compensation, AAV or guarantees — for Greenlaw after an 11th-hour push in 2025, but Denver won out. But the payoff did not come.
Denver will save just more than $6MM by releasing Greenlaw, who played his age-28 season in Colorado. Even though Greenlaw’s three-year, $31.5MM deal did not pan out, he should have a chance to bounce back. Though, the former 49ers fifth-rounder’s injury issues may bring a one-year “prove it” deal at this point.
In retaining Singleton and Strnad, the Broncos will be going with two 30-something starters at linebacker. Singleton is 32, while Strnad will turn 30 this year. It would not surprise to see the defending AFC West champs add a piece early in the draft. For now, though, a Singleton-Strnad duo is in place.
Cowboys To Sign DT Otito Ogbonnia
The Cowboys continue to make moves on defense early in the negotiating period. Otito Ogbonnia is heading to Dallas on a one-year, $3MM deal, Mike Garafolo of NFL Network reports. 
Ogbonnia just finished playing out his rookie contract with the Chargers. Across his four years in Los Angeles, the former fifth-round pick logged 20 starts. 17 of those came in 2024, a year in which Ogbonnia set a new career high with 37 tackles.
The 25-year-old will join a very crowded defensive front with the Cowboys. Osa Odighizuwa remains in the fold, as does Kenny Clark (whom the team acquired as part of the Micah Parsons blockbuster). Improving along the defensive interior remained a priority through the 2025 season, and Dallas acquired Quinnen Williams at the trade deadline. Further additions have nevertheless been targeted early in the negotiating period.
To little surprise, the Cowboys have focused on the defensive side of the ball so far this week. Another notable trade agreement with the Packers – this time for edge rusher Rashan Gary – has been worked out. Dallas has also lined up free agent deals with safeties Jalen Thompson and P.J. Locke. Improving at all three levels of the defense will be critical in avoiding a repeat of the 2025 season.
Ogbonnia will look to carve out a role as part of that effort. The UCLA product’s defensive snap share varied significantly during his time with the Bolts, and last season he only handed a 25% workload. It will be interesting to see how much new Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker uses Ogbonnia in 2026. A strong showing in a rotational role could lead to a more lucrative pact next spring.
Cowboys, S P.J. Locke Agree To Deal
For the second day in a row, the Cowboys have lined up a safety deal. P.J. Locke is heading to Dallas, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports.
This will be a one-year deal, Rapoport adds. Locke will earn up to $5MM with his new team. He and Jalen Thompson are positioned to handle key roles on Dallas’ defense next season.
Locke came up as a Cowboys target just before free agency, as he has played for new Dallas DC Christian Parker previously. Parker’s time as the Broncos’ DBs coach (2021-23) overlapped with Locke’s stay as a backup and then starter. Year 3 of Parker’s work with Locke involved a promotion into a starting role — as Kareem Jackson was suspended twice for illegal hits and then released — alongside Justin Simmons, and the Broncos re-signed Locke in 2024.
A former UDFA out of Texas, Locke will return to his home state after playing out a two-year, $7MM Denver deal. The Broncos signed Brandon Jones (three years, $20MM) in 2024 but brought back Locke to start alongside the ex-Dolphin. Locke’s performance, however, prompted the AFC West team to give Talanoa Hufanga a three-year, $39MM deal in 2025. Locke worked primarily as a third safety in Denver last season.
After 23 starts from 2023-24, Locke only made three during the ’25 regular season. This came after he underwent offseason spine surgery. But the Broncos needed the sub late in the season, as Jones suffered a season-ending pectoral injury. Locke started alongside Hufanga in both Denver’s playoff games, making a crucial divisional-round interception as the Broncos staved off the Bills. The six-year veteran also forced a fumble in Denver’s overtime win, making nine tackles in the game.
With Jones and Hufanga due back in Denver, Locke is leaving for a potential starting role. Though, his contract could lead to a competition or another reserve opportunity. Thompson agreed to a three-year, $33MM accord, and the Cowboys have Malik Hooker on a reworked deal. Hooker is now tied to a one-year, $5MM contract. That could pit him against Locke in a competition. Locke’s past with Parker should help ahead of an age-29 season.
Adam La Rose contributed to this post.
Jets To Sign CB Nahshon Wright
Nahshon Wright came through with a big contract year, doing so after being previously discarded. Wright’s market did not heat up to the point teams are completely sold, but the veteran cornerback will see a 2026 raise.
The Jets are adding Wright on a one-year deal worth up to $5.5MM, NFL insider Jordan Schultz tweets. It certainly seems teams expressed considerable skepticism at Wright’s five-interception Bears season, as this amounts to a “prove it” contract.
A former Cowboys third-round pick, Wright played a key role for a division-winning Bears team. The 6-foot-4 corner benefited from Jaylon Johnson’s early-season injury, starting 16 games. Once Johnson returned from injury, the Bears continued to deploy Wright as a starter by reducing former second-round pick Tyrique Stevenson‘s role. But Wright’s past looks to have made a big investment a tough sell for some teams. Wright was interested in re-signing with the Bears, but it does not appear the interest was mutual.
The Cowboys gave up on Wright during their 2024 training camp, trading him straight up for Vikings second-round corner Andrew Booth. The latter is now in the UFL. Minnesota also released Wright in April 2025, leading to his Chicago stop. The would-be Bears depth piece impressed with his coverage instincts, compensating for suboptimal speed. The Bears used the reclamation project on 97% of their snaps, far outpacing Stevenson’s workload.
This represents a raise for Wright, who played for just $1.1MM in 2025, but it also may be costly. Wright is heading into his age-28 season; the Oregon State will need to submit a quality Jets campaign to drive a market in 2027 — or through an extension — and he is running out of time on that front.
New York has disbanded its strong CB trio from the Robert Saleh years, trading both Sauce Gardner and Michael Carter II and letting D.J. Reed walk (to the Lions) last year in free agency. Aaron Glenn‘s team acquired Jarvis Brownlee from the Titans early last season, doing so after signing ex-Ravens CB2 Brandon Stephens to a $12MM-per-year deal. The team used a third-round pick on Azareye’h Thomas last year as well. This setup did not deliver much in Year 1, as the Jets’ defense cratered, but Wright should bring some upside — especially at this low price.
Browns Re-Sign G Teven Jenkins
Teven Jenkins will remain in place with the Browns for 2026. The veteran guard has agreed to a new Cleveland deal, per a team announcement.
After Jenkins concluded his college career with First-Team All-Big 12 honors in 2020, the Bears drafted the former Oklahoma State Cowboy 39th overall the next spring. A back injury limited Jenkins to six games and two starts as a rookie, though, and the Bears shifted him to guard in his second season.
Although injuries held Jenkins to 39 of a possible 51 games from 2022-24, he racked up 36 starts. Pro Football Focus generally took a favorable view of Jenkins’ work as a guard in Chicago. The team still did not retain Jenkins last offseason, instead bringing in Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson as its new starting guards.
With his time in Chicago up, Jenkins headed to Cleveland on a one-year agreement last March. Jenkins put together the first 17-game season of his career, but the 28-year-old started just four times on a team with established guards Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller. Bitonio played every game and barely missed any snaps, but Jenkins stepped in four times for an injured Teller.
After totaling 329 offensive snaps last year, Jenkins’ role moving forward is in flux as the Browns continue a wide-ranging overhaul up front. Bitonio may retire, while Teller is on track to leave in free agency. Knowing they would need new guard starters, the Browns traded for ex-Texan Tytus Howard (who can also play tackle) and worked out an agreement with former Charger Zion Johnson on Monday.
Earlier today, Dianna Russini of The Athletic reported Cleveland would still be involved in the guard market, so more outside additions could be coming. In any case, Jenkins will again be at least a depth option.
Jags Not Open To Brian Thomas Jr. Trade?
MARCH 10: It appears the Jaguars have not actually changed their stance from the fall. The team is not believed to be interested in moving the third-year wide receiver, ESPN’s Adam Schefter notes. With Hunter moving to more of a cornerback role, the Jags appear set to see if Thomas can bounce back alongside Meyers and Washington.
MARCH 9: Arriving during Trent Baalke‘s final draft as Jaguars GM, Brian Thomas Jr. enjoyed a promising rookie season before submitting to a sophomore slump. With a new regime running the show now, Thomas’ standing in Duval County may be a bit shaky.
The Jaguars are believed to be listening to offers on Thomas, SNY’s Connor Hughes reports. Teams called the Jags about Thomas at last year’s deadline — the Giants, Jets and Steelers among them — but the team was not open to dealing the 2024 first-rounder. It appears the AFC South club is now more willing to hear what Thomas can bring in a trade.
The Steelers called the Jags on Thomas last year, but they agreed to trade for Michael Pittman Jr. earlier today. The Jets added Adonai Mitchell in their Sauce Gardner trade. The Giants lost Wan’Dale Robinson to the Titans in free agency, though they still roster Malik Nabers and Darius Slayton. Thomas played with Nabers at LSU, and Slayton’s contract can be shed fairly easily in 2027.
Although the Jags are prepared to shift Travis Hunter to more of a cornerback-first role, they saw Thomas fail to make a big impact in Liam Coen‘s debut. The big-bodied target slumped to a 48-catch, 707-yard season. That would not exactly qualify as a woeful campaign, but Thomas posted 1,282 yards and 10 touchdowns as a rookie. He caught just two TDs last season, and trade pickup Jakobi Meyers checked in as a more reliable option in Coen’s offense. The Jags have since given Meyers a three-year, $60MM extension.
It would seemingly take at least a Day 2 pick — possibly with another choice sprinkled in — to convince the Jags to move off a player with a 1,200-yard rookie season in his recent past. Two years remain on Thomas’ rookie contract, increasing his value. No extension talks can commence until 2027. As it stands, the Jags do not look likely to ever initiate those.
Coen and GM James Gladstone gutted Baalke’s pass catcher setup last year, trading Christian Kirk and cutting Evan Engram, Gabe Davis and Devin Duvernay. Dyami Brown also played out his 2025 contract. If the Jags are to seriously entertain trading Thomas, they would need at least one more option. That said, Parker Washington took a step forward last year and led the division-winning team with 847 receiving yards. Though, he is now in a contract year. Thomas’ status will be a storyline to monitor as teams fill their receiver rooms in free agency.
Colts, Daniel Jones Making Progress
The first quarterback to be transition-tagged since the Falcons cuffed ex-Colt Jeff George in 1996, Daniel Jones and Indianapolis began this process with considerable ground to cover. The Colts’ initial offer did not come close to Jones’ asking price.
Indianapolis made an offer in the Sam Darnold ballpark, according to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, who confirms the team proposed an extension around the three-year, $100.5MM the Seahawks gave Darnold last year. Jones’ camp balked, citing the leverage a franchise tag would have provided and countered with an offer in another salary bracket.
A rather tough negotiator in 2023 with the Giants, Jones viewed his price closer to $50MM per year, Breer adds. This reminds of when the quarterback sought a deal north of $45MM per year back in 2023, when the $50MM-AAV club was not yet in place. The Giants settled on a four-year, $160MM pact that backfired quickly. Somehow, after an ACL tear, more neck trouble, a fibula fracture and an Achilles tear, Jones has moved into strong leverage position again. That led to the Colts transition-tagging their 2025 starter at last week’s deadline.
Given a one-year, $14MM deal in 2025, Jones is now tied to a $37.83MM tag. That number does give the veteran quarterback some leverage, as does the Colts having traded their 2026 and ’27 first-rounders for Sauce Gardner. It appears Jones, who was prioritized over Saquon Barkley three years ago, is not intent on a team-friendly deal here.
That said, veteran insider Jordan Schultz notes progress has been made since team and player were far apart. No extension has been reached, but it would certainly help the Colts — by reducing Jones’ cap figure — to complete one. Indy was able to retain Alec Pierce on a four-year, $116MM deal. But the team essentially gave away longtime No. 1 wideout Michael Pittman Jr. — whom Pierce arguably usurped atop the Colts’ pass-game hierarchy last season — in a pick-swap trade with the Steelers to create necessary cap space. Were Jones not on the transition tag, Indianapolis would be less restricted.
The Colts have not exactly kept their cards close to the vest; they are fairly committed to retaining Jones for a second season. Despite the 28-year-old passer going through another offseason of rehab, he is expected to be Indy’s 2026 starter. The Vikings, Jones’ brief employer late in the 2024 season, were believed to be monitoring this situation. But the prospect of Kyler Murray on a vet-minimum deal has emerged. That would be far less costly for Minnesota, though the Vikes out-offered the Colts for Jones in 2025. Jones chose Indy because he deemed Anthony Richardson as a less imposing hurdle to a starting job than J.J. McCarthy.
Indianapolis still holds more than $23MM in cap space as of Tuesday afternoon, but the team could make more roster improvements if Jones’ transition tag turns into a lower cap number on an extension during free agency. The clock is ticking there, and Jones’ camp may continue to exert leverage. It worked pretty well, contract-wise, when he proceeded that way with the Giants.
Lions, Malcolm Rodriguez Agree To Deal
Alex Anzalone will not be back with the Lions in 2026. The opposite is true for Malcolm Rodriguez, though, with NFL insider Jordan Schultz reporting he has agreed to a one-year deal.
As a sixth-round rookie in 2022, Rodriguez was a “Hard Knocks” star who ended up a 15-game starter in the regular season. The Oklahoma State product totaled 87 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble then, but it was not enough to hold down a starting job.
In 2023, Rodriguez’s only 17-game season, he played just 10.99% of defensive snaps. On the other hand, he recorded the Lions’ third-highest special teams snap share (67.92%).
Rodriguez saw more action as a defender than a special teamer in his third season, but he was one of many Lions defenders to suffer a serious injury that year. A torn ACL ended his season in late November. Rodriguez finished 2024 with 43 tackles and a career-high two sacks over 10 games and six starts.
After Rodriguez went through a year-long recovery from his knee injury, the 5-foot-11, 230-pounder came off the PUP list last November. He played 160 special teams snaps and 72 on defense over seven games. Rodriguez made 12 tackles during his late-season return.
With Anzalone on his way to Tampa Bay, Gonzalez could be a bigger factor in Detroit’s defense in 2026. As things stand, Rodriguez, Jack Campbell and Derrick Barnes are the only Lions linebackers under contract.
Connor Byrne contributed to this post.