Welcome to the Monday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!
If the NFL Scouting Combine is your favorite offseason event on the calendar, then this is going to your favorite week of the newsletter ever, because we'll be spending some serious time talking about the combine EVERY day this week.
Not only will you be getting combine news today, but it's also MOCK DRAFT MONDAY and we have a big one with Ryan Wilson and Rick Spielman delivering a FULL TWO-ROUND MOCK. And on that note, I'm going to stop talking so we can get this thing started.
As always, here's your weekly reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the Pick Six newsletter. To get your friends to sign up, all you have to do is click here and then share this link with them.
1. Mock Draft Monday: Our first two-round mock of draft season
From now until the start of the NFL Draft, the first day of every week here will be known as Mock Draft Monday. We'll try and give you something new every Monday, and today, that will be coming from Ryan Wilson and Rick Spielman. Wilson, who is our senior NFL Draft analyst, teamed up with the former Vikings GM on the latest episode of the "With the First Pick" podcast and they did a full TWO-ROUND mock draft.
Wilson and Spielman alternated selections in this mock, with Ryan handling the even-numbered picks and Rick taking the odds.
With that in mind, here are the top-15 picks in his mock:
1. Bears: QB Caleb Wiliams (USC)
2. Commanders: QB Jayden Daniels (LSU)
3. Patriots: QB Drake Maye (UNC)
4. Cardinals: WR Marvin Harrison, Jr. (Ohio State)
5. Chargers: WR Malik Nabers (LSU)
6. Giants: OL Olumuyiwa Fashanu (Penn State)
7. Titans: OT Joe Alt (Notre Dame)
8. Falcons: EDGE Jared Verse (Florida State)
9. Bears: EDGE Dallas Turner (Alabama)
10. Jets: OT Taliese Fuaga (Oregon State)
11. Vikings: EDGE Laiatu Latu (UCLA)
12. Broncos: CB Quinyon Mitchell (Toledo)
13. Raiders: QB J.J. McCarthy (Michigan)
14. Saints: DL Byron Murphy (Texas)
15. Colts: CB Terrion Arnold (Colts)
If you want to see how the next 49 picks pan out, then be sure to check out their full mock draft here. You can also listen to the mock draft on the latest episode of "With the First Pick" (Click here for that).
For more draft coverage, you can hear in-depth analysis twice a week on "With the First Pick" -- our year-round NFL Draft podcast with Wilson and Spielman. You can find "With the First Pick" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
2. Combine news and notes: Three of the top players skipping all drills
The quarterbacks aren't scheduled to hold their workouts until Saturday, but some of them are already making news.
Here is the latest from the combine:
- Caleb Williams won't be throwing. The USC quarterback WILL be in Indianapolis this week, but he won't be throwing at the combine, according to NFL.com. Instead, the projected top overall pick has decided that he's going to wait until his Pro Day to throw, which means NFL teams are going to have to wait until March 20 to see him in action. You can read more about Williams' decision here.
- Jayden Daniels also plans to skip all throwing drills. The LSU quarterback has decided to do exactly what Williams is doing this week: He'll be in Indy for interviews and meetings, but he won't be throwing. Daniels won't be throwing in front of NFL team until LSU's Pro Day on March 27.
- Many quarterbacks will be throwing. Although Daniels and Williams will be staying on the sideline for all throwing drills this year, there will be plenty of quarterbacks who will be throwing. Among the notable names are Michigan's J.J. McCarthy, Washington's Michael Penix Jr. and Oregon's Bo Nix.
- Marvin Harrison Jr. won't be testing. Although it's pretty common for a quarterback to skip workouts at the combine, you almost never see that happen with other positions, but that's the route Harrison will be going. The former Ohio State receiver will be Indy, but he won't be doing any of the testing, according to SI.com.
- Sean McVay has started a trend of coaches skipping the combine. The Rams head coach has been skipping the combine since 2020, and this year, he's going to have company: There are at least three other coaches who are not planning to be in Indy this week. Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy, Packers coach Matt LaFleur and Jets coach Robert Saleh are all staying home.
Although combine workouts won't start until Thursday, defensive linemen and linebackers will be reporting to Indianapolis today for registration, orientation and team interviews. If you want to check out the full combine schedule, be sure to click here.
3. Combine snubs who succeeded in the NFL
The NFL invited a total of 321 players to the combine this year, and although that's a high number, there are plenty of players who didn't get invited. A lot of players fall through the cracks and the good news for those players is that even if you don't get a combine invite, you can still make it in the NFL.
With that in mind, Garrett Podell took a look at several players who made it big in the NFL, despite not appearing at the combine.
1. Antonio Gates. "Gates' 116-career receiving touchdowns, the most ever by a tight end in NFL history and the seventh most all time, aren't too shabby for the former Kent State basketball player. Despite going undrafted, he ended up as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's All-Decade Team for the 2000s."
2. Tyreek Hill. "One of the best wide receivers in the NFL today, Hill didn't receive an invite not because he was lacking in talent, but rather due to a legal issue involving domestic violence at Oklahoma State that forced him to leave the school and finish his collegiate career at West Alabama."
3. James Harrison. "Harrison went undrafted as an undersized outside linebacker from Kent State in 2002 after not receiving a combine invite, which was the Pittsburgh Steelers' gain and the rest of the NFL's loss."
If you want to see our list of players who were snubbed for this year's combine, you can check that out here. If you click over, you'll also see our full list of nine players who put together impressive NFL careers despite not attending the combine.
4. Ranking the top tight ends available in free agency and their best fits
Although we'll be focusing a lot on the combine this week, I can promise you that we have not forgotten about the fact that free agency is just 16 days away. To celebrate the fact that free agency is right around the corner, we're going to rank the top tight ends. This year's free-agent class has some impressive names, and not only did Jordan Dajani rank the top five players, but he also came up with some potential landing spots for each guy in his top five.
Here's a look at his list:
1. Dalton Schultz (Texans)
Best fits: Texans, Commanders, Bengals
2. Hunter Henry (Patriots)
Best fits: Chargers, Patriots, Colts
3. Gerald Everett (Rams)
Best fits: Jets, Commanders, Bengals
4. Mike Gesicki (Patriots)
Best fits: Chargers, Colts, Rams
5. Noah Fant (Seahawks)
Best fits: Commanders, Saints, Dolphins
If you want to check out Jordan's full list of the top tight ends who will be available, then be sure to click here.
5. 2024 All-Free Agent Team: Kirk Cousins leads stacked squad
Sometimes it's hard to tell how good a free agency class is, so to give you an idea of what this year's class looks like, Cody Benjamin decided to make an All-Star team that consists only of players who are going to be free agents.
Let's take at his All-Free Agent Team on the offensive side of the ball:
QB: Kirk Cousins (Vikings)
RB: Saquon Barkley (Giants)
WR: Mike Evans (Buccaneers)
WR: Michael Pittman Jr. (Colts)
TE: Dalton Schultz (Texans)
LT: Tyron Smith (Cowboys)
LG: Dalton Risen (Vikings)
C: Connor Williams (Dolphins)
RG: Robert Hunt (Dolphins)
RT: Trent Brown (Patriots)
If this roster played in the NFC South, they'd probably win the division. If you want to see who made Cody's All-free agency team on the defensive side of the ball, be sure to click here.
6. Extra points: Cam Newton involved in brawl
It's been a busy weekend in the NFL, and since it's nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you.
- Cam Newton involved in brawl. Things got kind of crazy over the weekend for the former NFL MVP. Newton was at a 7-on-7 tournament when several people appeared to go after him. For all the details on this bizarre situation, be sure to check out our full story here.
- NFL salary cap shoots up more than $30 million. The NFL's 32 teams got some huge news over the weekend when the league announced that the salary cap for 2024 will be set at $255.4 million. That's a huge jump over last year's cap, which was set at $224.8 million. If you're wondering why the cap went up so much, you can read our breakdown here.
- Bengals use franchise tag on Tee Higgins. The Bengals have officially become the first team to use the franchise tag this offseason. The move means that Higgins will get a fully guaranteed one-year deal worth $21.816 million if he plays on the tag. The two sides have until July 15 to work out a long-term deal. You can read more about the move here.
- Chiefs working on contract extension with Andy Reid. The Chiefs coach is expected to get a nice raise after leading Kansas City to its third Super Bowl win in five years. The expectation is that the Chiefs are going to make Reid the highest-paid coach in the NFL (Details here).
- Russell Wilson sounds open to staying in Denver. During an interview on the "I am Athlete" podcast, Wilson said he's definitely going to be playing in 2024 and he also added that he'll happily stay in Denver. "Whether it's in Denver or somewhere else. I hope it's in Denver. I hope I get to finish there. I committed there. I want to be there," Wilson said. The Broncos QB also said he wants to win two Super Bowls over the next five years. No one will ever accuse Wilson of not setting lofty enough goals. You can read his full comments here.
- Richard Sherman arrested on suspicion of DUI. The former NFL All-Pro was arrested for suspicion of DUI early Saturday morning in Washington. Sherman was under monitored supervision from a previous arrest, so he could be facing some serious legal trouble. We have more details on the arrest here.
- Peter King retires. The long-time NFL writer, who has covered the league for more than four decades, has decided to call it quits. King's final column came out today, and you can check it out here. King started as a beat writer for the Bengals in 1984 before moving on to NewsDay and then eventually to Sports Illustrated. After his legendary SI run, he landed at NBC Sports. You can read more about his career here.
