NFL Rumors: Draft, Robert Griffin III, 49ers, & Texans

Draft

Mike Freeman of B/R spoke with the one of the more respected scouts in the NFL who was very critical of this year’s quarterback prospects.

“Not a single one who makes you go, ‘Wow.’ The best teams can hope for is that one of these guys becomes Trent Dilfer,” said the scout.

The scout added that they were impressive in workouts, but feels their overall talent is “marginal.”

“There is talent there, but it’s marginal,” the scout said. “They’ve all been inflated by the fact they know how to work out at the combine, but the tape isn’t really all that impressive to me.”

• Freeman, citing several front-office sources, reports that more and more teams are looking to trade down in this year’s draft.
• The scout who spoke to Freeman did, however, rave about this year’s defensive class: “This is one of the deepest defensive drafts, I’d say, in about three years. Maybe longer.”

Robert Griffin III

• According to Mike Freeman, no one wants to trade for Redskins QB Robert Griffin III, given that they know Washington will eventually release him.
• Freeman adds that there is “massive” interest in RGIII from teams who believe they can get him turned around.
• League sources have told Freeman that “at least a dozen teams are interested” in Griffin.

49ers

• Despite the 49ers insisting that they want to have QB Colin Kaepernick back next year, Mike Freeman has spoken with “several” team sources not with the 49ers who feel strongly that “San Francisco wants Kaepernick gone and will move him as quickly as possible.”

Texans

• John McClain of the Houston Chronicle fully expects the Texans to release veteran RB Arian Foster at some point this offseason.
• According to McClain the decision to move on from Foster won’t be related to his salary or cap figure, but is instead to due to their preference for a more durable, consistently productive running back.
• Even though there are some options in the draft, McClain seems to think Houston should look to the free agent market and target someone like Doug Martin, Lamar Miller, Matt Forte, Chris Ivory or Alfred Morris.
• McClain adds that the Texans will try to get deals done with free agent G Brandon Brooks and C Ben Jones in the coming days.