Kyle Pitts landing spots, Lions All-Pro center retires plus seven NFL teams that just picked up some cap space

Welcome to the Monday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!

It’s the first Monday of June, which means we’ve already made it past June 1, which means thanks to the NFL’s post-June 1 rules, there were several teams around the league that picked up some serious salary cap space. We’ll be taking a look at those teams today, plus we’ll be breaking down some landing spots for Kyle Pitts since there’s been some trade speculation involving the Falcons’ tight end. 

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. Let’s get to the rundown. 

1. Kyle Pitts landing spots: Multiple teams apparently interested in trading for Falcons tight end

After four seasons in Atlanta, the Falcons might be ready to move on from Kyle Pitts. According to Fox Sports, multiple teams have reached out about possibly acquiring Pitts, and although the Falcons would prefer to keep him, they might be willing to make a deal if the price is right. 

Basically, we could see a Pitts trade happen at some point, so we decided to take a look at where he could end up. Cody Benjamin came up with several potential landing spots for Pitts and we’re going to check out a few of them below: 

• Cowboys. “The Cowboys could use a more dynamic complement to holdover Jake Ferguson at tight end, and they’ve still got $30 million to spare. As a bonus, Micah Parsons’ brother suggested this deal for Dallas not long ago.”
• Jaguars. “Yes, Jacksonville spent big to add Travis Hunter as a new weapon for Trevor Lawrence in the draft, but new general manager James Gladstone might still have an interest in replacing Evan Engram, who was released in March. Pitts’ positional versatility could give the Jaguars a new-look “big three” along with Brian Thomas Jr., increasing Lawrence’s odds of a turnaround.”
• Giants. “Head coach Brian Daboll would surely be OK pairing the big man with Malik Nabers, giving Russell Wilson an added safety valve for an offense sorely lacking secondary playmakers over the last few years.”

You can check out Cody’s full story here. 

2. 49ers finalizing trade with Eagles to acquire Bryce Huff

One reason Eagles general manager Howie Roseman is so successful is because he isn’t afraid to admit when he was wrong. One season after signing Bryce Huff to a three-year, $51.1 million deal during 2024 free agency, the Eagles have already decided to move on. Philadelphia is shipping Huff out to the West Coast in a deal with the 49ers. 

Here’s a look at the trade details: 

• 49ers receive: Bryce Huff
• Eagles receive: Mid-round draft pick (Exact round of pick hasn’t been revealed yet)

This trade continues a total revamp of the 49ers defensive line. Over the past three months, the 49ers have released several key players from last season, including Javon Hargrave, Maliek Collins and defensive end Leonard Floyd. The 49ers then turned around and drafted three defensive linemen in April, including defensive end Mykel Williams, who was taken 11th overall. 

One interesting note with this trade is that the Eagles have agreed to pay $9.05 million of Huff’s $17 million salary in 2025, which means the 49ers are only on the hook for $7.95 million. 

TRADE GRADES

Here’s a look at our grades from the trade (via Bryan DeArdo):

• 49ers grade: A-. “While Huff was deemed expendable in Philadelphia, he’s headed to a 49ers team that clearly feels that he can make a difference on their defense in 2025. Huff will be reuniting with Robert Saleh and that’s a big reason why this trade could end up being a big win for the 49ers. Huff’s breakout season took place under Saleh in New York, after all, and it’s safe to assume that the 49ers new defensive coordinator already has a good idea as to how Huff will fit inside San Francisco’s defense.”
• Eagles grade: B-. “Paying a player over $9 million to play for someone else is obviously not ideal, but the Eagles deserve some credit for finding a team that was willing to take on a significant portion of Huff’s salary while also getting a mid-round pick in return. It should also be noted that the Eagles did win the Super Bowl last year, so while last offseason’s signing of Huff was a miss, it didn’t prevent Philadelphia from winning its second Lombardi Trophy in eight years. “

You can check out DeArdo’s full explanation for each grade by clicking here.  

3. These seven teams just picked up some major salary cap space now that June 1 has passed

June 1 is one of those dates that gets thrown around a lot in conversation during the NFL offseason, but not everyone knows what it means, so let’s break it down. 

During the offseason, each NFL team is allowed to cut up to two players with a post-June 1 designation. When this designation gets used, a team will cut a player — let’s say that happens in March — but the team won’t gain any cap space at the time of the cut. Instead, they’ll gain the extra salary cap space after June 1. 

If you’re wondering why a team would go this route, it’s because the player’s salary cap hit can be spread out over two years if he’s released with a post-June 1 designation. If they don’t use the designation and a player gets cut before June 1, then the team has to eat his entire salary cap hit that year. 

There were a total of seven teams that picked up at least $5 million in salary cap space thanks to their post-June 1 cuts. We’ve listed each team below along with how much cap space they gained and who they got rid of to gain it (All numbers via Over the Cap). 

• Jets: $13.5 million (CJ Mosley and Aaron Rodgers)
• Texans: $10.49 million (Shaq Mason)
• Browns: $9.81 million (Dalvin Tomlinson and Juan Thornhill)
• Eagles: $6.42 million (Darius Slay and James Bradberry)
• Ravens: $6.3 million (Justin Tucker and Marcus Williams)
• 49ers: $5.6 million (Maliek Collins and Javon Hargrave)
• Vikings: $5.25 million (Garrett Bradbury)

The Eagles’ number could actually go up after the trade for Bryce Huff is finalized. The Eagles will also pick up some salary cap space for the retirement of Brandon Graham. The Saints will also pick up a substantial amount of salary cap space because they’ll officially be able to process the retirements of Derek Carr and Ryan Ramczyk. 

With each of these teams gaining a substantial amount of cap space, it won’t be surprising if we see a few free agency signings go down over the next week or two. 

Speaking of the June 1 deadline, if you want to know why it even exists, former NFL agent Joel Corry wrote an excellent breakdown of the rule and you can check it out here. 

4. Way too early 2026 mock draft: What the draft might look like if Arch Manning stays in school

Mock Draft Monday is back! Sure, the 2026 NFL Draft is still 11 months away, but it’s never too early for a mock draft, which is why Ryan Wilson decided to release his first 2026 mock today. One twist here is that Wilson does NOT have Arch Manning in this draft. Although some pundits are projecting that Manning will be the top pick in 2026, Wilson think the Texas quarterback will decide to forgo the draft and stay in school for another year. 

With that in mind, let’s check out the top-10 picks in Ryan’s 2026 mock draft: 

1. Saints: QB Garrett Nussmeier (LSU)
2. Browns: OL Kadyn Proctor (Alabama)
3. Jets: DE T.J. Parker (Clemson)
4. Giants: OT Spencer Fano (Utah) 
5. Titans: DL Pete Woods (Clemson)
6. Raiders:  S Caleb Downs (Ohio State)
7. Panthers: OT Francis Mauigoa (Miami)
8. Colts: QB Drew Allar (Penn State)
9. Browns (via Jaguars): DL Rueben Bain Jr. (Miami)
10. Patriots: WR Antonio Williams (Clemson)

Wilson has a total of THREE Clemson players going in the top 10, and if that were to happen it would mark the first time since Alabama in the 2021 NFL Draft that one school produced three players that all went in the top 10.

Anyway, if you want to see how the rest of the first round plays out — and trust me, you do — then you’re going to want to click here. Oh, and if you’re like me and you were wondering how the draft order was made here, it was determined using SportsLine’s Super Bowl odds, but in reverse order. 

5. NFC South win totals: Predicting the over/under for each team in the division

We ended the month of May by handing out some over/under predictions for 2025 and we’re going to start June by doing the same thing. Over the past week, we’ve taken a look at the over/under totals for 24 of the NFL’s 32 teams. That means there are only eight teams left and we’ll be covering them over the next two days with the NFC South coming up today followed by the NFC West tomorrow. 

Garrett Podell was in charge of making the predictions here. Let’s check out whether he likes the over or the under for each team in the division: 

NFL odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook.

Atlanta Falcons
ODDS: Over 7.5 (-170) / Under 7.5 (+140)
LEAN: OVER
Garrett’s take: “A full season of Michael Penix operating as the starter with the weapons he has should power Atlanta to new heights since it can reintroduce the play-action pass into the offense. The Falcons had the lowest play-action pass rate in the entire league (7.6%) in 2024 in order to mask Kirk Cousins’ mobility deficiency following an Achilles tear in his mid-30s.”

Chicago Bears
ODDS: Over 6.5 (-145) / Under 6.5 (-130)
LEAN: UNDER 
Garett’s take: “The Panthers have real hope on offense for the first time since selecting Young first overall in the 2023 NFL Draft. He returned from his midseason benching last season with much better ball security, racking up 20 total touchdowns to just eight turnovers in his final 10 games of 2024, four of which were wins. … However, it remains to be seen if Young can be consistently steady enough to make Carolina’s front-office efforts truly impactful.“

If you want to see how Garrett feels about the Buccaneers and Saints, you can get his take on those two teams here. 

6. Extra points: ‘Madden’ reveals new cover; Ragnow retires

This is always a busy time in the NFL, and since it’s nearly impossible to keep track of everything that’s happening, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you. 

• Saquon Barkley lands on the cover of ‘Madden.’ EA Sports has just released the cover for the latest edition of “Madden” and Saquon Barkley got the nod (You can see the cover here). If you believe in the “Madden Curse,” then this is certainly bad news. This marks the second straight year that a running back has graced the cover. We’ll take a deeper look at the curse on Tuesday, but just remember, Christian McCaffrey was on the cover last year and things definitely didn’t work out so well for him. 
• Frank Ragnow retires. The Lions lost their starting center on Monday after he surprisingly decided to retire. Ragnow, who just turned 29, had been the Lions’ full-time starter since being drafted in 2018. He’s retiring now because his body had simply broken down on him. “I have given this team everything I have, and I thought I had more to give, but the reality is I simply don’t. I have to listen to my body, and this has been one of the hardest decisions of my life,” Ragnow said. 
• Josh Allen marries Hailee Steinfeld. The reigning NFL MVP got married to actress Hailee Steinfeld over the weekend in California. Based on photos of the event, it appears that Allen invited several teammates to the wedding, including Dawson Knox, Spencer Brown and Mitchell Trubisky. You can check out photos from the wedding here. 
• Patriots could cut Stefon Diggs. According to Patriots radio announcer Scott Zolak, the option to cut Diggs is “on the table” in New England. The Patriots clearly aren’t happy with Diggs, especially after his boat video came out last week, so it will certainly be interesting to see how new coach Mike Vrabel handles the situation. Cutting Diggs would definitely send a message to the rest of the team. 
• Red Zone fans rejoice. After 16 seasons of hosting NFL Red Zone, Scott Hanson isn’t quite done yet. Hanson’s contract expired after the 2024 season and there was some question about whether he was going to return, but he got a deal done with the NFL Network over the past few days and will be back in the host’s seat this season.
• Cowboys are excited to have Joe Milton. The former Patriots quarterback was traded to Dallas in April and the Cowboys are thrilled to have him. “So excited about Joe. I was excited about Joe before we got him,” Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said after a recent OTA session. With Dak Prescott coming off a brutal hamstring injury, the Cowboys needed a solid backup, which is why they added Milton. We’ve got a full story on how Milton is acclimating to Dallas, and you can check it out here.