After word emerged that Saints quarterback Derek Carr has a shoulder injury that could cause him to miss the 2025 season, the betting odds swung toward the Saints taking quarterback Shedeur Sanders — and the question became whether someone would jump the line in front of the Saints to get him.
Now that the odds have dramatically readjusted, with the Saints penciled in for Georgia defensive end Mykel Williams, it’s fair to now ask whether someone will try to jump past the Saints to get Williams.
Here’s a team to watch: The 49ers.
The 49ers currently pick at No. 11. They could move up to No. 8 in a trade with the Panthers, or to No. 7 in a trade with the Jets, to get Williams before the Saints can take him.
If that happens, here’s a name to watch for the Saints at No. 9: Marshall defensive end Mike Green.
Panthers defensive tackle Derrick Brown didn’t make it past Week One in 2024 and he hopes to be back to speed for Week One of this year.
Brown tore the meniscus in his knee during Carolina’s season-opening loss to the Saints and said on Wednesday that he’s still not sure exactly when in the game he suffered the injury. That answer is unlikely to come now, but the more important question for the Panthers is how Brown is faring for the 2025 season.
Brown said he got cleared to kick his rehab into high gear early this year and that he’s planning to do whatever it takes to make sure he’s ready to go at the start of the regular season.
“I’m here with the team right now, participating,” Brown said. “Just doing what the doctors and the trainers are allowing me to do at this point. No rush, so just trying to get back. I would like to be able to be there when the team gets ready to play in September, so I’m following the protocol as is.”
Losing Brown contributed to a defense that wound up giving up the most points in a single-season in NFL history and getting him back would be a good step toward better results this time.
Defensive lineman LaBryan Ray will return to the Panthers for the 2025 season.
Ray signed his exclusive rights tender Monday.
He will make $1.03 million in 2025.
He has played 33 games and made 10 starts for the Panthers the past two seasons. Nine of those starts came in 2024, and Ray finished the season with 41 tackles and a sack.
Ray went undrafted in 2022, signing with the Patriots as a free agent. He ended up on the team’s practice squad as a rookie before joining the Panthers in the 2023 offseason.
Panthers backup quarterback Andy Dalton bought a “very, very, very, very low percentage” stake in Leeds United.
On Monday, Leeds earned promotion back to the Premier League with a 6-0 win over Stoke combined with Burnley’s 2-1 win over Sheffield United.
“As an investor, that was great,” Dalton said, via Darin Gantt of the team website. “Buy low.”
He now has something — “very, very, very, very low percentage” something — in common with Panthers owner David Tepper.
“Yeah, we have owners meetings and stuff that we’ve got to go to,” Dalton said.
Dalton called it a “fun thing” to invest in, though he has never been to the city of Leeds or Elland Road, the home stadium of the club. He also admits he doesn’t know all the players.
Dalton grew up playing soccer and knew all the rules, but didn’t become interested in the business of the sport until watching Amazon’s “All or Nothing” documentary about Manchester City’s 2018 season.
“So I just watched it, and I was like, ‘I’m kind of hooked on this; this is sweet,’” Dalton said. “And you kind of figure out how the Premier League works. There’s relegation and promotion. I didn’t know any of that kind of stuff. So, it’s like, ‘OK, well, they’re playing a Premier League game, but now they’re playing an FA Cup game, and now they’re playing a Champions League game.’ They just mix games in, so they’re playing three or four competitions at once. It’s wild how the whole thing works.”
The first quarterback to be drafted on Thursday night, Cam Ward, is the overwhelming favorite to be the first player taken. The biggest question as the draft approaches is where will the second quarterback go?
Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders continues to be the wildest wild card at the top of the draft. Many believe his window opens at No. 8, if a team were to try to cut the line in a trade with the Panthers before the Saints can get Sanders at No. 9. The window arguably closes at No. 21, when the quarterback-desperate Steelers are on the clock.
If the Steelers pass, there’s a good chance someone swoops back into the first round to take Sanders.
There are other potential permutations. While few think the Giants would take Sanders or any quarterback at No. 3, they could slip back a few spots before pulling the trigger. The Raiders are arguably a potential destination at No. 6.
And then there’s the nuttiest one we’ve heard in recent days. At least one experienced and accomplished evaluator of talent thinks there’s a chance someone trades all the way up to No. 2 to get Sanders.
I’ll believe that when it happens. (I still may not believe it, even if it happens.) The fact that the possibility is even being contemplated highlights the uncertainty of Sanders’s ultimate status.
The more important, and most overlooked, factor when it comes to Sanders is the possibility that the months of evaluation, investigation, and deliberation will be superseded by an owner who would rather get it wrong by drafting Sanders and having him not work out than by passing on Sanders and having him become a superstar elsewhere.
Owners have influence, even when they act like they don’t. Those who collect paychecks from the owner (and who hope to keep doing so) will pick up on the cues, in the form of questions or stray comments. Being a multi-billionaire means never having to give a clear order.
As a result, it’s anything but clear where Sanders will go. And, at the end of the day, an effort to land a potential franchise quarterback won’t happen unless the owner of the team is OK with it — or unless the owner is the only one in the building who wants it.
