Dart, per Hughes, “is a name to watch for the Giants as a trade-up option on Thursday” during the first round of the 2025 draft. “Sources I touched base with said he’s someone Daboll is high on — most out of QBs other than Cam Ward. Among qualities Daboll values in QBs is toughness. Dart has that.” Hughes added that there’s “not much out there right now connecting Shedeur Sanders to Giants. That hype has cooled dramatically from where it was in December.” Dart, who earned 2024’s highest passing grade from Pro Football Focus, would challenge for a starting role against Russell Wilson in training camp. Dart is a former four-star recruit and amassed nearly 12,000 career passing yards in four seasons while throwing 81 touchdowns and 27 interceptions.

It’s still unclear whether either team is actively trying to trade out of their top-three selections. Schrager reported that teams reaching out to Cleveland and the Giants are “looking to trade up to the No. 2 or No. 3 pick are pursuing Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter, Penn State pass rusher Abdul Carter or Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty.” It’s clear, two days ahead of the draft, that very few league officials believe Hunter or Jeanty will fall outside the first five or six picks. Hunter has said he would rather retire from football than to play on one side of the ball in the NFL, and teams appear obliged to use him as a two-way player to varying extents. Look for Hunter and Jeanty to be off the board within the first five picks on Thursday night.

In a joint press conference Tuesday morning, Tomlin dismissed questions about Rodgers potentially signing with the Steelers if he feels like playing football in 2025 and general manager Omar Khan said the team, as usual, will carry four quarterbacks into offseason workouts. “All options are on the table to acquire those last two [quarterbacks],” Khan said, opening the possibility of the Steelers selecting a quarterback in the first round of the draft. With Shedeur Sanders likely to fall well outside the top ten picks, Pittsburgh could be a good fit, unless they intend to go into 2025 with Mason Rudolph as the team’s unquestioned Week 1 starter.

Jones and Richardson are slated to split first-team reps this offseason, according to Colts head coach Shane Steichen. Ballard’s recent comments on the uncertain Indy QB situation all but confirm that both Richardson and Jones will start games in 2025. “You don’t want to begin with an end in mind,” Ballard said. “If I’m a betting man, at some point, both of them will help us.” Richardson is entering a make or break year after two catastrophic seasons to start his NFL career and Jones is looking to re-establish himself after struggling with injuries and playing poorly after signing a big contract with the Giants in 2023. Jones is getting $13.15 million in guaranteed money this season. “Who gives us our best chance to win,” Ballard said. “I think it will be a great competition between both of them.” Even if Richardson struggles once again, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Colts use him in a Taysom Hill-like rushing role on short yardage and goal line situations.

Ballard has talked quite a bit this spring about targeting a tight end in the 2025 draft, an area of immense need for a Colts offense that hasn’t had an every-down tight end for many years. “That’s to me the hard one to find,” Ballard said of a three-down tight end. “To be able to play on all three downs, to be able to be functional in the run game to where you don’t necessarily know it’s always a pass when he’s in the game, and then to be able to finish and make plays at critical times and have him give the quarterback an option in the middle of the field.” Ballard said this year’s tight end class is deep — an iffy assessment — and added that the game’s top tight ends, including Travis Kelce and George Kittle, were picked later in their respective drafts. Even if the Colts don’t invest a first rounder in someone like Penn State TE Tyler Warren, look for them to come away from the draft with at least one rookie tight end.

Duncan isn’t sure what the Saints will do with the ninth overall selection in Thursday’s draft, but going in on Sanders as a quarterback of the future does not seem to be in the plans even as Derek Carr (shoulder) remains unlikely to suit up for New Orleans in 2025. Sanders’ chances of being taken in the top ten picks of the draft appear to be dwindling, and there remain questions about whether he will drop out of the first round altogether. That could transpire if the QB-neediest teams — the Giants, Steelers, and Browns — pass on Deion’s son in favor of other prospects gaining steam in the final days of draft season.

It’s great news for McCarthy, who is hoping to rebound from a lost rookie year due to a torn meniscus he suffered in the preseason. O’Connell and the Vikings have long suggested throughout the offseason that McCarthy was trending toward a full return, but his comments on Monday are about as clear a message as we are going to get. While the team has entertained the possibility of bringing in Aaron Rodgers or another quarterback as insurance for McCarthy, their decision to not add to their quarterback room speaks volumes about his progress thus far.

The expectation is that Wilson will eventually sign a long-term extension with the Jets, so the team’s decision to exercise his fifth-year option, while not yet official, doesn’t come as a surprise. Through three seasons, Wilson has caught 279 passes for 3,249 yards and 14 touchdowns, eclipsing the 1,000-yard mark in every year of his young career. While the emerging star has at times voiced his displeasure about the offense/organization, most of his issues seemed to stem from Aaron Rodgers’ refusal to target him more in the passing game. With Rodgers now gone and a new regime in place, Wilson has said he would be open to an extension. The Jets exercising Wilson’s fifth-year option is just a step in the process.

Nothing is official yet, but this doesn’t come as a surprise. Gardner is arguably a top-five corner in the league despite a down 2024, and the Jets have long been expected to pick up his fifth-year rookie option as they look to move closer to a long-term extension with the former No. 4 overall pick. Through three seasons, Gardner has totaled three interceptions and 31 pass breakups, per PFF, while allowing just three receiving touchdowns over that span. A true definition of a shutdown corner, the Jets’ decision to pick up Gardner’s fifth-year option would keep him on a rookie deal through the 2026 season, but it will also come with a $20.1 million cap hit next year.

Schefter reports that “there still is a healthy dose of skepticism the Saints are interested in Shedeur Sanders,” with the No. 9 overall pick in this year’s draft, but suggests the team could look to trade up in the second round — something they’ve already explored — to perhaps acquire Dart on Day 2. The Saints have the draft capital to trade up in the second round if they hope to do so. In addition to holding the No. 40 pick, they also hold two third-round picks (No. 71 and No. 93) and two fourth-round picks (No. 112 and No. 131), which should be enough to facilitate a deal. Dart is a former four-star recruit and amassed nearly 12,000 career passing yards in four seasons while throwing 81 touchdowns and 27 interceptions. While he’s viewed by most media sources as the No. 3 quarterback in this class, some teams clearly have him ranked above Sanders.