Wilson signed with the Giants Tuesday on a one-year deal, worth up to $21 million. / Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images
I have your questions. I have my answers. Let’s go …
From Anthony Rivardo (@Anthony_Rivardo): If the Giants land Aaron Rodgers/Russell Wilson would they still draft a quarterback in the first round?
Well, now, Anthony, the Giants have landed Russell Wilson—and I do think it underscores the overall philosophy the team is taking at the position.
Simply put, if they aren’t going to spend $35 million, or whatever it might cost to bring in Aaron Rodgers, then this is the next best plan. The Giants are raising their floor and building in options at the position. Russell Wilson isn’t what he was, but is better than what the team was putting out there last year. It’s possible Jameis Winston winds up being a better option, and it’s O.K. if he is.
The Giants’ plan, as I understand it, is simply to play the best player at the position. Wilson is the likely starter. But it might be Winston. It also might wind up being the third pick. But with the backstops they’ve given themselves in Wilson and Winston, they don’t have to force a quarterback at pick No. 3— with five of the top 105 picks, they could also take a Jaxson Dart or a Quinn Ewers later on.
As it stands, at a base level, they’re paying $15 million total for two quarterbacks with a ton of starting experience and all their options open in the NFL draft. Would I rather have Rodgers? Yes. But this isn’t a bad pivot, given the circumstances, having made hard runs both the former Packer and Jet, and Matthew Stafford, too.
From L.A.N.K (@DatDamn_DOMO): Browns & Kirk? What’s the latest?
As we mentioned Monday, Kirk Cousins’s camp has let teams know he plans to wait until after the first night of the draft to waive his no-trade clause to avoid a situation such as the one he found himself in last year with Atlanta taking Michael Penix Jr. after acquiring him. It’s understandable. It also comes with the risk that all the starting jobs out there are spoken for.
I do think if the Browns decide to take Carter with the second pick, then Cousins would appeal to them, given the relationship the quarterback has with Kevin Stefanski from Minnesota. It would be, in my mind, a nice fit for everyone, and allow Cleveland more flexibility on taking a quarterback in the draft. Cousins is amenable to teams working out trade terms on a contingency ahead of the draft, so maybe that’s how this one plays out over the coming weeks.
From Zeek (@Zeek69712999193): Your guess at the number of WRs that go in the first round? Not including [Travis] Hunter.
Zeek, I’ll go with three. I think Texas’s Matthew Golden and Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan are locks. I’d say I’m maybe 70/30 that Ohio State’s Emeka Egbuka is in the first round—how he runs in Columbus at the Buckeyes’ pro day on Wednesday could solidify that. And after those three, Missouri’s Luther Burden III, Ole Miss’s Tre Harris and Iowa State’s Jayden Higgins are probably next up, but I wouldn’t say it’s likely any of them go first round.
Burden might be the most intriguing of that group, but there are some off-field questions with him. And I do think the relative shortage of offensive tackles could create a run on that position at the end of the first round that could push the receivers down.
Dart has garnered ample interest among teams, but his prospects of going in the first round remain unclear. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
From matt (@MattJeffries213): Are you hearing the Jets’ Jaxson Dart rumblings like Rich Cimini and who would you keep an eye on in Round 1 for them?
Matt, I haven’t, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t true—Cimini knows that team inside and out. At this point, though, the top 10 still seems really rich for Jaxson Dart to me, and I’d be surprised if the New York Jets took a quarterback in the first round, in part because of the negotiation and contract they went through and did with Justin Fields. Now, if we’re saying they’d consider Dart at the top of the second round, I think that sounds plausible.
From D Patel (@dptpallset): How good/bad is this OT draft? Or is it average? Can you give an example of a past draft that reflects the quality of this offensive tackle class?
D, it’s not a great offensive tackle draft. There’s certainly no Joe Alt this year.
The presumed top left tackle prospect, LSU’s Will Campbell, is seen by some teams as a guard. The next lineman expected to be drafted, Missouri’s Armand Membou, played right tackle in college. The safest bet to be the next lineman after Membou would be Alabama guard Tyler Booker (who’s been excellent with teams in the predraft process).
After that, you have Ohio State’s Josh Simmons coming off a torn patellar tendon with some maturity questions, and Texas’s Kelvin Banks Jr. and Oregon’s Josh Conerly Jr., who are both younger (2022 high school class), have some inconsistencies on tape and are seen by some teams as guards.
Your second question makes me think a little about the 2022 class. The first one taken, Ickey Ekwonu, was among a bunch of guys that faced the guard/tackle question. Evan Neal and Charles Cross went next, and were “potential” guys, great athletes who had to be projected a bit. And I remember at the time it was considered a group tough to predict because beauty seemed to truly be in the eye of the beholder.
Three years later, Cross is the best in the class. Neal’s been a bust. Ekwonu’s been up and down. Tyler Smith, taken by Dallas, was moved from tackle to guard and has become one of the league’s best. Fourth-rounder Daniel Faalele made that transition, too, and was at guard for the Baltimore Ravens last year. And Bernhard Raimann, a third-rounder, has developed into a good left tackle in Indy.
From Raider Steve (@VegasRaidersBlg): What’s the hold up with the Geno Smith contract?
Steve, I don’t think there’s a holdup. It’s more of just negotiation. I also don’t think the Las Vegas Raiders move to land Smith without a strong feeling they could find common ground on an extension. The Seattle Seahawks, for their part, felt like they were doing Smith a favor with the trade in that Vegas had a better shot at doing a contract with him than Seattle did (they were far apart on the numbers at the end).
But if you make me guess, I’d say the guarantees are probably what needs to be worked out.
From The Notirious Patriot (@brien1277): What is the Patriots’ draft plan if Hunter and [Abdul] Carter are gone at 4?
From Some Guy (@RomaYury): Who’s the most likely pick for the Patriots at 4?
I’d say if Travis Hunter or Abdul Carter is sitting there with the fourth pick, I wouldn’t hesitate—the New England Patriots don’t have anywhere near enough blue-chip players, and those two are probably the only prospects in this class that the great majority of teams see that way.
If both are gone, then the need pick would be Campbell. I’ve heard he interviewed well at the combine, and he’s been described to me in the past as Mike Vrabel’s type of guy. But the one I can’t get out of my head for them, and I said it on the radio a few weeks ago, is Georgia edge/linebacker/general menace Jalon Walker. There’s so much a defensive coach can do with him. He’s a playmaker. My guess is Vrabel would love him, and would probably have a good vision for him in his defense.
Hutchinson has two years remaining on his rookie contract with the Lions. / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images
From Luke Wiszczur (@LukeWisz64): How much do you think the Lions end up paying Hutch?
Luke, I think that the new-money average per year on the new contract probably has to start with a “4” now. We have two nonquarterbacks in that category with Cleveland Browns DE Myles Garrett and Cincinnati Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase. Houston Texans DE Danielle Hunter and Raiders DE Maxx Crosby, both just got nearly $36 million in new-money APY on new deals, too.
That said, there’s a trick to all of this if you get Hutchinson done now. He has $25.45 million due to him over the next two years—which gets folded into the new contract. So let’s say he, for example, does a four-year, $160 million extension with the Detroit Lions, which would take him through the 2030 season. In that circumstance, the real money on the deal would be $185.45 million over six years, or an average of $30.9 million per year.
I think that’s a good deal for anyone, given the type of player Hutchinson has become, and a good example of drafting well and paying your own early rather than chasing someone else’s free agents.
From Michael Evans (@mebrownie): Browns at 2?
Michael, if we’re assuming Cam Ward’s going first to the Titans, it boils down to what Cleveland’s front office thinks of Shedeur Sanders.
If it’s not Sanders, I’d lean Carter over Hunter because the projection to the pros is cleaner and both have sky-high ceilings. Carter—and I’m sure as a Midwesterner you know this—was a game-wrecker in 2024 at Penn State and that was in his first year playing a new position. He’s a blue-chipper both as an off-ball linebacker and an edge-rusher, and would be a really nice fit for Jim Schwartz’s aggressive, attacking defense.
And good luck to offensive lines having to deal with Garrett and Carter.
From Mark (@markpatriots21): Any updates on the Joe Milton trade talks?
Mark, I’d be pretty stunned if any team gave up a top-100 selection for him.
Sure, he looked good in the Patriots’ Week 18 game against the Buffalo Bills’ backups. But that alone isn’t going to supersede the six years of evidence from college that put him in the sixth round last year. He wasn’t the answer for either Michigan or Tennessee, winning and then losing the starting job for the Wolverines in 2020, then having to wait until ’23 to start for the Volunteers. Both programs, for what it’s worth, surged after his departure.
That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have potential. He did show some in the Buffalo game, so I could see someone taking a flyer on him for a Day 3 pick. Hard to see much more than that.
From P-Mac McGruder (@ChiefsFan4Lyfe): Hey, Albert, with the Chiefs’ No. 31 pick, they can choose the best available player. Which position—RB, OT, or DT—do you think they’ll select, and which player should fans watch?
P-Mac, I’d say, if they had their druthers, an offensive tackle, maybe a guy such as Conerly or Simmons slips to them, and now they throw him in the mix with incoming left tackle Jaylon Moore and up-and-down veteran right tackle Jawaan Taylor. But that’s projecting a lot.
It’s more likely that the best quality of player is available at defensive tackle or running back, though, based on the strength of the draft class. At the former, Michigan’s Kenneth Grant, Oregon’s Derrick Harmon or Ole Miss’s Walter Nolen would all represent really good value at 31. At the latter, assuming Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty and North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton are gone, Ohio State’s TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins, and Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson could be options—the idea of Henderson in K.C. is pretty enticing.
From Brad (@bhesch34): Any insights on two key Bills players in their final year, [James] Cook and [Christian] Benford? Are they extension candidates?
Brad, I think those two would be good to start with. James Cook is a fascinating one. He played 44.58% of the team’s offensive snaps in 2024. But he rushed for 1,009 yards and 16 (!) touchdowns, caught 32 balls for another 258 yards and two touchdowns, and was perhaps the biggest problem of all the Bills skill players for any opponent. Then, there’s Christian Benford, who’s been a really steady corner, though not one at the top of the league.
It’ll be challenging to find a dollar value for either guy, but the Bills will try.
And don’t forget: They’ve already done a bunch of work on this stuff, getting ahead on guys such as Greg Rousseau, Terrel Bernard and Khalil Shakir who, like Cook, were part of the 2022 draft class that, interestingly enough, started with a pretty sizable bust (Kaiir Elam).
Aiyuk suffered a torn ACL in San Francisco’s Week 7 matchup last season. / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
From ConquerSports (@Conquer_Sports_): Do you see Brandon Aiyuk being moved?
Conquer, my guess would be that the San Francisco 49ers hang on to Brandon Aiyuk. I think they’re open to listening. I don’t think they’re going to give him away. And if they were going to move him, you’d think it’d happen before April 1—when a $22.855 million option bonus is due. That’s a week from March 24. So if he’s still on the roster a week from today, it’s a good bet that he’s locked in for 2025. And, by the way, we won’t have much more clarity on his rehab from ACL surgery by then, which makes the picture pretty cloudy for other teams.
From Albert (@Albertg34): What do you make of the Raiders’ offseason? Upgraded the QB position but has been quiet since as far as upgrading the talent overall.
Albert, obviously there’s the swing for Geno Smith, which I really like. There’s also signings that, to me, look very Pete Carroll-specific—S Jeremy Chinn and CB Eric Stokes are both nice fits for his defense. Adding Alex Cappa to the offensive line helps, too. But, based on the current roster, this year’s offseason was always going to be judged on how the draft goes. And with the sixth pick, there’s a good chance to start that process with a difference-maker.
From Jp (@Jp11238156): Are the Giants going to have a visit with Aaron Rodgers sometime down the road?
I did hear Rodgers was planning to spend time in New Jersey after his visit with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Pittsburgh figured Rodgers would want to see the Giants before making a final decision. Whether a visit happens, though? I don’t know for sure.
From Luis Herrera (@luisrha): How many days until the consensus mock draft shows Jaxson Dart getting picked in the first round?
Where is this consensus mock draft?
Anyway, yeah, I think it’s possible, but not likely, that Dart sneaks into Round 1.
