The Ravens could be a landing spot for multiple tight ends in next week’s draft.
Baltimore parted ways with Isaiah Likely and Charlie Kolar in free agency and the only addition they’ve made to the group is Durham Smythe. Mark Andrews is set to be the top tight end on the roster and General Manager Eric DeCosta said at a Wednesday press conference that it shouldn’t come as a surprise if they address the position multiple times over the seven-round draft.
“You got some guys that can go high,” DeCosta said, via the team’s website. “But then, as you get into the fourth, fifth, and sixth rounds, we see guys that do something well. When you get into those rounds, that’s what you’re looking for. They are going to have some type of hole, but what do they do well? I think there’s a strong chance we’ll add a couple more throughout, for sure.”
Ravens offensive coordinator Declan Doyle was with the Bears last season and Chicago’s offense made frequent use of Colston Loveland and Cole Kmet. That could be a good sign for the chances of any addition making an immediate impact for the Ravens in 2026.
The 49ers remain optimistic that they will come to agreement with left tackle Trent Williams on a revised contract for the 2026 season, but Williams won’t be on the roster forever and the team’s pre-draft work has included meetings with a couple of the top tackles in this year’s class.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Caleb Lomu and Kadyn Proctor both visited with the team recently.
Lomu started at left tackle for Utah the last two seasons and joins college teammate Spencer Fano as a potential first-round pick in next week’s draft. Proctor is also a left tackle and started at Alabama for the last three seasons.
The 49ers have the 27th overall pick next Thursday and moving up the board might be necessary to assure themselves of coming out of the first round with a potential starter on their offensive line.
Cornerback is seen as a need for the Chiefs heading into the draft and they spent some time with one of the top prospects at the position this week.
Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that former Tennessee corner Colton Hood visited the team. Hood has also visited with the Jets, Cowboys, Seahawks, Texans and Raiders.
Hood played at Auburn and Colorado before heading to Knoxville for his final college season. He had 50 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, an interception return for a touchdown, a fumble return for a touchdown and a forced fumble for the Volunteers.
The Chiefs traded Trent McDuffie to the Rams for a package that included the 29th pick in this year’s draft and Jaylen Watson joined McDuffie in Los Angeles as a free agent. They signed Kader Kohou and Kaiir Elam to go with Kristian Fulton and Nohl Williams.
Wide receiver Denzel Boston added a few more teams to his list of pre-draft visits this week.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Boston visited the Commanders and Texans. His previously reported visit with the Dolphins will take place on Wednesday and will be his final trip to meet with a team ahead of next week’s draft.
Boston met with a number of other teams over the last few weeks and he is widely expected to come off the board in the first round.
Carnell Tate, Makai Lemon and Jordyn Tyson are other top wideouts in this year’s class and all of the receivers are a little more than a week away from finding out where they’ll start their NFL careers.
The Panthers visited with some of the top wide receiver prospects in this year’s draft class and those meetings have led to questions about whether they will actually use a first-round pick on a wideout for the third straight season.
Panthers General Manager Dan Morgan fielded that exact query at a Tuesday press conference. Morgan took Xavier Legette in 2024 and offensive rookie of the year Tetairoa McMillan was last year’s top pick, but Morgan said that their presence isn’t going to keep Carolina from tripling down if the board falls that way at No. 19.
“No. I think with anything, we’re going to take the best player,” Morgan said, via the team’s website. “So if the best player we feel is that at 19, I wouldn’t hesitate to draft another wideout. I don’t think there’s a rule that says you can’t draft a wide receiver three years in a row. So I’m not really going to box us in and say we’re not going to draft him.”
Morgan is correct about the lack of a rule prohibiting the use of three straight first-round picks on receivers. The Lions did it with Charles Rogers, Roy Williams and Mike Williams from 2003-2005 and went 16-32 over those seasons. They then went back to the well in 2007 to take Calvin Johnson in a move that worked out far better than the previous three choices.
The Lions’ history is unlikely to have much bearing on Morgan’s ultimate decision, especially if there’s a player available that the Panthers believe will help quarterback Bryce Young continue to ascend in his third season.
The Giants don’t know exactly who will be available when they make their first selection in the draft next week, but they can be pretty sure where multiple prospects played their college ball.
Edge rusher Arvell Reese, linebacker Sonny Styles and safety Caleb Downs were all teammates at Ohio State before moving on to become three of the top players in this year’s draft class. Reese is usually projected to be selected before the Giants are on the clock at No. 5, but Styles and Downs are frequently mentioned as options for the NFC East club.
There have been discussions about whether there’s enough positional value for either player to be picked that early, but the Giants have not seemed opposed and General Manager Joe Schoen certainly did not take anything off the table during a Tuesday press conference.
“That wouldn’t be out of the question,” Schoen said, via the team’s website. “Those are really good football players. Those are the conversations we’re having right now. Hey, we like all these guys, but you’ve got to pick one and a couple of them are going to be there. We’re working on stacking that right now. But you speak of Sonny Styles and Caleb Downs, talk about talented defense; we’ve watched a lot of Ohio State defensive film the last couple of months. A lot of good football players from top to bottom on that defense. Those are two of the key players on that defense that we looked at. Certainly guys that we’ve talked a lot about and think very highly of.”
Schoen also discussed running back Jeremiyah Love on Tuesday and there have been similar conversations about the wisdom of taking a running back at that point. That could leave Schoen and the Giants with a decision to make about which way they want to buck trends when it’s their turn in the first round.
The Raiders will not anoint Fernando Mendoza as their starting quarterback immediately after drafting him next week. And they may not make him their starting quarterback in September, either.
Raiders General Manager John Spytek said Mendoza and Kirk Cousins — and even Aidan O’Connell — will all have an opportunity to show they deserve the starting job before a Week One starter is named.
“Ultimately, this is a meritocracy, and the best guy will play,” Spytek said. “It’s just really hard to play really well at a young age, but we’ve seen plenty of quarterbacks do it recently. And how that goes going forward here, we added Kirk, we have Aidan, and we’ll see how it goes. But the best man will play.”
The Raiders haven’t officially confirmed they’ll draft Mendoza with the first overall pick, but Spytek wasn’t exactly hiding it as he talked about wanting rookies to play when they’re ready to play.
“We all want to see the young guys play, we want to see them play well, but we don’t want to put anybody out there, regardless of the position, who’s not ready,” Spytek said.
The last six quarterbacks picked first overall have started Week One of their rookie years. Not since Baker Mayfield in 2018 has a first overall pick started his career on the bench.
But Spytek said it’s tough for quarterbacks to make the transition from college to the NFL and the Raiders wouldn’t want to rush a young quarterback onto the field.
“It’s a hard position to play, and there’s a lot to learn beyond throwing the football and being a good teammate,” Spytek said. “A lot of these guys, they live their entire life in shotgun. They don’t huddle. So yu really got to teach some of these guys how to run a huddle, how to break a huddle, how to get under center and call a cadence because you see so many of them clap now, too. It’s far beyond learning a playbook, which in and of itself is hard enough. When you can be patient — and we all understand there’s not a ton of patience in the job that we chose here — but if you can find some level of patience and put people in positions when they’re ready, that’s the best way forward.”
If Mendoza is ready, he’ll start when the regular season opens in five months. If not, that’s why they signed Cousins.
Giants General Manager Joe Schoen will be on the clock with the fifth overall pick of the draft in a little more than a week and his plans for that selection were a chief topic of a Tuesday press conference from the team’s facility.
The Giants won’t know exactly who will be available for some time, but former Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love is one of the players that Schoen could be considering when the team is up early in the first round. Schoen said that “we like our running back room” on Tuesday, but didn’t rule out anything involving a player that he thinks brings a lot to the table.
“He’s an offensive weapon,” Schoen said. “He’s not just a running back. He can play on third down, you can split him out. He can catch the ball. Certainly an offensive weapon.”
The prospect of using an early pick on a running back led to a question about whether that would be saying it was a mistake to let Saquon Barkley leave the team as a free agent a couple of years ago. Schoen noted that the Giants now have a quarterback on a rookie deal and a revamped offensive line along with numerous other roster changes that make for a different picture this offseason.
The Dolphins brought in Malik Willis as a free agent last month and their new look at quarterback could also involve the addition of a rookie in next week’s draft.
A pair of possibilities visited with the team on Tuesday. Jordan Reid of ESPN.com reports that former Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels is meeting with the Dolphins while Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports former Iowa starter Mark Gronowski is in Miami as well.
Daniels also visited with the Patriots recently and is coming off of six years with the Jayhawks. He missed time with injuries over the course of that time, but started every game in his final two seasons. He threw for 4,985 yards, 36 touchdowns and 19 interceptions while running for 843 yards and 10 touchdowns the last two years.
Gronowski started 55 games at South Dakota State and won two straight FCS championship game MVP awards before transferring to Iowa last year. He completed 63.4 percent of his passes for 1,741 yards, 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions and added even more points to the offense by running for 16 touchdowns as a Hawkeye.
The Steelers are visiting with three draft prospects from the Big Ten on Tuesday.
Brooke Pryor of ESPN.com reports that they are meeting with former Penn State guard Olaivavega Ioane, former Iowa guard Beau Stephens, and former Ohio State tight end Will Kacmarek.
Ioane started 27 games at left guard for the Nittany Lions over the last two seasons and was first-team All-Big Ten in 2025. He ranks at the top of most lists of guards in this year’s class and is often projected to be a first-round selection.
Stephens joined Ioane on the all-conference team and started 35 games during his time with the Hawkeyes. Kacmarek caught 23 passes for 254 yards and two touchdowns over the last two seasons.
