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Michael DiRocco
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Travis Hunter’s first appearance on defense for the Jacksonville Jaguars will come next week.
Coach Liam Coen said the two-way standout has been learning the offensive and defensive playbooks, but they opted to have him just catch passes during the Jaguars’ two-day rookie camp that concluded Saturday. The team will get him some defensive reps for the first time during the last week of Phase Two of the offseason conditioning program.
“We just kind of ended up making a decision that from yesterday to today, we wanted to be able to clean up some of the things that we may have been able to miss yesterday [and] get extra reps on the offensive side of the ball and next week he’ll start to roll on defense,” Coen said after the roughly 90-minute workout.
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The Jaguars’ plan for Hunter — who played receiver and cornerback in college at Jackson State and Colorado — was to start out on offense because that’s a more complex system to learn and then have him get time on defense as he became more comfortable. But Hunter already has started going through the defensive playbook.
“You’ve just got to get used to it,” Hunter said. “It just has a lot of different types of calls, but other than that, the defense is pretty easy. You’ve just got to get used to the offense.
“Just longer calls and concepts are different [on offense than defense].”
Coen said Hunter already has learned some of the coverages despite not having spent as much time in the defensive playbook as the offensive one.
“He’s been able to dive in and learn some of our three-deep coverages, what do we call our three-deep coverages on the outside, if he has to be manned up on the backside of a three-by-one, he knows all of those calls already,” Coen said. “So, at the end of the day, it’s going to be about, on the defensive side of the ball, communication. The technique and fundamentals, we’ll continue to harp on, but it’s really about being on the same page as the rest of the guys on the back end from a communication standpoint and the rest will kind of take care of itself.
“He’s obviously having to learn both sides of the ball. He’s a football-smart guy. The game makes sense to him. And so now it’s just about putting in that time, that extra time that he’s going to have to do in order to be successful.”
The reigning Heisman Trophy winner played 1,481 snaps and had 1,258 yards and 15 TDs receiving to go along with four interceptions on defense last season at Colorado. He averaged 113.9 snaps per game.
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Katherine Terrell
NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Saints already were looking to the future on Saturday afternoon.
Rookie quarterback Tyler Shough was taking snaps in the team’s indoor practice facility a few hours after the Saints announced the retirement of veteran quarterback Derek Carr. That retirement frees up a competition in the quarterback room between second-round pick Shough, Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener.
“We’re going to let all three of these guys roll, and they’ve all earned these opportunities,” New Orleans coach Kellen Moore said. “We’ll let Jake, Spencer and Tyler, all three, go through this process. Again, we’ll play patience, let these guys compete, let them get into training camp and naturally these [competitions will] take care of itself.”
Shough said that Moore told him about the Carr news before practice Saturday morning.
“I think that’s all you can ask for is an opportunity at any position, and I’m going to treat it the same way, as if, whoever was on the roster, I’ve got to continue to grow and get better and do my best to elevate the quarterback room,” he said.
Carr’s retirement ends a month of uncertainty about his future due to a right shoulder injury in his throwing arm. News of Carr’s injury was made public in early April before the beginning of the team’s offseason workout program, but Carr and the Saints had been publicly quiet about the details of it until Saturday.
Derek Carr has announced his retirement.
In late March, while ramping up his preparation for the 2025 season, Derek experienced pain in his right shoulder. It was his first time throwing a football at significant volume since recovering from both a concussion and left hand… pic.twitter.com/SrcJEzDDnU
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) May 10, 2025
In a statement, New Orleans said Carr experienced pain in his right shoulder in late March after his first significant throwing session of the offseason. The Saints said scans determined Carr had a labral tear and “significant degenerative changes to his rotator cuff.”
According to the team, surgery was an option, but that would have put his 2025 season in jeopardy with a possibility Carr never would return to his previous level of strength and function. Carr said he decided to retire instead after consulting with his wife, Heather.
“For more than 11 years, we have been incredibly blessed, and we are forever grateful and humbled by this experience,” Carr said in a statement. “It’s difficult to find the right words to express our thanks to all the teammates, coaches, management, ownership, team officials and especially the fans who made this journey so special. Your unwavering support has meant the world to us.”
Carr released another statement on his Instagram account Saturday afternoon thanking his former team, the Raiders, and the Saints, along with their fan bases.
“Through it all, I gave this game everything I had every day. I sleep well knowing that I gave my teammates, my coaches and my cities my all,” Carr wrote. “Now, I look forward to whatever God has next and I’ll pursue it with the same fire I brought to the field. God bless and see you soon.”
Moore said New Orleans found out about the injury in March, before the news was made public in early April. However, general manager Mickey Loomis said before the draft that the Saints were seeking “a resolution and clarity” on the shoulder issue in the near future.
Moore said Saturday that they meant clarity about the injury itself and not because of a communication issue.
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“He did everything he could,” Moore said. “As he’s gone through this, he’s communicated extremely well. He’s worked really hard to himself in position, and ultimately this was the outcome.”
Carr’s first public comments came in late April, when he confirmed he had a shoulder injury and dismissed speculation about the issue, saying he and the team had been in “constant communication.”
Moore said that he and Carr missed meeting in person because he was at a pro day when Carr was at the facility earlier in the offseason. He said Carr had multiple discussions with the team’s front office in recent days.
“He spoke mostly with Mickey and those guys as we’ve gone through this process, and obviously the last few days they had those communications and those conversations and made a whole decision that felt best for him,” Moore said.
Carr, a 2014 second-round draft pick by the Raiders, retires after 11 seasons. He spent the first nine seasons of his career with the Raiders before signing a four-year contract worth up to $150 million with New Orleans during the 2023 free agency period.
Carr ultimately won’t see all of the $150 million, as he will forfeit his $30 million base salary this year due to his retirement, although he will keep the $10 million roster bonus for 2025.
Carr was drafted by Dennis Allen when Allen was coach of the Raiders. He reunited with Allen in 2023, when Allen was coaching the Saints.
The 34-year-old started 169 games for the two teams and finishes with a 77-92 record as a starter. He completed 65.1% of his passes for 41,245 yards, 257 touchdowns and 112 interceptions.
“My experience with him was outstanding,” Allen, now the
ESPN’s Courtney Cronin contributed to this report.
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Daniel Oyefusi
A Cleveland Browns reunion with free agent running back Nick Chubb is “increasingly unlikely,” general manager Andrew Berry said Friday morning, after the team added two running backs in the NFL draft.
Chubb, who ranks third on the Browns’ career rushing list, remains unsigned after spending the first seven years of his career in Cleveland. The Browns drafted Ohio State’s Quinshon Judkins in the second round of the draft and Tennessee’s Dylan Sampson in the fourth round.
“I wouldn’t rule anything out, but I would say that it’s probably increasingly unlikely,” Berry told 92.3 The Fan. “We do have two young guys that we liked. We think Jerome [Ford] plays a role. It’s basically kind of maybe seeing how the roles shake out in the running back room.
“You’re never going to rule out someone as near and dear to our heart as Nick, and I would expect him to take another step being a year removed from the knee injury. But I’d say a return is less likely, at least in the short term, with us right now.”
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Berry said he kept in contact with Chubb and his representatives leading into last month’s draft but hasn’t been in “strong communication” since then.
Chubb, 29, missed the first six games of the 2024 season as he continued to rehab the severe knee injury he suffered in Week 2 of the 2023 season.
In eight games, Chubb struggled to regain his prior Pro Bowl form. He ran for 332 yards and recorded career lows in yards per carry (3.3), yards after contact per rush (1.85) and percentage of carries that gained at least 10 yards (4.9%) before a broken foot in Week 15 ended his season.
Berry said Chubb’s broken foot has healed and is not a concern.
Before the knee injury, Chubb was one of the most productive backs in the NFL. A four-time Pro Bowl selection, he had rushed for more than 1,000 yards in four straight seasons before 2023, including a career-high 1,525 in 2022. Despite his struggles in 2024, Chubb is still averaging 5.1 yards per carry in his career, second only to Jamaal Charles (5.4) for the highest in the Super Bowl era (minimum 1,000 rushes).
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Seth Walder
The Dallas Cowboys made a big splash on Wednesday morning, agreeing to a trade for wide receiver George Pickens. They will send a 2026 third-round pick and a 2027 fifth-round pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers for Pickens and a 2027 sixth-round pick.
The Cowboys had been searching for a legit WR2 alongside CeeDee Lamb, and Pickens should elevate their offense. But is Pickens definitely the answer for Dallas? And did Pittsburgh get enough back in return?
Let’s grade both sides. Who actually won the deal? I’m evaluating the trade based on multiple factors, including on-field impact, overall value for each side, salary cap implications, and the context of each team’s short- and long-term QB outlooks.
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So, on paper, this move makes plenty of sense for the Cowboys. As poorly as 2024 went for this team, the roster still has the same core as the one that went 12-5 in 2023 (albeit with a different coach) and had a major weakness at receiver after Lamb. To give up a shade more than a third-round pick for one year of Pickens is reasonable, considering how much less it will cost the Cowboys (under $3.4 million) than if he were on the open market.
But this move is not made only on paper. A big part of the reason Pickens is available is it seems the Steelers had had enough of him. After Pickens had two unsportsmanlike penalties against the Bengals last season, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said, “He’s got a target on his back because he’s George; he understands that. But he’s got to grow up. He’s got to grow up in a hurry.” Then, after the season, Tomlin said, “There’s certainly obviously more room for growth there.” Earlier in the season, there were questions over Pickens’ effort, too, though Tomlin dismissed those concerns at the time.
The risk here is mitigated by the one-year commitment, and if I were the Cowboys, I would want to keep it that way. They should let him play out the season and probably let him walk next offseason in exchange for the possibility of a compensatory pick. If Dallas signs Pickens to an extension before the 2025 season, I would substantially reduce its grade here.
For the Steelers, this is good compensation. The league widely knew they wanted to move on from Pickens, and they still got a Day 2 pick back.
Pittsburgh already acquired Pickens’ replacement in DK Metcalf earlier this offseason. While the two wideouts could have played together, there’s an obvious overlap in their styles, and it certainly appears that the Metcalf acquisition was in anticipation of losing Pickens. However, the Steelers once again have a receiver problem. Behind Metcalf on the depth chart are Calvin Austin III, Robert Woods and Roman Wilson.
The last piece of the puzzle is how this relates to Aaron Rodgers. Without a second receiver next to Metcalf, Pittsburgh is that much further from being an immediate contender. That makes bringing in Rodgers a little harder to justify — even if the Steelers’ options at QB are extremely limited with the draft in the rearview mirror. Perhaps Kirk Cousins could be another route?
