Category: NFL News

The NFL Scouting Combine has reached the weekend from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. While prospects have descended onto Indianapolis over the last few days, the action ramps up Saturday as the quarterbacks, wide receivers and running backs hit the field. 

First up were the defensive linemen and linebackers. Following Thursday’s session, defensive backs and tight ends will took the field on Friday, and we’ll wrap everything up on Sunday with the offensive lineman. 

One of the more critical aspects of the NFL combine is getting the measurements on these prospects, which continues to paint a clearer picture for teams as they craft their draft boards. Below, we’ll detail every prospect’s measurables along with what they clocked during the 40-yard dash.  

NOTE: This table will be updated as more information becomes available.

QB measurements

TE measurements

Player nameSchool40-yard dash timeHeightWeightArm LengthWingspanColston LovelandMichigan–6-5 3/424832 1/8
Tyler WarrenPenn State–6-5 1/225631 3/476 1/2Harold Fannin Jr.Bowling Green4.726-3 1/424132 1/479 1/4Gunnar HelmTexas4.846-5 24132 3/479 1/2Elijah ArroyoMiami–6-5 1/82503381 7/8Mason TaylorLSU–6-5 1/825132 1/478 3/4Terrance FergusonOregon4.636-5 3/824731 7/880 1/8Oronde Gadsden IISyracuse– 6-4 5/824333 3/881 5/8Mitchell EvansNotre Dame4.746-5 3/825831 7/877Jake BriningstoolClemson4.756-4 5/824131 1/277 5/8Moliki MatavaoUCLA4.826-5 5/826032 1/278 7/8CJ DippreAlabama4.706-4 7/82563279 3/4Jackson HawesGeorgia Tech4.836-4 1/225332 1/879Gavin BartholomewPittsburgh4.716-4 5/824631 3/878 3/8Thomas Fidone IINebraska4.706-52433482 5/8Brant KuitheUtah–6-223631 5/876 3/4Joshua SimonSouth Carolina4.666-4 1/823933 7/883Luke LacheyIowa–6-5 3/425132 1/878 3/8Jalin ConyersTexas Tech4.756-3 1/226032 1/480 7/8Bryson NesbitNotre Dame4.896-523831 3/477 3/8Robbie OuztsAlabama4.916-3 27431 1/478 1/4

Top-10 40-yard dash times

TE winners and losers

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Early Friday morning, as Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford was preparing for a meeting with head coach Sean McVay, a league source with significant interest in this offseason’s QB carousel offered a prediction and theory on the story that had dominated the start of the NFL scouting combine: Stafford and the Rams would stay together in 2025; a financial middle ground would be found; and while Stafford would never say it publicly, the compromise would showcase that sometimes elite players do learn from the mistakes of their peers.

In this case Stafford wasn’t going to fall into the same trap that has swallowed some of the precious final years of Aaron Rodgers’ career, leaving the future Hall of Famer in search of a way to bookend his NFL legacy with something other than his spectacular failure with the New York Jets.

“They played each other [late in the 2024 season] and I know the respect Matthew has for Aaron,” the source said. “I don’t think it’s lost on him what happened with Aaron and the Jets. [Heading into their late December game] Matthew was getting asked about Aaron and I’m sure there were mental notes taken — especially with Matthew knowing there would be some career decisions to make this offseason.”

“When it’s [crunch] time, I think Matthew will know his best opportunity to finish on his terms and winning terms will be [with the Rams].”

Ultimately, the source guessed correctly. Several hours later, the Rams announced they’d reached an agreement to keep Stafford in place for the 2025 season. And just like that, the other future Hall of Fame quarterback in the winter of his career has avoided the kind of legacy-capping dice roll that is currently defining Rodgers’ offseason search for redemption.

Matthew Stafford and the Rams won’t be breaking up after all, to the chagrin of would-be suitors looking for a veteran QB to lead in the 2025 NFL season. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Stafford was a big domino in QB market

It’s the…

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The Dallas Cowboys’ “all in” 2024 offseason  was just the opposite of what owner and general manager Jerry Jones initially promised. 

Dallas ended up spending an NFL-low $20.47 million in free agency, per OverTheCap.com, and procrastinated on extending both All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and All-Pro quarterback Dak Prescott, which is why Jones’ offseason slogan transformed into “get it done with less.”  Having less experienced depth and just less depth in general doesn’t yield positive results in the NFL. That’s why the Cowboys went from having three consecutive 12-win seasons from 2021 to 2023 to going 7-10 in 2024 amid an injury-plagued campaign.

Cowboys executive vice president and COO Stephen Jones took some accountability on behalf of the team’s front office at head coach Brian Schottenheimer’s introductory press conference, saying they needed to “take a long hard look” at their free agency strategy. Following some reflection, the younger Jones declared Dallas will be “selectively aggressive” this offseason. 

“We’re going to look at everything we can. We’re going to be selectively aggressive,” Stephen Jones said Monday at the NFL Scouting Combine. “Obviously you know there are things in this league, you have certain amount of resources they allow you to have. We’ll look at that. We’re going to try to improve our football team. Not try, we’re going to improve our football, and we expect to have success next year.”  

As we get closer and closer to the unofficial kickoff to free agency with the legal tampering window beginning on March 10, let’s take a closer look at the Cowboys and where they stand entering this key period on the calendar.   

Cowboys free agency lookahead

Unrestricted free agents: DE DeMarcus Lawrence, LB Eric Kendricks, CB Jourdan Lewis, DT Osa Odighizuwa, RB Rico Dowdle, G/C Brock Hoffman, WR Brandin Cooks, QB Cooper Rush, DE Carl Lawson, WR…

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Tom Brady’s meeting with Matthew Stafford was apparently productive.

The Raiders and Stafford’s camp have found common ground on what a new contract could look like, the Las Vegas Review-Journal is reporting.

Although “common ground” is not the same thing as actually agreeing to the terms of a contract, the report strongly suggests that if the Rams and the Raiders can come to an agreement on a trade, Stafford and the Raiders can come to an agreement on a contract.

Whether the Rams and Raiders can agree is another matter. The same report says the Raiders “want to keep the No. 6 pick at all costs.” If the Raiders will not part with their first-round pick to get Stafford, then the Raiders might not get Stafford even if they’re on the same page about how much to pay Stafford.

It’s still possible that the Rams will keep Stafford. In fact, the Raiders finding common ground with Stafford on a contract could help the Rams and Stafford to find their own common ground. But the Rams opened the door to moving Stafford by giving him permission to talk to other teams. And the Raiders’ talks with Stafford appear to be productive.

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The “Tush Push” has become what appears to be nothing short of a cheat code for the Philadelphia Eagles, and some of their NFL competitors aren’t happy about it. 

Specifically, the Green Bay Packers recently filed a petition to ban the play that entails teammates shoving a quarterback forward on a designed QB sneak. The play’s detractors often point to safety concerns as the reason why they want the play outlawed. 

Nick Sirianni passionately defended the play during the NFL Scouting Combine, and it’s easy to see why the Eagles head coach is vehemently opposed to the “Tush Push” getting sidelined. 

The play was an integral part of the Eagles’ successful 2024 Super Bowl run. Including the playoffs, Philadelphia was 39 of 48 converting the “Tush Push” into a first down or touchdown in 2024. Of the nine times they failed, the Eagles followed with a first down or touchdown on the very next play eight times while running the “Tush Push” again. Week 1 was the only time the “Tush Push” was truly stopped, and that was Cam Jurgens’ first start at center following Jason Kelce’s retirement. 

Kelce views banning the play as being against the spirit of competition. “Maybe the Eagles just happen to be really, really good at it,” he recently said on “The Steam Room” podcast, via ABC News New York. “Is that fair to necessarily punish a team just because they’re better at it than everybody else? I don’t think that that’s fair.”    

NFL rule changes 2025: League to consider virtual measurement and potentially the ‘Tush Push’

Jordan Dajani

One would expect that the “Tush Push” will be discussed during this year’s NFL owners meeting. If the “Tush Push” is banned, it’ll require at…

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Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni called talk of banning the tush push play that his team has made a staple of their offense “unfair” earlier this week and took particular aim at arguments that the play was unsafe.

Sirianni said that he didn’t think that the data would back up the assertion that the play was more likely to lead to injuries than other plays, but deferred to the NFL for specific information on that front. The NFL shared that information on Wednesday and it served Sirianni’s argument.

Executive vice president Troy Vincent said, via multiple reporters, that the league found zero injuries on tush push plays during the 2024 season.

The Packers have proposed banning the play, but the lack of data showing a heightened player safety risk would suggest that proponents of its elimination will have to find another argument to compel 24 teams to vote in favor of it.

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With the NFL offseason comes potential rule changes. Last year, we of course saw the move to the dynamic kickoff, as well as the league awarding a third challenge to a team following one successful challenge. We also saw the hip-drop tackle “outlawed,” although it was more often fined after the fact than called on the field.

What rule changes could be coming down the line this year? First of all, the proposed changes have to be approved by 24 of the NFL’s 32 owners to go into effect, and those votes could take place at the NFL’s owners meeting next month in Palm Beach, Florida. Let’s take a look at some of the issues being raised around the league.

Virtual measurement

The chain gang could become a thing of the past. Well, it will still be on the sidelines, but not the main authority when it comes to ruling first downs. According to CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones, the NFL plans to recommend the use of virtual measurement as the primary way to determine first downs beginning in the 2025 regular season.

Sony Hawk-Eye’s SkeleTRACK system is the future, and the NFL has been working with this technology since 2021. Jones actually detailed this a couple weeks ago at the Super Bowl. Check out his article, here. 

“… A 14-camera system that specifically monitors more than two-dozen skeletal points on a player’s body. That system, along with the chips in the footballs and the 18 other specific cameras strategically placed around the stadium, can all be combined to harvest a fully computerized model that potentially tracks where the ball is when players are down, if someone has achieved a first down or if they have scored.”

‘Tush Push’

One of the main takeaways from the NFL Scouting Combine is that other NFL teams still hate the Philadelphia Eagles’ “Tush Push.” The Green Bay Packers, who lost to the Eagles in the playoffs this year, issued a proposal to the league’s competition…

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SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 09: Woody Johnson, New York Jets owner, looks on before the game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium on September 09, 2024 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

INDIANAPOLIS — When the Washington Commanders ranked as the lowest-graded workplace in the league last year, new team owner Josh Harris responded bluntly: “I’m not an F-minus guy.”

After a season to implement changes in the wake of Daniel Snyder’s forced sale, Harris proved it as the league’s consecutive-year 32nd team jumped to 11th place in the NFLPA’s annual “report card” survey.

First-year head coach Dan Quinn ranked as the league’s most-liked coach as he took a 4-13 Commanders team to 12-5 and an NFC title game appearance in his debut year. The Commanders also improved their food services, travel and family accommodations as they rose from an F-minus workplace grade to B.

In contrast, the New York Jets fell from the 21st-ranked team to the 29th as players reported concerns that team owner Woody Johnson was not willing to invest in improvements (Johnson ranked last), did not contribute to a positive culture (last) and did not commit to building a competitive team (second-last).

“They talked about the culture – it’s a problem, top down,” NFLPA chief strategy officer J.C. Tretter said of the Jets’ response. “[They said,] ‘It’s a culture of fear here.’ And I think that stood out in those grades.”

In the third year of their report-card survey process, the players union polled 1,695 total respondents, which averages to 52.97 respondents per team and 77 percent of union membership across active and practice-squad rosters. At least 35 players from each team responded to the poll conducted during team visits spanning the period from Aug. 26 to Nov. 20, with a high of 68 respondents from the New York Giants.

The Miami Dolphins defended their title as the league’s best workplace for a second…

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