After spending four days at this week’s league meetings in Arizona, Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com came away with some additional insight and information on a number of key storylines around the NFL, including Marcus Mariota‘s potential landing spot and the Adrian Peterson situation in Minnesota. Let’s round up some of the highlights from La Canfora’s latest column….
- After speaking to a number of team executives around the NFL, La Canfora gets the “strong sense” that Mariota won’t make it past the second overall pick. That doesn’t necessarily mean Mariota will be a Titan, but if a team wants to move up to snag him, a trade with Tennessee at No. 2 is more likely than a move to No. 5 or 6. “He’s going second overall,” said one GM who has an eye on the Mariota market. “I don’t know to which team, but he’s going second overall.”
- Ben Dogra, Peterson’s agent, was “ever-present” at this week’s meetings, and his mission to get his client off the Vikings‘ roster “remains at full throttle,” according to La Canfora. While head coach Mike Zimmer indicated yesterday that the team had no plans to trade its star running back, Dogra will continue to do whatever he can to accommodate an exodus from Minnesota for Peterson, and has told people he’s confident a deal can get done before the draft.
- As La Canfora notes, and as I alluded to yesterday in the wake of Zimmer’s comments, the Vikings aren’t budging, and they have no reason to — the team is unlikely to get a whole lot in return for a 30-year-old running back who sat out most of last year, won’t be reinstated until April 15 at the earliest, and has three years and $45MM left on his deal.
- Several people told La Canfora this week that Mike Tannenbaum is “clearly calling the shots” for the Dolphins, with GM Dennis Hickey playing a reduced role.
- Many people in the know believe that the Saints will ultimately end up with Tom Benson‘s wife Gayle rather than his grandchildren, as a legal battle for the franchise continues to play out.