Your questions. My answers. Now …
From Pendulum Throws (@PendulumThrows): Any chance at all that the Titans are realistically trading out?
Pendulum, I’d be surprised. Now, I don’t think the new Tennessee Titans brass sees much sense in hanging up the phone on anyone—you never know what someone will propose. But, at this point, I think they’ve got a comfort level with Miami quarterback Cam Ward and how to build a team around him.
I also think there’s a nuance to how they’ve handled the past month, drilling down on the four guys they have at the top, with Penn State’s Abdul Carter, and Colorado’s Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders joining Ward in the group. Essentially, as I see it, that may be a tell that even if they were willing to drop down from the No. 1 pick, they wouldn’t be looking to go far, mostly because of the makeup of the draft class.
This comes back to the fact that all draft classes aren’t created equal. That’s to say if Carter and Hunter would be a top-three or four pick in any draft, and the fifth pick might’ve been the 20th pick last year (which certainly could be the case in 2025), then how you value the third pick is going to be completely different than how you view the fifth pick. In that case, at best, you’d be asking for a massive haul to go back past a certain line. At worst, for other teams at least, you might just refuse to go past a certain point.
In any event, I think that dynamic will be more relevant for other teams, because I don’t see the Titans moving.
From K1SinceDay1 (@KSzn2021): Top 3 guesses what Arizona will do in round 1?
It’s probably a little early to project, given that the Arizona Cardinals have the 16th pick. But I’ll try to humor you here, K1.
I think this is shaping up as a good draft for Jonathan Gannon to really build out his defensive front. And in doing so, I think he will turn over rocks looking for what he was around in Fletcher Cox in Philadelphia and DeForest Buckner in Indianapolis—a dominant, havoc-wreaking defensive linemen. I think Ole Miss’s Walter Nolen can be that guy for the Cards.
If it’s not a front-seven player, I think Alabama guard Tyler Booker would be a consideration. And I’ll make my third guess Marshall edge rusher Mike Green, who could be pretty nasty in a rotation with Josh Sweat and Baron Browning.
From Boston forever! (@BobbyRotondo): Did you find the comment by RK of his son confusing? Last year RK kept saying that JK is not involved in football operations but yesterday RK said otherwise!!
Boston, I was standing there and, like a lot of other people, my ears perked up when I heard Robert Kraft say that New England Patriots president Jonathan Kraft, his eldest son, has been involved in every major decision he’s made over the past 30 years. Now, he’s the team president, so that shouldn’t be jaw-dropping. Yet, in recent years, the Patriots have tried to downplay Robert Kraft’s involvement in football matters, and Jonathan’s role with the team.
So, while Jonathan’s title would indicate he’s very involved, and he has every right to be, that his dad came out and said it is significant because it puts on the record that his presumed successor is already, and has been, working intimately on matters he’ll presumably be charged with handling when he succeeds Robert as the controlling owner.
I got the sense from Robert Kraft’s press availability, for what it’s worth, that he’s going to continue to run the team quite literally until he’s no longer physically or mentally capable of doing so. That said, it might not be the worst idea to start getting Jonathan into more of a forward-facing role—for the long-term good of the franchise, if nothing else.
From Bryan Nadley (@Sundeviljake11): How soon will we get an 18-game regular season?
Bryan, we went into greater detail on this in the Monday column, and I’d encourage you to check that out. Quickly, here, I think the first opportunity for an 18-game regular season will be in 2027—the league hasn’t set a Super Bowl date for that year (Super Bowl LXII will be in Atlanta at some point in February ’28), which would indicate they have that season earmarked. The next checkpoint is about a year after that Super Bowl, when they notify the networks that they’ll opt out of the broadcast contracts following the ’29 season.
Presumably, the NFL will want to go to the market with an 18-game schedule, among other things (maybe a full slate of international games, too) to sell. Having a year or two of evidence on how that works wouldn’t hurt.
From Isaac (@isaac_9813): If Hunter and Carter are gone, do the Pats go after one of the edge guys from Georgia or Mason Graham?
Isaac, that’s a good question. If Hunter and Carter are off the board, then I think all things are on the table—except, I’d think, quarterback and cornerback. Ideally, I’d say, you take a left tackle there. The question is whether there’s one that’s even with or better than the other guys available there—which will boil down to how the Patriots evaluate LSU’s Will Campbell and Missouri’s Armand Membou.
As I see it, if the Patriots view one of those two as even with or greater than the other prospects available, it’s rather straightforward. If not, it’s more complicated since New England isn’t in a spot where it can reach for a need. And so I do think a guy like Georgia LB/DE Jalon Walker or Michigan DT Mason Graham could be in play, simply because either one of those two might be the best available for the Patriots, even if their positions aren’t ones of great need.
Walker, in particular, is a guy I believe would appeal to Mike Vrabel. We’ll see what happens.
From David Guilbert (@DavidGuilbert12): With Aaron Rodgers and Kirk Cousins still available, how many QBs do you see going in the first round of the draft?
David, I think it could be one, two or three. I think Ward will go No. 1. I think Sanders will go somewhere between No. 2 and the first few picks of the second round. I think Ole Miss’s Jaxson Dart will land either in the back half of the first round or the front half of the second round. It will be exciting to see what happens in exactly three weeks.
From Maan Aboulhosn (@TheFireMaan): Update on the Bengals situation with Trey Hendrickson and how can they go into the 2025 season with their current crop of guards on the roster? Will the draft be enough to legitimately upgrade that spot!!
Maan, Trey Hendrickson made his feelings pretty clear on The Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday. The Cincinnati Bengals have a lot of work to do on that one, and clearly won’t be given a discount. I think they’ll find a way to get it done, in part because he’d be pretty difficult to get fair value for in a trade at this point, but I expect it to take some time.
The calendar is important here, too. Hendrickson’s camp got permission to seek a trade in March. The Bengals were told there was a first-round pick out there for them, so the brass asked the agent to go find it. I think if that was out there, a deal would’ve been done. It hasn’t been. And now, most teams are on to the draft, which I think creates a natural pause to this story.
After the draft, I think talks will resume, and, again, my guess is that the Bengals and Hendrickson will find some middle ground (or maybe some team that doesn’t get its edge rusher in the draft will get more aggressive).
From Josh Weirich (@jwire25): Cleveland Browns opening day QB1?
From DB (@dbrafford22): Browns passing on a QB?
Josh and DB, I think there was a decent tell last week on how the Browns are examining their options. Last Thursday night, owner Jimmy Haslam, executive vice president JW Johnson and GM Andrew Berry were in State College, having dinner with Carter. Presumably, that would be a dinner you’d want the head coach to attend. Instead, Kevin Stefanski was in Oxford, Miss., in anticipation of Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart’s pro day Friday morning.
Dart would be a better bet to be the Browns’ second-round pick than anyone’s top-10 pick. This is where you can see the idea crystallizing: Cleveland could take arguably the draft’s best player, Carter, and then double back at quarterback later.
Now, if that’s the strategy, would the Browns be done? I don’t think so. I could see a world where the Browns work a trade with the Atlanta Falcons, take Carter on April 24, then push the trade for Cousins through on April 25 (so Cousins knows he won’t get Penix-ed again), and consider taking a quarterback of the future later that night. And, for what it’s worth, I’d applaud them for doing it.
From L.A.N.K (@DatDamn_DOMO): How much of Kirk’s contract do you think the Falcons will have to eat to get a 5th or 6th round pick from Cleveland?
I heard the Falcons would like another team to pick up a good portion of it. I’d be interested to see whether Atlanta agrees to pay, say, $12.5 million of the $27.5 million that Cousins is due to get a fourth-round pick (Cleveland’s is 104th, which is the second pick of Day 3 of the draft) from the Browns.
From Nik Atanackovic (@nik_atan): What owner seemed the most stressed?
I’m sure they’re all stressed for different reasons.
From Geoffrey (@frizzaud): Is the league trying to move to any new stadiums being built being indoors?
Geoffrey, there are currently two stadiums under construction: The Buffalo Bills’ place will open in 2026, and the Titans’ new venue will open in ’27. The Commanders, Browns and Bears are aggressively seeking new stadiums. Of the two being built and three being discussed, only Buffalo has not put a roof on theirs.
That, by the way, has nothing to do with football. The reason is that rising construction costs have made it so that it’s gotten more and more difficult to justify building a stadium for the 10 football games (counting preseasons) that an NFL team is going to put in it. And to maximize the number of events you’re going to have in a stadium, particularly in colder areas of the country, you have to put a roof on it (having turf over grass is part of this, too).
Along those lines, I love that Buffalo is building a football stadium for football first, and having that one outdoors with a grass field should make you feel like the Bills are keeping the main thing the main thing for everyone involved. That said, I also understand the business of all this and why an owner would feel like they simply can’t make the numbers make sense without a lid on the pricey venue they’re putting up.
From Last Son (@Kal_houseofel): How many QBs are going top 10?
One, for sure. Two, tops.
From Drew (@D_Sauce184): Any insight on Picks 1-3?
If I had to guess, I’d say Ward to the Titans, Carter to the Browns and Hunter to the New York Giants.
And then the fun begins.
From Brandon Loree (@Brandoniswrite): Will Jerry Jones’s comments about David Mulugheta affect future deals that have to be made with Athletes First? Or is every deal separate, even if it’s under the umbrella of the same agency?
Brandon, I don’t think it helps, but I don’t know that it necessarily hurts. Mulugheta’s done a ton of big-money deals, and his client list makes it pretty unavoidable for teams to deal with him. As much as anyone in that business, the Dallas area native also knows, and adheres to, the principle that he’s serving his clients first and foremost—so I’d imagine his approach with the next Cowboy he has wouldn’t be altered much, other than any institutional knowledge he gains, from the Micah Parsons negotiation.
Also, Athletes First is a massive agency with a lot of different high-profile agents. Bottom line, if they were keeping score and harboring vendettas on every dispute every agent had with a team, it’d be hard for them ever to get a deal done. Negotiations are bumpy sometimes. It’s part of that business.
From Arthur Jaramillo (@ArtC_Jaramillo): How bullish are you on the Broncos in 2025 after a playoff season last year and the free agent signees so far?
I love where the Broncos are. Adding Talanoa Hufanga and Dre Greenlaw to the middle of one of the NFL’s best defenses is huge. The offensive line is solid. The quarterback is in place. And now, they have four of the first 122 picks to put more weapons around Bo Nix.
They should be really good.
From NR_Garrett (@NR_Garrett): Name the cowardly owners who want to ban Tush Push.
Haha … half of them were against it.
From Tim Naughton (@timnaughton): Is someone gonna get sued over this arm length fiasco? This could have potentially cost prospects millions of dollars. The teams can’t be happy either.
Tim, this is something I’m hoping to dive into this week
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Mailbag: How the Top Four Picks in the NFL Draft Should Play Out.