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Primers: What to follow this NFL offseason
We’ve talked plenty about football season being “over,” but if we look inward with honesty, we know that isn’t fully true. Football is king in this country, and the NFL intentionally tries to make it a 12-month sport, interest-wise (moves like the Dolphins releasing Tyreek Hill first thing on a football-less Monday help, too).
Thus, the offseason is a season in itself. And, as Jacob Robinson detailed in Scoop City last week, there are burning questions to answer. So I picked my favorites and pressed Jacob to answer them.
Enjoy:
Will Maxx Crosby and/or A.J. Brown be traded?Â
Both are 28-year-old superstars who are clearly unhappy with their current franchises. Crosby seems to be open to mending fences with the Raiders after the team hired Klint Kubiak as coach, but the front office that left him miffed last year remains in place.
Brown, meanwhile, was lost in the Eagles’ muddied offense last year and consistently made his dissatisfaction known publicly. There seems to be less talk of reconciliation there.
Both are players you want on your team … which makes them both candidates to bring in a big haul if a trade becomes necessary.
What’s our most likely outcome here?
💬 Jacob: Both get moved. Their respective teams are better off keeping their stars, of course, but draft picks and cap savings can be tempting. Just ask Jerry Jones. It doesn’t help that Crosby and Brown seemed disillusioned with their organizations last season, and I’d guess both welcome a change of scenery. There should be plenty of teams willing to meet the asking prices.
What do the Colts pay Daniel Jones?Â
I involuntarily muttered “oof” as I typed that. The Colts are in a tough spot: probably on the hook to pay Jones many millions of dollars for a long-term deal after he played well in 13 games last year. But it was just 13 games, and his entire career leading up to the renaissance gave plenty of reason for caution.
Indianapolis is also out two first-round picks after acquiring Sauce Gardner at the trade deadline, just before the season went belly-up.
So, what do they pay Jones, and the follow-up I’m more curious about, should they pay him at all?
💬 Jacob: Do they have a choice? The quarterback market is bleak in free agency and the draft, so letting Jones out of the building would be an enormous risk for a general manager whose job security is tenuous. They need Jones more than he needs them, as hard as that is to believe. The baseline is Sam Darnold’s $33.5 million average, though Jones likely gets closer to $40 million. Again.
What happens on the veteran QB carousel?Â
Jacob called this an “Unexciting Faces in New Places” list, which feels apt. Think of players like Tua Tagovailoa, Kyler Murray, Kirk Cousins, Geno Smith, etc. There are open jobs to be had, of course.
We have an entire discussion from December about this, but I want to drill down: What potential new pairing of QB and team makes the most sense?
💬 Jacob: It’s not new, per se, but Kirk Cousins to the Vikings makes sense. Why not reunite him with head coach Kevin O’Connell and give Minnesota veteran competition to J.J. McCarthy? A sneaky fit: Packers backup Malik Willis joining the Browns. He’d work with a young team and coach Todd Monken, who helped Lamar Jackson have the best passing season of his career in 2024. Willis has the potential to be a Jackson-lite.
Many thanks to Jacob for playing along. He’ll be at the NFL Scouting Combine next week for us, so subscribe to Scoop City for offseason enlightenment. Onward:
Julian Finney / Getty Images
News to Know
The feel-good story of the Games?
After another packed Olympic day yesterday, one story stands out: American bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor winning monobob gold. The 41-year-old mother of two, already the most decorated Black woman in Winter Olympics history, had won five previous medals across the last four Games, but never gold. Now, she’s the oldest Winter Olympian to win an individual event. Germany’s Laura Nolte finished second, and fellow American veteran Kaillie Humphries third. Elsewhere at the Olympics yesterday, quickly:
- As expected, the U.S. and Canada booked their spots in the women’s hockey gold-medal game. Marie-Philip Poulin also made some history, of course.
China’s Eileen Gu fell short in defending the freeski big air title as Canada’s Megan Oldham won gold. Zak Keefer’s feature on Gu’s thorny reality at these Games is worth your time. - Austria won ski jumping gold in the super team event after the competition’s final round was cut short with just three jumpers left because of a snowstorm.
Ilia Malinin shared a post on Instagram about mental health, “vile online hatred attacks” and Olympic pressure, his first public statement since his free-skate collapse last week. - Norwegian skier Atle Lie McGrath, grieving his grandfather’s passing at the start of the Olympics, was so distraught he lost the men’s slalom gold medal that he threw his poles, unstrapped his skis and walked toward the nearby woods to be alone. So … human? And so heartbreaking:
Dustin Satloff / Getty Images
More news
- Angel City defender Savy King returned to soccer Sunday for the first time since suffering a cardiac incident last May. Great to see.
Steve Cohen said the Mets won’t name a captain as long as he owns the team. “Let the locker room sort it out year in, year out,” he added. - Speaking of: Mike Trout, dubbed “Captain America” during the last World Baseball Classic, said he won’t be joining the U.S. roster this spring for insurance reasons.
Tennis’ Mexican Open said it would not serve meat in its player restaurant during the 2026 edition later this month, to ease concerns over doping contamination. Yuck?
USMNT striker Haji Wright notched a hat trick in Coventry City’s win over Middlesbrough yesterday, a timely resume addition amid World Cup roster discussions. - WNBA star Breanna Stewart is signing with European powerhouse Fenerbahçe Opet in Turkey for the 2026 EuroLeague Final Six in April, after the Unrivaled season ends. Busy times!
Watch Guide
đź“ş Olympics: All day
3:05 a.m. ET on Peacock
The busy Olympic schedule continues with nine medal events today across snowboarding, Nordic combined, biathlon, speedskating, freestyle skiing and bobsled. We’ve also got the women’s figure skating short program starting at 12:45 p.m. ET (on USA then NBC), featuring a trio of American skaters.
đź“ş NCAAM: No. 1 Michigan at No. 7 Purdue
6:30 p.m. ET on Peacock
The one-loss Wolverines, now leading the AP Top 25Â for the first time in 13 years, are going for their 25th win and 11th straight. But conference rival Purdue (21-4) is also back on track as of late, including a statement OT win versus Nebraska a week ago.
Get tickets to games like this here.
Pulse Picks
Every team in MLS unveiled its new kit for 2026. Brooks Peck picked superlatives for all the new designs. OK, Atlanta. 👀
We gave you a mini MLB spring training primer yesterday, but you can dive in deeper with our staff’s pieces outlining the biggest offseason change for each American League and National League team.
New San Francisco Giants manager Tony Vitello is considering calling pitches from the dugout at times this season, an approach much more common in college ball. Andrew Baggarly dug into the concept.
These Olympics have not really gone to plan for the United States, so you might be surprised to find out the team is tracking ahead of the past two Winter Games in total medals.
Mitch Light has a fresh college baseball top 25, featuring LSU at No. 1 after the first week of the season.
The NBA All-Star Game itself was improved this year, but Shakeia Taylor has five thoughts on how to fix the entire weekend.
Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Matthew Futterman’s piece breaking down Mikaela Shiffrin’s giant slalom performance.
Most-read on the website yesterday: Olympics Day 10Â live blog.
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