2021 NFL Draft Order
With most of Week 5 in the books, we bring you a way-too-early look at the current order for the 2021 NFL draft. For non-playoff teams, the draft order will be determined by the inverted 2020 standings, plus a series of tiebreakers, starting with strength of schedule. After that, the same goes for the six clubs eliminated from each round of the postseason, with the final two picks determined by the outcome of the Super Bowl.
Here’s where things stand in the race to the bottom:
- New York Giants (0-5)
- Atlanta Falcons (0-5)
- New York Jets (0-5)
- Washington Football Team (1-4)
- Minnesota Vikings (1-4)
- Jacksonville Jaguars (1-4)
- Miami Dolphins (via Houston Texans, 1-4)
- Los Angeles Chargers (1-3)
- Detroit Lions (1-3)
- Denver Broncos (1-3)
- Philadelphia Eagles (1-3-1)
- Cincinnati Bengals (1-3-1)
- Miami Dolphins (2-3)
- San Francisco 49ers (2-3)
- New Orleans Saints (2-2)
- New England Patriots (2-2)
- Arizona Cardinals (3-2)
- Indianapolis Colts (3-2)
- Dallas Cowboys (2-3)
- Carolina Panthers (3-2)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-2)
- Las Vegas Raiders (3-2)
- Kansas City Chiefs (4-1)
- Cleveland Browns (4-1)
- Chicago Bears (4-1)
- Baltimore Ravens (4-1)
- Jacksonville Jaguars (via Los Angeles Rams, 4-1)
- Tennessee Titans (3-0)
- Green Bay Packers (4-0)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (4-0)
- Buffalo Bills (4-0)
- New York Jets (via Seattle Seahawks, 4-0)
Titans On Track To Play Bills
The Titans had no new positives from Sunday’s round of COVID-19 testing, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter). With that, they’re on track to play the Bills on Tuesday night.
Over the weekend, one Titans staffer tested positive for the coronavirus, though that person has not been at the team facility for roughly two weeks. The league believes that the staffer has not been in contact with other players, coaches, or executives, which means that Titans currently have the green light to play. If the team gets more positive test results tomorrow morning, that could change.
The Titans returned to their facilities on Saturday after two consecutive days of negative tests — then, the aforementioned personnel positive put things on hold. The Patriots are in a similar spot, and the ripple effect has created a scheduling quagmire across the league. If the Titans are able to play on Tuesday, the Broncos and Patriots will indeed play each other next Sunday. The Broncos and Chargers will then play each other in Week 8, which was supposed to be when Denver had its bye, and the Dolphins will now play the Broncos in Week 11. However, the Jaguars have now been impacted by this mess, as they were supposed to play the Broncos in Week 8. So, no matter what happens in Nashville, there is still more work to be done.
Patriots, Titans Close Facilities Again; Pats-Broncos Rescheduled
12:17pm: We have an update on Cam Newton to pass along. According to Jay Glazer of FOX Sports, Newton has yet to return the two consecutive negative tests required to return to action (video link). But now that the Pats’ game against the Broncos has been pushed to next week, he will have more time to get right.
10:37am: Assuming the Titans are able to play on Tuesday, the Broncos and Patriots will indeed play each other next Sunday, as Schefter tweets. The Broncos and Chargers will then play each other in Week 8, which was supposed to be when Denver had its bye, and the Dolphins will now play the Broncos in Week 11. However, the Jaguars have now been impacted by this mess, as they were supposed to play the Broncos in Week 8. So there is still more rearranging to be done.
08:35am: The Patriots had one new positive COVID-19 test this morning, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports (via Twitter). It was a player who tested positive, and Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk says that player was starting DT Byron Cowart. The team’s facility has been shut down again, more testing is being done, and Cowart will be placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list today.
Meanwhile, the Titans released a statement indicating that a coach tested positive. Their facility has been shut down as well, but as Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network reports, that coach hasn’t been in the building for nearly two weeks (video link). As such, his positive test might be unrelated to the outbreak that has plagued the team, and contact tracing is being done as we speak.
New England and Tennessee just returned to their facilities yesterday after two consecutive days of negative tests. The Pats’ game against the Broncos this week had been pushed to Monday, and the Titans’ contest against the Bills was rescheduled for Tuesday, but now the Broncos-Patriots matchup has been moved to next Sunday (Twitter link via Schefter). New England and Denver will have their byes this week, and the league will need to reschedule the Broncos-Dolphins game that was originally slated for next week.
We heard several days ago that new positive tests were expected on the Patriots and Titans given the results of contact tracing on both clubs. The league was clear that additional positives would not necessarily mean the cancellation of games, and initial reports this morning indicated that the NFL still planned to move forward with Broncos-Pats tomorrow (Twitter link via Schefter).
However, a decision needed to be made quickly given that the Broncos were scheduled to make a cross-country flight to Foxborough today. Plus, Tom E. Curran of NBC Sports Boston says the Pats were not going to let the league compel them to play, and that if players and coaches are uncomfortable, they will not play (Twitter link).
Given the on-going contact tracing taking place within the Tennessee organization, there is not yet an official word from the league as to the Titans-Bills game. Since the Titans have already lost their bye week, the NFL will presumably want to move forward with that contest. Even if that happens, though, it seems that a Week 18 for rescheduled games around the league is becoming more and more realistic.
As always, we will keep you updated as soon as we have more to pass along.
NFL To Shift Bills-Titans Game To Tuesday
Minutes after the Broncos-Patriots game was moved to Monday, news about the Titans’ Week 5 contest emerged. Their home game against the Bills is being moved from Sunday to Tuesday, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.
However, this game taking place is contingent on future Titans coronavirus tests. The game will be played at 6pm CT Tuesday, so long as no more Titans positive tests occur, Schefter adds.
This change also affects the Chiefs. Their Week 6 game with the Bills — previously scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 15 — will be played Sunday, Oct. 18, Schefter reports. However, if the Bills-Titans game ends up being moved to a different week, the Chiefs-Bills contest will be shifted back to its original date.
Only one NFL game has been played on a Tuesday since the 1940s. The Vikings and Eagles played a Tuesday-night game in 2010, after the Metrodome roof collapse. Rumblings of the Patriots-Chiefs Week 4 game being moved to Tuesday emerged, but the NFL decided to move that game back one day. Given the Titans’ far more prevalent issues with COVID-19, their new game time must be considered tentative.
The Titans have seen 23 players and staff members test positive for COVID-19, and their protocol-breaking offsite workouts are now the subject of an NFL investigation. They have continued to see positive tests emerge, and that trend continued through Thursday. The team placed two more players on its reserve/COVID-19 list today.
Unlike the Broncos-Patriots rescheduling, this Titans game being moved would throw the NFL schedule off axis. The league already moved Tennessee’s Week 4 game against the Steelers to Week 7. Should the NFL be forced to take the Titans-Bills matchup off its Week 5 slate, a new date would be difficult. The league has discussed the prospect of a Week 18 makeup window but has not finalized such a change yet. Another Titans positive test in the coming days may force the league to enact that emergency change.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/8/20
We’ll keep track of today’s practice squad moves here:
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: J.J. Wilcox
Buffalo Bills
- Signed: RB Antonio Williams
Green Bay Packers
- Signed: WR Reggie Begelton
Houston Texans
- Signed: K Brett Maher
Indianapolis Colts
- Signed: LB Najee Goode
- Released: CB Christian Angulo
Kansas City Chiefs
- Signed: WR Marcus Kemp
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: DT Lee Autry
New England Patriots
- Signed: TE Paul Quessenberry
New Orleans Saints
- Signed: WR Tommylee Lewis
New York Giants
- Signed: DB Sean Chandler
Philadelphia Eagles
- Signed: DB Dante Olson
Bills Place CB Levi Wallace On IR
The Bills will be without one of their secondary starters for at least three games. They placed cornerback Levi Wallace on IR Wednesday.
Buffalo, which promoted Cam Lewis from its practice squad to replace Wallace on the active roster, has used Wallace as a starter since his 2018 rookie season. The former UDFA has started all 27 games in which he’s played.
Wallace left Sunday’s game in Las Vegas with an ankle injury, exiting the Week 4 contest on a cart after just six plays. The third-year defender played 76% of Buffalo’s defensive snaps last season and was used at a higher rate prior to this injury. Wallace has intercepted one pass — the third of his career — and made 21 tackles this season. Through three-plus games, Pro Football Focus graded Wallace as the Bills’ top corner (19th overall).
Josh Norman‘s 2020 debut, which included a forced fumble, will help the Bills at corner opposite All-Pro Tre’Davious White. Norman, 32, has 92 career starts. After beginning his Bills career as a backup, Norman figures to see more time without Wallace.
Minor NFL Transactions: 10/3/20
Here is Saturday’s bevy of minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Promoted: RB Jonathan Ward, CB Jace Whittaker
Baltimore Ravens
- Promoted: CB Khalil Dorsey
Buffalo Bills
- Waived: RB Antonio Williams
Carolina Panthers
- Activated from IR: CB Eli Apple
- Promoted: RB Reggie Bonnafon, LB Chris Orr
- Waived: DE Shareef Miller
Chicago Bears
- Promoted: QB Tyler Bray
Dallas Cowboys
- Promoted: LB Francis Bernard
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Promoted: OL K.C. McDermott, S Doug Middleton, K Aldrick Rosas
Las Vegas Raiders
- Promoted: WR Keelan Doss, RB Theo Riddick
Los Angeles Chargers
- Promoted: WR Tyron Johnson, OL Cole Toner
Los Angeles Rams
- Promoted: S JuJu Hughes
Minnesota Vikings
- Promoted: S George Iloka
New Orleans Saints
- Promoted: OL Will Clapp, CB Ken Crawley, TE Garrett Griffin
- Placed on IR: LB Chase Hansen
New York Giants
- Promoted: WR Austin Mack
New York Jets
- Claimed (from Lions): RB Ty Johnson
Philadelphia Eagles
- Promoted: DB Grayland Arnold, WR Deontay Burnett, WR Travis Fulgham, C Luke Juriga, RB Adrian Killins
- Placed on IR: CB Trevor Williams
San Francisco 49ers
- Promoted: LB Joe Walker
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Promoted: RB Kenjon Barner
Washington Football Team
- Promoted: G Joshua Garnett
Bills Activate Josh Norman From IR
SATURDAY: Norman is in line to make his Bills debut Sunday in Las Vegas. The Bills will activate their free agent corner acquisition ahead of their Week 4 game against the Raiders.
WEDNESDAY: The Bills have designated cornerback Josh Norman for return, according to the league’s transaction wire. Buffalo now has a three-week window to activate the veteran DB.
Once considered one of the best corners in the league, Norman was all over the PFR pages back in 2016, when he and the Panthers were going through a messy divorce. On the heels of a platform campaign that saw him bring home First Team All-Pro honors, Norman was hit with the franchise tag, but Carolina rescinded the tag shortly thereafter. When that happened, Norman signed a five-year, $75MM contract with Washington, which made him the highest-paid CB in NFL history at the time.
But he was not quite the same player with Washington that he was with the Panthers, and in 2019, he graded out as the third-worst qualified cornerback in the league per Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics. However, he managed to finagle a one-year, $6MM pact out of the Bills this offseason, and both Buffalo and Norman were hoping that a reunion with Bills HC Sean McDermott — who was Carolina’s defensive coordinator throughout Norman’s entire tenure with the club — would help Norman look more like his old self.
Norman, however, landed on IR earlier this month with a hamstring injury. He appears to be on the mend and is nearing his debut with the current leaders of the AFC East.
Minor NFL Transactions: 10/1/20
Here are Thursday’s minor moves:
Buffalo Bills
- Waived: CB Cam Lewis
Denver Broncos
- Promoted: T Jake Rodgers, LB Josh Watson
Detroit Lions
- Activated off reserve/suspended list: S Jayron Kearse
- Waived: RB Ty Johnson
Kansas City Chiefs
- Placed on IR: L’Jarius Sneed
- Promoted: LB Darius Harris
New York Jets
- Activated: WR Jeff Smith
- Promoted: WR Lawrence Cager, CB Javelin Guidry, CB Lamar Jackson
San Francisco 49ers
- Placed on reserve/suspended list (with a six-game suspension for violating the NFL’s PED policy): TE Chase Harrell
AFC East Notes: Douglas, Pats, White
Jets head coach Adam Gase may soon receive his walking papers, and though the leash for GM Joe Douglas will be a bit longer, Douglas is not without blame for the club’s struggles over his first 16 months or so on the job. In a piece that colorfully recounts all of Douglas’ missteps, Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News includes an interesting nugget indicating that Douglas nixed an impending agreement for free agent DB Logan Ryan — whom Douglas reportedly coveted — because he was unhappy that the agreement was leaked to the media.
To be fair, other reporters wrote that Ryan’s asking price was the real obstacle to the deal, and Mehta himself has noted on more than one occasion that Douglas is operating under owner-imposed financial constraints, so it’s unclear what actually prevented Ryan from joining Gang Green. And obviously the Jets would still look just as directionless with Ryan as they do without, but when Douglas’ body of work is laid out in black-and-white, one can understand any skepticism Jets fans might feel about the GM’s abilities.
Now for more from the AFC East:
- Doug Kyed of NESN.com believes the Patriots should try to trade for a top-flight wide receiver. His piece was published before QB Cam Newton threw the ball all over the place in the team’s narrow loss to the Seahawks in Week 2, but in New England’s Week 3 triumph over the Raiders, it was clear that Newton could use another receiving threat. After posting eight catches for 179 yards against Seattle, Julian Edelman caught just two passes for 23 yards against Las Vegas, and the Pats want to reduce Edelman’s snap count. Meanwhile, N’Keal Harry is still coming into his own, and Damiere Byrd is hardly irreplaceable. Kyed believes a player like the Bears’ Allen Robinson would be a great fit, and that New England should not be hesitant to give up 2021 draft capital.
- Prior to the Patriots‘ win over Las Vegas, Mike Reiss of ESPN.com suggested that Sony Michel needed a big game to keep his job as New England’s RB1, and Michel delivered. He reeled off 117 yards on just nine carries, though he and J.J. Taylor both had 11 touches and Rex Burkhead had 13 (three of which ended in touchdowns). As usual, it looks like the Pats will take a committee approach to their backfield, and the committee will become even more crowded when Damien Harris returns from IR. Still, it’s encouraging for New England that Michel, who has not exactly lived up to his status as a former first-rounder, looked as good as he did.
- The Bills signed cornerback Tre’Davious White to a massive extension shortly before the season started, a deal that temporarily positioned him as the highest-paid CB in the league in terms of AAV ($17.25MM). But as Jason Wolf of the Buffalo News writes, some league observers believe Buffalo came out ahead in that deal, as Jalen Ramsey signed a five-year, $105MM extension shortly after the ink dried on White’s contract. The NFL world knew that Ramsey’s deal was coming soon, so pundits like Joel Corry of CBS Sports believe White could have gotten himself at least $19MM per year if he had been more patient, and that the Bills were wise to strike when they did. Of course, with $55MM in guaranteed money coming his way, most people won’t be too sad for White.