The Browns reportedly did not have a large presence at quarterback Cam Ward’s Pro Day, but the club still got a good look at him this week.
CanesInsight.com reported on Wednesday that the Browns worked out Ward privately at Miami.
Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com notes team owner Jimmy Haslam, G.M. Andrew Berry, and head coach Kevin Stefanski were all in attendance.
Cleveland has the No. 2 overall pick in next month’s draft after finishing 3-14 in 2024. They have an obvious need at quarterback, which puts them squarely in the mix for Ward if the Titans pass on him at No. 1 overall. The Browns could also potentially trade up for Ward if the Titans are willing to move out of the spot.
Ward finished No. 4 in Heisman voting for his one season at Miami after transferring from Washington State. He ended the 2024 season having completed 67.2 percent of his passes for 4,313 yards with 39 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He also rushed for 204 yards with four TDs.
The current betting favorite to go No. 1 overall, Ward said after his Pro Day that he felt like he solidified his spot as the top pick in this year’s draft. We’ll see if that does end up happening, but the Browns are doing their due diligence in case the Titans elect to chart a different course.
The Giants signing quarterback Russell Wilson has resulted in a shift in the betting odds on the third overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft.
Colorado wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter is now the betting favorite to go with the third overall pick, which is owned by the Giants. Hunter’s odds to go third overall are -150 at DraftKings.
Previously, Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders was favored to go third overall. Now Sanders’ odds of going No. 3 have fallen to +170. The signings of Wilson and Jameis Winston don’t preclude the Giants from drafting Sanders (or another quarterback), but they leave more room for the Giants to decide that they should build their roster by focusing on a talented player at another position. Or, in the case of Hunter, two other positions.
Miami quarterback Cam Ward is the overwhelming favorite to go No. 1 overall, with -1600 odds. Penn State defensive end Abdul Carter is the favorite to go No. 2, at -130. If those two players are gone and the Giants pick neither Hunter nor Sanders at No. 3, other possibilities include Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart (+1600), Michigan defensive lineman Mason Graham (+2500), Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty (+2500), Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan (+3000) or Missouri offensive tackle Armand Membou (+3000).
Defensive lineman Cam Heyward may not want to go on a darkness retreat with Aaron Rodgers, but that doesn’t mean he’s opposed to sharing a locker room with him.
While Heyward’s blunt comments on his podcast about not wanting to recruit Rodgers to Pittsburgh drew a lot of attention, the longtime Steeler said on NFL Network Wednesday that he thinks it “would be really cool to have a guy like Aaron Rodgers” playing quarterback for the team. Heyward added that “I can’t be the guy who gets it over the finish line” because it has to be Rodgers’s decision to want to join the team.
There have been some misgivings about how Rodgers would fit into the Steelers’ culture and Heyward shared what he’d tell Rodgers about that culture.
“I would just say, you know, if you come to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the goal is to win,” Heyward said. “You know, we haven’t had the success we want, but the goal is still in mind to raise a Lombardi and bring that seventh one to Pittsburgh. We don’t really care about the glitz and glam of New York, but the focus is on good hard football, competing every day, challenging each other, trying to go from there.”
There’s no known timeline for Rodgers to make his decision and Heyward said he hopes there’s clarity about the quarterback spot “sooner rather than later” so that everyone on offense has time to work together ahead of a season that the veteran lineman believes the team has to approach with urgency.
The Texans have picked up some cap space for the 2025 season by reworking defensive lineman Denico Autry’s deal.
Autry was set to make a base salary of $8.5 million and a total of $9 million in the second year of the two-year deal he signed in 2024, but Aaron Wilson of KPRC reports that a portion of that salary was converted to a signing bonus and that Autry now stands to make $7.5 million in total pay this season. There are two void years on the back end of the contract for cap purposes.
Autry has $1 million available in per-game roster bonuses and the Texans created nearly $4 million in cap room with the moves.
A six-game suspension for a performance-enhancing drug policy violation limited Autry’s availability in 2024. He had 13 tackles and two sacks in 10 regular season games and added a sack in the playoffs.
Russell Wilson’s delayed stint as Pittsburgh’s starting quarterback started well, with a 6-1 record.
It did not end well. And, at the end of the day, the Steelers didn’t want to bring him back.
Look at the final five starts. All losses. The average margin of defeat in those five games was 13.2 points. (Remove the two-point loss in Week 18 to the Bengals, and the average margin was 16 points.)
By the time the season was over, there was a sense from some the building that Wilson is “physically done.” And the team’s ensuing actions backed up those words, completely.
Remember when the official word was that the team’s preference was to re-sign Wilson OR Justin Fields? Once Fields agreed to sign with the Jets, Wilson’s name NEVER came up.
Given that Wilson is getting only $10.5 million guaranteed from the Giants on a deal worth up to $21 million (it’s surely no coincidence that Wilson’s maximum package beats Fields’s average salary by $1 million), the Steelers could have gotten him for something close to that. Which is peanuts as far as starting veteran quarterbacks go.
But the Steelers never really tried to re-sign Wilson. By all appearances, they never really wanted him back.
Which makes the Giants’ interest even more surprising. Given the close ties between the two franchises (Rooney family member Kathleen Mara owns 10 Super Bowl rings; six from the Steelers and four from the Giants), was there not a candid conversation about the Steelers’ experience with Wilson in 2025? If there was — and if the Steelers shared information consistent with their ultimate lack of interest in bringing him back — what made things different for the Giants?
We’ll see how it goes for the Giants and Wilson. We’ll see how he’s received by the fans, by the locker room. We’ll see whether a sense emerges from the other players that Jameis Winston would be a better option. And, if so, whether the Giants go with Winston instead.
Regardless, the fact that Wilson once won a Super Bowl at MetLife Stadium means jack diddly squat as to whether, some 12 years later, he’ll perform well enough to win enough games at MetLife Stadium and elsewhere to get the Giants to the postseason.
However it plays out, chances are that Kathleen Mara won’t be adding an 11th Super Bowl ring to her collection in 2025. At least not from the Mara side of the family.
University of Texas cornerback Jahdae Barron, like most corners, believes he’s the best prospect at his position.
“I almost definitely believe that I am CB1,” Barron said Tuesday after the school’s Pro Day, via Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News. “I’m so versatile, I can do a lot. I can go play corner, I can play nickel and I can play safety. So I’m what you need and I can do it for you in the most humblest way.”
Barron isn’t likely to be the first corner taken with Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter also in this draft. Michigan’s Will Johnson and Florida State’s Azareye’h Thomas also have first-round projections.
Barron is versatile, willing to play either outside corner spot, the slot, deep safety or box safety.
“I’m here to do anything that benefits the team, always, and I know the rest will speak for itself,” Barron said.
Barron led the SEC with five interceptions, which was third in the FBS. He won the Jim Thorpe Award as the best cornerback in the nation, and he earned first-team All-America honors.
He ran a 4.39 in the 40-yard dash at the Scouting Combine, with a 39-inch vertical and a 10-foot, 3-inch broad jump.
Barron is get even better at the next level.
“I’m always looking forward to improve and that’s the type of player I am,” Barron said.
Quarterback Trey Lance has not landed with an NFL team since his contract with the Cowboys expired earlier this month and possibilities for his next club don’t stop at the border.
Dave Naylor of TSN reports that the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders have added Lance to their negotiating list. The move gives the team exclusive rights to negotiate a contract with Lance in the event he wants to continue his career in Canada.
There’s been no sign that the 2021 49ers first-round pick is eyeing such a move, but Lance’s father Carlton did play for the team in 1993.
Lance spent most of his rookie season on the bench after being selected with the third overall pick, but took over as the 49ers’ starter to start the 2022 season. A broken ankle in Week Two ended his season and Brock Purdy’s emergence later that year led to him being traded to the Cowboys before the 2023 season. He did not play at all that year and he made one start for Dallas in 2024, so regularly playing football anywhere would be a big step up from the last four years for the quarterback.
J.J. McCarthy revealed on Tuesday that the Vikings have not told him that he’s going to be their starting quarterback in 2025.
But after being sidelined for his rookie year due to a knee injury, he’s on track to be able to earn the role during the offseason.
In his Tuesday interview on Up & Adams, McCarthy said his knee is “fantastic.”
“I mean, I would say I’m 100 percent,” McCarthy said. “But, just staying consistent with the rehab process, not wavering from that, staying disciplined with all the outside stuff, and making sure I’m not chopping too much wood and all that fun stuff.”
McCarthy suffered a meniscus tear in his right knee during Minnesota’s first preseason game, undergoing surgery to repair it, which kept him out for the rest of 2024.
Still, McCarthy found a silver lining in not being able to play.
“It was the ultimate blessing because it’s just a time of stillness where you really get to reflect, and introspect, and find a routine — especially early on in this career and this profession,” McCarthy said. “It’s huge for young guys to find that habitual routine that they can rely on and stay consistent with. So, I would say that was the biggest thing for me.”
The Vikings currently have McCarthy and Brett Rypien on their roster at QB, which would make McCarthy the clear first man up. But Minnesota is likely to add at least one more signal-caller before offseason programs get into full swing to help evenly distribute the reps.
Free agent wide receiver Terrace Marshall is making the rounds.
He visited the Steelers on Tuesday, and Aaron Wilson of KPRC reports Marshall will visit the Titans next Wednsday.
Marshall, 24, spent last season with the Raiders. He played seven games with one start and made three catches for 41 yards, while playing 140 offensive snaps.
He entered the NFL as a second-round pick of the Panthers in 2021 and spent three seasons in Carolina before joining the Raiders last year.
In his career, Marshall has played 43 games and has 67 catches for 808 yards and a touchdown.
On Monday, the Titans sent a massive contingent to Miami for the Cam Ward Pro Day workout. On Tuesday, however, they were beating the bushes for a potentially better trade offer.
This was the tweet from ESPN’s Adam Schefter: “The Titans have become increasingly impressed with Ward and, while they are expected to listen to offers for the No. 1 overall pick, it now would take an even stronger package to acquire the draft’s top selection.”
Why is the door even open to a possible trade? If they think Ward is the guy, they need to make it clear to anyone who might call that there won’t be a trade.
That’s what the Bengals did five years ago with Joe Burrow. The Dolphins were obsessed with trading up to get Burrow. The Bengals refused to even listen.
Of course, we argued at the time that the Bengals should listen. That they should be willing to consider what else they could get for the pick, because it wasn’t 100-percent certain that they’d be getting a franchise quarterback in Burrow.
But the Bengals were sold on Burrow. And the Titans apparently are sold on Ward. If they were as sold on Ward as the Bengals were sold on Burrow, they’d be refusing to listen.
The concern comes from the lack of subtlety. It’s one thing for the Titans to conclude privately that the price for the first pick has gone up. It’s another thing for the information to be presented in a way that feels like a deliberate leak. That feels like an effort to get a better trade package, not so that they can reject it but so that they can accept it. That feels like they’re hoping someone will make them an offer they can’t refuse.
There’s also a chance that the Titans are building a mystery as a favor to the league, which strongly prefers that no one knows anything about which players will be picked and when. So even if it’s clear that Ward will be the first player taken, the possibility that the Commissioner will announce at 8:15 p.m. ET or so on April 24 that a trade has been made will encourage maximum viewers to be viewing the draft at that moment.
