Happy midweek, everyone! John Breech is taking the day to process our wild trade idea involving the Bengals (more on that below), so today’s Pick Six newsletter is brought to you by Cody Benjamin, with tidbits on all the latest from around the NFL.
Be sure to subscribe right here, to ensure you never miss a daily dose of NFL updates. And keep on reading for everything from major uniform news and wild trade proposals to a key injury update out of Dallas:
The Washington Commanders may be an upstart contender headlined by a fresh talent in Jayden Daniels, who’s arguably the top young playmaker in the NFL, but they’re taking a page out of the past for 2025, this week unveiling new “Super Bowl Era” alternate uniforms that pay homage to the franchise’s look from the 1980s-1990s. Washington is set to wear the vintage-inspired threads in three different nationally televised games this year, the first occurring in Week 9 against the Seattle Seahawks.
2. Pre-camp overreactions: Big-name trades on the horizon?
Training camps are around the corner, but quite a few contract disputes remain unresolved. So which ones are due to get wrapped up, and which ones could lead to last-second trades? Jeff Kerr assessed all the hot topics to forecast what’s next:
- Micah Parsons: Jerry Jones will likely take it until the 11th hour to get a long-term extension done. … [But he will do it, and Parsons will] be the highest-paid non-quarterback in football, well after T.J. Watt and Trey Hendrickson get their deals. He’ll suit up for Dallas when the Cowboys play Philadelphia for the opener.
- Trey Hendrickson: If this holdout goes into late August, the Bengals will have little choice but to trade Hendrickson. They shouldn’t do that, but Hendrickson has the leverage here. This deal needs to be done early in training camp.
- Terry McLaurin: A.J. Brown is the fifth-highest-paid receiver at $32 million a season. McLaurin likely won’t get that much, but $30 million a season (Tyreek Hill and Amon-Ra St. Brown make that much) is in the realm of possibility. McLaurin should get top-10 money for his position. Highly unlikely he’ll be in the top-five range.
3. Dak Prescott injury update: ‘Full go’ for training camp
It’s a happy time in Dallas, even though Micah Parsons is still without a long-term contract, because Dak Prescott has no limitations going into the summer. After missing half the 2024 season due to injury, the Pro Bowl quarterback told reporters this week he’s as “healthy as I’ll be” and a “full go” for training camp. Now it’s a matter of the Cowboys signal-caller staying upright and meshing with new weapons like George Pickens, who’s now starring opposite CeeDee Lamb out wide.
4. Dolphins in distress: After tenuous offseason, pressure is on
Few teams have undergone as much big-name turnover — and endured as many dramatic headlines — as the 2025 Miami Dolphins, who just traded both Jalen Ramsey and Jonnu Smith to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Both current and former Dolphins are talking openly about the club’s recent locker-room turmoil, leaving coach Mike McDaniel and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa under immense pressure to fix the team’s trajectory both on and off the field. We unpacked the messy situation:
It’d be downright unfair to paint McDaniel as an aloof leader; in fact, he appears quite the opposite, so thoroughly invested in the people around him that he often takes the podium looking drained on behalf of his players. He may be so far down the rabbit hole of trying to uplift and elevate, however, that he’s missed the chance to correct and refine. This manifests not only in the locker room but on the gridiron, where his Dolphins have been highly explosive but also highly combustible — a video-game attack without a killer instinct, a splashy and colorful assortment of playmakers without the discipline, grit and resolve of a contender.
5. Wild NBA-style trade proposals: Brock Purdy to Dolphins?
There’s no free agency quite like NBA free agency, as evidenced by Kevin Durant’s move in a record seven-team deal to kick off basketball’s summer offseason. So we got funky and came up with a couple wildly improbable, if amusingly thought-provoking, deals involving major NFL names. The cream of the crop? A massive four-team quarterback swap starting in San Francisco:
The Shanahan shakeup
- 49ers get: QB Kirk Cousins (Falcons), 2026 second-round pick (Dolphins), 2026 third-round pick (Saints)
- Dolphins get: QB Brock Purdy (49ers)
- Saints get: QB Tua Tagovailoa (Dolphins)
- Falcons get: C Matt Hennessy (49ers), 2026 fifth-round pick (Saints)
The 49ers just paid Purdy, which is completely understandable, but we know Kyle Shanahan has an affinity for his old pal Cousins, and we know Cousins is currently blowing in the wind, awaiting an opportunity as Atlanta’s No. 2. The Purdy-to-Cousins swap might be a downgrade in 2025, but adding a couple of early-round picks could help San Francisco replenish its greater infrastructure. Miami, meanwhile, might embrace a more dynamic signal-caller for Mike McDaniel’s timing-based offense, while sending Tagovailoa to another former left-handed quarterback in Kellen Moore, whose Saints are sorely inexperienced under center.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are facing some adversity weeks before the start of training camp. All-Pro left tackle Tristan Wirfs will miss the start of the season after undergoing surgery on his right knee, according to CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones.
Wirfs is expected to begin the season on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list and that will cost him at least the first four games.
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Author: Cody Benjamin
July 9, 2025 | 1:30 pm
