Why No. 1 pick in 2025 NFL Draft might now be set, plus Tom Brady talks about split from Patriots

Welcome to the Tuesday edition of the Pick Six newsletter! 

With the 2025 NFL Draft now less than a month away, you’re going to notice a serious uptick in draft-related content over the next few weeks, and I don’t want to spoil the draft, but I think we now know who the No. 1 pick is going to be. We’ll be covering that in today’s newsletter, plus we’ll be taking a look at what the Patriots should do with the fourth overall pick. 

As always, here’s your daily reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter. To get them signed up, all you have to do is click here. 

1. Cam Ward’s pro day: Three takeaways from Miami QB’s big day

Cam Ward didn’t work out at the NFL Scouting Combine, but he did show off his talents at the University of Miami’s Pro Day on Tuesday. CBS Sports NFL Draft guru Ryan Wilson was in Coral Gables, Florida, to watch Ward, and if he had one takeaway, it’s this: Ward’s dominant performance should leave no doubt about who the top pick in 2025 NFL Draft should be. 

• Ward wowed everyone. From Wilson, “Ward showed off an arm that’s better in person than it is on tape, a quick release that has the ball explode out of his hand with such velocity that it seems like an optical illusion, and the touch on intermediate and deep throws that consistently found their targets, often in spots where only they had a chance to make a play on the ball.”
• Titans sent everyone to watch Ward. The Titans hold the No. 1 overall pick, and if their attendance Tuesday was any indication, they definitely plan on taking Ward. According to The Athletic, the Titans sent their head coach, general manager and team president to Florida, along with their “in-house TV and website production team.” That sounds like they’re taking Ward. 
• Ward is confident he’ll be the top pick. Ward had a message for the Titans’ front office after his Pro Day, “I told them I was solidifying it today,” Ward said of being the No. 1 overall pick. “They finally got a chance to see me throw in person, and I’ll get another chance hopefully to throw in front of them. But that’s a good building they have in (Tennessee), a good support staff. I was just happy to be able to throw in front of them for the first time.”

You can read Wilson’s full breakdown of Ward’s pro day here. 

For more draft coverage, you can hear Wilson every week on “With the First Pick,” our year-round NFL Draft podcast here at CBS Sports. You can find “With the First Pick” wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

Former Titans general manager Ran Carthon actually made his debut on the podcast this week and he interviewed Ward, which you can see here. 

2. Who should the Patriots take with the fourth overall pick? Ranking their best options

One of the most intriguing teams in the NFL Draft is the New England Patriots. When you look at the teams that will be making the first four picks, the Patriots are the only one that definitely does NOT need a quarterback, which means there are a lot of ways they can go with their first pick. 

At this point, no one really knows what the Patriots will do at fourth overall, but that didn’t stop Tyler Sullivan from ranking New England’s best options. 

Sullivan ranked the Patriots’ top-five dream options at fourth overall, and we’re going to take a look at three of them below: 

• EDGE Abdul Carter (Penn State): “The Penn State pass rusher is arguably the top overall prospect in this class, and there’s a chance — albeit slim — he could be on the board when the Patriots are on the clock. Because the teams ahead of New England — Titans (No. 1), Browns (No. 2) and Giants (No. 3) — all need quarterbacks, that could push talent down the board as they opt to address that position under center. If Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders get taken with two of the top-three picks, that means an elite talent will fall to the Patriots, and they should be praying it’s Carter who does.”
• WR/CB Travis Hunter (Colorado): “Most project Hunter to “major” at corner in the pros and “minor” at wide receiver. However, from a Patriots perspective, they might prefer it to be the other way around. The team already has Christian Gonzalez and Carlton Davis at the starting corner spots, and have a dire need at wide receiver. Hunter did win the Fred Biletnikoff Award — given out to the nation’s top receiver — so he certainly has elite upside on offense and would automatically become Maye’s No. 1 weapon.”
• OL Will Campbell (LSU): “While it’s fun to consider the possibility of Carter or Hunter falling to the Patriots, there’s a chance the teams ahead of them forgo their pursuit of a quarterback atop the draft. If that unfolds, the Patriots selecting LSU offensive lineman Will Campbell isn’t a bad consolation prize. He’s CBS Sports’ No. 6 ranked prospect overall and fills a massive need along the offensive line.”

So, who else would make sense for the Patriots? You can check out Sullivan’s full list here. 

3. Ranking the five biggest challengers to dethrone the Eagles after free agency

The Eagles ended the 2024 season as the best team in the NFL, but after two weeks of free agency, is that still the case? Not only did the Eagles get worse with the lost of several key defensive starters, but we saw several other teams get better. 

With that in mind, Cody Benjamin decided to rank the five biggest challengers to dethrone the Eagles in 2025 based on how everyone did in free agency. 

• Commanders. “They got trounced in the 2024 NFC title game, but the fact they made it there at all speaks to the franchise-altering talent of Jayden Daniels … Now Daniels has a sturdier left tackle in Laremy Tunsil and a Swiss Army knife in Deebo Samuel to help fill out Dan Quinn’s veteran-infused lineup.”
• Rams. “Fluctuating between rebuild and reload in recent years, the Rams are pretty dependent on Matthew Stafford staying healthy and productive at age 37. The supporting cast is very enticing, though. Fresh off a scrappy playoff bid that almost saw their young, tenacious defense knock off the Eagles on the road, Davante Adams gives Stafford a savvy safety valve opposite Puka Nacua.”
• Bills. “As long as Josh Allen is upright, this team should be feisty. Sean McDermott’s defensive front also has the potential to take a big leap if Joey Bosa can stay healthy as Greg Rousseau’s new running mate off the edge.”

Benjamin ranked a total of five teams, and if you want to see his full list, you can do that here. The rest of the list includes one more NFC team and an AFC team that’s not the Chiefs. 

4. Five underrated free agency storylines that we aren’t talking about enough

There are so many signings, trades and moves made during free agency that sometimes we don’t spend enough time talking about storylines that we probably should be talking more about, so we’re going to be talking about those storylines today. 

Jordan Dajani went through and found some of the most underrated storylines of the past few weeks, and we’re going to check those out now. 

• Bengals still haven’t addressed their defense. “Congratulations to the Bengals for locking up Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins long-term. … Chase and Higgins are great wide receivers, no doubt, but they and Joe Burrow showed last year they can’t contend by themselves — or even make the playoffs. The Cincy defense was bad in 2024, ranking eighth-worst in total defense (348.3 yards of total offense allowed per game), and eighth-worst in points allowed per game (25.5). What have the Bengals done to upgrade the defense so far? Cincy brought back B.J. Hill, Joseph Ossai and Cameron Sample, then added T.J. Slaton — who is a good run defender — plus former Eagles linebacker Oren Burks to replace Akeem Davis-Gaither. Mike Hilton and Vonn Bell are still free agents looking for new deals, but it doesn’t seem like the Bengals have really addressed the reason why this team missed the playoffs last year.”
• J.J. McCarthy now has a lot of pressure on him. “There’s pressure on every new young starting quarterback in the NFL, but the pressure McCarthy will experience is different. … Have you paid attention to what the Vikings have done in free agency? They may have had the best offseason in the NFL. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah upgraded the offensive line with guard Will Fries and center Ryan Kelly, then revamped the defensive front by signing veterans Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave. Aaron Jones is also back in the fold, and the Vikings traded for an intriguing back in Jordan Mason, who crossed 100 rushing yards in his first two career starts with the San Francisco 49ers last year. The Vikings want to compete now, my friend, and they view you as a better option right now than the historically good free-agent pickup last year in Sam Darnold.”

Jordan came up with three more underrated storylines, which you can check out here. 

5. Tom Brady offers new insight on his exit from New England: QB blames split on ‘tension’ with Belichick

Over the past six years, a lot of people have said a lot of things about why the Patriots’ dynasty broke up, but if there’s one person who rarely shares any information about the subject, it’s Tom Brady. When it comes to his split from New England, Brady has mostly kept his thoughts to himself about what transpired, but he did offer a few new details in the latest edition of his weekly newsletter. (Yes, Brady has a newsletter, and yes, that means I’m in direct competition with him. You’re going down, Brady.)

Anyway, here’s what Brady had to say about his exit from New England:

• Tension with Belichick seemed to have caused the split. After the 2019 season ended with a playoff loss to the Titans, Brady said it was pretty clear he was done in New England and that the tension with Belichick had a lot to do with that. “After twenty years together, a natural tension had developed between where Coach Belichick and I were headed in our careers, and where the Patriots were moving as a franchise,” Brady wrote. “It was the kind of tension that could only be resolved by some kind of split or one of us reassessing our priorities.” Brady was right, there was a split and it ended up with him in Tampa Bay. 
• Brady felt the end was near for two or three years. Although Brady didn’t leave the Patriots until March 2020, he knew that the end was coming. The seven-time Super Bowl winner said he started thinking about hitting free agency as early as 2017. “It was a creeping decision that lived passively in the back of mind for [two to three] years,” Brady wrote. “Until March of 2020 when a whirlwind of a few days made me realize that a decision was coming sooner rather than later.” 

The good news for Brady is that things ended up working out for him. After leaving New England, he went to Tampa Bay, where he won a Super Bowl in his first season with the Buccaneers. As for Belichick, he went 29-38 in the four seasons after Brady left while losing his only playoff game. 

You can read more about Brady’s thoughts here. 

6. Extra points: Possible timeline for Kirk Cousins to be traded

It’s been a busy 24 hours 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.

• Kirk Cousins might wait until after draft to make decision on his future. If the Falcons want to get rid of Kirk Cousins, it won’t be easy, and that’s because the QB has a no-trade clause in his contract, which means they can’t pull off a deal without his permission. According to Sports Illustrated, Cousins is going to wait until after the draft to decide whether he wants to waive his no-trade clause. You can check out the details on his decision here. 
• Puka Nacua wants to retire by age 30. The Rams star apparently wants to take a page out of Aaron Donald’s playbook. The receiver said this week that he wants to retire from football by the time he turns 30 years old. Nacua is 23 and turns 24 on May 29, so based on his timeline, he has roughly six or seven seasons left to play in the NFL. It’s interesting to hear a star player talk like this before he even turns 25. You can check out his full comments here. 
• Saints add possible starter on the offensive line. The Saints have agreed to a one-year deal with offensive lineman Dillon Radunz, who started 15 games last season for the Titans. Radunz is a versatile lineman who has taken snaps at four different positions in his career (right guard, left guard, left tackle, right tackle). Radunz was predominantly a right guard last season, but it wouldn’t be surprising if he ends up starting at left guard for a Saints team that has a big hole there. 
• Chiefs re-sign defensive tackle. It seems that the Chiefs free agency strategy has just been to re-sign their own guys. They did that again Monday by re-signing Mike Pennel, who played in all 17 games last season. The Chiefs have now re-signed several players this offseason, including Marquise Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Nick Bolton and Kareem Hunt, among others. 
• Chiefs receiver files lawsuit. Xavier Worthy is suing his former fiancée and seeking between $250,000 and $1 million in damages. According to the lawsuit, the fiancée “schemed to extort a home, money, cars and other valuables from Plaintiff by concocting false stories of domestic violence and leaking the same to the press to professionally and personally assassinate Plaintiff’s character and reputation.” Worthy was arrested less than three weeks ago for an incident with the woman, but he wasn’t charged. You can read more about the case here.