NFL teams propose drastic rule changes for 2025, plus free agency matchmaker and ranking every NFC team

Welcome to the Thursday edition of the Pick Six newsletter! 

If you only make it through half the newsletter, I totally understand and that’s because the NCAA Tournament is here. I’m pretty sure work production around the country goes down by 97% during the tournament, which might explain why this newsletter is 97% shorter than usual. 

If you want the full schedule of Thursday’s 16 tournament games, we’ve got that there. If you want some tournament picks, we’ve got those here. 

Of course, this isn’t a college basketball newsletter, so yes, we will be covering some actual NFL news. For one, we’ll be taking a look at the new rule proposals that came out this week, plus, we’ll be playing some free agency matchmaker. 

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. 

1. NFL teams propose several major rule changes: Here are some of the most notable proposals

The NFL adds several new rules every year, and Wednesday, we got a good idea of what some of those rules might be when several teams offered up their rule proposals for the 2025 season. (The Competition Committee will also offer a few proposals, but those likely won’t come out until next week.)

Here’s a look at the most notable proposals for 2025: 

• Lions want to see the playoff format changed. If this proposal passes, there would be a major change to the NFL’s playoff seeding format heading into 2025. Under the Lions’ proposal, a wild-card team could be seeded higher than a division winning team if the wild card team has a better record. All division winners would still be guaranteed a playoff berth, but they wouldn’t be guaranteed a home playoff game. If this rule had been in place last season, the 14-3 Vikings would have been the third seed in the NFC instead of the fifth seed.  
• Packers want the “Tush Push” banned. This one is pretty simple: The Packers want the ‘Tush Push’ out of the NFL. So how would this rule work? It would prohibit an offensive player from pushing a teammate who takes the snap from center. 
• Eagles want the same rules for postseason and regular-season overtime. Under the current rules, overtime in the regular season is only 10 minutes and the team that gets the ball first can end the game with a touchdown. Under the overtime rules in the postseason, the period is 15 minutes and both teams are guaranteed a possession, even if the team that gets the ball first scores a touchdown. If this rule passes, the postseason rules would be implemented for the regular season. 
• Lions want to eliminate the automatic first down for defensive holding and illegal contact calls. If a defense gets called for either of these two penalties, the Lions don’t want it to lead to an automatic first down for the offense. In news that may or may not be related, the Lions were called for the MOST defensive holding penalties in the NFL in 2024, so they would likely be thrilled if this proposal passed.  

You can check out all the rule proposals here. As for whether we’ll see any changes, each rule would have to be approved by 24 of the 32 owners before it can officially be added to the rule book for the 2025 season. Each of these rules will be voted on at the next league meeting, which runs March 30 to April 2 in Palm Beach, Florida.  

2. Free agency matchmaker for the top-10 remaining veterans

There’s no one who loves playing matchmaker more than Cody Benjamin, so we decided to let him work some of his matchmaking magic. 

We asked him to match up the 10 best remaining free agents with the team that would be the best fit for them. Let’s check out where he has four of the top players going:  

• Match: Aaron Rodgers to the Steelers. “The Minnesota Vikings would be a dream destination for Rodgers, considering their elite staff, fortified front and splashy playmakers. The Vikings seem more intent on riding with J.J. McCarthy, though, so the best match for Rodgers (besides retirement or waiting for a desperate injury-induced phone call) is probably Pittsburgh.”
• Match: Stefon Diggs to the Cowboys. “Diggs is aging, but he’s been just that for much of his career. His brother, Trevon Diggs, also plays for the Cowboys.”
• Match: Amari Cooper to the Broncos. “The former Pro Bowler has had a curiously quiet market for a guy just traded for a third-round pick during the 2024 season, signaling league-wide concern over how much he’s got left in the tank. Yet Denver could use additional safety valves for young quarterback Bo Nix, and Cooper’s long been a solid technician.”
• Match: Justin Simmons to the Eagles. “Philadelphia created a hole at safety by dealing C.J. Gardner-Johnson to the Texans. Simmons isn’t as dynamic as he once was, now 31, but he’s got valuable experience in Vic Fangio’s defense from their time together with the Denver Broncos.”

To check out where Cody has the six other free agents landing, be sure to click here. 

3. Ranking every NFC team after the first wave of free agency 

Now that the first wave of free agency is out of the way, we thought it would be a good time to rank every team in the NFL. Earlier this week, we ranked the AFC teams, so now, we’re going to flip over and rank the 16 teams in the NFC. 

With that mind, here’s our post-free agency rankings of each NFC team, courtesy of Jeff Kerr: 

1. Eagles
2. Lions
3. Commanders
4. Vikings
5. Rams
6. Packers
7. Seahawks
8. 49ers
9. Bears
10. Buccaneers

If this ranking tells you won thing, it’s that the Bears have been crushing it this offseason. Although they went 5-12 last season, they were still able to crack the top 10 here and that’s mostly due to the fact that they totally revamped their offensive line. 

Anyway, we only listed the top 10 NFC teams here. If you want to see how Kerr ranked all 16 NFC teams, then you’ll have to check out the rest of his rankings here.

4. NFL free agency: Most intriguing defensive signings

When it comes to NFL free agency, there are good signings, there are bad signings and then there are intriguing signings, which is what we’re going to cover. 

Jared Dubin went over every signing that’s been made since the start of free agency and came up with 12 intriguing signings on the defensive side of the ball. We’re going to take a look at three of those below: 

• Josh Sweat to the Cardinals. “Sweat is reuniting with his former defensive coordinator in Philadelphia, as Jonathan Gannon is now entering his third year as the Cardinals head coach. Sweat had the best years of his career playing for Gannon, notching a combined 18.5 sacks, 36 quarterback hits and 22 tackles for loss across two seasons. … Arizona desperately needed a high-level player coming off the edge, and we know Sweat can succeed in this system.”
• DeMarcus Lawrence to the Seahawks. “Lawrence has his health issues (he barely played last season due to another foot injury), but he is a dynamite two-way edge whenever he’s on the field, and it’s hard to think of a better fit for Mike Macdonald’s defense.”
• Poona Ford to the Rams. “Ford is coming off a really solid year with the Chargers during which he picked up 21 run stops and 23 pressures, according to Pro Football Focus. He’s a really good run stopper and he’s flashed some more pass-rush usefulness in recent seasons. Placing him on the defensive line with Jared Verse, Braden Fiske, Kobie Turner and Byron Young should make for a really fun, flexible group.”

If you want to see Dubin’s full list, you can check it out here. And remember, these were just the intriguing signings on the defensive side of the ball. We’ll have the offensive ones tomorrow. 

5. ‘Quarterback’ is returning to Netflix: Joe Burrow, Kirk Cousins and Jared Goff set to be featured

After taking a one-year hiatus, one of Netflix’s best NFL shows is back: The streaming company has announced that “Quarterback” will be returning in July, The show, which follows three quarterbacks around over the course of a full NFL season, first debuted back in 2023 with Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins and Marcus Mariota. In 2024, Netflix had to call an audible and do a docu-series on receivers because they couldn’t find any quarterbacks who wanted to participate. 

This year, they’re back and their camera crews followed around Joe Burrow, Kirk Cousins and Jared Goff for the full season. The show should be fascinating and that’s because all three guys will be bringing a unique angle to the table: 

• Kirk Cousins. The Falcons quarterback got benched 14 games into the season and there’s a good chance we’ll be getting Cousins’ unfiltered reaction to the move. Also, we might actually find out whether the benching had anything to do with Cousins being injured. Back in February, Cousins said he was dealing with a injuries to his right shoulder and right elbow late in the season, which played a part in the struggles that led to his benching. 
• Joe Burrow. It’s somewhat surprising that Burrow agreed to do this, because he’s notoriously private. The Bengals QB was dealing with multiple issues in 2024 that the show should shed some light on. For one, we should find out just how much his wrist was actually bothering him during training camp and the early portion of the regular season. Also, let’s not forget that Ja’Marr Chase skipped training camp last year, so we should get to see Burrow’s reaction to all the contract drama that the Bengals had to deal with over the past 12 months. Also, Burrow’s house got robbed in December. It will be interesting to see if the series touches on that. 
• Jared Goff. The Lions went into the season as the Super Bowl favorite in the NFC, but forget the Super Bowl, they didn’t even make it out of the divisional round, so we’ll get to see his reaction to that. Goff had a wild season that not only saw him throw FIVE INTERCEPTIONS in a Lions WIN, but he also threw five touchdown passes in a LOSS. 

The upcoming season of “Quarterback” will be released in July, although Netflix hasn’t given a specific date yet. You can watch the preview here. 

6. Extra points: Texans make two big moves

It’s been a busy 24 hours 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.

• Houston signs Cam Robinson. After trading away Laremy Tunsil, it appears the Texans now have his replacement at left tackle. Robinson has agreed to a one-year, $12 million deal that could be worth up to $14.5 million. We’ve got the full details on the signing here. Robinson was the highest ranked player left on Pete Prisco’s list of the top 100 free agents. 
• Danielle Hunter lands one-year extension. The second big move from the Texans came when they gave Hunter a one-year, $35.6 million extension. The new deal means Hunter is now under contract through the 2026 season with a $54.1 million in guaranteed money. Hunter finished with 12 sacks last season, which was tied for the fifth-most in the NFL. 
• Stefon Diggs visits the Patriots. The four-time Pro Bowler made his first visit of free agency Wednesday and it was with the Patriots. Although Diggs has been productive in his career, he’s coming off a torn ACL, which is likely why his market hasn’t really developed. We’ve got more on his visit here.  
• Deebo Samuel gets re-worked deal from Commanders. When he got traded to the Commanders, Samuel didn’t have any guaranteed money left on his contract, but now he does. Not only is the team now guaranteeing his entire 2025 salary of $17 million, but he can earn $3 million more in incentives, so he could make as much as $20 million this season. 
• Dolphins sign two-time Super Bowl winning linebacker. The Dolphins added some depth on defense this week with the signing of Willie Gay. The 27-year-old started his career in Kansas City where he won two Super Bowls with the Chiefs. He spent the 2024 season in New Orleans, where he played in 15 games with eight starts.