PHILADELPHIA — There was a time, a long time, when Brandon Graham was known for who he wasn’t.

He was not Earl Thomas, the All-Pro safety who went one pick after him in the 2010 draft.

He was not Dez Bryant or Eric Decker, the two wide receivers who were selected with the picks the Eagles traded in order to move up and select Graham at No....Read more

MIAMI — I am wearing a miner’s helmet, the lamp leading me through the darkness, pickax in hand as I crunch across the rubble. I am searching. Looking hard. What I am after, though — it difficult to find.

I am looking for reasons Miami Dolphins fans might be optimistic at the moment. Why they might be the least bit encouraged by this ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — The Steelers continue to await a decision from Aaron Rodgers, but if the four-time NFL MVP ends his lengthy courtship with the team and signs elsewhere, it raises plenty of questions about what they intend to do about a starting quarterback.

One of the options, though, is relying on the player who saved their 2023 season — ...Read more

CHICAGO — A young quarterback, a revamped interior offensive line and a new coach running the offense. That was the situation Olamide Zaccheaus walked into a year ago when he signed a free-agent contract with the Washington Commanders.

One year later, it sounds an awful lot like the situation Zaccheaus finds himself in with the Chicago Bears....Read more

PHILADELPHIA — The Eagles have ensured that their franchise right tackle has the opportunity to be a part of their future for the next few years.

Lane Johnson agreed to terms on a one-year extension through 2027, the Eagles announced on Monday evening. Johnson, who turns 35 in May, will be going into his 15th season in Philadelphia when the ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Ravens left tackle Ronnie Stanley knows what he has around him in Baltimore. From two-time NFL Most Valuable Player and quarterback Lamar Jackson to five-time Pro Bowl selection and second-team All-Pro running back Derrick Henry to a defense that over the second half of last season was one of the best in the league, it’s a trove ...Read more

Six winters ago, Miami Dolphins owner Steve Ross promoted Chris Grier from running the NFL draft to running the entire organization because, “everything you want to see for this job is embodied in Chris.”

Mediocre decisions?

Underwhelming drafts?

Glaring problems?

That’s the embodiment of Grier’s work. He is the Liam Eichenberg of ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has a new backup.

Cooper Rush has agreed to a two-year, $6.2 million deal worth up to $12.2 million with Baltimore, a source with direct knowledge of the deal confirmed to The Baltimore Sun. Rush spent his first seven seasons in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys, where he was the backup to Dak ...Read more

CHICAGO — The Chicago Bears aren’t the only NFC North team that invested in the line of scrimmage during a whirlwind start to the NFL’s new year.

They’re just the team that has done the most work in the trenches after a 5-12 season, the sixth time in the last 11 years they finished last in the division.

The Bears have been so busy, ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — If I told you in August that the Eagles would win Super Bowl LIX but afterward they would lose Milton Williams, Josh Sweat, Kenneth Gainwell, Oren Burks and Mekhi Becton, your response would have been a resounding:

“Who cares?”

The performances of that quintet, as well as a few others, outpaced expectations, but none of ...Read more

On the same day the 49ers brought back a longtime member of their backfield in Kyle Juszczyk, they reportedly agreed to send away another major figure in their rushing offense.

The Niners are trading Jordan Mason, their top rusher in 2024, to the Minnesota Vikings just days after giving him a second-round tender as a restricted free agent, NFL ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — After agreeing to terms with Aaron Jones on a new two-year contract this week, the Vikings struck a sign-and-trade deal Saturday night for a younger complement to the running back.

According to multiple sources, they sent a 2026 sixth-round pick to San Francisco and swapped picks in the 2025 draft with the 49ers in exchange for ...Read more

SEATTLE — There hasn't always been a bidding war for Cooper Kupp.

When he joined the Davis High School football team as a freshman in 2008, the diminutive wide receiver was 5 feet 4 and 119 pounds. Despite compiling 110 catches and 2,100 receiving yards as a three-year starter, including a school-record 22 touchdowns in his senior season, the...Read more

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — By keeping quarterback Kirk Cousins on the Falcons roster through Saturday, his $10 million roster bonus has become fully guaranteed, according to multiple reports.

The payment was due before March 17, the fifth day of the start of the new league business year. The Falcons have repeatedly expressed their plans to retain ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — The unassailable right of an elite professional athlete has long been to (mostly) do whatever the heck he or she wants.

Shoes, mansions, cars ... shoot, former NBA guard Gilbert Arenas owned a shark tank. In his house. They do it because they can. The rest of the world gives them a hall pass on reality.

But what happens when ...Read more

NEW YORK — Russell Wilson visited the Giants on Friday in East Rutherford, N.J., as the Aaron Rodgers option continued to fade into murkier view.

No one can say for sure what Rodgers, 41, will choose as he deliberates on his next move between the Giants, Steelers, Vikings and retirement.

But some sources believed as of Thursday night that ...Read more

SEATTLE — The Seahawks are turning to a home-state kid made good — Yakima native and former Eastern Washington University standout Cooper Kupp — to remake their receiving corps in the wake of the departures of DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett.

Three days after being released by the Los Angeles Rams — and after hearing pitches from a handful...Read more

MIAMI — NFL free agency is an amorphous blob as teams spend what salary-cap limits will allow to try to get better (or slightly less worse) ahead of the April draft.

I’ll focus here by homing in on the Miami Dolphins’ dispiriting offseason thus far, and on the biggest remaining national storyline — the future of an incredibly available ...Read more