Welcome to the Friday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!
Today isn’t just any Friday, it’s Friday the 13th, so please stay away from all ladders, black cats and don’t break any mirrors. The Panthers technically have a black cat on their helmet, so it’s probably for the best that they’re not practicing today.
We also have Father’s Day coming up on Sunday, so happy early Father’s Day to all the dads out there. Let’s get straight to the rundown.
As always, here’s your daily reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter. To get them signed up, all you have to do is click here. Let’s get to the rundown.
1. Three first-round picks are still unsigned: Breaking down each situation
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It has been exactly 50 days since the first round of the NFL Draft and in that time, 28 of the 32 picks from the opening round have signed their rookie deals. Heading into Friday, there were still four players who had yet to sign, so let’s take a look at each situation. Actually, that number is now down to three, because one of the players on our list below signed his deal today.
Remember, all rookie contracts are slotted, so each player knows exactly how much they’ll be getting in their four-year rookie contract. When it comes to a rookie deal, the negotiations all come down to the fine print.
- Jaguars WR/CB Travis Hunter (Second overall pick). With Hunter planning to play both offense and defense, it’s not a huge surprise that his deal isn’t done. One sticking point could be his signing bonus, which is expected to be around $30.5 million. Some teams like to pay that out in phases while players like to get all the money in one chunk. Hunter has been practicing with the Jags, so there doesn’t seem to be any animosity with the team like there has been with the next guy on our list. Expected deal: Four years, $46.6 million.
- Bengals EDGE Shemar Stewart (17th overall pick). We’re going to take a closer look at Stewart’s situation in our next section, so we’ll skip over him for now. Expected deal: Four years, $18.9 million
- Broncos CB Jahdae Barron (20th overall pick). When a player still hasn’t signed after 50 days, it almost always has to do with the language in the contract. The good news here is that unlike the situation in Cincinnati, there doesn’t seem to be any tension between Barron and the Broncos. This seems like a deal that will be ironed out in the near future. Expected deal: Four years, $18 million
- Bills CB Maxwell Hairston (30th overall pick). Hairston actually ended up signing his contract TODAY, so the drama is over in Buffalo. Signed deal: Four years, $15.2 million
With the value of each contract already set, it would be a total surprise if Barron wasn’t signed by training camp. Hunter’s deal could take some time to iron out all of the language due to his unique skill set. As for Stewart, that one will certainly be interesting, so let’s keep talking about it below.
2. Re-enter the draft? Breaking down how ugly things could get between Bengals and Shemar Stewart
If there’s one thing that became clear this week, it’s that things are getting contentious between Shemar Stewart and the Bengals. The team threw a curveball in their contract negotiations with him by adding new language to his deal that the Bengals didn’t use with their past two first-round picks. Stewart doesn’t want the language in there, the Bengals do, and now, the two sides are in a game of chicken.
If Stewart doesn’t want to sign the deal, he does have several options and he could quickly turn into the Bengals’ (and NFL’s) worst nightmare if he decides to go with a nuclear option of re-entering the draft next year, a process that is outlined in article 6 of the CBA.
Here’s a look at two of his main options he would have if he doesn’t want to sign with the Bengals:
- He could re-enter the NFL Draft. If Stewart doesn’t sign his contract and he doesn’t play football at all in 2025, he could re-enter the NFL Draft in 2026. If he went this route, it means that any team could draft him next year, except for the Bengals. If a player were to successfully pull off a power move like this, it could throw a wrench into the future of the draft. It would set up potential situations where a player could sit out if he got drafted by a team he didn’t want to play for. Stewart would essentially have until November to make a decision on this. He’s allowed to sign his rookie contract until the Tuesday following Week 10. If he doesn’t sign it by that date, then he’s not allowed to play in 2025. There’s another upside to this strategy: If Stewart went undrafted in 2026 — maybe his situation with the Bengals scares teams away — then he would become an undrafted free agent following the 2026 draft and he’d be free to sign with any team.
- He could ask for a trade. If the Bengals won’t give him the contract language he wants, maybe someone else will. There is a unique deadline in place for any team that wants to trade a rookie: A deal has to be made at least 30 days before the start of the regular season, so a decision would have to be made here by Aug. 5 or Aug. 8 (The CBA isn’t clear if it’s 30 days before the start of the first game of the regular season or 30 days before the Bengals’ first game of the season). The Bengals don’t like being bullied, so this scenario would probably be unlikely, but it would be an option.
Those are the two most practical options. Stewart could also try to return to Texas A&M for his senior year, but the NCAA has rules against a player returning to college once they’ve been drafted, so he would likely be facing a legal battle if he went this route. Stewart could also head to the CFL to stay in football shape, but he likely wouldn’t go that route, because if he signs with another professional football league, that would give his NFL rights to the Bengals for the next three years.
I broke down all of the drama between Stewart and the Bengals and you can check out the full story here.
3. Five wild what-ifs from the offseason: Moves that almost happened
There were quite a few moves that almost happened during the NFL this offseason. For instance, did you know that the Rams were ready to make a play for Aaron Rodgers if Matthew Stafford had ended up leaving? Well, now you do.
Cody Benjamin decided to take a look at some of the wildest what-ifs from around the NFL this offseason.
- Aaron Rodgers to the Rams. “Sean McVay admitted this week that Rodgers was a strong possibility for L.A. in the event Stafford had cashed in elsewhere. Rodgers, who seemingly spent much of the offseason hoping his market expanded, almost certainly wouldn’t have balked at the idea of suiting up for McVay, in his home state, for a title contender. The fact the real-life Rams went on to sign Davante Adams, Rodgers’ longtime friend and top wide receiver, is just a fun little bonus.”
- Cam Ward to the Giants. “After failing to acquire Stafford in a blockbuster trade, Schoen’s Giants were reported as front-runners to land the No. 1 pick in the draft, with Miami’s Cam Ward the anticipated target. What if the Titans hadn’t been smitten with Ward — or just so desperate for their own new signal-caller — and actually dealt the top pick to Big Blue? We might be preparing for Ward to open the 2025 season as the new face of the Giants.”
- Mike McCarthy to the Bears. “Before Ben Johnson agreed to switch sides in the NFC North, however, the Bears considered reeling in another big fish, interviewing former Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy following his abrupt exit from Dallas.”
If you want to check out all the “what-ifs” on Benjamin’s list, you can do that here.
4. AFC rookies picked after Round 1 who could be key contributors in 2025
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In Thursday’s newsletter, we took a look at one rookie from each NFC team who could be a key contributor this year with the catch being that it had to be a player taken after the first round. For today, we’re going to flip things around and take a look at AFC rookies.
Let’s take a look at three rookies who could thrive in 2025:
- Steelers RB Kaleb Johnson — Round 3 (83rd overall). “Johnson is about as NFL-ready as a feature-back can get. And he feels very Steelers-y. Big, bruising runner to complement Jaylen Warren. Essentially Najee Harris-like without the wear and tear on his legs.”
- Browns TE Harold Fannin Jr. — Round 3 (67th overall). “His athleticism meets NFL prerequisites for the tight end position. That’s good. His specialty? YAC. Fannin Jr. is an enraged bull with the ball in his hands. And I don’t know who’s going to be throwing him the ball in Cleveland in his rookie season. Whoever it is, I’m assuming they’ll be looking for a security-blanket tight end reasonably often.”
- Raiders WR Jack Bech — Round 2 (58th overall). “I had a first-round grade on Bech. Did everything in college I want out of a modern-day wide receiver. Ok, so he’s not a Malik Nabers-esque separator. Besides that, Bech checked all the boxes. He’s hyper-reliable catching the football anywhere in his zip code. He’s a moose after the catch. “
There are 13 more rookies on Chris Trapasso’s list and if you want to check out those names, you can see them here.
5. Top-10 free agents left on the market
By this time next week, every team will be on summer break, which means we’re about to hit a five-week period where there won’t be very much NFL news. However, that doesn’t mean things will be completely dead. For one, there are still several free agents out there who could end up signing with a team over the next five weeks, so we’re going to take a look at the top-10 names still on the market.
Before free agency started, Pete Prisco made a list of his top-100 free agents for 2025, and as we get ready to enter mid-June, there are only 10 players on his list who are still available, which made it pretty easy to put together this top-10 list.
Let’s check out the names:
1. CB Rasul Douglas
2. WR Amari Cooper
3. CB Asante Samuel Jr.
4. S Justin Simmons
5. LB Kyzir White
6. WR Keenan Allen
7. OT Jedrick Wills
8. CB Mike Hilton
9. OG Brandon Scherff
10. OG Will Hernandez
Aaron Rodgers was at the top of the list for most of the past two months, but he signed with the Steelers on June 7. One player on this list, Jedrick Wills, is planning to let his body heal from injuries he suffered in 2024, and right now, it’s looking like he’s planning to sit out a chunk of the 2025 season, so he likely won’t be signing with anyone at any point in the near future.
If someone from this list signs over the weekend, you can get all the details here in our top 100 tracker.
6. Extra points: Antonio Brown wanted on attempted murder charge
This is always a busy time in the NFL, and since it’s nearly impossible to keep track of everything that’s happening, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you.
- Antonio Brown has a warrant out for his arrest. The former Steelers receiver is wanted on a charge of attempted murder stemming from an incident that took place at a celebrity boxing event in May. Police in in Miami-Dade (Fla.) County are searching for Brown, who allegedly got involved in altercation with another man at the boxing event and it appears that Brown may have used a gun during the incident. We’ve got the full details on the situation here.
- Top NFL executive leaving to take CEO job with PGA tour. Brian Rolapp has spent 22 years working for the NFL, but after more than two decades, he’s decided to take a new job. According to multiple reports, the NFL executive vice president is expected to be named the CEO of the PGA Tour. If you want more details the PGA’s newly created position, we’ve got those here.
- Tom Brady is getting a statue. The seven-time Super Bowl winner is getting a statue in New England. Brady, who won six of his Super Bowls with the Patriots, will be honored by the team before their Aug. 8 preseason game against the Commanders. The statue ceremony will come just five days after his 48th birthday. This will be at least the third time that the Patriots have honored Brady since his retirement from the NFL.
- Former Pro Bowler spurns 49ers to sign with Rams. Back in April, the 49ers thought they had a deal done with offensive tackle D.J. Humphries, but the former first-round pick never signed his contract. Humphries is now headed to Los Angeles after agreeing to a deal with the Rams on Thursday, according to his agency. The Rams were in the market for an offensive tackle because one of their key starters from last year (Alaric Jackson) is dealing with blood clots, which could potentially cause him to miss time in 2025, according to NFL Media.
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