The Texans and the Rams hold the first two picks in the draft and there’s a growing sense that both teams really want to trade down, writes Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. The thinking in some league circles is that the Texans would like to trade down and take linebacker Khalil Mack while its believed the Rams would like to trade back for tackle Jake Matthews. The question now, Florio writes, is whether either or both team actually can trade down. Here’s tonight’s look around the NFL..
- Earlier tonight Jay Glazer of FOX Sports (on Twitter) reported that the Browns won’t take Johnny Manziel at No. 4 and he now says the Raiders won’t select the Texas A&M QB at No. 5 either.
- Florio hears that if the Buccaneers move up, it’ll be to select Manziel, not Sammy Watkins. It’s not known whether a deal is close or even doable, however.
- The Eagles would like to add an edge rusher, but there aren’t many quality ones in this year’s draft, writes Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Perhaps it’s a good thing then that General Manager Howie Roseman believes in taking the best player available regardless of position.
- Kevin Lynch of the San Francisco Chronicle wonders if the 49ers should go for a fast receiver or a big receiver in the draft. If SF fails to trade up and get speedster Odell Beckham Jr., a bigger receiver could fall to the team at no. 30, including FSU’s Kelvin Benjamin.
- The Seahawks have sent agents a brochure recruiting undrafted free agents with details on how they keep and develop UDFAs, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. Rapoport (link) also has the brochure in PDF form for those who want to check it out.
- Oregon running back De’Anthony Thomas has signed with agents Brian Murphy and Dave Dunn of Athletes First, according to Liz Mullen of Sports Business Journal (on Twitter). Thomas checked in with the Falcons and Bears last month.
- The lack of contract extensions so far for the 2011 draft class doesn’t reflect a failure on the part of the league’s CBA, argues Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap, pointing out that those extensions will just happen later than they used to.
Luke Adams contributed to this post.