49ers To Sign CB Jack Jones
After logging his first career 17-start season in Miami last year, cornerback Jack Jones is headed elsewhere. The 49ers are signing Jones, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network relays. It will be a one-year pact, per Adam Schefter of ESPN.
A fourth-round pick of the Patriots in 2022, Jones is now joining his fourth organization and returning to his native California. Along with the Pats and Dolphins, Jones has spent time with the Raiders. The 28-year-old has intercepted eight passes over 59 games and 38 starts
Jones began his career with a 13-game, two-start rookie year in which he picked off two passes. However, his run in New England didn’t last much longer. Jones was arrested in June 2023 after trying to bring two loaded firearms on a plane, though charges were later dropped. He then began the season on IR as a hamstring injury. Just five games after the Patriots activated Jones, they waived him amid on-field struggles and more off-field issues. New England quickly cut the cord after Jones missed curfew ahead of a game in Germany.
Jones temporarily found a home in Las Vegas, which claimed him on waivers. The move reunited him with then-Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce, who coached him in high school and at Arizona State. With two pick-sixes and four passes defensed, Jones had a productive seven-game finish to the season. Pierce remained at the helm in 2024, during which Jones recorded his first 17-game season and started 16 times. Jones added another three INTs, but with Pierce out the door, the Raiders released the corner last spring.
Three-plus months after the Raiders cut him, Jones joined the Dolphins in late July. While injuries ravaged the Dolphins’ secondary, Jones had a second straight healthy season and led their corners in defensive snap share (91.5%). The 5-foot-11, 175-pounder tallied 77 tackles, six passes defensed, two forced fumbles and a pick, but Pro Football Focus ranked his play a below-average 62nd among 112 corners.
Now set to play for new 49ers defensive coordinator Raheem Morris, Jones will give the club another experienced choice on the outside. Deommodore Lenoir and Renardo Green, the 49ers’ starters last year, remain atop the depth chart.
Eagles Acquire, Extend WR Dontayvion Wicks
Two NFC contenders have swung a trade. The Eagles are acquiring wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks from the Packers for a 2026 fifth-round pick and a 2027 sixth-rounder, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports. Philadelphia is also extending Wicks on a one-year, $12.5MM deal.
Wicks’ name surfaced in trade rumors in early March. The three-year veteran is now headed elsewhere a month later. Shipping him out will save the Packers $2.6MM in cap space, per Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. They have around $26MM available.
Wicks becomes the second notable Packers receiver to exit this offseason. The Pack previously lost Romeo Doubs to the Patriots in free agency, but the team still counts Christian Watson, Matthew Golden, Jayden Reed, Savion Williams, Bo Melton and Skyy Moore among its wideouts. The Packers also have a quality pass-catching tight end in Tucker Kraft, giving quarterback Jordan Love plenty of options.
In using a first-rounder on Golden and a third-rounder on Williams, the Packers invested heavily in the position during last year’s draft. Neither produced much in 2025, but the Packers will likely expect the two to make a bigger impact going forward.
Green Bay spent a 2023 fifth-rounder on Wicks, who gave the club decent complementary production. The 6-foot-1, 206-pounder has missed five games, including three last year, but has averaged 40 catches, 491 yards and four touchdowns per 17 contests. Wicks’ move to Philadelphia will reunite him with Sean Mannion. Now the Eagles’ offensive coordinator, Mannion spent the past two years on the Packers’ offensive staff.
Wicks is the third receiver addition this offseason for the Eagles, joining Marquise Brown and Elijah Moore. While Moore is not a lock to make the team, Wicks and Brown figure to carve out important roles in their offense. The acquisition of Wicks will only add fuel to the fire in regards to a potential A.J. Brown trade. The Eagles are expected to deal the three-time Pro Bowler in the coming months, likely between June 2 and the start of the season. Wicks’ track record pales in comparison to A.J. Brown’s, but the Eagles have at least found another capable receiver ahead of the draft.
The Wicks extension gives the Eagles control over three of their top receivers through at least 2027. It may be short-lived in the case of A.J. Brown, who is currently under wraps through 2029. Regardless of what happens with Brown, fellow star DeVonta Smith is signed through 2028.
Falcons Pick Up Bijan Robinson’s Fifth-Year Option
To no surprise, the Falcons have exercised Bijan Robinson‘s fifth-year option, Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports reports. The superstar running back is now in line to earn $11.32MM in 2027.
Since going eighth overall in the 2023 draft, Robinson has established himself as one of the NFL’s premier players. The former Texas Longhorn fell just shy of 1,000 yards rushing as a rookie (976), but he exceeded 1,400 in each of the past two seasons. Robinson has also amassed 198 receptions, including 79 last year, and 34 touchdowns (25 rushing, nine receiving). Along with posting elite production, Robinson has been eminently durable. The 5-foot-11, 215-pounder has yet to miss a game.
Robinson’s 1,478 rushing yards ranked fourth in the league in 2025. The 24-year-old notched another 820 yards through the air, good for 20th overall, and scored 11 times (seven rushing, four receiving). Along with earning his second Pro Bowl invitation, Robinson was a first-team All-Pro running back and a second-team All-Pro as an all-purpose player.
Having made the no-brainer decision to pick up Robinson’s option, the Falcons’ new front office leaders – president of football Matt Ryan and general manager Ian Cunningham – could turn their attention to an extension after the draft. Locking up Robinson and star wide receiver Drake London will be priorities, though there should be more urgency in the latter’s case. London is due to reach free agency in a year, while Robinson will remain in place for at least two more seasons.
An extension for Robinson will make him one of the league’s highest-paid running backs, if not the highest. The Saints’ Travis Etienne and the Packers’ Josh Jacobs top the position in total value ($48MM). The Eagles’ Saquon Barkley ($20.6MM) and the 49ers’ Christian McCaffrey ($19MM) lead in average annual salary, while the former is No. 1 in guarantees ($36MM). Robinson has a strong argument to surpass all of them, especially with the salary cap continuing to rise.
Minor NFL Transactions: 4/9/26
One minor move to pass along:
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: DT Haggai Ndubuisi
The Buccaneers have been busy, as they added a pair of cornerbacks earlier today. Now, they’ve added some defensive line depth in Haggai Ndubuisi. The lineman entered the NFL in 2022 as a participant in the NFL’s International Player Pathway Program, and he’s had brief stints with a long list of teams. He most recently spent the 2025 campaign on the Texans practice squad, although he did manage to make his NFL debut in Week 14. As Greg Auman of FOX Sports notes, Ndubuisi could be a candidate to be Tampa Bay’s International Pathway Program player.
49ers Sign DE Cameron Sample
The 49ers have added some depth to their defensive line. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reports that the team has signed Cameron Sample. It will be a one-year deal for the defensive end.
A 2021 fourth-round pick out of Tulane, Sample saw a consistent defensive role during his time with the Bengals. He missed only four games through his first three seasons in Cincinnati, where he got into more than one third of his team’s defensive snaps while compiling five total sacks and 20 total QB hits.
His 2024 campaign was completely wiped out by a torn Achilles tendon. He re-signed with the Bengals last offseason and managed to make 14 appearances in his comeback season, tallying 17 tackles, a pair of sacks, and one forced fumble. However, he got into a career-low 26 percent of his team’s defensive snaps, and had he earned enough reps to qualify, he would have ranked in the bottom-20 of Pro Football Focus’ ranking of the league’s edge defenders.
The 49ers needed some extra DE depth last season, as both Nick Bosa and Mykel Williams were lost with torn ACLs. That duo should be back in the lineup at some point early in the 2026 campaign, but Sample will be among the grouping to soak up any leftover snaps. At the moment, the free agent addition will be competing with the likes of Sam Okuayinonu (who led the position grouping in snaps in 2025), Keion White, William Bradley-King, and Andrew Farmer.
Bucs To Add CBs Chase Lucas, Kemon Hall
The Buccaneers lost several members of their secondary in free agency, including starting cornerback Jamel Dean. They are now set to sign former Lions and 49ers defensive back Chase Lucas, per NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.
Lucas has primarily operated as a backup during his career. The Bucs are also adding veteran reserve/special-teamer Kemon Hall to their cornerback room, ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweets. This duo joins holdovers Zyon McCollum, Benjamin Morrison and Jacob Parrish in Tampa Bay’s CB group.
A 2022 Lions seventh-rounder, Lucas impressed in the preseason with the 49ers last year and earned a career-high 98 defensive snaps. For the most part, though, San Francisco used Lucas on special teams. The Arizona State product saw action on 53% of the 49ers’ ST plays last season. That came after the Lions gave him a 72% ST snap share. Lucas served as a backup in the slot with the 49ers, giving the Bucs some depth behind Parrish.
Entering the NFL in 2019, Hall joins Lucas in never starting a game. The North Texas alum — a regular in our Minor NFL Transactions posts this decade — is now on team No. 7. Hall has previously played for the Chargers, Vikings, Saints, Cowboys, 49ers and Titans. Hall, 28, has only played more than six games in a season once — with the Chargers in 2021 — so it will be far from a given he earns a 53-man roster spot come August.
Tampa Bay parted with Dean (now with the Steelers) after seven seasons and lost Christian Izien as well. The team should be expected to deploy Morrison alongside McCollum and Parrish next season. Fourth-year player Josh Hayes — a 2023 Bucs sixth-rounder — remains on the roster, as does ex-Raven Damarion Williams. Lucas, 29, and Hall will make their cases for roster spots over the coming months. It should probably be expected the Bucs add here in the draft, but the team does have some additional options thanks to these signings.
Falcons RT Kaleb McGary Retires
After missing all of last season with a knee injury, Falcons right tackle Kaleb McGary is retiring at the age of 31. Agent Collin Roberts announced the news on Wednesday.
A career-long Falcon, McGary joined the organization as the 31st overall pick in the 2019 draft. The former Washington standout became an immediate starter in Atlanta, which kept him atop its depth chart for his entire career. McGary started in 92 of 93 appearances in the NFL. Before a lost 2025, McGary played between 14 and 17 games in each season.
[RELATED: Falcons To Sign RT Jawaan Taylor]
McGary and left tackle Jake Matthews started opposite each other during their entire six-year run together. The Falcons almost split up the duo a few years into McGary’s career. They were not impressed enough with McGary’s work to pick up his fifth-year option in 2022. However, with McGary on the verge of leaving in free agency the next spring, the Falcons kept him around on a three-year, $34.5MM pact. That was the first of two significant paydays for McGary, who put pen to paper on a two-year, $30MM deal last August.
Unfortunately for McGary and the Falcons, he never played a snap on his final contract. McGary went down in practice in late August. He wound up spending the season on injured reserve. Backup Storm Norton also missed 2025 with a knee injury. That left Elijah Wilkinson to play every down at right tackle for the Falcons, though they did not re-sign him in free agency. Wilkinson joined the Cardinals on a two-year, $6.5MM agreement.
The 2026 Falcons are guaranteed to start a left-handed quarterback (either Tua Tagovailoa or Michael Penix Jr.), but it is unclear who will protect the passer’s blind side. Atlanta has not made any notable additions in free agency, perhaps leaving Norton as the in-house favorite to start. The Falcons may add a potential McGary replacement in the draft, though they do not have a first-round pick and own just five selections in total. General manager Ian Cunningham wants to acquire more picks, which could be an even higher priority in the wake of McGary’s retirement.
Texans Exercise Will Anderson Jr., C.J. Stroud’s Fifth-Year Options
The Texans will be committing nearly $50MM in guaranteed money to their two first-round draft choices from 2023. Both Will Anderson Jr. and C.J. Stroud are extension candidates, and each is now signed through the 2027 season.
Houston is exercising both players’ fifth-year options, according to ESPN.com’s Field Yates. Stroud’s option checks in at $25.9MM, while Anderson’s comes in at $21.51MM. Anderson is on the Texans’ extension docket this offseason, and while a Stroud payday may now be pushed to 2027, the Texans are making the expected one-year commitment to the former Offensive Rookie of the Year.
[RELATED: 2027 NFL Fifth-Year Option Tracker]
Anderson’s fifth-year number comes in on the third tier of the option ladder, with the former Alabama standout being named to one original-ballot Pro Bowl. Stroud has not been invited to a Pro Bowl on the original ballot, so he qualifies for the second rung on the QB ladder. That is still a hefty chunk of change for the quarterback. If Stroud indeed plays the 2027 season in Houston, he will be the franchise’s first five-year starting quarterback since Matt Schaub.
Soaring to the first-team All-Pro level last season as a dominant pass rusher on a menacing Texans defense, Anderson has generated extension buzz for months. The Texans paid Derek Stingley Jr. early, giving him a record-setting extension in his first offseason of eligibility. Anderson may well follow suit, as rumors have trended in that direction. The Texans paid J.J. Watt in his first year of extension eligibility back in 2014. Anderson does not have a Defensive Player of the Year honor under his belt like Watt did when Houston paid him, but the 2023 No. 3 pick has become one of the NFL’s best edge rushers.
Discussions have begun with Anderson, who will be a candidate to at least approach where Micah Parsons and Aidan Hutchinson took the market to close a transformative year on the EDGE market. Anderson will not turn 25 until September, and he has totaled 23 sacks over the past two seasons. The 2023 Defensive Rookie of the Year racked up 12 sacks last season opposite perennial sack ace Danielle Hunter, forming one of the NFL’s best rush tandems in recent memory. This duo joined Stingley in powering Houston to a third straight playoff berth, with the Texans’ defense smothering the Steelers in Round 1 after a strong regular-season surge to reach 12 wins.
Parsons’ market reached $46.5MM per year, with his Packers extension stalling Hutchinson’s Lions talks. Hutchinson scored a defender-record $141MM guaranteed, while Parsons came in at $136MM. Anderson’s camp will be eyeing those figures, though the Texans have shown a willingness — as Stingley’s deal showed — to complete three-year extensions. That would reduce the total cash figure while allowing Anderson a chance at a third contract sooner. This easy option decision, however, reflects how well the Texans did choosing Anderson — whom they traded up nine spots for after selecting Stroud at No. 2.
Stroud came off the board one pick after former Alabama QB Bryce Young, whom the Panthers chose first overall. While Stroud has been the better of the two, it is not sure a thing either team will commit to a long-term deal this offseason. Rather, both clubs may want to wait another year to evaluate their signal-callers. Stroud and Young have put together uneven careers thus far.
Although the Texans have gone a terrific 28-18 in Stroud’s starts, the 24-year-old’s effectiveness has arguably dipped since a stellar 2023 introduction. A concussion sidelined Stroud for three games last season. The team kept its once-floundering season afloat by winning all three of backup Davis Mills‘ starts. Meanwhile, the Texans won nine of Stroud’s 14 outings. He completed 64.5% of passes, averaged 7.2 yards per attempt and tossed 19 touchdowns against eight interceptions. While his traditional passer rating (92.9) checked in at 17th, he finished a much more impressive 11th in QBR (61.7).
Stroud has helped the Texans to the playoffs in each of his seasons, but they have not gotten past the divisional round. The Stroud-led team suffered particularly ugly second-round defeats to the Ravens in 2023 (34-10) and the Patriots last January (28-16). Stroud had one of the worst games of his career in New England, where he completed 20 of 47 passes and threw four picks in miserable weather.
Discussing Stroud’s playoff struggles, head coach DeMeco Ryans said (via Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2): “Being young in his career, he’s gained a ton of valuable experience and a ton of playoff experience and seeing that it hasn’t gone as we would like it to go there in the playoffs. Of course, you always want to win it all. But when you go through those difficult moments, those tough times, you learn from them. I know C.J. has learned from those moments.”
Heading into a pivotal fourth year, Ryans believes Stroud is “dialed in,” adding, “I’m excited to see how this continues to transition to him having a really great year for us.”
Connor Byrne contributed to this post.
Minor NFL Transactions: 4/8/26
Here are today’s midweek minor transactions:
New York Jets
- Signed ERFA tender: LB Marcelino McCrary-Ball
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Received roster exemption (international player): LB Julius Welschof
Going undrafted out of Indiana in 2022, McCrary-Ball will be back for his fourth year in New York. After serving solely on special teams in his first two years, McCrary-Ball saw some extended time on defense for the first time in his career last year.
Welschof has been with the Steelers since he signed with the team as an undrafted free agent two years ago out of Charlotte, where the German-born defender had transferred after five years at Michigan. With the international player roster exemption, the Steelers will be able to place Welschof on their practice squad in the regular season without him counting against the 16-man limit.
Falcons To Sign RT Jawaan Taylor
The Falcons may have already found their replacement for retired right tackle Kaleb McGary. Atlanta has agreed to a one-year deal with Jawaan Taylor, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports. The contract carries a $5MM base value and up to $1MM in incentives.
McGary missed all of last season with a knee injury, but expectations were the longtime Falcon would step back into the starting lineup in 2026. Instead, though, McGary walked away from the game on Wednesday. Having already lost 2025 starter Elijah Wilkinson to the Cardinals in free agency, McGary’s retirement left the Falcons dangerously thin at right tackle. It did not take long for the Falcons to find an experienced option in the 28-year-old Taylor, who will presumably start opposite left tackle Jake Matthews next season.
Taylor entered the NFL in 2019 as part of the same draft class as McGary. The Jaguars took Taylor 35th overall, four picks after the Falcons selected McGary. Taylor has since started in all 111 regular-season games, including 66 as a Jaguar over his first four seasons.
Upon reaching free agency in 2023, Taylor left Jacksonville for Kansas City’s four-year, $80MM offer. Then the reigning Super Bowl champions, the Chiefs brought Taylor in to replace Orlando Brown Jr., who signed with the Bengals. Taylor was a 17-game starter in his first year in Kansas City, the most recent title-winning campaign for the franchise. The team went back to the Super Bowl the next season, a 16-start year for Taylor, but the Eagles blew them out.
Taylor had never missed more than one game in a season going into 2025, but a triceps injury held him to 12 appearances. His season officially ended when the out-of-contention Chiefs placed him on IR in late December. Pro Football Focus rated Taylor’s play a subpar 76th among 84 tackles. PFF has never been enamored of Taylor, who topped out at 49th in its rankings back in his rookie season.
With the chance to free up $20MM in cap space, the Chiefs took the expected route and released Taylor in March. Over his three years in Kansas City, Taylor took a whopping 40 penalties. With limited options in free agency, no first-round pick and just five selections in total, the Falcons will gamble on the 6-foot-5, 330-pound Taylor to protect the blind side of a left-handed quarterback. Either Tua Tagovailoa or Michael Penix Jr. will open the season as their starting signal-caller.