This after the combine showcased two realities about the forthcoming running back class: That Love was far and away the elite prospect and likely to get drafted higher than anyone anticipated; and that the rest of the class is filled with dice rolls. Now it\u2019s fair to wonder if the Chiefs and Saints both swung for the fences in free agency with a suspicion that Love wouldn\u2019t be there to draft.<\/p>\n
Now Love\u2019s draft board likely shifts upward, potentially as high as the Titans at No. 4 or the Washington Commanders at No. 7. Both of those franchises have been doing their work on the free-agent class of running backs as well as the draft class \u2014 and as of Monday\u2019s close, they\u2019d not only missed out on Walker and Etienne, but even the next tier of best available veterans in J.K. Dobbins (who returned to the Denver Broncos on a two-year deal), Kenneth Gainwell (signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers), Tyler Allgeier (signed with the Arizona Cardinals) and Rico Dowdle (signed with the Steelers).<\/p>\n
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\u200b\u200b[Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Baseball league for the 2026 MLB season<\/a>]<\/p>\n That\u2019s effectively the top six running backs who were available in free agency. And now it leaves the Titans with Tony Pollard heading into the last year of his deal, and the Commanders looking for a load-carrying centerpiece starter who now doesn\u2019t appear to be available. Don\u2019t be surprised if the next phase of mock drafts have shifted Love into one of those two spots \u2014 almost certainly no lower than Washington\u2019s No. 7 pick.<\/p>\n Of course, that\u2019s not the only dent delivered to the draft process by the first few hours of the free agency tampering window. Among some of the other prominent changes in the \u201cneed\u201d department of various teams \u2026<\/p>\n The Arizona Cardinals and Ty Simpson<\/p>\n Quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa (to the Atlanta Falcons) and Malik Willis (to the Miami Dolphins) both came off the board, leaving the Cardinals with a starting quarterback hole that must either ride out another bridge year with Jacoby Brissett or get into the signing game with a handful of other veterans who also look like stopgap measures. Now it\u2019s fair to begin connecting some dots to Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson, who may be this year\u2019s Jaxson Dart \u2014 a late first-round quarterback that some team trades up to get into the fold.<\/p>\n Ty Simpsons is in the running to be QB2 in the 2026 NFL Draft. (Photo by Brian Rothmuller\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/p>\n (Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/p>\n The Cardinals are very obviously there in the need department, and they have a high pick in the second and third rounds (Nos. 34 and 65 overall) that is in prime position to trade up into the first round if Simpson makes it to the 20s. It\u2019s hard to say what capital would have to be surrendered without knowing exactly where Simpson could be selected, but the package would have to be similar to the one forked over from the New York Giants to the Houston Texans that facilitated a move to select Dart with the 25th pick in last year\u2019s draft. To make that happen, the Giants traded the 34th and 99th picks in the 2025 draft, and another third-round pick in 2026. Beyond the No. 3 overall pick in the first round, Arizona has second-, third- and fourth-round ammunition in this draft to get a very solid move back into the first round done if the team wants to be aggressive, including picks Nos. 34, 65 and No. 104.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The Tennessee Titans and Carnell Tate<\/p>\n The Titans never got a shot at Indianapolis wideout Alec Pierce, who returned to the Colts on a whopping four-year $116 million extension<\/a>. That changes the matrix a bit for the Titans, who were sure to cut ties with veteran Calvin Ridley if Pierce had been signed. Now the Titans have to make a decision with Ridley, who would need to be released by March 16 to avoid incurring a $1 million roster bonus and a partial salary guarantee for 2026. While the Titans signed Robinson to a four-year, $78 million deal, his slot position does not impact the future of Ridley as an outside receiver. That means if Ridley is ultimately cut in the next several days, the Titans likely have a replacement in mind: Ohio State\u2019s Carnell Tate, who is currently slotted as the draft\u2019s top wideout by many personnel departments.<\/p>\n There\u2019s some moving parts here, but if Ridley gets cut, there\u2019s going to be a strong line drawn between Tennessee\u2019s No. 4 pick and Tate.<\/p>\n The 49ers, Steelers and a late first-round wideout<\/p>\n Entering the tampering period, the 49ers had a clear, gaping hole at their No. 1 wideout spot, while the Steelers had their own void at the No. 2 receiver. Both meaningfully addressed those issues Monday, with the 49ers agreeing with Mike Evans on a three-year, $42.4 million deal<\/a> and the Steelers acquiring Michael Pittman Jr. from the Indianapolis Colts<\/a>. You can argue the 49ers aren\u2019t looking at Evans like a No. 1 \u2014 although I think that\u2019s incorrect \u2014 but there will still be plenty of passing volume available for him alongside fellow receiver Ricky Pearsall, tight end George Kittle and running back Christian McCaffrey. Adding another first-round wide receiver with the No. 27 overall pick would seem too luxurious on top of the Evans deal. The team now has more pressing needs.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n As for the Steelers, DK Metcalf and Pittman will lock in at the top two WR spots, and as of now, there\u2019s still hope that former third-round pick Roman Wilson can make some kind of stride in contributions in Year 3. If the Steelers want to add a wideout, the class is deep enough to do it later rather than expending the No. 21 overall pick on top of trading for Pittman.<\/p>\n All of that, rippling just from the first several hours of the tamping window. And there will be more \u2014 when and if the Philadelphia Eagles find a trade buyer for wideout A.J. Brown \u2026when some team shores up its pass rushing need with a Trey Hendrickson signing \u2026 when a team needing an instant starter at left tackle scoops up Taylor Decker \u2026 on and on.<\/p>\n This is all just getting started. And when it\u2019s over, many of the draft predictions that we\u2019ve been staring at for weeks or months will be circling the drain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"So much for all those mock draft certainties. Jeremiyah Love landing with the Kansas City Chiefs or New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[12478,19209,5585,1745,1766,49,6117,48,167193,18082,13276,1743,1775,14108,29896,1737,99839,1763,3311,1727,36188,28610,78641,1720,19205,18464,1734,1728,514,1747,949,10159,86091,18822,186895,948,82,1733,43027,1741,38596,29887,80532,1746,2220,5930,102885,1758,31568],"class_list":["post-526315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-a-j-brown","tag-alec-pierce","tag-arizona","tag-arizona-cardinals","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-ca","tag-calvin-ridley","tag-canada","tag-carnell-tate","tag-christian-mccaffrey","tag-colts","tag-denver-broncos","tag-dk-metcalf","tag-free-agency","tag-george-kittle","tag-houston-texans","tag-jacoby-brissett","tag-jaxson-dart","tag-kansas-city","tag-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-kenneth-gainwell","tag-kenneth-walker","tag-malik-willis","tag-miami-dolphins","tag-michael-pittman-jr","tag-mike-evans","tag-new-orleans-saints","tag-new-york-giants","tag-nfl","tag-philadelphia-eagles","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-ricky-pearsall","tag-rico-dowdle","tag-roman-wilson","tag-running-back","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-sports","tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","tag-taylor-decker","tag-tennessee-titans","tag-the-titans","tag-tony-pollard","tag-travis-etienne-jr","tag-trey-hendrickson","tag-tua-tagovailoa","tag-ty-simpson","tag-tyler-allgeier","tag-washington-commanders","tag-wide-receiver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"PASADENA,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/a8ebca1a-0b2c-497c-b1b3-666944c0e917.jpeg\"\/)
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