Table of Contents
Jump to a topic
- San Francisco 49ers
- Baker Mayfield
- Potential trades
- New York Jets
- Denver Broncos
- Pittsburgh Steelers
- Philadelphia Eagles
- NFL draft
- Preseason games
- Domestic violence
- Chicago Bears
- Brendan Sorsby
- Jeremiah Smith
- Buffalo Bills
- SoFi Stadium
- Jack Campbell
It may be June, but you all had plenty of questions about what’s happening in the NFL. And we answered a lot of them in this week’s mailbag.
San Francisco 49ers
From Ben (@samuelslim2): Early thoughts about the 49ers season?
Ben, the roster’s still really good. The question is how it looks in December, January and February. Trent Williams is 37 years old. Kyle Juszczyk is 35. George Kittle and Mike Evans are 32. Christian McCaffrey is 30. Fred Warner is 29. All six guys will be another year older by the end of November. But that’s six guys who’ve collectively been first-team All-Pro 15 times and selected to a staggering 42 Pro Bowls. All are top tone-setters and leaders.
Nick Bosa can add another first-team All-Pro nod and five Pro Bowls to that mix—ticking those numbers up to 16 first-team All-Pro seasons and 48 Pro Bowls—and he will turn 29 in the fall coming off a torn ACL. After those seven, there are no other non-specialists on the roster who’ve made first-team All-Pro or a single Pro Bowl.
You get the idea. The 49ers’ core is still strong, but holding the thing together for the entire season will be a challenge.
To me, for San Francisco to keep the breakneck pace that Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch have set for nearly a decade, the development of young players across the roster is going to be a big key. So, guys such as Ricky Pearsall, De’Zhaun Stribling, Dominick Puni, Alfred Collins, Mykel Williams, C.J. West, Renardo Green, Upton Stout and Malik Mustapha have to come along, and supplement the bigger aging names. And Brock Purdy has to play well.
From Man-X (@ShawnMannix): Do the Niners make a trade for Maxx Crosby?
Man-X, I love the idea, and I think the 49ers are always open to these types of deals. But if I were them, I think I’d wait a bit before diving all-in. Let’s see how that core looks over the first month or two of the season. The last thing you’d want, I think, is to see a bunch of guys get old at once right after you sold off assets you’d need to get younger.
But if the Niners are, say, 6–1, and the Raiders are 1–6, and Crosby is balling out, that’s where, if I’m Lynch, I’m thinking about picking up the phone.
Baker Mayfield
From Tom Marshall (@aredzonauk): Is the franchise tag number the starting point for Baker Mayfield?
Tom, the projected tag number for Mayfield exceeds $50 million, meaning the two-tag total to keep him for two years would be over $110 million. That’s generally how you’d come up with the average per year on a new deal for a top player, so this equation puts Mayfield at $55 million per year, which is the range for Jared Goff, Brock Purdy and Tua Tagovailoa—with all three of those guys looming as relevant comps in this negotiation.
As we detailed on Monday, I think the most important number, though, will be what Mayfield takes home over the first three years of the deal, after you fold in the $40 million that’s left on his current deal. So I’d say the deal, conservatively, is a three-year, $165 million extension, which would be a four-year, $205 million contract. And if I’m Mayfield’s camp, I’m looking for around $155 million of that built into the first three years of the agreement.
From jdevans14 (@jdevans141): Do you think a Baker Mayfield contract extension gets done before training camp?
JD, I think the start of camp will be a critical date because Mayfield has said as much.
That said, the Buccaneers’ recent history showed a propensity for doing these extensions between the start of camp and Week 1—most recently, left tackle Tristan Wirfs, right tackle Luke Goedeke and corner Zyon McCollum got big contracts in that window. So, yes, everyone would love to have this squared away before Mayfield next buckles on his shoulder pads. And, yes, Mayfield said after that point, he wants to turn his attention to football. But do you really believe that if he gets the deal he wants on Aug. 15, he’d say no?
Potential trades
From jake (@SourdoughSpam): Anybody you have an eye on you could see being traded before the regular season?
Jake, the short answer, I don’t think so. It’d take, at this point, a contract dispute that I may not have seen yet (Chris Olave?). So I’m not saying it won’t happen—as aggressive as GMs have gotten in recent years, anything could happen. There’s just nothing specific on my radar right now.
New York Jets
From Hawkeye (@USGrant1885): What’s the perception of how the rest of the league views the Jets’ offseason?
Hawkeye, I’d say it really starts with how the coaching staff was cleaned out in January in two phases, and that was after the in-season firing of defensive coordinator Steve Wilks. Now, Aaron Glenn, more or less, has Frank Reich as the head coach of the offense, while he will be way more in the weeds with the defense. When coaching staff changes come, it’s usually with the idea that the moves either work or else.
As for the roster, I think most folks believe that Glenn and GM Darren Mougey’s effort to reset it and position the franchise to secure its quarterback of the future is sound. Gone are former first-rounders Alijah Vera-Tucker, Jermaine Johnson, Quinnen Williams and Sauce Gardner that Mougey and Glenn inherited. There are three first-round picks from April—David Bailey, Kenyon Sadiq and Omar Cooper Jr.—with three more first-rounders lined up, in what’s expected to be a loaded 2027 draft.
A full accounting of the talent on hand also includes guys like Garrett Wilson, Breece Hall, Will McDonald IV and Olu Fashanu, as well as the current regime’s first draft pick, Armand Membou. So there’s a base of young guys there, and resources to find a quarterback for Geno Smith to pass the baton to. All of which should make Jets fans feel optimistic—that is, if it weren’t so similar to the position they were in when Aaron Rodgers came aboard.
So we’ll see where this goes.
Denver Broncos
From Mark Cordeiro (@OriginalGreenie): How do you see the Denver backfield shaping up this season?
Mark, I think what you’d love to see is fourth-round pick Jonah Coleman, who fell in the draft because of a knee issue, challenging J.K. Dobbins carries in the conventional, early-down role, with RJ Harvey continuing to emerge as a “joker” for Sean Payton.
I don’t think the Saints will trade Alvin Kamara, but if they do, they could be adding down the line for Payton, for obvious reasons.
Pittsburgh Steelers
From Ty Wooley (@TyWooley): What are the Steelers doing with Broderick Jones? Do they still see him as a starter?
Ty, there’s enough concern with his neck condition to motivate Pittsburgh to draft a tackle in the first round for the third time in four years—Jones was their first-rounder in 2023, Troy Fautanu was the guy in 2024, and the Steelers grabbed Arizona State’s Max Iheanachor with the 21st pick at the end of April.
McCarthy has since moved Fautanu from the right side to left tackle, where Jones had previously been a starter, which is another sign that the team is preparing not to have him.
So, you hope for the best. But it sure looks like Pittsburgh is getting ready to have Fautanu on the left side, and either Iheanachor or Dylan Cook playing right tackle, as Jones works to get past the neck issue, and back into playing shape.
Philadelphia Eagles
From Ben (@MoeMoeMoe1992): With the Eagles defense being so stacked but mainly on rookie contracts, who are the players they should tie up first?
Ben, that’s a great question.
Paying Jalen Carter is a risk, and the Eagles obviously know it and will be cautious moving forward. He just became eligible for a second contract, and if Philly is going to give him one before this season starts, my guess is there’ll be plenty of protections in it. Jordan Davis is taking care of, of course, Jalyx Hunt, I’d say, it’s still in the “We’ll see” category.
Then, there are the two guys that I think are much closer to slam dunks: corner Quinyon Mitchell and nickel Cooper DeJean. Both are extension-eligible next year, with 2027 looming as DeJean’s contract year. The Eagles do have a 2028 option on Mitchell. But they’ve been aggressive about paying core players in the past, and both of these guys are just that, so my guess is, by this time next year, each of them has a new contract.
NFL draft
From Matthew Beeby (@MatthewBee73998): Can you please explain the reasons why the top six-or-so picks in Rounds 3 and 4 are not signed?
Yes, Matthew.
With the third-rounders, it basically boils down to the percentage of the contract that’s guaranteed. The final pick of the second round this year, Seahawks safety Bud Clark, got 69.44% of his deal guaranteed, a big hike over the 58.60% that Eagles safety Andrew Mukuba got last year in the same spot. So how does that translate this year to Arizona quarterback Carson Beck, the first pick of the third round, compared to last year’s 65th pick, the Giants’ Darius Alexander, who had 23.04% of his deal guaranteed? The guys who were selected behind Beck, obviously, would be motivated to wait and see what happens with him and the Cardinals.
And similar dynamics with guarantees and cashflow exist at the top of the fourth round.
Preseason games
From Tmack256 (@tmack245): I don’t see the reasoning for getting rid of preseason games. That's how you grade rookies, UDFA, new acquisitions, team chemistry, and get players/coaches’ feet wet? I understand adding one more regular-season game and injuries, but just add another bye week, right?
Yeah, TMack, I think the argument would be that you can accomplish nearly as much with a joint practice as with a preseason game, from an evaluation standpoint, and college football is fine without its own version of the NFL preseason. So if you only get two games, to go with an 18-game regular season, I think most coaches would think it’s enough.
As for adding another bye week, there are considerations. The first is how hard the television and streaming partners push back on that, because with two bye weeks, an already stretched schedule with depleted Sundays gets pushed even more to the limit. The second is whether players want their season, which runs from mid-July report dates to a mid-February Super Bowl, to be extended even further. So that’s no slam dunk, either.
Domestic violence
From Bryce Harrison (@BryceA423): Seems like more domestic violence cases are popping up. I thought teams had a zero-tolerance policy on that. Have teams changed how they handle it?
Bryce, I’d say no, for the most part. There was definitely more sensitivity in the immediate aftermath of all that happened in September 2014 (Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, Greg Hardy). But these are, for the most part, ownership decisions, and a good number of owners do draw a line when it comes to having guys that commit those sorts of alleged crimes.
Chicago Bears
From Bruce BRUCE (@CoachBruce_TDT): If you had to give a percentage of the Bears moving to Indiana, what would it be?
BRUCE, I’d say 45%? It still feels to me like the Bears are trying to get Illinois to budge and, for obvious reasons, still want to build on the $200 million piece of land they bought in Arlington Heights. But what was a bluff can become real, and it feels like that’s what’s happening, sort of in slow motion, here.
Brendan Sorsby
From erickleinphd (@DrEricKlein): In the Sorsby case, a judge allowed eligibility but attached a two-game suspension. Is there precedent in the NFL (or other major sports) for a court effectively substituting its own discipline for that of a league or governing body?
Erick, my understanding is that Brendan Sorsby’s legal team proposed a suspension to the court. Still, it seems weird that a court would do that, particularly since all the court was deciding in this case was whether Sorsby would have to sit out while his case is in the courts. It also stands to help him if he drops the civil case, which he almost certainly will, after Texas Tech’s season is over.
If the NFL has any designs on sanctioning him in 2027, taking the two games now—against Abilene Christian and Oregon State—gives him a “time served” argument.
Jeremiah Smith
From Billy Conway (@bonescon): Can you see teams with a top-five draft pick next year passing up lucrative trade-down packages so they can draft Jeremiah Smith? I’m curious if he will get picked over some highly regarded QBs.
Billy, that’s a great question. I think it would come down to compensation. Let’s use the St. Louis–Washington trade of 2012, for example. If a team had the second pick, and didn’t need a quarterback, and had two additional first-round picks to move down four slots (meaning they’d have the sixth pick, and first-rounders in the next two drafts from the other team), I’d have a hard time seeing that getting turned down. And I think the world of Jeremiah Smith.
Buffalo Bills
From Jason Stamper (@stamper_jsn): What’s your personal opinion about how the Buffalo Bills will do this season with Joe Brady being a first-year head coach, and having a new defensive coordinator of the change schemes? I’m a little worried that they don’t quite have the right personnel to fit that new 3-4 scheme
First and foremost, I’d give my respects to Sean McDermott here, for the job he did in completely changing the way a generation of football fans saw the Bills.
I say that because I don’t want to come off like moving on from him is going to be some sort of automatic upgrade. But sometimes, it’s time, and I do think Joe Brady’s perspective could give a Bills team that’s become a perennial contender a little added jolt. Brady interviewed exceptionally well with other teams over the years, and the step back he took in Carolina, after leaving LSU, was more circumstantial than anything. He’s bright, has good vision for an offense and a team, and I think he has the swagger to energize the group.
I also think that Jim Leonhard has a chance to be one of the best defensive coordinators in football pretty quickly, and could be a head coach within two or three years. He’ll be creative, and the Bills have done a good job getting some scheme fits—like veteran Bradley Chubb and rookie T.J. Parker—to better facilitate Leonhard’s system.
My guess is the Bills will win the AFC East and contend for a Super Bowl title this year.
SoFi Stadium
From Brian Gushue (@BJGNO12): If the grass field installed inside SoFi Stadium for the World Cup gets good reviews, do you think the NFL would consider doing that as well for Super Bowl LXI when it's played there next Valentine's Day?
Brian, I love the idea of it, but it’s not happening. Owners have business reasons to put turf down, so the last thing they want is to lay down a fresh sheet of grass, have everyone rave about it, and start asking why it’s not there permanently.
So, no way.
Jack Campbell
From TheGreyManes (@TheGreyManes): Do you see the league further breaking out specific position players from their position groups for the fifth-year options, franchise and transition tags, or does that have to be bargained for with the NFLPA? Seeing Jack Campbell as a MLB fifth-year-option number inflated due to being grouped in with edge-rushing OLB seems unsustainable.
Grey, I don’t. And by the way, the tag works in a million different ways for the teams, so it’s not “unsustainable” for it to have quirks that benefit the players. In this case, it makes it tough to tag off-ball linebackers (because they’re grouped financially with edge rushers) and guards and tackles (because they’re grouped with tackles). So teams can’t leverage guys like Jack Campbell and Tyler Linderbaum in the way they can just about everyone else …
Tough break for them, I suppose.
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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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