Table of Contents
Jump to a topic
- Los Angeles Chargers
- Kansas City Chiefs
- 2027 NFL draft date
- Philadelphia Eagles
- NFL ‘what if’
- Best GM, head coach and QB
- Los Angeles Rams
- Field surfaces
- Minnesota Vikings
- Dallas Cowboys
- Brendan Sorsby
You had lots of questions, I have lots of answers. Let’s dive into your mailbag for June 17 …
Los Angeles Chargers
From StreetWhiskey (@StreetWhiskey): Mike McDaniel and his immediate impact in Los Angeles and his future tenure when Chargers win?
Street Whiskey, I think the first area to look will be along the offensive line. McDaniel himself, and others from his coaching tree, have certainly been able to do more with less up front, based on the traits they look for in linemen. Having a heady center in key, and he has that in Tyler Biadasz, who’s coming over from the Commanders. And the tackles, if they can stay healthy, are obviously really, really good.
The second will be at receiver, since McDaniel is actually a receivers coach by trade. He has always been able to maximize the position, so a big year from Ladd McConkey and a breakthrough from Tre Harris wouldn’t surprise me, and shouldn’t surprise anyone.
The third is in the run scheme, with Omarion Hampton looming as the beneficiary.
And then, there’s how all this comes together for Justin Herbert. Generally, that offense is built to get the quarterback playing faster, by taking more of the mental load off his plate, allowing him to play free, with protection calls on the center, and simple presnap indicators to dictate the play call. Through formationing and motioning and play-action, it’s built to make things tough on the defense, in forcing those guys to defend multiple elements at once through the marriage of the run and pass, while making things easy on the offense.
That, to me, is just sound football. And McDaniel is a really sound coach of all this, so, yeah, I think the Chargers are going to be better for all this.
As for his personal future, well, that I think will take care of itself. If the Chargers win, and Herbert contends for MVP (which I think he will), you’re talking about an offensive play-caller and quarterback developer who’s been a playoff head coach and is still just 43 years old. Again, it’ll take care of itself and it probably won’t take long.
Kansas City Chiefs
From OnwardThruTheFog (@ByondPtOfCaring): The incessant drone has begun. “Mahomes is back!” “The Chiefs will dominate again.” I don’t see it. I think they will be #3 in the AFC West again. What do you think?
Onward, I have a hard time seeing the Chiefs with a healthy Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid still on top of his game being down long. Kenneth Walker III is going to make them markedly better. The trade of backup tackle Wanya Morris is a good signal for where things are with Josh Simmons and Jaylon Moore. The defense is replacing Trent McDuffie with a very high-end prospect in No. 6 pick Mansoor Delane.
Now, the question is there right at the top—will Mahomes feel the ill effects of the torn ACL and LCL? It’s interesting to look at Tom Brady on this one, too, since Brady, like Mahomes, tore up his knee in his ninth NFL season, and soon after turning 30 (Brady was actually 31). Brady, remarkably, made the playoffs in all 18 seasons he finished as the Patriots’ starter, and only twice didn’t make the divisional round. One of the two came in his final season in New England. The other was the year after he tore his ACL.
So we’ll see what happens. But I wouldn’t bet against the Chiefs.
2027 NFL draft date
From David Kromelow (@dkrom59): When do you expect us to find out the dates for the 2027 NFL draft?
David, I was actually curious how late it is now, not to have dates for the following year’s draft. So I looked it up, and the dates for this year’s draft in Pittsburgh were set in January 2025, 15 months ahead of time. So they’re already a little behind, and maybe that has to do with the unique nature of next year’s site: the National Mall in D.C.
Just looking at the calendar, next year’s one of those years, like this year, where the last week of April spills into the first week of May. So the NFL has to decide whether to schedule the draft for April 22–24 or April 29–May 1 The second window, interestingly, would throw the third day of the draft into a big sports Saturday, with the NBA and NHL playoffs revving up, and the Kentucky Derby early that evening. Will the NFL want to go there?
I actually think it works to do it that way, just that on a big sports day you may have a better shot at getting people to spend a spring afternoon inside. It happened before, and I recall a great one in this exact circumstance: May 2, 2015. That was the Jameis Winston–Marcus Mariota draft, and Day 3 that year had names like Stefon Diggs and Za’Darius Smith. We also had, that day, an NBA Game 7 involving the defending champion Spurs, who were ousted by the Clippers, plus American Pharoah winning the Derby and the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight.
My take after that: I remember that day a lot more than I would if it were just Day 3 of the NFL draft. Which would be the argument for the NFL willingly sharing the stage in 2027.
Philadelphia Eagles
From Ben (@samuelslim2): Where are things at with the Eagles and Jalen Carter? Is he going to hold in? Are the Eagles hesitant to pay him?
Ben, the answer is yes, they are hesitant to pay him.
Philadelphia is telling you what you need to know with its actions. The Eagles have always been aggressive paying their own, in large part because they know that the earlier you do the deal, the better the price you’ll get. It’s a strategy that takes commitment from ownership, which Philly clearly has (some owners would rather keep money in their accounts until the summer), and has served the team very well over the years.
So the fact that we’re into June without Jalen Carter having a deal is notable. And I’d guess if they do one now, before his fourth season as a pro, then it’d come with flexibility for the team. If Carter won’t give them that flexibility now, maybe he’ll just wait another year. Which would make this a little like the George Pickens situation in Dallas—where a team might want to see a little more from a player, just from a character perspective, before committing long term.
NFL ‘what if’
From Ghost of Joel Buchsbaum (@of_buchsbaum): Is there a bigger single decision ever made that drastically alters the entire NFL and NCAAF landscape more than the Dolphins allowing Saban to sign Brees instead of Culpepper? Nick stays in the NFL and never goes to Alabama. Saban-Brees in the AFC East with Belichick-Brady for a decade plus.
I’m a big Joel Buchsbaum guy here, Ghost—he’s one of the original draft guys, and someone I read religiously every spring. So I appreciate the handle.
The Drew Brees–Dolphins story, I think, is the best NFL “what if” of this millennium. People forget that Nick Saban was off to a great start in Miami. The Dolphins went from 4–12 to 9–7 in his first year. No less an authority than Sports Illustrated picked Miami to go all the way to the Super Bowl in his second year, with Daunte Culpepper taking the reins at quarterback, after the team’s doctors (depending on who you believe) failed Drew Brees on his physical.
You know the rest. Culpepper’s knee injury was more complicated than Miami figured it would be. The Dolphins crumbled early as a result, stumbling to a 1–6 start, before rallying behind Joey Harrington in midseason, then fading late—setting the stage for Saban’s dramatic departure for Tuscaloosa—while Brees led a Saints renaissance in New Orleans.
So what if Brees had passed his physical? Maybe the Dolphins would’ve beaten out a flawed 2006 Patriots team to win the AFC East, and Saban would be off and running in a rivalry with his best buddy Bill Belchick for the next decade. In that case, Saban would’ve had South Florida and a star quarterback with which to bring talent on board, and a staff stocked with rising stars such as Jason Garrett, Dan Quinn and Kirby Smart on it. Meanwhile, Bama would’ve hired … Greg Schiano?
I mean, the only “what if” that I can remember that rivals it would involve the Mannings and the Chargers: What if the Colts had taken Ryan Leaf in 1998, and the Chargers landed Peyton Manning? And what if Eli Manning had gone to the Chargers in 2004 rather than forcing a trade, in which case I believe Ben Roethlisberger would’ve been the Giants’ pick at No. 4, and the Steelers probably would’ve wound up with Phillip Rivers? Both of those are good, too.
Best GM, head coach and QB
From Logan Weber (@LoganWeber5): If an NFL owner had their choice of the NFL’s best QB, best head coach or best GM, who do they pick and why?
Logan, right now, based on age and everything else, if you made everyone a free agent, my guess is either Seattle’s John Schneider or Philly’s Howie Roseman would be the most sought-after general manager, and the Rams’ Sean McVay or 49ers’ Kyle Shanahan would be the most sought-after coaches. That’s based on track record, yes, but also what owners generally look for out of the guys in those positions, with age a factor—and that’s with all due respect to guys like Andy Reid and John Harbaugh.
Quarterback is also complicated by age. Matthew Stafford would be ruled out for that reason, I believe. Then, you have the four that I think have been seen as the top tier over the past few years: Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow. Mahomes and Allen are 30, and Jackson and Burrow will be by the time this season ends. So I’d say the answer is probably still Mahomes, based on jewelry and everything else. But there’s competition, and then there’s a guy like Drake Maye, who’s approaching that level and is just 23 years old.
Los Angeles Rams
From Darren (@darrentweets2): Do the Rams move on from Alaric Jackson?
Darren, I got a few questions about it this week, and I think it’s way too early to make a determination on that. In general, in cases like these that I’ve covered, only two people know the truth, and that’s a big reason why I don’t like to project where the legal system will take them.
Field surfaces
From Bryce Harrison (@BryceA423): Will the players union be more aggressive about grass fields in the next CBA negotiation? I know they’ve talked about it forever, but will they finally make it a dealbreaker?
Bryce, I feel confident, under JC Tretter’s leadership, that they’ll make a lot of noise about field surfaces. Whether they’re willing to contribute from their percentage of the revenue is a different question—because regardless of what the owners tell you, this is a cost issue.
You know the equation here. The price tag on NFL stadiums has skyrocketed, so owners can’t justify using them for 10 football games a year and nothing else. So the owners pack a zillion events into the stadiums, and then a grass surface becomes much more difficult (read: expensive) to maintain. And eventually they give up and lay down the fake stuff, because maintaining grass amid all the Taylor Swift and Monster Jam dates become cost prohibitive.
The counter to this is the amazing marvel of human ingenuity that is the retractable playing surface at Bernabéu, home of world soccer power Real Madrid, in Spain. But my understanding is that the surface is wildly expensive. Another answer would be the hybrid GrassMaster surface that the Packers have, which is all over the Premier League and holds up well over there. But that, too, is expensive and labor-intensive to maintain.
The reality is that soccer players have leverage to ask for the best because they can jump leagues in a way football players can’t—there isn’t a single league that comes together to keep the costs for its owners down. And that means the players have to be pushy with the single league they’re dealing with to get what they want in this case.
Tretter’s shown a willingness to do that. Now, the question will be what he, and the union, are willing to give up to get these owners to do what they willingly are doing for FIFA.
Minnesota Vikings
From Jacob McCarty (@JacobMcCar31941): How does Kyler Murray lose the job to JJ in Minnesota?
Jacob, I think this one is simple—if J.J. McCarthy’s the better player, he’ll start. He doesn’t have the advantage he might have previously, just in the investment the team made in him taking him with the 10th pick in 2024. But I also don’t believe he’s at a disadvantage because Murray’s bringing the résumé he is from Arizona. I believe Kevin O’Connell will simply pick the player who serves his team best, especially after what the Vikings went through last year.
Dallas Cowboys
From Brandon Loree (@Brandoniswrite): People seem to think that if the Cowboys even consider signing George Pickens long term, it’ll be tough to keep both CeeDee Lamb and Pickens. Do you think there’s a world where Pickens is the No. 1 in 2027 and not Lamb?
Brandon, if they sign Pickens long term, then I think it’ll be next March or so. At that point, Pickens will be turning 26, and Lamb will be turning 28. So each will be in the prime of his career, and having both will have some appeal. Lamb’s cash also isn’t outrageous going forward—he’s due $29 million in 2027 and $31.99 million in 2028. So having those two together through 2028 is certainly feasible.
But will Lamb be O.K. if Pickens gets, say, $40 million per year, presuming he repeats what he did in 2025 both on and off the field?
Lamb has just $7 million guaranteed on his contract after this season, and more often lately premier players have regarded that point in a deal, not the end of a deal, as the point where the team has to renegotiate, given that it’s where the team’s obligation to the player ends. If Lamb has a big year, will he push the envelope like other players have? I’d say, sure, there’s a chance of that, and maybe even a better chance of it if Pickens gets a massive new deal.
Brendan Sorsby
From Paul Andrew Esden Jr (@BoyGreen25): How likely is the NFL to accept Brendan Sorsby's application to the supplemental draft? This is a potential nightmare scenario for them, given how seriously they take gambling.
Paul, I think they’ll allow Brendan Sorsby to enter the supplemental draft. Legally, it would be tough for them not to. The NFL, from a legal perspective, is a trade association. Sorsby is not a member of that trade association and, as such, not yet subject to its rules. So in this case, it’d be hard to imagine the NFL having the standing to block his employment—because a trade association would have to let its companies (the teams in this case) make that decision. I wrote more about Sorsby in my Tuesday notes this week.
What I would see as more likely is the NFL pursuing some sort of sanction and treatment for Sorsby upon his entry to the league. That, I think, is something the league should be, and maybe already is, negotiating with Sorsby through his lawyer, Jeffrey Kessler.
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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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