Two big names in the upcoming NFL Draft will be in Las Vegas this week.
Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, former Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers and former Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty are visiting with the Raiders this week.
Both players are set to fly in on Tuesday.
After finishing 4-13 in 2024, the Raiders hold the No. 6 pick in the first round of the NFL Draft. They then hold the No. 37 overall selection in the second round.
While the Raiders just signed quarterback Geno Smith to a contract extension, they could still pick a young quarterback to develop under the veteran. Ewers may fill that role, though he’s more likely to be selected at No. 37 overall than No. 6.
Jeanty projects more as a first-round pick after rushing for 4,769 yards and 50 touchdowns in 40 games at Boise State. In 2024, he put up 2,601 rushing yards and 29 touchdowns — finishing second in Heisman Trophy voting to Colorado’s Travis Hunter.
Two-time Super Bowl champion Shaq Barrett retired before 2024 training camp. He unretired late in the season.
He apparently doesn’t intend to retire again in 2025.
Via JoeBucsFan.com, agent Drew Rosenhaus recently made it clear that Barrett isn’t walking away.
“He’s definitely going to play this year,” Rosenhaus said.
Undrafted in 2014, Barrett spent four years with the Broncos and five with the Buccaneers. He signed with the Dolphins last year; he decided in mid-July to not play.
Barrett emerged from retirement during the season. The Dolphins eventually released him. After clearing waivers, he returned to the Bucs. He appeared in the regular-season finale, taking 12 defensive snaps. He also participated in five snaps in the playoff loss to the Commanders.
Rosenhaus told Joe BucsFan.com that Barrett will consider all opportunities as he looks for the best fit. The best fit could still be Tampa Bay.
During the Scouting Combine, Buccaneers G.M. Jason Licht said this: “We’ll never close the door on Shaq. We’ll see where that goes. We never close the door on Shaq.”
Only 32, Barrett has 59.0 career sacks. He won Super Bowl 50 with the Broncos and Super Bowl LV with the Buccaneers.
Jets owner Woody Johnson’s most interesting comments from the recent league meetings related to his reaction to getting an “F” in the latest NFLPA report card.
He also gets an “F” when it comes to recent NFL and Jets history.
While discussing the recent addition of quarterback Justin Fields, the eleventh overall pick in the 2021 draft, Johnson forgot about the quarterback his own team drafted nine spots earlier.
“I think Justin Fields is going to be a total winner for us,” Johnson said, via Rich Cimini of ESPN.com. “I’ve been impressed with him since his college days -- it was [Fields] or Trevor Lawrence -- and I think he’s going to be really good.”
But the Jets could have had Fields at No. 2. They instead took Zach Wilson, a quarterback whom Johnson didn’t even mention.
It’s unclear why Johnson failed to name Wilson, who is now with the Dolphins. It is clear that the omission creates the impression Johnson wasn’t a fan of picking Wilson.
And he has some degree of cover in this regard. Four years ago, Woody was just returning from his stint as the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom. His lapse could be less of a bizarre accident and more of a subtle indication that he never wanted Wilson in the first place.
If so, it’s a slap at former G.M. Joe Douglas. It’s also a low-key rebuke of Johnson’s brother, Christopher, who was running the show when the cement solidified around the selection of Wilson.
But here’s the reality. Lawrence and Wilson were the consensus top two picks in 2021. When the 49ers traded up to No. 3 in late March, the entire conversation about their potential selection was premised on the widely-accepted notion that Lawrence and Wilson (or Wilson and Lawrence) would be the first two picks.
The Jets didn’t reach to take him. Picking Fields or anyone but Wilson would have been the shocking move.
Besides, Johnson returned to his post weeks before the 2021 draft. Given the extreme importance of picking a potential franchise quarterback, Johnson had a full and fair opportunity to make his views known.
So either he didn’t make his views known, which is a rough look. Or those weren’t his views at all, which is an even rougher look.
The Dolphins fully expected it. And it’s now official.
Left tackle Terron Armstead has retired, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Media.
A third-round pick of the Saints in 2013 out of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Armstead spent nine years in New Orleans and three in Miami. He was a five-time Pro Bowler and a second-team All-Pro in 2018.
Armstead started 15 games for the Dolphins in 2024. They’ll now need a new left tackle. Patrick Paul, a second-round pick in 2024, becomes a strong in-house possibility. The Dolphins could also look to beef up the position in the draft.
Armstead was under contract through 2026. The Dolphins could delay processing the retirement until after June 1. That would split the cap charge between the next two seasons, with $7.316 million hitting the books this year and $10.732 million applying to 2026.
Even though Armstead is gone, the guys who remain should take his words to heart. Asked during Super Bowl week about internal claims that the team had been soft, Armstead said this: “I think we need more of an edge, more of an attention to detail and the small things. The word soft makes me cringe. I’ve never been associated with the word so it’s hard to even talk about.”
He’s no longer associated with the Dolphins. So if the concerns about the team being soft remain, they won’t be sticking to him.
The Dolphins signed former No. 2 overall pick Zach Wilson to a one-year deal last month to be Tua Tagovailoa’s backup in 2025.
At the annual league meeting in Palm Beach this week, head coach Mike McDaniel called Wilson “a direct, calculated target.”
“To be quite frank, it’s an inexact science, but we thought he was the best option for us,” McDaniel said, via transcript from the team. “We thought that was a way that the Miami Dolphins could get better and are excited to see how he seizes that opportunity.”
Wilson, 25, spent last season with the Broncos after appearing in 34 games with 33 starts over his first three seasons with the Jets. Wilson hasn’t seen much success in the league yet, but McDaniel noted he’s seen the potential with Wilson since studying him when the quarterback was entering the league.
“I watched every snap of his collegiate play, and he was a phenomenal talent that in my opinion didn’t have reps in an NFL pocket yet,” McDaniel said. “Like at BYU he was launching it from about 10 and 11 yards deep and you’re not in the phone booth, and so my estimation, there was going to be some nuanced growth to his game that I think it is close to impossible to excel that early in that new form of football that he was playing.”
McDaniel also praised Wilson’s resolve after beginning his career the way he did in such a high-profile place like New York.
“What I see in Zach is the experience of being the second pick in the draft, being the starter Week 1, and then not fulfilling the rookie contract — that is behind him,” McDaniel said. “So to me, that’s an exciting prospect because you can’t put a measurement on that human ability that is huge at the quarterback position.
“Not comparing the players at all — on the record, not comparing the players — Tua [Tagovailoa] found that this environment helped him through that process. As coaches, we want to offer literally everything to his game and I’m excited about where he’s at based upon him.”
Wilson did not appear in a game for the Broncos in 2024. He’s completed 57 percent of his career passes for 6,293 yards with 23 touchdowns and 25 interceptions.
