Limited Market For QB Sam Darnold?
After a career year on a one-year, prove-it contract, there was a bit of an expectation that Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold had done an impressive bit of work to improve his contract outlook for 2025. The way the 2025 offseason has been developing, though, it’s looking like it might be a bit of a challenge for Darnold to make the most of his upward momentum, per Ben Volin of the Boston Globe. 
It almost seemed like the NFL had given up on Darnold as a starter in the league. After showing promise winning seven of 13 starts in a sophomore campaign for the Jets, any hopes were dashed when he went 2-10as a starter the next year. The Panthers gave New York some decent value in a trade just to see Darnold go 4-7 in his first year with the team and be relegated to the bench the following season.
As a free agent in 2023, Darnold signed with the 49ers having to win the backup quarterback job behind Brock Purdy over Trey Lance. After winning the backup job, he made one start in 10 appearances, getting the lowest playtime of his career.
Despite having just spent a year as a backup, Darnold signed a one-year, $10MM deal with the Vikings, who were moving on from long-time passer Kirk Cousins and drafting the College Football National Championship-winning quarterback J.J. McCarthy from Michigan. Signing Darnold gave them a backup option in case McCarthy was not quite ready to take the reins as a rookie. His extensive experience as a starter made him a valuable option to compete for the starting job with the 21-year-old, an option who could also serve as a strong backup should the rookie win the job.
That competition was cut short, though, when McCarthy suffered a meniscus injury that required a full repair surgery, forcing him to miss his entire rookie season. Darnold stepped into the starting role and led the Vikings to competition for the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC with a 14-3 record, recording career highs in passing yards (4,319) and touchdowns (35) while only throwing 12 picks. Darnold and the Vikings became the surprise of the season, and the expectation was that his value as a free agent would skyrocket as a result.
Understandably, it was potential trade target Matthew Stafford in Los Angeles that drew the most attention from teams desiring to acquire a veteran quarterback in the offseason. Now that he’s remaining with the Rams, Darnold has become the new top option. The Raiders are a team that were trying hard for Stafford, but multiple sources at The Athletic claim that they were only willing to shell out serious cash for Stafford.
After the Raiders, it’s hard to imagine anyone wanting to spend serious money on the position. The Vikings have explored tagging options, but they’re extremely prepared to hand the team over to McCarthy and won’t likely be willing to dedicate much salary to Darnold to return. The Browns are already stuck paying $92MM over the next two years to continue watching Deshaun Watson not play. The Saints are sticking with Derek Carr. The Jets and Giants are theoretically options, but per Volin, it doesn’t seem like Darnold is interested in reuniting with New York and MetLife.
Tennessee seems like one of the best options to explore his value. The Titans seem to have interest in riding the Will Levis train for a bit longer, and Darnold might be a pricey bridge option. Tennessee could also use their No. 1 overall draft pick on a quarterback and, once again, use Darnold as a competitor for their rookie. Or, if pairing Darnold with Levis satisfies their needs, they could trade out of the top spot, acquiring additional draft capital while likely still being able to draft a talented first-rounder.
The best option may just be to return to Minnesota, though. The Vikings have already made it known they’re not willing to commit to a big-money, long-term deal, but he knows he fits well in the building and remains as a starting option if McCarthy struggles early. It’s disappointing that Darnold’s big year may not get rewarded in the way many expected, but he still has some interesting options to make the most of his situation.
49ers Announce Finalized 2025 Coaching Staff
The annual poaching of the 49ers coaching staff happened again this offseason, and San Francisco has done some hiring and shuffling to fill out the vacancies. Here’s how Kyle Shanahan‘s staff will look in 2025, based on their finalized announcement of staff updates. 
Most of the changes on staff came on offense where we’ve already reported that Klay Kubiak and Mick Lombardi were promoted into roles as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, respectively. Additional promotions were granted to wide receivers coach Leonard Hankerson, who adds passing game specialist to his title, offensive line coach Chris Foerster, who exchanged the additional title of run game coordinator for assistant head coach of offense, and Andrew Hayes-Stoker, who will serve as offensive assistant/wide receivers coach after two years as defensive quality control and two years as assistant defensive backs coach. We also see title changes for assistant offensive line coach Joe Graves, who will now serve as offensive assistant/quarterbacks coach, and Jacob Webster, who will switch from defensive quality control to offensive quality control.
The defense saw fewer changes as the team made a pretty simple transition at coordinator from Nick Sorensen to a familiar face in Robert Saleh. With Saleh returning to the post, most of the position coaches remained the same, though we did already report the hiring of Ray Brown as defensive backs/cornerbacks coach. We were also already aware of the hiring of Gus Bradley to the staff in some role, but the team’s recent announcement informs us that Bradley will mirror Foerster’s role as assistant head coach of defense.
Additional updates to the defensive staff saw the hirings of Greg Scruggs as assistant defensive line coach and Jake Lynch as defensive quality control coach. Scruggs comes to San Francisco two years removed from his last job as defensive line coach at Wisconsin. Prior to that, he had one year of experience as assistant defensive line coach for the Jets in 2022 and two years of experience as defensive line coach at the University of Cincinnati. Lynch, the son of president of football operations/general manager John Lynch, joins the staff after a year at the University of Washington as a defensive graduate assistant, a role he held following the end of his playing career as a linebacker at Stanford.
On special teams, we knew that Brant Boyer had stepped in as the new special teams coordinator, replacing Brian Schneider. The recent staff announcement disclosed the rest of the special teams staff, as well, including assistant special teams coach Colt Anderson and special teams quality control coach Ronald Blair. Anderson joins the staff after spending only one year as the Titans special teams coordinator last year. Prior to that, he spent four seasons as assistant special teams coach for the Bengals. Blair was a Bill Walsh NFL Diversity Coaching Fellow working with the defensive line last year but will work on special teams in his second season with the team.
Lastly, the team announced that Patrick Hagedorn, who had started with the team as assistant to the coaching staff in 2017 and became assistant to the head coach in 2021, has been promoted to chief of staff.
With that staff, the 49ers will head into the 2025 NFL season. After an injury-riddled, disappointing 2024 campaign, Shanahan and company are sure to head into the next season with a renewed drive to get back to the Super Bowl for the third time in seven years.
NFL Staff Rumors: Livingston, Patriots, Titans
Robert Livingston has a long history in the NFL, all with the Bengals. He spent his first season away from the NFL since 2011 last year, and he was very close to returning, per Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated.
After his playing career as a safety at William & Mary ended in 2009, Livingston immediately turned to coaching, starting as the safeties coach at Furman in 2010. He spent the next season as a defensive quality control coach at Vanderbilt before heading to Cincinnati.
He started with the Bengals as a scout, holding the role for three years before making his way onto the coaching staff as defensive quality control. It only took one season for him to get promoted to safeties coach in Cincinnati, a role he held for eight years. Last year, he departed in order to accept his first defensive coordinator role under Deion Sanders in Boulder.
After leading the Buffaloes to rank 50th in total defense and 42nd in scoring defense, Livingston reportedly interviewed for the coordinator job under new head coach Kellen Moore in New Orleans. Breer tells us that, though he didn’t get the job, Livingston “made a real impression” on the Saints, giving Moore plenty to consider before he eventually selected Brandon Staley for the job. This bodes well for a potential return to the NFL as a coordinator for Livingston in the future.
Here are a couple other staff rumors from around the NFL:
- Patriots director of pro personnel Pat Stewart has departed from the NFL to accept a general manager position with the University of Nebraska, per Pete Thamel of ESPN. Per Thamel’s colleague at ESPN, Mike Reiss, Sam Fioroni, last year’s assistant director of pro personnel for New England, could be a top candidate to fill the new vacancy.
- Lastly, Dylan Autenrieth will make the in-state move from Vanderbilt to the Titans. The former assistant offensive line coach for the Commodores announced on his X account that he had been hired to a defensive quality control coaching role for Tennessee, making his NFL coaching debut.
NFC Staff Updates: Loeffler, Packers, Bears
The Super Bowl champion Eagles have brought on a former collegiate staffer to help fill out their pillaged coaching staff.
After watching quarterbacks coach Doug Nussmeier follow offensive coordinator Kellen Moore to New Orleans, Philadelphia has brought in Scot Loeffler to fill Nussmeier’s old position. The report came from Bowling Green State University, where Loeffler had spent the past six years as head coach of the Falcons. His overall record with the team was 27-41, though he appeared to lead the team in the right direction, securing berths in three straight bowl games before his departure.
Loeffler took a passing offensive that typically ranked in the 120’s out of 134 collegiate teams and helped them to finish as the 48th-best passing offense in the FBS this season.
Here are couple other staff updates from around the NFC:
- The Packers will lose coaching assistant Myles White to the collegiate ranks, according to ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg. White, who joined the team just last year after roles as wide receivers coach at Stephen F. Austin and Miami (OH), will return to college coaching as the pass game coordinator/wide receivers coach for the Orange at Syracuse.
- Lastly, in front office news, Matt Feinstein was named the new vice president of football administration for the Bears. His appointment comes via promotion after Feinstein spent the past three years as director of football administration for Chicago. Before his time with the Bears, Feinstein spent seven years on the NFL’s Management Council, serving part of that time as a director within labor relations. The Management Council serves as the league’s primary council of governance.
Texans Announce Finalized 2025 Coaching Staff
The Texans switched things up this offseason when they fired offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik following a sophomore slump calling the offense for C.J. Stroud and company in Houston. Despite changing coordinators, most of the staff remains the same heading into 2025, according to the team’s finalized coaching staff announcement. 
We already reported on Slowik’s replacement, Nick Caley, taking over as offensive coordinator, as well as the promotion of assistant offensive line coach Cole Popovich to replace Chris Strausser as offensive line coach with the added title of run game coordinator. We also reported already on the hiring of Jerry Schuplinski, who followed Caley from the Rams, though now we know his title to be senior offensive assistant/pass game specialist.
The new updates from the announcement tell us that Patrick Reilly has come over from the division-rival Jaguars, where he served as a defensive quality control and assistant linebackers coach, to be an offensive assistant for the team. Asauni Rufus has been hired into the same role after some time as an offensive quality control coach for the 49ers.
On defense, we already reported on Frank Okam joining the team as assistant defensive line coach, replacing Nate Ollie, who left to become the defensive line coach of the Falcons. The only other updates on the defensive staff saw Ben Bolling get promoted from defensive assistant to assistant linebackers coach and Sean Baker add “special teams” to his title of special teams/defensive assistant. Lastly, Cole Weeks, who recently worked at Troy University as an offensive assistant coach, was hired as a defensive assistant in Houston, as well.
With this staff, many of which are holdovers from 2024, DeMeco Ryans will hope to lead his team to another playoff berth. With another year of development for Stroud under a new play caller, they will hope to advance further in the postseason and establish themselves among the other AFC powers.
Mutual Interest In Extension For Jets LB Jamien Sherwood
The Jets were expected to have a strong couple of linebackers with C.J. Mosley and Quincy Williams leading the group in 2024 before Mosley got knocked out for most of the year as he dealt with a herniated disk in his neck. With Mosley out for an extended period, New York got a surprise strong contribution from fourth-year linebacker Jamien Sherwood, whose performance in a contract-year could pay big dividends, per Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic. 
Despite signing an extension almost a year ago, Mosley is now expected to be released by the Jets sometime this offseason. Mosley’s extended absence in 2024 was the third time he had missed most of a season in New York since signing with the Jets in 2019. If the team moves on from Mosley, as expected, Sherwood’s career-year could have been a successful audition to replace Mosley for good.
Sherwood’s first three years in the league were relatively quiet. A torn Achilles tendon cut the fifth-round pick’s rookie season short after he started four of the first six games that year. Despite showing that starting potential, Sherwood didn’t make a single start in any of the 17 games he appeared in the following year. He returned to the starting lineup three times in 2023.
After entering the year slotted as a backup to Mosley once again, Sherwood ended up starting 16 of the team’s 17 games. While notching career highs in most statistics, Sherwood recorded an impressive 10 tackles for loss while leading the league in solo tackles (98) and tying for third in the league in total tackles (158).
The analytics were impressed with the 25-year-old, as well. After his first full season as a starter, Pro Football Focus (subscription required) ranked Sherwood as the league’s 18th-best linebacker. He’d had favorable analytics in 2022 and 2023, as well, but he didn’t log enough playing time to rank among the linebackers who did in those years.
With Sherwood’s rookie contract expiring, he’s bound for free agency, and after a career year, he’s well-positioned for a strong second contract. Rosenblatt said as much on the Flight Plan Podcast, claiming that Sherwood should expect “a pretty big contract for a linebacker.” Rosenblatt later added that he was hearing about interest from both sides in reaching a new deal with the Jets.
After only one strong season, it’s hard to imagine Sherwood coming out and making Roquan Smith, Fred Warner, or Tremaine Edmunds money. We’ve seen a few of the league’s more frequent tacklers (Zaire Franklin, Bobby Okereke, Foyesade Oluokun) all sign contracts around $10MM per year in recent years, so there’s a chance he lands in that range. The Jets know that he works in their system and have need with Mosley expected to be gone, so they may just be willing to make a new deal like that work for Sherwood.
2025 RFA Tender Numbers
In addition to recent salary cap, franchise tag, and transition tag numbers for 2025, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reported today on the numbers for restricted free agent tenders.
Restricted free agent tenders apply to players who are entering free agency with only three years of accrued NFL experience. While unrestricted free agents (players entering free agency with four or more years of experience) are able to determine their new contracts off of market demands, restricted free agents are limited to different tender categorizations. If a team doesn’t tender a restricted free agent by the start of the new league year, they’ll immediately become unrestricted free agents who can sign anywhere with no market limitations.
If a team does tender a restricted free agent, they can place first-round, second-round, original-round, or right-of-first-refusal tenders on the player. Other teams can submit offer sheets for the tendered player if they wish to acquire him, but the team that tendered him can match the offer sheet to keep the player if they choose. If a first-, second-, or original-round tender is placed on the player, the tendering team can receive draft compensation if it allows the player to walk for the offer sheet.
Like the franchise and transition tag, the restricted free agent tender is a one-year contract. The value of that contract is limited and determined by what tender is placed on the player.
For 2025, if a team places a simple, right-of-first-refusal tender on a player, he will earn a salary of $3.26MM for the year, should he sign that tender. If the team places a right-of-first-refusal tender with compensation set at the player’s original draft round, he will earn the higher of $3.41MM or 110% of the 2024 Paragraph 5 salary for the year, should he sign. The same tender with a designated second-round compensation will result in that player earning the higher of $5.35MM or 110% of the 2024 Paragraph 5 salary for the year, should he sign. The same tender with a designated first-round compensation will result in that player earning the higher of $7.46MM or 110% of the 2024 Paragraph 5 salary for the year, should he sign.
Lastly, should a player with a first-round tender receive an offer sheet from another team that waives or limits the new team’s ability to place the franchise/transition tag on that player and that provision is not matched by the tendering team, the player can earn the higher of $7.96MM or 110% of the 2024 Paragraph 5 salary for the year, should he sign.
NFL To Implement Measurement Technology In 2025
Another Bills playoff loss, another seemingly related rule change. Per Charean Williams of NBC Sports, the NFL’s senior vice president of football operations, Kimberly Fields, claimed this week that the league will begin using “technology for virtual line-to-gain measurements” in 2025. Officials will still spot the ball, and the chain gang will still exist as a backup. 
While discussions of the use of this type of technology have been ongoing for years, a line is naturally going to be drawn between this rule and a Josh Allen fourth-down quarterback sneak that was ruled short of the line to gain in the fourth quarter of the Bills’ AFC Championship loss to the Chiefs. Similarly, the NFL passed a rule change three years ago that ensure both teams possession of the ball at least once in overtime of postseason games following a Bills’ divisional-round loss to the Chiefs during the 2021 season.
The new Hawk-Eye tracking services from Sony were reportedly tested in the 2024 preseason and “in the background during the 2024 regular season.” The technology does not track the ball to determine if the ball crossed the line. An official is still needed to spot the ball and replay assist will confirm the accuracy of that placement. Once the spot is determined the tracking system will optimally notify officials if a first down was reached instantly.
The setup requires that six cameras be used for the virtual line-to-gain technology, along with 12 boundary-line cameras and 14 Hawk-Eye’s SkeleTRACK cameras that “monitor more than two-dozen skeletal points on a player’s body.” Using the technology behind the scenes last year, the league reportedly “saw a reduction in the time it took for a measurement” from 75 seconds on average with the chain gang to 30 seconds on average with the new technology.
In order to accommodate and implement the system, all 30 NFL stadiums, as well as any international stadiums where NFL games will be played, will be equipped with 32 cameras each. With the additional cameras, there theoretically should be increased and improved replay angles, as well. The league will continue testing the system this spring during UFL games played in NFL stadiums like Detroit’s Ford Field.
Rob Maaddi, a senior NFL writer/insider for the Associated Press, broke down a few additional rule changes being explored this offseason. First, Maaddi reported claims from NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent that there’s a “universal consensus” in doing something to keep the concept of onside kicks in the game. Unfortunately for advocates of a fourth-and-X option to keep possession, there hasn’t been much conversation on that exact concept, though discussions may occur next month.
Another Maaddi report shows Vincent claim that there’s “no appetite” from the Competition Committee to utilize video replay to throw a flag. Replay assist expansion is under consideration for 2025 to pick up incorrect flags thrown for plays like roughing the passer, unnecessary roughness, facemask, tripping, illegal crackback block, horse collar tackle, etc., but if officials miss an obvious facemask or other penalty replay assist would not be able to enforce the penalty. While teams could still propose such a change, there doesn’t appear to be any traction in that direction.
Meetings next month will allow for further discussion on these topics down the line, but for now, Williams and Maaddi have given us some valuable insight into the direction in which the league and Competition Committee are headed. We’ll keep an eye on the development of these ideas as they continue to move forward.
Draft Rumors: Carter, Walker, Miami, Loveland
The NFL Scouting Combine starts tomorrow, February 27, and will continue through Sunday, March 2. In a prospect pool that has been reportedly devoid of top-end talent but full of starters and contributors, the combine will be a prime opportunity for players to display their most impressive attributes and stand out.
One of the few elite players in the class who does not need to display anything at the combine, Penn State pass rusher Abdul Carter will reportedly not be working out this weekend, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Carter is still recovering from a shoulder injury he suffered in the team’s playoff game versus Boise State, an injury he played through against the Fighting Irish in the following round of the 12-team playoff.
Per Turron Davenport, also of ESPN, Carter claims to be at about 90 percent. Carter’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, has sent a letter to all NFL teams informing them that his client has been cleared to resume training and will be cleared to workout in time for his pro day on March 28.
Here are a few other draft and combine rumors before the event starts tomorrow:
- Similarly, Georgia linebacker Jalon Walker will not be working out at the combine, per ESPN’s Katherine Terrell. He is currently working his way back from a quad injury. He plans to workout at his school’s pro day, as well.
- We’ve already heard that Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders will not throw at the combine, choosing to focus solely on team interviews, but Jaxson Dart (Ole Miss), Jalen Milroe (Alabama), and Riley Leonard (Notre Dame) will all reportedly throw this weekend, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. A determination has not yet been made for Miami passer Cam Ward, who is expected to challenge for the top pick in the draft with Carter and Sanders.
- One of Ward’s top targets in Coral Gables, tight end Elijah Arroyo, will unfortunately not be participating this weekend, per Rapoport. Arroyo made waves at the Senior Bowl as an incredibly athletic mismatch for any defender, linebacker or defensive back. Unfortunately, at the same event, he suffered a knee injury that will hold him out in Indianapolis. He is expected to be ready to workout at his pro day on March 24.
- Carter wasn’t the only prospect who had a doctor send a letter on his behalf this week. Notorious sports medicine specialist Dr. Neal Elattrache sent out a letter to all 32 teams claiming that Michigan tight end Colston Loveland will be able to participate in minicamp and will be fully cleared in time for training camp after undergoing shoulder surgery last month, per Schefter. As the letter insinuates, Loveland will be unavailable to work out at the combine or his pro day.
- Lastly, we saw one more letter going out, this one from Dr. Daniel Cooper, the surgeon who performed an ACL reconstruction on East Carolina cornerback Shavon Revel back in October. Cooper tells the league that Revel is on schedule to be fully cleared by the summer. Revel will still attend the combine for interviews and medical checks, per Tom Pelissero of NFL Network.
2025 WR Draft Class Lacking Top-End Talent
There seems to be a theme developing throughout the 2025 NFL Draft as we continue to draw nearer to the NFL Scouting Combine. There’s a consensus beginning to form that this draft lacks top-end, star talent, instead providing a deep group of likely starters and contributors. We’ve seen this assertion circulate with the quarterbacks and offensive tackles in this class already, but more recently, this opinion is starting to be applied to wide receivers, as well. 
NFL fans have been spoiled in recent years with plenty of no-brainer, star first-round receivers from Marvin Harrison Jr. and Malik Nabers in 2024 to Drake London and Garrett Wilson in 2022 to Ja’Marr Chase, Jaylen Waddle, and DeVonta Smith in 2021. This year’s crop more closely resembles the 2023 draft, in which a wide receiver wasn’t drafted until Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Quentin Johnston, Zay Flowers, and Jordan Addison were all chosen consecutively from pick Nos. 20-23.
Colorado’s Travis Hunter sits atop most draft boards, but the consensus seems to be that this is either because of his potential as a defensive back or his potential to contribute on both sides of the ball, however unlikely that may be in the NFL. Behind Hunter, players like Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan, Missouri’s Luther Burden, and Ohio State’s Emeka Egbuka are routinely seen as the next top options for the position.
For a time, McMillan was seen as the top wide receiver prospect, even being considered more valuable as a receiver than Hunter. As pundits and scouts have done deeper dives into the class, though, concerns have arisen over McMillan’s deep speed, per ESPN’s Matt Miller. He still ranks easily as a first-round pick, thanks to a large frame that makes him an easy mismatch over most defenders, but that lack of top-end velocity is seemingly keeping him out of the top 10 picks. On ESPN’s First Draft Podcast, Mel Kiper Jr. claimed that McMillan is being viewed more in the range of picks from Nos. 12 to 22, per Nick Kendell of the Mile High Huddle.
Still, after Hunter and McMillan, NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah sees a lot of receivers like Burden, Egbuka, and Texas’ Matthew Golden that he believes will be polished professionals in the back third of the first round, according to a breakdown he did with The Ringer’s Todd McShay and Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer.
We may not see a surge of receivers taken in the top 10 like we’ve seen plenty of in recent years, but the lack of star power does not take away from the depth of the position. Wide receiver is typically a bit of a crapshoot in the first round of the draft, and this group is likely to continue that trend, but with how the position’s draft stock is shaping up, those risks will be coming later in the first round.