標籤: Minicamp

After leading them to the playoffs in consecutive seasons, the Denver Broncos have placed their full trust in franchise quarterback Bo Nix. While Nicks has quickly demonstrated that he was worth the 12th overall pick in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft, Broncos general manager George Payton and head coach Sean Payton also understand the importance of the QB position.

While Nix is ​​an above-average starter, it never hurts to continue evaluating the position, in hopes of acquiring a quality backup and even a developmental prospect who could turn into something more.

On Tuesday, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported that EJ Warner, son of Hall of Fame QB Kurt Warner, has accepted an invitation to the Broncos’ rookie minicamp. This doesn’t mean he has signed a contract with the Broncos, but it does mean Warner will get a chance to compete for a roster spot.

Warner, who went undrafted out of Fresno State, spent the past week at the Kansas City Chiefs’ rookie minicamp. The 5-foot-11, 213-pound QB began his college career at Temple before transferring to Rice in 2024 and finishing at Fresno State last season.

He led Fresno State to a 7–3 record while completing 69.3% of his passes for 2,030 yards, 13 TDs and 11 INTs. Warner is just 22 years old, but before embarking on a highly successful NFL career that included winning Super Bowl XXXIV, he faced an uphill climb to make the roster, just like his father.

Now his son would also like to follow his father’s footsteps unopposed. But EJ is at a severe height disadvantage, which means he’ll have to work even harder to make a lasting impression.

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Despite entering the 2025 campaign with very low outside expectations, the New Orleans Saints performed better than anyone expected in Kellen Moore’s first season as head coach, finishing with a 6–11 record. If nothing else, the Saints’ season, which saw several young players receive extensive playing time, set the table for a bright future.

Now, after an offseason of retooling, the Saints feel like they are ready to take a big leap forward as Tyler Shaw enters his second season of play. To get there, the Saints will continue to take risks on star talent.

Recently, the Saints invited one-time Pro Bowl kicker Youngho Koo to their upcoming rookie minicamp.

New Orleans had two different kickers last season, Charlie Smith and Blake Grupp. The latter really struggled, missing an NFL-high eight kicks during Week 12. The Saints released Group due to his accuracy issues, and he has since signed with the Indianapolis Colts.

Smith was more accurate, completing 75% of his field goal attempts, compared to Gruppe’s 69.2%. Both made all their extra point attempts.

As for Koo, the 31-year-old kicker played one game with the Atlanta Falcons and five games with the New York Giants last season. Still, he only made 66.7% of his field goals and 92.9% of his extra points, which is why he’s still looking for a contract at this stage in the offseason.

The Saints have Smith and undrafted rookie Mason Shipley on the roster. Koo hopes to work his way into the mix as well, and a strong showing in minicamp from May 8-10 will certainly help.

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Here’s a version of the Raiders’ rookie minicamp recap that focuses on snap counts, drill reps and what it looks like to see the No. 1 overall pick throw a five-yarder out. That story is two days old and not particularly interesting.

It’s better here.

Friday night, after the end of the first day at the Intermountain Health Performance Center, Fernando Mendoza pulled the rookie offensive lineman into a hotel room and asked him to turn in photos. Not for show. Not for the camera. Mendoza played nearly every snap of his college career out of the shotgun at Indiana and getting comfortable under center is the most obvious technical hurdle standing between him and the Week 1 start. So he went and worked on it. on Friday night. After his first NFL practice.

This is the lead. Really, that’s the whole story.

also worth your attention: : The Heisman winner, who was about to sign a million-dollar contract, went to rookie camp and decided that he was, in his own words, “at the bottom of the totem pole.”

“In the rookie camp, everyone is trying to do well. It’s essentially a tryout for all the rookies, including me,” Mendoza said after the second day.

You don’t have to say that. You’re the No. 1 overall pick. The work is yours. But that’s what Clint Kubiak and Jon Spytek thought they were drafting, and over the course of one weekend, they got it right.

The Raiders locker room has already been purchased

You can tell what a rookie class thinks about a quarterback by listening to what other people say. This weekend three different teammates used similar language to describe Mendoza without prompting.

Trey Zuhn III, Texas A&M’s third-round guard and quietly one of the draft’s steals, called him “a man’s man.”

“He gets along with everybody. He’s very friendly, he’s easy to talk to,” Zuhn said. “He is a great leader and I am happy to work with him.”

Treydan Stookes, a sophomore guard whose locker is next to Mendoza’s, called him a “super funny guy” and said he likes the way Mendoza attacks his work.

And then there’s Kieron Crawford, the Day 2 defensive end pick. Crawford told a story this weekend that you can’t script. After the Raiders called his name, his agent immediately called Mendoza. Not the head coach. Not GM. Quarterback. Just to check in.

“Once my name was called, I said, ‘You know what, I plan on being with a lot of good people,'” Crawford said with a smile.

That tells you something about Mendoza’s reputation around the league before he took an NFL snap. And that tells you something about what kind of person the Raiders have hired to be the face of the franchise.

harmony beyond the building for mendoza

Newbies aren’t just turning out at 5pm and going their separate ways. Mendoza and Zuhn both mentioned that offensive players are continuing playbook walkthroughs in the team hotel after practice. The Friday night under-centre session was clearly the beginning.

“There are times when we’re just sitting in the hot tub, in the cold tub just messing around,” Zuhn said. “But when it’s work time, it’s work time and everyone knows it.”

It’s the right balance for a beginner. Free enough to like each other. Serious enough to study together in the hotel.

Now comes the hard part for Mendoza and the Raiders

This was always going to be the easy part. Two days, no experience, no real installation. Vol Mendoza talked about being “positively stressed” when OTAs open up later this month and he’s suddenly lumped in with Kirk Cousins, Tyler Linderbaum, Ashton Jeanty and Brock Bowers. Max Crosby and Quaye Walker will line up in front of him. The Day 2 standouts will have to do so against true NFL veterans.

But first impressions matter. And first impressions of this rookie class, especially the kid at the top, were as good as Spytek and Kubiak could have hoped for.

The franchise spent the No. 1 overall pick on a quarterback, two nights into his NFL career, running his own walkthrough in a hotel room to fix his weakness.

This is the guy you wanted. Over the course of a weekend, it sure seems like this is the guy you’ve got.

Scott Gulbransen, a quintessential expert in the field of sports journalism, serves as an editor, nfl , mlb , Formula 1 … More about Scott Gulbransen

The Las Vegas Raiders voluntary veteran minicamp runs April 21-23, two days before the start of the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh. No one should come forward. That’s the whole purpose of calling it voluntary.

That’s why it matters so much who does it.

Clint Kubiak is a first-year head coach who inherits a roster that went 3-14 last season. He needs to know who bought him before he takes a single regular season snap. Players also know this. Coming to a voluntary camp in April, right before draft weekend, when the entire football world is looking elsewhere, is a statement. So stay at home.

Here are five Raiders whose appearance in April will tell us more than anything they said in a press conference.

1. Max Crosby

Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. Crosby appeared for the first round of workouts on April 7, which was encouraging after everything that happened with the zero-Baltimore trade. But step one is meetings and raises. Minicamp is different. It’s on-field work and Crosby is still recovering from knee surgery in January to repair a torn meniscus.

His agent has said he is ahead of schedule. If Crosby is on the field, even in a limited capacity, on April 21-23, it sends a message to this locker room that goes far beyond his physical recovery. It tells every player on this roster that the guy with the most complaints about him is still the first one to come through the door. Kubiak can’t produce that kind of leadership. Either Crosby provides it, or he doesn’t.

RELATED: Las Vegas Raiders GM Jon Spytek, coach Clint Kubiak addressed Max Crosby trade fallout in NFL meetings

2. Tyree Wilson

This is the one I am watching most closely. Tyree Wilson is entering a contract year, after which the Raiders will almost certainly not pick up his fifth-year option. His draft stock coming out of Texas A&M was skyrocketing — No. 7 overall pick in 2023 — and it’s fair to say his first three NFL seasons haven’t matched that billing. He’s a rotational piece in a 3-4 defense that just added QT Pay and still keeps Crosby at the top of the depth chart.

Wilson showing up to a voluntary minicamp under a new defensive coordinator with his roster spot and his future on the line tells me he understands this moment. Staying at home will give me the opposite results. With Rob Leonard setting up a plan that requires buy-in at every level of the front seven, there’s no place to hide in this minicamp for anyone competing for snaps.

3. Cancer Cousins

Kirk Cousins ​​is getting $20 million fully guaranteed to be a bridge in front of Fernando Mendoza. He reunited with his former coordinator Kubiak, and has said all the right things publicly since signing. But before Mendoza gets into the building, what Cousins ​​does over the next few months will define how that quarterback room really plays out in 2026.

Showing up next week and throwing to receivers, working through Kubiak’s system, getting comfortable in a new offense and a new city — that’s the veteran leadership the Raiders are paying him for. Cousins ​​knows how to be professional. This is where he proves it matters in Las Vegas, just like it did everywhere else.

4. Brock Bowers

Brock Bowers returned from a PCL injury last season and still had 64 catches, 680 yards and seven touchdowns in 12 games. He is 22 years old and already one of the best players in football. This minicamp isn’t about Bowers proving anything — it’s about him and Cousins ​​starting to build that chemistry between him and Cousins ​​to really make Kubiak’s offense work before training camp in July.

Kubiak is an offensive coach who loves his tight ends. Bowers is the most important offensive weapon on this roster. They’re both building relationships early — in April, before most teams get anywhere near that kind of work — getting the kind of head start that pays off in September. Bowers is showing cases. Very.

5. Jackson Powers-Johnson

Here’s one that might surprise people. Jackson Powers-Johnson was a second-round pick in 2024 who began the season on injured reserve after breaking his fibula in training camp. He bounced back and played solid football in the second half of the year and now the addition of Tyler Linderbaum at center gives the Raiders arguably the best interior offensive line they have had in years.

But Linderbaum and Powers-Johnson never played together. Cousins ​​never played behind any of them. April minicamp is the first real opportunity for that unit to begin working as a group, even in a non-contact setting. Powers-Johnson being present and engaged, working through alignments, and getting comfortable with Linderbaum next to him makes sense for an offensive line that was historically bad in 2025 and needs to be dramatically better for this offense to work.

This draft will get everyone’s attention on April 23-25. But what happens in Henderson on April 21-23 will matter just as much for where this team goes. Voluntary does not mean unimportant. In Kubiak’s first year, it means quite the opposite.

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Scott Gulbransen, a quintessential expert in the field of sports journalism, serves as an editor, nfl , mlb , Formula 1 … More about Scott Gulbransen