INDIANAPOLIS—With things moving down to the field now, combine week is rolling …
• This is always a big week for teams to work on their own free agents and/or guys going into contract years, and, in that regard, the Super Bowl champions are front and center.
The Chiefs are looking at a $20 million decision on left tackle Orlando Brown—that’s price of the franchise tag, should K.C. fail to get an extension done with the big man. And it’ll perhaps look at doing something significantly more expensive, in the $30 million per year range, with star defensive tackle Chris Jones. Based on what I know right now, I think it’s hard to predict where either of those situations go.
What I do know is the makeup of the Chiefs roster, thanks to a couple dynamite draft classes, should allow for GM Brett Veach to spend what he needs to in order to solve a few of these champagne problems. And that’s because Kansas City’s saving money with cornerstones in the secondary, on the offensive line, and in the receiver, running back and linebacker groups on rookie deals.
• Jaguars GM Trent Baalke addressed the Calvin Ridley situation on Thursday, and it’s a reminder of the foresight that Jacksonville showed in buying low on the ex-Atlanta star after he was suspended for the 2022 season for gambling.
At a time when prices for receivers were sky high, the Jags got a 28-year-old former first rounder who had a 90-catch, 1,374-yard, nine-touchdown season in 2020, and one who should come back motivated with a year left on his contract. And really, the biggest downside was that they’d have to wait—they did the deal on Nov. 1, knowing Ridley wouldn’t be back until 2023.
Throwing Ridley in with Christian Kirk and Zay Jones (and Marvin Jones, if he re-signs) means that position, which was a of pretty serious deficiency upon Doug Pederson’s arrival, has a chance to be a real strength going into Trevor Lawrence’s third year.
• Georgia edge rusher Nolan Smith is definitely one player that, I think, the general public has had a higher opinion of as a prospect than NFL teams have had (most evaluators I’ve spoken with have seen him as a second-rounder). But with the testing numbers he posted on Thursday (4.39 in the 40-yard dash, 41.5” vertical) that may change, even with Smith at 238 pounds.
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• Shoutout to my guy Daniel Jeremiah, who called Calijah Kancey lighting up testing in this week’s MAQB column. The Pitt DL proceeded to run a 4.67 40-yard dash on Thursday, the fastest time ever clocked by a defensive tackle.
DJ called Kancey “super intriguing”, and said, though he’s just 280 pounds, Kancey “is unbelievable on tape. I don't know where to put him, he's so little. Of course, he goes to the same school as Aaron Donald, so you get the ghost of Aaron Donald. You’d be scared to take him and maybe even more scared to pass on him.”
• It’ll be fascinating to see how the NFL handles the turnover in officiating ranks—10 retirements have been announced over the last month—given the year those crews just had. Seems like this would be an opportunity to implement some change, if the league wants to do that.
• Jalen Carter’s obviously become a pretty complicated prospect for NFL teams to evaluate, but I do think teams will appreciate how he handled this week, in immediately addressing the situation, and traveling back to Athens, Ga. to do it, and then making the effort to come back to Indy and meet with teams.
• Having Eric Washington and Al Holcomb on hand, both of whom worked with Sean McDermott in Carolina, should at least give the Bills some level of stability as they look to replace DC Leslie Frazier, with both likely to be in the mix to do just that. Obviously, that McDermott’s own experience is on that side of the ball should help too.
• Jerry Richardson obviously leaves a a very complicated legacy—and the workplace culture scandal with the Panthers will be, and justifiably so, among the first things people remember about him. But he also made a pretty significant impact on the league as the only owner, for a time, who also played in the league, and as the man who brought the NFL to the Carolinas during a round of expansion that, at the time, was thought to be set up simply to bring the league back to Baltimore and St. Louis. Best to his family.
• I think the Kirk Cousins contract situation is pretty interesting, and is a part of what’s pretty interesting league-wide in the quarterbacking landscape this month, and for some reason it feels like that’s been largely ignored. Especially after the season the Vikings just had.
• Bryce Young weighs in Saturday morning. Buckle up.
