The NFL combine begins Feb 23rd. The Bernuda Triangle of Responsibility can do stuff now if they want.
Yore AI questions for the day …
“do nfl teams make qb trades in late january and early february”
Yes, NFL teams frequently agree to quarterback trades in late January and early February, even though these transactions cannot be officially processed until the new league year begins in March.
Notable Early Offseason QB Trades
Several of the biggest quarterback trades in recent NFL history were negotiated and reported during this late January to early February window:
- Matthew Stafford to the Rams / Jared Goff to the Lions: This blockbuster trade was agreed upon on January 30, 2021. The deal was widely reported and discussed for weeks before it became official on March 17, 2021.
- Alex Smith to the Redskins (now Commanders): This trade was agreed upon on January 30, 2018. It gave the Kansas City Chiefs a clear path to starting Patrick Mahomes while securing a veteran for Washington nearly two months before the league year opened.
- Carson Wentz to the Colts: This deal was agreed upon on February 18, 2021, just after the Super Bowl, as the Colts looked to replace the retired Philip Rivers.
next AI question …
“What compensation might the 49ers seek for Mac Jones?”
Based on current reports and analyst projections as of February 7, 2026, the San Francisco 49ers would likely seek a high-value draft pick, specifically a Day 2 selection (2nd or 3rd round), in exchange for quarterback Mac Jones.
Projected Trade Value
Analysts and league insiders have provided several potential compensation packages if the 49ers decide to move Jones before the 2026 NFL season:
- Day 2 Pick (Round 2 or 3): Most insiders, including Tom Pelissero and Albert Breer, suggest a 2nd- or 3rd-round pick as the likely baseline.
- Pick Swap Package: A “Day 2 pick plus a Day 3 pick swap” has been cited as a realistic return, drawing comparisons to the Sam Darnold trade from the Jets to the Panthers.
- Extreme Offers Only: Head coach Kyle Shanahan has indicated he would be “very surprised” if Jones is not on the team in 2026, suggesting that any trade offer would need to be significant to convince San Francisco to part with their top backup.
Factors Driving His Value
2025 Performance: Jones revived his career in San Francisco, posting a 5-3 record as a starter while Brock Purdy was injured. He finished the season with a career-high 69.6% completion rate, 13 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions.
Contract Status: Jones is under contract for the 2026 season at a highly affordable cap hit of approximately $3.07 million to $3.98 million. This makes him a cheap bridge starter or elite backup for a trade partner.
Market Context: A perceived “weak” incoming 2026 rookie quarterback class is expected to increase the trade market for proven veteran starters like Jones.
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2025 Season Statistics (San Francisco 49ers)
Category
2025 Stats
Record as Starter
5–3
Passing Yards
2,151
Touchdowns / Interceptions
13 TD / 6 INT
Completion Percentage
69.6%
Passer Rating
97.4
Despite the trade buzz, several reports on February 7, 2026, indicate that the 49ers’ current preference is to keep their Purdy-Jones tandem intact for the 2026 season.
Minnesota Vikings News and Links
The Minnesota Vikings reset their organization after the firing of general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah last Friday. The Vikings are creating new pathways for communication, establishing workflow and setting the table for an offseason full of important — and, in some cases, far-reaching — decisions.
In three months, they’ll do it again when owners Zygi and Mark Wilf hire Adofo-Mensah’s replacement.
This temporary fix is far outside NFL convention and raises the likelihood that the Vikings’ next general manager will inherit a quarterback depth chart and a draft class that they have no connection to. Unless the Wilfs plan to promote Rob Brzezinski, their longtime executive vice president of football operations who is leading the front office through the NFL draft, the Vikings are now destined to head into next season wearing a figurative Band-Aid.
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Who is really in charge?
Amid league-wide assumptions that coach Kevin O’Connell is now the most prominent voice in the building, it’s important to understand the expanse of Brzezinski’s experience and career.
Although he most recently has focused on contract negotiations and salary cap management, Brzezinski was the Vikings’ top football executive for three seasons from 2003 to 2005, as former owner Red McCombs worked to sell the franchise. In that role, Brzezinski modernized the front office’s process, administered football decisions and managed much of the staff while working alongside coach Mike Tice and director of college scouting Scott Studwell.
The Wilfs purchased the team in 2005, and from 2006 to 2011, Brzezinski was part of a three-person leadership group that ran the team. Ultimately, the Wilfs promoted personnel chief Rick Spielman to general manager in 2012 — a decision Brzezinski fully supported.
In other words, Brzezinski has too much stature in the organization to be a simple conduit for the impulses of O’Connell, defensive coordinator Brian Flores or any other member of the organization. The better way to think of him over the next few months is as a gatekeeper who decides which ideas are implemented, and how.
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What does all of this mean for O’Connell?
It would be wrong to put O’Connell on the so-called “hot seat.” The Vikings are tied for the NFL’s fifth-best regular-season winning percentage (.632) since his arrival in 2022, and he is under contract for another four seasons.
For O’Connell, though, Adofo-Mensah’s departure is best viewed as equal parts liberating and cautionary. To the extent that Adofo-Mensah’s performance was below standard, O’Connell would benefit from better team-building decisions. But it also removes a mitigating factor in the Vikings’ failure to win a playoff game during O’Connell’s tenure. This transition fairly shifts that responsibility to O’Connell’s shoulders moving forward.
In the short term, Brzezinski will give O’Connell the steady and experienced partner he probably needed as a young coach. One way or another, that is likely to be the profile of the Wilfs’ permanent hire. The rest will be up to O’Connell.
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Does this change the Vikings’ plans for QB J.J. McCarthy?
The best way to put this, based on what sources have said, is that all bets are off. The general manager who drafted McCarthy No. 10 in 2024 has been fired, and the coach who was in full agreement with that decision is now under considerably more scrutiny.
In the big picture, McCarthy is a talented player who just turned 23 and has a total of 10 NFL starts. Few NFL teams would give up on a quarterback with that profile, and many team builders are particularly enamored with optimizing a quarterback’s rookie contract. Adofo-Mensah was one of them, but his departure is a reminder of the range of outcomes that approach can lead to.
If anything, these events increase the chances that the Vikings will take a big swing at finding a veteran quarterback who could start in 2026. The only thing more damaging than making the mistakes the Vikings made last season would be to repeat them this year.
J.J. McCarthy’s future has been in doubt for awhile
One thing that will continue being pointed out over this offseason are the quotes from O’Connell about organizations failing young quarterbacks.
“I believe that organizations fail young quarterbacks before young quarterbacks fail organizations. And that’s not there’s no specific example in my mind that I could give you of a team or a quarterback just overall 30,000 foot view,” said O’Connell back in September of 2024.
Over the last few months, the tides have turned when it comes to McCarthy. After spending all last offseason praising McCarthy, the tone changed. O’Connell continued to reference throughout season that McCarthy missed a day of practice ahead of the Week 2 matchup against the Atlanta Falcons to attend the birth of his first child. It was obviously a point of contention for O’Connell, and his performance didn’t help anything. You can also argue that McCarthy has failed the Vikings because he’s only played in 10 of a possible 35 games.
The end of season press conference gave us some more evidence of a potential move, talking explicitly about competition.
“I think there has to be [competition],” said O’Connell in his end of the year press conference. “I think that’s what’s going to make everybody better in that room. It’s going to be what makes our entire offense thrive through that competition.”
Considering how poorly McCarthy played this season, it’s not a surprise. Among the quarterbacks who had 275 passing snaps this season, McCarthy finished:
35th in EPA/play
34th in success rate
36th in completion percentage
33rd in expected completion percentage
36th in completion percentage over expected
J.J. McCarthy’s teammates arent giving a ringing endorsement
One of the benefits of Super Bowl week is players talking to the media about a variety of topics. For Vikings players in San Francisco, McCarthy was a major topic of discussion. They weren’t shy about talking about him either.
Star wide receiver Justin Jefferson was on radio row earlier this week, and was asked about McCarthy. His comments across multiple shows haven’t been a ringing endorsement.
“That’s not my decision,” Jefferson said about who becomes the starting quarterback. “I don’t care who’s throwing me that ball. That’s not my main priority… that person that’s throwing that ball needs to throw that ball, and lead us to into that big dance at the end of the season. Right now, J.J. is my QB. For me, it’s to get him to where we need to go, it starts off right now.”
Running back Aaron Jones joined the Night Cap show with Chad Johnson and Shannon Sharpe, and praised the idea of Aaron Rodgers in Minnesota. It was also a subtle dig at McCarthy.
“I like him in Minnesota, just what he brings to a locker room,” Jones said. “Yes, like that leadership, that it’s a standard, like, if you’re if you ain’t in your playbook, oh, you ain’t, you ain’t see in the field, he gonna test you. He gonna throw some signals out there, and he gonna see if you really care about this, right? And as a player, I love that, because I I’m in my books, I’m making an effort. I came, I came from UTEP, from nothing like, right? So I had to earn that. And when you do it the right way, and it’s noticed, it is refreshing.”
He also had some strong words about how they should have kept Sam Darnold.
“When you got a group of guys behind a QB, and he wants to stay, I think you should try to make it work.”
The idea that McCarthy is going to be the starting quarterback next year isn’t certain, and those who are in the building aren’t exactly giving him a ringing endorsement. Plus, with general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah having been fired last week, it could open the door for the Vikings to move on from McCarthy.
We are in for an interesting next six weeks.
Kirk Cousins back to the Minnesota Vikings?
But now fully healthy, a 37-year-old Kirk Cousins is one of the few competent QBs shopping for a new employer. And conveniently, it comes at the exact same time his old team suddenly desperate for quarterback help.
That why this week, on media row in San Francisco, ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio (a Vikings fan) asked Cousins if a return to Minnesota might be in the works. Kirk didn’t show his cards, but he certainly didn’t rule out a reunion with the Vikings’ either.
Cousins: “I’m going to win him (Florio) over someday. I gotta play until I win him over. Just keep coming back.”
Florio: “You have! No, you have. I know it’s a good bit, but you have, man. I want you to go back to Minnesota. You’re not hearing what I’m saying, go back to Minnesota.”
Cousins: “We’ll see, we’ll see.”
Amid talk about Minnesota’s signal-caller situation, NBC Sports NFL analyst and former Vikings defensive coordinator Tony Dungy was asked whether the team should pursue a QB to challenge McCarthy this offseason.
“[Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell] knows quarterbacks, and he’ll get J.J. going,” Dungy told Vikings Entertainment Network’s Tatum Everett in a video posted on Feb. 5. “I don’t know, for the good quarterbacks that I’ve been around, it hasn’t been competition that’s driven them. Peyton Manning didn’t need competition in the room to be good. His competition was everybody else. He wanted to be the best in the world.
“I’m sure J.J. has that too. Sometimes that mentorship can be there, though, that veteran quarterback that’s good that can help out and help bring J.J. along, as well as the coaching staff. So, they’ll get the right people and the right pieces in place.”
Justin Jefferson Willing to Work With Vikings QB J.J McCarthy
During a Feb. 5 appearance on Mad Dog Sports Radio, Justin Jefferson answered whether he would want to play with former Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers. Nonetheless, he made it clear his job right now is to ensure McCarthy is ready for next season.
“Until something changes or until I hear the word that somebody else is coming in, it’s my job, and I feel like it’s my need to get J.J. to where we need to go, which is working out with each other, building that relationship, building that connection to get better and to not let this past season happen again, because we feel like there’s different times where we could have won that game or could have had a better stretch than what we had,” Jefferson added.
After calling some of the reporting on alleged behind-the-scenes dysfunction between Kevin O’Connell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah “complete nonsense” on Tuesday, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero doubled down on his criticism early Thursday.
“I will say this, there is a habit for certain people, if they get beat on a scoop, to immediately lend additional details to the story that may or may not be 100 percent grounded in fact,” Pelissero said on KFAN’s Power Trip Morning Show. “So, you ended up with a bunch of tweets thrown out there into the universe, that suggested things, that based upon all my knowledge of the situation are not entirely accurate. The idea that this was a toxic environment, there was tension between — Kwesi and Kevin are friends, personally. They have always been good. There was not a fight. There was not a blow up. It was not, quite frankly, like it was at the end of the Mike Zimmer-Rick Spielman era, two guys that I like a lot but they weren’t talking. It was never like that.”
…
In an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show on Tuesday, Pelissero attempted to correct the record and push back against some of the narratives that had caught hold. On Thursday, he repeated a lot of what he had said previously.
“They had disagreements,” continued Pelissero on O’Connell and Adofo-Mensah. “They didn’t see eye-to-eye on certain aspects of roster building. In the end, you have a quarterback situation that needs to be sorted out. You have a salary cap situation that needs to be sorted out. As the Wilfs heard all the information, and they always do this every year, they have people come to New Jersey and they have a series of meetings. They asked a lot of pointed questions. They got some honest answers and they came to the conclusion that this was just not the right partnership moving forward. Not just between Kevin and Kwesi, but the entire organization. And I don’t think you need to come up with some wild story about why it didn’t work.”
“To pin it on ‘He took paternity leave three years ago,’ even if you’re bringing it up to say, ‘But that wasn’t it,’ you’re introducing a topic that had not been a topic,” said Pelissero. “Sure, is there a level of frustration that comes when you feel like you’re having to do more because your co-worker is out? … You don’t fire a guy three years after he took paternity leave. Like, what are we even talking about? It’s just wild. Like, we all knew that. Yeah he wasn’t around in the summer of 2023. He missed chunks of the spring and missed part of training camp. But I never got any sense that it was some long-standing thing. It was well known that that happened and that there was some frustration from the people in the building about it but it never changed the relationship. So, this idea that it was this toxic environment is, frankly, complete and utter nonsense.”
Going forward, Rob Brzezinski will handle leading the front office on an interim basis through the draft. In their announcement last Friday, the Wilfs stated they would undergo a search for a new long-term general manager following the draft. On whether he could see Brzezinski getting the gig full-time after the draft, Pelissero noted, “It’s possible.”
“The fact that the Wilfs are giving him, essentially, a three-month trial run at this would suggest to you that that is a possibility,” continued Pelissero. “Now, the fact that Rob gets this opportunity and not the assistant GMs, Ryan Grigson or Demitrius Washington, probably plays into the fact that Rob’s been there forever. He’s a trusted advisor. He’s been there longer than the Wilfs. He was there with Red McCombs. He’s been in the organization a long time. He’s an administrator. His background is in the salary cap. I know there are naturally going to be questions about, ‘How are they handling free agency, the draft? He’s not a scout.’ The scouting part of it is like a part of what the GM does. But really, the most successful GMs in the league, they bring people together, build consensus, they listen to people who are experts in the areas in which they are going to make decisions.”
Even if Brzezinski doesn’t eventually land the job, Pelissero noted that the Vikings opening is a “really good job” that plenty of GM candidates across the league will be tripping over themselves to land.
Jones is heading into the second season of his two-year deal with the 49ers, a contract that gives the franchise some leverage in discussions with others. San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan said last month that he expects Jones back with the team.
Jones is content with whatever the 49ers decide.
“If you’re a quarterback that’s a free agent or could get traded or whatever your situation is, you want to go somewhere that fits and makes sense,” Jones told NFL Network this week. “At the end of the day, that’s what I want in San Francisco. We’ll see what happens. It’s good to be talked about.
“It’s definitely motivating for me. I feel I can do that. I have my swag back, and I feel like that’s important for me. I can go out there and win games for whoever.”
Jones kept the 49ers afloat this season in the NFC West before Brock Purdy’s return from injury in mid-November. Jones went 5-3 over eight starts with 2,151 yards passing, 13 touchdowns and six interceptions.
He would enter the 2026 season as the second-team option behind Purdy.
“Honestly, it’s a business. You know how this goes,” Jones said. “I’ve proven I can be a starter. I’ve proven I can be a starter in multiple different spots. I have 50-plus starts or whatever. I know how to do it, but it’s also a business. I understand both sides of it.”
Jones’ situation is often compared to Sam Darnold, who signed with the Seattle Seahawks last offseason when the Minnesota Vikings moved to former first-rounder J.J. McCarthy.
Darnold made the most of his opportunity to start for a franchise that believed in his value despite consecutive Pro Bowl appearances. As one of the NFL’s top quarterbacks this season, Darnold is one win away from his first championship in Sunday’s Super Bowl.
“I get asked that a lot (about Darnold). Everyone’s journey is so different,” Jones said. “I feel like I’ve watched him in interviews, and he does say that learning from Kyle and Brock really changed his career. I see why now. I’ve learned so much this year.
“I know Sam probably felt the same way (in his one year in San Francisco). You can see it on the tape, there’s a lot of crossover.”
The Miami Dolphins, Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Jets all have a quarterback problem.
For the Steelers, Aaron Rodgers could very well retire or opt to go someplace else. The Jets’ Justin Fields experiment failed miserably and he’ll likely get cut, and the Dolphins appear to be done with Tua Tagovailoa after he was benched in 2025.
With no set starters in place for 2026, all three teams will be exploring the free-agent and trade markets, as well as the NFL draft for their next signal-callers.
Speaking of the trade market, all three teams should have their eyes on the Minnesota Vikings and quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
And while the blockbuster trades involving quarterbacks Joe Burrow or Lamar Jackson might capture the fans’ hearts and imaginations, the Vikings may be better suited to pursue a more measured — and realistic — opportunity.
His name has been brought up with the Vikings in the past, but a major change in New York might open the door even further for a possible Dexter Lawrence trade. The nose tackle is coming off a disappointing season in which he tallied a career-low one-half sack, and the recent hire of new head coach John Harbaugh may spell the end for Sexy Dexy in the Big Apple.
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A year or two ago, Lawrence likely would have fetched a first-round pick. Now at 28 years old and coming off one of his worst seasons as a pro, the price could be something like a second-round pick and a fifth. Luckily for Minnesota, they still somewhat miraculously possess their own second-round pick and have a fifth-round pick from the Philadelphia Eagles after dealing Vikings legend Sam Howell.
Cap Stuff (from spotrac)
2026 Cap Totals
Cap Maximum Summary
2026 NFL Salary Cap : $303,450,000
2025 Rollover Cap : $12,889,038
Adjustment : $350,000
Adjusted Salary Cap : $316,689,038
Active Roster : $354,368,378
Dead Money : $5,608,074
Total Allocations (All) : $359,976,452
Cap Space (All) : $-43,287,414
…
Top-51 / Off-Season Cap :
Cap Allocations (Top-51) : $357,321,452
Cap Space (Top-51) : $-40,632,414
…
2026 Deadlines
Deadline Date : Player : Type
3/13/2026 : Jonathan Greenard : BASE 2026-27 Base — 3rd league day of 2026 : $4,000,000
3/13/2026 : T.J. Hockenson : BASE 2026-27 Base — 3rd league day of 2026 : $2,308,000
3/13/2026 : Justin Jefferson : BASE 2027-28 Base — 3rd league day of 2026 : $14,257,000
3/13/2026 : Christian Darrisaw : BASE 2027-28 Base — 3rd league day of 2026 : $8,375,000
3/13/2026 : Jonathan Allen : BASE 2026-27 Base — 3rd league day of 2026 : $8,000,000
3/13/2026 : Aaron Jones : BASE 2026-27 Base — 3rd league day of 2026 : $2,000,000
3/13/2026 : Harrison Smith : BASE 2027-28 Base — 3rd league day of 2026 : $25,000,000
…
Plan
Cap Space (Top-51) : $-40,632,414
Release Kelly & Jones
Trade Addison to the Bills for a 2026 2nd (60) and WR Keon Coleman
Trade Greenard to the Patriots for a 2026 2nd (63) and a 2026 6th (190)
Trade Hargrave and a 2026 7th (240) to the Texans for a 2026 5th (165)
Trade a 2026 2nd (63) to the 49ers for QB Mac Jones
Extend O’Neill 2 yr 46M (on top of 2026)
Restructure Hockenson
Restructure Jefferson
Cap Space (Top-51) : $46,040,586
…
Sign Center Connor McGovern 3 yr 52.5M
Sign Linebacker Devin Lloyd 4 yr 88.5M
Sign Safety Jalen Thompson 3 yr 42M
Sign Cornerback Alontae Taylor 3 yr 48M
Sign Defensive Tackle Christian Wilkins 1 yr 9M
Sign EDGE Arnold Ebiketie 3 yr 9M
Sign EDGE David Ojabo 1 yr 2.5M
…
Sign Linebacker Eric Wilson 2 yr 9M
Sign Receiver Jalen Nailor 2 yr 18M
Sign Stinkin Punter Ryan Wright 3 yr 9.75M
Sign Long Snapper Andrew DePaola 1 yr 1.75M
Sign EDGE Bo Richter to the ERFA amount
Sign Running Back Zavier Scott to the ERFA amount
Sign Defensive Tackle Jalen Redmond 3 yr 36M
…
Cap Space (Top-51) : $12,221,586
64 total players on roster
…
AI stuff
Paying Jonathan Greenard $19 million in cash for the 2026 season becomes difficult to justify if the Vikings prioritize Dallas Turner’s playing time.
Greenard’s contract was designed with an “off-ramp” in 2026, making him a primary candidate for a trade or release to resolve the team’s cap crisis.
Cap Savings: Trading Greenard (post-June 1) would save the Vikings $19 million in cap space for 2026. Even a pre-June 1 trade saves $12.4 million.
Opportunity Cost: That $19 million in cash is roughly 8.5 times the total cash owed to Dallas Turner ($2.2M) in 2026. Keeping Greenard as a backup would mean paying him top-tier starter money for bench production.
Dead Money: Releasing or trading Greenard carries a $9.9 million dead cap hit if done pre-June 1. While significant, this is considered a “sunk cost” compared to the savings gained for free agency
end AI stuff
Trade Partner: SteelersSent: Pick 18Received: Pick 21 and 121…Trade Partner: ColtsSent: Pick 82 & Pick 195Received: Pick 78…
Pick 21. Kayden McDonald DT Ohio State 6’3” 326Pick 49. Dillon Thieneman S Oregon 6’0” 205Pick 60. Keionte Scott CB Miami (FL) 6’0” 194Pick 78. Jonah Coleman RB 5’9” 228Pick 97. Skyler Bell WR 6’0” 185Pick 121. Kage Casey OT Boise State 6’5 1/4” 309Pick 161. Devon Marshall CB NC State 5’11” 200Pick 165. Nadame Tucker EDGE Western Kentucky 6’1 5/8” 246Pick 190. Riley Nowakowski FB/HB Indiana 6’2” 249Pick 234. Kaleb Elarms-Orr LB TCU 6’1 1/2” 233
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