The Ringer: All Posts by Ben Solak2024-03-26T16:38:01-04:00https://www.theringer.com/authors/ben-solak/rss2024-03-26T16:38:01-04:002024-03-26T16:38:01-04:00Potential 2024 Eagles First-Round Picks
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<p>Ben and Danny predict that the Eagles will take a cornerback at no. 22. But if cornerback is off the board, should they take an edge rusher?</p> <div id="tRy23p"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 152px; position: relative;"><iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/2bEQxdATtonUwVOlNf3E5y?utm_source=oembed" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen="" allow="clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture;"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="EpYMfr"><br><a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/2bEQxdATtonUwVOlNf3E5y?si=CWfQryEwTFaSocM1llU6zg">Ben is joined by <em>Ringer Draft</em> podmate Danny Kelly to evaluate which prospects the Eagles could take with the no. 22 pick in the 2024 NFL draft.</a> Which cornerback do both Ben and Danny have the Eagles taking at 22? If cornerback is off the board, should the Eagles go for another edge rusher?</p>
<p id="B7yyZL">We want to hear from you! 215-315-7982</p>
<p id="eZYih8">Host: Ben Solak<br>Guest: Danny Kelly<br>Producer: Cliff Augustin<br>Music Composed By: Teddy Grossman and Jackson Greenberg</p>
<p id="M5z2EM"><strong>Subscribe: </strong><a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6WbmndIH0l5zUVQxWwuOlz">Spotify</a></p>
https://www.theringer.com/2024/3/26/24112880/potential-2024-nfl-draft-philadelphia-eagles-first-round-picksBen SolakDanny Kelly2024-03-25T17:18:04-04:002024-03-25T17:18:04-04:00The NFL Officially Bans the Hip-Drop Tackle. Plus, the Most Valuable Positions in the NFL.
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<p>Ben and Steven talk about the vote to ban the hip-drop tackle and which positions have the most value</p> <div id="G1rIOh"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 152px; position: relative;"><iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/4ITdq24X5O0AVMaUnK4vsa?utm_source=oembed" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen="" allow="clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture;"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="1TiE2K"><br><a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/4ITdq24X5O0AVMaUnK4vsa?si=A-ODhAY8SjK8nMve6tp_-g">The NFL has officially banned the “hip-drop tackle” after a vote at this week’s owners meetings.</a> Are the lines too blurred for determining what a hip-drop tackle is, and will this make it harder for officials to call during the game? Ben Solak and Steven Ruiz discuss that and go through which positions are the most valuable in the NFL. Is a shutdown cornerback more valuable than an elite defensive tackle?</p>
<p id="3KjKUY">Hosts: Ben Solak and Steven Ruiz<br>Producer: Cliff Augustin<br>Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal and Conor Nevins<br>Social: Eduardo Ocampo and Kiera Givens<br>Musical Elements: Devon Renaldo</p>
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https://www.theringer.com/2024/3/25/24111913/nfl-bans-the-hip-drop-tackle-most-valuable-positions-in-the-nflBen SolakSteven Ruiz2024-03-20T11:03:31-04:002024-03-20T11:03:31-04:00Marvin Harrison Jr. Vs. Malik Nabers: Who’s WR1 in This Draft?
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<p>Two pass catchers stand out above the rest of the class. Ben Solak goes to their college tape to break down their strengths, weaknesses, and who he’s taking if he’s on the clock.</p> <p id="7eR2Wu">Recently, every NFL draft class has been stacked at the wide receiver position, but this year there are two standouts: Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr., and Malik Nabers from LSU. <em>The Ringer</em>’s Ben Solak goes to their college tape to break down their strengths, weaknesses, and who he’s taking if he’s on the clock.</p>
<p id="ZYcfA3">Subscribe to the <em>Ringer </em>NFL channel for more videos ahead of the NFL draft, and check out all the <em>Ringer </em>NFL podcasts on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.</p>
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https://www.theringer.com/2024/3/20/24106393/marvin-harrison-jr-vs-malik-nabers-whos-wr1-in-this-draftBen Solak2024-03-17T11:37:07-04:002024-03-17T11:37:07-04:00The Baffling Conclusion to the Justin Fields Trade Saga
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<p>The Bears traded Fields to the Steelers, and one of the central questions of the 2024 NFL offseason has finally been answered. But this move raises other questions, namely: Why couldn’t Chicago get more for Fields than this?</p> <p id="VfncbP">Two months ago, toward the end of the regular season, I wrote a <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2024/1/3/24023364/chicago-bears-justin-fields-no-1-pick-decision">piece about the Bears’ upcoming franchise-defining moment</a>. At the time, they had just secured the first pick in the 2024 NFL draft and, with it, the chance to select a truly elite quarterback prospect—USC’s Caleb Williams—and set their team on the fast track for competitive relevance. Yes, incumbent Chicago quarterback Justin Fields was still on the roster; and yes, Fields had shown flashes of his upside down the stretch. But the Bears’ decision seemed obvious: trade Fields and draft the quarterback who has elicited comparisons to a young Patrick Mahomes.</p>
<p id="DqNQYW">What could Chicago get for Fields? Here’s what I theorized in January: “After Sam Darnold netted second-, fourth-, and sixth-round selections when he went from the Jets to the Panthers, it is reasonable that Fields—who has been better than Darnold at every turn of their respective careers—would net at least that.”</p>
<p id="4aBztk">Well, on Saturday, Fields was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers. In return, the Bears got a sixth-round pick—not even in this year’s draft, but in <em>next </em>year’s draft. The pick could reportedly turn into a fourth-rounder depending on Fields’s playing time.</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bears are trading Justin Fields for a 2025 6th-round pick that goes to a 4th-round pick based on playtime, per sources. <a href="https://t.co/E7JY7K60Wn">pic.twitter.com/E7JY7K60Wn</a></p>— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) <a href="https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1769131924717478314?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2024</a>
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<p id="5xtrG6">On its face, this deal seems like a colossal disappointment for Chicago. The fact that Fields returned so little isn’t just perplexing to me—it is far off from the expectations set by reporting over the past few months. In January, <a href="https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39219170/chicago-bears-quarterback-justin-fields-caleb-williams-drake-maye-no-1-pick-2024-nfl-draft">ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler wrote</a>, “The consensus in an informal poll of league evaluators is that Fields would be worth a second- or third-round pick in a pre-draft trade.” In February, <a href="https://www.si.com/nfl/steelers/news/pittsburgh-steelers-learn-asking-price-justin-fields">ESPN’s Adam Schefter</a> said, “I think they might get a 1.” At the NFL draft combine in Indianapolis, <a href="https://theathletic.com/5306283/2024/03/01/chicago-bears-justin-fields-trade-value/"><em>The Athletic</em>’s Jeff Howe</a> polled eight league coaches and executives and got the same result as Fowler: Fields would likely go for a second- or third-round pick.</p>
<p id="jLIAjc">So what explains the sudden and steep depreciation of Fields’s market value? And how did we land in a place where Fields commanded less in a trade than quarterbacks like Desmond Ridder and Kenny Pickett? Let’s unpack the factors that led to this surprising outcome.</p>
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<p id="JT0SXa">The first factor is Bears general manager Ryan Poles’s misplaying of his hand. We don’t know the price that Poles was seeking in a Fields trade, but we do know that Poles had several trade talks leading up to free agency. There was plenty of time for him to negotiate an acceptable package long before Kirk Cousins agreed to terms with the Falcons, or Baker Mayfield re-signed with the Buccaneers, or Russell Wilson was cut by the Broncos and then signed with the Steelers. Of course, a trade couldn’t be officially executed until the new league year began on March 14, but Poles had to know his target price and the offers he was getting from other teams. He still elected to enter the free agent frenzy without a trade partner in place.</p>
<p id="dtqDnh">This wasn’t a bad decision, per se, but it was a risky one. Poles’s hope had to be that a team with a quarterback need would miss out on an appealing option in free agency and increase its trade offer for Fields out of desperation. But Poles underestimated just how many quarterbacks there were to go around—and how much other front offices valued those quarterbacks relative to Fields.</p>
<p id="qul392">After Cousins, Mayfield, and Wilson found their respective landing spots, the Raiders seemed to be a prime trade candidate for Chicago. Las Vegas reportedly had an interest in Fields but signed Gardner Minshew to a bridge quarterback contract instead. The Eagles also called about Fields, per reports; it didn’t amount to anything, and Philadelphia later traded for Pickett. The Seahawks traded a series of pick swaps in exchange for 2023 Commanders starter Sam Howell. And the Cardinals brought in Ridder by sending wide receiver Rondale Moore to the Falcons.</p>
<aside id="jM2p28"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"The Seven Most Important Takeaways From the First Week of NFL Free Agency","url":"https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2024/3/18/24104547/free-agency-takeaways-kirk-cousins-dak-prescott-saquon-barkley-justin-fields"},{"title":"Tracking Every Major Deal in Free Agency ","url":"https://nflrankings.theringer.com/free-agency"}]}'></div></aside><p id="S7KtXE">Including the trade of Mac Jones, whom the Patriots dealt to the Jaguars for a 2024 sixth-round pick, four quarterbacks under age 26 were traded before Fields. All four were acquired as backups. All four went for a better price than the sixth-rounder that Fields fetched (though the conditions attached to the pick could ameliorate that return). You don’t usually see this many quarterback trades in such close succession—and certainly not for players at similar stages in their careers. If Poles knew that this movement was coming, perhaps he would have never let the market for Fields linger and risked being impacted by the prices set by other general managers.</p>
<p id="HFkvT5">But Poles’s decision-making is only part of the equation. The second factor in how this all played out is that other teams didn’t see Fields as a clear upgrade over the other options in a saturated market. As <a href="https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/insider/story/_/id/39691968/2024-nfl-free-agency-latest-buzz-news-rumors-signings-contracts-trades">ESPN’s Dan Graziano reported</a> just before the legal tampering period opened, “Right now, the message the Bears are getting back from teams is that they don’t consider Fields more of a sure thing than other potential one-year options such as Sam Darnold or Drew Lock, who wouldn’t come with the fifth-year option decision that Fields’s eventual team will have to make by early May. It’s an odd offseason in which the supply at the quarterback position seems to be higher relative to the demand than usual, which works in favor of the teams who are looking for quarterbacks and likely drives the price down in these kinds of trade talks.”</p>
<p id="UAeVLL">There were <em>so</em> many other players that franchises could talk themselves into—from the young passers mentioned above, to bridge quarterbacks like Minshew and Jacoby Brissett, to veteran backups like Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston—that the market for Fields dried up as Poles appeared to hold firm on his asking price. In fact, Fields only went to the Steelers after Pickett, frustrated with the organization’s recent acquisition of Wilson, asked out of Pittsburgh.</p>
<p id="7y9xx4">In the context of this leaguewide evaluation, Poles’s reluctance to trade Fields is understandable. Graziano’s report that teams viewed Fields as no more valuable than Darnold or Lock is shocking. Darnold was given five straight years of starting opportunities with the Jets and then the Panthers; he couldn’t deliver and never improved. Lock was also given two desirable opportunities: first in Denver, where he lost the starting job to Teddy Bridgewater, and then in Seattle, where he failed to beat out Geno Smith in camp. Both have been afforded the second chance that so many teams were unwilling to give Fields.</p>
<p id="OLDrtn">If we look at total passing expected points added, we see that Fields is better now than Darnold was at the same point in his career, as well as at this exact moment in time. Lock, who has far less experience, is about where Fields was at that time in his career—but remember, he’s already had two cracks at a starting job, and he may <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/2024-nfl-free-agency-giants-signing-former-seahawks-qb-drew-lock-for-daniel-jones-insurance/">get a third</a> this summer in a Giants camp competition with Daniel Jones.</p>
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<p id="FmZWBb">The league’s estimation of Fields is particularly confusing given just how obviously mismanaged the Bears have been throughout his tenure. It should be easy to see how poorly the franchise developed Fields and accordingly infer that there is some untapped potential in his game. Let’s revisit Fields’s timeline in Chicago for reference.</p>
<p id="djygqD">Fields’s first NFL start came in Week 3 of the 2021 season after bridge quarterback Andy Dalton went down with an injury. The Bears posted 1.1 yards per play—the lowest single-game number since 2004—in impossibly frustrating fashion: by running nothing that Fields was good at and running everything that he was bad at. Then–head coach Matt Nagy <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2021/9/29/22699492/matt-nagy-bears-offense-justin-fields-first-start">set Fields up to fail</a> and stayed the course all season. Unsurprisingly, Nagy was fired the following January.</p>
<p id="oBtLZL">Fields’s rookie season was not just marred by poor coaching, but also by an untenable supporting cast. Darnell Mooney and Allen Robinson were his top receivers; Jason Peters, Germain Ifedi, and Larry Borom were his tackle rotation; Sam Mustipher was his starting center. The roster simply wasn’t good enough to win games.</p>
<p id="nxeooe">So, entering 2022, the Bears brought in Poles as their new GM and tried to markedly improve the roster around Fields. This effort failed. Tight end Cole Kmet led the team in targets; Mooney, Dante Pettis, and Equanimeous St. Brown were the leading target getters at receiver after rookie third-round pick Velus Jones Jr. failed to earn snaps and trade deadline acquisition Chase Claypool flopped too. Riley Reiff and Teven Jenkins were acquired to fix the offensive line, and it turns out that fifth-round rookie Braxton Jones provided the only significant upgrade.</p>
<p id="XAeV3C">But while Fields’s supporting cast hardly improved, his play-calling did. In the back half of 2022, first-year Chicago offensive coordinator Luke Getsy started to really use Fields’s legs. The Bears called more designed QB runs and dialed up more dropbacks rolled out of the pocket. The offense soared. Chicago scored at least 24 points in five straight games. The team was finally running the stuff that made sense for Fields.</p>
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<p id="Pwzt6F">This could have been the lightbulb moment, the point that Fields turned the corner. But the Bears squandered that too. Although Chicago added star wide receiver DJ Moore during the subsequent offseason, Getsy and head coach Matt Eberflus lost command of the offense and put forth an embarrassing unit to start the 2023 season. There were technical issues, missed routes, and procedural errors. The answer to what was wrong with the 2023 Bears offense was … well, <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2023/9/20/23881450/justin-fields-chicago-bears-offense-matt-eberflus">everything</a>. </p>
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<p id="wZRgBJ">Eventually, the Bears <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z82vaymqjZY">made adjustments and righted the ship</a>. They cast Claypool away, devised more targets for Moore, and refocused on Fields’s mobility (though not as much as they had during his run to end 2022). And Fields’s late-season improvement was evident—this time not in peak plays, but in the negative plays that he eliminated.</p>
<p id="XQ9bLq">Over the course of his career, Fields has been a prolific sack taker. He led the league in sack rate in both his rookie and sophomore seasons<em>. </em>Last season was the first in which he didn’t lead the NFL in sack rate (he was third worst). But <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2024/1/3/24023364/chicago-bears-justin-fields-no-1-pick-decision">he ended 2023 with the best sack avoidance of his career</a>. His pressure-to-sack ratio was at a career low; his scramble rate was at a career low. Fields was starting to play more reliably within the scope of the offense, cutting away the sacks that had long handicapped his offenses. </p>
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<p id="EqR2Z7">The narrative here is extremely easy to sculpt. In Fields’s rookie season, when he was thrust into action earlier than intended, he played in a scheme catered to his weaknesses and alongside a terrible supporting cast. It took the replacement coaching staff two seasons to put a real offense around him—one with an actual no. 1 receiver and a decent offensive line—and the Bears still never built the offense in a way that maximized his rushing ability. The Bears started his career by failing him and did marginally better in the years since. They pretty much failed him the whole way through.</p>
<p id="uF6EtA">Fields has very real flaws as a quarterback, to be certain. He has ignored open receivers, invited pressure, and compounded his mistakes with poor ball security. Coverage of his career to this point, including ours, has noted that time and again. But the skill set that made Fields worthy of the no. 11 draft pick in 2021 remains intact: that cannon for an arm, that scorching speed, that big and dynamic frame. Fields has had impressive stretches when he’s had a decent infrastructure around him—and most teams have a much better infrastructure than the Bears have had over the past few years.</p>
<p id="vwPKTq">Yet Fields still was traded for a sixth-round pick. In August, the Cowboys sent a fourth-round pick to the 49ers for failed first-rounder Trey Lance. The Bucs signed Baker Mayfield off the scrap heap after he failed to rejuvenate his career with the Panthers and showed how a good team can effectively build around a quarterback that a bad team failed. But Poles couldn’t find a suitor willing to give up more than pennies to offer Fields that chance. </p>
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<p id="adB3xI">Let’s return to Graziano’s reporting. He cites Fields’s contract as part of the reason why his value depreciated. This is a load of baloney. Fields is due $3.2 million this season from the Steelers, with his fifth-year option looming. That option costs $25.6 million, and Pittsburgh must decide by May 2 if it wants to pick that up. As of now, Fields is a one-year, $3.2 million player. </p>
<p id="GOfdRK">For perspective: The Vikings gave Darnold $10 million for one season. The Giants gave Lock $5 million. The Patriots gave Brissett $8 million to serve as their bridge quarterback, as they’ll likely also draft another passer in April. The Commanders give Marcus Mariota $6 million (and potentially up to $10 million) on a one-year deal to hold the seat for a drafted rookie.</p>
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<p id="UnuKdE"><br>Sure, none of these quarterbacks cost their teams any draft picks in a trade. But given their recent levels of play, I would unequivocally prefer Fields for $3.2 million over any of those players at their current price tags plus an extra late-round draft pick.</p>
<p id="iop0Ko">Two things can be true here. Poles and the Bears should have gotten more for Fields. Perhaps they could have held on to him until draft night, waiting to see if a team like the Broncos or Vikings failed to secure a young quarterback, and then cashed in on a sudden spike in Fields’s value. (Josh Rosen, who was coming off a catastrophic rookie season, was traded from Arizona to Miami for a second-round pick on Day 2 of the 2019 draft, <a href="https://www.nfl.com/news/cardinals-trade-qb-josh-rosen-to-dolphins-for-picks-0ap3000001028416">hours after the Cardinals took Kyler Murray with the first pick</a>.) But Poles wanted to get Fields’s situation squared away. I respect and understand that.</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">"I wanna do right by Justin as well."<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DaBears?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DaBears</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NFL?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NFL</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NFLDraft?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NFLDraft</a> <a href="https://t.co/AjBFtNV6XC">pic.twitter.com/AjBFtNV6XC</a></p>— SportsGridTV (@SportsGridTV) <a href="https://twitter.com/SportsGridTV/status/1762560733001187691?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 27, 2024</a>
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<p id="WliHLD">But just as much as the Bears should have gotten more for Fields, the league should have been willing to give up more to get him. Fields is not like Ridder, Pickett, Jones, and Howell. He is <em>far</em> more talented than those players—and anyone insisting otherwise needs to just watch 10 minutes of Fields highlights. They don’t pop guys this big and fast with this type of arm out of a factory. This is a player you want on your team. And a number of franchises missed a chance to easily make their rosters better.</p>
<p id="kCoUtQ">Of all the teams to call the Bears, the Steelers finally got a deal done. Good for them, and good for Fields. While Pittsburgh reportedly has already named Wilson the starter (at least internally), Fields lands in a nice spot. He will not attempt to unseat an established starter or early-round draft pick; rather, he’ll seek to supplant a shaky veteran on a minimum deal. Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith has used designed quarterback runs and rollouts in his past offenses plenty. Instead of settling for one dart throw at the quarterback position, the Steelers now have two, and thus have doubled their chances of finding the player who can unlock their offense.</p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="CCDdXU">Will Fields get a legitimate shot at the starting job? How much was Chicago really holding him back? Will lessened expectations elicit improved play? The question of where Fields will go has finally been answered—but, both looking backward and looking forward, many more remain.</p>
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https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2024/3/17/24103874/justin-fields-trade-chicago-bears-pittsburgh-steelers-ryan-polesBen Solak2024-03-13T11:04:38-04:002024-03-13T11:04:38-04:00Russell Wilson Doesn’t Fix the Steelers
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<p>Is Russ really an upgrade over the current Steelers QB corps? Ben explores this question and more!</p> <p id="2NwBdh">After another season of sneaking into the playoffs, only to lose to a vastly more talented team, the Steelers have signed veteran QB Russell Wilson to a one-year, team-friendly deal. Will Russ be a significant upgrade over the current Steelers QB corps? Or will the Steelers have yet another mediocre season? <em>The Ringer</em>’s Ben Solak investigates. Subscribe to the <em>Ringer</em> NFL channel for more videos, and check out all the <em>Ringer</em> NFL podcasts on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.</p>
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https://www.theringer.com/2024/3/13/24099265/russell-wilson-doesnt-fix-the-pittsburgh-steelers-quarterbackBen Solak2024-03-12T08:53:43-04:002024-03-12T08:53:43-04:00Kirk Cousins Raises the Falcons’ Floor. Can He Also Raise Their Ceiling?
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<p>After a few seasons in quarterback hell, Atlanta paid a premium to secure an upgrade at the position. Cousins brings stability—and heightened expectations.</p> <p id="DL1rV7">The NFL didn’t have to wait long for the first major quarterback move of free agency, as ex-Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins agreed to a four-year, $180 million deal with the Atlanta Falcons mere hours after the legal tampering period began. </p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Falcons?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Falcons</a> are signing Kirk Cousins to a four-year, $180 million contract that includes a $50M signing bonus, per sources.<br><br>Another monster payday for Cousins, who gets $100 guaranteed — $90M in 2024 and ‘25, plus another $10M in 2026 — and a fresh start in Atlanta at age 35. <a href="https://t.co/NkFNMzSjF5">pic.twitter.com/NkFNMzSjF5</a></p>— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) <a href="https://twitter.com/TomPelissero/status/1767261025324134892?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 11, 2024</a>
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<p id="OZNsIb">Cousins, who is 35 and coming off an Achilles tear, was one of the best quarterbacks to hit true free agency in recent memory. This isn’t the first time for Cousins, who hit free agency in 2018 and signed with Minnesota. Since then, he has been a perennial above-average starter—not quite a top-10 quarterback, but certainly a top-16 one. Over an astonishing 145 career games started (88 with the Vikings), Cousins has grown from a system quarterback in the Shanahan offense to a wily veteran typified by toughness, aggressive throws, and work at the line of scrimmage. The Vikings tried to retain him, but Cousins took exactly one meeting in free agency—with Atlanta. And it didn’t let him get out of the building. In the words of <em>The Athletic</em>’s Dianna Russini: The Falcons were going to go as far as they needed to make this happen.</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Kirk Cousins, the top free-agent QB on the market, has agreed to terms with the Atlanta Falcons, per sources. The Vikings pushed strongly for Cousins’s services, but in the end, the Falcons were going to go as far as they needed to make this happen. <a href="https://t.co/MyqxY27nxd">pic.twitter.com/MyqxY27nxd</a></p>— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) <a href="https://twitter.com/DMRussini/status/1767255891357602065?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 11, 2024</a>
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<p id="LRdVUu">It was appropriate for the Falcons to get aggressive at quarterback now. General manager Terry Fontenot has led the team since 2021 and doesn’t have a winning season to show for it. He’s survived the firing of one head coach in Arthur Smith; most general managers don’t survive a second, if it comes to that. Fontenot needed to show Falcons owner Arthur Blank that he built a winning team over the past few seasons, and Cousins was necessary to prove just that.</p>
<p id="6hYlXt">Of course, there was another (and probably better) time to get aggressive at quarterback. That was 2023, when <a href="https://thefalconswire.usatoday.com/2023/03/07/falcons-lamar-jackson-nfl-trade-news-ravens/">Ravens quarterback and reigning league MVP Lamar Jackson was signed to a nonexclusive franchise tag</a>. Atlanta was quick to publicly declare its disinterest in Jackson, favoring second-year quarterback Desmond Ridder, who tried and failed to secure the starting job this season. Jackson is making $52 million per season and would have cost multiple picks via the nonexclusive tag mechanics, but Cousins isn’t going to win league MVP anytime soon. If the Falcons would spend big money at the quarterback position anyway, they missed a pitch over the middle of the plate last offseason.</p>
<p id="BET0bC">Hindsight is 20/20, though: The Falcons almost landed Deshaun Watson for an even bigger deal and trade package—and think about how catastrophic that would have been. But that’s enough rehashing what could have been. Kirk will be making $45 million a year, which is a ton of money, and there is risk as he returns from an Achilles injury, but the name of the game here, again, is stability. He’s a rock-solid starter, and that’s what Atlanta desperately needs.</p>
<div class="c-float-left"><aside id="npTiwf"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"Six Takeaways From a Wild Start to NFL Free Agency","url":"https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2024/3/12/24097905/takeaways-nfl-free-agency-2024-kirk-cousins-brian-burns-christian-wilkins-justin-fields"},{"title":"What Are the Vikings’ QB Options Post–Kirk Cousins? And Where Does the Team Go From Here?","url":"https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2024/3/11/24097906/kirk-cousins-signs-atlanta-falcons-minnesota-vikings-quarterback-options"},{"title":"The Ringer’s 2024 Top 50 Free Agents (and Counting)","url":"https://nflrankings.theringer.com/free-agency/kirk-cousins?_ga=2.66456366.1648663659.1710157032-1969911477.1706801192"}]}'></div></aside></div>
<p id="5sZVdZ">Why a solid starter? Because the Falcons haven’t made the playoffs in six seasons and just fired their head coach, Smith, after three straight seasons with a 7-10 record. Those three years saw the end of the Matt Ryan era, a placeholder year with Marcus Mariota, and a Desmond Ridder–Taylor Heinicke carousel. The Falcons have discovered over the past few years what many teams discover after a longtime franchise quarterback leaves: It’s tough out here without a quarterback. </p>
<p id="kpj67f">But Ryan was a homegrown talent! Why not go back to the well with a rookie quarterback? The 2024 draft presents a rich quarterback class, and the Falcons have the eighth pick. But the urgency is on Fontenot’s roster to produce <em>immediately</em>,<em> </em>and it can. Below that underachievement and quarterback hot potato is quality bedrock on the offensive roster. The offensive line in Atlanta is set, with four of five starters signed through the next two seasons. While wide receiver Drake London has yet to post a 1,000-yard season, he clearly has the talent to and has suffered through that mediocre quarterback play. The same is true of tight end Kyle Pitts, who hasn’t had a 1,000-yard season since Ryan left the Falcons. Add in second-year running back Bijan Robinson, who looked like the star talent Atlanta hoped for when it used the no. 8 pick on him last year, and the Falcons offense is ready. All it needed was a quarterback.</p>
<p id="TLKXss">That’s just one reason Cousins was a better fit for the Falcons than an alternative—such as drafting a passer at no. 8 or trading for Justin Fields. We know who Cousins is as a player; he has delivered unspectacular but quality football for almost a decade. Fields is mercurial; a rookie is unknown. Cousins will absolutely be able to maximize the existing talent on this well-built roster—if, of course, he comes back successfully from his Achilles injury.</p>
<p id="3uE1UL">Kirk isn’t just a steady hand at the wheel for Atlanta; he’s also a clear schematic fit. Cousins’s career took off under Sean McVay in Washington, where McVay was the play caller from 2014 to 2016: Cousins’s first few years as a starter. As McVay installed his offense in Los Angeles, he almost certainly used film from his time with Cousins in Washington as teach tape—that’s film Falcons offensive coordinator Zac Robinson was watching when he was on the Rams staff for the past five seasons. In the meantime, Kirk was in Minnesota operating Kevin O’Connell’s offense, which was largely derived from O’Connell’s time as McVay’s offensive coordinator in Los Angeles.</p>
<p id="2HfiyD">The interconnectivity here is the single biggest reason to be excited about Kirk in Atlanta. Cousins shouldn’t just walk into the building and understand the offense; he should be able to <em>install </em>the offense. Cousins’s experience running this system will be a huge help to Zac Robinson, a first-time play caller and generally inexperienced coach. It will help London and Pitts, as Cousins can fast-track them on the finer details of routes and timing and spacing. The Falcons should hit the ground running on offense.</p>
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<p id="vuLCCf"><br>While I’m bullish on the Falcons with Kirk, I don’t need to set lofty expectations for them—they’ve already done that themselves with the contract figure. At $45 million per year, Cousins, who is a legend at the bank, is now tied with Patrick Mahomes for the eighth-highest contract figure among quarterbacks.</p>
<p id="OxOJjd">Of course, all reported numbers are usually funny numbers. Structurally, the Falcons are committed to paying Kirk $45 million in each of the next two seasons: $90 million total. Beyond the 2025 season, Cousins has only $10 million in guaranteed money. The Cousins deal should be considered a two-year, $90 million deal with a couple of team options afterward. If Cousins is excelling and has clearly recovered from his Achilles injury, the Falcons can restructure that money in the form of bonuses, create immediate cap space, and try to win with Cousins in 2026 and beyond (he’ll be nearing 40, but, hey, quarterbacks are playing longer than ever!). If Cousins is struggling, the Falcons can move on from him without an enormous dead cap hit. </p>
<p id="0tpX6t">The two-year structure also fits with the rest of Atlanta’s accounting books. If the Falcons pick up Pitts’s fifth-year option, he’ll be a free agent after two more seasons. London is secured for two seasons without his fifth-year option. Right tackle Kaleb McGary is secured for the next two seasons as well; left tackle Jake Matthews is for the next three seasons and is easily cuttable in 2026. The Falcons offense, built by Fontenot, just started a two-year clock to prove that it can work. </p>
<p id="wKwLhU">So the deal is far more of a short-term rental than it initially appears, but $45 million is $45 million no matter which way you slice it, and that’s what Kirk will make in each of the next two seasons. Quarterbacks who make $45 million are expected to lead contending teams, make playoff pushes, and appear in (and win) Super Bowls. </p>
<p id="oUUhrv">Is a Cousins-led team really capable of those heights? Probably not. But at the same time, I watched Baker Mayfield play in a divisional-round game this season; I watched Brock Purdy and Jared Goff fight for a Super Bowl berth. With every season that passes, quality starters at quarterback seem to take more teams further into the postseason than ever before. Cousins will set the floor for Atlanta—it should be a playoff team—but the ancillary pieces will set the ceiling. Just how good of a WR1 is London? Just how good of a play caller is Robinson? We don’t know the exact answers yet, and we won’t until the season is well underway. </p>
<p id="EPaz4T">The raised floor, lifted by Cousins’s deal, is reflected in the division. The Falcons are the clear favorites in the NFC South. FanDuel Sportsbook has Atlanta at -110 to win the division, which is an implied probability of just over 50 percent; the next-closest team is the Buccaneers, at about 25 percent. Cousins is the best quarterback in the division, leaping over fellow journeymen in the Saints’ Derek Carr and Buccaneers’ Baker Mayfield, both of whom are also on hefty veteran deals. Throw in the Panthers, who have been floundering for years, and it’s unsurprising that Atlanta is a clear favorite to win what should be the league’s weakest division.</p>
<p id="tLmukE">The soft division, the quality offensive roster, the willingness to pour money into the contract—all of this made Atlanta a good spot for Kirk, just as Kirk was a good target for Atlanta. Cousins could have taken meetings with the Steelers, Broncos, or Raiders: Not one of those has as good of an offensive roster as the Falcons or an easier path to a home playoff game. Minnesota—with Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and T.J. Hockenson—could have argued it has equivalent offensive talent. But in a division with the Lions and the ascending Packers, the climb to the playoffs was much tougher. The Falcons were the best team for Kirk, and Kirk was the best quarterback for the Falcons. This is a great fit and a solid deal for all sides.</p>
<p id="iet9gb">There are still plenty of ways it can go wrong. The Achilles injury hangs over Cousins, who is an older quarterback. Even if he returns from injury at 90 percent, losing any velocity in his fastball or any springiness in the pocket is an enormous deal for a quarterback who figures to start declining soon. But that’s the risk you have to take—and relative to drafting a rookie quarterback, it’s a pretty small one.</p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="KK4qww">So expect big things out of Atlanta and Cousins—just not too big. Pleasant competency, plus surprising and occasional excellence. Maybe they’ll run hot and hit on a couple of key defensive contributors in the draft who can spark a deep playoff run. Maybe they’ll run cold and limp to a wild-card loss against a frisky 5-seed. Either way, the Falcons’ quarterback problem has finally been answered—and the standard in Atlanta has been raised.</p>
<aside id="DhpQBZ"><div data-anthem-component="newsletter" data-anthem-component-data='{"slug":"ringer_newsletter"}'></div></aside>
https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2024/3/12/24098092/kirk-cousins-atlanta-falcons-drake-london-kyle-pitts-what-to-expectBen Solak2024-03-12T01:41:09-04:002024-03-12T01:41:09-04:00Breaking Down the Confusing Brian Burns Trade and Kirk Cousins’s Fit With the Falcons
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<p>NFL free agency is underway</p> <div id="AaCqGW"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 152px; position: relative;"><iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/7Ip9halV78jvJSeAlaxQCf?utm_source=oembed" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen="" allow="clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture;"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="OnlGMx"><br><a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/7Ip9halV78jvJSeAlaxQCf">The NFL free agency legal tampering period officially got underway Monday</a>, and a few big names found new homes. What exactly did the Panthers gain by trading Brian Burns to the Giants? Speaking of the Giants, their former running back is now headed to the division rival Eagles. Plus, will Kirk Cousins lead the Falcons to an NFC South title with his new, massive deal?</p>
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<p id="cTc1yH">Hosts: Ben Solak and Sheil Kapadia<br>Producer: Cliff Augustin<br>Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal and Conor Nevins<br>Social: Eduardo Ocampo and Kiera Givens<br>Musical Elements: Devon Renaldo</p>
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https://www.theringer.com/2024/3/12/24098223/the-confusing-brian-burns-trade-kirk-cousinss-fit-with-the-falcons-and-much-more-extra-point-takenBen SolakSheil Kapadia2024-03-04T08:53:18-05:002024-03-04T08:53:18-05:0010 Observations From the 2024 NFL Combine
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<p>The league’s annual scouting combine featured some exciting performances … from the players who didn’t opt out. Here’s what we learned from a week in Indianapolis.</p> <p id="w5sY5T"><em>Editor’s note: This piece previously listed Mike Evans in the dream free agency section, but shortly after publication, he signed a </em><a href="https://twitter.com/MikeGarafolo/status/1764654541901799617"><em>new two-year deal</em></a><em> to stay with Tampa Bay. </em></p>
<p id="bfkioY">Indianapolis treated the NFL world to yet another excellent scouting combine. The weather was nice, the events were walkable, and the steakhouses were … steak-y.</p>
<p id="6jC0cc">With the obligatory nod to everyone’s favorite Midwestern city aside, let’s get into the red meat (hey-o!) of the week: the NFL combine. I have 10 notes—some theories, some reports, some musings, some takeaways—from my week in Indianapolis, ranging from the upcoming free agent class to the 2024 NFL draft just around the corner. </p>
<h4 id="dlwCYY">Opting out of the combine continues to become a trend.</h4>
<p id="WO3Nbl">If it feels like more players than ever opted out of testing, well, I don’t have the numbers on that—but it’s about the third or fourth consecutive combine when things have felt this way. This is clearly becoming a trend. </p>
<p id="3rWNXd">Two of the top players in the draft opted out at rather unprecedented levels last week. USC quarterback Caleb Williams, projected to be the first pick, opted out of all medical testing. While the drills are televised and the podium sessions are shared by the media, the medical testing is really the critical part of the combine—it gives teams their first, unimpeded look at the physical health of all the prospects they might select.</p>
<p id="3VGZIL">Now, most teams won’t get a look at that for Caleb. In explaining his decision to pass on all medical testing in Indianapolis, Williams said <a href="https://twitter.com/ProFootballTalk/status/1763588303868002758?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1763588303868002758%7Ctwgr%5E1f5c4bd7f3ec7e04ccfc21601ab5174e5cdad80c%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbleacherreport.com%2Farticles%2F10111277-caleb-williams-says-hell-do-medical-exams-with-teams-he-visits-before-2024-nfl-draft">“not all 32 teams can draft me, so why give all 32 teams my personal medical things?”</a> Williams will instead undergo medical testing with those teams that he meets with individually during the predraft process—i.e., teams willing to spend one of their 30 exclusive visits on Williams.</p>
<p id="ItlhOn">Williams’s quote reminds me of Deion Sanders’s when he met with the New York Giants at the 1989 combine. When the Giants gave him a long test, Sanders asked, “What pick do you have in the draft?” and when the Giants told him 10th, he said, “I’ll be gone before then. I’ll see y’all later,” and left.</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr"> Deion Sanders full quote on leaving his meeting with the New York Giants <a href="https://t.co/6plXbrG1lD">pic.twitter.com/6plXbrG1lD</a></p>— Fanatics View (@fanaticsview) <a href="https://twitter.com/fanaticsview/status/839714965976190976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 9, 2017</a>
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<p id="ZdNLZn">Williams, like Deion, is using his near certainty of a high draft selection to pass on parts of the process that other prospects can’t. The same is true of Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., who did not work out in Indy. While almost all of his contemporaries in the 2024 NFL draft learned how to run fast 40-yard dashes, eke an extra inch out of their broad jump, and pack on empty weight to tip the scales a little more favorably, Harrison simply … focused on football.</p>
<p id="f6aOTw">As Albert Breer of <em>Sports Illustrated</em> reported: “All signs show Harrison’s plan is to continue working out in Columbus, Ohio, with Buckeye strength and conditioning tycoon Mickey Marotti, among others, to prepare not to run a 40-yard dash, but play football in the fall.”</p>
<p id="UhhvXE">Harrison was slated to speak to the media at the combine, but no-showed his podium. Cris Carter tweeted that Harrison was stuck in a full-body scan during his medical assessment, along with a picture of … I guess a screen that hides an MRI machine? It’s unclear. </p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Marvin Harrison Jr. is currently with the medical people getting a body scan. Relax <a href="https://t.co/6tylFVNwJ0">pic.twitter.com/6tylFVNwJ0</a></p>— Cris Carter (@criscarter80) <a href="https://twitter.com/criscarter80/status/1763572592173056362?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2024</a>
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<p id="PkoOtY">Regardless, Harrison joins Williams in an intentional, untraditional approach to the scouting combine—and I personally love it. It’s easy to see these opt-outs as juvenile acts of rebellion from ungrateful athletes—and I fear there will be some in the league who think just that. But there is an enormous difference between the hoops that you and I have to jump through in our job interviews, and the ones presented to truly elite athletes who will not just make millions of dollars, but also have already made millions of dollars, and will help make the owners of the franchises that draft them millions <em>upon millions</em> of dollars. The rules here are different.</p>
<p id="DZcnxr">The NFL’s predraft process is meant not to create an equal evaluation of all prospects, but rather to winnow the draft board for each team. Medical checks knock off or downgrade those prospects with concerning risks of (re)injury. Positional drills help disqualify athletes of insufficient size, speed, strength, and agility for league play. Harrison and Williams are saying “this part of the process isn’t built for us and doesn’t benefit us”—and they’re absolutely right.</p>
<aside id="Af6mft"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"What Are NFL Coaches and Execs Really Saying at the NFL Combine?","url":"https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2024/2/29/24086338/nfl-combine-coach-gm-translator-sean-payton-russell-wilson-daniel-jones-saquon-barkley-kirk-cousins"},{"title":"Ranking the Top 50 NFL Free Agents ","url":"https://nflrankings.theringer.com/free-agency"},{"title":"The Top 50 Players in the NFL Draft ","url":"https://nfldraft.theringer.com/?_ga=2.259610383.429340806.1709556968-2023644046.1682014580"}]}'></div></aside><p id="s3JB3N">Still, the NFL will be scared of the repercussions. The schedule has been reorganized and tinkered with over the past several years to make the combine even more of a television draw than it already is—but when two projected top-five picks at the two sexiest positions <em>don’t</em> work out, the television draw starts to wane. And they weren’t the only ones to opt out of on-field workouts: so did North Carolina QB Drake Maye, LSU QB Jayden Daniels, LSU receiver Malik Nabers, and Georgia tight end Brock Bowers. Those players are all potential top-five picks as well.</p>
<p id="inWS1S">I am not sure how the NFL incentivizes participation in the combine. I am not sure how the NFL convinces bona fide blue-chip draft picks who will go in the top 10 barring catastrophic injury or off-field issues that any participation in the predraft process is worthwhile. But the combine is taking on water from all sides. <a href="https://theathletic.com/5280900/2024/02/16/nfl-draft-s2-test-athletes-first/">Athletes First told the players they represent to pass on all cognitive testing</a> following the C.J. Stroud drama last year. Multiple head coaches, for yet another year, didn’t come to the event at all. The scouting process needs some freshening up, or participation across the board will continue to suffer.</p>
<div id="NVo9i0"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 152px; position: relative;"><iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/6wBQhv1Gteq7xSjsFUFegc?utm_source=oembed" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen="" allow="clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture;"></iframe></div></div>
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<h4 id="p9twGa">Could the no. 1 pick be on the move again?</h4>
<p id="MrLl5y">I can’t shake the feeling that Washington (who currently owns the second pick) is going to explore trades with Chicago (who currently owns the first pick). The reasons are obvious: Washington would really like to draft Caleb Williams, the D.C.-born quarterback who played under current Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury last season at USC.</p>
<p id="nbAl6o">Here’s NFL Network’s Peter Schrager asking new Commanders GM Adam Peters about just that:</p>
<div id="tGRss4">
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">I asked new <a href="https://twitter.com/Commanders?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Commanders</a> GM Adam Peters on <a href="https://twitter.com/nflnetwork?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@nflnetwork</a> if there was a scenario in which Washington would move UP and trade for the first pick in the Draft. <a href="https://t.co/9zGF11k3Et">pic.twitter.com/9zGF11k3Et</a></p>— Peter Schrager (@PSchrags) <a href="https://twitter.com/PSchrags/status/1763731656702034004?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 2, 2024</a>
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<p id="CwvOFe">Not a no! (Not really an answer on anything, but still: not a no.)</p>
<p id="O3Ixnh">The idea of a 1-for-2 trade is fascinating. The first pick has been traded only 13 times, and it has never been traded for a package involving the no. 2 pick. In the most recent trades of the top overall selection, Carolina moved from no. 9 to no. 1 last year in their trade with the Bears, and in 2016 the Rams went from no. 15 to no. 1 to get Jared Goff. </p>
<p id="QDTMLa">Would moving just from no. 2 to no. 1 decrease the price? From the conversations I had this week, it seems unlikely. One team executive I spoke to said he’d start by asking for two first-round picks and a second-round pick—just shy of the capital the 49ers gave up when they moved from 12th to third to draft Trey Lance a few years ago. Another executive said at least two firsts. A third said he would refuse to set a price, and force the team trading up from no. 2 to start making the offer—then he’d just ask for more.</p>
<p id="9Rr07d">Here’s another wrinkle: One of those front office fellas told me the Bears could make that deal only if they weren’t taking a quarterback at no. 2, because moving back to take a franchise quarterback would send the wrong message to both that quarterback and the team. But could Chicago really say no to multiple extra picks—let’s say a future first and a future second—when it still gets to draft a franchise quarterback? That’s tough.</p>
<p id="XzrGSL">Also possible: The Bears stay at no. 1, draft Caleb Williams, and subsequently trade him to another team later in the draft. Think of the Eli Manning–Philip Rivers trade in 2004. The Chargers selected Manning with the first pick, even though Manning had made it clear to the Chargers he didn’t want to play there, prompting San Diego to trade him to the Giants for fourth overall pick Philip Rivers—along with a third, a future first, and a future fifth. Would the Bears draft Williams even if they favored another quarterback, like Drake Maye—and then force Washington to send a future first and some extra capital on top to swap the players? I’m not ruling anything out. </p>
<h4 id="K7GqLl">This is the year to get a nickel corner.</h4>
<p id="I4hRhb">You’ve probably already heard that it’s a great class for offensive linemen (it is utterly amazing) and wide receivers (it’s great, but probably a little gassed at this point). The third position that I think is both rich and deep? Slot cornerback.</p>
<p id="reNmX0">The headliner is Michigan’s Mike Sainristil. A two-way player in college who initially landed at Michigan as a receiver, Sainristil switched to defense only in 2022 after the departure of Dax Hill, a first-rounder in that year’s draft selected by the Bengals. At 5-foot-9 and 182 pounds, Sainristil is pretty much limited to the slot on an NFL defense—but he’s quick as a wink, super explosive, and has the ball skills expected of an ex–wide receiver. Only one player ran a quicker short shuttle than Sainristil (4.01 seconds), and he looked smooth as butter in the gauntlet drill.</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sainristil gauntlet. Just makes it look easy <a href="https://t.co/ZNbWWJjkZN">pic.twitter.com/ZNbWWJjkZN</a></p>— Billy M (@BillyM_91) <a href="https://twitter.com/BillyM_91/status/1763689690882871531?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2024</a>
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<p id="oJDs75">But even beyond Sainristil, there are some great prospects. Rutgers corner Max Melton, brother of Packers wide receiver Bo Melton, rose over the course of a strong Senior Bowl week and rose again in Indianapolis, where he ran a sub 4.4-second 40-yard dash and jumped over 40 inches. Kentucky’s Andru Phillips hasn’t started much and played primarily on the outside, but his traits translate better to the interior, where his toughness and explosiveness would be welcome. Both Florida State corners, Renardo Green and Jarrian Jones, might be better suited on the interior, as may be the case for Missouri’s Ennis Rakestraw Jr., currently viewed as a late first-round prospect. </p>
<p id="wzhnEw">If you’re a team with a need at slot corner and you walk out of this draft without a solution, I don’t know what you were looking at.</p>
<h4 id="NhKEHZ">J.J. McCarthy may be QB3.</h4>
<p id="2wLhzA">It is smoke-screen season, and I very well may be getting hooked by it. But in Indianapolis, I heard significantly more interest and excitement for how high Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy might go relative to how high LSU QB Jayden Daniels might go.</p>
<p id="yeytrW">My sense is that Daniels is not locked into an early draft slot and that the league has turned its attention elsewhere. McCarthy is a strong candidate to go before Daniels in April.</p>
<h4 id="H7hY1c">Rome Odunze is not scared to compete.</h4>
<p id="0RHaUs">I think this class has four elite pass catchers. Three of them opted out of testing: Nabers, Harrison, and Bowers. The fourth—Washington wide receiver Rome Odunze—didn’t just take the field this weekend. He refused to leave it.</p>
<div id="B2Kujl">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/RomeOdunze?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RomeOdunze</a> won't leave the field until he hits his target of 6.6 on the 3 cone drill.<br><br>Total dedication. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NFLCombine?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NFLCombine</a> <a href="https://t.co/vIxbd3V52k">pic.twitter.com/vIxbd3V52k</a></p>— NFL (@NFL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1764088961092219140?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2024</a>
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<p id="Jif6ok">Is this a little performative? Yes. Am I eating it up anyway? Yes. Odunze has been a favorite of mine in this class since I watched his film, and all of his testing affirmed what I’ve long believed: that he can be a star wide receiver in the NFL. This is a lofty comparison, but here goes: I wrote down the name Davante Adams more than a few times when watching Odunze, and Odunze compares favorably to the All-Pro. They have similar jumps, 10-yard splits, and agility drills, while Rome is 2 inches taller and 0.11 seconds faster in the 40.</p>
<p id="g3Omcj">The easy releases and clean footwork, the ability to win separation and also catch through contact, the early adjustments to the football … there’s something about Odunze that just screams “star wideout” to me. </p>
<p id="ybiZU5">Anyway, here he is doing a gainer.</p>
<div id="ZTITlw">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">This is the post-combine Rome Odunze clip you should be talking about. Dude is a freak <a href="https://t.co/cmQV2IMjyq">https://t.co/cmQV2IMjyq</a> <a href="https://t.co/EoZm8bUB1L">pic.twitter.com/EoZm8bUB1L</a></p>— JetPack Galileo (@JetPackGalileo) <a href="https://twitter.com/JetPackGalileo/status/1764402617365807298?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2024</a>
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<h4 id="g1XOP0">Amarius Mims is the biggest and bestest guy.</h4>
<p id="s67OhE">The best athlete on the field in Indianapolis, pound for pound, was unquestionably Amarius Mims. The 6-foot-8, 340-pound tackle out of Georgia has the same wingspan (86 and 3/4 inches) as Giannis Antetokounmpo—it’s the third largest for an offensive lineman in NFL combine history. Mims isn’t just staggeringly sized—he also carries his frame beautifully. This isn’t a flabby 340—it’s an athletic 340.</p>
<div id="4qMAWZ">
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">The size of Amarius Mims compared to the average human is ridiculous. <a href="https://t.co/PZWAcSGUPl">pic.twitter.com/PZWAcSGUPl</a></p>— Ryan Fowler (@_RyanFowler_) <a href="https://twitter.com/_RyanFowler_/status/1763931053679399007?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 2, 2024</a>
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<p id="Ml9m2X">Sometimes, it’s fun to watch the combine and just be flabbergasted by the caliber of athlete that exists in the world. This is one of those times.</p>
<p id="UtfnWY">Want another one? Here’s Texas WR Xavier Worthy’s record-setting 40-yard dash. </p>
<div id="e4sAwl">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">OFFICIAL: 4.21<br><br>XAVIER WORTHY HOLDS THE NEW 40-YARD DASH RECORD <a href="https://t.co/IrXf3WyemB">pic.twitter.com/IrXf3WyemB</a></p>— NFL (@NFL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1764073880119836935?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 2, 2024</a>
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<h4 id="OeDxlv">What will happen with Kirk Cousins is a real mystery.</h4>
<p id="jg2T4w">On the list of journalists capable of sourcing the details of Kirk Cousins’s impending free agency, trust me, I’m at the bottom. But here’s what I believe to be true: Nobody really knows what’s going to happen with Kirk just yet, including Kirk.</p>
<p id="b5xYRc">I think Minnesota will give him an offer lower than what he’ll likely get in free agency. Accordingly, I think he’ll hit the open market. I think he’ll get offers from several teams—Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Las Vegas, and Tampa Bay are all in play. But I have no idea what those price tags will look like, as Cousins is a 35-year-old quarterback who has never really been a top-10 passer, but is certainly a top-20 passer, and is coming off an Achilles tear. Kirk could have multiple teams vying for his services, and his price will skyrocket accordingly.</p>
<p id="28AsRO">There could be one big buyer, and this is all over before the league year really kicks off. There could be no huge contracts waiting for him, and Cousins indeed does take a fair deal in Minnesota. I think this is a real wait and see for most parties involved.</p>
<p id="TEaaK6">(Watch the Cousins news break, like, four minutes after you read this.)</p>
<h4 id="Je9KLq">A new landing spot has emerged for Justin Fields.</h4>
<p id="1W2IQ1">Fields’s market is waiting on Cousins’s market. One landing spot for Fields that I haven’t seen mentioned much anywhere, but that I really like, is Cleveland. I don’t think the Browns have a good quarterback on the roster (see: all of Deshaun Watson’s film since he returned from suspension). They would benefit from a low-risk, high-reward swing on the upside of Fields. If they find a starter in Fields, they can escape out of the back door of what is proving to be a catastrophically bad Watson contract.</p>
<p id="D2vQgo">We know that Cleveland is interested in mobile quarterbacks. (Josh Dobbs, P.J. Walker, and Dorian Thompson-Robinson were all either in camp or starting games for them last season.) We know that analytically minded general manager Andrew Berry should always be interested in high-upside gambles at the quarterback position. And we know that new OC Ken Dorsey has worked with a big-bodied, physical QB runner before in Buffalo with Josh Allen. The fit is good.</p>
<p id="cod86L">If there isn’t a clear starting job available for Fields on the open market, I think the Browns are a good option for his career and for their future.</p>
<h4 id="4zdire">My dream free agency.</h4>
<p id="Ow1Vbl">If Roger Goodell hands me a Mad Libs script for free agency in a couple of weeks and asks me to fill in the blanks, here are some fits I’d like to see.</p>
<p id="D6cyb4"><strong>Jon Greenard in Detroit: </strong>Greenard is a gritty three-down edge rusher who excels at maintaining good rush lanes and maximizing his teammates—and hey, he’ll grab eight or nine sacks in the process. He’s an ideal pairing with star weakside rusher Aidan Hutchinson in Detroit.</p>
<p id="v4CXEj"><strong>Tyron Smith to the Jets:</strong> Many have called Smith a future Chief, and that would be an excellent landing spot. But the Jets have a perpetually shaky line and desperately need surety at tackle when Aaron Rodgers returns from his Achilles injury. Smith, who is still playing well, gives the Jets the flexibility to attack a different position (receiver?) at pick 10 come draft time.</p>
<p id="Nd3N4s"><strong>Josh Jacobs in Houston: </strong>Underneath all of the C.J. Stroud highlights, the Texans committed hard to the run last season—unsurprising, given OC Bobby Slowik’s background in San Francisco with Kyle Shanahan. Improved play from their backfield would get more juice out of those handoffs, and Jacobs—not Saquon Barkley, in my opinion—is the best pure runner available on the market. (Barkley would be kinda sick, too.)</p>
<p id="ZAJEg3"><strong>Jadeveon Clowney in Seattle: </strong>Why wouldn’t Clowney follow old DC Mike Macdonald to Seattle, where the Seahawks desperately need run defenders off the edge? That’s Clowney’s specialty, and hey—all those eager fans who bought his Seahawks jersey in 2019 would prove vindicated five years later.</p>
<p id="hC6MI3"><strong>Christian Wilkins in Cleveland: </strong>A star defensive tackle is the final piece missing in an otherwise elite puzzle for Jim Schwartz’s unit in Cleveland. While the rotation of Dalvin Tomlinson, Jordan Elliott, Shelby Harris, and Mo Hurst got the job done in 2023, three of those four players are not under contract for 2024. Think about what Schwartz did for Fletcher Cox and Jeffery Simmons, and now slap it on Wilkins’s profile. </p>
<h4 id="cusjNI">Overrated and underrated.</h4>
<p id="9xqPRC">I ended the column with this segment last year, and it did fairly well. I had Anton Harrison, BJ Ojulari, and Will McDonald all in my underrated section—all eventual top-50 picks. My overrated section had some top picks, like Emmanuel Forbes and JuJu Brents—but those players didn’t perform as well in their rookie seasons.</p>
<p id="o0qgmR">Here’s my list again. (I am using the consensus big board from the <a href="https://www.nflmockdraftdatabase.com/big-boards/2024/consensus-big-board-2024">NFL Mock Draft Database </a>for my estimation of the general stock of a player, so if it turns out you already love all of the underrated players and hate the overrated ones, congratulations—you are ready to be an NFL scout.)</p>
<p id="tS38wh">Underrated:</p>
<ul>
<li id="bRWHFE">West Virginia OL Zach Frazier</li>
<li id="5jpYFN">Michigan LB Junior Colson</li>
<li id="ThI6Rs">Western Michigan edge Marshawn Kneeland</li>
<li id="IvP1Ne">USC RB MarShawn Lloyd</li>
</ul>
<p id="Q3BgVN">Overrated:</p>
<ul>
<li id="QHQUOw">Oregon WR Troy Franklin</li>
<li id="oc5Rfz">Penn State edge Chop Robinson</li>
<li id="kZUsu8">Clemson CB Nate Wiggins</li>
<li id="CE0J1W">Oklahoma OT Tyler Guyton</li>
</ul>
<aside id="fSSyhh"><div data-anthem-component="newsletter" data-anthem-component-data='{"slug":"ringer_newsletter"}'></div></aside>
https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2024/3/4/24089897/nfl-combine-takeaways-marvin-harrison-jr-jj-mccarthyBen Solak2024-02-26T21:26:22-05:002024-02-26T21:26:22-05:00Trades Possible for Tee Higgins and Brian Burns? Kirk Cousins, Free Agency Favorites, and More!
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<img alt="Minnesota Vikings v Cincinnati Bengals" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/eOVI6NQQ1Q5iIvz7NsbWfuTPlZ0=/404x0:6841x4828/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73166816/1860138907.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Jeff Dean/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Plus, Ben and Sheil discuss what the Bears should do with the first overall pick in the draft</p> <div id="4Fqv7j"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 152px; position: relative;"><iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/6Q4GTn4vjBObHzHTpfrRhl?utm_source=oembed" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen="" allow="clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture;"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="UDEmp0"><br><a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/6Q4GTn4vjBObHzHTpfrRhl?si=9Eu51sB2RnmbGpZcPO8nGg">What’s next for Kirk Cousins as free agency looms?</a> Will he remain in Minnesota on a new deal or is he headed to an AFC team that desperately needs a QB? Will the Panthers pay pass rusher Brian Burns upwards of $30 million per year? Plus, what will the Bears do with the no. 1 pick?</p>
<p id="hNUFcW">Hosts: Ben Solak and Sheil Kapadia<br>Producer: Cliff Augustin<br>Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal and Conor Nevins<br>Social: Eduardo Ocampo<br>Musical Elements: Devon Renaldo</p>
<p id="fZp0F1"><strong>Subscribe:</strong> <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3sYLdv261f5jLvEgDLU9PD?si=PwTF-GumR7qtUP5FZdCKOQ">Spotify</a> / <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com/?id=&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fpodcast%2Fthe-ringer-nfl-show%2Fid1109282822%3Fmt%3D2&xcust=xid:fr1570809570442jba%7Cxid:fr1571141035709iah%7Cxid:fr1571400354183cfa%7Cxid:fr1571745693269afb%7Cxid:fr1572005002168iib%7Cxid:fr1572350612110bei">Apple Podcasts</a> / <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-ringer/ringer-nfl-show">Stitcher</a> / <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/ringernflshow">RSS</a></p>
<aside id="XqnUNS"><div data-anthem-component="actionbox" data-anthem-component-data='{"title":"<a class=\"ql-link\" href=\"https://nflrankings.theringer.com/\" target=\"_blank\"><em>The Ringer</em>’s NFL Rankings</a>","description":"Your hub for <em>The Ringer</em>’s NFL rankings has arrived. Here we’ll feature QB rankings, trade value rankings, and, of course, power rankings. Check back every week during the season as we put the league in order.","label":"Check out the Guide","url":"https://nflrankings.theringer.com/"}'></div></aside>
https://www.theringer.com/2024/2/26/24084313/nfl-trades-tee-higgins-brian-burns-kirk-cousins-free-agency-favorites-and-moreBen SolakSheil Kapadia2024-02-14T11:38:58-05:002024-02-14T11:38:58-05:00Did Kyle Shanahan Blow It in the Super Bowl? (No.)
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zjL8SU7KfTOzQylKJuwpm6C9dto=/325x0:1765x1080/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73139001/Site.0.jpg" />
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<p>Ben is here to explain why it wasn’t the play-calling or a lack of preparation that caused the Niners to lose the big game</p> <p id="pcr1ns">After another disappointing postseason finish for Kyle Shanahan, it’s tempting to put the blame for the 49ers’ Super Bowl LVIII loss squarely on him. But <em>The Ringer</em>’s Ben Solak makes the case that it wasn’t lack of preparation, play-calling, or some faulty scheme that made the Niners lose the championship to the Kansas City Chiefs. Subscribe to the <em>Ringer</em> NFL channel for more videos, and check out all the <em>Ringer</em> NFL podcasts on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.</p>
<p id="Rf1djW"><strong>Subscribe:</strong> <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3sYLdv261f5jLvEgDLU9PD?si=PwTF-GumR7qtUP5FZdCKOQ">Spotify</a> / <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com/?id=&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fpodcast%2Fthe-ringer-nfl-show%2Fid1109282822%3Fmt%3D2&xcust=xid:fr1570809570442jba%7Cxid:fr1571141035709iah%7Cxid:fr1571400354183cfa%7Cxid:fr1571745693269afb%7Cxid:fr1572005002168iib%7Cxid:fr1572350612110bei">Apple Podcasts</a> / <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-ringer/ringer-nfl-show">Stitcher</a> / <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/ringernflshow">RSS</a></p>
<p id="TzgPn2"></p>
https://www.theringer.com/2024/2/14/24072598/did-kyle-shanahan-blow-it-in-the-super-bowl-san-francisco-49ersBen Solak