NFL rumors: Predicting landing spots for Brian Thomas Jr. and 5 more offensive stars

It’s NFL Combine week. On its face, it’s where draft prospects gather to do some exercises, meet with front offices and either help or hurt their draft value. In reality, though, it’s basically one big networking event. 

Only unlike every other networking event, this one actually means something. General managers and agents are all getting together for the first time this offseason, an occasion that more or less fires the starting gun on the under-the-table trade and free agency talks that will lead to big moves later this spring.

The trade ones are what we care about here, and specifically the ones around some offensive studs. There are a ton of big names that you’ll hear rumors about in the next couple of weeks. We're here to explain why those rumors exist, as well as offer predictions on eventual landing spots. 

WR A.J. Brown, Philadelphia Eagles

Landing spot: New England Patriots

When Tyreek Hill got carted off after dislocating his knee, cameras caught him laughing all the way to the locker room. At no point in the entire 2025 season did A.J. Brown crack a smile, even one time. Therefore, we can logically deduce that it is more fun to have your leg ripped off your body than it is to be a wide receiver in Kevin Patullo’s offense. 

Brown is one of the most physically dominant wide receivers in the NFL, and he was being grossly underutilized, so you can’t really blame the guy for being unhappy. Could he have gone about airing that unhappiness differently? Yeah, probably, but it's also true that Philly hasn't helped its case very much

All of which has created a situation that feels untenable, even with a new offensive coordinator in town. But if Brown wants a trade, it's going to have to come at Howie Roseman's price. The Eagles would take a $43 million dead cap hit if they deal him before June 1, which means that any potential suitor is going to have to give up a lot of draft capital to make it worth Philadelphia’s while.

On top of that, Roseman’s not going to trade Brown to a team that is a threat to the Eagles. That means you can rule out the entirety of the NFC East, any non-Arizona team in the NFC West and Chicago, Detroit and Green Bay in the North. You can also scratch teams that don't need receiving help (Bengals, Jaguars, Texans) and teams that aren't ready for a win-now move (Raiders, Jets, Dolphins).

That leaves us with 15 teams. While places like Minnesota and New Orleans could loom as dark horses, this feels like it'll come down to a duel between AFC East foes in the Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots. In the end, my money's on the Pats: We saw Drake Maye throw the football to 32-year-old Stefon Diggs and Kayshon Boutte. They definitely need to upgrade around their young QB while he's still on a dirt-cheap deal.

WR Jerry Jeudy, Browns

Landing spot: Tennessee Titans

It’s another new day in Cleveland, which has Todd Monken as its head coach and maybe Shedeur Sanders as its starting quarterback. It’s entirely uninteresting and uninspiring, and they need to hit the reset button again. 

Getting rid of Jerry Jeudy would probably be a good idea. He’s not the high-volume receiver that the Broncos and the Browns thought that he was when they drafted and traded for him, respectively, and he's not going to be a part of the next contending team in Cleveland. They’re not going to get back anything huge in return, but that’s better than releasing him outright, which is probably what they’ll end up doing — because, again, it’s the Browns.

As far as teams that could use him? It would be great if Tua Tagovailoa were good, because the Dolphins could convince themselves that they would be able to recreate some of the Jeudy magic from the 2018 Alabama team. The Saints traded away Reashid Shaheed, so they could use a good WR2 to go along with Chris Olave. If the Bills went after him, that would be the most Bills thing ever. 

But the Titans are in desperate need of any type of pass catcher, and Jeudy would be a nice floor-raiser alongside Calvin Ridley to give Cam Ward someone to try and push the ball downfield with.

QB Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals

Landing spot: Pittsburgh Steelers

The Kyler Murray trade talks are going to be wild over the next month. On one hand, the Cardinals need someone to get them through what is going to be another lost season in year one for Mike LaFleur. Why not use the guy you’re already paying? On the other hand, it sure feels like the book here has closed on Murray, who has alternated between injured and ineffective for most of his career. Nothing has gone right for them since they drafted him, and they need to move on eventually, especially given how much money he's owed moving forward.

Unless his deal gets restructured, any team that trades for him is going to have to pay around $40 million next season, so it’s got to be a delusional team that is looking for a near-term starter. That would seem to rule out a team like the Vikings: It’d be a bad fit, but if there’s a guy who could make it work, it's Kevin O'Connell.

Murray might actuall work with the Steelers. They’re in a mondo-sized transition era right now, and if they don’t run it back with Aaron Rodgers, then they’ll probably just keep throwing garbage at the metaphorical wall the same way they have since Ben Roethlisberger retired. Anything to avoid having to actually take a losing season or two.

WR DK Metcalf, Pittsburgh Steelers

Landing spot: Buffalo Bills

A year ago, the Steelers traded a second-round pick (and a late-round pick swap) to the Seahawks for Metcalf. It was pretty much the exact opposite of the A.J. Brown situation: Metcalf needed a new contract, so Pittsburgh was able to give up less valuable picks for the privilege of paying him market value. And that’s exactly what happened, as Metcalf signed a five-year, $150 million deal with the Steelers.

Of course, Pittsburgh did that despite not really having a viable plan at quarterback, especially not one for Metcalf's skill set. He was a non-factor for a big chunk of last season, and when he started to get hot, he got suspended.

This all depends on whether or not Rodgers is their quarterback again next year. If he is, then it’s business as usual: Try to put together a winning team and hope for some breaks. But if he’s not, Pittsburgh should want to switch everything up, treat Mike McCarthy like the transitional coach that he is and point themselves in the right direction. In short, they should blow up the roster and get as much draft capital as possible.

You'd have to imagine that would include Metcalf, who would possibly fetch a pick somewhere on Day 2 of the draft. He’s like a bigger, worse version of Brown, so he’ll probably attractive to the same type of teams: the Saints, Patriots, Bills, Vikings, 49ers, Browns and Titans are teams to watch. 

WR Brian Thomas Jr., Jacksonville Jaguars

Landing spot: New Orleans Saints

Do you remember last offseason when Brian Thomas Jr. was the belle of the ball? Expectations were through the roof ... and then he had 47 catches for 707 yards and two touchdowns in his sophomore season. Things got so bad that the Jaguars had to trade for Jakobi Meyers at the deadline, who came in and crushed it in Liam Coen's offense. 

BTJ still seems like he should be a dynamic receiver if he’s in the right offense, but the Jags don't appear to be that, and Meyers and Parker Washington threaten to make Thomas obsolete. Thus, he should be traded now, because another season in Jacksonville is only going to make his value plummet further. 

On top of the Bills and the Patriots, an A.J. Brown-less Eagles team could work. The Chiefs need young pass catchers, and the Rams are sitting on two first-round picks while Davante Adams is getting older. What about the Saints, though? Thomas still fits their ascending timeline, and Olave would help take some of the intermediate pressure off.

QB Anthony Richardson, Indianapolis Colts

Landing spot: Atlanta Falcons

Is Anthony Richardson a star? No. Should he be on this list at this point? Probably not, but too bad.
Make your own list if you don’t like it. 

The Colts are in a very peculiar situation with their quarterbacks right now: They have Richardson and Riley Leonard in the building, but they’re probably going to end up paying Daniel Jones, who tore his Achilles 11 weeks ago after looking like the future of the franchise.

Someone’s got to go, and that someone is Richardson, who's been through a gauntlet since being drafted at No. 4 overall in 2023: He's been concussed, had surgery on his shoulder, hurt his oblique, lost the starting job because he was bad and even got hit in the eye with an exercise band during pre-game warmups. 

Their experiment with him was a failure, and it’s time for him to go somewhere else. Which is alright, because there’s definitely going to be a market for backup-caliber quarterbacks this year.

In a perfect world, he would go somewhere with an established culture of developing quarterbacks: the Eagles, the 49ers, the Vikings or the Packers. However, the world isn’t perfect, and there are plenty of teams that would be cool with loading their quarterback room with backup-caliber talent and hoping one of them becomes a starter by the time the season rolls around. The Jets, Dolphins ad Browns all feel like options here, but the Falcons feel like a fit given Kevin Stefanski's history and the need for someone to compete with Michael Penix Jr.

WR Keon Coleman, Buffalo Bills

Landing spot: Miami Dolphins

Coleman’s trade market is going to be fun to watch purely because of how much Bills owner Terry Pegula put him on blast in the team's postseason press conference. That came after a nightmare 2025 season where Coleman was a healthy scratch for four games and only had 38 catches for 404 yards and four touchdowns.

He still looks the part of a dominant wide receiver, but he was getting thrown to by Josh Allen and still something (read: everything) went wrong. It feels like whichever team he goes to is either going to completely fleece the Bills or the Bills are going to completely fleece them; there’s no middle ground.

Let’s loop this all back into the A.J. Brown of it all: Jon Robinson was the Titans general manager when they traded Brown to the Eagles in 2022. He got fired two days after they played Philly and watched Brown go off eight catches for 119 yards and two touchdowns. 

The Dolphins just hired Robinson as their senior personnel executive. If there’s a guy who has a track record of getting fleeced in wide receiver trades, it’s that cat. Otherwise, you’re looking at teams that have multiple fifth- or sixth-round picks they could trade (depending on the damage Pegula did to Coleman’s value): Carolina, Baltimore, Tennessee, Philadelphia, both New York teams and Pittsburgh.

Honestly, the story behind the player is more interesting than where he lands.