Training camp is right around the corner, which means real football is approaching. By next Wednesday, every player will have to report for camp, and the last part of the offseason begins.
As always, the NFL is packed with drama. Some players either want a new contract or to be traded to someone who’ll pay them. A couple of head coaches are on the hot seat (some on a very hot seat, by the way). Most of the time, it’s one of these two things. However, 2025 gave us one very interesting thing to talk about.
The storylines here won’t be in any type of order (i.e., best to worst), just a couple of things I think will be interesting to pay attention to. And yes, most of them are about money, although you can say that sometimes it is about respect.
Where Will Kirk Cousins Go?
For the second time, QB Kirk Cousins was on Netflix’s Quarterback. The 2024 season wasn’t as happy as his first appearance, in 2022.. The show starts with Cousins signing a four-year, $180 million contract with the Falcons, and his journey recovering from a torn Achilles.
Just over a month after giving Cousins such a huge contract, the Falcons shocked the football world and drafted Michael Penix Jr. with the 8th overall pick. Cousins said on the show that he felt misled by the Falcons, and that if he knew the team was eyeing a quarterback, his decision might’ve been different.
He started 14 games for the Falcons last season, but he wasn’t the same player. Either because of the Achilles’ injury or because of a shoulder injury suffered during the season, Cousins wasn’t performing at the same level he was in Minnesota. With Raheem Morris benching him for Penix in the final three games of the season (while the Falcons were fighting for a playoff spot, by the way), it became obvious who’d be the starter in 2025.
GM Terry Fontenot had a decision to make: trade, cut, or keep Cousins. Cutting him would incur a massive dead cap, but we’ve seen teams doing this with young QBs on the roster (Eagles, Broncos). Cousins had a no-trade clause on his contract, but I believe he’d waive it if he was going somewhere he’d start. Fontenot chose the latter, keeping Cousins on the roster and guaranteeing a $10 million roster bonus.
Although the team looks set to keep him, you only need one injury or a very desperate team to trade for him. The Falcons may be hoping for a Sam Bradford to the Vikings situation, when a team loses their QB right before the season and overpays on a trade.
What’s Going On In Cincinnati?
I’ve already done an article about this a couple of weeks ago, but this is a great story to follow. The Bengals have an elite offense. Joe Burrow is one of the best QBs in the league, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a better duo than Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Even with a bad offensive line (48 sacks allowed), they will put points on the board.
Their defense, however, is atrocious. With one of the worst run defenses in 2024, they made few upgrades to the unit. Their best defensive player is holding out. Trey Hendrickson was responsible for almost half of the sacks the Bengals had in 2024. Without a new contract, is hard to believe he’ll report to camp or even play in 2025. Their first-round pick, EDGE Shemar Stewart, is also holding out. I went more in-depth about why Stewart is holding out in here.
The problem ultimately boils down to the first three players mentioned. Although Burrow and Chase rank among the best at their position, and Higgins is arguably the best WR2, they’re equally expensive. I’m always for players getting as much money as possible, but when you have three players carrying 33.54% of the cap space, you will have problems building other spots.
Add to this that the Bengals have historically made things difficult for themselves in negotiations, and this is a recipe for wasted potential. If they had tried harder to sign their trio sooner, especially Chase and Higgins, they could’ve gotten them in more affordable deals. Instead, Chase is making $5 million more than Justin Jefferson, the next highest-paid WR, while Higgins’ deal is ninth in average per year. In 2022, when they were first allowed to sign Higgins, Terry McLaurin was the most expensive receiver, at $22.7 million per year.
The 2nd-Round Rookie Situations
Rookie contracts aren’t guaranteed. Well, for the first-round picks they are, but not for the other 200+ players. This could change starting in 2025. This is something that flew well under the radar, but only two second-round picks have signed their contracts. The only ones who signed were the first two off the board, Browns’ Carson Schwesinger and Texans’ Jayden Higgins.
Why the 30 other players haven’t signed? Because the Texans gave Higgins a fully guaranteed deal. This was the first time ever a second-round pick signed such a contract, setting a huge precedent for players. The Browns gave one to Schwesinger, too, as he was the first player off the board in Round 2. The “problem” is that now the other 30 are looking for either 100% guaranteed or a huge increase in the guaranteed part.
This would be monumental for players, giving them more stability and security. We saw the first domino falling last weekend, in Los Angeles. Tre Harris, selected by the Chargers with the 55th overall pick, didn’t report for training camp. All of the second-round rookies signed deals to protect them if any injury happened during minicamp/OTA, allowing them to practice. For training camp, though, we’ll have to see if they report without a contract.
The Second-Year Quarterbacks
The 2024 QB Draft class made history, with 6 selected in the first 12 picks. Of the six, four were starters for the majority of the games. Michael Penix played in the final three games, while J.J. McCarthy suffered a torn meniscus in the preseason. All six are projected starters now, although their situations are vastly different.
Jayden Daniels had by far the best season of them all, winning the Offensive Rookie of the Year and leading his team to the NFC Championship game. Caleb Williams had a shaky season, mostly due to a bad coaching staff, but he only showed glimpses of the talent he displayed at USC. Bo Nix flew under the radar, but he had a very productive season. He didn’t do much to silence the “checkdown merchant” crowd, though, finishing with an average depth of target of only 7.3 and 4.5 air yards per pass completion.
Drake Maye inherited arguably the worst situation since Trevor Lawrence. He had no receivers, no offensive line, and his defense and running game were below average at best. Maye still managed to make some highlight plays and gave hope to the team and fans. Penix didn’t play much to evaluate anything, and McCarthy was rehabbing.
From playoff runs to not being bad, the expectations for the QBs and their teams vary for 2025. This is a QB class that we could talk about in the future in the same way we talk about the 1983 class.
The EDGE Rusher Market
In March, after some trade speculations, Myles Garrett and the Browns agreed on a new deal. The contract made Garrett the highest non-QB player in the league, with a four-year, $40 million per year contract. Ja’Marr Chase later surpassed that, but he shattered the EDGE market. Previously, Nick Bosa had the highest average per year, at $34 million.
We have some big names going into the last year of their contracts. T.J. Watt, Trey Hendrickson, and Micah Parsons are all scheduled to be free agents in 2026. Watt will turn 31 during the season and had one of his worst seasons as a pro (although it was still very good). Hendrickson is coming off back-to-back 17.5-sack seasons but will also turn 31. Parsons is entering his physical prime, but we know Jerry Jones likes to drag these issues.
Of the three, Parsons has the best case to pass Garrett’s AAV. He just turned 26 and should be a DPOY candidate for the foreseeable future. While he was present during minicamp, Parsons didn’t commit to participating in training camp, but he’ll be there.
T.J. Watt is very unlikely to leave, with some rumors emerging after his ongoing negotiations. The Steelers recently acquired Aaron Rodgers and traded for D.K. Metcalf and Jalen Ramsey. It looks like they’ll try to go all-in in what should be Rodgers’ final season in the NFL. So it’d be very dumb of them to trade their best player. However, if Watt and the Steelers don’t agree on a deal, and the season starts out really bad (like 2 wins by the trade deadline), some teams could start calling.
Hendrickson is the most problematic situation right now. He skipped mandatory practices in the offseason and is set on not playing without a new deal. If this last part is true or not, we don’t know, but it is very unlikely he’ll report to camp in his current deal. There were strong trade rumors early in the year, but nothing happened. These rumors still exist, and they’ll only get stronger each week.
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