2025 NFL combine winners and losers, plus ranking Giants’ QB options and mock draft Monday is here

Welcome to the Monday edition of the Pick Six newsletter! 

You better buckle up and get ready because things are likely going to get crazy in the NFL starting this week. Actually, things have already started to get crazy, and it started on Friday with the Rams making the decision to keep Matthew Stafford. For most of last week, it looked like Stafford might end up getting traded, but in the end, he’ll be staying in Los Angeles. 

Although the NFL Scouting Combine is officially over, we still have the franchise tag deadline coming tomorrow at 4 p.m. ET, which means there could be a lot of news coming out over the next 24 hours. Anyways, we have a loaded newsletter today, so let’s get to it. 

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. Mock Draft Monday: Giants land Travis Hunter, Shedeur Sanders falls to Raiders 

If you’ve been reading this newsletter since the end of the Super Bowl, then you know that the first day of every week here is known as Mock Draft Monday. That’s where we give you a new mock draft, and this week, we have a big one from Ryan Wilson. The reason it’s big is because it’s our first post-combine mock draft. 

Wilson spent the past week in Indianapolis and after watching more than 300 prospects at the combine, I think it’s safe to say that this is going to be his most accurate mock draft yet. Let’s check out his top 10: 

1. Titans: QB Cam Ward (Miami)
2. Browns: EDGE Abdul Carter (Penn State)
3. Giants: CB/WR Travis Hunter (Colorado)
4. Patriots: OT Kelvin Banks Jr. (Texas)
5. Jaguars: DL Mason Graham (Michigan)
6. Raiders: QB Shedeur Sanders (Colordado)
7. Jets: WR Tetairoa McMillan (Arizona)
8. Panthers: EDGE Mike Green (Marshall)
9. Saints: CB Jahdae Barron (Texas)
10. Bears: OT Will Campbell (LSU) 

Green and Barron were both viewed as mid-to-late first-round picks, but after watching them at the combine, Wilson has both guys going in the top 10. 

If you want to see how the rest of the first round pans out in his mock, then be sure to check out his entire mock draft by clicking here. 

For more draft coverage, you can hear Wilson every week on “With the First Pick,” our year-round NFL Draft podcast here at CBS Sports. You can find “With the First Pick” wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube. 

2. Winners and losers from the NFL combine

With the 2025 NFL combine officially in the books, we had our NFL Draft guru Josh Edwards go back and assess everything that happened. Edwards did that by making a list of winners and losers, and here’s what he came up with:

WINNERS

• S Nick Emmanwori, South Carolina. “Emmanwori is one of two prospects who essentially put together a flawless athletic display. At 6-foot-3, 220 pounds, he had a 43-inch vertical jump and an 11-foot-6-inch broad jump. The Gamecock ran the 40-yard dash in 4.38 seconds with a 1.49-second 10-yard split; keep that in mind when reading about Matthew Golden’s times at nearly 30 pounds lighter.”
• CB Maxwell Hairston, Kentucky. “Hairston promised that he would put on a show for those gathered in Indianapolis. He did not disappoint. His 4.28 seconds 40-yard dash was the best of the week. The Michigan native also rated highly in 10-yard split (1.5 seconds), vertical jump (39.5 inches) and the broad jump (10-foot-9-inches). Most impressive, however, was the on-field work. His breaks out of the top of his drop were decisive and the angles were sharp.”

LOSERS

• RB Cam Skattebo, Arizona State. “Skattebo was unable to take part in the NFL Scouting Combine due to injury. However, in his absence, Miami’s Damien Martinez, Virginia Tech’s Bhayshul Tuten and others staked their claim to a higher position in the pecking order. Skattebo will have an opportunity to state his case at the Sun Devil’s Pro Day.”
• WR Tez Johnson, Oregon. “Johnson is an outlier for multiple reasons. He is the lightest wide receiver (154 pounds) at the NFL Scouting Combine since Brandon Banks in 2010. Dating back to 1989, there have only been seven wide receivers lighter. The 33rd Team notes that no wide receiver under 170 pounds has run a slower 40-yard dash (4.51 seconds) since 2003. It was not all bad, though. Johnson’s on-field workout, particularly a jump ball in the simulated end zone, was good. Plus, he ran the fastest 3-cone drill (6.65 seconds).”

We’ve got even more winners and losers, and you can check out Josh’s full list here. We also graded all of the top offensive line prospects, and if you want to see how those grades turned out, you can check that out here.  

3. One thing we learned about each AFC team at the combine

With NFL coaches, general managers and decision-makers all doing interviews at the NFL combine, the event is a treasure trove of information. If you pay attention, you can learn a lot at the combine, and fortunately for us, Jordan Dajani was paying close attention over the past six days. 

Dajani came up with one thing we learned about each AFC team and we’re going to cover four of those teams below: 

• Bengals: Tee Higgins has a beef with someone. Bengals de facto general manager Duke Tobin and head coach Zac Taylor both reiterated their desire to get Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Trey Hendrickson under contract for the future. On the same day that Taylor and Tobin were interviewed, Higgins posted an emoji of a ‘cap’ on social media, indicating he believes a lie has been told. Does that mean there’s drama? The Bengals have until March 4 to franchise tag Higgins.
• Colts: Team is planning to have a QB competition. This offseason, the Colts are going to add another quarterback via free agency or the draft and that new QB will compete with Anthony Richardson for the starting QB job. “I know we all want a finished product right now. I do, you do, fans do. We all do,” Ballard said, via NBC Sports. “But I think as he [Richardson] continues to progress in his young career, us adding competition, I think, will help up everybody’s game.”
• Bills: They’d love to keep James Cook. Bills general manager Brandon Beane said he wants to keep his star running back in Buffalo for years to come. “James is a good player for us. He has the ability to be a mismatch player. He can play all three downs,” Beane said, via the Bills’ official website. “He helped our offense do a lot of great things and we would love to keep James here long term.” Cook previously hinted during an Instagram Live session that he’s looking for $15 million per year — which would make him the No. 2 highest-paid running back in the NFL. Naturally, Beane wishes that information was not out there, but it didn’t affect how he feels about the player.
• Patriots: Don’t be surprised if New England throws around money in free agency. The Patriots have the most available funds for free agency with $127,771,728 in cap space, and new head coach Mike Vrabel confirmed that his team will be aggressive in acquiring new talent. “We want to be aggressive,’ Vrabel said, via 98.5 The Sports Hub. “We want to target players that we feel like are going to help us. … I’m confident that we’ll be aggressive.”

Dajani covered all 16 teams in the AFC, and if you want to know what he learned, you can check out his full list here. 

4. Ranking QB options for the Giants: New York’s best bet in the draft

The Giants were hoping to pull off a trade for Matthew Stafford during the combine last week, but that didn’t happen, which means they’re now back at square one when it comes to finding a quarterback. Actually, maybe we should say they’re back at square zero because zero is how many quarterbacks they currently have under contract for the 2025 season. 

The Giants are going to have to do something at the quarterback position, so our Jordan Dajani decided to help them out by ranking their best options at QB. Let’s check out his top three: 

1. Draft Cam Ward. “I’m not Titans general manager Mike Borgonzi, I don’t know what he’s looking for in a potential trade or what the market is, but in this hypothetical, the Giants send picks 3, 34, 104 and a future second-rounder to Tennessee. Ward doesn’t have the excitement surrounding him like Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels did, but he is the QB1 of this class. He set Miami single-season records by passing for 4,313 yards and an FBS-leading 39 passing touchdowns. … The quarterback with the highest ceiling is Ward, and if the Giants fall in love with him, they should chase him.”

2. Sign Justin Fields and draft a rookie. “The Steelers have motivation to get a deal done in the next week before Fields has the opportunity to check out his other options in free agency. If no deal is struck by March 10, the Giants should inquire. Fields went 4-2 as the starter and played the most efficient football of his career. He finished the regular season having completed a career-high 65.8% of his passes for 1,106 yards, five touchdowns and one interception. Plus, he scored five more touchdowns on the ground.”

3. Sign Aaron Rodgers and draft a rookie. “Rodgers would provide more consistency at the quarterback position than New York has had in quite some time. What would make the fan base feel better about signing Rodgers is New York also drafting a quarterback somewhere on Day 2 or Day 3. There are different reasons to be optimistic about prospects like Quinn Ewers from Texas, Syracuse’s Kyle McCord, the dual-threat Jalen Milroe out of Alabama or the veteran Tyler Shough from Louisville, and all four would benefit from sitting and learning behind a future Pro Football Hall of Famer for a full year.”

Jordan came up with a total of five options, and you can check out all of them here. 

5. 49ers finally trade Deebo Samuel: Full details, plus grades and Brandon Aiyuk news

The receiver was given permission to seek a trade on Super Bowl Sunday, and less than three weeks later, the 49ers found a taker. 

Here’s a look at the trade details: 

• Commanders receive: Deebo Samuel
• 49ers receive: 2025 fifth-round pick
• Other notable parts of the deal: It doesn’t appear that Samuel will be getting a new contract, which means he’ll be heading to Washington with a deal that expires at the end of the 2025 season. The Commanders will pay Samuel $17.55 million in 2025, and if he has a big year in Washington, that will set him up to cash in during free agency in March 2026. 

Once the 49ers approved Deebo’s trade request, it was pretty much a lock that he would eventually be leaving San Francisco at some point, and now, he is. Although Deebo put up more than 1,400 receiving yards in 2021, he’s only averaged 731.3 yards per year in the three seasons since then, so it will be interesting to see how he pans out in Washington.  

TRADE GRADES

Whenever there’s a trade, there’s 100% chance we’re going to hand out grades for that deal and that’s exactly what we did in this situation. 

Tyler Sullivan handed out the grades for this trade: 

• Commanders grade: A. “The Commanders had a clear need for a secondary pass catcher opposite of Terry McLaurin, and Samuel fills that need splendidly. While McLaurin topped 1,000 yards receiving for the fifth consecutive year, no other Washington wide receiver finished with more than 525 yards in 2024.”
• 49ers grade: C. “Because Samuel had publicly requested a trade, that’s always going to decrease the return for the team dealing the player away. While a fifth-round pick isn’t anything to write home about, it’s an asset. Would they have preferred a higher pick on Day 3 of the draft? Sure. Given that Samuel also is entering the final year of his deal, however, the team dealing for him isn’t going to be throwing around major assets for a 29-year-old pass catcher with a lot of tread on his tire AND pay him.” 

You check out the full explanation for each grade here. 

In other 49ers news, the team could also end up trading Brandon Aiyuk, and we’ve got the full details on that here. 

6. Extra points: Davante Adams likely done with Jets

It was 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. 

• Jets likely to trade or cut Davante Adams. It’s pretty much a guarantee at this point that Adams will NOT be playing for the Jets in 2025. The Jets can pick up roughly $30 million in cap space by trading OR releasing Adams and it’s looking like one of those things will happen before the start of free agency. The Jets will look to trade him, but if they can’t find a partner, then he’ll be released. Adams has a $35 million base salary in 2025, so it’s hard to envision any team willing to take on that deal in a trade, especially when they know that Adams will eventually be released, so look for him to be cut before March 12. You can read more about Adams here.
• Matthew Stafford staying with Rams. You probably already heard this news because it happened on Friday, but if you haven’t: Matthew Stafford is staying with the Rams. The Giants and Raiders were both in talks to make a trade for the QB, but in the end, Stafford and the Rams decided it was in the best interest of both parties to stick together. We’ve got the full story on Stafford here.  
• Rams also re-sign their left tackle. Not only are the Rams keeping Stafford, but they also agreed to a new deal with Alaric Jackson. The left tackle was set to hit free agency on March 12, but that won’t be happening after he agreed to a three-year, $57 million contract over the weekend. We’ve got the full details on the deal here. 
• Cowboys likely to use franchise tag. The Cowboys are currently trying to negotiate an extension with Osa Odighizuwa, but if they can’t get a deal done by Tuesday, the team’s plan is to use the franchise tag on their star defensive lineman. If Odighizuwa plays on the tag, that means he’ll get a one-year deal worth a fully guaranteed $25.1 million. You can read more about his situation here. 
• Bengals free up $8 million in cap space. The Bengals released starting guard Alex Cappa on Monday in a move that frees up roughly $8 million in cap space. With the Bengals aiming to get new contracts done with Tee Higgins, Ja’Marr Chase and Trey Hendrickson, they need all the cap space they can get. This move comes just one day before the franchise tag deadline and opens up more cap room in the event that the Bengals are forced to tag Higgins, which will cost the team $26.1 million.