The Colts selected Anthony Richardson at No. 4 overall in the 2023 draft.
But now Indianapolis is preparing to bring in another quarterback who will have a chance to start in 2025.
In his press conference at the scouting combine, Colts G.M. Chris Ballard said the club will have an “open” competition at QB heading into the season.
“It’s got to be the right guy to create real competition. But we want to create real competition,” Ballard said. “I think it’s good for the team. I think it’s good for Anthony.
“We drafted Anthony high knowing it was going to take some time. And we knew there’s going to be some hiccups along the way. And I know we all want a finished product right now — I do, you do, fans do, we all do. But I think as he continues to progress in his young career, us adding competition, I think, will help [raise] everybody’s game.”
As for where that quarterback to challenge Richardson will come from, Ballard said, “Everything’s on the table.”
Richardson, who turns just 23 in May, displayed some flashes of his potential during the 2024 season. But his overall numbers were poor, as he completed just 47.7 percent of his passes for 1,814 yards with eight touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He also rushed for 499 yards with six TDs.
Joe Flacco, who doesn’t appear to be a top option to be Richardson’s competition, completed 65.3 percent of his passes for 1,761 yards with 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions in eight appearances with six starts in 2024.
Needing to see significant improvement from the 2023 first-round pick, Ballard said they’ve heard good things from Richardson’s trainer in Florida about how he’s progressed so far this offseason.
“Last offseason, Anthony spent a lot of time rehabbing. So now, he can focus on just training and developing and getting better fundamentally — which will be fun to watch,” Baller said. “The rules are what the rules are — they can’t do as much in our building as they can outside of the building. So it’ll be interesting to see when he gets back in.
“But I think we’re going to see a good version [of Richardson]. There’s things that he’ll continue to need to work on when he’s with us. But I have a lot of faith in the guys he’s training with.”
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.
As a player, Mike Vrabel won three Super Bowls with quarterback Tom Brady on the Patriots during the 00s.
Now Vrabel is back with New England as its head coach while Brady has become a minority owner with the Raiders, with Las Vegas’ brass saying Brady is going to have plenty of input in team construction.
During his Tuesday press conference at the scouting combine, Vrabel was asked how he thinks Brady will do helping to lead a franchise.
“How hard is it? It can’t be that hard. It’s not like playing,” Vrabel said with a laugh. “But no, Tom will provide great input. It’s important that he’s involved in our league and I think that’s a great thing for the National Football League.”
New Raiders G.M. John Spytek also noted during his Tuesday interview with PFT Live that he would be an idiot to not listen to Brady.
We’ll see how Brady helps the team solve its quarterback issue with the goal of developing the club into a consistent contender in the AFC West.
The Vikings have 2024 first-round pick J.J. McCarthy as a quarterback-in-waiting. But they still may bring Sam Darnold back for at least another season in 2025.
Darnold is set to be a free agent after completing the one-year deal he signed with Minnesota last March. General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said during his Tuesday press conference at the scouting combine that the club is still discussing how to proceed with Darnold — with the franchise tag one possibility.
“Every option is afforded to us,” Adofo-Mensah said. “When we did the move originally, we wanted to create optionality. And part of the optionality was believing and betting on a guy who was young, talented — believing in our infrastructure to be able to do the things we can do with the quarterbacks. So, we’re now in a position where we have options. And we’ll continue to work those options, figure out the best way for the Vikings to move forward.”
Darnold, 27, had far and away his best pro season playing under head coach Kevin O’Connell in 2024. He completed 66.2 percent of his passes for 4,319 yards with 35 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, leading the Vikings to a 14-3 record.
But Darnold struggled in Minnesota’s last two games — a loss to the Lions in Week 18 and a loss to the Rams in the wild card round.
“I was telling my staff, if I could’ve bought of a brain teaser of an experiment to think through, that would’ve been a pretty tough one — where [you have] a Pro Bowl quarterback, win all those games, and then you lose to two teams twice,” Adofo-Mensah said. “And so that was really kind of the ore of our offseason, really thinking through that holistically. Not trying to be overweighted by those eight quarters but not underweighting those last two games. Really, he played a lot of good football for us. Year 1 in the system, so you can expect more later. And so, we’re excited [about] the potential for Sam — whatever that ends up being.
“But it’s a tough exercise. I want to make sure that we’re continually saying we’re so proud of what he did for us. We’re so proud of this team. It didn’t end the way we wanted it to, but a lot of good things happened. We continue to lay the foundation for the team we want to be and we’ll continue to go forward.”
For his part, O’Connell said it was fun to be a part of Darnold’s year and that he’s proud of the quarterback’s 2024. But there are still things under discussion for next season.
“I’ve had great dialogue with Sam from the time the season ended up until very, very recently,” O’Connell said. “I think my relationship with Sam has grown to a point where the respect level is sky high. This process is going to play out both short-term and long-term for the Minnesota Vikings. And Sam is in a position where the NFL thinks he can play quarterback at a high level.
“So, that’s a really good thing and I feel very proud to be a part of helping him get to this point. We’ll see where it goes from here.”
Despite Myles Garrett’s public trade request, Browns General Manager Andrew Berry reiterated during his Tuesday press conference at the 2025 scouting combine that the star defensive end is not available.
“So, Myles, as you guys have all heard me say, he’s a huge part of our organization,” Berry said. “Really good person. He’s an awesome player. Understand the trade request and everything, but our stance really has not changed. Can’t imagine a situation where not having Myles as a part of the organization is best for the Browns.”
Garrett made his request public on the morning of Feb. 3, saying his ultimate goal was to win a Super Bowl and that he wanted to compete and win on the biggest stage.
But Berry, who addressed Garrett’s situation before even fielding a question during his opening statement, is still not inclined to trade away one of the best players in franchise history.
"[T]rade requests, they happen across the league all the time,” Berry said. “I think at times for individual players that they’ll have certain interests during different parts of their career, whether they’re a young player, veteran player, things like that. That’s not unusual. That’s not the first for us, probably won’t be the last — not the first across the league.
“But we respect, appreciate Myles and, like I said, we’re not interested in moving him.”
Berry would not say how many calls he’s fielded from organizations interested in Garrett, but it seemed clear that teams have made inquiries.
“I wouldn’t really touch on any conversations that I’ve had with other teams, just respectfully,” Berry said. “I don’t think that’s appropriate, just for current and future business. But it’s irrelevant to this situation because we’re not interested in moving Myles.
“We don’t have interest in trading Myles. He’s a big part of our team.”
Garrett became the first player in league history to record at least 14.0 sacks in four straight seasons in 2024. And given the position he plays, Berry isn’t trying to move him elsewhere. But Berry also feels like Garrett can get back in the fold for 2025 and beyond.
“As I mentioned, I think we’re all frustrated with not winning enough last year and certainly he shares in that sentiment,” Berry said. “But at the end of the day, our decisions are about what’s best for the Browns, and what’s best for the Browns is to have Myles on the roster.”
Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce recently said on his podcast that he’d like to take some time before deciding if he’s going to keep playing in 2025.
Head coach Andy Reid and General Manager Brett Veach were both asked about the star tight end at this year’s scouting combine and their answers differed a bit.
Reid, who spoke first, noted that he encouraged Kelce to just get away for a while before choosing a definitive course.
"[T]hat’s up to Travis. At this point, you get out of town and relax. That’s kind of my motto for these guys,” Reid said. “They’ve played a lot of games for consistent seasons here. So you get to the end of the [season], you’ve exhausted yourself mentally and physically — step back and take care of that, then we’ll talk. But for right now, I know that’s what he’s doing.
“And he and I will get together — listen, we had exit meetings with all the guys before they left. So we did have a chance to talk.”
Veach, on the other hand, effectively said that he’s expecting Kelce to play for Kansas City in 2025.
“I’m not sure how coach answered that — how we left it at the end of the season is that he was fired up,” Veach said. “He has one more year under contract and still think he has that fire and desire to play. As far as I’m concerned, there is no deadline. I think we left it at he’d be back and we’re excited to get him back and get him going.”
Kelce, 35, caught 97 passes for 823 yards with three touchdowns in the regular season before posting 13 receptions or 175 yards with a TD in three postseason games.
While Kelce has been an integral part of the Chiefs’ offense for years, he has acknowledged that the number of games he’s played and getting ready to play them year after year can be a grueling process.
Reporting has indicated that Kansas City would like to know Kelce’s plans by mid-March. But if Veach is correct, then the Chiefs are already well aware that the tight end will be back for 2025.
New Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel isn’t expecting his team to sit on its proverbial hands next month when it comes to bringing in talent.
Vrabel said during his press conference at the 2025 scouting combine that he’s hoping New England will be “aggressive” in targeting free agents.
“We want to be aggressive,” Vrabel said. “We want to target players that we feel like are going to help us, that are going to be outstanding players, that are going to be outstanding additions to the locker room, in the community. And if that all fits and the compensation fits, I’m confident that we’ll be aggressive.
“We’ve started some of those discussions internally. And I think having different plans, and having an option A, an option B — things are going to change. Everybody’s looking at the same players. So we have to be ready to pivot, and adjust, and have a vision for each player, I would say, at each level. There’s high-level that things are going to get done very quickly. That’ll transition then to maybe just some mid-range dollars and then obviously you look at opportunity. So, free agency gets broken down into compensation and then it gets broken down into opportunity. And I feel like we’re in a position to offer both, as far as compensation and opportunity for some of these players.”
The Patriots have the most available cap space in the league heading into free agency, so they should be able to make some quality additions to their roster. And Vrabel effectively said that if New England has to overpay a bit to get a top target, so be it.
“Well I mean, I like to shop like everybody else,” Vrabel said. “So when you go and there’s one of a certain car, maybe you have to pay a little bit more for that one car because there’s only one of them. When you start to get into a range where you feel like there’s an area where players are comparable and you like three or four players at a certain area for a certain role, you may not have to overspend.
“But it’s free agency. I think everybody overspends sometimes in free agency.”
Ravens kicker Justin Tucker has now had over a dozen women accuse him of inappropriate conduct during massage therapy sessions and the NFL is investigating.
While the Ravens organization has mostly remained silent on the situation, General Manager Eric DeCosta fielded questions about Tucker during his Tuesday press conference at the 2025 scouting combine.
“The allegations are serious, concerning. The amount of allegations are serious and concerning,” DeCosta said. “I think we’re fortunate that the league is doing an investigation. We’ll wait as patiently as we can for as much information as we can and make our decisions based on that.”
DeCosta noted that the Ravens became aware of the allegations against Tucker when they were alerted about a local news outlet reporting on them.
The G.M. reiterated multiple times that the team plans to let the investigation play out and then make a decision on Tucker.
“I think the biggest thing that we have to do first of all is look at every single case differently. There are no absolutes,” DeCosta said. “And I think in this case, we’re still awaiting as much information as possible. Again, we’re fortunate that the league has come down to Baltimore. I met with the league. I believe the league is meeting with other people in Baltimore as well.
“We’ll wait for the details of that investigation and we’ll make a decision based on that.”
Even without the allegations, the Ravens may have started to take a look at potential replacements at kicker because Tucker is coming off of his worst season as a pro. He converted just 22-of-30 field goal attempts, for a career-low 73.3 percent. He also missed a pair of extra points.
“I think like every position, we’re going to evaluate, rank the board,” DeCosta said. “We’ve been doing that for the last 29 years. We’re blessed to have a really good kickers coach in Randy Brown who does a phenomenal job in evaluating punters, and kickers, and long snappers for us every single season. We’ll meet with Randy throughout the process over the coming weeks — he’ll travel all across the country looking at guys and we’ll build the best board that we can.”
While DeCosta isn’t sure how long the investigation will take, he noted he has personally spoken with Tucker.
“I did meet with Justin,” DeCosta said. “I’m going to keep those comments to myself. Personal conversations, which I think is probably the smart thing to do. But at that point, we did meet, and that’s what I’m going to say about that.”
The Steelers are keeping the door open for everything when it comes to the quarterback position.
During his press conference at the 2025 scouting combine, General Manager Omar Khan said repeatedly that all options are on the table at QB.
“I’d say, ideally we’d like to keep one of the guys we had with us last year,” Khan said. “We don’t have anyone under contract, so until that happens, all options are on the table.”
Justin Field started Pittsburgh’s first six games, piloting the team to a 4-2 record. But Russell Wilson took over once he got healthy.
While the Steelers were 10-3 after their Week 14 win over the Browns, they lost four straight to end the regular season and then their wild card matchup against the Ravens.
“There are good things from both of them,” Khan said about the play of Fields and Wilson. “Glad to have had both of them with us. It was a good experience. Both of them are really good people.
“But the reality is, we ended the season with five straight losses and that’s not good enough. That’s unacceptable. And from top to bottom in the organization, we’ve got to be better.”
Khan added that he was pleased with the way both Fields and Wilson handled themselves as leaders and as people in the locker room.
As for what the club is now looking for at QB, Khan kept it pretty simple.
“We’re just looking for the guy, the player that’s going to help us win our ultimate goal, which is a championship,” Khan said.
The Titans could use a better answer at quarterback, which has led to a lot of speculation about them taking one with the first overall pick of this year’s draft but president of football operations Chad Brinker said last month that the team won’t pass on a “generational talent” when it is their turn to pick.
No quarterback falls into that category this year, but Heisman winner Travis Hunter might fit the bill for some. He starred as a cornerback and wide receiver while also returning kicks at Colorado and he played for Deion Sanders, who did all of those jobs during his Hall of Fame playing career.
Sanders was a cornerback first and foremost, though, and Titans head coach Brian Callahan said at a press conference from the Scouting Combine on Tuesday that he thinks Hunter will be one as well. Callahan went on to say that he thinks Hunter will be able to make an impact on both sides of the ball.
“It’s very realistic,” Callahan said. “He’s a unique player. There’s not a whole of other players you could compare what he’s done. There’s not many guys who have played that many snaps on both sides of the ball. You watch his tape and you see his ability to play both at a very high level.”
If the Titans think that Hunter’s level of play is higher than anyone else’s, he may find himself called to the stage before anyone else on draft night.
