getty-anthony-richardson-colts.jpg
Getty Images

Welcome to the Thursday edition of the Pick Six newsletter! 

The countdown is officially on: As of today, we are exactly two weeks away from the start of the 2025 season, which reminds me, if you're in a Fantasy league, that means you have just 14 days to get your draft done. I'm in four different leagues and I have done exactly zero drafts, because they haven't been scheduled yet. The commissioner in each of my leagues has fallen asleep at the wheel. I need to go wake them up. While I do that, you can read today's newsletter. 

As always, here's your daily reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter. To get them signed up, all you have to do is click here. Let's get to the rundown. 

1. Two preseason games are happening tonight: Here are two reasons to watch each one

The final week of the preseason will be kicking off tonight with two games and I'm here to give you two reasons why you should watch each game. 

Steelers at Panthers (7 p.m. ET, NFL Network)

  • Panthers: We have a kicking battle. Matthew Wright and rookie Ryan Fitzgerald are duking it out to win the kicking job in Carolina. Fitzgerald, who was signed as an undrafted free agent, has hit two field goals during the preseason with a long of 52. Wright is 0-for-1 during the preseason with a miss from 55. Wright has kicked in 29 NFL games in his career, so he definitely has the experience edge over Fitzgerald, but that won't help him if he can't put the ball through the uprights. 
  • Steelers: Jalen Ramsey and the starting secondary will play. Aaron Rodgers will NOT be playing tonight, but Mike Tomlin will have several defensive starters on the field, including Ramsey. The Steelers acquired Ramsey in a June 30 trade and tonight will mark his preseason debut with the team. 

Patriots at Giants (8 p.m. ET, Amazon Prime)

  • Patriots: Another kicking battle. The Patriots have had two kickers in training camp this year and it looks like the battle between Andy Borregales vs. John Parker Romo is going down to the wire. Parker Romo has made all five of his kicks during the preseason (two field goals and three extra points), including a long of 57. As for Borregales, he's 5 of 6 with his only miss coming from 57. If either kicker struggles tonight, that could end up being enough to cost them the job. Borregales was taken with a sixth-round pick this year, so if the competition ends up being too close to call, it feels like he'll probably get the job. 
  • Giants: Cornerback battle is getting good. Deonte Banks has been locked in as a starting corner since two years ago when the Giants made him a first-round pick, but there's no guarantee he wins the job this year. He's been battling Cor'Dale Flott, who also has been a starter for the past two years. The Giants added Paulson Adebo in free agency this year and he'll be the starter on one side with the winner of this battle starting on the opposite side. Flott played pretty well against Garrett Wilson last week and if he plays like that again on Thursday, that will give the Giants something serious to think about. Flott was more of an inside corner for his first three years, but he seems to be getting more and more comfortable on the outside. 

If you want to check out the full preseason schedule for the weekend, we've got that here.  

2. Four trades went down on Wednesday: Skyy Moore shipped out West, Jets make two deals

skyy-moore-2-1400-us.jpg
Imagn Images

It's been pretty quiet on the trade front over the past few weeks, but the floodgates opened on Wednesday with four trades in a span of just hours. Let's check out the four deals that went down. 

CHIEFS-49ERS

  • 49ers get: WR Skyy Moore, 2027 seventh-round pick
  • Chiefs get: 2027 sixth-round pick

The 49ers didn't have to give up very much compensation to acquire Moore and he'll only cost them $1.5 million in base salary in 2025, so it's a low-risk gamble with a shot at a high reward. We actually graded the Moore trade and you can check out our grades here. 

BRONCOS-SAINTS

Well, look at what we have here: Sean Payton trading with his old team. 

At 6-foot-5, Vele gives the Saints a tall weapon that their receiving room is lacking right now. As a rookie in Denver last year, he caught 41 passes for for 475 yards and three touchdowns. Although Vele doesn't yet know who will be throwing him the ball, he should be a solid red zone target for the person who ends up winning the QB job. 

In other trade news, the Jets got extremely busy on Wednesday by making TWO TRADES. 

JETS-VIKINGS

JETS-BROWNS

Acquiring Phillips was the big move here because he'll almost certainly end up starting in Week 1 for the Jets. Phillips, who started 51 games at defensive tackle for the Vikings over the past three seasons, hasn't missed a game since 2021. 

3. QB2 matchmaker: Finding landing spots for Jameis Winston and other expendable backups

With the NFL preseason almost over, it's become pretty clear that there are several QB rooms around the NFL where there's going to be an odd man out. For instance, the Giants currently have Russell Wilson, Jaxson Dart and Jameis Winston and it won't be surprising if they only keep two of those guys (Wilson and Dart). If that happens, we could see Winston get traded, even if the Giants are insisting that he won't be traded. 

With that in mind, Tyler Sullivan took a look at several backup quarterbacks who could get dealt and where they might end up: 

  • Giants QB Jameis Winston to the Vikings. Minnesota is about to hand the keys to the franchise over to 2024 first-rounder J.J. McCarthy, and don't have much behind him at the moment. Sam Howell is the top backup, but he's put together a lackluster preseason which included completing just one of his five passes for 13 yards and an interception against New England. If the Vikings are nervous about their depth behind a first-year starter, Winston gives them someone who has 87 regular-season starts under his belt.
  • Browns QB Kenny Pickett to the Cowboys. Joe Flacco is officially QB1 in Cleveland. That now leaves Pickett along with rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders in reserve roles behind him. In theory, the Browns could elect to keep all four quarterbacks on the 53-man roster, but that's a lofty number. If they don't want to do that and want to continue developing both Gabriel (a third-round pick) and Sanders (fifth), Pickett suddenly becomes the odd man out. ... The Cowboys could be in the QB2 market after Joe Milton III has endured a hot-and-cold preseason where he's thrown interceptions in both exhibitions.

Sullivan also came up with some landing spots for Kirk Cousins and Taylor Heinicke and you can check those out here. 

4. Anthony Richardson landing spots: Where QB could end up if Colts decide to move on

Yes, we just covered some quarterback landing spots, but we decided to give Anthony Richardson his own section after he went down in flames against Daniel Jones in the Colts' QB battle. Richardson was the fourth overall pick in the NFL Draft just two years ago, but now, his future is up in the air.

So where could he end up if the Colts decide to move on? Jordan Dajani came up with several landing spots and we're going to check out two of them. 

  • Ravens. The Ravens have a history of being intrigued by dual-threat quarterbacks to place behind Lamar Jackson. They signed Robert Griffin III to back up Joe Flacco and Jackson in 2018, and added Tyler Huntley as an undrafted free agent in 2020 -- who ended up being selected to the Pro Bowl in 2022. Baltimore also drafted Trace McSorley out of Penn State the year after selecting Jackson, and drafted Kentucky's Devin Leary in the sixth round in 2024. Richardson is obviously a much bigger name than Huntley, McSorley or Leary, but he would be a very intriguing backup plan for Jackson.
  • Rams. The Rams could trade for Richardson this upcoming offseason, and have him learn under Stafford before giving him a bump in pay to be the starter in 2027 -- when he turns 27. Sean McVay is an offensive mastermind that has gotten the most out of all his quarterbacks. Richardson could be the next one.

Dajani came up with a total of five landing spots and you can check out all of them here. 

5. Bullet was fired into Andy Reid's office in May 2024

getty-andy-reid-chiefs.jpg
Imagn Images

Chiefs coach Andy Reid went through a frightening situation in 2024 when a bullet was shot into his office, and somehow, the news about the incident didn't come out until this week when the story was reported by the Kansas City Star. The incident happened just three months have Reid led the Chiefs to a Super Bowl LVIII win over the 49ers. 

Here's what you need to know about the situation: 

  • A bullet missed hitting Andy Reid by about 15 feet. During the early morning hours of May 4, 2024, someone fired three shots at the Chiefs' practice facility. One of the shots broke through the glass in Reid's office and ended up going through a wall that was roughly 15 feet from his desk. The scary part is that Reid was sitting at his desk at the time, so this could have been a serious tragedy. As for the two other bullets, one landed on the third floor and the other one hit an air conditioning unit. 
  • No arrests have been made. A Police Department spokesperson told the Star that no arrests have been made for the incident. If a suspect does get arrested, he or she will be charged with aggravated assault "because the building was occupied at the time of the bullet coming through the window." 
  • Reid now has bulletproof glass in his office. Although the Chiefs didn't publicize the situation, they did ramp up security at their practice facility. Reid's office is now protected by bulletproof glass so that he doesn't have to worry about anything like this in the future. 

This is a pretty wild story and we've got more details here. 

6. Extra points: Former NFL coach wants to see Jim Harbaugh suspended

It was a busy 24 hours in the NFL, and since it's nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you. 

  • Urban Meyer wants to see the NFL suspend Jim Harbaugh. The Chargers head coach got hit with a hefty punishment by the NCAA last week for infractions that he committed while at Michigan. Former Jaguars coach Urban Meyer thinks the NFL should suspend Harbaugh over this situation. To make his point, Meyer, who once coached at Ohio State, alluded to the fact that former OSU coach Jim Tressell and former QB Terrelle Pryor were both punished by the NFL for infractions they committed while in college. The NFL has yet to comment on the Harbaugh situation. 
  • Buccaneers set to burn roster spot for Chris Godwin. The Bucs' star receiver likely won't be able to play until October, but the team is planning to keep him on their 53-man roster until then. The Bucs could have placed Godwin on the PUP list to start the season, which would have caused him to miss the first four games, but the team is clearly hoping he might be available before that. Godwin is still recovering from a fractured ankle he suffered last season in Week 7. 
  • Cowboys coach expects to have Micah Parsons in Week 1. New Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer says he "feels good" about the chances of Parsons playing in Week 1 against the Eagles. This news comes despite the fact that Jerry Jones still hasn't talked to Parsons' agent at any point recently. Either Schottenheimer knows something we don't or he's setting up everyone in Dallas for a lot of disappointment. You can check out his full comments here. 
  • Texans starter facing civil lawsuit. Two months after being arrested on a charge of felony domestic violence, Jimmie Ward is now being sued by the woman he allegedly assaulted. In the lawsuit, which was obtained by ABC 13 in Texas, the alleged victim believes that Ward "was under the influence of methamphetamines, specifically, crystal meth." That could spell even more trouble for Ward, who's accused of physically and sexually assaulting the woman, who is the mother of his child. We've got more details on the case here.