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Welcome to the Friday edition of the Pick Six newsletter! 

First, I'd like to open things up here by wishing a happy "National Hot Tub Day" to everyone. If you don't celebrate, now is a good year to start. All you have to do is buy a hot tub or watch "Hot Tub Time Machine." And yes, I'm writing today's newsletter from a hot tub. 

Speaking of things that are hot, there's nothing hotter than the NFL Draft and we'll be breaking it down today: Not only do we have a three-round mock draft, but we'll also be taking a look at who the Cowboys should take with the 12th overall pick. And we're also going to talk about Deion Sanders, who has suddenly had a change of heart when it comes to where his son should go in the NFL Draft.  

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. 

1. Deion Sanders backtracks on his original NFL Draft comments

It seems that Deion Sanders has had a change of heart about where his son, Shedeur, might end up in the NFL Draft. 

Here's what Sanders had to say about his son's situation 12 months ago: 

  • Deion said Shedeur might pull an Eli. Back in March 2024, Sanders said that he would have his son "pull an Eli [Manning]" if the wrong team drafted him. And of course, when he said that, he was referring to Manning's infamous antics back in 2004. Just days before the draft that year, Manning's agent (Tom Condon) told the Chargers that Eli would sit out the entire 2004 season if the team drafted him with the first overall pick. The Chargers ended up ignoring the threat and taking Eli with the top pick anyway. However, Manning's threats did ultimately work because he ended up getting traded to the New York Giants less than an hour later. 
  • Deion said Shedeur would NOT play in a cold-weather city. "I don't want my kid going nowhere cold next year," Sanders said recently on SiriusXM Mad Dog Radio. "He grew up in Texas. He played in Jackson, played in Colorado. Season's over before it gets cold in Colorado. I'm just thinking way ahead. I don't want that for him."

It's not clear what's different now, but Deion has definitely changed his tune. During an interview with "The Skip Bayless Show" this week, Deion said Shedeur is open to being drafted by any team. 

  • Deion open to all options for Shedeur. "If it's New York, it's New York," Deion said. "If it's Tennessee, if it's Cleveland, if it's still the Raiders, if it's New Orleans, if it's any of those teams that are seeking a quarterback, I'm happy with it, man. Because I know what he's going to do to the organization."
  • Deion won't orchestrated a landing spot for his son. "No, no, no," Deion said of trying to control things. "Because that's not God's will right now. I want Shedeur to do what he's consistently done -- excel against all odds. I like the hating, I like the naysaying, I like the ignorance because it makes us feel better about what we do and it gives him another chip on his shoulder."

There could be a million reasons why Deion has changed his mindset on this. For one, it's possible that he doesn't want to scare any team away from Shedeur by looking like an overbearing dad, but it's also possible that he thinks Shedeur's stock is slipping and Deion wants to make it known that his son would be willing to be playing for ANY team, even if that wasn't necessarily the case 12 months ago. 

You can check out Deion's full comments from this week here

2. Who should the Cowboys take with the 12th overall pick? Ranking their best options

It has been an interesting offseason for the Dallas Cowboys: They didn't really make any flashy moves, they still haven't gotten an extension done with Micah Parsons and they basically have no one on their receiving depth chart behind CeeDee Lamb. 

As the Cowboys get ready to head into the 2025 NFL Draft, their biggest need is arguably at receiver and that's the position they absolutely need to target, according to our Cowboys guy, Garrett Podell. Garrett made a list of the five best options that the Cowboys have with the 12th overall pick and we're going to check out his top three below: 

  • 1. WR Tetairoa McMillan (Arizona): "All McMillan did in college was ball out: He led college football in receiving yards (3,423, an Arizona program record) and catches of 20 or more air yards (35) during his three-year Arizona career. This pick could extend the primes of both CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott."
  • 2. WR Matthew Golden (Texas): "Should McMillan not be on the board at pick No. 12, Texas receiver Matthew Golden could be a nice consolation prize. Golden heavily boosted his stock at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine where he ran 4.29-second 40-yard dash, the fastest of all wide receivers. ... He has top-tier agility, being able to start and stop on a dime, and he makes big plays in big games. Sounds like a nice WR2 to work in Brian Schottenheimer's offense alongside Prescott and Lamb."
  • 3. DB Will Johnson (Michigan). "At his size, 6-2 and weighing 194 pounds, Johnson could easily be starting outside corner for a long time. He could also be Dallas' eventual Trevon Diggs replacement while forming a tandem with DaRon Bland for years to come."

So, who else would make sense for the Cowboys? You can check out Garrett's full list here. 

In other Cowboys news, Jerry Jones has seems to be fascinated with Travis Hunter, but Dallas would have to pull off a huge trade to move up high enough to grab him. You can read Jerry's full comments on Hunter here. 

3. Predicting the opponents for the seven international games 

The NFL has never held more than five international games in a single season, but that will soon be changing. The league will be making history in 2025 by holding a total of seven international games.

Although we know who the home team will be in each of these games, we don't know who the opponent will be, so I decided to make some predictions. 

Let's take a look at where the games are being played along with the home team in each game and who their possible opponent might be.

Jaguars in London
Predicted opponent: Rams or Seahawks.

Jets in London
Predicted opponent: Cowboys or Panthers.

Browns in London
Predicted opponent: Titans or 49ers. 

Colts in Berlin
Predicted opponent: Broncos or Raiders. 

Steelers in Dublin
Predicted opponent: Packers or Seahawks. 

Dolphins in Madrid
Predicted opponent: Commanders or Bengals.

Chargers in Sao Paulo
Predicted opponent: Commanders or Texans.

If you want the a full explanation for each of these predictions, you can check out my full story here. The NFL is expected to announce the road teams for each international game, along with the full 2025 schedule, in May.

4. Three-round mock draft: Three quarterbacks go in the third round

As you get ready to head into the weekend, we have a mock draft that might take you all weekend to read: NFL Draft guru Josh Edwards has unveiled his first THREE-ROUND mock of the year. And yes, we are inching closer to one of our guys finally putting out a full SEVEN-ROUND mock draft, but we're not quite there yet.  

As for this mock draft, Josh has a total of three quarterbacks going in a jam-packed third round. Let's check out the top 10 picks in the round: 

65. Giants: OT Cameron Williams, Texas
66. Chiefs: RB Dylan Sampson, Tennessee
67. Browns: QB Jalen Milroe, Alabama
68. Raiders: RB Quinshon Judkins, Ohio State
69. Patriots: WR Jack Bech, TCU
70. Jaguars: DT Deone Walker, Kentucky
71. Saints: DT Shemar Turner, Texas A&M
72. Bears: WR Jalen Royals, Utah State
73. Jets: QB Tyler Shough, Louisville
74. Panthers: DT Aeneas Peebles, Virginia Tech

Not only does Josh have the Browns taking Milroe and the Jets taking Shough, but he also has Quinn Ewers going to the Rams later in the round. 

There are a total of 102 picks in the first three rounds and if you want to see how they all pan out, you can check out the rest of Josh's mock draft here. 

For more draft coverage, you can hear Ryan Wilson every week on "With the First Pick," our year-round NFL Draft podcast here at CBS Sports. You can find "With the First Pick" wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube. 

5. Top 10 free agents left on the market: Keenan Allen, Amari Cooper among notable names still out there

With the third week of free agency now coming to a close, you might be wondering who's still left on the market and as it turns out, there's still quite a few good players out there. 

With that in mind, let's check out the top 10 players who are still available: 

1. QB Aaron Rodgers
2. CB Rasul Douglas
3. WR Amari Cooper
4. DE Calais Campbell
5. CB Asante Samuel Jr. 
6. S Justin Simmons
7. RB J.K. Dobbins
8. LB Kyzir White
9. LB E.J. Speed
10. WR Keenan Allen

Last Friday, this list included Russell Wilson and Stefon Diggs, but both off those guys were signed this week, so we've got several new players in our top 10. If someone from this list signs over the weekend, you can get all the details here in our top 100 tracker.

6. Extra points: Former NFL running back charged in dog fighting case

It's been a busy 24 hours 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. 

  • LeShon Johnson facing federal charges for dog-fighting operation. Johnson, who spent five seasons in the NFL starting in 1994, has been hit with multiple federal charges. The former NFL running back is accused of having nearly 200 "pit bull-type" dogs that he had been selling, transporting and delivering in a dog-fighting venture. You can check out the full details of the accusations here. 
  • Hunter Renfrow attempting NFL comeback. The 29-year-old receiver, who was out of football last season, might be reuniting with his old team. According to NFL Media, Renfrow is visiting with the Raiders today in a move that comes two days after he visited with Carolina. Renfrow was drafted by the Raiders in 2019 and spent five seasons with them, but didn't play in 2024. 
  • Super Bowl winning safety dies at 51. Matt Stevens, who won a Super Bowl with the Patriots in 2001, passed away this week at the age of 51. Stevens spent eight seasons in the NFL and during that time, he played for five different teams (Buffalo, Philadelphia, New England, Washington and Houston). Stevens was paralyzed from the waist down as a result of a spinal injury suffered in a motorcycle accident in 2007. You can read more about his life here. 
  • NFL's first female general manager passes away at 83. Susan Tose Spencer, the NFL's first and still only female general manager, passed away this week at the age of 83. The trailblazing Spencer took over GM duties in 1983. Jeff Kerr wrote an excellent long-form piece on Spencer back in 2021. If you want to know how she rose up the ranks in the NFL, Kerr has all the details and you can check them out here.  
  • Falcons sign German kicker. Lenny Krieg made a name for himself at the NFL combine last month when he hit all 14 of his field goal attempts and the Falcons were so impressed that they signed him to a deal. The Falcons do have Younghoe Koo, but he went through some uncharacteristic struggles last season, so it's not surprising that the Falcons are bringing in some competition. You can read more about his signing here.