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      Some Dramatic Quarterback Successions Start at the N.F.L. Draft

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      If the draft last week revealed anything, it was that there’s no tactful way to replace a healthy starting quarterback.Replacing a franchise quarterback is not as simple as drafting his successor. It’s more like selecting the heir to the throne of some ancient empire: full of drama, intrigue, careful diplomacy and the constant threat of open rebellion.The teams that chose possible successors to established quarterbacks in the 2021 N.F.L. draft must all proceed with some degree of caution, knowing that one false move might plunge their kingdoms into a dark age.The Tampa Bay Buccaneers drafted a potential heir to 43-year-old Tom Brady in Kyle Trask of the University of Florida with the final pick of the second round. Brady does not like to be surrounded by reminders of his mortality, but Trask’s credentials are unassuming enough that the Buccaneers can pass him off as a lowly intern for the next few months, sparing him from banishment to the labyrinth beneath the TB12 compound.The New England Patriots wisely waited until Brady was gone for a year before drafting his likely successor: the 15th overall pick, Mac Jones, who led Alabama to the national championship last season. Cam Newton has helmed the Patriots in the interim like a distant noble cousin (the 11th Earl of Ascots) retrieved from the hinterlands to keep the throne warm.The Minnesota Vikings drafted Kellen Mond of Texas A&M as a possible replacement for Kirk Cousins with the second pick of the third round. Cousins hasn’t faced a challenger for his starting job for many years. Instead of trying to replace Cousins, employers typically cope with his brand of ordinary but overpriced play by paying him more and lowering their expectations.General Manager Rick Spielman played down Mond’s role as a challenger to Cousins after the selection. Quarterback succession ceremonies often begin with this type of ritualized, ego-soothing denial of the obvious.The Houston Texans used a third-round pick (their highest selection in the draft) on Stanford’s Davis Mills, a possible replacement for Deshaun Watson, who faces 22 civil suits alleging lewd and coercive sexual behavior, two of which also accuse him of sexual assault. He has denied the claims. Before those suits were filed, Watson was seeking a trade from the mismanaged, scuffling Texans, who signed Tyrod Taylor in case Watson held out.Under those tumultuous circumstances, Mills faces more of a potential starting crisis than a starting opportunity.Terrible teams usually don’t have to worry about delicate transfers of power. The top two picks in the draft, Trevor Lawrence of Clemson and Zach Wilson of Brigham Young are now the unquestioned starting quarterbacks of the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Jets. Trey Lance (North Dakota State) must only supplant Jimmy Garoppolo, who likely updated his LinkedIn profile in March when the San Francisco 49ers traded two future first-round picks for the third overall pick. The Chicago Bears selected Justin Fields of Ohio State with the 11th pick, leaving the journeymen Andy Dalton and Nick Foles to arm wrestle for the role of overpaid mentor.For a successful franchise, however, a bungled succession plan can result in disaster. The Green Bay Packers prematurely drafted Utah State’s Jordan Love as an eventual heir to Aaron Rodgers last year, when Rodgers expected that they would add a much-needed wide receiver. The rift between Rodgers, who is likely to be a future Hall of Famer, and the organization now appears irreconcilable. The Packers appear unwilling to trade Rodgers, though they did draft Clemson receiver Amari Rodgers in the third round, which seems like a belated apology: “See, we got you what you wanted, and we even had it engraved!”Aaron Rodgers’s situation illustrates why so many teams procrastinate instead of seeking an heir apparent for a distinguished veteran. The New Orleans Saints are in deep denial about Drew Brees’s recent retirement; the team’s fourth-round pick, Ian Book of Notre Dame, is less of a successor than a nonthreatening option who’ll make the dueling underqualified claimants Taysom Hill and Jameis Winston look good by comparison.Instead of a challenger to Matt Ryan, 35, the Atlanta Falcons drafted Florida tight end Kyle Pitts in their latest effort to resuscitate a Super Bowl opportunity that died on Feb. 5, 2017. The Pittsburgh Steelers are waiting for Ben Roethlisberger to crash before having the talk about surrendering his driver’s license.Even the most successful succession plans are rarely smooth: Joe Montana and Steve Young clashed for six years in San Francisco, and Rodgers learned the art of epic melodrama at the feet of Brett Favre. Most quarterback successions are more like Cousins-to-Mond than Montana-to-Young: not worth the hassle until necessary.The Giants were lucky when the Eli Manning-to-Daniel Jones transition was relatively smooth — at least in public — in 2019. With the rites of succession behind them, the Giants concentrated on adding potential impact players like wide receiver Kadarius Toney, defensive end Azeez Ojulari and cornerback Aaron Robinson instead in this year’s draft.And if those newcomers cannot help the Giants return to the playoffs, the team will start searching for Jones’s replacement next year. More

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      Tom Brady Charted a New Path. Aaron Rodgers Struggles to Do the Same.

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      When Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks like Brady, Rodgers and Russell Wilson grow frustrated with their teams, the nature of N.F.L. contracts makes it hard to scramble away. Brady ultimately succeeded by running out the clock.The final contract that Tom Brady signed in New England, in August 2019, contained a clever provision that prevented the Patriots from placing a franchise or transition tag on him, ensuring that, as he desired, Brady would become a free agent after the season.In this booming era for quarterbacks in the N.F.L., even average players are paid tens millions of dollars, to say nothing of stars like Brady, who got $22 million guaranteed in that deal. Five quarterbacks were taken in the first round of the draft Thursday night — including at the first three spots — as teams fervently aimed to build around personality and production at the most important position in American pro sports.Yet, as Aaron Rodgers is discovering, quarterbacks have little power, because this is the N.F.L. and not the N.B.A., where the best players, armed with guaranteed contracts, can prioritize winning over financial concerns. In the N.F.L., players who want to change teams are at the mercy of their contract structures and have barely a modicum of control over their careers.However disenchanted Brady became in New England — with the lack of receiving talent, with his diminishing power to influence personnel decisions — he did not air his grievances publicly. Done with the Patriots after two decades and six titles, Brady didn’t pout. He just left. His contract allowed him to do so.And in Tampa Bay, where Brady signed before the 2020 season, he found a better roster, a front office that valued his opinion and, in the end, a vindicating championship.Among the few to see Brady’s seventh Super Bowl win in person was the Seattle Seahawks’ Russell Wilson, who has become the N.F.L.’s most sacked quarterback across his first nine seasons since the league merged with the A.F.L. more than a half-century ago. Wilson must have noted that the 43-year-old Brady shredded Kansas City’s secondary from a clean pocket.Seven days after the game, Wilson told the news media that he wanted a larger voice in Seattle’s personnel decisions. His agent also let it be known that there were four teams that Wilson would agree to be traded to — without actually, you know, demanding a trade.Even before losing to Brady and the Buccaneers in last season’s N.F.C. championship game, Rodgers called his future in Green Bay “a beautiful mystery.”Mark Lomoglio/Associated PressThis week, reports of Aaron Rodgers’s dissatisfaction with management detonated in the frenetic hours before the draft. His veiled refusal to play for Green Bay again was swatted down just hours after reports of it surfaced. The team’s general manager, Brian Gutekunst, avowed that Rodgers would not be traded. Rodgers and the Packers, it should be noted, lost to Brady and the Buccaneers in the N.F.C. title game in January.That the news of Rodgers’s discontent broke when it did suggested a calculated disruption by one of the league’s most calculating disrupters, an attempt by the quarterback’s camp to embarrass the Packers just as they embarrassed him on draft night last year. That was when they traded up to draft a quarterback, Jordan Love, without communicating their intentions to Rodgers, who then had four years left on his contract.Either way, the Packers’ clunky handling of the situation and long-term draft strategy antagonized Rodgers. Craving vengeance, he had the best season of his career.Rodgers tends to choose his words with the precision of a safecracker, and he sprinkled cryptic hints about his feelings in various interviews. To wit, he acknowledged his tenuous relationship with the team a few days before losing the conference title game, calling his future “a beautiful mystery.”And that was before Packers Coach Matt LaFleur made the confounding decision to attempt a close field goal, while down by 8 points late in the game, instead of trusting Rodgers to throw a tying touchdown.Both Rodgers and Wilson have publicly broached the possibility of divorce from their teams, sending implicit “make me happy or I’ll ask out” threats. But neither Green Bay nor Seattle is incentivized to do anything beyond listen to its quarterback’s gripes and try to improve the overall quality of the roster.Rodgers was surprised, and miffed, when the Packers traded up to pick quarterback Jordan Love, left, in the 2020 N.F.L. draft.Morry Gash/Associated PressRodgers, 37, is contractually tied to the Packers through 2023. His only options in the wake of that draft-day report are toothless: He can skip mandatory minicamp in June or training camp in July, and he can remain absent once the season starts. But by holding out or even retiring, Rodgers would accrue fines and even, perhaps, lose some bonus money he is still owed. Rumor has it “Jeopardy!” is looking for a full-time host.Considering the more palatable salary-cap charges Green Bay would incur if it traded Rodgers next year — $17.2 million, according to Jason Fitzgerald of the website Over the Cap — it’s far more likely that the Packers, when they drafted Love, were envisioning parting with Rodgers before the 2022 season. Rodgers has reportedly declined an extension.“There’s pride involved, it’s personal and there’s money,” said the longtime N.F.L. executive Randy Mueller, who served as general manager in Miami and New Orleans. “You’re talking about three ingredients that are like kerosene.”Before allegations of sexual misconduct by Deshaun Watson surfaced in lawsuits, the Texans’ quarterback harbored similar disenchantment with his team. Incensed by Houston’s front-office dysfunction and roster mismanagement, and coming off a 2020 season in which he led the league in passing yards, Watson insisted that he would never play for Houston again.Watson had a no-trade clause negotiated into the four-year extension he signed in September 2020, giving him sway over where he would play next, but the Texans also had leverage: They signed Tyrod Taylor in March, setting up a scenario in which the team could let Watson sit out the full 2021 season, perhaps longer, while fining him millions of dollars for missed time. Russell Wilson has been sacked more times in his first nine N.F.L. seasons than any other quarterback since the league merged with the A.F.L.  Stephen Brashear/Associated PressAt one point not long ago, Brady and Rodgers each envisioned spending his entire career in one place, playing into his 40s with the team that drafted him. But circumstances changed. The Packers drafted Love; Bill Belichick — the Patriots’ coach, general manager and jury — stared his quarterback down. So Brady moved south to win with a team that valued his input.“Everybody wants to be Brady,” said Marc Ross, a longtime personnel executive with the Giants and the Eagles. “To try to compare what he does and the things that he’s accomplished and the maneuvers that he can make, he’s just really one of a kind.”The Packers, like the Texans, had already solved one of the biggest team-building conundrums in professional sports. If the most precious commodity in the N.F.L. is a star quarterback, the hardest task is finding one — and team owners didn’t get to be as rich as they are by always treating commodities like people. More

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      The Giants Traded Back in the Draft and, Some Say, Well

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      Some fans scratched their heads at Dave Gettleman’s decision to trade back in the draft for the first time. But scooping receiver Kadarius Toney at No. 20 and getting draft assets was no fleecing.When the Giants finally chose Kadarius Toney, a wide receiver from the University of Florida, with the 20th pick in the N.F.L. draft, the team’s fans in Cleveland took a good 10 seconds to start a slow clap, mouthing undecipherable questions beneath their masks.It was probably the best reaction that Giants General Manager Dave Gettleman could have hoped for after several seasons of fans calling for his resignation at previous drafts.Gettleman traded down from the 11th pick, in exchange for Chicago’s spot at 20th, a fifth-round pick in this year’s draft and first- and fourth-round selections next year, a haul that should help him add talent for the future.Gettleman swallowed his words on trading back — a move he has never made in eight prior drafts as a general manager. Just last week he told reporters that he would refuse to do so because of the chance of “getting fleeced.”“So,” he said with a laugh after Thursday’s first round in a video call with reporters, “we made a trade back. Obviously it was too good an opportunity. It added too much value, and we felt very comfortable with where our board was, and we felt comfortable with who would be there, who would be available in that slot. So we made it.”Gettleman admitted that he was hoping for more quarterbacks to go early Thursday to open up Jaylen Waddle or DeVonta Smith, wide receivers out of Alabama who were taken by Miami at No. 6 and Philadelphia at No. 10. Once Philadelphia traded up to the 10th pick, Gettleman, who said he was in talks over the past week with Chicago’s general manager Ryan Pace, made the deal for the Bears to move up to land Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields.Though Toney did not receive the warmest initial welcome from in-person fans, he offers the Giants a versatile weapon on offense, having transitioned from quarterback in high school to a wide receiver by the end of his college career.“I really feel like it helped me as far as learning plays, learning the offense, seeing things and defenses, and recognizing coverages on the run and on the move,” Toney told reporters after his selection, adding that he also spent time at running back. “I think it helped a lot in my game.”Toney, who has been touted for his ability to make plays inside and out, had 70 receptions for 984 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2020. In a pandemic-altered selection process, N.F.L. talent evaluators have relied on rewatching tape, videoconference interviews and socially distanced workouts on college campuses. The Giants met Toney in person at the Senior Bowl in January, which aided in their decision, said Chris Pettit, the team’s director of college scouting.Since Gettleman took over as the Giants’ general manager in December of 2017, the franchise has gone 15-33: three seasons with double-digit losses. In 2020 under rookie head coach Joe Judge, the team finished with a 6-10 record and contended for its first postseason berth since 2016, because of the weakness of the N.F.C. East division.In 2018, Gettleman selected at No. 2 Saquon Barkley, who was sidelined in Week 2 last season with an anterior cruciate ligament tear. The team announced Wednesday that it had picked up Barkley’s fifth-year option. In 2019, the G.M. took with the sixth overall pick the current starter at quarterback, Daniel Jones, who has slowly improved his accuracy after taking over for the two-time Super Bowl winner Eli Manning.That year Gettleman also drafted Dexter Lawrence and Deandre Baker, who was waived in September 2020, in the first round. Last year, the Giants chose offensive tackle Andrew Thomas, who started 15 games this year.Perhaps under less scrutiny and still feeling the afterglow of its first A.F.C. championship appearance since 1993, Buffalo (13-3 in 2020) added defensive end Gregory Rousseau from Miami at No. 30. The Bills have incumbent starters at defensive end, Jerry Hughes and Mario Addison, and can take time developing the 21-year-old Rousseau, who was named the A.C.C.’s defensive rookie of the year as a redshirt freshman in 2019. That year, he had 15.5 sacks — second only to Chase Young’s 16.5 — and won all-conference honors. He was one of many players who opted out of the 2020 college football season amid the pandemic.“I feel like I really rely on my motor a lot but I’m also going to just keep getting my technique better, and I’m going to just be the best player I can be,” Rousseau told reporters after his selection. “I’m ready to earn the respect of my teammates, my peers, my coaches and everybody in Buffalo — even the fans.”The Jets also traded up for their second pick in the first round after selecting quarterback Zach Wilson second over all. At No. 14, they gathered Alijah Vera-Tucker, an offensive guard from the University of Southern California, as the team hopes to rebrand its line under new head coach Robert Saleh. They had already traded former starting quarterback Sam Darnold to the Carolina Panthers earlier this month. More

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      As Underclassmen Flood the N.F.L. Draft, Landing Places Dry Up

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      Since the league began allowing underclassmen to enter the draft in 1990, the number who do so has ballooned more than threefold. There are fewer options for those who go undrafted.Clifton Duck may watch a bit of the N.F.L. draft this weekend, as he has in previous years. But he may not. “It’s everyone’s dream to go to the draft on TV,” he said. “But it’s a long, uncontrolled process, and you can’t determine what happens.”For Duck, the dream of playing in the N.F.L. has so far eluded him. Despite his size at 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds, Duck had been named an all-conference defensive back at Appalachian State each of his three seasons. But when the team’s coach left to take over the Louisville program, taking a number of the staff with him, Duck figured he’d enter the 2019 draft.Duck didn’t seek a lot of advice about his pro potential, essentially betting on himself to impress N.F.L. personnel. “Whatever team or camp I went to, I knew I was going to produce,” he said.Duck, like an increasing number of underclassmen who leave college early, wasn’t drafted. He signed a free-agent contract with the Chicago Bears in May 2019 and had a solid camp, including an interception and 62-yard runback in a preseason game against the Giants. Still, he was cut.He returned home to his parents’ house in Charlotte, N.C., and since then, Duck has been taking online classes at Appalachian State to complete his communications degree (he’s one semester short), working out, coaching at his old high school and working the night shift at CarMax. The 2020 Canadian Football League season was canceled, but he was contacted by a local scout for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, so he is now preparing for their July training camp. If that goes well, who knows? For Duck, the N.F.L. dream still lives.Clifton Duck made a highlight play during the preseason for the Bears but was still cut. “You just go back to square one and keep putting in the work,” he said.Steven Ryan/Getty Images“You just go back to square one and keep putting in the work.”In the 31 years since the N.F.L. began allowing underclassmen to declare for the draft, the number who do so every year has ballooned more than threefold, while the available jobs have not.In 1990, 28 underclassmen declared for the draft, and some cashed in: Five were among the first 10 picks. Ten, however, were not drafted.Starting in 2014, the total number of underclassmen who declared early and had not graduated began nearing or exceeding 100. More underclassmen are being drafted, but those going undrafted jumped, too, topping 20 most years. This year, 98 underclassmen who have not graduated declared for the draft.More Underclassmen Taking N.F.L. LeapThe number of underclassmen declaring for the N.F.L. draft has roughly doubled over the past decade. At least 20 of them have gone undrafted in all but one of the past nine years.

      Note: Ninety-eight underclassmen have declared for the 2021 N.F.L. draft.Source: N.F.L.The New York TimesWhile the N.C.A.A. addressed the swell of early entrants for the N.B.A. draft with a 2018 rule change that allows players to return to college before a deadline if they haven’t signed with an agent, college football is considering no such change.Unlike in basketball, where undrafted players can hope to catch on with the G-League or pro teams in Europe and China, or baseball, which boasts 120 minor league clubs, in football the options are slim.“There’s no alternative. There’s no option where I can go play in Lithuania,” Alabama Coach Nick Saban told The Athletic in 2018.There are only 53 active players per N.F.L. team. There will be 259 slots in this year’s draft, including compensatory picks, and 98 underclassmen have been added to the pool by declaring early. An N.C.A.A. study of the 2019 draft showed that just 6.8 percent of eligible Football Bowl Subdivision players were taken.“The N.F.L. is a private entity with a business model that’s been successful,” said UConn Coach Randy Edsall, who has also worked for N.F.L. teams. “If a young man is going to come out early, he better make sure he’s done his due diligence. If you declare, then understand what the ramifications are. You have to live with that decision.”The N.F.L. declined to comment for this article but referred to the “College Player Development” section of its website, where the mission of the league’s College Advisory Committee is outlined. “The board evaluates up to five underclassmen from each school, though evaluations for additional players are considered on a case-by-case basis,” the website said. “Limiting the number of players the committee evaluates allows the scouts to focus on those players with a realistic chance and provide more accurate projections.”Many players don’t seek the committee’s advice, or ignore it. Axios reported that during the 2016 and 2017 drafts, 80 underclassmen who were advised by the committee to stay in school declared early anyway.Williams awaited interviews during the N.F.L. Scouting Combine in 2019, but went undrafted. “I felt I’d just leave and take my chances,” he said of his decision to leave Washington State early.Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesAs the number of early entrants has grown, so has discussion of changes — but there’s been little sign of consensus. The N.C.A.A. did not respond to requests for comment.Saban and the former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer, who now coaches the Jacksonville Jaguars, have discussed some of these proposals with N.F.L. representatives, but brokering a solution between two bureaucracies like the N.C.A.A. and the N.F.L. will likely be a glacial process.One popular proposal is for the N.F.L. to adopt a system similar to the N.B.A.’s model. Underclassmen who don’t sign with an agent can attend a pre-draft combine — this year in June — and receive feedback, maintaining college eligibility if they withdraw from the N.B.A. draft by July. But in football underclassmen must declare for the N.F.L. draft in January, before the scouting combine, which is traditionally held in the spring.Rick Neuheisel, a CBS Sports commentator and former college coach, argued that even after the draft any player who isn’t chosen should be able to return to school.“Why do we make them walk the plank?” he asked.Other suggestions include expanding N.F.L. practice squads, creating a developmental league like basketball’s G-League or handing out Advisory Committee assessments earlier.But the solutions are complicated too. Colleges would have prepared in spring practice for a roster that doesn’t include the early entrants, and a new recruiting class addressing the anticipated roster gaps would have been signed in February; college roster management would be scrambled.It’s too late for any of those proposals to be of use to James Williams. He gained 3,090 all-purpose yards in three years as a running back at Washington State, and declared following his junior year in 2018. Williams’s position coach had departed before that season, and Williams didn’t connect as well with the replacement; a freshman back began eating into Williams’s playing time. He and his girlfriend had a baby that December.Williams worked out on Tuesday to stay in shape to play the upcoming season with the C.F.L.’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Pete Caster for The New York TimesThe College Advisory Committee counseled him to stay in school, telling him that he lacked the size and speed for the pros, but he figured Washington State’s pass-oriented scheme and competition at his position would be obstacles.“If I went back, how much better would I have been?” he asked. “I felt I’d just leave and take my chances.”On the draft’s third day, when the final three rounds were being selected, there was a party for him at a Los Angeles-area restaurant.“But as they got to the last 20 picks, I started panicking,” he said.Williams wasn’t drafted. What followed was a free-agent contract with Kansas City and tryouts with Washington, Green Bay, Indianapolis, New England and Detroit, where he played in one exhibition game.But he didn’t stick. So Williams signed a contract with the C.F.L.’s Blue Bombers. Meantime, he’s living with his fiancée’s parents in Lewiston, Idaho, training high schoolers and working as a personal trainer; he is a semester short of a degree in humanities.“My life’s been dedicated to football for 21 years, but I don’t want to just rely on football,” Williams said. “If it doesn’t work out, that’s a message to find something else I’m passionate about.”Williams with his family after a long day of work as a personal trainer.Pete Caster for The New York Times More

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      2021 N.F.L. Draft: What to Look for on Day 2 and Day 3

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      A complete guide to the remainder of the N.F.L. draft, with rounds two through seven.The first round of the N.F.L. draft commands much of the attention, and rightly so.But the second and third rounds can be just as important because teams often find valuable players who were not among the first 32 picks.And don’t ignore the later rounds, either. Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady, owner of seven Super Bowl rings, was drafted by New England in the sixth round in 2000. Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, who signed a four-year, $160-million contract this off-season, was drafted in the fourth round in 2016.Below is a complete guide to understanding the rest of the 2021 N.F.L. draft.How do I watch it?The second and third rounds start Friday at 7 p.m. Eastern time. The final four rounds will start Saturday at noon. ABC, ESPN and NFL Network will continue to broadcast the event.Who has the most picks?The Philadelphia Eagles entered Thursday holding 11 draft picks, the most in the league, with but traded a third-round pick to end up with 10 total selections — nine on Friday and Saturday. Jacksonville, Miami and Kansas City will be very active early on Day 2, as each has two second-round picks.The Seattle Seahawks have a league-low three picks remaining — one in the second round, one in the fourth, and one in the seventh.What positions will be up for grabs after the first round?Expect to see a lot of running backs and defensive players taken, because there are plenty of options.With the Pittsburgh Steelers selecting Najee Harris and Jacksonville picking Travis Etienne, some of the best running backs remaining include North Carolina’s Javonte Williams, Ohio State’s Trey Sermon and Oklahoma’s Rhamondre Stevenson.Teams started taking defensive players toward the middle of the first round, but some talented prospects still remain on the board. They include Texas Christian safety Trevon Moehrig, Alabama defensive tackle Christian Barmore and Florida State cornerback Asante Samuel Jr.Regardless of position, some of the best available players include Notre Dame linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Mississippi receiver Elijah Moore and Oklahoma State offensive tackle Tevin Jenkins.Which teams will own the rest of the draft?Kansas City, along with the Houston Texans, the Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams, did not pick in the first round. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.While the first round was full of potential talent, some general managers use those draft picks as currency to acquire proven stars.Look no further than the Rams, who for five consecutive years have not participated in Day 1 draft festivities because they traded out of the first round. After trading quarterback Jared Goff and two future first-round draft picks to the Detroit Lions for Matthew Stafford this off-season, the Rams are not slated to make a first-round selection until 2024.And in 2019, General Manager Les Snead used two first-round picks in a deal with Jacksonville to acquire cornerback Jalen Ramsey, arguably the best player at his position. In 2020, the Seahawks followed a similar model by sending two first-round picks to the Jets for the star safety Jamal Adams.When asked about the steep price of trading two future first-round picks to Miami for this year’s third overall selection, which the 49ers used on quarterback Trey Lance of North Dakota State, San Francisco 49ers Coach Kyle Shanahan referenced the Rams and the Seahawks, fellow members of the N.F.C. West.“I think those decisions were awesome for their teams, and I hate playing against them because of it,” he said. More

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      Round 1 NFL Draft Order and Picks: Here Are the Results

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      1. Jacksonville Jaguars — Trevor Lawrence (quarterback, Clemson)2. New York Jets — Zach Wilson (quarterback, Brigham Young)3. San Francisco 49ers — Trey Lance (quarterback, North Dakota State)4. Atlanta Falcons — Kyle Pitts (tight end, Florida)5. Cincinnati Bengals — Ja’Marr Chase (wide receiver, Louisiana State)6. Miami Dolphins — Jaylen Waddle (wide receiver, Alabama)7. Detroit Lions — Penei Sewell (offensive tackle, Oregon)8. Carolina Panthers — Jaycee Horn (cornerback, South Carolina)9. Denver Broncos — Patrick Surtain II (cornerback, Alabama)10. Philadelphia Eagles (from Dallas Cowboys) — DeVonta Smith (wide receiver, Alabama)11. Chicago Bears (from New York Giants) — Justin Fields (quarterback, Ohio State)12. Dallas Cowboys (from Eagles) — Micah Parsons (linebacker, Penn State)13. Los Angeles Chargers — Rashawn Slater (offensive tackle, Northwestern)14. New York Jets (from Minnesota Vikings) — Alijah Vera-Tucker (guard, Southern California)15. New England Patriots — Mac Jones (quarterback, Alabama)16. Arizona Cardinals — Zaven Collins (linebacker, Tulsa)17. Las Vegas Raiders — Alex Leatherwood (offensive tackle, Alabama)18. Miami Dolphins — Jaelan Phillips (edge rusher, Miami of Florida)19. Washington Football Team — Jamin Davis (linebacker, Kentucky)20. New York Giants (from Bears) — Kadarius Toney (wide receiver, Florida)21. Indianapolis Colts22. Tennessee Titans23. Minnesota Vikings (from Jets)24. Pittsburgh Steelers25. Jacksonville Jaguars26. Cleveland Browns27. Baltimore Ravens28. New Orleans Saints29. Green Bay Packers30. Buffalo Bills31. Baltimore Ravens32. Tampa Bay Buccaneers More

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      A Brief History of the Jets’ Quarterback Failures

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      The Jets Try to Find a Quarterback … AgainBen ShpigelReporting on the N.F.L. Draft ��Larry C. Morris/The New York TimesTo succeed Namath, the Jets drafted Richard Todd, the first of six QBs they’ve since taken in the first round. Number of Pro Bowls among them? Two, by Ken O’Brien, who was taken three spots ahead of Dan Marino. Dan Marino! More

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      Philadelphia Eagles G.M. Howie Roseman On Team’s Next Steps

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      Philadelphia’s general manager has come under fire in recent years for Carson Wentz’s contract, the team’s post-Super Bowl slide and reports of dysfunction in the front office.Nick Foles. The Philly Special. The Lombardi Trophy parading down Broad Street.The giddy memories from the Philadelphia Eagles’ first Super Bowl victory after the 2017 season have faded dramatically for the team’s famously vocal fans, who have fallen into despair over the rapid descent since.After squeaking into the N.F.L. playoffs in 2018 and 2019, the Eagles, through a combination of injuries and bad play, went into free fall last season, finishing with a 4-11-1 record. The architects of the championship run were rewarded: Quarterback Carson Wentz signed a second contract reportedly worth $128 million over four years (with about two-thirds of it guaranteed), while Coach Doug Pederson and General Manager Howie Roseman got contract extensions. But Pederson was fired after last season and the oft-injured Wentz, once thought to be the franchise’s future, was traded to the Colts in March.Roseman, who has been general manager for every season but one since 2010, now must find a way out of the morass for the Eagles in a year when the salary cap was cut 8 percent leaguewide. The Eagles’ current contracts also put them near the bottom of the league in money available for new player signings. Roseman, in two interviews, spoke with The New York Times about the franchise’s uphill climb ahead of the 2021 draft that starts Thursday, where the Eagles hold 11 total picks.The interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.There are still restrictions on meeting potential draft picks. For example, you met Carson Wentz four times before you picked him. This year, you would have had no face-to-face meetings. How have you adapted?Roseman: I think that that’s where the value of our scouting is even more important than ever, because these guys have really studied these players and talked to their sources since they came into college. Now it’s different because of the pandemic. But they have these backgrounds on these guys starting the year before they come out and they are underclassmen. And so you’re really relying on them and who are the leaders of the team. The background and character is such a big part of what we do in a normal year, but even more integral when you’re talking about this kind of process.You helped rebuild the Eagles after their last downturn in 2015 and 2016. How is the process different this time?We’ve been in situations before where we might not have as many assets as we do the next two years. We’re excited about that. We climbed the mountain once, we’ll climb it again.Why did you move on from Carson Wentz after making so much effort to draft him and sign him to a contract extension?When we looked at the whole picture going forward and being able to not only get the draft picks, but also get close to $50 million in cap relief, we felt like it was a win-win for us, the player and the Colts. And those are the best trades.What should Eagles fans take away from the trade that sent Wentz to Indianapolis (for a third-round pick this year and a conditional second-round pick next year)?Because we have so many picks over the next two years, it gives us the flexibility to not only move up and down the draft board, to target some guys, but also if there is an opportunity in the trade market at a particular position, to go get that guy, especially when we look at the cap and how the cap got reduced because of the pandemic.Was it anything specific about Wentz that led you to move on?I don’t know that we can point to one factor. I think that it was a variety of factors that led us to this, including his desire for a fresh start.Does this mean Jalen Hurts is your new franchise quarterback?This is one of those games that when you take just a small period of time, you can’t evaluate any player just on potential. So for any young player, including Jalen, he has to stack days on days to continue improving and work at his craft.Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts celebrated a touchdown during a game against the Washington Football Team last January.Chris Szagola/Associated PressWhat’s been the hardest aspect of the salary cap being cut by 8 percent, particularly when you have so little cap space on your roster?This is the first year that I can remember that we were really forced to be more conservative in terms of opportunities. We are balancing that with the knowledge that we have a lot of draft picks going forward that will allow us to get a lot of young players onto the roster.What do you think when you hear criticism that you’re not doing enough or the players aren’t doing enough or the coaches aren’t doing enough?We’re not looking at this like, you know, let’s see how long that we can struggle. We’re looking to turn this around as quickly as possible, and we feel like we’ve done that. You talked about the transition from Coach [Andy] Reid and Coach [Chip] Kelly came in, and we won 20 games the next two years. Coach Pederson came, we won seven and then we won 35 the next three years. And so that’s our goal, and accumulating assets is a way to make us better quicker — it’s not to sit here and just see how long it takes to get back on top.Some reports have described dysfunctional communication in the team’s front office last year. Are those descriptions fair?Last year with the pandemic was a unique year in terms of communication for everyone. But at the same time, if we didn’t have a team that worked together, then we wouldn’t have had the success that we had in the past when we dealt with adversity, whether it was coming back in 2016, getting a whole new group and winning a championship in our second year, or in 2018 and 2019, with the starts we had, finishing strong one year and making a strong run in the playoffs and the other year winning the division. More