NFL Combine: 7 Most Telling Comments From the Week in Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS — The primary purpose of the NFL Scouting Combine is for teams to gather intel on the top prospects in the upcoming draft and scout them in simulated drills. However, the week in Indianapolis also gave us several tea leaves to read on what to expect in the NFL this offseason.

Will Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby get traded? What does George Pickens’ franchise tag mean for the Cowboys? Will the Patriots pursue Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown? 

Those questions were asked this week, and while they weren’t answered, we got comments that gave us plenty to read into. So, here are the seven most telling comments we heard at the combine, and how we interpreted them: 

Raiders GM John Spytek on a potential Maxx Crosby trade: ‘We’re always listening’

Henry McKenna: This situation feels a whole lot like an organization that is committing to their QB1 — “right now.” When a team says something like that, they’re almost inevitably going to replace their QB. So when John Spytek said this about Crosby …

“We’re always listening,” said Spytek, when asked if Crosby was untradeable, when he spoke with reporters at the combine.

It meant that they were almost inevitably going to trade him.

Of course, let’s make sure to honor everything Spytek said. Because he’d clearly like to keep the edge player.

“Maxx [Crosby] is an elite player,” he told reporters at the combine on Tuesday. “I’ve been very upfront from the start when I got here that we’re in the business of having really good players on the team, and we need a lot more of them. And it’s hard to build a great team without elite players.”

It’s understandable that the Raiders don’t want to trade Crosby. It’s also starting to feel unrealistic. He doesn’t want to be there, and when a player of Crosby’s caliber makes a decision like that, it forces the team’s hand. So at some point before the draft, there will likely be a blockbuster trade that sends Crosby to a new home.

Brian Schottenheimer says he hopes the Cowboys can lock up George Pickens on a long-term deal

McKenna: If George Pickens had made it to free agency without the franchise tag, he would’ve been the most sought-after player. Bar none. In fact, he was ranked No. 1 in our own Greg Auman’s top 100 free agents list for this offseason. But as is often the case with pending free agents, the Cowboys are not letting Pickens onto the free market. They placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on him, which — for now — sets his 2026 earnings at almost $27.3 million.

Prior to news of Pickens’ franchise tag, Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer addressed whether the team planned to lock up the receiver to a long-term deal.

“I hope,” he said at the podium on Thursday. “Everything I’ve been around George from the time he got here, and I say this respectfully, I kicked his ass in shooting free throws in my office. He might not remember it that way. I knew this guy’s a competitor and he loves football, so I hope so.”

With Jerry Jones running the operation, there is almost no margin for error in contract negotiations. But Pickens proved he can be among the league’s most dangerous threats. It’s a no-brainer. Lock him up and enjoy having two elite players at one position that everyone else covets.

Mike Vrabel fueled trade rumors by explaining that he and A.J. Brown have a strong bond — years after working together

McKenna: Mike Vrabel and A.J. Brown like each other. They have both made that abundantly clear.

Earlier this offseason, Brown spoke on how much he appreciates Vrabel — even if the wide receiver didn’t initially love playing for the coach.

But there’s a real chance Brown could play for the coach again. The Patriots are going to be in on Brown’s trade market, per MassLive.com. And Vrabel has openly spoken about his relationship with Brown.

“I’ve watched him grow. I’ve watched him mature. I’m proud of him, proud of the father that he is. I’m proud of the husband that he is,” Vrabel said at the podium on Wednesday. “That has nothing to do with where he plays or where he played. Those are the things that are important.

“We reach out and text each other during the good things that happen to each other. Sometimes things don’t go so well for the people that you’re close with, and you text for those as well. It’s a two-way street of support and reminders of what got us to where we are here today.”

The question is whether trading for Brown could get the Patriots back into the playoffs for a second straight year. And if the answer is yes, then perhaps we’ll see them pull the trigger.

Steelers GM Omar Khan: expecting answers ‘sooner than later’ on Aaron Rodgers

Ben Arthur: The Steelers may be in a wait-and-see mode with Aaron Rodgers again, but it feels like they’re positioned in the best way possible given the challenging circumstances of a down quarterback market this offseason between the draft and free agency. 

First, the door is open for the 42-year-old Rodgers in a way that doesn’t seem like it would cripple their timetable to go after another viable veteran starter should he retire. 

“I don’t foresee this going like it did last year,” general manager Omar Khan told CBS Sports. “I’m pretty certain we’ll have an answer sooner than later.”

And even if Rodgers returns, they can draft their potential quarterback of the future (Alabama’s Ty Simpson is an option with the 21st overall pick) to sit for a year. The franchise has gushed about rising second-year quarterback Will Howard, too, and he appears to be firmly in the future plans.

Can the Steelers Afford to Keep Waiting on Aaron Rodgers?

So it could be Rodgers (or another veteran QB), a quarterback drafted this year, Howard and Mason Rudolph (who still has one year on his contract) in the QB mix. It’s not a great scenario, but it would give Pittsburgh some stability at the most important position in 2026 and something to look forward to in 2027. There are quarterback-needy teams across the league that have much worse outlooks. 

Nick Caserio called the C.J. Stroud trade speculation ‘moronic’

Arthur: Clearly, Texans general manager Nick Caserio isn’t a fan of the C.J. Stroud trade rumors. 

“Moronic,” Caserio said, in part, at the podium on Tuesday. 

And honestly, he’s right. 

It’s clear to all league observers that C.J. Stroud hasn’t been the same player since his historic rookie season, and that his current trajectory is concerning. That needs to change. But his play shouldn’t warrant panic. 

Just because he’s now eligible for an extension doesn’t mean Houston has to give him one this offseason. Despite the narrative surrounding Stroud coming out of a disastrous playoff run, the most sensible move with him has long been to pick up the fifth-year option in his rookie contract by the May 1 deadline, which would give him $25.904 million guaranteed for 2027. That’s bottom-tier money for non-rookie contract starting quarterbacks, which is appropriate for his production over the last two years. 

“He’s our quarterback,” Caserio said. “He isn’t going anywhere.”

Houston can push back talks about Stroud’s future to next offseason. 

One team told Fernando Mendoza to ‘get arrested’ so he’d slide to them

Mendoza looks like the runaway favorite to go first overall.

The Indiana quarterback said he had a “fantastic” interview with the Raiders. If they feel the same way, there’s really no reason why they wouldn’t pick him first overall. And that’s why, when he met with another team, they told him that he’d need to “get arrested” to land in their draft spot, the Indiana quarterback said in an interview with CBS Sports.

Joel Klatt on Mendoza not throwing at combine, 1.0 Mock Draft

So yeah, it would be stunning to see him slip past No. 1 at this point. 

It’s Mendoza mania from now until April 23, when the Raiders will turn in the first pick of the 2026 NFL Draft.

John Harbaugh goes from master to student as he hopes to build a team like Mike Macdonald’s

Arthur: We’ve talked so much about what John Harbaugh means for the Giants. 

What if the Giants are making a profound impact on him as well, in terms of how he sees the game?

Harbaugh this week acknowledged that he’s learning from Seahawks coach Mike MacDonald, his defensive coordinator in Baltimore from the 2022 and 2023 seasons, who just won a Super Bowl.  

“Mike’s amazing, and to see that happen for them, the type of team they built — I guess probably more than anything — is really kind of studying the kind of team that they built,” Harbaugh said this week. “He and [assistant head coach] Leslie Frazier, as partners in that process, Jay Harbaugh, a part of that too. Seeing the team that they’ve built is reflective, I would say, for sure of the team that we want to build in New York.”

So often we see older coaches stuck in their way and unwilling to change, especially if they’ve had success doing it their way. And Harbaugh won plenty with the Ravens, who he led to a Super Bowl victory and six division titles in his 18 seasons as head coach. But his remarks show a willingness to learn. 

Maybe it’s the Giants and the fresh start they’ve afforded him that will warm him to fresh, modern ideas in his new chapter.