NEWS AND NEAR NEWS

Badgers wrap first pro day week … The first week of the annual pro day schedule wrapped yesterday with a workout at Wisconsin. All 32 NFL teams were represented in Madison; unfortunately, though, the Badgers’ highest rated prospect not invited to the combine – RT Riley Mahlman – didn’t do a whole lot. Mahlman, in fact one of the more notable combine snubs last month, did post a decent 30-inch vertical, but managed only 17 reps in the bench press and did not run. Meanwhile, a couple of other less-well known former Badgers’ did post some eye-popping numbers. Safety Austin Brown, for example, ran a 4.47 40 with an explosive 43-inch vertical. He did start 24 games in his Badgers’ career was but never all that productive; indeed, his next pick will be his first. At the same time, WR Derek Crowdus, who had one lonely reception for the Badgers’ this year, did blitz a 4.36 40 clocking. In the end, the most intriguing prospect at the UW workout may have been OT Dain Walter, a consensus DIII All-American at Wisconsin-La Crosse who measured in at around 6-6, 312 and posted a 5.15 40 clocking along with 29 reps in the BP, a 31-inch vertical and competitive times in the shuttles. It will be interesting to see if he gets any 30 visits over the next month.

Ravens get star DE Crosby for pair of #1s … Now former Las Vegas DE Maxx Crosby got his wish as the Raiders have reportedly reached an agreement with Baltimore to deal him to the Ravens for first-round picks in both 2026 and 2027. This year’s pick is #14 and of course gives the Raiders who already hold the #1 pick overall this year, two opening round selections, both in the top half of the draft.

Bears stay busy; acquire vet C from Pats for future pick … Chicago, which has already been one of the busiest teams in the NFL that past week or so, was back for more today as the Bears acquired veteran C Garrett Bradbury from New England in exchange for a 5th round pick in 2027. Bradbury plugs a hole in the middle of the Bears’ OL after Drew Dalman surprisingly announced his retirement earlier this week. Meanwhile the Patriots are expected to fill the gap in their line with Jared Wilson a second round pick this past April.

AA Navy DT shines at pro day workout … Remarkably, all 32 NFL teams reportedly sent reps to today’s pro day workout at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. Of course, the academies aren’t usually considered prime stops on the pro day circuit, but this is a different Navy team. Navy actually had one player at last weekend’s scouting combine in Indianapolis – RB/WR Eli Heidenreich – where he had a terrific workout. And most observers felt that the Midshipmen should have gotten a 2nd invite, but star DT Landon Robinson, a first-team All-American and AAC defensive player of the year, was one of the more notable snubs. Robinson, though, made up for lost time earlier today as he posted numbers that would have been either at the top, or near the leaders of the DT group in Indianapolis. Robinson, for example, ran a 4.87 40 today with a 1.65 split, both of which would have led the positional pack at the combine, while his 32.5-inch vertical would have been in the top 10. The issue for Robinson, though, is that he’s a bit of an odd-size at just under 6-0 and 293 pounds. Next up tomorrow is the Wisconsin pro day.

And so it begins, the ’30’ visits that is … Along with the pro days, the other major element of the pre-draft process currently underway are the so-called ’30 visits’. Every team is allowed to bring in up to 30 out-of-town prospects to their respective sites where they can undergo interviews and medical testing, but can’t be worked. And because teams tend to focus their visits on players they’d be interested in taking, there can be information to be gleaned. On the one hand, if a particular team’s visits are heavily focused on a particular position it could indicate that upgrading that position is indeed one of that team’s primary draft objectives. At the same time, again because teams tend to invite players they expect will still be on the board when they make their selection, especially in the first round, which team’s individual players are visiting can give some indication where the league has them rated. The other thing we are always looking for is notice that a player or player’s who weren’t previously all that highly regarded are starting to get multiple 30 visits.

And the visits have already started, Cleveland, which has the 6th pick overall this year, for example, has already had WRs Carnell Tate and Jordyn Tyson for visits, as well as Alabama QB Ty Simpson, who one would think would be more likely a second round target for the Browns, but stranger things have been known to happen. Meanwhile, Tennessee, which is scheduled to make the 4th pick on April 23rd, has had RB Jeremiyah Love in as one their first visits.

Bears send vet WR Moore, 5th to Bills for #2 pick … Just updating that trade in which Buffalo will reportedly acquire veteran WR DJ Moore from Chicago, the Bears will get the Bills 2nd round pick this coming April, #60 overall, while the Bills will get the Bears 5th rounder to complete the deal. With the acquisition of Moore the Bills get a true #1 receiver for QB Josh Allen, while the Bears purportedly have cleared some cap space to take a serious run at free agent DE Maxx Crosby.

The Curious Case; Part Deux: why it matters … Following up on the earlier story on the supposed controversy regarding Ohio State WR Carnell Tate’s somewhat disappointing 40 time at last weekend’s scouting combine, we have had a number of correspondents asking what’s the big deal anyway? Everybody knows Tate is a really good player who runs great routes and has terrific hands. Besides didn’t another former Ohio State WR, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who led the league in receiving this past season enroute to leading Seattle to a Super Bowl title, also run in the same range with a 4.52 40 combine clocking. He did and Tate is still a very good prospect who could yet turn out to be yet another really good former OSU WR in the pros.

But just based on pure probabilities, and that’s what ultimately the draft is all about, those numbers, combined with the fact that Tate also weighed in at 192 pounds, under the expected 205-210 range, just don’t necessarily represent good value for a top 5 pick. Indeed, in the past 15 years or so, no WR has been selected with a top 5-6 pick who didn’t run under, or at least very close, to the 4.4 mark. I’ll leave it to someone with a higher pay grade than anyone on our staff, but we would think, just as an example, that the numbers would show that a productive college receiver with good size who runs in the 4.35 range has something like a 40% chance of being a really good receiver in the NFL, but that number would drop to around say 30% for one who runs a 4.42, to 20% for one who runs in the 4.47 range, and 10% for one that runs in the 4.52 range, whatever school they come from.

In the end, pro teams were hoping that Tate would in fact run closer to the 4.45 mark, if not 4.4, but needless to say that didn’t happen. On the other hand, guys like Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love and Ohio State LB Sonny Styles, who had also both been flirting with that Top 5 territory, did go out and blow away the field in Indianapolis by posting elite numbers. One could, of course, also get into a debate whether a good WR prospect trumps a very good RB or LB in this day and age in the NFL, but we’ll leave that one for another day.

The Curious Case of Carnell Tate’s Combine Time … Would make an interesting title for a Poe short story! For those that missed the details, after Ohio State WR Carnell Tate was clocked in a somewhat disappointing 40 time of 4.53 seconds at the scouting combine in Indianapolis last weekend, Adam Schefter of ESPN, reported that several NFL teams had actually timed Tate running in the 4.45-4.47 range. Which is entirely possible as most, if not all teams do their own hand times of the players in addition to the official electronic timing done by the combine. And because hand timing is somewhat reliable as it relies on human reactions, it is possible to get that kid of variation. So it is possible that there were teams that did get Tate in that sub-4.5 range. But so what? Tate, in fact, ran not one, but two 40s and was timed in 4.54 in both (as with the majority of players in Indianapolis last week their official time was .01 less than their initial number) and its just highly unlikely that the electronic timing was wrong twice.

What is somewhat curious about Tate’s combine time, though, was his 10-yard split time. During his first run, Tate’s split was listed at 1.52 seconds which would have been among the best among the WRs and would have mitigated to a degree the poor overall time. And that 1.52 also showed up when the initial unofficial results were released for the WR 40s. However, when the official numbers were posted, Tate’s split time jumped to 1.61 which was one of the slowest get-off times of any of the receivers who did run on Saturday. In fact, we didn’t see any other split number for anyone running at the combine in any position grouping jump anywhere near that much, although to be clear that 1.61 figure is much more in keeping with someone who runs in the 4.53 range.

Chiefs send star CB McDuffie to Rams in blockbuster deal … Kansas City and the LA Rams have pulled off the first big trade of the new football year as the Chiefs will be sending All-Pro CB Trent McDuffie to the Rams in exchange for the 29th pick in this year’s opening round, as well as 5th and 6th picks this year and a2027 3rd. McDuffie, who was set to become an unrestricted free agent when the new football year officially begins next week and is from the LA area, has reportedly agreed on a new contract with the Rams. With the addition of the 29th pick, the Chiefs now have two first-rounders to deal with along with their own the 9th overall, while the Rams still have the 13th overall after acquiring it from Atlanta last year.

Two more free-agents-to-be get tagged … The deadline for NFL teams to tag players as either franchise or transition players passed late this afternoon with a couple more veterans getting tagged. The NY Jets placed the franchise tag on RB Breece Hall, while the Indianapolis Colts transitioned QB Daniel Jones with whom they were unable to agree on a long-term deal. As a result, Jones is free to sign with another team, but the Colts can match the offer sheet. If they don’t Jones is free to move on without compensation.

However, while the Colts were at least able to tag Jones, they still haven’t gotten anything done with star WR Alec Pierce, a free-agent-to-be who has made it clear he only wants to return to Indy if Jones will be there. At the same time, Arizona reportedly informed QB Kyler Murray that he will be released sometime in the next week. Needless to say that will add a very attractive free agent option for teams looking for a new passer in a weak year at the position in the draft. Meanwhile, it also appears that both of elite ERs Trey Hendrickson of Cincinnati and Las Vegas’ Maxx Crosby will be available in free agency, although they aren’t going to  come cheap. For the record, the legal tampering window when teams can talk parameters with impending free agents without penalty opens next Monday, while they can formally be signed as of 4 PM ET next Wednesday when the new football year kicks off.

It is tag day in the NFL … The window for NFL teams to designate upcoming free agents as either franchise of or transition players closes at 4 PM ET later today. So far two players – Dallas WR George Pickens and Atlanta TE Kyle Pitts – have been made franchise players, while all eyes are on Indianapolis where the Colts are frantically trying to get QB Daniel Jones resigned; if they don’t he is expected to be designated a transition player. Pickens and Pitts were both designated as non-exclusive franchise players. The non-exclusive tag is a one-year tender of the average of the top five salaries at the player’s position over the last five years, or 120 percent of his previous salary, whichever is greater. The tagged players can negotiate with other teams, but the current club owns the right to match any offer or receive two first-round draft picks as compensation if either signs with another team. Then once a franchise tag is used, the two sides have until July 15 to negotiate a multiyear extension. If no agreement materializes, the player will work under the one-year tender. Meanwhile, the transition tag is a one-year tender offer for the average of the top 10 salaries at the position and guarantees the team right of first refusal to match any offer the player might receive from another club. The tagging team is not compensated if it chooses not to match a deal.

OSU S Downs knee issues remains unconfirmed … Almost a full 24 hours after the reports first appeared that star Ohio State S Caleb Downs was flagged at this past weekend’s scouting combine because of a knee issue diagnosed during the medical testing there has still been no confirmation from any major news site or NFL reporter. As a result, we’re going to take the report down and file it in the ‘misinformation’ file until there is further confirmation.

Ball State kicks off pro day schedule … The annual pro day schedule kicked off on Monday literally before the combine was actually over with a workout at Ball State which for the record is just down the road from Indianapolis. In fact, 13 teams sent reps to Muncie today mostly to check out Cardinals’ DE Nathan Voorhis who wasn’t invited to the combine despite posting 12 sacks this fall, one of the top numbers in the country. For the record, Voorhis, who is listed at 6-3, 247 and actually played LB earlier in his career, posted a very good 37-inch vertical, but a rather pedestrian 40 clocking of 4.77.

Lions send RB Montgomery to Texans for picks, vet OL … Detroit has reportedly agreed to a deal with Houston for RB David Montgomery. In exchange the Lions will receive a 4th pick in the upcoming draft ad a 7th in 2027, as well as veteran OG Juice Scruggs.

Browns get vet OT from Texans for 5th … Cleveland has reportedly agreed to a trade with Houston in which the Browns have acquired veteran RT Tytus Howard, a 30-year-old 8 year veteran, in exchange  for a 5th round pick. According to Mary Kay Cabot of the Free Press, that fifth-rounder is the pick the Browns acquired in an earlier trade with Las Vegas for QB Kenny Pickett.

Combine wraps; on to the pro days … The scouting combine wraps up in Indianapolis tomorrow morning when the offensive linemen do their bench. However, there isn’t going to be much down time for NFL personnel people, as they’re already gearing up for the pro days across the country. In fact, there’s one tomorrow when scouts make the trip down the road to Ball State. In truth, though, the pro day schedule doesn’t really heat up until later in the month. For now, here’s the pro day schedule as we have although there are a number of top programs that have yet to confirm their date. Needless to say, if anyone is aware of any of the missing dates we’d very much appreciate it if folks let us know.

Official OL 40 times posted … In the end, there wasn’t a heck of a lot to report from the 2nd grouping of offensive linemen running their 40s this afternoon, other than Miami’s Francis Mauigoa didn’t participate in the end, so without further ado here are the official times and splits for the OTs, OGs and centers.

Mauigoa not running … For the record, Miami OT Francis Mauigoa, arguably the top-rated OL in this year’s draft class, has chosen not to run at this afternoon’s on-field testing for the offensive linemen.

Fano runs well in first OL combine grouping … After disappointing somewhat in this morning’s weigh-in/measurement session for the offensive linemen at the scouting with relatively short arms, Utah OT Spencer Fano made up for it with a couple of solid runs as the first OL grouping did their 40s. Fano had a group best 4.91 40 clocking with a 2nd best 10-yard split of 1.72 seconds. Fano actually tied for the best 40 time with Arizona State’s Max Iheanachor, who also posted a 4.91 time with an almost as good 1.74 split. Georgia’s Monroe Freeling also ran well with a 4.93 40 clocking with a 1.73 split. For the record, the quickest split in that first grouping was posted by Alabama C Parker Brailsford at 1.70 as he finished with a 4.96 40 time. Other good times were posted by OGs DJ Campbell (5.02; 1.75) of Texas, Chase Bisontis of Texas A&M (5.02; 1.76) and Jalen Farmer (4.93, 1.76) of Kentucky. On the other hand, a couple of other prominent prospects that maybe didn’t run quite as quickly as they had hoped were Kage Casey (5.21; 1.85) of Boise State and Iowa’s Gennings Dunker (5.19; 1.84). For the record, Penn State OG Vega Ioane, the top-rated IOL, chose not to run, while Miami’s Francis Mauigoa, arguably the top-rated OL this year, is in the second group (and we’re only going to post the OL numbers once that 2nd group is in the books.)

High and low lites from combine OL measurements … Coming into the combine, arguably the big question regarding the offensive line was were Miami OT Francis Mauigoa’s arms long enough to justify a top 5-10 pick. The NFL got its answer this morning when the offensive linemen went thru their weigh-in and measuring session and that answer is a resounding Maybe! Mauigoa, who measured in at a full-sized 6-5.5, 330, has arms just over 33-inches which isn’t necessarily great, but it also probably isn’t disqualifying. And to bolster his case, Mauigoa does have huge 10.5-inch hands. In fact, the OT who may still have some major size questions to answer is Utah’s Spencer Fano, who also measured in at 6-5.5, but at a much lighter 311 and with just 32-inch arms and only 9-inch hands. At the same time, the other prominent OT prospect with arm issues is Northwestern’s Caleb Tiernan, who had been considered to be something of a rising star at the position with early second round potential, but he also has just 32″ arms despite being 6-8, 323. On the other other hand – and no real surprises here – Markel Bell, Maimi’s ‘other’ OT and Dametrious Crownover of Texas A&M b0th aced the eyeball test. Bell measured in at 6-9, 346 with 36.5-inch arms, while Crownover came in at 6-7, 320 with 35.5-inch arms. Monroe Freeling of Georgia also impressed as he measured in at 6-7.5, 315 with 34.5-inch arms and almost 11″ hands. Same for underrated Kentucky G/T Josh Braun who came in at 6-6, 325 with 34.5″ arms and 10.5″ hands. Here are the full measurement numbers for the offensive linemen courtesy of Steelers Depot (again note links to the specific positions are at the bottom of the page.)