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Shedeur Sanders is the No. 1 pick of the 2025 NFL Draft in the latest mock from NFL.com's Bucky Brooks.

Brooks projects the Tennessee Titans drafting Sanders with the first pick, while former Miami quarterback Cam Ward drops to No. 3 and is snagged by the New York Giants.

The Cleveland Browns are predicted to go with a non-quarterback option at No. 2 and draft former Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter, while former Colorado cornerback/wide receiver Travis Hunter falls into the hands of the New York Giants at No. 4, per Brooks.

Sanders and Ward are the only quarterbacks selected in the first round in Brooks' mock draft.

Titans president of football operations Chad Brinker recently told TitanInsider.com's Terry McCormick that former QB1 Will Levis would "get every opportunity to compete for the starting job" in 2025 after being benched last season.

Drafting Sanders, who helped his father and head coach Deion Sanders turn Colorado around from a one-win team into a bowl game participant, could provide the Levis with that competition.

The Browns are also in need of a quarterback after Deshaun Watson underwent a second Achilles surgery that will cause him to miss at least part of the 2025 season.

Cleveland could still decide to take a swing at a lower-ranked quarterback slated to come off the board in Day 2 if they want to use the No. 2 pick to address another position.

The Giants, who parted ways with one-time franchise quarterback hopeful Daniel Jones last season, also enter the draft in need of a quarterback.

Giants leadership has spoken positively about Sanders early in the pre-draft process, but could ultimately decide to go with whichever of the two top signal callers is left if either Sanders or Ward is still available at No. 3.

The top three teams' need for quarterbacks could benefit the Patriots, who enter the draft at No. 4 but with Drake Maye under center on track to start next season. If Hunter is still available at that point, adding him on either offense or defense would be a significant boost to the Patriots' hopes of rebuilding a competitive team around Maye.

Los Angeles Chargers veteran linebacker Khalil Mack committed to returning for the 2025 season after initially mulling retirement, and the team is reportedly hoping to avoid losing him in free agency.

On Wednesday, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported, "The sense is Los Angeles will make efforts to re-sign Mack, who will play in 2025 after he said he needed to take time to mull his future following the season. The Chargers believe he embodies the spirit of the team's toughness."

Perhaps the feeling is mutual, as Mack said earlier this month that he believed staying in Los Angeles would give him his best chance at winning if he continued his playing career.

"As long as Justin Herbert is your quarterback. You got [safety] Derwin James and all these guys that love the game of football. And Jim Harbaugh coaching?" Mack said on Jan. 12. "You know you always have a chance to win. Yeah, that's a no-brainer."

Despite the Chargers' interest in retaining Mack, Fowler noted that "many teams will be lurking for potential pass-rush help" and named the Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers as possible landing spots for him.

An 11-year veteran and the 2016 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, Mack is one of the best linebackers of his generation. He appeared in 16 games in 2024 and totaled 39 tackles, six sacks, nine passes defended, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. He had two sacks in Los Angeles' 32-12 loss to the Houston Texans in the AFC Wild Card Round.

New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen was impressed by Shedeur Sanders when meeting with the former Colorado quarterback at the East-West Shrine Bowl in Texas.

"He's a great kid, he's a great kid, a really good personality, football smart, his dad is a football coach," Schoen said, per NFL.com's Dan Salomone. "It's a little bit cliché, but he checks all the boxes of a [player with a] dad that is a football coach and the passion that he approaches the game with.

"It was good getting to meet him. He's had a really good career at Colorado and obviously looking forward to getting to knowing all those guys in the rest of the process."

The Giants, who are in need of a quarterback after parting ways with Daniel Jones, hold the No. 3 pick in the upcoming draft.

Sanders was photographed by CBS Sports' Garrett Podell speaking with Giants leaders including Schoen, head coach Brian Daboll and assistant general manager Brandon Brown last week during the college all-star event.

According to NFL Network's Mike Garafolo, Schoen and his staff also visited one of Colorado's practices during the 2024 season "and had a little bit of interaction with Sanders there."

"You can tell that there's definitely some interest, in the Giants, in Shedeur Sanders," Garafolo said Wednesday. "Would they take him ahead of Cam Ward, and all that? We're going to figure all that out before April. But at the very least, they were impressed with him."

The Giants are not the only team with both a high draft pick and an interest in Sanders.

The Tennessee Titans, who hold the first selection in the draft, and the Cleveland Browns, who are drafting at No. 2, also met with Sanders at the Shrine Bowl, according to ESPN's Turron Davenport.

Yahoo Sports' Charles McDonald reported those three teams asked Sanders not to play at the event, which he later confirmed he would be sitting out.

Sanders and Miami's Cam Ward are considered two of the top quarterback options available this spring. The Titans, Browns and Giants could all decide to target the position in the upcoming draft.

These three teams could get another look at Sanders and Ward when the 2025 NFL Combine takes place in Indianapolis in late February.

The belief around NFL front offices is that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will work to re-sign free agent wide receiver Chris Godwin, according to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler.

"Multiple execs expect the Bucs to try to re-sign Godwin, who has that Buc-for-life feel similar to Mike Evans," Fowler wrote.

The Bucs signed Evans to a two-year, $52 million deal last March ahead of his 11th season with the franchise.

Godwin, who has played eight seasons in Tampa Bay, was leading the NFL with 50 receptions through seven games in 2024 before he suffered a season-ending ankle injury. Spotrac projects he will get a three-year, $67 million deal on his next contract.

Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht selected Godwin in the third round of the 2017 NFL draft. He has gone on to become one of the most successful receivers in franchise history, ranking second behind only Evans in career receiving yards (7,266), receiving touchdowns (39) and receptions (579.)

Godwin also played a key role in the Bucs' Super Bowl win following the 2020 season, when he led Tampa Bay with 232 receiving yards in four playoff wins.

Although Godwin has proved to be a consistent producer with three straight 1,000-yard campaigns following the championship win, there could be some concerns about his health going forward after undergoing surgery on his dislocated ankle in October.

Given that he was on pace for a fourth consecutive quadruple-digit receiving yards total before the injury, he will still likely command a high price in free agency as he prepares to return to the field next fall.

The Buccaneers may need to decide whether they can compete with the offers Godwin might receive on the open market, or if they can turn to cheaper, younger options like Jalen McMillan and Trey Palmer next season.

That would mean even more turnover for an offense already set to undergo major changes in 2025. The Bucs are currently in search of a new offensive coordinator after losing Liam Coen to the Jacksonville Jaguars' head coaching vacancy.

Keeping Godwin in the fold could help Tampa Bay, which successfully implemented one of the highest-scoring offenses in the NFL last season, lean on their veteran receiving duo while adjusting to a new system next fall.

Despite the difficult end to the 2024 season, Sam Darnold's overall performance is likely to result in him receiving a nice contract in free agency this offseason.

Per ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, the belief among NFL executives is Darnold will end up signing a deal in the "Baker Mayfield range" after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers shelled out $100 million over three years for their quarterback last offseason.

Darnold has been riding the backup quarterback contract train for the past two years. He got a one-year deal from the San Francisco 49ers in 2023, starting one game in Week 18 when they were resting starters after clinching their playoff seeding ahead of time.

The Vikings gave Darnold a one-year, $10 million contract last offseason to serve as a bridge option after letting Kirk Cousins leave in free agency. He ended up getting the starting job in part because J.J. McCarthy's rookie season ended with a torn meniscus suffered in the preseason opener.

Darnold turned out to be one of the biggest bargain signings in the NFL. He set career-highs in passing yards (4,319), passing touchdowns (35), completion percentage (66.2) and QBR (60.5) to help the Vikings finish 14-3.

The end of the season saw Darnold revert back to being the player that made him look like a bust with the New York Jets. He finished 18-of-41 for 166 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions in a 31-9 loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 18 with the NFC North and No. 1 seed in the NFC at stake.

Darnold followed that up by going 25-of-40 for 245 yards with one touchdown, two turnovers and being sacked nine times in a 27-9 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Wild Card round.

There will still be questions about Darnold's long-term viability as a starter for a playoff contender because of how things ended for the Vikings in 2024, but there are enough teams that need help at quarterback to make it worth betting on him being a good option at a fairly reasonable salary for the position.

Mayfield's annual salary of $33.3 million ranks 18th among all quarterbacks. That doesn't seem out of line for Darnold based on what he showed this season.

Travis Kelce says the Kansas City Chiefs haven't discussed a three-peat even once amid the team's third straight AFC Championship Game victory.

"It hasn't been mentioned one time, outside of being asked about it in the media," Kelce told his brother Jason Kelce on Wednesday's episode of the New Heights podcast (9:50 mark.) "Everybody in the building is just focused on doing their job. That's how we got here. That's how we got the first one. That's how we got the second one.

"It's the only way you win football games and get to the Super Bowl is if you focus on the task at hand."

The two-time defending Super Bowl chances earned a third consecutive shot at the title with a 32-29 victory over the Bills at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday night.

Patrick Mahomes, who found Kelce for two receptions, recorded a passing touchdown and two more scores on the ground to lead the Chiefs to the win.

Similarly to Kelce, Mahomes said after the win guaranteed his fifth trip to the Super Bowl he tries to "put every single season as its own season."

"I think it will be something that I look back at the end of my career if we're able to go out there and get that three-peat, but at the same time, you just treat it as one season and one Super Bowl run, which is always hard to do," Mahomes said in Sunday's post-game press conference, per NBC Sports' Josh Alper.

A victory at Caesars Superdome on Feb. 9 would make the Chiefs the first NFL team to win three consecutive Super Bowls.

It will be hard to avoid thinking of history given how many of the players are returning from Super Bowl LVII, where Mahomes, Kelce and head coach Andy Reid defeated Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown and head coach Nick Sirianni for the title. In total, there are 27 starters returning from the championship game that took place after the 2022 season, per NFL.com's Nick Shook.

Whatever the history at stake, all the Chiefs need is one more win. It sounds like that's what Kelce and Mahomes will be focusing on as they prepare for their upcoming trip to New Orleans.

Joe Burrow's public attempts to encourage the Cincinnati Bengals to keep both of their star wide receivers don't seem likely to pay off.

Per ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, executives around the NFL are "skeptical" the Bengals will pay up to give both Tee Higgins a new contract and sign Ja'Marr Chase to a long-term extension.

One executive for an AFC team told Fowler it's "possible" for the Bengals to do it, but they would have to make "significant trade-offs" in other areas on the roster to make it happen.

"They will have close to $70 million a year tied up in receivers, plus the quarterback cost. I think it makes more sense to go the cheap route, especially given the improvements they need to make on defense," the executive said.

It has felt like a foregone conclusion for about 10 months that Higgins would be playing on another team in 2025. The Bengals used the franchise tag last offseason to keep him on the roster for 2024, but they never seemed to seriously engage him in talks for a long-term deal.

Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer reported in April that Cincinnati's offers "never approached" $20 million annually.

Higgins even acknowledged at the start of training camp that the 2024 season "could be the last ride for me and the guys."

After staying silent about the situation for most of the season, Burrow used his voice to make sure the Bengals knew he wanted Higgins back.

While the reputation of Bengals ownership is often unfavorable when it comes to paying up for star players, this is a roster that has several needs to fill that becomes more difficult to do if you're paying two wide receivers top-of-the-market money.

Of course, the Bengals haven't yet proven they are going to pay one receiver at that level. They were in talks with Chase about a long-term deal throughout the summer, but those discussions reportedly broke down over the payout of guaranteed money.

The price tag for Chase was already high going into 2024, but it's probably gone up after he won the receiving triple crown with 127 catches, 1,708 yards and 17 touchdowns.

On top of a potential record-setting deal for Chase, the Bengals also have to fix a defense that finished 25th in points allowed per game. They allowed at least 25 points in 11 of 17 games this season.

The one great defensive player the Bengals have is Trey Hendrickson, who was threatening to retire and requested a trade last offseason because he wanted a new contract. He wound up playing on his current deal then led the NFL with 17.5 sacks this season.

Now, Hendrickson will be going into the final year of his contract with a $15.8 million base salary. That seems like a situation the Bengals will also have to figure out.

It's a champagne problem to have this many great players, but it's only good for the team if they show a willingness to pay at least some of them to keep their nucleus together and improve on the margins.

Those margins are where the Bengals were significantly hurt this season because they didn't do a good job of building around Burrow, Chase, Higgins and Hendrickson. They're entering an offseason when they might lose Higgins in free agency.

As the Kansas City Chiefs gear up for their third straight Super Bowl appearance, teams are reportedly already eyeing members of their roster who will be available in free agency.

According to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, the Chicago Bears are viewed as a potential landing spot for right guard Trey Smith, who is ranked by "several teams" as the "top overall free agent."

Fowler noted that Bears general manager Ryan Poles was a member of the Chiefs front office when Smith was drafted with a sixth-round pick in 2021 and added that Poles "needs to drastically improve his interior offensive line for new coach Ben Johnson."

2024 No. 1 pick Caleb Williams was sacked a whopping 68 times in his rookie year, by far the highest total in the league, so protecting him must be Chicago's top priority going forward.

Smith would be a major upgrade for any team if Kansas City lets him walk in free agency. The 25-year-old appeared in all 17 games this season for the second straight year and drew just two penalties, the lowest single-season mark of his career. He was selected to his first Pro Bowl, but he will miss the game while preparing for Super Bowl LIX against the Philadelphia Eagles on Feb. 9.

Smith made just $3.3 million in the final year of his contract this season, so it can be expected that he will be seeking a major payday this offseason. Eagles veteran Landon Dickerson was the highest-paid guard in the NFL this season at $21 million. Chris Lindstrom of the Atlanta Falcons made $20.5 million, while Robert Hunt of the Miami Dolphins and Quenton Nelson of the Indianapolis Colts both earned $20 million.

The Chiefs have been able to build their current dynasty by retaining their homegrown talent, but it's clear that there will be some heavy competition for Smith's services this offseason.