Welcome to the Friday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!
It's National Donut Day, which I'm only mentioning because it's my favorite day of the year. The New York Jets celebrated the holiday by having a donut stacking challenge (you can see it here). I'm celebrating the holiday by eating one donut every hour until the end of the day or until I explode, whichever comes first. Hopefully, it's not the second one.
Anyway, let's get to today's rundown.
As always, here's your daily reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter. Actually, you don't even have to tell all of your friends; just tell two of your friends and I'll be happy. To get them signed up, all you have to do is click here.
1. Chiefs player hospitalized after suffering medical emergency
The Chiefs were forced to cancel all team activities on Thursday after a player suffered a medical emergency. Here are the details of what happened:
- BJ Thompson goes into cardiac arrest. Thompson, a backup defensive lineman, suffered a seizure that caused him to go into cardiac arrest during a special teams meeting, according to NFL Media. According to multiple reports, the Chiefs' trainers and medical staff responded to the situation immediately, which allowed Thompson to quickly get the treatment he needed.
- Thompson still hasn't regained consciousness. The latest update on the situation came from Thompson's agent, Chris Turnage, who had this to say just before midnight on Thursday, "BJ is still unconscious at this point, but he's stable and vitals are good. His family asks for your continued prayers."
- Chiefs players were sent home on Thursday. The Chiefs were expected to hold their final OTA session of the offseason on Thursday, but instead, Andy Reid decided to send everyone home. All activities from yesterday were postponed until Friday, so the team willl be back on the field for an OTA session today.
Although this is a horrible situation, Turnage did tell ESPN that doctors at the hospital are optimistic about Thompson's recovery. Thompson is in his second year with the Chiefs after being selected in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL Draft. He played in one game during his rookie season.
2. Every team's most notable offseason loss
During the NFL offseason, every team's goal is to get better, but we're going to totally ignore that right now and only talk about how each team got worse. Tyler Sullivan went through all 32 NFL teams and came up with one notable personnel loss that each team suffered this offseason.
Let's take a look at 10 of the notable losses that made Sulley's list:
Ravens: LB Patrick Queen
Browns: Bill Callahan (offensive line coach)
Raiders: RB Josh Jacobs
Jaguars: WR Calvin Ridley
Chiefs: CB L'Jarius Sneed
Rams: DL Aaron Donald (retired)
Patriots: Bill Belichick (head coach)
Eagles: C Jason Kelce (retired)
Cardinals: WR Marquise Brown
Bears: QB Justin Fields
To check out our full story, click here.
3. Ranking the NFL's 12 new QB-WR duos for 2024
With Stefon Diggs getting traded to the Houston Texans this year, that means he'll now be catching passes from C.J. Stroud. With Diggs in Houston, it won't be surprising if Stroud tops his impressive rookie season that saw him lead the Texans to the playoffs.
Stroud and Diggs are just one example of a QB and WR duo that will be playing together for the first time this year. With so many new pairs playing together for the first time, CBSSports.com's Jordan Dajani decided to rank the best new QB-WR duos in the NFL this year.
Let's take a look at his top three:
1. C.J. Stroud and Stefon Diggs (Texans). "Diggs has crossed 1,000 receiving yards in each of the last six seasons, and caught at least 103 passes in all four seasons with Buffalo. I'm not sure Diggs was brought in to be the unquestioned No. 1 in Houston, but he's been one of the most notable "No. 1 wideouts" in the NFL for almost a decade, and is now paired with a young talent in Stroud."
2. Kyler Murray and Marvin Harrison Jr. (Cardinals). "Murray has his new No. 1 wide receiver in Harrison, and he's going to be peppered with targets immediately. The two-time Unanimous All-American recorded the most receiving yards (2,474) and receiving touchdowns (28) in a two-year span in Ohio State history."
3. Kirk Cousins and Drake London (Falcons). "Cousins helped Jefferson and Jordan Addison put up prolific campaigns in Minnesota, which is what the Falcons are hoping happens with London and Kyle Pitts."
If you want to check out Dajani's full list of 12 duos, be sure to click here.
4. One burning question for every team in the AFC East
The newsletter has been on fire this week, and that's mostly because we've been asking so many burning questions (Man, that was a lame joke. I'm sorry). Over the past few days, we've been going around the NFL to take a look at the biggest question that each team needs to answer before the start of the 2024 season. We've been going through each team by division, and today, we'll be looking at the AFC East.
Here's one burning question that Tyler Sullivan has come up with for each team:
- Bills: Is Keon Coleman ready for a heavy workload? "The club let Gabe Davis walk in free agency and then they pulled off a stunning trade that sent Stefon Diggs out of town to Houston. That leaves the cupboard pretty bare with Buffalo's receiver depth chart. With Diggs and Davis gone, that puts 241 targets up for grabs from last season. Sure, those veterans along with tight end Dalton Kincaid (91 targets last season) will likely take a slice out of that target share, but Coleman will be given the opportunity to take the lion's share."
- Dolphins: When is Tua Tagovailoa's contract extension coming? "The 26-year-old is coming off his best season of his career in 2023 where he enjoyed highs in passing touchdowns (29) and completion percentage (69.3) along with leading the league in passing yards (4,624). ... Are the Dolphins willing to back up the Brink's truck after that season and be the latest team to hand a quarterback a monster extension? Or do they want to see Tagovailoa replicate what they saw in 2023 before they tag and extend him next spring?"
- Jets: Will Aaron Rodgers rebound in Year 2 with the Jets? "Yes, he's an all-time great quarterback earmarked for the Hall of Fame on the first ballot, but he's also a 40-year-old man coming off a torn Achilles. He said at Jets OTAs that he feels "90% myself and 10% not sure what's going on with various parts of my body." If that's the case, a 90% version of Aaron Rodgers is better than any quarterback the Jets have had under center in decades and should push for the playoffs."
- Patriots: Who will be the starting left tackle? "The team signed former Steeler Chukwuma Okorafor in free agency and drafted Caedan Wallace in the third round of the NFL Draft out of Penn State. Okorafor has primarily been a right tackle throughout his time in the NFL and Wallace was also predominantly on the right side at the collegiate level, so either one will be going through quite the transition flipping positions. This will be a central storyline throughout training camp and could directly link to when we see Maye on the field."
To read Sullivan's full answer for each question, be sure to click here.
5. Three teams called the Vikings about making a possible Justin Jefferson trade
The Vikings insisted all offseason that they weren't going to trade away Justin Jefferson, but that didn't keep other teams from trying to make a deal. During the most recent episode of "The Adam Schefter Podcast," the ESPN reporter revealed that three different teams called the Vikings about possibly making a deal.
So who were those teams? Glad you asked. Let's check out the list.
- 49ers. This one is wild. On one hand, they already have a loaded receiving room with Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel, but let's not forget that there was plenty of speculation before the draft that the 49ers might look to trade either one or both of the two wideouts. That speculation makes even more sense if the 49ers were trying to make some room to add Jefferson.
- Jets. The Jets are loading up their roster to make a possible Super Bowl run with Aaron Rodgers, so it's not a total shocker to hear that they called the Vikings to see if Jefferson was available.
- Colts. After giving Michael Pittman Jr. a long-term deal, adding Jefferson would have given the Colts one of the best 1-2 punches in the NFL and it would have instantly made them a contender in the AFC South.
Although each team came up empty in the Jefferson talks, all three of them did end up adding a receiver in the 2024 NFL Draft. The 49ers used a first-round pick on Ricky Pearsall, the Colts took Adonai Mitchell in the second round and the Jets traded up to grab Malachi Corley in the third round. Clearly, all three of these teams were in the market for a playmaker and they proved in the draft.
You can read our full story on the Jefferson trade rumors here.
6. Extra points: Part of the Eagles might soon be for sale
It's been a busy 24 hours in the NFL, and since it's nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you.
- Jeffrey Lurie might sell minority stake in the Eagles. The Eagles owner is exploring the possibility of selling a minority stake in the team, and one interested buyer might be Philadelphia's own Rob McElhenney. You can get the full details on the situation here.
- Randy Gregory suing the NFL and the Broncos. The Buccaneers defensive end is fighting back after getting hit with more than $500,000 in fines during his career. Most of the fines were related to marijuana and Gregory claims he needed the THC to treat social-anxiety disorder and PTSD. Gregory is essentially arguing that he has a disability and the NFL and Broncos shouldn't have punished him for trying to treat his disability. You can check out the full story here.
- Seahawks add a quarterback. The Seahawks QB room just got a little more crowded after the team decided to sign P.J. Walker on Thursday. The 29-year-old, who has spent time with the Browns and Panthers, is now the third QB on Seattle's roster along with Sam Howell and Geno Smith.
- Anthony Richardson dealing with shoulder soreness. The Colts' starting QB, who missed nearly his entire rookie season due to shoulder injury, is now dealing with an issue in that same shoulder. Colts coach Shane Steichen confirmed on Thursday that Richardson is still dealing with soreness in the shoulder. That might not be an issue now, but if Richardson is still having problems with the shoulder when training camp starts, that will put the Colts in an unenviable situation.
- Wes Welker explains why he didn't attend the roast of Tom Brady. The Dolphins assistant coach got invited to the roast, but he turned the invite down. "I was not asked to be a presenter. I was asked to sit on the side and get roasted, which I'm glad I wasn't there. To each their own, I guess," Welker said. The five-time Pro Bowler, who spent six seasons with Brady in New England, also said that he was "disappointed" in what the roast became. You can read more on Welker's comments here.
