Arrival of NFL Scouting Combine kicks off more than just draft talk, with free agency and trade market teed up, too

All 32 teams will be busy in Indianapolis, but some more than others (in no particular order): But the draft is just one piece of the week. The combine is also a central meeting point for front offices to get together with agents and start discussing free agency and trades. The free agency negotiating window opens March 9 at noon, and the new league year, when signings and trades become official, starts March 11 at 4 p.m. For the 40th straight year, the NFL world descends upon Indianapolis this week for the Scouting Combine, a smorgasbord of drills, workouts, and interviews for 319 draft prospects. Ravens: The Ravens have several big decisions to make now with Jesse Minter replacing former coach John Harbaugh, and Declan Doyle, a Sean Payton and Ben Johnson disciple, replacing Todd Monken at offensive coordinator. The Ravens have two starting offensive linemen hitting free agency in center Tyler Linderbaum (who could become the NFL’s highest-paid center) and right guard Daniel Faalele. They need to find new weapons, with receiver DeAndre Hopkins not likely to return, and two tight ends hitting free agency in Charlie Kolar and Cambridge’s Isaiah Likely, who wants to become a No. 1 tight end — which probably won’t happen in Baltimore. The Ravens have two key defensive backs hitting free agency (safety Alohi Gilman, cornerback Chidobe Awuzie), need to re-sign defensive tackle Dre’Mont Jones (seven sacks in 2025), and find a new edge rusher to replace Kyle Van Noy. But the Ravens’ top priority is signing star quarterback Lamar Jackson to a new contract. Jackson wants a raise from $52 million, and the team wants to lower his cap number of $74.5 million, both of which can be accomplished with a new deal. The Ravens know they probably can’t proceed in free agency without taking care of Jackson first, but his past negotiations have never been easy. Dolphins: Six years after wiping the roster clean and proceeding with a full-blown tank under Brian Flores, the Dolphins look as if they’re doing it again under new coach Jeff Hafley and Jon-Eric Sullivan. The Dolphins currently have 38 free agents after releasing Tyreek Hill, Bradley Chubb, and two other players this past week, and likely will be moving on from veterans such as Minkah Fitzpatrick, Darren Waller, Rasul Douglas, and Austin Jackson. But the Dolphins’ top priority is finding someone, anyone, willing to take Tua Tagovailoa. There is no chance they will be able to trade his entire contract, which pays him $55 million in 2026, with $54 million already fully guaranteed. The Dolphins will have to pay most or all of that guarantee to trade Tagovailoa, and if they’re dead set on moving on, the Dolphins may have to just release him and cut him a $54 million check. Most teams probably won’t even want Tagovailoa at the league minimum given his below-average physical skills and concussion history. The Dolphins probably will have to throw in draft picks just to facilitate a trade. Tagovailoa also has a record $99 million in dead cap money the Dolphins have to deal with — they could take all of it in 2026, or split it over two years ($67 million and $32 million) if they move him after June 1. Given all that, isn’t it better to just keep Tagovailoa for a year and see if he can click with new offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik? Bills: The Bills will look a lot different with Joe Brady taking over as coach. Their top priority needs to be finding a new set of weapons for quarterback Josh Allen, as he only had one receiver with more than 600 yards in 2025. They’re keeping former second-round pick Keon Coleman for another year, but Brandin Cooks and Gabe Davis are free agents, and tight end Dawson Knox could be a cap cut. But retooling the defense will keep the Bills a lot busier. They’re switching from a 4-3 front under Sean McDermott to a 3-4 under new coordinator Jim Leonhard. The Bills have a lot of older free agents on defense, including defensive linemen Joey Bosa, DaQuan Jones, and Jordan Phillips, linebackers Matt Milano and Shaq Thompson, and defensive backs Tre White and Jordan Poyer. Chiefs: Travis Kelce is an unrestricted free agent, but the tight end sounds like he wants to return for a 14th season. The rest of the offense needs major work, though, with running backs Isaiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt and receivers Marquise Brown, Tyquan Thornton, and JuJu Smith-Schuster all set to hit free agency. The Chiefs have just two receivers (Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy) and one tight end (Noah Gray) who have done anything in the NFL, and Rice may get in trouble with the league again for another off-field incident. Right tackle Jawaan Taylor might also be a cap casualty, the defensive line has four free agents, they need to re-sign linebacker Leo Chenal, and backup quarterback Gardner Minshew is a free agent. They’ll be doing all this with Patrick Mahomes rehabbing from a torn ACL and uncertain for Week 1. Colts: They have several premium free agents they likely want to retain to maintain the momentum of last season — receiver Alec Pierce, safety Nick Cross, pass rusher Kwity Paye, right tackle Braden Smith, and the big one, quarterback Daniel Jones, whose starting point on a new deal is $47 million, the projected franchise tag amount. Browns: They probably don’t have many moves to make at quarterback, with Deshaun Watson, Shedeur Sanders, and Dillon Gabriel under contract. But they have six offensive linemen hitting free agency, including left tackle Cam Robinson and star guards Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller. Commanders: A massive overhaul is coming, They’re likely going to be moving on from a lot of expensive veterans, including Deebo Samuel, Von Miller, Zach Ertz, Austin Ekeler, and Jonathan Jones. Overall, the Commanders have 25 free agents age 30 or older. Steelers: Another team that likely will undergo a massive overhaul and needs to get younger with Mike Tomlin finally out as coach after 19 years and replaced with Mike McCarthy. Most of their secondary is up for free agency (Kyle Dugger, Chuck Clark, James Pierre, and Asante Samuel Jr.), as are several receivers (Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Scotty Miller, Calvin Austin, and Adam Thielen), and they need to re-sign Aaron Rodgers or find another quarterback. Titans: They lead the NFL with $104 million in projected cap space, and will be eager to spend it following consecutive 3-14 seasons and the embarrassment of firing Mike Vrabel. They have new schemes on both sides of the ball under coach Robert Saleh and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll. And they have a trove of good draft picks — Nos. 4, 35, 66, 101, 140, and 142. The Titans will be the stars of the combine. Falcons fans weren’t thrilled with the hiring of Kevin Stefanski as coach, not after Stefanski went 8-26 the last two seasons with the Browns. The hire is even more curious when considering the fit with young quarterback Michael Penix. New Falcons offensive coordinator Tommy Rees, who followed Stefanski from Cleveland, said Atlanta’s offensive scheme will emphasize the quarterback under center. “That’s been a huge part of the identity of Kevin going back in his career,” Rees said recently. “It’s been our identity as we worked together, and it’s something that we believe in.” But if there’s one quarterback whose identity is decidedly not playing under center, it’s Penix. In nine starts in 2025 with former coordinator Zac Robinson, Penix took just 14 of 515 snaps from under center, for a 2.7 percent rate that ranked 33rd among starting quarterbacks (as you know, there are only 32 teams). He threw one pass from under center all season. The quarterback with the next-lowest rate of under-center plays was Patrick Mahomes, at 17 percent. Penix wasn’t a big shotgun quarterback, either — at 43.9 percent, he ranked 30th among quarterbacks. What he did a lot more than anyone else was play out of the pistol formation, a half-shotgun alignment that is popular in college but has mostly faded from the NFL. He operated out of the pistol an NFL-high 272 snaps (52.1 percent), nearly 10 times the league average rate (5.1 percent), and the highest single-season pistol rate since Lamar Jackson in 2019 (52.5 percent). Penix rarely went under center in college, either, meaning he’ll undergo a crash course this offseason. Penix’s inexperience under center is common, as high school and college football rarely use a traditional huddle and operate almost exclusively out of the shotgun and pistol. Quarterbacks can be quick learners — Drake Maye barely went under center at North Carolina, but in just his second NFL season in 2025 he was under center 43.5 percent of snaps (434), the ninth-highest rate in the NFL. The Falcons’ new QB coach responsible for teaching Penix the new skills will be Alex Van Pelt, the Patriots’ offensive coordinator in 2024. Complicating matters for Penix is he’ll be coming back from a torn ACL that ended his season in November. “The whole shotgun/under center thing is not my call,” Penix said recently. “I’m comfortable and confident to do either or, and I know we’ll be mixing it a lot this year, and I’m super excited for it.” The Scouting Combine is also a big week for the NFL’s competition committee, which will meet from Sunday-Wednesday in Indianapolis to discuss plays from the 2025 season and make recommendations for rule changes for 2026. The proposals will be voted upon by owners at the league meetings in March. The NFL will be looking at the kickoff, specifically player alignment, in an effort to bring down the concussion rate, which improved with the new rules but still was not as low as the league had hoped. The league’s use of “replay assist” and the possibility of universal instant replay will undoubtedly be a hot topic, too. The committee expands from 10 to 11 people in 2026. Gone are former coaches Mike Tomlin and Sean McDermott and ex-general manager Chris Grier, and added are four coaches in Sean Payton, Kevin O’Connell, DeMeco Ryans, and Mike Vrabel, who previously served on the committee in 2022-23. The seven holdovers are Rich McKay, Stephen Jones, Katie Blackburn, John Mara, John Lynch, Todd Bowles, and Sean McVay. The NFL doesn’t release the 2026 schedule until May, but the pieces are falling into place for the international games. The Rams and 49ers will play the first-ever game in Melbourne, Australia, either on the Wednesday or Thursday of Week 1. The 49ers will also host a December game in Mexico City, making them the first team to play two nonconsecutive international games on different continents. The Saints will host the first-ever game in Paris, the Cowboys will host the first-ever game in Rio de Janeiro, and the Jaguars will be one of three teams to host a game in London. The Patriots have no shot at Paris, Rio, or Mexico, since those teams are not on their 2026 schedule. A return to London is possible, though I doubt it would be against the Jaguars, as that matchup took place just two years ago. But the Patriots are a definite possibility for two other international games. One would be in Munich, as the Patriots have made significant marketing investments in Germany in recent years. A matchup against the Lions, who also have marketing rights in Germany and are on the Patriots’ road schedule, makes a lot of sense. The Patriots could also make a trip to Spain. It seems likely that the Bears will be the home team for this year’s Madrid game, as they are the only NFC team with marketing rights in Spain. The Bears are one of the Patriots’ road opponents, and the matchup would be enticing for the NFL if it wants a premium game in Madrid. ▪ Sam Darnold became the fifth quarterback in NFL history to win more than 30 games over two seasons, joining Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Brett Favre, and Terry Bradshaw. Darnold also became the first quarterback from the University of Southern California to win a Super Bowl, a list that includes Carson Palmer, Mark Sanchez, Rodney Peete, Todd Marinovich, Matt Leinart, Matt Barkley, and Vince Evans. Rob Johnson won a Super Bowl as a backup. ▪ Uchenna Nwosu joined James Harrison as the only edge rushers to record a pick-6 in a Super Bowl. ▪ Backup edge rusher Rylie Mills, a fifth-round rookie from Notre Dame, became just the fifth player since 1982 to record his first career sack in the Super Bowl. Mills’s sack made A1 of the Globe the day after the Super Bowl, and his agent reached out to get a copy. The NFL Players Association won’t be allowed to distribute its anonymous player surveys anymore after an arbitrator ruled Feb. 13 that they violated the collective bargaining agreement for publicly criticizing owners. But the surveys, which rated teams on their facilities and treatment of players and families, made a significant impact over the last three years. Several teams were shamed into improving their facilities and offerings, and last week the Cardinals, long blasted for having the worst facility in the league, broke ground on a new training center to open in 2028. “Feedback is a gift,” owner Michael Bidwill said … Sounds like the Jaguars are getting smart about Travis Hunter, with the NFL Network reporting the team will likely use Hunter primarily as a cornerback next year and in limited spots as a receiver. It was lunacy to ask a rookie to play significant snaps on both sides, and Hunter struggled his rookie year before suffering a season-ending knee injury … Fans should forget about Tyreek Hill as a premium free agent in 2026, as he’ll be lucky to play at all coming off a significant knee injury. Considering Hill turns 32 next week, still needs more surgeries, and relies on speed, “this type of injury, given his style of play, falls into the ‘career-threatening’ category,” said former Chargers team physician Dr. David Chao. “The Cheetah will be back,” Hill wrote on social media, but it probably won’t be until late in the season, or 2027 … The Falcons accounted for 22 percent of the NFL’s pistol plays in 2025. Add in the Dolphins and Commanders, and those three teams accounted for 42 percent … The NFL has 10 new head coaches, 21 new offensive coordinators, and 16 new defensive coordinators in 2026 … According to the National Weather Service, Denver hasn’t seen a flake of snow since the second half of the AFC Championship game on Jan. 25 … Since befriending Ernie Adams in the last year, I have asked him multiple times for the meaning of “Pink Stripes,” the mysterious phrase written on a whiteboard behind him for the 2015 documentary, “Do Your Job.” Adams’s answer every time: “That’s still proprietary football information.” Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com.