John Harbaugh heading to Giants, divisional round picks, best SB matchups

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Welcome to the Thursday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!

If you only make it through half the newsletter today, I totally understand and that's because the NCAA Tournament is here. I was in Dayton for the First Four on Wednesday night to watch my alma mater -- THE Miami University Redhawks -- pick up their first NCAA Tournament win in 27 years. If you need me, I will be celebrating that win for the next 24 hours.

There are plenty of more games today and if you want the full schedule of the 16 tournament games on Thursday, we've got that there.

Of course, this isn't a college basketball newsletter, so yes, we will be covering some actual NFL news today. For one, we'll be taking a look at the new rule proposals that came out this week, plus, we'll be playing some quarterback matchmaker and we have the latest version of Pete Prisco's Power Rankings.

As always, here's your reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter. Let's get to the rundown.

1. Prisco unveils his post-free agency Power Rankings: Seahawks still on top, Patriots fall out of top five

After five weeks of waiting, we finally have a new set of Power Rankings from Pete Prisco. With the first wave of free agency now in the books, Prisco decided to go through and rank every single NFL team.

The last time Prisco ranked all 32 teams came after the Super Bowl and things have slightly changed since then. Although the Seahawks are still on top, the Patriots have fallen hard. They were No. 2 when the season ended, but in his latest power rankings, Prisco dropped them SIX SPOTS. Remember, Patriots fans, these are not my power rankings, so if you want to send hate mail, please send it to Prisco.

Let's take a look at Prisco's top 5 teams coming out of free agency:

Seahawks
Rams (Up one spot from the post-Super Bowl rankings)
Bills (Up four spots)
Broncos (Up one spot)
Jaguars (Down one spot)

I'm not going to spoil the rest of the power rankings here, but I am going to give you a few nuggets. Here's what has changed since Prisco's last power rankings:

The biggest jump between the Super Bowl and now came from the Kansas City Chiefs, who moved up seven spots. With Patrick Mahomes injured, the Chiefs limped to the finish line at the end of the season and finished 25th overall in Prisco's Power Rankings, but now, they're up to 18th. You can bet the Chiefs will make another move once Prisco has a good idea of whether Mahomes will be available to start the season.
The Cowboys and Buccaneers made the two biggest jumps in the NFC with both teams moving up seven spots. Dallas was at 21st after the Super Bowl while the Bucs were one spot ahead of them at 20th. Now both teams have cracked the top 15 with the Cowboys at 14th overall and Tampa at 13th.
The biggest tumble went to the Miami Dolphins, which makes sense, because they've decided to have a fire sale this offseason. With the Dolphins trading away anything that's not nailed down, including Jaylen Waddle, it's pretty clear that this team's plan is to tank the 2026 season away and Prisco has ranked them accordingly. The Dolphins have dropped 11 spots going from 21st all the way down to dead last at 32nd overall.
Now, let's talk about the worst team in the NFL. As we just mentioned, that's the Dolphins. Last month, the worst team was the Raiders, but Prisco moved them up three spots to 29th, so congratulations to the Raiders!

If you want to know where your favorite team ended up in Prisco's Power Rankings, you can find out here. If you want to argue with Prisco over his rankings, you can do that on Twitter by clicking here. I argue with him all the time about everything.

2. QB Matchmaker: Landing spots for Kirk Cousins and other available quarterbacks

As we get ready to finish up the second week of free agency, there are still plenty of quarterbacks available on the market, so I decided to play matchmaker and pair those quarterbacks up with a team that makes sense.

MATCH: Kirk Cousins to the Raiders. Cousins would obviously prefer to go to a team where he might be able to start, but with those options drying up, the Raiders would make a lot of sense. For one, this would reunite him with Klint Kubiak. The Raiders new head coach spent three seasons (2019-21) in Minnesota with Cousins. Kubiak was Vikings' QB coach for two years before being promoted to offensive coordinator, so he worked closely with Cousins in Minnesota. The familiarity there could be something that pushes Cousins toward Las Vegas.
MATCH: Russell Wilson to the Colts. The Chiefs pulled off an interesting trade on this week that Indianapolis might want to take note of. With Patrick Mahomes recovering from a torn ACL, there's no guarantee he's going to be available for Week 1, so Kansas City went out and made a trade for Justin Fields. The Colts are in a similar situation with Daniel Jones, who tore his Achilles in December. Although the team is hoping that he'll be ready for Week 1, that might not happen, so Indy needs to have a contingency plan and Wilson would be a solid option.
MATCH: Aaron Rodgers to the Steelers (Duh). With Rodgers, it seems like there's only two options this offseason: Either he re-signs with the Steelers or he retires. ... The Steelers went through free agency like a team that plans on having Rodgers back for one more year. Not only did they add a solid No. 2 receiver by making a trade for Michael Pittman, but they also added Rico Dowdle at running back. ... The Steelers also beefed up their secondary by adding Jamel Dean, Jaquan Brisker and Darnell Savage. New coach Mike McCarthy is taking over a team that just won the AFC North, and right now, all he needs is a starting quarterback.

We've got even more landing spots and you can check them out there.

3. NFL's 10 biggest moves of free agency

Last week, we ranked the 10 biggest surprises of the offseason and the Ravens decision to pull out of the Maxx Crosby trade ranked at the top. This week, we're going to take a look the 10 biggest signings of free agency.

Carter Bahns combed through EVERY move that's been made since the start of free agency and then he came up with a list of 10 that will likely go down as the biggest ones of the offseason. Let's check out three of the moves that made his list.

Mike Evans to the 49ers. Evans will suit up for the 49ers after opening his career with 12 years in Tampa Bay, giving the NFC West contenders a bona fide No. 1 wide receiver as they seek to finally break through for their first Super Bowl under Kyle Shanahan. The 49ers may have pulled off the biggest steal of the offseason in signing Evans to a three-year, $42.4 million deal, which will look even more team friendly if the 32-year-old bounces back from an injury-plagued 2025 season with one of his patented 1,000-yard campaigns.
Chiefs add Kenneth Walker III. The Chiefs finally have a bell cow back. Reigning Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III left Seattle to take on a potentially larger role with the Chiefs and will assume that position on the fourth-largest contract among running backs. The lack of a prolific running game is partially to blame for the Chiefs losing some of their offensive mystique over the last couple of years, so Walker's big-play propensity should help them rekindle that magic -- especially if Patrick Mahomes does not miss a beat after his ACL recovery does not miss a beat after his ACL recovery.
Kyler Murray signs with Vikings for veteran minimum. The Cardinals' financial liability is the Vikings' gain. Because his former team still owes him $36.8 million in guaranteed money this season following his release, Kyler Murray was available on the cheap. Swooping in and finding a highly capable veteran to either compete with J.J. McCarthy or, more realistically, take the job from him altogether could be what it takes for the Vikings to jump into playoff contention in 2026.

If you want to relive the biggest moves that have gone down this offseason, Carter has a full list here.

4. Two rule proposals on the table: Browns propose drastic change that could lead to more trades

When the NFL's 32 owners get together in Phoenix at the end of the month, they'll be voting on multiple rule changes, including one proposal from the Cleveland Browns that could lead to more NFL trades.

Let's take a look at the two team proposals that will be on the table this year:

Cleveland's simple proposal. The Browns want to make a rule change so that teams can trade draft picks up to five years in the future. The current rule only allows for teams to trade for picks three years into the future. The NFL has turned into a trade happy league and the belief is that this rule change would lead to even more changes. Since the start of the league year on March 11, there have been 18 trades in just eight days.
The Rams support the change. The Browns will need 24 of the NFL's 32 owners to approve the rule for it to pass, and so far, it sounds like they definitely have the support of at least one team: The Los Angeles Rams. Rams president Kevin Demoff gave his opinion on the proposal Wednesday night. "Nothing creates more interest in the NFL than trades," Demoff wrote on social media. "This is why Cleveland's proposal to allow teams to trade picks up to 5 years out as opposed to 3 years out makes so much sense. More picks to trade = more trades = more interest & team building options."
The other rule proposal. The Steelers have proposed a rule that actually went into effect this year: For the first time ever, teams were allowed to have one video or phone call with up to five prospective unrestricted free agent during the two-day negotiation period. The Steelers want to make that rule permanent and they want to the NFL allow teams to make travel arrangements for any player who agrees to terms during the two-day tampering window. Under the current rule, if a player agrees to a deal on Monday, teams still can't make his travel arrangements until the new league year starts at 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

These two proposals will be presented at the NFL's annual league meeting, which kicks off on March 29 and runs through April 1. A proposal needs 24 votes to pass. The proposals by the Steelers and Browns won't be the only rules that the owners vote on. The competition committee will release its own proposals at some point and those are expected to come next week.

5. March Madness: Who would win an NFL tournament with all 32 teams?

With the NCAA Tournament's Round of 64 tipping off today, we started wondering who would win if the NFL held its own March Madness-style bracket featuring all 32 teams. With that in mind, we created our own NFL bracket and then I went through and picked EVERY game until only one team was left standing.

We created four regions that each feature eight teams.
To seed the teams, we used the 2026 NFL Draft order. The four worst teams all ended up in four different regions as the eighth seed in their respective region. For instance, the team with the first overall pick (Raiders) ended up as the eighth-seed team in the region that includes the top one-seed (the Seahawks).
We're using each team's current roster based on its moves in free agency (with a few exceptions).
We're only taking player injuries into account if they're out due to a long-term issue (this means the Chiefs won't have Patrick Mahomes, who tore his ACL in December. Sorry, Chiefs).

After going through the entire tournament, we ended up with a Final Four that featured two No. 1 seeds and two Cinderella teams.

FINAL FOUR

(5) Ravens vs. (6) Bengals. America loves rooting for the underdog, which means the Bengals might officially be America's team at this point. Yes, the Ravens are a fifth seed, but their popularity took a hit in early March when they decided to BACK OUT of the Crosby trade. You could argue it was a sleazy move, but the bottom line is that it worked out for Baltimore. The Ravens landed Hendrickson to replace Crosby, and they did it much cheaper since they didn't have to give up the two first-round picks they were about to send for Crosby. As for the Bengals, they did add some help on defense, but it might not matter in this game. Jackson always saves his best for Cincinnati: He's 11-3 against them all time, and he picks up another win here. PICK: Ravens 30, Bengals 27
(1) Rams vs. (1) Seahawks. This might be the best rivalry in the NFL right now. These two teams played three times during the 2025 season, with all three games decided by an average of just 2.3 points. In this March matchup, it comes down to which team has improved its roster more, and right now, that's the Rams. The team had one major weakness on defense, and it fixed that by trading for Trent McDuffie and signing Jaylen Watson. The Rams also re-signed Kam Curl, so Sam Darnold will have a hard time putting up big numbers against the secondary. As for the Seahawks, they lost several key players, including Walker, Bryant, Boye Mafe and Tariq Woolen. Basically, the Rams are slightly better than the last time these two teams played, and the Seahawks are slightly worse, so the edge goes to L.A. PICK: Rams 28, Seahawks 24

That's right, our March Madness football tournament ended with the Ravens facing the Rams in the championship game.

If you want to know who won or if you want to know how your favorite team got eliminated, you'll have to check out my full story here.

6. Extra points: NFL eyeing the possibility of using replacement refs in 2026

It's been a busy past few days in the NFL, and since it's nearly impossible to keep track of everything, I put together a quick roundup for you.

NFL might hire replacement officials. The NFL is trying to negotiate a new CBA with the NFL Referees Association and with the two sides at a stalemate, it appears there's a chance that we could see replacement referees this year. According to ESPN, the NFL is "laying groundwork for hiring replacement officials" if a deal can't be reached. The last time we saw replacement officials came in 2012, but they quickly got the boot after the "Fail Mary" game that saw the Seahawks beat the Packers with a Hail Mary on the final play that one ref ruled a touchdown while another one signaled interception. That infamous call happened on Monday night in Week 3 and less than 48 hours later, the league had worked out a new CBA with the NFLRA.
Andy Dalton headed to Philadelphia. The Eagles pulled off a trade for Dalton on Wednesday. To make the deal happen, the Eagles are sending a seventh-round pick to the Panthers. No NFL team has ever won a playoff game with Dalton on their roster, so the Eagles will be looking to change that his year. The Eagles obviously have Jalen Hurts at QB, so it looks like Dalton will be battling it out with Tanner McKee for the backup job. You can check out our full breakdown of the trade here.
Carson Wentz returning to Minnesota. The former first-round pick spent the 2025 season with the Vikings, and now, he's returning for another year. Wentz started five games for Minnesota last season and he went 2-3. This year, he'll be joining a QB room that already includes Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy. And yes, that means the Vikings now have three former top 10 picks in their QB room. How will Wentz fit in? We've got that answered here.
Bengals Super Bowl starter retires at 29. Four years after starting in the Super Bowl for the Bengals, Logan Wilson has decided to retire at the age of 29. Wilson entered the NFL as a third-round pick with the Bengals in 2020 and he ended up starting 65 games over 5.5 seasons in Cincinnati before getting traded to the Cowboys back in November. Wilson was released by the Cowboys last month, and now, he's out of the NFL for good.