Author: nfltalk

According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, while the Indianapolis Colts made an ‘aggressive move’ to re-sign Alec Pierce before Tuesday’s late afternoon league tag deadline, all signs were already pointing to the team’s lead wideout testing the free agent waters next mid-week—short of the Horseshoe applying the franchise tag (which the transition tag went to free agent quarterback and Pierce’s passing teammate Daniel Jones instead):

“There’s incentive for the Colts is to do a long-term deal with Daniel Jones, sooner rather than later,” said Rapoport. “Right up against it with the salary cap. They can restructure some guys. They can figure this out. But if they do a long-term deal with Daniel Jones, their cap situation gets a lot easier and that might be pretty important because as you mentioned, Alec Pierce is going to be a free agent.”

“I know the Colts made an aggressive move to try to sign him before the franchise tag deadline. That was never going to happen. Not going to sign, unless he knew for sure who his quarterback was going to be.”

“Now he knows it’s Daniel Jones, but timing is really not on the Colts side here.”

“Today’s Tuesday. Right? So in like five days, or four days, whatever the math may be, the tampering window begins. Players never get this close to free agency and at least don’t entertain offers. It’s hard to imagine he does any deal until at least the end of the week before he’s going to find out what’s out there.”

“Besides George Pickens, who is a franchise tag member of the Dallas Cowboys, this is one of the top free agents regardless of positions. Certainly the top wide receiver. He’s going to get a huge deal, and the Colts, are not [just] competing with themselves, but the entire rest of the NFL.”

Of course, this is shaping up to be what a lot of Colts fans ultimately feared.

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Without a franchise tag applied to him, Pierce after a breakout 2026 campaign, in which he led the league…

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The NFL Scouting Combine is in the books. Let the jockeying for first-round positioning commence.

Unfortunately, with so many players opting out of certain drills — or testing altogether — it’s not nearly the useful tool it once was. With the NFL’s continued trend toward prioritizing athletes, pre-draft testing can serve as a tie-breaker at a lot of positions.

That being said, the players who did compete in Indianapolis get an automatic bump in my book for being willing to put themselves out there. Here’s how I’d grade the performances of the top 25 prospects on my board.

Measurables: 6-feet-4¾, 236 pounds, 9½-inch hands, 31⅞-inch arm length, 76¾-inch wingspanTesting: Did not participate in on-field drills or athletic testing.

Grade: Incomplete

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Maybe he’s not a top-10 pick. And during what ranks as the fastest combine in history at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, he didn’t bother to get timed in the 40-yard dash.

Yet in some regards there was no bigger winner at the NFL scouting combine than Kevin “KC” Concepcion.

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This isn’t about the 40, the 3-cone drill, the 225-pound bench press of any other measurables. It is about intangibles, like class and courage, heart and smarts.

The former Texas A&M receiver, a projected first-round pick, was skewered on social media by some dingbats who mocked his speech impediment, which was on full display as he stuttered during his Feb. 27 media session.

Concepcion’s response to the negativity is why he should be rising on all of our boards as the process for the upcoming NFL draft ramps up.

He dropped the mic with this post on Instagram:

“I just wanna say something if you have a speech impediment there is nothing wrong with us. I have had this stutter since I can remember talking is apart of me this is who I am I cannot control this. I wanna be a role model for those who may be scared to speak up … and not confident in yourself. I stand with you.

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“This weekend taught me a lot about myself and people out here in this world. I appreciate everyone who supports me and has reached out to me after these interviews. Don’t let a outside person thoughts, opinions get in the way you being great, of you achieving something in life. I am blessed to be in the position that I am in and I want to help give back to those who are scared to speak up who aren’t as confident.

“I stand with you, I will always stand with you. We are different for a reason. God has blessed my life in a way I couldn’t even imagine in this past year. I love y’all and support y’all as we climb this mountain together.”

So there. The explosive Concepcion (5-foot-11 ½, 196 pounds), who also returns punts and earned All-America honors as an all-purpose selection,…

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The NFLPA report cards weren’t supposed to be available to the public this year, but they got leaked out anyway, so we’re going to break them down and we’re going to focus on the owners. One of the most interesting parts of the grading system is that it allows each player to anonymously rate their owner, which gives us an idea of how well the person at the top of the organization relates to the players on the field. 

The NFLPA had 1,759 players rate their team in 17 different categories, including ownership. With that in mind, let’s take a look at how each owner graded out (The survey was taken Nov. 2 through Dec. 11, so the 2025 season wasn’t yet complete when players handed out their grades). 

Grade: A+

Teams: Broncos (Walton-Penner family), Vikings (Wilf family), Commanders (Josh Harris)

Notes: The last two NFL teams to be sold were the Broncos (August 2022) and Commanders (July 2023) and the two new ownership groups have clearly set a high bar. The two teams have been successful both on and off the field with the Commanders reaching the NFC title game in 2024 while the Broncos got to the AFC title game in 2025. The group that ends up buying the Seahawks are going to have a lot of pressure on them to live up to the standard what Washington and Denver have set. 

The Vikings also deserve some credit for being here. In the three years that players have been allowed to evaluate their owner, the Vikings are the only team that has scored an A+ each time.

Grade: A

Teams: Falcons (Arthur Blank), Lions (Sheila Ford Hamp), Texans (Cal McNair), Colts (Carlie Irsay-Gordon), Jaguars (Shad Khan), Raiders (Mark Davis), Dolphins (Stephen Ross), Seahawks (Jody Allen)

Notes: The Seahawks made the biggest jump here. Last year, the ownership group was given a C+, but this year, Jody Allen was graded out with an A. However, Allen won’t be around much longer because the Seahawks are in the process of…

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Dalton Risner joined the Bengals shortly before the start of the 2025 season, but he won’t be waiting nearly as long to make his plans for 2026.

Risner’s wife announced on X.com Monday that her husband will remain with the Bengals. Risner is listed as No. 81 on PFT’s list of this year’s top free agents.

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No terms of Risner’s agreement with the Bengals were included in his wife’s announcement.

Risner signed with the Bengals in late August and made 11 starts at right guard during the 2025 season. Risner started 19 games in two seasons with the Vikings before moving on to Cincinnati and started 62 games for the Broncos over his first four seasons in the league.

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