ESPN has released its top-25 players under the age of 25, headlined by Micah Parsons at No. 1., Justin Jefferson at No. 2 and Ja'Marr Chase at No. 3.

ESPN's Jordan Reid writes that "a strong argument could be made that Parsons is the top defensive player in the game, regardless of age."

Justin Herbert is the first quarterback on the list at No. 5.

1. Micah Parsons, DE/LB, Dallas Cowboys
2. Justin Jefferson, WR, Minnesota Vikings
3. Ja'Marr Chase, WR, Cincinnati Bengals
4. Tristan Wirfs, OT, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
5. Justin Herbert, QB, Los Angeles Chargers
6. Quinnen Williams, DT, New York Jets
7. Rashawn Slater, OT, Los Angeles Chargers
8. Pat Surtain II, CB, Denver Broncos
9. Jalen Hurts, QB, Philadelphia Eagles
10. Tua Tagovailoa, QB, Miami Dolphins
11. Brian Burns, DE, Carolina Panthers
12. Andrew Thomas, OT, New York Giants
13. DK Metcalf, WR, Seattle Seahawks
14. Jaylen Waddle, WR, Miami Dolphins
15. Trevon Diggs, CB, Dallas Cowboys
16. Rashan Gary, DE, Green Bay Packers
17. A.J. Terrell, CB, Atlanta Falcons
18. Jonathan Taylor, RB, Indianapolis Colts
19. CeeDee Lamb, WR, Dallas Cowboys
20. Sauce Gardner, CB, New York Jets
21. Justin Fields, QB, Chicago Bears
22. Penei Sewell, OT, Detroit Lions
23. Christian Darrisaw, OT, Minnesota Vikings
24. Kyle Pitts, TE, Atlanta Falcons
25. Antoine Winfield Jr., S, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The NFL's coaching ranks not only has issues of diversity but also nepotism. Out of a total of 792 coaches employed by NFL teams, 111 are related biologically or through marriage to current or former coaches, which constitutes a 14 percent rate.

Nine of the 32 current head coaches are either the son or father of a current or former NFL coach. 

Both Bill Belichick sons went straight from college to jobs on their dad’s staff, Steve as a coaching assistant and Brian as a scouting assistant. They did not coach high school or college football, and they are both now NFL position coaches. 

“Just read their bio, that’s all you need,” said one person close to the Patriots. “Remove the name and tell me what you have. Seriously.” 

According to ProFootballFocus, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Kansas City Chiefs and Cleveland Browns enter 2021 with the best rosters in the NFL.

1. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

2. Kansas City Chiefs

3. Cleveland Browns

4. Buffalo Bills

5. Baltimore Ravens

6. Green Bay Packers

7. Los Angeles Rams

8. Dallas Cowboys

9. Minnesota Vikings

10. Denver Broncos

11. San Francisco 49ers

12. Washington Football Team

13. Tennessee Titans

14. Indianapolis Colts

15. Seattle Seahawks

16. Pittsburgh Steelers 

17. New Orleans Saints

18. New England Patriots

19. New York Giants

20. Los Angeles Chargers

21. Arizona Cardinals

22. Miami Dolphins

23. Chicago Bears

24. Cincinnati Bengals

25. Atlanta Falcons

26. Las Vegas Raiders

27. Carolina Panthers

28. Jacksonville Jaguars

29. Philadelphia Eagles

30. New York Jets

31. Detroit Lions

32. Houston Texans

The San Francisco 49ers settled on Trey Lance as their pick at No. 3 on April 19th, several weeks after trading up to No. 3.

Kyle Shanahan was asked by Peter King how they decide upon Lance.

“It’s so hard for me to give a quick answer,” Shanahan said from California.

“His natural ability to play the quarterback position, just in terms of how he plays in the pocket, how he can go through the progressions, how, when no one’s open, that he gives it a chance, that he recognizes it. And how quick he reacts to turning it into an off-schedule play. He plays on tape like he’s a very poised, smart person who’s been playing the position for a while.

“Then you look into the other attributes, and you’re like ‘Oh, I haven’t even gotten to the running skill set.’ I haven’t gotten to the upside of how much better he can get, the more he plays. That’s what made me like him so much right away.

“But it’s also, once you do that, you see all this, now let’s talk about what’s wrong. Why isn’t this a slam dunk? You hear his school [level of play], the lack of throws, not playing the 2020 season. Those are real things. That’s why I’m glad that we had a long time to go through it. Because you love the tape, but just like everyone in the league, there are some stuff you can’t just say it’s a slam dunk. That’s the stuff that worries you about it. But that’s what was so cool about the kid, that going through this process after we moved up to where I talked to him so many times, to have him go through the number of tests and stuff that we have them all go through . . . I can’t tell you how special of a person he is. It has nothing to do with football.

“He’s extremely intelligent. He knows how to handle situations. He knows how to carry himself. The guy that I see on tape that I tried to describe that I see such a natural quarterback, such a smart player. Well, if I never saw the tape, and I got to hang out with him first, I would’ve felt that same way with him as a person and been like, ‘Man, I hope the tape matches this person!’ You know? That’s kind of what was cool about it. The first time you watch the tape, ‘Man, hell yeah!’ But no decision’s set in stone in January. That’s how I felt in January when I saw him. But I was going to do the process right. Watch everybody. Every guy. I can always spend two hours and get myself to like anyone. Then, I go to the time getting myself to not like him. And I see what ends up sticking. That’s what was cool about him through the process at the end. No matter what I tried to do to say, It’s too risky!, all that stuff kind of went away the more I got to know the person. I went back to how I originally felt about the tape.”

The Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers are tow teams that have been using defensive players at multiple spots freely as a matter of strategy. The Kansas City Chiefs also use Tyrann Mathieu all over the back of their defense.

Isaiah Simmons of Clemson is a safety/inside linebacker/outside linebacker and played more than 100 snaps at four different positions, which is part of the reason why he could be selected in the top-10 of the draft.

“Are we heading toward the position-less player profile as we go into the future? That’s where I think it’s going,” Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network said. “And I think guys like Isaiah Simmons have tremendous value. I’ve talked to a couple defensive coordinators around the league about this and they see it. It’s like the way the NBA went. You just want to get as many tall, long, explosive guys on the field as you can. And some weeks you might deploy them differently than others.”

The New England Patriots were tied to Lamar Jackson during the 2018 draft a few months after they had traded Jimmy Garoppolo to the San Francisco 49ers. New England no longer had an heir apparent for whenever Tom Brady would decide to retire. 

The Patriots had a pair of late first round picks, but they instead selected Isaiah Wynn and Sony Michel, which left the Baltimore Ravens trading back into the first round at No. 32 to select Jackson. 

"Now, you've got to know this: the Patriots spent a lot of time on Lamar Jackson," said Lombardi on the GM Shuffle Podcast. "They spent a ton of time. When Baltimore traded from 22 to 25 with New England sitting at 23, they had to have known New England was all over Lamar. They had sent Josh McDaniels there. They spent time with him. There was a lot of talk... I was talking about it that I thought they would draft him. I really did.

"At the end of the day, I think they felt like they had to change completely and the transition from Tom to Lamar probably would have been too dramatic in one year, and so I think they passed. I think they had genuine, genuine interest in the kid.

"I know this because my son coached at Louisville."

The Los Angeles Rams acquired Jalen Ramsey last week from the Jacksonville Jaguars in a deal that some in the NFL compare to the type of transaction now typically seen within the NBA. Ramsey sought a trade from the Jaguars over several weeks and the Rams finally traded their 2020 first round pick along with first and fourth round picks in 2021.

“The NBA is coming to the NFL," said Rams Chief Operating Officer Kevin Demoff. "This [the Ramsey trade] is a similar case to those NBA deals.

“Prior team-building formulas, where you basically had guys for their careers, is pretty much over,” he said. “Think of the guys who’ve moved in the past year. Khalil Mack. Marcus Peters. Jalen Ramsey. Jarvis Landry. Laremy Tunsil—”

Bill Polian believes the younger generation of general managers are more transactional.

“I think this generation of GMs might be a little more transactional," said Polian. "It used to be not many GMs thought about taking risks. They were from a generation where their parents might have grown up in the Depression, or remembered the Depression. Life was hard enough without taking risks. Today, the idea that you can make these decisions and change your team quickly is inculcated in this generation. I’m not sure of that, but it seems to be true.”

There have clearly been a spike in trades this season.

2009: 39 trades in the calendar year, involving 50 players. Seven traded players were Pro Bowlers at least once.

2019: 54 trades (with eight days left in the period), involving 69 players. Thirteen have been to at least one Pro Bowl.

The Buffalo Bills have the first draft picks they selected still on their roster with 18, followed by the New York Jets with 19. The Cleveland Browns and Kansas Chiefs are tied for third with 21 apiece. 

The Cincinnati Bengals have the most draft picks they selected on their roster with 37, followed by the Minnesota Vikings and Seattle Seahawks with 36.

The Arizona Cardinals made the bold decision to draft Kyler Murray with the first overall pick one year after taking Josh Rosen at No. 10.

“Taking this guy no. 1, I took a lot of grief for that,” Steve Keim said. “You have to make the tough decisions and avoid the outside noise— ‘Why’d you give up on this guy? Why would you trade this guy?’ … It’s unprecedented. I took [Rosen] in the top 10. I just felt that [Murray] was a generational talent that I just couldn’t pass up.”

Murray was already familiar with the ethos and mechanics of Kliff Kingsbury's system.

“To be able to process so many things at once and look at the defense and execute the play, it’s a lot,” Kingsbury said. “All he’s done his entire life is no-huddle spread stuff. So he feels really confident in that.”

Sean McVay believes he may have over-prepared for Super LIII in which the Los Angeles Rams lost to the New England Patriots 13-3. The extra week gave McVay the opportunity to watch more film than usual.

“In the back of my mind, [when making the Super Bowl game plan back in L.A.], I operated knowing I had another week. That urgency to completely finalize the gameplan wasn’t quite there, and that led to me watching so much film that you can almost water down your thought process.”

McVay admits “you have so much time that you can over-prepare and get away from some of the things that helped you get there. I watched every game from New England’s season. You see stuff that worked in, say, Week 3, but you forget about the amount of stuff that’s taken place since Week 3. You can watch so much film that you lose perspective. You have 18 games of film you can pore over. And then I even watched the Philly and Atlanta Super Bowls closely.”

McVay also gives the Patriots credit.

“But you have to give the Patriots credit, they were their best when their best was demanded. And personally, I wasn’t good enough. I have to do a better job.”