It’s NFL draft day. Let’s get weird.
After weeks of rumors and mock drafts, the 2021 NFL Draft commences Thursday night in Cleveland. It should be, as always, one of the wildest nights on the football calendar.
The real action begins at 8 p.m. ET when commissioner Roger Goodell goes to the podium and the Jacksonville Jaguars go on the clock. But the entire day should be fascinating with teams potentially maneuvering to move up and down the draft boards.
We’ll have our ear to the Twitter ground all day in search of the latest NFL news and rumors, which all can be found in the live below.
8:27 p.m.: Around and around we go with the Aaron Rodgers rumors:
8:12 p.m.: At least one report indicates the Denver Broncos will not use the No. 9 pick. Why? Because of Aaron Rodgers.
7:30 p.m.: What are the Panthers going to do? Your guess is as good as ours:
7: 19 p.m.: As of right now, Patriots fans might not want to get their hopes up for a Jimmy Garoppolo trade.
7:10 p.m.: Here’s the latest on the San Francisco 49ers:
7:08 p.m.: The New Orleans Saints reportedly haven’t had any luck trading up in the draft — yet.
6:35 p.m.: Here’s the New Orleans Saints’ reported motivation for trying to move up in the draft:
6:30 p.m.: Doesn’t sound as if the Packers are willing to play ball.
4:26 p.m.: Here’s more on the Aaron Rodgers’ fiasco — and it is a fiasco at this point — from longtime NFL personality Trey Wingo.
3:58 p.m.: And now we’re doing trade scenarios for Aaron Rodgers. Things are moving fast.
3:55 p.m.: We’ve got a whole lot more on the Aaron Rodgers’ front. Depending on who you ask, Rodgers can’t get out of Green Bay fast enough — or it will just take a new contract and everything will be fine.
That second notion came from NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport:
But Adam Schefter and Jay Glazer aren’t buying that.
3:20 p.m.: Draft day just got nuts.
2:40 p.m.: Exactly what we needed on a day like today: a Tim Tebow update. Apparently, he’s open to reuniting with Urban Meyer down in Jacksonville.
2:18 p.m.: Here’s an interesting little wrinkle based on a shift in betting odds. According to multiple sportsbooks, Trey Lance — not Mac Jones — is favored to be the No. 3 pick in the first round.
1:58 p.m.: So, the Aaron Rodgers-49ers thing was real. It’s also not gonna happen.
1:30 p.m.: Atlanta at No. 4 has no shortage of options in the first round. The Falcons technically have a quarterback, and a pretty good one at that, in Matt Ryan. However, he turns 36 in a few weeks. So they could grab one of the QBs after Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson and whoever the 49ers take. Or they could wait it out and hope some QB-needy team gets desperate and just has to move up to draft, say, Trey Lance.
Or, as ESPN’s Dianna Russini mentions, they could just take tight end Kyle Pitts, believed by many to be a generational tight end. It’s good to have options.
1:25 p.m.: Know what? It’s a fair point.
1:20 p.m.: The New Orleans Saints might be the match that really lights this first-round fire. Until today, the Saints really hadn’t been mentioned as trade-up candidates. Now, ESPN’s Dianna Russini becomes the second high-profile national reporter to say Sean Payton might be looking to trade up.
Russini adds an interesting wrinkle: New Orleans might actually have a QB in mind?
12:13 p.m.: Following up on the Aaron Rodgers-49ers scuttlebutt, Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio actually confirmed an offer was made.
“It’s believed that the 49ers offered the No. 3 overall pick, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, other players, plus draft picks to the Green Bay Packers for quarterback Aaron Rodgers,” Florio wrote. ” … As we hear it, the offer was made — and rejected — (Wednesday) night.”
12:09 p.m.: Still pretty quiet, but here’s some insight from The Athletic’s Jeff Howe on how some of the bigger names involved in rumors might be thinking as we’re now under eight hours until the draft.
11:25 a.m.: As just about everyone with half of a brain who closely follows the NFL expected:
11:10 a.m.: Things have gotten a little quiet the last couple of hours, but here’s an interesting report from someone who has nowhere near as much credit as the Schefters and Rapoports have in the football world. But you almost want it to be true for how insane it would have been.
So, to recap:
San Francisco gets: Aaron Rodgers
Green Bay gets: Jimmy Garoppolo, No. 3 pick, other draft picks and maybe players?
The Packers have made it abundantly clear — publicly, at least — they don’t intend to part with Rodgers anytime soon. San Francisco, meanwhile, has been in on just about every single quarterback you could think of other than the one they have. This one almost seems too big to actually happen, but it certainly would rock the NFL’s foundation if it did.
9:40 a.m.: One potential draft need for the Eagles is obvious: receiver. However, Philly also needs help in the secondary, and it could be looking to move up, especially with the division-rival Cowboys also in desperate need of help on that side of the ball.
9:10 a.m.: Keep an eye on the Panthers, who have been busy already this week, trading Teddy Bridgewater to the Broncos.
What the Panthers do (or won’t do) could have a ripple effect on a whole bunch of teams. If they like Sam Darnold and feel comfortable with him under center, perhaps they trade out of that pick — to a team like the Patriots, perhaps? But how do they feel about, say, Justin Fields? If the Ohio State quarterback falls down the board and lands in their laps, do the Panthers make the move? There are a lot of things in play for Carolina, as pointed out by Schefter.
8:10 a.m.: The New Orleans Saints are in a bit of a transition period, which makes this an important day for that franchise. Could they be on the way up the draft board?
8 a.m.: One of the biggest characters on draft day is an NFL veteran: San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. San Francisco earlier this month traded up to No. 3 and hasn’t been shy about its intentions to take a QB. That has left Jimmy G. to hang in the wind. Will San Fran trade him? Or will they keep him on the roster and play him for at least one more season while the rookie sits and learns?
Here’s where things stand, according to the league’s best-connected reporters:
