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2023 NFL Draft News & Rumors

Giants Discussed Moving Up In Round 1, Had Trade-Down Parameters In Place With Bills

May 11th, 2023 at 12:15pm CST by Sam Robinson

No team was more closely connected to this year’s first-round-caliber wide receivers than the Giants, who hosted the group on “30” visits and met with the 2023 class’ top pass catchers at their pro days. But Big Blue left Round 1 with cornerback Deonte Banks. It does not appear the team was conducting a smokescreen effort regarding receivers.

Holding the No. 25 overall pick to start the draft, the Giants explored multiple trade-up avenues, Dan Duggan of The Athletic notes. One of them involved conversations with a team holding a mid-first-round pick, with Duggan adding those talks may well have centered around Zay Flowers (subscription required).

The Giants met with Flowers, and a draft-day report indicated they were the highest on the Boston College prospect and USC’s Jordan Addison at receiver. After Flowers went off the board to Baltimore at No. 22, a source informed Duggan that Addison would have been the likely Giants choice at 25. Once Minnesota nabbed the former Kenny Pickett Pitt target at 23, the Giants traded fifth- and seventh-round picks to move up one spot — via the Jaguars — for Banks.

GM Joe Schoen described the mood around the time Addison was picked as “pretty tense.” The run on receivers stopped at the Vikings’ No. 23 pick, and no other corner went in the first round. While the Giants could have stood pat and selected Joey Porter Jr., they obviously placed a value gap between he and Banks, who made the Giants one of his many pre-draft visits. Schoen confirmed (via the New York Post’s Ryan Dunleavy) Banks was not on the Giants’ radar at this point last year, due to his 2021 season being cut short by a shoulder injury. The Maryland prospect will be expected to start opposite Adoree’ Jackson as a rookie, and with Jackson in a contract year and not expected to be extended, the rookie resides as the Giants’ new cornerstone at the position.

Schoen and Bills GM Brandon Beane held trade discussions — centered on the Giants moving back — as well, per SI.com’s Albert Breer, who confirms Schoen also told his former boss he was considering a move up the board. The Bills and Giants worked out trade parameters for a Buffalo trade-up, Breer notes, with the AFC East team targeting tight end Dalton Kincaid. Shortly after the Vikings’ Addison pick, Schoen informed Beane he was trading up to No. 24 and the New York teams’ trade would not commence. The Bills also traded up with the Jags, who moved down twice and chose tackle Anton Harrison.

The Giants standing down regarding a trade-up for a wide receiver leaves more questions about its wideout room compared to how it would have looked if Flowers or Addison became Big Apple-bound. The team still re-signed Darius Slayton and Sterling Shepard and added Parris Campbell and Jamison Crowder, to say nothing of the big-ticket Darren Waller addition at tight end. The Giants circled back to their receiver interest with third-rounder Jalin Hyatt, who also made a pre-draft visit.

Hyatt will bring deep speed to the equation and should be expected to play a key role early, though the Giants have amassed some pass-catching depth after last season’s plans went awry quickly.

Cowboys Sign Round 2 TE Luke Schoonmaker

May 11th, 2023 at 10:40am CST by Sam Robinson

The Cowboys became the first team this year to sign a second-round pick to his four-year rookie deal. Luke Schoonmaker agreed to terms with Dallas on Thursday, according to his agent (on Twitter).

A Michigan tight end, Schoonmaker lasted until the No. 58 overall pick. The second round featured a run on tight ends, with three — Sam LaPorta (Lions), Michael Mayer (Raiders) and Luke Musgrave (Packers) — going off the board from Nos. 34-42. The Jaguars also chose Brenton Strange, at No. 61, to wrap a five-tight end second round.

[RELATED: Team-By-Team 2023 NFL Draft Results]

ESPN’s Scouts Inc. viewed Schoonmaker as this year’s No. 71 overall prospect, slotting him as the class’ eighth-best tight end. The Cowboys thought more of the Big Ten prospect. The 6-foot-5 pass catcher totaled just 19 career catches before his senior season. In 2022, he caught 35 passes for 418 yards and three touchdowns.

Dallas has coaxed production from a surprising tight end source in the recent past, seeing Dalton Schultz become a key Dak Prescott target despite arriving as a fourth-round pick five years ago. The Cowboys plugged in Schultz as their top tight end following Blake Jarwin‘s injury troubles and franchise-tagged the former in 2022. The sides could not agree on terms ahead of last July’s deadline, leading Schultz to the Texans on a surprisingly low-cost deal (one year, $6.25MM).

Although Cowboys-Mayer connections formed ahead of the draft, the team passed on the Notre Dame tight end and left him on the board for the Raiders at No. 35. Mayer graded as this draft’s second-ranked tight end, per Scouts Inc., but the Cowboys chose a Schoonmaker Wolverines teammate — defensive tackle Mazi Smith — at No. 26 overall. Schoonmaker joins second-year players Jake Ferguson and Peyton Hendershot — each of whom played at least 300 offensive snaps as rookies — as the Cowboys’ top tight ends.

Panthers Did Not Receive Viable Offer For No. 1 Pick

May 11th, 2023 at 10:23am CST by Sam Robinson

Although the Panthers may not have been locked in on their choice at No. 1 overall upon acquiring the pick from the Bears ahead of free agency, they zeroed in on Bryce Young and will give him the keys soon. It does not sound like any team made a strong offer to bring Panthers brass into a meeting about altering this path.

The Panthers did not receive an aggressive offer to move out of the No. 1 spot, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com notes. While trading a bounty for the Bears’ top pick and then moving back down would have been a strange maneuver, the Panthers were linked to multiple other quarterbacks during the pre-draft process.

A move back may have hinged on the Texans’ desire to secure Young’s rights. Houston was believed to have placed a value gap between Young and the field, and the league consensus tabbed the AFC South as preferring Young in this class. The Texans engaged in fairly serious talks with the Bears about moving from No. 2 to No. 1, a process that would have seen the Bears drop from 1 to 9 and the Panthers vault from 9 to 2. Once Bears-Texans talks stalled, the Panthers pounced and moved up to the top spot.

Climbing one position does not cost considerable capital, but a jump from No. 2 to No. 1 probably would have for the Texans, who ended up with C.J. Stroud. Pre-draft smoke pegged the Texans as Stroud skeptics, and the Panthers may or may not have had the Ohio State quarterback third among this class’ QBs. The Panthers made their Young decision well before draft day, but the Colts believed Carolina’s last call regarding this pick was a Young-or-Anthony Richardson choice, Stephen Holder of ESPN.com notes.

Another pre-draft report indicated the Panthers’ call was between Young and Stroud; the latter also loomed as the betting favorite to go first weeks before the draft. But Richardson performed well during the Panthers’ interview process, Fowler adds, and may indeed have been the team’s second choice. The Panthers did not bring Frank Reich into this process until late, but the former Colts HC was believed to be high on the raw Florida prospect. While Young will attempt to solve the Panthers’ post-Cam Newton QB problem, Richardson joins Stroud and Will Levis as rookies in the AFC South.

The Raiders explored a move up to No. 1 from their No. 7 position, but Fowler adds they did not pursue this after the Panthers acquired the pick. Las Vegas’ talks with Chicago lend to an interesting alternate reality, as the AFC West team’s plan shifted to hoping Stroud and Richardson went off the board before their pick. That left the Raiders with one of their top four non-QBs, with the selection becoming Texas Tech defensive end Tyree Wilson.

As the NFL does not have a lottery, the Texans obviously could have avoided this outcome by losing their Week 18 game to the Colts. The visitors converted a fourth-and-20 heave for a touchdown and then tacked on a game-winning two-point conversion to defeat Indy in Jeff Saturday‘s finale. But Lovie Smith‘s Houston walk-off moved the Texans to the No. 2 slot. That sequence may go down as one of the better NFL what-ifs in recent memory. Once the Texans bowed out of the Bears’ multi-trade concept, the Panthers do not appear to have seriously considered giving up their newfound draft real estate.

NFL Draft Pick Signings: 5/10/23

May 10th, 2023 at 7:36pm CST by Ely Allen

Teams are moving quickly on inking their Day 3 draftees to their four-year rookie deals, with this process involving a slot system that does not feature many complications for late-round players. Here are the latest such agreements to commence:

Atlanta Falcons

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Detroit Lions

Jacksonville Jaguars

New England Patriots

San Francisco 49ers

Washington Commanders

Johnson transferred back to the west coast after a freshman year at Miami (FL). He established himself as one of the most versatile players in the country while in Eugene, contributing for the Ducks on defense as an edge rusher and on offense as a tight end. Carolina drafted him for his defensive potential.

Moody is the expected replacement for Robbie Gould, who departed in free agency this spring after six years with San Francisco. Likewise, New England moved on from punter Jake Bailey after a couple of internal disagreements. Baringer is expected to take over for the one-time All-Pro punter.

Ravens Hoping To Extend LB Patrick Queen

May 9th, 2023 at 10:01pm CST by Sam Robinson

The 2020 first-round contingent collectively brought skepticism from teams over the past week and change. A record-low 12 fifth-year options were exercised. Off-ball linebackers certainly felt this doubt — at least, from a financial perspective — as the teams with linebacker options passed en masse.

Isaiah Simmons, Kenneth Murray, Patrick Queen and Jordyn Brooks saw their options declined, putting each in a contract year. The Seahawks are hoping to regroup with Brooks on an extension, but the Ravens used a third-round pick on Clemson linebacker Trenton Simpson. That selection prompted a Twitter reaction from Queen, who recently saw the Ravens give Roquan Smith a record-setting extension.

Prior to Simpson’s arrival and the Ravens’ decision to decline Queen’s $12.72MM option, a Queen trade rumor emerged. But, even with the $20MM-per-year Smith extension and the team choosing Simpson (Scouts Inc.’s No. 54 overall prospect) 86th overall, Ravens GM Eric DeCosta views Queen as a player the Ravens want beyond his contract year.

“People want to jump to conclusions [and say], ‘Oh [Simpson] is going to replace Patrick,'” DeCosta said during an appearance on The Lounge podcast (via BaltimoreRavens.com’s Ryan Mink). “I can tell you this. Patrick Queen had a hell of a year last year. Patrick Queen is a very talented, in my mind, Pro Bowl-type linebacker. He’s going to have a great year this year.

“We want Patrick Queen on this team; we want to keep him on this team. We will, at some point, try to get him signed, hopefully, to an extension if we can.”

Paying big-ticket contracts to multiple off-ball ‘backers is not exactly a popular roster-building blueprint as of late. The 49ers are the only team with even two ILBs earning at least $8MM on average (Fred Warner, Dre Greenlaw). The Bills paid Matt Milano and let Tremaine Edmunds walk. The Colts did not pay up for Shaquille Leonard sidekick Bobby Okereke. The Eagles let both their three-down ‘backers (T.J. Edwards, Kyzir White) walk. Like Philadelphia, Baltimore now has a monster quarterback contract on its payroll. Unless Queen will be amenable to a midlevel extension, the Ravens’ decisions will make it difficult for him to stay beyond 2023.

Queen and Smith formed a top-end ILB duo last season, and the younger defender totaled a career-high 117 tackles and five sacks to help a Ravens team down Lamar Jackson reach the playoffs. Queen, 23, also finished with two interceptions and a forced fumble. Pro Football Focus viewed Queen as making a significant improvement in 2023, slotting him just outside the top 30 among off-ball ‘backers.

“The fifth-year option was something that was more based on business and the salary cap economics than actually Patrick Queen and his performance and what he does as a player,” DeCosta said. “He’s a difference-maker for us. When we had Patrick Queen and Roquan Smith last year over the last half of the season, we had a chance to see how dominant our defense could be.”

Teams’ recent option decisions could lead to an eventful off-ball linebacker market forming next year. Devin White requested a trade ahead of his fifth-year option slate; he is due for 2024 free agency. So are Logan Wilson and Willie Gay. This year’s market did not prove fruitful for many parties, falling off after Edmunds’ $18MM-per-year Bears accord. Okereke ($10MM AAV) was the only other linebacker to sign a deal averaging north of $7MM.

For 2023, the Ravens have a deep linebacking group; Simpson and former third-rounder Malik Harrison are in place behind the starters. DeCosta said other teams’ decisions led the Ravens to Simpson, who was not necessarily the team’s target in Round 3. The best-available pick could lead to a big-picture decision involving Queen in the near future.

Jets, Steelers Address First-Round Decisions

May 9th, 2023 at 8:11pm CST by Sam Robinson

While the past two weeks have brought one of the more notable stretches of positive Jets publicity in recent NFL history, their Aaron Rodgers-driven momentum has experienced a speedbump. The pick-swap component of the Rodgers trade is widely believed to have cost the Jets the offensive lineman they coveted.

Robert Saleh attempted to provide a counterstrike against the notion the Steelers’ three-spot trade-up — for Georgia tackle Broderick Jones — cost the Jets their preferred pick. Part of the Rodgers trade involved the Jets swapping first-round picks with the Packers, dropping from No. 13 to No. 15, and the Steelers’ trade-up maneuver ensured the draft’s top tackles were gone by the time the Jets’ pick arrived. Gang Green took edge rusher Will McDonald at No. 15.

“The difference between 13 and 15 and the way everything shook out made no difference to us,” Saleh said during an appearance on the Rich Eisen Show (video link). … We’re always going to take the best player available when it presents itself. I think what surprised everybody is that you could make an argument the best available wasn’t a need. It doesn’t change what you do, but for the last two years, everybody we drafted seemed to be a need.”

The Jets added McDonald to an edge group that includes Carl Lawson, 2022 first-round pick Jermaine Johnson and versatile veteran John Franklin-Myers. Lawson’s contract expires after this season, potentially positioning the Jets to use Johnson and McDonald as their longer-term edge starters. For 2023, however, McDonald may not be a starter.

Pittsburgh did view New York as eyeing Jones at No. 15, and GM Omar Khan said the team was leery about other teams moving ahead of its No. 17 draft slot for Jones. Assistant Steelers GM Andy Weidl worked with Jets GM Joe Douglas with the Ravens and Eagles, and Khan mentioned pro personnel director Sheldon White‘s contributions when it came time for Steelers brass to determine which teams were threats for Jones.

“No, no inside information, but we have Sheldon White, who’s our director of pro, does a really good job of preparing us leading into the draft as to what every team-specific needs are and what he believes their priorities are,” Khan said, via Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio. “And it wasn’t just the Jets, but there were teams behind us that we had the same concern that they might come up and had a need for an offensive tackle that might come up and trade up to get Broderick.

“Again, when the opportunity was there, we just didn’t want to take the chance of waiting to see if he was there or not. But we had no inside info that’s who the Jets were gonna take. It’s just a hunch.”

It required only a fourth-round pick for the Steelers to move up three spots, via the Patriots, in Round 1. It took the Eagles a fourth to move up one spot in the first round (for Jalen Carter), and the Bills a fourth to climb two positions (for Dalton Kincaid). Some have labeled the Patriots as being eager to allow a team to leapfrog the Jets for Jones — who received high marks from Gang Green during his “30” visit. Khan said he did not discuss the Jets component during trade talks with the Patriots.

The Steelers, who had made just one first-round trade-up (for Devin Bush, in 2019) over the past 15 drafts, added Jones to likely replace two-year starter Dan Moore at left tackle. Georgia’s 2022 left-side starter, via The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo, is more likely to supplant Moore than right tackle Chukwuma Okorafor, who may be a better bet to remain a starter once Jones is up to speed (subscription required). Pro Football Focus rated Moore and Okorafor outside the top 50 at tackle last season. Okorafor has operated as Pittsburgh’s starting right tackle for the past three seasons.

NFL Draft Pick Signings: 5/9/23

May 9th, 2023 at 7:15pm CST by Sam Robinson

Teams are moving quickly on inking their Day 3 draftees to their four-year rookie deals, with this process involving a slot system that does not feature many complications for late-round players. Here are the latest such agreements to commence:

Cincinnati Bengals

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

  • OL Colby Sorsdal (fifth round, William & Mary)

Jacksonville Jaguars

New England Patriots

Seattle Seahawks

An additional quintet of fifth-round picks is now under contract. Last year, the slot system pegged Round 5’s contracts between $4.1MM and $3.9MM over four years, with full guarantees ranging from $361K to $243K.

Brown finished his Fighting Illini tenure with back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons, including a 1,643-yard slate as a senior. He joins a Bengals team that did not outbid the Broncos for Samaje Perine and had been expected to ask Joe Mixon for a pay cut. Post-draft, Zac Taylor issued a vote of confidence for Mixon to be back. Abdullah combined to tally 19.5 sacks and 31 tackles for loss during his final two seasons at Louisville.

Latest On Bengals, Jonah Williams

May 9th, 2023 at 2:46pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Bengals did not draft an offensive lineman, but the two-time reigning AFC North champions still have a potential three-man race for their right tackle position brewing.

Jonah Williams remains part of that equation, albeit reluctantly. The three-year Cincinnati left tackle starter — forced into a position change after the team’s Orlando Brown Jr. signing — remains with the team, and ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler notes no substantive trade talks around the fifth-year blocker transpired during the draft. As a result, Williams is expected to remain with the Bengals in his contract year.

Williams’ trade request surfaced shortly after the Brown signing, and the former first-round pick is believed to have been blindsided (no pun intended) by the Brown addition. The former Alabama blocker did not show for the start of Bengals voluntary workouts and cannot be fined for his absence until the team’s minicamp. With the 2020 CBA making training camp fines steep enough it has largely curtailed holdouts, Williams — assuming he is still on the Bengals’ roster by that point — should be expected to rejoin his teammates.

La’el Collins remains rostered as well, but the longtime Cowboys starter-turned-Bengals signing is coming off December ACL and MCL tears. No firm return timetable is known. Zac Taylor also said (via The Athletic’s Jay Morrison) former second-round pick Jackson Carman, who replaced Williams at left tackle when the latter suffered a dislocated kneecap during the playoffs, will be part of the right tackle competition. Carman struggled at guard, seeing Cordell Volson usurp him quickly, but Taylor including him in the tackle competition points to either Collins or Williams not being in the picture.

Collins’ three-year, $21MM contract runs through 2024, though his injury trouble and issues in pass protection last season led to the Bengals pursuing tackles in free agency. They had not expected to land Brown, but after the two-year Chiefs blindsider’s reps contacted the Bengals, talks progressed quickly. Williams, who has not played right tackle since his freshman year at Alabama, has one season — a fifth-year option, at $12.6MM — remaining on his deal. The Bengals viewed a post-Round 1 tackle addition as one that would only further cloud their already-complicated right tackle mix, Morrison adds (subscription required).

Five teams took first-round tackles, further limiting Williams’ market. The Jets still come to mind as a possible suitor, seeing as they were widely rumored to be eyeing Broderick Jones — before the Steelers moved ahead of them for the Georgia tackle — and have an unsteady setup at left tackle. New York rosters the league’s oldest tackle — in Duane Brown, who is coming off surgery — and has seen knee injuries sideline Mekhi Becton for all but one game since his rookie year. The Buccaneers, who cut Donovan Smith in March, could also be interested. They are not yet certain to move All-Pro right tackle Tristan Wirfs to the left side.

Right tackle-needy teams will likely be monitoring Collins as well. For now, however, Williams and Collins remain on Cincy’s roster ahead of what would be one of this year’s most interesting position battles.

Packers Sought Russell Wilson-Type Haul For Aaron Rodgers; Jets Debated Stronger Derek Carr Push

May 8th, 2023 at 9:51pm CST by Sam Robinson

Aaron Rodgers has begun attending Jets offseason workouts, but it took an extensive process for the Packers to move him off their roster. The teams had different goals when they begun negotiations.

The Packers initially sought a trade package comparable to the haul the Seahawks received for Russell Wilson or the Lions picked up for Matthew Stafford, Brian Costello of the New York Post reports. But with Rodgers moving out of the picture in Green Bay, the Jets were never expected to pay what it would have likely cost the Broncos (or another suitor) to pry Rodgers from the Packers in 2021 or ’22. Still, the lag time between the first Rodgers-related discussion between Packers GM Brian Gutekunst and Jets counterpart Joe Douglas — in January, when the latter represented the only interested party among those Gutekunst contacted — led to some uncertainty.

Just before Derek Carr committed to the Saints, Jets brass debated if they should make a stronger push for the longtime Raiders quarterback, Costello adds. The Jets hosted Carr in February and met with him again at the Combine. Though, Gang Green viewed the 10th-year veteran as its Rodgers backup plan throughout the process. With the Jets not knowing until March 12 Rodgers was even planning to play in 2023, they saw their top backup plan vanish when Carr signed with the Saints on March 6.

Shortly after the Jets hired Nathaniel Hackett as OC — a move widely rumored to be a Rodgers-related decision — Robert Saleh instructed his staff to study Jimmy Garoppolo and Ryan Tannehill, SI.com’s Albert Breer notes. The former 49ers starter surfaced as a Jets option, while the longtime Titans first-stringer has been involved in trade rumors this year. But the Jets waited out Rodgers and received confirmation, via the four-time MVP’s agent contacting Douglas, his client was onboard with the Jets.

The Packers could have obtained more in a trade for Rodgers had they unloaded him in 2021 or ’22, but Jordan Love had not progressed to the point the team was ready to roll with the former No. 26 overall pick. Gutekunst sought to tell Rodgers the Packers planned to field a younger roster this season and make moves to help their salary cap, per Breer, with this meaning Rodgers favorites Randall Cobb, Robert Tonyan and Marcedes Lewis would not be back. (Cobb is now a Jet, with Lewis potentially on the team’s radar.) Of course, Gutekunst and Rodgers never got around to a meeting regarding his future. The parties had multiple January meetings in California scheduled, Breer adds; neither came to fruition. Gutekunst dealt with Rodgers’ agent during the trade talks.

As for the trade price, one of the Jets’ counterproposals — during the sides’ off-and-on talks — involved a 2025 Packers second-round pick coming back in the event Rodgers did not return in 2024. The March Rodgers-Jets summit did not involve discussion about how much longer Rodgers would play, though that later became an understandable component of the Jets’ trade push. Instead of the Jets receiving a 2025 second from the Packers — in the event Rodgers retires after this season — the teams agreed on the deal that included the 2024 first-rounder being a conditional pick and not a locked-in 1, Breer adds. That said, Rodgers has only failed to play 65% of his team’s offensive snaps twice in his 15-year starter run. It represents a fairly safe bet the Jets will send the Packers their 2024 first-rounder in this swap.

Rather than the 65% figure, the Jets wanted to tie the 2024 draft choice to team placement, per Breer. But the Packers did this in the Brett Favre trade 15 years ago; the Green Bay icon’s biceps injury ended up leading the Jets out of the playoff race and reducing the Pack’s compensation to a 2009 third-rounder. With Packers president Mark Murphy involved in both negotiations, the Packers did not relent on a refusal to tie the pick to the Jets’ 2023 record.

Douglas was a bit leery about a potential post-draft suitor emerging as an alternative for Rodgers, Breer adds. The Jets had lost Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins in a two-team race last year. The All-Pro wideout was nearly a Jet, but when the Dolphins entered the fray, Miami became Hill’s preferred destination. This helped provide the impetus for the Jets to complete the deal by the draft, even as no other teams were closely connected to Rodgers this offseason.

The 2023 pick-swap component also did not enter the negotiations until late. That turned out to matter, with many believing the Jets were prepared to draft tackle Broderick Jones in Round 1. The Steelers moved up three spots, from No. 17 to No. 14, to prevent that from happening. New York selected edge rusher Will McDonald with its Green Bay-obtained No. 15 pick. The Packers chose Iowa pass rusher Lukas Van Ness at 13.

NFL Draft Pick Signings: 5/8/23

May 8th, 2023 at 9:41pm CST by Sam Robinson

Teams are moving quickly on inking their Day 3 draftees to their four-year rookie deals, with this process involving a slot system that does not feature many complications for late-round players. Here are the latest such agreements to commence:

Carolina Panthers

Minnesota Vikings

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