Texans: No in-season contract talks for Stroud
Football
The Houston Texans won’t extend current contract negotiations with quarterback C.J. Stroud into the season.
General manager Nick Caserio said Tuesday that if the club can’t reach an agreement with Stroud before the Sept. 13 opener against Buffalo that it will pause all talks until next offseason.
Houston already picked up Stroud’s fifth-year option, meaning it has him under team control through 2027.
Caserio said at the start of training camp in late July that there was a chance the sides could come to terms on an extension but no deal appears to be imminent.
The 24-year-old Stroud is 28-18 and led the Texans to the playoffs in each of the three seasons since Houston took him with the second overall pick in the 2023 draft. The AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2023 completed a career-best 64% of his passes in 2025 as Houston went 12-5 and advanced to the divisional round of the playoffs.
Stroud struggled in a postseason loss in New England, throwing four interceptions in a 28-16 defeat.
Packers
Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs still has the support of his coach and general manager, who remain optimistic the three-time Pro Bowl selection will come off the commissioner’s exempt list, where he was placed after being charged with two misdemeanors, and play sometime this season.
“There were many conversations obviously and certainly don’t know all the details, but what he tells me, I believe him and I trust him,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said Tuesday. “I’m going to do that until proven otherwise.”
General manager Brian Gutekunst said he is hopeful the running back will return before the end of the season. “But we’re going to let this process play out, and we’ll be prepared either way,” Gutekunst said.
Gutekunst said he hasn’t seen the video that the Brown County (Wisconsin) District Attorney’s office says it has as evidence corroborating statements made by Jacobs’ girlfriend regarding their May 23 altercation. Jacobs, who was arrested May 26, faces misdemeanor charges of battery and criminal damage to property in that incident.
District Attorney David Lasee announced last Thursday that the charges were being filed. Three days later, the NFL put Jacobs on the commissioner’s list, which prevents him from playing or practicing but allows him to keep receiving a paycheck.
Jacobs is on the list while the NFL investigates his situation and he could face a suspension by the league. Any games he misses while on the exempt list would count toward his suspension, but he would also have to repay the money he earned while on the exempt list
Colts
The Indianapolis Colts expect receiver Keenan Allen to play in the season opener against the Baltimore Ravens on Sept. 13 despite his recent arrest and remain hopeful injured receiver Alec Pierce is also available.
Allen was arrested early Sunday morning on drunken driving charges, and general manager Chris Ballard told reporters Tuesday the team dealt with the incident internally. He did not say specifically what punishment, if any, had been applied.
“He’ll play, yes,” Ballard said, noting the team does offer players rideshare services. “Fourteen years in the league, no issues, OK? Decorated career, decorated teammate. You know our relationship with Philip Rivers — I know Philip holds him in extremely high regard and (coach) Shane (Steichen) was with him. After you meet his mom and dad, who are amazing people, we feel good about who he is. We unequivocally feel good about who Keenan Allen is.”
Allen has not spoken publicly since he was released from custody Sunday afternoon. He is facing preliminary misdemeanor charges of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated — endangering a person.
The 34-year-old Allen is expected to provide a veteran presence as Indy’s No. 3 receiver with Pierce and Josh Downs holding the top two spots.
Giants
Malik Nabers progressed from individual drills to team sessions at training camp, shed the no-contact red jersey and looks from the outside like someone on the verge of being ready to play in a football game.
Yet with less than two weeks to go before the New York Giants open the season at home against Dallas, their No. 1 receiver working back from a torn ACL in his right knee is not committing to being ready right away.
“My mind is focused on playing the regular season: playing whenever that is,” Nabers said. “There’s still some things that you still have to check off the box for you to participate. I’m still going through that, still listening to the trainers, still listening to doctors and sharing everything with them.”
Nabers prefers to keep those checkpoints private, though he did correct himself from saying he felt pretty good to “real good, honestly.” But it’s still a question if that is good enough to have him in uniform and on the field when the Cowboys are in town the night of Sept. 13.