NEWS AND NEAR NEWS

Saints QB Carr to retire … In something of a shocker, New Orleans and veteran QB Derek Carr announced jointly this morning that he had opted to retire. Carr was already likely to miss the upcoming season because of a shoulder injury that was going to require surgery, but in a number of reports on the issue the word ‘degenerative’ cropped up. Needless to say the loss of Carr leaves the Saints in a vulnerable spot at the position as their QB room currently consists of 2025 2nd rounder Tyler Shough, along with young veterans Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener. Unless one of those young guys steps up pretty quickly, it could leave the Saints in a position in which they will have to address the position again at the draft sooner rather than later.

Utah QB Rising retiring … Former Utah QB Cam Rising announced Wednesday that he’s retiring from football. Rising was once a rising star in college football with some legitimate pro aspirations, but had his career derailed by a series of injuries including a hand injury that limited him to three games last season.

Cowboys get Steelers WR Pickens for 3rd … Dallas Cowboys’ search for a #2 receiver to help out CeeDee Lamb has landed them WR George Pickens in a trad with Pittsburgh. In exchange for Pickens, the Steelers will a 2026 third-round pick along with a 5th rounder in 2027 while the Cowboys will get a 2026 sixth-round pick to complete the deal..

DC to get 2027 draft … The NFL very cleverly announced earlier this afternoon that Washington will host the 2027 draft. The announcement was actually made by the current president along with Commissioner Roger Goodell and Commanders’ owner Josh Harris. The 2026 draft will be held in Pittsburgh next April.

Raiders hire Broncos’ exec … Las Vegas has hired former Denver director of college scouting Brian Stark as their new assistant general manager. Stark will work with Raiders’ general manager John Spytek with whom he worked as a Broncos’ scout from 2013-15.

Cowboys’ OG Booker first first to sign … Dallas became the first team to sign its 2025 first-round pick as the Cowboys have come to terms with former Alabama OG Tyler Booker, the 12th player selected at last week’s draft. Booker signed a standard 4-year deal worth $22.5M, $13M of which is guaranteed, and includes a club option for a 5th year.

Eagles, Pack first to sign 2025 picks … It seems somehow fitting that Super Bowl champion Philadelphia was also the first team to sign one of its picks from last week’s draft as the Eagles have reportedly come to terms with former Georgia LB Smael Mondon, a 5th round selection. Mondon reportedly signed a 4-year deal worth $4.6M. Green Bay has also signed a 5th round pick in former Oklahoma State ER Collin Oliver, who was selected a couple of picks before Mondon.

Utah WR Alford top pick in CFL draft … The Canadian league held its annual draft of national players where former 6-6 Utah WR Damien Alford was chosen first overall by Calgary. Alford was originally a big-play target at Syracuse, but left the Orange for Utah last year when the new coaching staff arrived. Alford, though, barely played for the Utes this past season and was actually planning on transferring again to Florida Atlanta, but ultimately changed his mind and put his name in for both the CFL and NFL drafts. Interestingly, Stamford WR Elic Ayomanor, who was the top-ranked prospect in the CFL draft, wasn’t selected at all after he was a 4th round pick by Tennessee in last week’s NFL draft. At the same time, Indiana QB Kurtis Rourke, the other top Canadian prospect who was a 7th round pick by San Francisco last week, was selected by Saskatchewan with the 25th pick in the FL draft, while Winnipeg chose Laurier QB Taylor Elgersma, who played in the Senior Bowl, with the CFL’s 18th pick. For the record, here are all the picks in last night’s CFL draft.

Draft grade shoutouts … We’ve had a couple or so days to chew over what transpired during the just completed draft and while as a general rule we don’t really like grading drafts the week of – its just too subjective and of course the real proof will when we get to see what’s actually in the pudding 2-3 years down the road – at least on paper, several teams did kind of jump out at us as we reviewed each team’s full picks starting with Seattle. The Seahawks got a really good prospect in versatile offensive lineman Grey Zabel in the first, got  two very athletic prospects in the 2nd in S Nic Emmanwori and TE Elijah Arroyo, and then came away with a QB with as much pure physical talent as any in this year’s draft in Jalen Milroe in the third. The Seahawks also had an impressive 3rd day haul of 7 picks that included WRs Tory Horton and Ricky White, RB Damien Martinez, OT Bryce Cabeldue and DT Rylie Mills.

Meanwhile, other drafts that we liked in no particular order:

• Arizona got a rising star in DT Walter Nolen in the first and a potential top ten talent, if healthy, in the 2nd in CB Will Johnson, while DE Jordan Burch was a value pick in the 3rd and the Cards got 4 potentially useful players on Saturday.
• We thought New England could have traded down and still gotten a quality OT in the first, but they had a really good haul on the second day including RB Tre’veyon Henderson in the 2nd and WR Kyle Williams and C Jared Wilson in the 3rd. The Patriots also got rising DT Josh Farmer in the 4th and the best kicker in the draft in the 6th in Andres Borregales.
• The NY Jets got an underrated prospect in OT Armand Membou with the 7th pick overall and then cleaned up on Friday taking TE Mason Taylor in the 2nd and CB Az Thomas in the 3rd. They also had solid 3rd days picks including S Malachi Moore and speedy WR Arian Smith.
• Philadelphia always seems to find a way to get special players – or they find a way to the Eagles – and this year it was star LB Jihaad Campbell, a top 15-20 prospect who slipped to the end of the opening round because of injury concerns. The Eagles also got a solid player in S Andrew Mukuba in the 2nd and really cleaned up on the 3rd day adding 8 picks in rounds 4 thru 6 including athletic DT Ty Robinson in the 4th, QB Kyle McCord and DE Antwuan Rowell-Ryland, who led the country in sacks this past fall, in the 6th, along with LB Smael Mondon, the requisite former Georgia Bulldog for the Eagles in the 5th.
• We tend to be a little biased here, but we would be remiss if we didn’t include the NY Giants, who also had an outstanding draft. Indeed, a pretty good case can be made DE Abdul Carter, taken with the 3rd pick overall, was THE best player in the draft period. The Giants got another athletic defensive lineman in the 3rd in Darius Alexander, a RB – Cam Skattebo – with the potential to make Giants fans forget what’s his name in the 4th, and a very versatile G/T in the 5th in Marcus Mbow, who was actually the #1 remaining guy on our Big Board at the time. The Giants then wrapped up the day with a couple of intriguing sleeper types in TE Thomas Fidone and CB Korie Black in the 7th. That’s a pretty good draft even without factoring in QB Jaxson Dart whom the Giants traded back up into the opening to nab with the 25th pick; needless to say QBs taken that late are longshots, but Dart has the tools and the time to at least have a shot.

UT QB Ewers real big draft loser … The story of this weekend’s draft, of course, was the ongoing saga of when Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders would be selected. That story ended when Sanders was taken by Cleveland in yesterday’s 5th round. The more impactful story, though, may be that of former Texas QB Quinn Ewers who wasn’t selected until the 7th round by Miami yesterday. Ewers, who still had college eligibility left, reportedly turned down NIL offers of anywhere from $4 to $8 million dollars. He would likely have had to transfer with Arch Manning expected to take over as the Longhorns’ starter this fall, but that may actually have increased his bargaining position. And Ewers will still make a cool million if he makes the Dolphins’ roster this fall, but that’s still only a fraction of what he could have made had he stayed in school. In fact, there was some speculation earlier today that Ewers might try and force the NCAA to allow him to return for his final year of eligibility although that seems unlikely. However, what the whole situation might do is give players, and especially QBs, thinking of entering the draft early even more pause to stay in school given the new NIL regime.

8th round underway … As noted last evening at the end of the draft, teams were already calling prospective undrafted free agents and several have already announced their signings. Minnesota, which had only 5 picks over the weekend, announced a large undrafted class including one of the top undrafted QBs in Max Brosmer from just down the street, along with BYU TE Tyler Batty and Wisconsin OG Joe Huber. The LA Chargers also added one of the top undrafted QBs in its class in DJ Uiagalelei who played at Florida State last year; the Chargers also signed former South Carolina RB Rocket Sanders, who is at #14 on our list of top undrafted players from the 2025. The top guy to sign so far though is former Iowa S Sebastain Castro, #11 on our list, who is part of a 7-man Pittsbugh UDFA group. Here is the list all announced undrafted rookie free agent signings to date. Needless to say we’ll be filling out the list as we go forward, but we generally only add teams once they formally announce their UDFA signings.

Buckeyes get 2-fer; SEC, B10 dominance grows … After winning last year’s CFP national championship, Ohio State doubled up by leading all schools with 14 players selected at the 2025 draft. The Buckeyes edged out Georgia, which had 13 picks, while Texas had 12, Oregon had 10, Mississippi had 8 and Michigan, Alabama, LSU, Miami and Florida had 7 apiece. And one does not need an advanced stats degree to note that of the top ten schools at this year’s draft, 9 belong to either the SEC or BIG TEN.

That adds further evidence to the direction that college football appears to be headed, that is the growing dominance of those two conferences. In Thursday’s opening round, for example, 3/4 of the players selected were from the SEC or BIG TEN and that trend continue through the rest of the draft. Indeed, overall, 150 of the 257 players selected this weekend – almost 60% – were from these two conferences. That included 80 from the SEC and 70 from BIG TEN. Of course, the SEC has had the most players drafted for years, but its total generally ranged around 60 per year thru the past couple of decades, while there was an even bigger increase in the B10’s total from around 40 per year to 70 this year. Indeed, just last year, the SEC/BIG TEN combination accounted for under 40% of all players drafted. Needless, to say a good part of that shift, though, reflects the fact that the SEC added Texas and Oklahoma to its lineup this year, while the BIG TEN added the 4 west coast PAC-12 teams.

For the record, the ACC basically held serve this year with 42 players selected while the Big XII had 31, as the 4 power conferences (along with Notre Dame) accounted for almost 90% of all players selected this weekend. At the same time, 17 players were selected from the non-power 5 FBS conferences including 6 from both the Mountain West and AAC and 4 from the MAC, with just one each from the Sun Belt, CUSA and PAC-12 remnants, about the same number as last year. In contrast, just 8 players were selected from the FCS ranks, down 11 last year and barely 1/4 the total from earlier this decade. If the FCSers had any consolation its that they did have a first rounder as former North Dakota State OT Grey Zabel was taken 18th overall by Seattle.

Just 364 days to go!! … For the record, the 2026 draft is just 364 days away, so to help wile away the time, here is our annual way ‘way-too-early’ projection for next year’s draft. And while its done with more than a little tongue-in-cheek – so please don’t anybody write in asking “what we are smoking because the Buckaroos would never take a …” – it will give people some early idea on what players might be available next year and where they might go based on current thinking, although obviously is going to change between now and April 24th, 2025. Also note that none of the top 3rd year QBs including Arch Manning of Texas have been included in this mock; we’d rather wait and see which way they are leaning. In the meantime, hang in there everybody!!

That’s a wrap … The 2025 draft came to a fitting close just after 7 PM ET this evening when the New England Patriots selected former Memphis DB Kobee Minor with the 257th and final pick of the draft. Of course, that makes him ‘Mr. Irrelevant’ for the year. And while the actual draft is in the books, there won’t be much rest for NFL personnel people, though, as teams are already calling around looking to sign the top undrafted prospects that weren’t selected this weekend. And there are still a lot of really talented prospects on the board including QBs Max Brosmer, Brady Cook and Seth Henigan; RBs Rocket Sanders and Montrell Johnson; WRs Isaiah Bond, Xavier Restrepo, Nick Nash and Bru McCoy; OTs Drew Shelton and Hollin Pierce; OGs Josh Gray and Xavier Truss; DEs Jah Joyner and Jared Ivey; DT Junior Tafuna and Nazir Stackhouse; LB Jamon Dumas-Johnson; CBs Jabbar Muhammad and Cobee Bryant; and safeties Sebastian Castro and Maxen Hook who are all among the prospects at the top of the updated GBN Big Board ranking of the top remaining players. See you next year!!

Seahawks top day two grades … Its actually way to early to be grading drafts, but at least on paper, we felt that Seattle had as a good a day on Friday as any team in the league. The Seahawks were able to get two very athletic prospects in the 2nd round in South Carolina S Nic Emmanwori and Miami TE Elijah Arroyo and then came away with former Alabama QB Jalen Milroe, who has as much pure physical talent as any QB in this year’s draft, in the third. We also liked New England’s haul of Ohio State RB Tre’veyon Henderson in the 2nd and WR Kyle Williams of Washington State and Georgia C Jared Wilson in the 3rd. We also liked what Arizona did nabbing Michigan CB Will Johnson, a top 10 talent if healthy, in the 2nd and big Oregon DE Jordan Burch in the 3rd. Same story for Dallas which might have got a steal in CB Shavon Revel, a first round talent who fell to the 3rd after missing the season with a torn ACL, after they added Boston College ER Donovan Ezeirauku in the 2nd.  And we’ll also include the NY Jets in thumbs up category after they got LSU TE Mason Taylor in the 2nd and Florida State CB Az Thomas in the 3rd. Finally, Houston, which traded out of the first round on Thursday also had a nice haul yesterday adding both Iowa State WRs in Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel, along with Minnesota OT Aireontay Ersery and USC CB Jaylin Smith.

Ravens lead day three parade … We have in fact been able to update the picks by team file and according to at least our unofficial Baltimore heads into day 3 of the draft with 8 picks still to go barring trades, while Buffalo, Dallas, and the the two LA teams each have 7 remaining picks. At the other end of the spectrum, Minnesota, which has only made 2 picks to date thru the first two rounds, also only has two more picks, while Chicago, Arizona, Atlanta, Denver, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Tampa Bay have three picks apiece. The Broncos, in fact, will be done by the end of the third round.

Whither Shedeur??? … As we head into the third and final day of the 2025 draft, the lingering question around the league remains where and when Shedeur Sanders gets selected. It is certainly shocking that a player who just 2-3 weeks appeared to be very much in the discussion to be one of the first three picks has slid through 3 full rounds while 4 other QBs were selected ahead of him. And there are more than a few people around the league wondering if he just might not be drafted at all. One thing we are wondering is whether teams just don’t want the distraction of having a back-up/development QB as their team’s biggest celebrity along with all the circus/soap opera type stuff that very well may come with the family. We’ve even been wondering this morning if Sanders best move might be to go play in Canada for a couple of years, establish his pro passing credentials and then return to the NFL as a potential starting QB. Stay tuned. Should be an interesting afternoon.

Technical glitches … Folks may have noticed that we were experiencing some technical issues last evening. Great timing! For the record, the system kept freezing, although we were able to at least keep the updated big board updated most of the evening. And that’s kind of what of what we are aiming for today, although we’d also like to get the picks by team file back up and running, but we also don’t want to overload the system until we can figure out the root cause of the issue.

It is on to the final day of the 2025 draft … The second and third rounds of the 2025 draft came to a close last evening when Minnesota selected former Maryland WR Tai Felton with the 102nd and final pick of the third round. However, as usual there won’t be much rest for NFL personnel people as teams will be burning the midnight oil again re-stacking their boards and setting priorities prior to the start of the fourth round, which gets underway at Noon ET Saturday with Tennessee on the clock with 103rd pick.

And there are still some very good players still on the board heading into the 3rd day including we hate to say again Shedeur Sanders. Somebody please take him! Other QBs still available Kyle McCord, Quinn Ewers, and Will Howard; RBs Dylan Sampson, LeQuint Allen and Cam Skattebo; WR Jalen Royals; OT Marcus Mbow; OGs Ajani Cornelius and Connor Colby; C Jonah Monheim; DEs Jack Swayer, David Walker, Barryn Sorrell and Bradyn Swinson; DTs Josh Farmer, Aeneas Peebles, Ty Robinson, and Junior Tafuna; LBs Danny Stutsman, Cody Simon, Barrett Carter and Smael Mondon; CBs Quincy Riley, Dorian Strong, Tommi Hill, Bilhal Kone and Zah Frazier; and safeties Billy Bowman, Jaylen Reed and Marques Sigle. Here is the full list of players still available on the updated GBN Big Board.

“We couldn’t believe our guy was still on the board …” So proclaimed the 30 or so NFL GMs whose teams made picks in last night’s opening round of the 2025 draft. Some of them, though, may actually have a case. The Raiders, for example, probably expected someone to leapfrog them for RB Ashton Jeanty, but he was in fact still there at #6; the Colts were always going to take a TE at #14, but probably never expected that it would be Tyler Warren; and it was the same story at #15 where the Falcons were pretty much committed to taking someone who could get after the QB, but likely figured the only way for a shot at Jalon Walker would be to trade up into the top ten. Meanwhile, the huge gathering of Green Bay fans at the draft last night got rewarded when the Packers were able to snap up speedy WR Matthew Golden, the fastest man in the draft, with the 23rd pick. And then right at the end of the draft, the Super Bowl champion Eagles may have pulled yet another draft coup by moving up one spot with the Chiefs to get LB Jihaad Campbell, a top 10-15 prospect who dropped because of injury concerns.

All that said, there was a bit of a juxtaposition in last night’s first round as the first 7 picks came off the board pretty much by the numbers only to be followed by a half dozen or so picks that could only be described as ‘somewhat’ surprising. Carolina, for example, were thought to be focused on ERs with the 8th pick, but instead took WR Tetairoa McMillan, one-time top 10 talent who had purportedly slipped deeper in the draft because of questionable long-end speed; then New Orleans passed on a QB and an ER themselves at #9 to take G/T Kelvin Banks, another one-time top 10 guy who many thought had slipped much closer to the bottom of the round; Chicago went into the draft looking to add a real impact player on offence, but ended up with a TE (Colston Loveland) who wasn’t the top-rated guy at the position; San Francisco then went with potential over productivity taking DE Mykel Williams; while Dallas, another team that went into the draft looking for an explosive play-maker, but came away with yet another offensive lineman, the 3rd time in the last 4 years. In the case of the Cowboys, we are wondering if it might be a bit of a reactive move getting someone they hope can deal with Philadelphia’s very disruptive DT Jordan Davis.

Meanwhile, anyone wondering about the direction college football is going in probably got more than a few clues last night. Indeed, 26 of the 32 players selected in this year’s opening round were from either the SEC or the Big Ten. The SEC, in fact, had 15 players – almost half of the total – selected last evening, while the Big Ten had 11. In contrast, there were only two players selected from either the ACC or Big XII, while there was one (Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty) from the non-Power 4 conferences and 1 (North Dakota State OT Grey Zabel) from the FCS ranks.And that distribution isn’t likely to get a whole lot fairer any time soon. For the record, national champion Ohio State led all teams with 4 players selected, although all 4 were taken at the bottom of the round. At the same time, Michigan, Georgia and Texas had three players selected each, while Alabama, Penn State, and Mississippi had a couple each.