We are only 119 days before the opening of the “Thursday evening football” season of the NFL between the Ravens of Baltimore and the Chiefs of Kansas City. Although it looks like a lot of time so that the league recruits are ready to shine during week 1, you can bet that the league coaches think that the next 17 weeks are far from sufficient.
Which brings us to the importance of this weekend. While “Rookie Minicamp” seems relatively benign – with the best players in the world not involved – the next three days have set the tone for all the new guys.
Each team begins to work 30 hours (10 a day from Friday to Sunday) with its new arrivals. In particular for the teams that have invested a large part of the future of their franchise on one or two recruits, these three days offer a large index as to whether their franchise could become the next chefs – or the next bank.
Here are four teams who really need to leave by feeling good in their draft:
Titans du Tennessee
Last month, Cam Ward became the 19th quarter of the last 25 projects to be the overall choice n ° 1. Guess how many of these 19 won a Super Bowl? Yes, just two: Matthew Stafford and Eli Manning.
We mention it for two reasons: first, it is statistically incorrect to expect Ward to lead the titans to a super bowl. Second, no one cares about the first reason. The pressure to be special starts now.
Head coach Brian Callahan and the attacking coordinator Nick Holz had months to decide that Ward was the best for the choice n ° 1. They believe that they understand how he thinks, how he works and how he reacts to success and failure-but this weekend is the equivalent of the end of the honeymoon. Will and will the titans live happy forever? The first signs – good and bad – will go out this weekend.
Jacksonville Jaguars
![The choice of first round of Jacksonville jaguars, the wide receiver of the Colorado buffaloes and the defensive back Travis Hunter, on the left, answers questions as general manager James Gladstone, on the right, is next to him during a press conference on Friday March 25, 2025 at Miller Electric Center in Jacksonville, Florida. [Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/1746799467575)
The choice of first round of Jacksonville jaguars, the wide receiver of the Colorado buffaloes and the defensive back Travis Hunter, on the left, answers questions as general manager James Gladstone, on the right, is next to him during a press conference on Friday March 25, 2025 at Miller Electric Center in Jacksonville, Florida. [Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union] One of the most exciting scenarios that will take place during the 2025 season is the number of photos that the winner of the Heisman trophy, Travis Hunter, can manage each week.
Is he first a receiver? Is it first a corner? Does he have the intellectual bandwidth as well as the athletic capacity to prepare to play both sides of the ball?
Since Hunter was an academic All -America twice – he would have published a GPA of 3.79 while graduating in anthropology – his preparation of the meeting room seems not to be a problem. But with Hunter at the disposal of the Jaguars 10 hours a day this weekend, they will start to learn exactly how much they can stack on his plate before starting to complete.
Las Vegas raiders
October 12, 2024; Honolulu, Hawaii, United States; Boisse State Broncos Running Back, Ashton Jeanty (2), launches the ball for a hit during the first quarter of a NCAA university football match against the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors at the Clarence TC Ching athletics complex. Compulsory credit: Marco Garcia-Imagn Images Ashton Jeanty was not written sixth in the general classification to withdraw a little heat from the new quarter-back of the Geno Smith raiders. He’s going to be the franchise. Jeanty is only the sixth ball carrier written in the top 10 in the past 10 years. Three were worthy of the fame: Saquon Barkley (n ° 2 in 2018), Christian McCaffrey (n ° 8 in 2017) and Ezekiel Elliott (n ° 4 in 2016).
Bijan Robinson, who accumulated 1,456 yards on the ground and 14 hit last year after a recruit season, could also be on the way to the status of the renowned temple. Even Leonard Fournette (n ° 4 in 2017), which is the group’s “bust”, obtained a Super Bowl ring in 2021.
Of all these guys, Elliott appreciated the best recruit year. He accumulated 1,631 yards and 15 affected on the ground and finished third in the NFL MVP vote. He hit the ball on average 23.6 times per game. Expect that Jeanty touches him at least often – although he can catch three times more passes than Elliott did (32) in his recruit year.
This weekend, the raiders are starting to discover how much superhuman and versatile Jeanty could be.
Falcons of Atlanta
January 18, 2025; Atlanta, GA, United States; Notre Dame Fighting Irish Safety Xavier Watts (0) in 2025 CFP National Championship Media Day at Georgia World Congress Center, Building A. Compulsory credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images Remember when the Falcons drafted the quarter-Arrière Michael Penix Jr. in the first round of last year despite the signing of Kirk Cousins to a contract of $ 180 million over four years a month ago? The Falcons and the GM Terry Fontenot caught a serious Flak.
Now advanced to this project: Falcons received more ridiculous when they abandoned their first round choice in 2026 to mount 20 places to obtain the rusher of James Pearce Jr. passes with the choice n ° 26 – even if they had just used the 15th choice in total Walker milestone.
The only way it makes sense is that Pearce is much better than the majority of the NFL believes it. The Falcons will breathe much more easily if Pearce, who took care of the whispers before the cog, that he has a steep body and that it is “difficult”, is difficult to block.
