I love the flood of questions that keeps coming, even in May. Here’s this week’s mailbag …
Cincinnati Bengals
From dave moore (@DaveMoore44): Will Joe Burrow play his whole career in Cincy?
Dave, this sort of question would’ve been preposterous 20 years ago. But based on where the NFL is now, and where professional sports are in general, when it comes to player movement, it’s hard to rule out the idea that Joe Burrow could end up elsewhere.
If you really want to dig into it, I think the most relevant case study for Burrow’s future is Matthew Stafford.
Burrow is now 29 and six seasons into his career, having made the playoffs twice, advancing to the AFC title game on both occasions and reaching the Super Bowl after his second season as a pro. Stafford turned 29 in February 2017. He was eight seasons into his NFL career, had made the playoffs three times and lost in the first round each time. He played four more (playoff-less) seasons in Detroit before asking for a trade in January 2021.
Like Burrow, Stafford had some high-end talent around him on offense in Detroit, but played with only two top-10 defenses, and just four that ranked in the top half of the league over his 12 seasons as a Lion. So there are some similarities, including the fact that both quarterbacks genuinely wanted to be agents of change for the teams that drafted them.
All this is to say, I don’t think we’re there yet with Burrow. But like Stafford, he badly wants to win, and he won’t be content with coming up short on Lombardi Trophies forever.
Las Vegas Raiders
From Gotham_City_Raider (@raider_nyc): Percentage Maxx will stay a Raider?
Gotham, I’d say there’s a very, very high percentage chance that Maxx Crosby starts the regular season with the Raiders, and I think everyone’s intention is for Crosby to settle back in as a leader and (they hope) an early torchbearer for Klint Kubiak’s new program. There’s also the reality that Baltimore’s decision to back out did have a chilling effect on Crosby’s trade value. The Ravens are a well-respected organization, so when they do something that’s so unusual like this, it’s going to reverberate with other teams.
But I don’t think anyone can say where things will go next, and it’s not hard to imagine a shift. Let’s say, through eight games, the Raiders are struggling, at 2–6 or 1–7, and Crosby has nine sacks. At that point, GM John Spytek and Kubiak won’t have to do anything. Calls will come. Will they be receptive? It’s hard to project that far out. I don’t think it’d be smart to close the door on anything down the line, though.
Crosby is too good a player not to have a shot at reestablishing the value he had in March, and the Raiders are still very much in a rebuilding phase. So stay tuned.
Baltimore Ravens
From Nick Z (@inugrad): Why didn’t Sarratt go earlier in the draft?
Nick, I think it’s simple: In an era where separation and after-the-catch explosiveness are valued most, Elijah Sarratt is more of a big, strong, outside-the-numbers contested-catch guy. And there’s still a place for those types in the NFL, and I do think Sarratt, as a fourth-round pick, will contribute early for the Ravens and have (injury-permitting) a lengthy NFL career.
It’s just that most folks look at him and don’t see the potential for him to grow into a No. 1 receiver, or the big-play ability to affect the way defenses cover an offense.
Seattle Seahawks
From Curtis Allen (curtis93969): Any update on the pending sale of the Seahawks? It’s been very quiet so far.
Curtis, because it’s Seattle, a lot of the same big names are cycled through. From the sounds of it, Clippers owner and ex-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer might be more likely than Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos, but I’m not sure either is a probable bidder. I’ve heard a few other names as potential buyers, one who’s a limited partner in an NBA team. Steve Apostolopoulos, a Canadian billionaire, is one to consider—he did bid on the Commanders in 2023. And I’m not sure he’s the only big-money bidder from north of the border.
Yes, it’s been quiet. But that’s generally the way these things go. I wouldn’t take it as any sign of inactivity.
NFL draft
From Joey Bag of Donuts (@joeybagovdonuts): Why would teams care about a consensus draft board?
Joey, I don’t think it’s that so much as it’s about teams trying to figure out what other teams think of certain players (and they do). That information trade is ongoing through March and April, and being in the trenches for it, I can say that it really does matter to teams how their peers see certain players. I believe there are three reasons why.
The first is the most obvious one: to figure out which players will get to them at certain junctures of the draft. If you’re picking, say, 20th, but you know (or think you know) a team at 15 sees him as you do, then the idea of a trade-up becomes part of the equation. It can also inform a team on waiting to fill a certain hole—if you think a guy you really like at a position of need will be there in the fourth round, you might be a little less pressed to take someone at that position over the course of the first three rounds.
The second is to balance your own assessment of a guy versus how the league values him. Let’s take the above scenario, with the 20th pick, and you think most of the league sees him as a second-rounder, but there’s a team at 28 that might take him. In that case, you might work the phones to try to do a deal with a team at 25 or 26, knowing there’s some risk, but wanting to pick up a little more capital in the process of still landing that player.
The third, I believe, is a quality-control thing. If I have a guy as a second-round player, but figure out that everyone else is viewing him as a fourth-rounder, the natural thing to do would be to figure out the flaw you might’ve missed. Which doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t pick the player; it just means you might dig a little deeper into him.
Flag football
From Ben (@samuelslim2): With flag football becoming a thing, will teams start including clauses in contracts prohibiting it?
Ben, I don’t think they really have to. Players would have to seek permission from the teams to participate in events, and I don’t think any player is going to do it on more than a one-off basis without the full blessing of the team that’s paying him millions. That’s just simple logic.
Philadelphia Eagles
From Sam Mooney (@SamMooney4): Most everyone outside of Philly dislikes Big Dom. EVERYONE in the organization or that has ever been in the organization loves him. What can you say to people outside of the organization that would change their perspective of him? Thank you!!
Sam, Big Dom has the implicit trust of the coaches and front-office personnel that he works with, and most players, too. Part of that is he’s really good at his job. Anyone in his role has to be connected, within the cities where they work and specifically within law enforcement, to protect the organization and everyone in it. Dom’s always been great in that area.
The other piece of the puzzle here is that he works with GM Howie Roseman in doing background work on draft prospects and potential veteran acquisitions. And the information he helps gather is a pretty important piece of the team-building puzzle.
Minnesota Vikings
From graeme smith (@grmsmth): Why is there so much secrecy around the Vikings’ GM search?
Graeme, I’m not really sure there’s much mystery.
They can go one of two ways, in my opinion. One path would be to permanently elevate longtime football-operations chief Rob Brzezinski to GM after he spent the past three months serving as interim GM. The other would be to keep Brzezinski in a role like the one Mike Disner serves with the Lions or the one Tony Pastoors has (and Kevin Demoff used to fill) with the Rams, as a sort of head-of-everything-but-personnel role alongside a scouting-focused general manager, which could be someone such as Bills assistant GM Terrance Gray.
If they take the latter path, Gray, who cut his scouting teeth with the Vikings before Buffalo GM Brandon Beane poached him in 2017, would be at or near the top of the list. And I do think the Vikings and the search firm they’re working with have a short list they’re plucking from at this point, with perhaps a second list backing that one up.
New England Patriots
From Michael Rodnick (@MJRodnick): Curious your perspective. You’re the Patriots’ GM. What are the next three roster moves you make?
Michael, let’s keep this simple …
First: Offer a deal centered on a conditional first-round pick for A.J. Brown—tied to playing time and the Patriots making the divisional round of the playoffs. That would ensure that the pick falls between 25 and 56, which I think is fair, and then maybe add a fourth-rounder to the package. That would be a better package for the Eagles than the one the Bills got for Stefon Diggs two years ago, so a win for Philly. And it protects the Patriots, too, ensuring that Brown’s healthy if the price is a low first-rounder.
Second: Sign Jadeveon Clowney to a one-year deal. Clowney’s a Mike Vrabel guy, having spent his first four years with him in Houston, then following him to Tennessee. And given all that’s going on, having a Vrabel guy on hand wouldn’t hurt. Also, he’d give them a layer of depth on the edge that I’d still say the Patriots could use, and would give second-round pick Gabe Jacas another vet to work with.
Third: Put a four-year, $140 million extension in front of Christian Gonzalez, with $75 million fully guaranteed at signing. Gonzalez grew plenty over his first year under Vrabel, and was indisputably the best player on the Patriots’ roster in the Super Bowl. New England’s also in a fortunate spot, with the market at cornerback lagging behind the market at other premium positions. So take advantage of it, and spread the $161 million total (folding in the two existing years on Gonzalez’s contract) over six years. That’s less than $27 million per year in real money, which is a relative steal.
Dallas Cowboys
From Brandon Loree (@Brandoniswrite): Dak Prescott’s cap hit for next year is $76 million. If this season goes well for Dallas, do we see another conversation about an extension for Prescott as early as 2027? Feels like we’re approaching another crossroads moment.
Yeah, Brandon, I think it’s fair to believe that the Cowboys should explore that after this season. They’re still paying a price for waiting as long as they did on Prescott in the first place, all the way back in 2020 and ’21, in the residual leverage the quarterback can constantly wield. Waiting cost them then, and waiting until they were into Week 1 of a contract year again in ’24 cost them, so it would make sense to try to get ahead of this one in ’27, with two years left on the deal he signed two years ago.
There’s also the other piece of this: Prescott will turn 34 next summer, has been banged up, and the time could be coming to put an heir apparent into the pipeline. If you’re Dallas, would you throw a second- or third-round supplemental pick out there this summer for Brendan Sorsby, should he declare? It’s worth thinking about, anyway.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Albert Breer’s Mailbag: Joe Burrow’s Career Could Mirror a Super Bowl–winning QB.
