It’s Finally NFL Draft Week, Jets-Packers Resume Rodgers Talks, and Other NFL Bullets
It’s finally draft week, friends! I was talking to my wife about the “draft fatigue” cycle we trudged through the last two weeks. The point in the NFL calendar in which free agency is all but done, and we’ve mocked every scenario in the first round of the draft to death. My thought is, why not move the draft up two weeks? But I’m sure there’s enough reason (dollars) for the NFL not to, so I digress. You’re not alone in the “draft fatigue” boat; I feel it too. However, I am excited that in about 65 hours, I will be on a flight to Kansas City for the NFL Draft.
- That being said, I have three more mock draft picks (Saints, Eagles, and Chiefs) to get out this week, and then I will be doing a full 2.0 round one mock draft before I leave for Kansas City. That one will include trades and be an updated and final take on all the information we’ve fleshed out throughout this process. I will also have some fun content for those attending the Kansas City draft festivities, some looking back at past drafts and some final mock draft medleys.
- Sunday featured some chatter regarding the Aaron Rodgers saga, thanks to a report by Ian Rapport that the Jets and Packers had resumed trade discussions surrounding the future Hall of Fame quarterback.
- I just know that the Packers and Jets will pull the trigger on this deal during the first round of the draft and throw a wrench into the flow of my round-one coverage on Thursday night. It’ll be Aaron Rodgers’ last parting shot to me as a Bears fan. Oh well, bring it on. Let’s get it over with.
- Luis shared some thoughts on the Rapoport report last night, which you can check out here:
- The New York Jets announced this morning that they’ve re-signed offensive lineman Connor McGovern:
- McGovern played every offensive snap for the Jets last season and became the first Jet to log 3,000+ offensive snaps (all offensive positions) in a three-year span since LG James Carpenter (3,137 snaps, 2015-17) and LT D’Brickashaw Ferguson (3,249 snaps, 2013-15) over the last 10 seasons., per a team release.
- Last week, comments by Andy Reid and Brett Veach were lost in the draft shuffle regarding the Jalen Hurts contract extension and, more specifically, how that impacts the timeline for Patrick Mahomes’ next contract.
- Reid said in a press conference last week that Mahomes took a team-friendly deal the last time around. That allowed Kansas City to fill holes with quality players and keep them in the Super Bowl conversation every year.
“You can start chasing that and kind of forget about your job at hand, but Pat’s got a great feel for all that stuff,” Reid said in his press conference. “The main thing he wanted to do, which my hat just goes off to him, is he wanted to do a deal that was team-friendly so that we could sign — if you lose a left tackle, you could go out and sign another one and have that flexibility there. So, you know, I think he’s got a great feel on all that.”
- The deal that Reid referenced was the 10-year extension that Mahomes signed with the Chiefs in the summer of 2020. That deal came with an average annual value of $45 million. With multiple QBs getting bigger deals since and Mahomes winning another Super Bowl MVP, a raise is on the horizon.
- Here’s what Chiefs GM Brett Veach had to say last week:
“We have a special relationship with [Mahomes] and his agent. We’re in constant communication,” General Manager Brett Veach said during his Thursday pre-draft press conference. “It’s one of those things — and I think coach [Andy Reid] hinted on this in his last press conference — where as soon as one guy gets done, it’s kind of the blueprint and the model. And a few years later, it’s jumped and exceeded.
“But I think that this organization and the relationship we have with Pat will always be working to make sure that we’re doing right by everybody. There will be a couple more contracts that still have to get done — Burrow and Herbert — and once they do, I think you kind of look at everything and assess where you are and what you can do and take it from there.”
- So, a raise is coming. But the Chiefs will wait and see how the Burrow and Herbert extensions play out first.
- This is a cool thread:
- The NBA Playoffs march on tonight …
- Kyle Hendricks is on the mend:
