Table of Contents
Jump to a topic
- Aaron Donald
- Patrick Mahomes
- Running back market
- Cornerback market
- Quarterback contracts
- 2024 draft quarterbacks
- Vikings’ quarterback competition
- Fernando Mendoza
- New head coaches
- Cincinnati Bengals
- Quick-hitters
Camp starts this week! So it’s time for our annual list of things we’ll be talking about once it gets underway (with a few bonus items at the bottom to boot) …
Aaron Donald
Is Aaron Donald ready to roll? The Rams’ legend is training now as if he’s going to play and has told people that if he thinks he can be himself on Sundays, he’ll go through with what would be a borderline unprecedented return to the NFL.
So what would stop him at this point?
The first thing is pretty obvious—the bar for Donald to be himself is about as high as any player at his position in the sport’s history. To get to a point where he feels like the guy who obliterated NFL linemen and protection schemes for a decade isn’t as simple as flipping a switch, no matter what sort of shape he has kept himself in over his two years out of the NFL.
The second is a little more nuanced. Donald was very happy in retirement, and never ruminated to those in the organization that he wanted to come back. In other words, this isn’t a guy who has had some enormous struggle adjusting to civilian life. The 10-time Pro Bowler is a happy retiree, by all accounts, which is to say the idea of going back to that life isn’t something he’ll view as a failure.
That said, we all see where this is going. He has been working out—and testing himself—at the team’s facility (as TMZ’s spies revealed last week). The way things are set up with a deep, balanced, loaded defensive front will allow for tremendous flexibility in his deployment. The chance to compete for a championship with a team that went to the mat with the world-champion Seahawks in the NFC title game is there. So is the chance to play next to Myles Garrett.
The Rams, for their part, haven’t pushed. They’ve told him they’d love to have him. But they want the decision to be the 35-year-old Donald’s and Donald’s alone. And they’ll be judicious in how they work him back in, should he return. Having Kobie Turner, Braden Fiske, Poona Ford and Tyler Davis, among others, at defensive tackle would allow for Donald to be managed through camp, and in games, as he gets his sea legs back.
Of course, the flip side of that is that Donald has never been a guy who’s done anything halfway. He’ll want to earn what he gets, yes, but he won’t be the one putting the governor on how much he practices or plays—and that’s where the Rams will have to find the balance between what Donald wants and what’s best for him and the team.
But all things considered? This has a chance to be a great, unique story. The closest comp I could come up with for it, in any sport, was Michael Jordan coming back with the Wizards three years after retiring from the Bulls. We covered the Eric Weddle parallels last month, and while that will inform the organization to some degree in how to handle this, that was a guy returning for a max of four games in an emergency situation.
This is much different than that—or really anything I can think of.
Which is what makes it so damn interesting.
Patrick Mahomes
Patrick Mahomes’s return. We’re now seven months post-op with the Chiefs’ three-time champion—he tore his ACL and LCL on Dec. 14 and had his knee reconstruction the next day—and given the seriousness of the injury, so far, so good.
Through the spring, Mahomes was a constant in the Chiefs’ building. Once OTAs started in May, he was able to participate fully in individuals and 7-on-7. His arm, as you’d expect, looked live. He showed an ability to move, too, in small doses, breaking the pocket and going into half-rolls on scramble plays in 7-on-7. When Phase III kicked off, Kansas City held him out of all 11-on-11 work—and he let those around him know that it was killing him to miss out on the reps he was used to getting in the spring.
Therein lies the rub.
This year, the Chiefs are going back to having quarterbacks and rookies report three days earlier than the rest of the team after having everyone come to camp together the past few years, meaning Mahomes will be in St. Joseph, Mo., on Friday. The assumption, knowing him as a person, is that he’ll be champing at the bit to get on the field, as he was in the spring. And while that enthusiasm is appreciated, it’s also a reminder to exhibit some caution.
There’s an expectation among Chiefs people that Mahomes will be fully cleared this week, and also the knowledge that when they tell him he can go, he will really go. So the plan is to be smart with it, and make sure everyone is doing what’s going to put him in the best position to be at his best from September through February, not just ready for Week 1.
The flip side of that, of course, is that Mahomes will have to reacclimate to having defenders around his feet and rushers in his face, as he gets used to playing on the surgically repaired knee. So there’ll be a balance. Andy Reid generally runs one of the NFL’s toughest training camps, which should give Mahomes ample opportunity to find quality reps. Mahomes also has played in multiple preseason games in every year of his career, which raises the question of how much the Chiefs veer from what they’ve generally done.
What I would say is that I’m sure all of it will be really well thought out and calculated.
Running back market
The complications of the running back market. Both the Falcons’ Bijan Robinson and the Lions’ Jahmyr Gibbs have lived up to their lofty 2023 draft slots (eighth and 12th, respectively). The two combined for over 4,000 scrimmage yards (!) last year. So as both players are eligible for a new contract, each is, rightfully, looking to cash in at a position where it can be tricky for a player to do so.
The last three big, market-topping running back deals were more market corrections than game-changers. Coming out of Super Bowl LVIII, the 49ers gave Christian McCaffrey $7.8 million in raises over the two existing years of his deal, with two years added to the end at a total of $30 million. Coming off Super Bowl LIX, the Eagles gave Saquon Barkley a $4.25 million raise for 2025, and an extra $500,000 for 2026, on a two-year extension. And right around then, the Ravens extended Derrick Henry, with a $7 million raise for 2025.
Those are really hard to hold up to Robinson or Gibbs, both of whom have two years left on their rookie deals. The former has about $12.5 million over the two years; the latter is at about $15.4 million. And the last situations truly analogous to these, where a former first-rounder played at this level, and had two years left, came under the old CBA: Todd Gurley with the Rams, Ezekiel Elliott with the Cowboys and McCaffrey as a Panther.
Gurley got $14.375 million per year, Elliott $15 million per and McCaffrey $16 million per on deals that were struck eight, seven and six years ago, respectively, at times when the salary cap was between $180 million and $200 million. It’s now over $300 million.
So, yes, this is complex, and it certainly stands to reason one deal will wind up being the precursor for the other. And how those guys handle things in the interim is another story …
Cornerback market
There’s a similar situation brewing at corner, and Reggie Johnson is a pivotal name that you might not know. He is the agent to both the Seahawks’ Devon Witherspoon and the Patriots’ Christian Gonzalez, giving each of those guys a bit of a leg up in their negotiations with their teams—if you consider information to be power (and it is).
There’s also a similarity at corner to running back in that an uptick in the market is due.
As the prices of edge rushers and receivers have exploded over the past two years, corner and offensive tackle (we’ll likely see Joe Alt test this in a year) have lagged a bit. The numbers hovered around $25 million per year (Patrick Surtain II, Jaycee Horn), then jumped to $30 million per (Derek Stingley Jr., Sauce Gardner) last year, with Trent McDuffie getting just past that, at $31 million per, after the Rams traded for him in March.
It’s fair to expect that Gonzalez and Witherspoon have no reason to accept $31.1 million per year in light of all that. The question then becomes how big a jump is coming? And the dynamics at play point to Witherspoon going first, after the two faced off in the Super Bowl.
Both guys are really good—each has made second-team All-Pro once, and was selected last year for the Pro Bowl—even if they are different, with Gonzalez being the traditional sticky, outside cover man, and Witherspoon more the do-everything nickelback. Where Witherspoon may be able to gather a little more momentum is in the fact that the Seahawks just gave another non-QB (receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba) more than $40 million per and Seattle is in the process of being sold, which could be a motivator for everyone involved, for different reasons, to get a deal done.
And if Witherspoon gets a deal done, then the floor is set for Gonzalez coming off a fantastic year in Mike Vrabel’s first season back in New England.
Quarterback contracts
Quarterback contract drama. There are always some QB extensions signed in the summer, and this year’s not an exception, with Baker Mayfield’s situation standing as the headliner.
To review: Mayfield addressed the situation in June, saying the sides weren’t close and that he didn’t want to negotiate after training camp started, setting a sort of artificial deadline for negotiations. The reality was, at the time, that the Buccaneers had made an initial offer, and while Mayfield’s camp saw it as far from what would be required to agree to a deal, the player’s side hadn’t countered yet. Also, Tampa’s recent operating procedure has been to do deals during camp, with OL Tristan Wirfs, OL Luke Goedeke and CB Zyon McCollum as examples.
Since then, there hasn’t been much progress, though the Buccaneers are prepared to dive in on negotiations this week, with the first day of practice set for a week from Wednesday.
I think they’ll get something done before Week 1. This isn’t overly complicated. Mayfield is due to make $40 million this year, the final year of the three-year, $100 million deal he and the Bucs agreed to. So he doesn’t have to overextend himself to get a contract. The franchise tag for quarterbacks projects to just over $50 million for 2027, meaning two tags would be just north of $110 million total. That sets the APY at $55 million per year, which is right around where Justin Herbert, Jared Goff, Trevor Lawrence and Jordan Love are.
So something in the range of $165 million over another three years makes sense, or a little more than that to account for inflation over the aforementioned deals.
The other quarterback negotiation to keep an eye on, to me, would be Lamar Jackson’s. The two-time MVP has two years left on his existing deal, with $52 million due this year and $52 million due next year. He also has a new head coach in Jesse Minter, who might want to show how his regime will back Jackson. And my sense is the Ravens are ready to explore extending Jackson well into his 30s. But Jackson has to be ready to do that, too. And the idea, with a no-tag clause in his contract, of hitting free agency in 2028 at 31 years old could be enticing to him.
2024 draft quarterbacks
The 2024 quarterback class heads into Year 3. Four of the record six quarterbacks to go in the first round two years ago already have playoff wins, which is remarkable considering their franchises (Bears, Commanders, Patriots, Broncos) had combined for two playoff appearances and zero playoff wins in the first four years of this decade.
As that happened …
• No. 1 pick Caleb Williams broke out in Year 2 under Ben Johnson, throwing for 3,942 yards and 27 touchdowns against just seven picks, and leading the Bears to their first playoff win in 15 years.
• No. 2 pick Jayden Daniels was Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2024 while getting the Commanders to their first conference title game in a generation. Then injuries, both to Daniels and around him, conspired to wreck his second year.
• No. 3 pick Drake Maye blew up in 2025, finishing second in MVP voting, throwing for 4,395 yards, 31 touchdowns against eight interceptions and a 113.5 passer rating, while leading the Patriots back to their first post–Tom Brady Super Bowl.
• No. 12 pick Bo Nix has been the most consistent one, getting the Broncos back to the playoffs as a rookie after nearly a decade away, then getting Denver to the AFC title game last year—a game he missed after breaking his ankle at the end of Denver’s divisional round playoff game.
Can Williams and Maye build on their meteoric 2025 campaigns? Can Daniels bounce back? Can Nix get a loaded Broncos team back to the biggest stage? And then there’s No. 8 pick Michael Penix Jr. and No. 10 pick J.J. McCarthy, who’ll be locked in quarterback battles with Tua Tagovailoa and Kyler Murray, respectively.
Speaking of which …
Vikings’ quarterback competition
Will the Vikings find a viable answer at quarterback? Minnesota brought in a new general manager this spring in Nolan Teasley, who’ll be charged with restocking the franchise’s pool of young talent. That said, there’s not much Teasley and head coach Kevin O’Connell can do on that front at this point. And they’re built to win right now.
Minnesota’s core—Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Christian Darrisaw, T.J. Hockenson, Andrew Van Ginkel and Byron Murphy Jr. at the center of it—is chock full of players squarely in the prime of their careers. That’s why the Vikings couldn’t possibly do again what they did last year and push all their chips in on McCarthy. For the sake of all those cornerstone players, Minnesota had to create options at quarterback, and did that in landing Murray in March.
That doesn’t mean, by the way, they’ve given up on McCarthy.
Last year, they intended to give him competition, and Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones simply found a better opportunity to become long-term answers for teams elsewhere, so the Vikings pivoted and went all in on their second-year quarterback.
It didn’t work out. But if they can find a way to get McCarthy playing faster and with more confidence, the full intention is there to give him a chance to beat out the more accomplished Murray. If that doesn’t happen, then we’ll get to see what Murray can do with a really strong supporting cast.
Either way, the result of this competition should impact the NFC race. Because as sideways as things got last year, and it was pretty messy at times, the Vikings still wound up going 9–8. Yet stability at quarterback could open the door for a lot more.
Fernando Mendoza
Can Fernando Mendoza make a run at the Raiders job? The first pick in the draft got about six weeks of work in the spring as a ramp-up to camp, and that time was spent largely on fundamental work. New head coach Klint Kubiak, as you’d expect given his lineage, had Mendoza start a detailed progression in learning the scheme’s footwork. The Raiders also drilled him on working from under center, something he didn’t do much in college.
And helping to bridge the gap is that new offensive coordinator Andrew Janocko and Mendoza’s OC from Indiana, Mike Shanahan (no, not that one), were college teammates at Pitt. That has allowed for a free-flowing exchange of information that has helped inform the Raiders’ staff on how Mendoza has been taught and what gaps need to be filled.
Through all that, two things have been clear. The first is that Mendoza’s reputation as a worker and as being coachable checked out—his presence has been constant at the facility, and he has shown the ability to absorb what he’s being taught and translate it to the practice field quickly. Second, Kirk Cousins and Mendoza already have a really strong relationship, which should help the rookie as he navigates his first season as a pro.
So given all that, could Mendoza win the job? I think it’s probably unlikely. Kubiak, I believe, will be very deliberate in how the Raiders bring Mendoza along, as much as anything to ensure that the progress he’s making takes and becomes permanent. But it does sound like the Raiders will sprinkle Mendoza in with the first team this summer—with Cousins’s extensive background in the scheme giving them more flexibility to do so—as part of the rookie’s larger development plan.
New head coaches
How will the Bills, Ravens and Steelers look under new leadership? Sean McDermott, John Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin spent a collective 46 years leading those three franchises—and those teams weren’t exactly disasters last year, with two making the playoffs and the third getting knocked out of the playoff race on the last play of its season.
That means there’s a high bar for Joe Brady, Jesse Minter and Mike McCarthy, respectively, coming in.
In the case of Brady and Minter, how they’ll be judged will be based largely on their ability to get MVP quarterbacks over the championship hump in the prime of their careers (no pressure!). With McCarthy, there’s the reunion with Aaron Rodgers and the organizational decision to not just stick with an aging core, but double down on it with older vets such as Michael Pittman Jr., Jamel Dean and Rico Dowdle coming into the fold, meaning the time is now.
Which highlights the commonality between the situations of the three: Their honeymoons will be short. And all will be expected not just to get their teams to January, but win when they get there. As such, it’ll be interesting to see how the new coaches run their respective training camps.
Cincinnati Bengals
And, finally, speaking of pressure, there’ll be some on the Bengals. Cincinnati switched up its standard operating procedure this offseason, trading the 10th pick for Dexter Lawrence II to punctuate a defensive makeover that started with the signings of Chiefs safety Bryan Cook and Seahawks edge rusher Boye Mafe in March.
Joe Burrow, once the rising star, will turn 30 in December. He and Tee Higgins are headed into Year 7 as NFL players, with Ja’Marr Chase going into Year 6. It has now been four years since Burrow’s Bengals crashed Super Bowl LVI, and three since they last made the playoffs.
If you listened close enough to Burrow this offseason, you heard the attendant urgency in his voice. He knows chances at a championship aren’t endless. So he’s swinging big.
“Put pressure on the guys—I love it,” he told the media. “I thrive in it. We’ll find out who else does. I know that we have the kind of people that want to be in that spot. I want everybody talking about the Bengals. I want everybody talking about what I’m saying in my press conferences. You go back and watch what I’ve said before, 2019 season at LSU, I feel very similarly about this team. I’m so excited to get started.”
Count me among those who can see a world in which Burrow is the best quarterback in football this year and the Bengals are in the Super Bowl, perhaps against those same Rams they faced in that same stadium on that same stage they climbed on in February 2022.
That’s not a prediction yet. But it’s a possibility, and possibilities are what camp’s about.
Quick-hitters
And while we’re here, let’s lay out 10 more storylines that just missed this list …
• Running concurrent with the Seahawks’ bid to win back-to-back titles is the sale of the team—with the Khosla family coming in and the approval vote scheduled for Aug. 26 in Atlanta. The name to watch is Neal Khosla, the son, who interned in the 49ers’ football operations department and was the team’s primary contact after the family bought 3% of the team last year. It sounds like he will be heavily involved, if not the guy running the team.
• The Packers’ roster, chock full of young talent, looks ready to take the kind of step the Seahawks did last year (going from good to great) … and the biggest questions that need to be answered ahead of that quest concern health, with Micah Parsons and Tucker Kraft coming off major injuries. Both will be monitored closely in the coming weeks.
• Speaking of injuries, the murkiness around Malik Nabers’s return from a torn ACL has lingered, which will position him as a newsmaker as the Giants start camp at the Greenbrier in West Virginia. And rightfully so—that offense will look much different if Nabers is good to go.
• Justin Herbert is pretty interesting to me. For a few years now, it’s felt like there’s a divide in the way the public sees him and people inside the NFL discuss him—sort of like how Matthew Stafford as a Lion was more highly regarded inside the NFL than he was by people outside it. And now, Herbert’s getting Mike McDaniel as his OC, and his tackles back. I don’t think a league MVP season is out of the question.
• Will it be Shedeur Sanders or Deshaun Watson in Cleveland?
• Is Jacoby Brissett opening the door for Gardner Minshew II to swipe the starting quarterback job in Arizona with his holdout?
• And, in an upset, a pivotal Cowboys position battle is flying under the radar completely: Can former first-rounder Tyler Guyton hold off Nate Thomas at left tackle?
• The 49ers’ age is notable, and makes them as all in as their NFC West rivals in Los Angeles. Trent Williams is 38, Kyle Juszczyk is 35, George Kittle and Mike Evans are 32, Christian McCaffrey is 30, Fred Warner is 29 and Nick Bosa is 28. Can all those guys stay healthy? Do the Niners have a big swing left in them before the trade deadline to give them their best shot? It’s an interesting circumstance.
• Could last year be the front end of a Jaguars renaissance behind the new Liam Coen–James Gladstone–Tony Boselli regime? They got a big year from Trevor Lawrence last year, and there’s a good base of talent to work with there.
• And then there’s the team that finished second in the AFC South. If quarterback C.J. Stroud can bounce back, Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel can build on strong springs next to Nico Collins, David Montgomery can hold up, and Braden Smith and Wyatt Teller can spearhead an O-line turnaround … the Texans have a chance to be scary good.
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ALBERT BREER
Albert Breer is a senior writer covering the NFL for Sports Illustrated, delivering the biggest stories and breaking news from across the league. He has been on the NFL beat since 2005 and joined SI in 2016. Breer began his career covering the New England Patriots for the MetroWest Daily News and the Boston Herald from 2005 to ’07, then covered the Dallas Cowboys for the Dallas Morning News from 2007 to ’08. He worked for The Sporting News from 2008 to ’09 before returning to Massachusetts as The Boston Globe’s national NFL writer in 2009. From 2010 to 2016, Breer served as a national reporter for NFL Network. In addition to his work at Sports Illustrated, Breer regularly appears on NBC Sports Boston, 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston, FS1 with Colin Cowherd, The Rich Eisen Show and The Dan Patrick Show. A 2002 graduate of Ohio State, Breer lives near Boston with his wife, a cardiac ICU nurse at Boston Children’s Hospital, and their three children.
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