(Update: 7:10 p.m. ET)
• The “everyone wants to bail” murmurs have manifested in phone calls in the last couple of days with teams picking from Nos. 6 through 11—the Panthers, Giants, Falcons, Seahawks, Jets and Commanders—all exploring moves down, in the event the draft board falls a certain way (and a couple want to move down regardless). What will teams come up for? As we said earlier Monday (now below): corners, edge rushers, and potentially receivers.
• One team we’ve mentioned consistently as a move-up possibility is the Chiefs. My sense is that it could happen if a player they like (a receiver, edge rusher or corner) falls into a certain range. And barring a major discount, the Chiefs’ move would probably be, at most, into the teens. They’ve told multiple clubs in the top 15 that going up in the first round’s upper reaches is probably going to be too rich for their blood.
• The Eagles are another team that could move up, and I could see them jumping all the way up to No. 6. For what? Most rival teams believe it’d be for a corner, Sauce Gardner or Derek Stingley Jr. And I think edge rusher/defensive line could be on the radar too—we’d mentioned Philly potentially making a shorter move up for those positions earlier in the week.
• Two specific players I’d watch in trades up would be Stingley and Jordan Davis. The thought out there is that getting Stingley, for another team, would mean jumping in front of Seattle. The Seahawks have done a ton of work on the LSU star. And in Davis’s case, he’s been connected to the Ravens at 14, Eagles at 15 and Saints at 16, and I’ve heard the Commanders could consider him, too, if the receivers they like are gone. Earlier in the day, I’d heard, for Washington, that could be in a trade-down scenario. Now, I’m thinking they might be able to go down far if they want him. And for what it’s worth, the Ravens have had talks on a move up—which could be for Davis.
• A couple of teams that could move around a little in the 20s: the Packers and Titans.
• And this is the time of year we connect players with teams, so one connection I’ve heard this week that I haven’t brought up yet is Arizona and Purdue pass rusher George Karlaftis. If Karlaftis, a polarizing prospect, doesn’t go at No. 23 to the Cardinals (I mocked Jahan Dotson to them on Tuesday), I could see him falling out of the first round altogether. I’ve talked to teams with third- and fourth-round grades on Karlaftis.
