{"id":870727,"date":"2026-04-20T17:43:49","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T17:43:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/870727\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T17:43:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T17:43:49","slug":"nfl-news-live-updates-ahead-of-2026-draft-brandon-aubrey-cowboys-agree-on-record-setting-extension-steelers-open-minicamp-without-aaron-rodgers-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/870727\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL news, live updates ahead of 2026 draft: Brandon Aubrey, Cowboys agree on record-setting extension; Steelers open minicamp without Aaron Rodgers update"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 NFL Draft is right around the corner, with the first round set to start Thursday. This year\u2019s draft will take place in Pittsburgh<\/a>, with the main stage on the North Shore just outside of the Steelers<\/a>\u2019 home, Acrisure Stadium \u2014 though the presumed No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza will reportedly not be in attendance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the week leading up to the draft, a couple of key dominoes fell, including the trade of star defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence<\/a> from the New York Giants<\/a> to the Cincinnati Bengals<\/a>. In exchange for Lawrence, the Giants received the 10th overall pick<\/a>, giving the G-Men two top-10 selections in this year\u2019s draft.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The San Francisco 49ers<\/a> also solidified their future with star left tackle Trent Williams<\/a>, with the two sides agreeing on a two-year, $50 million contract extension<\/a> on Monday. Reports surfaced earlier this offseason that the Niners were open to trading the veteran tackle<\/a> after the two sides were \u201cstruggling to find a contractual solution\u201d to reduce his salary cap hit for the 2026 season; now, he secures a new deal in San Francisco<\/a> heading into his age-38 season.<\/p>\n

One big-time question mark that does remain is the status of future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers for the 2026 season<\/a>. The Pittsburgh Steelers have still not received word about whether or not he intends to play this year. With Rodgers\u2019 status in limbo, that puts sixth-round quarterback Will Howard<\/a> in the driver\u2019s seat for QB1 heading into voluntary minicamp.<\/p>\n

What other dominoes could fall ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft? Follow along with Yahoo Sports for the latest NFL news leading up to Round 1:<\/p>\n

Live3 updates\"TarohnMon, April 20, 2026 at 10:32 AM PDT<\/p>\n

Tarohn Finley<\/p>\n

The Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> are expected to be without wide receiver A.J. Brown<\/a> for voluntary offseason workouts, which begin on Monday, according to NFL Network\u2019s Mike Garafolo.<\/a><\/p>\n

A trade is likelier than ever, according to Yahoo Sports\u2019 Charles Robinson<\/a>, but it\u2019s still unlikely to happen before June 1, due to the salary-cap gymnastics<\/a> involved.<\/p>\n

The New England Patriots<\/a>, who lack a No. 1 receiver despite signing Romeo Doubs<\/a> in free agency, are expected to be the frontrunners. The Patriots also have not ruled out bringing in the 28-year-old wide receiver<\/a> when asked about Brown this offseason. Brown spent his first three seasons with the Tennessee Titans<\/a> under Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel.<\/p>\n

The Brown trade saga began last season when Brown voiced frustration with his role<\/a> and the offense on multiple social media platforms.<\/p>\n

Read more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"TarohnMon, April 20, 2026 at 9:26 AM PDT<\/p>\n

Tarohn Finley<\/p>\n

\"IanMon, April 20, 2026 at 9:24 AM PDT<\/p>\n

Ian Casselberry<\/p>\n

The Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> open a three-day voluntary minicamp on Monday under new head coach Mike McCarthy and will do so without any indication from quarterback Aaron Rodgers regarding his status for this season<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rodgers has not informed the Steelers on whether he intends to play for them in 2026, and thus sign a new contract, according to NFL Network\u2019s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero<\/a>. And that status isn\u2019t likely to change before the NFL Draft, which begins on Thursday.<\/p>\n

As a result, 2025 sixth-round pick Will Howard<\/a> will get the starter\u2019s work at quarterback. Mason Rudolph<\/a> is the only other QB currently under contract with the Steelers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 NFL Draft is right around the corner, with the first round set to start Thursday. This…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":776896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[4955,1586,256,2793,1489,3619,7,56,6,15,520,1161,252,426,2983,2183],"class_list":{"0":"post-870727","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-2026-nfl-draft","9":"tag-aaron-rodgers","10":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","11":"tag-defensive-tackle","12":"tag-dexter-lawrence","13":"tag-fernando-mendoza","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-new-york-giants","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-nfl-draft","18":"tag-pittsburgh","19":"tag-san-francisco","20":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","21":"tag-steelers","22":"tag-trent-williams","23":"tag-will-howard"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116438282018471566","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/776896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}