Six quarterbacks could be taken in round one this year. With roughly seven teams in the top 13 looking seriously at quarterbacks, six could be actually gone by the middle of the round.
If anyone slides out of round one, like Will Levis did a year ago, it likely will be Bo Nix.
Based on discussions with multiple sources with knowledge of the manner in which the first round is likely to unfold, the former Oregon quarterback is the most likely to slide.
That said, someone could trade into the bottom of round one to get Nix. For teams, it’s better to get a player in the final spots of the round than to wait for round two, since first-round picks carry the potential fifth-year option.
Many think the Broncos would be a good fit for Nix. Would they take him at No. 12? Would they trade down and take him later in the round? Or would they try to climb back into the round later?
All it takes is one team, and it’s always possible that there’s one team that is keeping quiet and waiting for their chance, like the Ravens with Lamar Jackson in 2018. Baltimore traded back into round one to get Jackson at No. 32 at a time when they had Joe Flacco still on the team.
The NFL didn’t invite Nix or Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. to the draft, primarily to avoid the risk of player lingering in the green room into a second day. Of the top quarterbacks in this year’s class, Nix is the most likely to linger.
The Cowboys feel good about their quarterback situation for 2024 with Dak Prescott, Cooper Rush and Trey Lance. They don’t feel so good about it beyond this season.
Prescott, Rush and Lance all are free agents in 2025.
“Certainly, Dak is a priority in terms of his contract,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said on 105.3 The Fan, via Jon Machota of TheAthletic.com. “Certainly, we’ll be taking a look at Trey. I know Trey will look at his situation as well, in terms of what his options are. I’m sure a lot of that will depend on how everything works out with Dak. Cooper has been a strong backup here for us. But all of those things will just have to play out.”
The Cowboys said last month that the door remains open for a deal to get done this offseason or during the 2024 season with Prescott, but that they have no urgency for now.
Prescott’s cap number is $55.445 million for this season, a number that kept the Cowboys quiet in free agency, and his contract includes void years through 2028. If the Cowboys don’t sign Prescott to an extension, and the team lets him walk in free agency in 2025, he still will count $40.460 million in dead money against the team’s cap in 2025.
Prescott has owned — and maintained — leverage in contract talks since back-to-back franchise tags eventually led to a four-year, $160 million deal he signed in 2021.
He has no-tag and no-trade clauses in his contract.
The Cowboys sent a fourth-round draft pick to the 49ers for Lance, the third overall pick in 2021, before the start of last season. He did not play a down last season but will compete with Rush for the backup job.
Lance played eight games with four starts for the 49ers before his injury, and that to Jimmy Garoppolo, opened the door for Brock Purdy to grab the starting job in San Francisco and make Lance expendable.
This is a big offseason and preseason for Lance.
The Pegula family is putting a minority interest in the Bills up for sale.
The Bills confirmed the news to Tim Graham of TheAthletic.com but declined to reveal how much of the team is for sale. Graham reports that the “working figure is 25 percent, with the number not set in stone.”
“The Pegula family has retained Allen & Company to explore the potential sale of a non-controlling, minority interest in the Bills,” the team said Friday in a statement to Graham. “These discussions only involve the Bills and no other team. No investment would be possible without Terry Pegula and the Pegula family maintaining a controlling interest in the team. Their continued commitment to Western New York, the new Highmark Stadium, our fans and the other teams in their portfolio remains unchanged.
“Neither the team nor the Pegula family are able to comment further at this point.”
Graham said Terry Pegula eventually could decide not to sell part of the Bills, but he is listening to offers to become a limited partner. The skyrocketing valuations of NFL teams and the estate taxes have made it difficult for sole ownership.
Forbes estimated the Bills are worth $3.7 million in August 2023. Terry and Kim Pegula used cash to purchase the team for a then-record $1.4 billion in 2014.
The Commanders recently sold to a group headed by Josh Harris for $6.05 billion.
Unlike other professional sports, the NFL does not allow owners to sell a limited-partnership stake to private equity firms.
The Bills’ new stadium was projected to initially cost $1.4 billion but could be closer to $2 billion, per Graham, and the Pegulas are responsible for any cost overruns with the state’s contribution capped at $600 million and Erie County’s at $250 million.
Because the Chiefs have been such consistent contenders at the top of the AFC since Patrick Mahomes became their starting quarterback in 2018, it’s changed a bit about how other contenders might deal with them.
On an episode of PFT Live, Chris Simms noted in the aftermath of the Bills trading Stefon Diggs to the Texans that Buffalo was willing to trade the receiver to any team but Kansas City.
With that in mind, Chiefs General Manager Brett Veach was asked on Friday if he’s noticed that other teams aren’t as willing to deal with Kanas City in recent years.
“Yes and no,” Veach said in his pre-draft video conference. “I think that if a team — if it can benefit them, they’re always going to pick up the phone and be willing to work. I don’t think a team is going to diminish their ability to do something they really want to do just because it’s the Chiefs. I do think, though, that the ability to deal with certain teams — I mean, it’s always understood that if you’re going to deal with a team in your division, there’s a little bit more of a premium.
“But I think just some of the AFC teams in general, that are consistent playoff performers — I mean the Buffalos, the Cincinnatis, the Baltimores — I mean, it’s probably a little bit harder to deal with those teams. And even if they do pick up the phone, I think some of their asking prices are a tick higher. So, I think we get hit with a little bit more interest. But I think that there’s always a way to make a deal. But I think, yeah, certain teams will probably up the price up a little bit.”
The AFC’s best teams may be reluctant to trade with Kansas City, but that clearly hasn’t stopped the Chiefs from being successful.
We’ll see who they select next week, as the franchise looks to become the first to win three consecutive Super Bowls in the 2024 season.
The Jets have not made a decision on offensive lineman Alijah Vera-Tucker’s fifth-year option yet. They have until May 2 to pick up the option.
“We haven’t talked about that yet,” General Manager Joe Douglas told beat reporters Friday. “We have a little time after the draft. I’ll definitely update you guys on that post-draft.”
The option would cost the Jets a guaranteed $15.313 million for 2025, so it would seem likely the team would decline the option.
The 14th overall pick in the 2021 draft has played only 12 games the past two seasons because of injury. He tore an Achilles five games into the 2023 season.
He started 16 games as a rookie, and his 28 career starts have been mostly at tackle, but he also has played guard.
The Jaguars are bringing one of their offensive linemen back for another season.
The team announced that they have re-signed Tyler Shatley on Friday. They did not announce any terms of the deal.
Shatley signed with the Jaguars after going undrafted in 2014 and he has spent his entire NFL career in Jacksonville. He has appeared in every game the team has played since Week Nine of the 2015 season.
Shatley has been a reserve for most of that time. He’s made 51 starts as an interior lineman in 145 total appearances and he’s also made a pair of postseason starts.
The Jaguars added center Mitch Morse this offseason and they have guards Brandon Scherff and Ezra Cleveland back from last year.
College football is going to look more like the NFL in 2024.
The NCAA announced several changes on the football front on Friday, including one that should help eliminate the chance of any more sign-stealing scandals in the future. In-helmet communications between coaches and designated players on the field will be allowed for the first time.
As in the NFL, the quarterback and a defensive player with a green dot on their helmet will be able to listen to calls from the sideline before communication cuts out with 15 seconds left on the play clock. That should put an end to the need to flash signals from the sideline and put an end to attempts by any Connor Stallions imitators to try to do what Stallions did for the Michigan program in recent seasons.
In another technological shift, teams will also now have the ability to watch in-game video on tablets on the sidelines.
The NCAA also announced that games will now have a two-minute warning at the end of both halves, which is another change that has long been part of the professional game.
Attorney Mike Caspino, who represents former Cardinals executive Terry McDonough, recently teed off on team owner Michael Bidwill. Caspino’s criticism focused on one specific piece of sworn testimony regarding Bidwill’s stated role in football operations.
“[W]e got into, in Michael Bidwell’s deposition, him telling me that he’s an outstanding judge of football talent,” Caspino said in his appearance on Doug Franz Unplugged. “And I said, ‘What?’ I said, ‘Did you ever play the game?’ He said, ‘Yeah, I played it.’ I said, ‘Where’d you play?’ He said, ‘High school, in Washington, D.C.’ I said, ‘So, you’re the one making, you know, the talent decisions around the building?’ ‘Yeah, I am.’ And it struck me that — and in speaking to other people there — that he is such a hands-on owner that he goes into offensive coordinators and tells them who to get the ball to. And he’s making all of the decisions regarding the talent, regarding who to draft. And he’s making it off because he played for a year or two at some fancy boarding school in Washington, D.C. And it just struck me right there why the Cardinals are so bad. They have an owner who doesn’t listen to the people around him and thinks he’s smarter than everybody else, even with the game of football.”
On Thursday, Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon and Cardinals G.M. Monti Ossenfort conducted their pre-draft press conference. It would have been a perfect opportunity for one of the reporters to ask Gannon and/or Ossenfort about Bidwill’s involvement in football operations.
Not a single question was asked regarding Caspino’s characterization of Bidwill’s testimony.
On one hand, it’s one of the realities of press conferences. The various reporters assume that one of the others will ask the potentially delicate question. And then no one ever does. On the other hand, in a job that relies on cooperation and access, it’s dangerous to be the one who asks a question that will piss off the coach, the G.M., the owner, and/or anyone else in the organization who can help, or hurt, the media’s effort to do their job.
Regardless of why or how the question wasn’t asked, the question wasn’t asked. It would have been interesting to see what they said and how they said it.
It should have been asked. It’s an obvious topic, based on Caspino’s remark. How hard would it have been to ask whether and to what extent Bidwill is involved in picking players?
Most owners are far more involved in such matters than they pretend to be. It’s their team; they have the right to be.
As to Bidwill, Caspino gave the local media low-hanging fruit on the question of whether Bidwill is, or will be, actively involved in picking players. It’s highly relevant with the draft a week away.
The question wasn’t asked. Caspino’s comment about Bidwill’s football involvement otherwise has gotten no attention in Arizona, or elsewhere. (Other than here.) Hardly any attention has been given to other aspects of Caspino’s comments.
We’ll leave it to others to figure out why. For now, the simple truth is that, for most in the local and national media, it’s as if Caspino said nothing of interest this week.
In reality, he said plenty of compelling things. Things that suggest the new lawsuit filed earlier this month against the Cardinals and others will be very compelling. Especially since it will play out in an open and transparent court system.
Tight end Drew Ogletree is back with the Colts.
Ogletree was placed on the Commissioner Exempt list in late December after being arrested on domestic violence charges and charged with two felonies. Those charges were dismissed with prejudice last month and the NFL moved to restore him to active duty,
Colts General Manager Chris Ballard said, via Stephen Holder of ESPN.com, that Ogletree is off the exempt list and back on the team’s 90-man roster. Ogletree is taking part in the team’s offseason workouts.
Ogletree was a 2022 sixth-round pick and he had nine catches for 147 yards and two touchdowns in 12 appearances last season.
Bill Tobin, whose long NFL career saw him serve as General Manager of both the Bears and the Colts, has died at the age of 83.
Tobin’s death was announced today by the Bengals. Tobin spent two decades consulting with the Bengals, and his son Duke Tobin is the Bengals’ director of player personnel.
Bill Tobin and his brother Vince Tobin both played college football at Missouri. Vince Tobin would go on to have a long coaching career, including a stint as head coach of the Cardinals. Vince Tobin died last year at the age of 79.
Bill Tobin was drafted by the Houston Oilers in 1963, played one season for them, and then played two seasons in the Canadian Football League. After his playing days ended, Tobin spent many years working in player personnel for the Bears, and he received a lot of the credit for building the 1985 Bears roster that won the Super Bowl.
In 1994 Tobin became General Manager of the Colts. He was running the draft room when they drafted future Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk in 1994, he built the team that made a surprise run to the AFC Championship Game in 1995, and he was running the draft room when they drafted future Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison Sr. in 1996.
It was also with the Colts that Tobin gained his greatest notoriety, helping to make the NFL draft must-see TV when he demanded to know, “Who in the hell is Mel Kiper anyway?” when Kiper criticized his picks on ESPN in 1994.
“He was a true NFL success story,” Bengals owner Mike Brown said in a statement. “He was a good person and I considered him a good friend. With Bill, I respected everything he said. I just took it as a given. He had an eye for players and what they would develop into. If he said the guy was a good player, then he was a good player; that’s all I would need to know. We will miss him.”