Cowboys owner Jerry Jones loves to talk about his team, because the more he talks about the Cowboys, the more the media talks about the Cowboys.
That made his decision to not talk at all during the Scouting Combine even more confusing.
Most General Managers speak to reporters from one of the various podiums in Indy. Jones typically holds court on his touring bus. This year, he did neither.
The uncharacteristic silence is prompting plenty of speculation. Some are wondering whether the Cowboys are up to something, and that they’re opting for total secrecy from Jerry in order to keep their plan from inadvertently becoming a bacon bit in his latest batch of word salad.
Beyond Jerry not talking, we’ve heard that the usual Cowboys sources suddenly became more quiet and reserved during their time in Indy.
During a Combine-week visit with our friends at 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, I mentioned there’s been some chatter about the Cowboys checking in with the Titans about the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. Although some chose to completely ignore the qualifications to that comment along with the broader context — teams talk all the time to other teams about all sorts of things for all sorts of reasons — that’s the kind of potential move that could explain the sudden decision to zip it.
Especially if, for example, a potential trade package could include a certain high-profile player who’s currently up for a new contract.
There’s no way of knowing what’s going on, because the Cowboys aren’t saying anything. There are no hints. No bread crumbs. No anything, other than the recent vow from Stephen Jones to be “selectively aggressive” in free agency (whatever that means).
There are other possibilities that would explain the secrecy. How about (and this is PURE speculation) a possible straight-up swap of Micah Parsons for Browns edge rusher Myles Garrett? The Cowboys would avoid having to break the bank for Parsons, and Garrett would get a chance to come home to Texas. (Then again, Garrett wants to play for a contender.)
Regardless, the idea that Jerry was too busy to talk to reporters doesn’t hold water in isolation. He hasn’t been too busy before. What’s different about this year?
Which brings us back to d’oh. Maybe Jerry’s too busy because whatever top-secret thing they’re working on is keeping him too busy, making it more important that he not only keep quiet but also stay focused on making sure that whatever they’re working on gets to the finish line.
However it plays out, Clarence E. Hill, Jr. of All City DLLS notes that Jones will speak to reporters on Wednesday, during the Zack Martin retirement press conference. Maybe, by then, they’ll have something else to discuss. Or maybe whatever kept Jerry too busy to talk at the Combine didn’t pan out.
Regardless, the situation is unusual. And when unusual things happen, there’s usually a reason for it.
Starting in 2019 and in every season since then, with the exception of the pandemic year of 2020, the NFL has played two games at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.
Starting in 2025, season tickets will not be available for the games.
The league informed the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium season-ticket holders of the change in policy on Friday, via email. The message attributes the changes to giving more fans “the opportunity to attend games in London.”
The season-ticket holders will have access to an exclusive presale for the two games to be played in 2025, with the Browns and Jets hosting.
Some season-ticket holders aren’t happy about the move. One season-ticket holder expressed skepticism to PFT regarding the stated purpose of the shift. Whether it’s to increase revenue or to make more tickets available for destination packages from the U.S. for fans of the teams involved in the annual games, the move freezes out those who have been buying tickets to both games, each and every year.
Which doesn’t seem like the ideal way to treat the loyal fans the NFL has cultivated since launching the regular-season international games in 2007.
Browns edge rusher Myles Garrett has made his wishes known: He wants a trade out of Cleveland.
It is not an attempt to get more money out of the team.
Mary Kay Cabot said Garrett is “not open” to a contract extension from the Browns.
The Scouting Combine is where General Managers and agents meet to talk about such matters, but Garrett’s camp has “slammed the door” on negotiations, per Cabot.
Garrett made a public request for a trade Feb. 3, seeking to go to a Super Bowl contender. The Browns, though, continue to insist they aren’t trading their All-Pro player.
Both General Manager Andrew Berry and coach Kevin Stefanski said this week that they expect Garrett on the roster this season.
Garrett, the No. 1 pick of the 2017 draft, is a four-time All-Pro and is already one of the best players in franchise history. He has 102.5 career sacks, becoming the first player in league history to record at least 14 sacks in four consecutive seasons.
He has two years left on his contract with cap hits of $19.722 million in 2025 and $20.374 million in 2026. Garrett has no guaranteed money left in his contract.
The Browns have the second overall pick in the draft and a need for a quarterback, so there’s been plenty of discussion about whether they will take Cam Ward or Shedeur Sanders early in the first round.
On Wednesday, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said that the team has met with both of those players at the Scouting Combine. He added that those aren’t the only quarterbacks in play for the Browns as they move through the pre-draft portion of the calendar.
“This is a really good class from top all the way through,” Stefanski said, via the team’s website. “Mentioned Cam and Shedeur, but there’s really good players like throughout this draft at that position. I could go through some other positions, but I’m impressed with the whole group.”
The Browns still have pro days and further meetings to use as data points and Stefanski said that there’s “so much that goes into this evaluation” by way of noting how early they are in the process. Free agency and trades will also play out ahead of the draft, so other things may happen to change the outlook for Cleveland and other teams in the quarterback market.
The NFLPA’s annual report cards were released on Wednesday and Kevin Stefanski did not receive a good grade for his work as Browns head coach.
Stefanski was one of three coaches to receive a C in the category. That’s down from his B- grade in 2024.
The other two coaches to receive a C in 2024 — Jacksonville’s Doug Pederson and Chicago’s Matt Eberflus — were both fired.
The NFLPA reported 67 percent of Browns players said Stefanski is efficient with their time, which ranked No. 29 of 32. Stefanski was also rated as moderately receptive to locker room feedback on the team’s needs, which placed him at No. 30 of 32 head coaches.
“We look at things every year,” Stefanski said when asked about his grade and what changes he might make. “I ask the players to get better year-to-year, I certainly hope we’re getting better year-to-year. What we do in the offseason is [go] in search of best practices, if you will. So you’re always open to doing things that are better for the football team.”
Stefanski is the Browns’ longest-tenured head coach since the club returned to the league in 1999. He’s the only Cleveland coach to last five seasons in the role, let alone six — as he’s entering now. A two-time AP coach of the year, he’s accumulated a 40-44 regular-season record with a 1-2 postseason record in five seasons.
After Browns General Manager Andrew Berry said on Tuesday that the team’s stance on Myles Garrett’s trade request hasn’t changed, Cleveland head coach Kevin Stefanski made similar comments during his Wednesday press conference.
Speaking at this year’s scouting combine, Stefanski said he’s going to keep his conversations with Garrett in-house. But he doesn’t foresee Garrett playing elsewhere in 2025 and it’s not affecting his plans for the offseason.
“As you know, I think the world of Myles,” Stefanski said. “I understand the business of football and I understand these things happen from time to time. But I expect Myles on our team this year, next year, the year after that, and so on.
“He’s a part of the present, he’s a part of the future.”
As for Garrett noting that his trade request is about going to a team that can win a Super Bowl, Stefanski said Garrett isn’t alone in his ultimate goal.
“I also want to win,” Stefanski said. “I also want to win a championship. That’s just how we’re wired. We’re working very hard toward that goal.”
Garrett has solidified himself as one of the best players in franchise history with 102.5 sacks over his first eight seasons. The No. 1 overall pick of the 2017 draft, Garrett has registered double-digit sacks every year since 2018.
But the Browns still have some work to do if they’d like to keep him happy in the fold.
The NFL Players Association released its third annual player team report card for all 32 teams. The survey took a deeper dive into the data this year, with additional questions in certain areas, and it was conducted by a third party, Artemis Strategy Group.
A total of 1,695 players participated, which is 77 percent of the NFLPA’s membership.
The Dolphins and Vikings remained the top-two teams as they have been for all three years of the survey. Miami ranked as the top team overall for the second consecutive year, followed by Minnesota, which was No. 1 in 2023.
“We saw overall improvement across all 32 teams,” NFLPA chief strategy officer JC Tretter said.
The Falcons, who were 25th last year, moved to third after opening a new team training facility. The Raiders were fourth, followed by the Chargers, Texans and 49ers.
The Chargers, who also opened a new team training facility, moved up from 30th in 2024.
The Commanders jumped from 32nd to 11th under owner Josh Harris, who received high scores from his players. Coach Dan Quinn rated as the top head coach ahead of Falcons coach Raheem Morris.
The lowest-rated teams were the Cardinals at 32nd, the Patriots at 31st, the Browns at 30th, the Jets at 29th and the Steelers at 28th.
The entire report card list can be found at NFLPA.com.
Word emerged in January that Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson could miss all of the 2025 season after re-tearing his Achilles.
At that point, it was unclear how Watson was injured for the second time after first tearing his Achilles in October. But on Tuesday, General Manager Andrew Berry clarified that Watson wasn’t doing anything outside of the ordinary before complaining of more Achilles discomfort.
“Yeah, so obviously Deshaun, he reinjured his Achilles. Unfortunately, he turned his foot [or] ankle that caused the re-tear during the normal stages of the recovery process,” Berry said. “I know there’s been a lot of speculation and everything out there, but there’s nothing nefarious. It’s just an unfortunate accident.
“So, our focus is on making sure that he gets healthy and can be back to normal.”
Berry added that it’s still a little too early to give a firm timetable for Watson’s recovery.
“He will miss significant time,” Berry said. “How far that spans into 2025? I can’t give you a specific [answer] right now. He’s shown to be a fast healer and we’re going to try and be as thoughtful and aggressive with the recovery process, but that’s not something that I could predict at currently.”
Whenever Watson recovers, it doesn’t seem likely that he’s going to automatically slide back into his role as Browns starting quarterback. Watson has performed poorly since arriving in Cleveland, but particularly struggled mightily in 2024. He completed 63.4 percent of his passes for 1,148 yards with five touchdowns and three interceptions in seven games, also rushing for 148 yards with a TD.
While the Browns could use their No. 2 overall pick on a quarterback, they also seem likely to add a veteran via trade or free agency.
Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson has spoken to Browns defensive end Myles Garrett about the possibility of playing together, but it sounds like it will remain something to think about rather than something we will see on the field in 2025.
During his press conference at the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis on Tuesday, Lions General Manager Brad Holmes didn’t speak specifically about trading for Garrett but did say edge rusher is a “premium position” and that the Lions are “probably not” in position to add a star one to the roster in the immediate future.
“Those guys are hard to acquire and it’s hard to keep ‘em financially,” Holmes said. “Again, we have one that’s due for an extension and we’ve already gotten to the plannings stages about him already. So, when you talk about adding another one, it’s like, well, can you financially add another one? Because you want to add the other one on top of everything else that you have, and that makes it tough.”
Holmes has landed a number of key contributors through the draft in recent years and Hutchinson is one of several players in line for new deals. That limits the resources available for big swings on veterans from other teams and it makes it all the more vital that the Lions continue to make the right moves on draft day.
The Browns have the No. 2 overall pick in the upcoming draft, which could see the team be squarely in position to land 2024 Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter.
If the Browns do bring Hunter in this spring, General Manager Andrew Berry plans for Cleveland to use him primarily as a receiver.
“Well, I’d say this, in terms of Travis Hunter, cornerback or receiver? The answer is yes,” Berry said. “So, he can play both and I think that’s what makes him special.
“We would see him as a receiver primarily first, but I think part of, again, what makes him a bit of a unicorn is the fact that he can do both at a high level.”
Why primarily a receiver?
“I mean, honestly, I would say this, it’s six, one way half dozen another — he can play both,” Berry said. “I do think that there’s just an element where his superpower, his superpower, they’re really his ball skills and that’s a position where you can use it a hundred times during the season versus maybe 30 on the high end.
“But look, we’ll have our coaches and scouts fight it out in terms of where he should be on the board, but any team he goes to would be happy to have him.”
Hunter played over 700 snaps on both offense and defense in 2024, catching 96 passes for 1,258 yards. He also scored 16 touchdowns. He then had four interceptions on defense.
