NFL News Updates

Author: nfltalk

  • NFL draft 2025: Dates, UK times, how it works & who gets first pick?

    NFL draft 2025: Dates, UK times, how it works & who gets first pick?

    The number of players selected varies slightly each year and this year there will be 257 picks.

    NFL teams scout players at college and then assess them during the NFL Combine, a week-long event in February featuring physical and mental tests where teams can also interview prospects.

    Each college/university holds a Pro Day, where draft hopefuls have another chance to showcase their skills, and they may also visit teams for more tests and interviews.

    Then comes the draft.

    Each pick will not necessarily be the best player still available, they may be the player which that team feels best suits their needs.

    The total number of picks varies each year as teams are awarded compensatory picks for players they lost in free agency.

    They are also rewarded with picks for developing minority candidates for head coach/general manager positions, while teams may have to forfeit picks for breaching NFL rules.

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  • Agent’s Take: A look at fifth-year options for Aidan Hutchinson, Sauce Gardner, other 2022 first-round picks

    Agent’s Take: A look at fifth-year options for Aidan Hutchinson, Sauce Gardner, other 2022 first-round picks

    The decisions on fifth-year options are somewhat obscured because of the timing. NFL teams typically don’t turn their attention to fifth-year options until the conclusion of the NFL Draft, which takes place April 24-April 26 this year, when the window to pick up options is coming to a close. The window with 2022 first-round picks began Jan. 6, a day after the 2024 regular season ended. The options must be exercised no later than May 2.

    The decision to pick up options is more complicated because the 2020 NFL collective bargaining agreement changed how fifth-year options operate. The fifth-year salary is fully guaranteed when the option is exercised. A player’s fourth-year base salary will also become fully guaranteed at the time the option year is picked up if it wasn’t already.

    Previously, the fifth year was guaranteed for injury upon exercise of the option. The option year become fully guaranteed on the first day of the league year in the fifth contract year.

    The option-year salaries are no longer strictly tied to where a player was drafted (i.e. top 10 or outside of top 10). Originally, the fifth-year salary for the top 10 picks was the transition tender (average of the ten highest salaries) at a player’s position when the option was exercised. With players selected outside of the top 10 (picks 11-32), the fifth-year salary was the average of the third through  25th highest salaries at a player’s position.

    Performance now dictates the option-year salaries. With two or more Pro Bowl selections on the original ballot during the first three seasons of contracts, the fifth-year salary is the franchise tender, which is the average of the five highest salaries, for a player’s position in the fourth year of his contract. One Pro Bowl selection on the original ballot during the first three seasons of deals puts the fifth-year salary at the transition tender, which is the average of the…

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  • Top available transfer Maraad Watson announces commitment

    Top available transfer Maraad Watson announces commitment

    The Georgia Bulldogs missed out on Syracuse Orange transfer defensive lineman Maraad Watson. Georgia lost out to SEC foe Texas Longhorns, who landed a commitment from Watson.

    Texas and Georgia have competed for top defensive line recruits several times recently with the Longhorns winning the recruiting battle for Watson and five-star defensive lineman Justus Terry.

    Miami Hurricanes defensive lineman Joshua Horton transferred to the Georgia Bulldogs, but Georgia was still hoping to land Watson. The Bulldogs were among the four contenders for Syracuse defensive tackle Maraad Watson, according to Hayes Fawcett. Ohio State, and Tennessee were the other contenders to land Watson.

    Watson was a four-star prospect from the class of 2024 when he committed to Syracuse. In his freshman season, Watson earned 30 tackles, one pass deflected, and one sack. Despite being a freshman, Watson started and made a significant impact.

    Georgia could use more help on the defensive line. The Bulldogs are losing projected first-round draft pick edge rushers Mykel Williams and Jalon Walker. UGA is also losing defensive tackles Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, Nazir Stackhouse, and Warren Brinson to the 2025 NFL draft.

    Watson is the No. 56 ranked player in the transfer portal. He is ranked as a four-star transfer and was the top available transfer.

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  • Rams won’t say much about whether they’re looking to draft a quarterback

    Rams won’t say much about whether they’re looking to draft a quarterback

    The Rams have a year-to-year arrangement with quarterback Matthew Stafford. Which means that any year could be the last year for the quarterback who arrived in 2021.

    It also means that, in any year, the Rams could draft Stafford’s eventual successor.

    During Tuesday’s pre-draft press conference, G.M. Les Snead addressed the possibility of adding a quarterback from the incoming ranks of rookies.

    “I don’t think I could truly answer that honestly so I’ll keep that internal, how we view it,” Snead told reporters. “The only thing I can add or any insight would be when you prepare for a draft, however many other positions there are and it can get pretty micro and nuanced. . . . If you’re going to get down and go down the quarterback path, that’s an entirely different bucket based on all the requirements it takes to play QB in this league at a successful rate.”

    If they opt to pick a quarterback, they’ll be sure to let Stafford know about it.

    “I think there have been a lot of instances where you never regret overcommunicating and creating clarity for people as opposed to why,” coach Sean McVay said. “When we drafted Stetson Bennett a couple of years ago, I made sure to communicate with [Stafford] beforehand. You want to be as inclusive as you can, especially to players who are in his position. That would be something that we would do, just like we did when we drafted Stetson a couple of years ago.”

    Not every team extends that courtesy to the incumbent. Most notably, the Packers didn’t let Aaron Rodgers know they’d be taking his eventual replacement, Jordan Love, in round one. Last year, the Falcons caught Kirk Cousins (and everyone else) flatfooted when they drafted Michael Penix Jr.

    So we’ll see. As will everyone one. But if anyone gets advance notice, it’ll be Stafford.

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  • The race to keep up with $40 million rosters is shaking college football

    The race to keep up with $40 million rosters is shaking college football

    BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — It’s the first day of college football’s spring transfer portal window, players are jumping in left and right, and Indiana coach Curt Cignetti is anxious.

    Coming off an 11-2 2024 season that included a College Football Playoff berth, life is pretty good in Bloomington. The university and its supporters are committed to investing in Indiana football, ensuring it can be more than just a one-hit wonder. With the fiery Cignetti’s unrelenting pursuit of success and the player and coaching talent returning, Indiana will have a real chance at making the College Football Playoff again in 2025. 

    But Cignetti is still uneasy — and for good reason. Tampering is rampant in college football, and around every corner, a possible enemy lurks trying to poach one of Cignetti’s players. In what was supposed to be a relatively quiet portal period, it has instead been super-charged with football programs making a last grasp at adding as much talent as possible before a likely NCAA v. House settlement that paves the way for revenue sharing.

    “This is an unprecedented couple days, weeks, where everybody’s waiting on this rev share, and the five or six out there that have unlimited NIL resources, it’s kind of scary for everybody else,” Cignetti told CBS Sports. “I think our little pot of gold is pretty nice, but we’re not at $40 million. Or $30 million. Or even $25 million.”

    A year ago, Ohio State made national headlines when athletic director Ross Bjork said the football program spent $20 million on its eventual national championship-winning roster, but multiple industry sources with knowledge of the market told CBS Sports the top spending programs in 2024 paid upwards of $30 million. 

    Is Cignetti saying the top of the market is…

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  • Steelers’ Jaylen Warren signs his one-year restricted free agent tender

    Steelers’ Jaylen Warren signs his one-year restricted free agent tender

    USATSI

    Jaylen Warren was signed by the Steelers shortly after going undrafted back in 2022. On Tuesday, just two days before the start of this year’s draft, Warren signed his one-year restricted free agent tender as he prepares for the biggest season of his career so far.

    The Steelers, who tendered Warren earlier this offseason, had the right to retain him by matching any offer sheet he would have signed with another team. Warren’s tender is worth about $5.35 million for the 2025 season. 

    After going undrafted, Warren — who rushed for 1,216 yards and 11 touchdowns during his final season in college while playing for Oklahoma State — made the Steelers’ initial 53-man roster following an impressive training camp. He appeared in 16 games during his rookie season, averaging a team-high 4.9 yards-per-carry. 

    Warren’s role increased in 2023 as he set career-highs with 784 rushing yards, four rushing touchdowns, 370 receiving yards and 1,154 total yards. Warren’s 5.3 yards-per-carry average that season is also a career best. His 74-yard touchdown run against the Browns in Week 11 of that season was the longest run by a Pittsburgh player since Willie Parker’s 75-yard touchdown run in Super Bowl XL at the end of the 2005 season. 

    While injuries hampered him in 2024, Warren still managed to rush for 511 yards while compiling 821 all-purpose yards for the Steelers, who went 10-7 while clinching their second straight playoff berth. 

    With Najee Harris’ departure to the Chargers via free agency, Warren is expected to be the Steelers’ premier running back in 2025, although Pittsburgh is expected to acquire another running back during the draft. 

    CBS Sports live 2025…

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  • Joey Aguilar to enter transfer portal: Why ‘QB trade’ with Nico Iamaleava may work out perfectly for Tennessee

    Joey Aguilar to enter transfer portal: Why ‘QB trade’ with Nico Iamaleava may work out perfectly for Tennessee

    UCLA (and former Appalachian State) quarterback Joey Aguilar plans to enter the transfer portal and sign with Tennessee, 247Sports confirms. It’s the latest domino to fall as a result of the Nico Iamaleava saga. Iamaleava, the top prospect in 247Sports’ transfer rankings, signed with the Bruins on Easter Sunday. 

    Aguilar is an experienced starter with proven production at the Group of Five level, and if there’s one school that makes too much sense, it’s Tennessee, Iamaleava’s old team. 

    Indeed, the Vols and Bruins are reportedly initiating an unintentional and unprecedented quarterback “trade,” given that Iamaleava departed Knoxville for Los Angeles after his public name, image and likeness “contract negotiations” fell apart. That put the Vols in a position where they have been actively seeking a new starter via the transfer portal. 

    Aguilar may have just fallen in their lap. 

    Tennessee’s staff is almost certainly familiar with Aguilar, given that he spent two seasons as the starting quarterback at nearby Appalachian State. In that span, Aguilar won 14 games and threw for 6,760 yards and 56 touchdowns. He was the 2023 Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year after transferring in from Diablo Valley College. 

    On paper, he’s the perfect target for a quarterback-needy team, and few programs now need a quarterback more than Tennessee. However, there are some concerns with Aguilar. His 2024 efforts were a disappointment in comparison to his breakout 2023 showing at Appalachian State. His completion percentage dropped from 63.7% in 2023 to 55.9% last season; he failed to complete at least 60% of his passes in eight out of 11 games, which might not mesh well with a Tennessee offense that relies on rhythm to maintain its pace. 

    He also had 14…

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  • Colts G.M. Chris Ballard looking for “hard to find” three-down tight end

    Colts G.M. Chris Ballard looking for “hard to find” three-down tight end

    The Colts don’t know who will be starting at quarterback when they hit the field in September, but they know they’d like to have a dynamic tight end helping Anthony Richardson or Daniel Jones succeed in the passing game.

    Their obvious need at the position has led to many mock drafts that see them land Tyler Warren or Colston Loveland with the 14th overall pick on Thursday night. General Manager Chris Ballard didn’t discuss those players directly during a Monday press conference, but acknowledged that he’d like to make an addition at the position.

    Ballard also acknowledged that it is “hard to find” the kind of player who does enough to make him worth an investment in the first round.

    “To be able to play on all three downs, to be able to be functional in the run game to where you don’t necessarily know it’s always a pass when he’s in the game, and then to be able to finish and make plays at critical times and have him give the quarterback an option in the middle of the field,” Ballard said, via the team’s website.

    Warren and Loveland are at the top of the class, but Ballard noted that players like Travis Kelce, George Kittle, and Mark Andrews were selected later in the draft. Wherever Ballard decides to pull the trigger, the Colts could use a direct hit.

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