Week 15 introduced a ton of video games with huge stakes—and what these video games lacked in drama, they made up for statements made and classes discovered. As we’ve been doing all season, we’ll publish the takeaways Sunday and replace them stay by way of Monday morning. So come again once more if not all 10 are right here but …
This week offered one other check that Nick Sirianni’s Philadelphia Eagles handed with flying colours. It was, certainly, a type of Only in Philly weeks. The Eagles had gained 9 straight to maneuver to 11–2 and keep inside a sport of the Detroit Lions for the No. 1 seed within the NFC playoff image. The ninth of these wins, towards the Carolina Panthers at residence, was slightly uneven, however not any actual cause for panic.
Then, A.J. Brown mentioned one thing in postgame, and the amount turned as much as 1,000,000. You’d have thought the crew was coming aside on the seams, and Sirianni was again at that shaky press convention that kicked off his tenure. That’s Philly. But it’s not these Eagles.
Instead of listening, Sirianni targeted inward. He confirmed the gamers a reel of celebrations Wednesday. The protection mobbing Chauncey Gardner-Johnson after an interception. Saquon Barkley dancing with Grant Calcaterra after the tight finish scored. Barkley and Mekhi Becton strumming air guitars. Brown and DeVonta Smith arising with a Dwayne Wade–LeBron James impression. And, sure, Brown and Jalen Hurts, collectively, doing their finest Kid ’n Play.
From there, the week was all in regards to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Sirianni knew his gamers received the image.
“He allow us to tackle it,” left deal with Jordan Mailata informed me Sunday night time. “Once it was completed, he made certain to maneuver on and hold the Steelers the principle factor. He didn’t let it linger. We saved pushing on. And that was Coach’s message. Nick did an incredible job of simply shifting on from that. And seeing him transfer on made us transfer on and hold the principle factor the principle factor. Like I mentioned, it was our enterprise this week, nevertheless it’s none of our enterprise.
“When we get the message from [the] head coach, the captains and the leaders on this crew, now we have to implement that amongst the remainder of the locker room. And all of us responded actually, very well this week.”
It confirmed in Sunday’s resounding 27–13 win over a tricky Pittsburgh crew. The Eagles didn’t simply beat the Steelers. They beat the Steelers into submission.
It began with Jalen Hurts, Brown and the remainder of the passing sport coming alive in a approach that belied the All-Pro receiver’s complaints of the Sunday earlier. Faced with a rugged Steelers entrance that wasn’t going to let Barkley run roughshod over them, Philly put the ball in Hurts’s arms, and Hurts responded with 146 yards and two touchdowns on 12-of-13 passing within the first half. The Eagles went into halftime up 17–13, regardless of operating for simply 50 yards at 3.3 per carry over the primary half-hour.
The run sport would come round, even when it didn’t go wild within the second half, and the protection would buckle down, too—maintaining the Steelers off the scoreboard and to simply 83 yards and 4 first downs after halftime.
“I’m not fearful what the headlines are going to say tomorrow, proper? But I do sincerely imagine that we performed complementary soccer at the moment and that ought to ship a message to everybody,”Mailata says. “Not like we’re attempting to [send a message], it’s simply that we all know it’s a nice reminder for us shifting ahead of how a lot of an entire crew now we have. And if we defend the ball, if we play sound soccer? Coach has a saying: powerful, detailed, collectively. I believe tonight we actually executed that.”
All three parts of the slogan had been on show over the sport’s last 10:29.
The Steelers, down 14, had simply punted and pinned Philly at its personal 3, presumably validating Mike Tomlin’s determination to not go for it on fourth-and-7 from Eagles’ 46. Little did Tomlin know what was coming—Pittsburgh wouldn’t get the ball again.
Hurts transformed third-and-6 with a brief throw to Brown that the receiver took for a 21-yard achieve. Barkley churned out seven yards on a third-and-2. Hurts struck downfield to Smith for 22 yards to dig the crew out of second-and-14. Hurts transformed a fourth-and-1, then a third-and-1 with Brotherly Shove keepers. And Kenneth Gainwell received the yards wanted on third-and-2 with 2:12 left, and Pittsburgh out of timeouts, to get Philly in victory formation.
“I can let you know proper now—the one-two,” Mailata says in regards to the drive. “It is tough to search out individuals to have that one-two: to maintain shifting the ball, to maintain that point of possession up. And that’s what it confirmed me at the moment, that the next-man-up mentality and the one-two had been there. You might see it on the movie. Guys simply turning up every play, simply giving that grit. That was a battle, man. That was no simple sport.”
It was by no means going to be. But it gave everybody who didn’t know a window into who the Eagles have grow to be over the continued 10-game profitable streak.
Since, in fact, only a few of us had been targeted on that the previous few days.
“For me, I don’t concentrate on the followers,” Mailata says, in a matter-of-fact approach. “I don’t feed off the followers, to be sincere. I believe, for us, we’re so in tune with one another that we’re simply specializing in our job. … We’re simply specializing in our job and ensuring that the whole lot goes nicely.”
For over two months now, it has been going nicely in Philly.
Safe to say, Sirianni has a fairly good thought on easy methods to hold it that approach.
Last week’s loss to the Los Angeles Rams caught with the Buffalo Bills—in a great way. The NFL season is lengthy. It’s laborious for a crew to carry its finest each week. And if each crew goes to hit a ditch or two sooner or later over the course of the yr, the Bills sped proper into theirs final Sunday in Los Angeles.
On paper, it was comprehensible. The Bills beat the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs in Week 11, had their bye in Week 12, then throttled the opposite Super Bowl crew, the San Francisco 49ers, in Week 13.
But that doesn’t imply Buffalo was going to just accept the way it performed in Week 14.
“We’ve had tight groups earlier than, Albert, however this crew is, I might say, additional tight,” coach Sean McDermott mentioned, leaving Ford Field on Sunday night time. “I imply, they actually take pleasure in enjoying, they usually actually take pleasure in enjoying with each other, from a teammate standpoint. And additionally they realized that we most likely didn’t have the main focus that we wanted per week in the past. And the leaders took over and led by instance this week.”
The consequence: a 48–42 win in Detroit towards a Lions crew that got here in 12–1.
The Bills confirmed lots within the win. Josh Allen performed just like the MVP of the league, and he could be named that, formally, a few months from now. The Bills rushed for 197 yards on 34 carries. Nine completely different ability guys caught passes. The protection did enable 42 factors and practically 500 yards by way of the air, however rendered the Lions one-dimensional on offense and allowed a variety of that yardage, and scoring, whereas Detroit performed catch-up, and with a secondary that’s fairly banged up proper now.
What you, and everybody else, will keep in mind is James Cook’s 41-yard landing run; Allen exploiting a depleted Lions linebacker group by throwing to operating again Ty Johnson; and Allen’s strikes downfield to Keon Coleman, Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox. You’ll keep in mind Greg Rousseau and Ed Oliver getting after Jared Goff, and the Bills leaping up 14–0, 21–7 and 35–14 on their shocked hosts and in entrance of a shocked crowd.
McDermott, although, goes to recollect, like he mentioned, how one week affected the following.
Even now, he can’t clarify precisely what went unsuitable early on in L.A. But the way in which the Bills reacted, even within the second, made him really feel loads higher about it. Buffalo was down 38–21 going into the fourth quarter, and the Rams may not have survived had the fourth quarter been 16 minutes as an alternative of 15.
When I requested McDermott what occurred on the finish of that third quarter, he joked, “Uh … Josh Allen?” And there was a ton of fact in that—Allen was a power of nature that might solely be stopped by the expiration of the clock at SoFi. But there’s extra to it, too.
That consists of what he noticed in the course of the week main as much as Sunday’s showdown in Detroit, after, McDermott says, “I most likely didn’t have them ready the way in which I wanted to” for the sport towards the Rams. And it actually got here alive, from his personal standpoint, in how a lot he was trying ahead to going again to work with the blokes.
“We’ve all been there, the place you’re like, hey, you’re sort of simply trudging by way of the snow, the moist snow, and it’s like, ‘Hey, we’re good.’ But each week’s a headache, you bought guys late, you understand how it goes,” McDermott says. “Not that we had been good and everyone’s an angel. But they wish to win they usually’re prepared to place the work in. And I’m saying, I really feel like—as throughout the board because it could possibly be—it’s virtually like they don’t wish to let one another down.”
And that, McDermott continues, is, and was, very true with Allen, who’s embraced the management function he’s moved into as among the Bills’ outdated cornerstone captains left the constructing within the offseason.
“It’s staying after to work with receivers for an additional 5 to 10 minutes to ensure they’ve the element, the timing down, with a purpose to execute at a excessive stage in a few of these moments,” McDermott says. “I imply, that is only one instance I might say that occurs in the course of the week. And then simply coming in a approach of [being] able to work. Again, I don’t wish to sound like he hasn’t completed this up to now, however there’s a distinction.”
As a consequence, there’s a distinction in these Bills too—as a result of the group is extra tightly knit, extra targeted and with an more and more maniacal quarterback.
It confirmed Sunday, within the classes they took from the week earlier than.
“Every lion picks up a scar alongside the way in which. And we picked up a scar,” McDermott says. “Now, that scar has received to stick with us.”
If these Bills actually are as completely different as McDermott thinks they’re, there’s little question it’s going to.
Mike Evans deserves his flowers. The Eleventh-year vet has been combating a bum hamstring all yr. It value him a month of video games in the course of the season. This week, after lacking Wednesday and Thursday practices to relaxation it, there have been questions on how a lot it might hobble him.
The Los Angeles Chargers, enjoying host to Evans’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, came upon fairly shortly.
Nine catches, 159 yards and two touchdowns later, Tampa was leaving Southern California with a 40–17 rout of Justin Herbert & Co., an 8–6 report, a 1.5-game cushion atop the NFC South—and a wholesome appreciation for the impression of the crew’s longest-tenured participant, who’s seen it throughout a decade-plus on the town. Even if these outdoors Florida could not get it the way in which these he works with do.
“It by no means ceases to amaze me,” coach Todd Bowles informed me postgame. “And he does it the appropriate approach, that’s what makes it so laborious. It’s most likely why he doesn’t get the accolades he deserves. But he does it the appropriate approach. And whenever you put it in his space, he’s decided to make a play and get it ultimately zone—there’s no stopping him. And so from a crew standpoint, you bought to catch your self otherwise you’ll find yourself watching him as an alternative of teaching …
“It was unbelievable what he did at the moment.”
What’s wild is, by way of two quarters, and with the Bucs down 17–13, Evans’s numbers and impression had been fairly pedestrian.
It didn’t take lengthy for the 31-year-old to alter that. On Tampa’s fifth offensive snap of the second half, Baker Mayfield scrambled and broke comprise to his left. Evans broke off his route and into Mayfield’s imaginative and prescient. Mayfield dropped it within the bucket, Evans caught it, burst proper by way of the arms of Chargers rookie Tarheeb Still on the 35 and raced previous the remainder of the protection for a 57-yard rating to place the Bucs up 20–17.
Two possessions later, with the Bucs up 23–17, and in third-and-12 from the Chargers’ 35, Evans roasted nook Kristian Fulton to the submit for an additional landing, to make it 30–17 and successfully put Los Angeles within the rear-view mirror for good. And present, once more, that even with that hamstring concern lingering, he’s nonetheless a power to be reckoned with.
“When he hurdled a man final week, I knew he was again,” Bowles says. “And then the additional oomph he had at the moment. If he hadn’t had a T-shirt on, he most likely would have damaged one other deal with and scored once more. The man had [his] T-shirt on that one. But he was performing some nice run after catches, which we hadn’t seen within the early a part of the yr. We want each yard, and he’s serving to us get the whole lot.”
Truth is, that’s been the case for a very long time, and on extra than simply sport day.
Bowles has been witness to it by way of loads of main transitions, too—first his personal, from defensive coordinator to changing Bruce Arians as head coach, then at quarterback, going from Tom Brady to Mayfield. So he is aware of first-hand what Evans has meant to the Bucs.
“He’s been spectacular, as a result of regardless of who’s right here, who’s teaching, who does what, he at all times produces and performs the identical,” Bowles says. “It takes a man with nice psychological toughness and psychological self-discipline to get that completed and undergo just a few coaches and nonetheless do the issues that he’s doing to be nice. I imply, it’s been unbelievable. He’s most likely one in every of my favourite two or three gamers ever. And I’m certain he’s everyone’s.
“He’s nice in the neighborhood, he works laborious at observe, he works laborious within the weight room, good dude off the sphere and he competes like hell. So that makes it simple for a coach. It makes it very simple. And the truth that he’s older, the younger guys coming, it’s one thing that they’ll aspire to be and it teaches them work ethic and easy methods to be a professional.”
His manufacturing, in fact, provides them lots to aspire to.
Evans got here into this yr with a string of 10-straight 1,000-yard seasons. He got here into Sunday’s sport, after lacking three video games and with 4 to go, with simply 590 yards, making an Eleventh 1,000-yard season fairly unlikely. But after pushing that to 749 with Sunday’s huge day, he now must common simply 83.7 yards to get there.
Maybe he’ll. Maybe he gained’t.
Regardless, what he means, and has meant, to the Buccaneers gained’t change. As the Chargers might let you know.
The NFL’s determination to place two video games on Christmas figures to have a fabric impact on the AFC playoff race. All 4 groups set to play Saturday, then once more the next Wednesday, are squarely within the chase. The Chiefs, Houston Texans and Steelers lead their divisions, and the Baltimore Ravens are one sport again within the AFC North. On Saturday, the Steelers will play the Ravens and the Chiefs will play the Texans. On Christmas, it’ll be Steelers-Chiefs and Texans-Ravens.
The state of issues for the groups concerned? Well, after I talked to Texans security Jimmie Ward, he’d already taken a flip within the chilly tub, proper after Houston outlasted the Miami Dolphins, 20–12, at residence. When I spoke with Ravens tight finish Mark Andrews after Baltimore routed the New York Giants 35–14 in New Jersey, he was able to board a practice residence. That mode of journey is customary for a New York journey for Baltimore, nevertheless it takes on slightly added significance with the ten days forward.
“There are advantages to it,” Andrews tells me. “You’re not going 30,000 ft within the air, with the dehydration and stuff like that. That half’s going to be good.”
The relaxation is, nicely, TBD.
Patrick Mahomes informed the media final week that “it’s not a very good feeling” trying forward at a stretch just like the Chiefs had been dealing with this late within the season. “You by no means wish to play this quantity of video games on this brief a time period,” the quarterback continued. “It’s not nice on your physique. But, on the finish of the day, it’s your job.”
That, in fact, was earlier than Mahomes received damage in Sunday’s win over the Cleveland Browns. He’ll endure extra exams Monday, and he’s at all times been as powerful as they arrive in terms of enjoying by way of accidents, however that is precisely what the priority was when the league scheduled this again within the spring—{that a} star participant can be put able the place he may danger making a foul damage worse if he doesn’t push by way of on brief relaxation in consecutive weeks.
Given that, this was a very good time to dig in with a few guys within the midst of that meat grinder of a three-game stretch—coming off the sphere from the primary leg of a tricky relay.
“Really you simply received to take every day [as it comes],” says Ward, now in his Eleventh season. “You received to take at some point at a time, can’t actually look forward. You simply received to hammer the restoration, keep within the coaching room and attempt to heal your physique for the following sport. … I simply received out of the chilly tub. So assault it at the moment. Start watching movie at the moment. I’m fairly certain coaches watched movie at the moment. They most likely went proper to their workplace. They’re most likely beginning sport planning.”
I checked, they usually had been. Because each minute will rely for the 4 contenders.
“It’s the little issues,” Andrews says. “I’ve already began to get well. I did six minutes within the chilly tub after this sport attempting to reset the physique understanding that it’s a brief week. Just taking time on the nighttime to place within the massages, do each little factor to guarantee that by sport time Saturday, I’ll be leaping out of my pores and skin.”
That’s the aim, anyway.
And, as Mahomes mentioned, it’s not like they’ve a selection.
“It’s our job,” Ward says. “We receives a commission for it. Playing on Christmas, it’s fairly cool—by no means received to play on Christmas earlier than. Three video games in 10 days, that’s cool. There are different groups which might be going by way of it, too.”
How it impacts the 4 of them can be fascinating, in fact, and definitely might impression how the league handles this stuff going ahead.
The Dallas Cowboys have informed you what they consider Mike McCarthy. Sometimes, this works the opposite approach—the place you see a crew mailing it in and it’s so clearly an indication that the gamers are out on their coach. In this case, Dallas had each alternative to just do that. A month in the past, on a Monday night time, they received beat 34–10 by a Texans crew that didn’t even play that nicely. They had two video games within the 10 days to observe. The quarterback was out for the yr. They had been 3–7.
Instead, the Cowboys have surged. They’re 3–1 since, and would most likely be 4–0 had been it not for Monday night time’s punt crew meltdown towards the Cincinnati Bengals.
On Sunday, they turned the primary crew to enter a sport as an underdog to the Panthers in practically two years. They proceeded to soundly beat Dave Canales’s all of the sudden feisty bunch 30–14, behind one other strong afternoon from Dak Prescott stand-in Cooper Rush, one other starry effort from CeeDee Lamb and one other dominant displaying from Micah Parsons.
“It’s simply who we’re, a bunch of fellows that like to compete, a variety of winners on this crew, a variety of wins over the previous couple of years with coach McCarthy and these core gamers,” Rush informed me over the cellphone afterward. “There’s a tradition there—you’re going to go on the market and play your butt off and compete it doesn’t matter what.”
Now, within the NFL, with a crew like this, the “win one for coach” thought can get overblown.
For most guys, there’s a fairly large particular person curiosity at play, whenever you’re enjoying out the string for a crew that’s fallen out of the race. Very few gamers’ futures are safe, and the tape can be their résumé—there’s no hiding dogging it in an opposed state of affairs, and doing that may actually stick to a man who’s searching for a job.
That mentioned, McCarthy’s nonetheless the Cowboys’ coach, and his gamers know the state of affairs he’s in, with no contract for subsequent yr. So after I requested Rush whether or not there was any ingredient there of enjoying for McCarthy given the tenuous state of affairs he’s in, the quarterback, now in his fifth yr enjoying for the coach, didn’t miss a beat.
“It’s simply extra who he’s—it’s simply been the perspective the final couple of years,” Rush answered. “He does an incredible job having a pulse of the crew, maintaining guys collectively, maintaining us collectively within the locker room and creating that tradition that regardless of who we’re enjoying, what we’re doing. If you’re on the market, you’re competing your butt off. He has us nicely ready.”
It confirmed once more Sunday.
Now, once more, McCarthy’s state of affairs is completely different than another coaches on the recent seat. Since his contract is up, the Cowboys must draw up a brand new deal to maintain him, which takes the concept of simply kicking the can down the highway off the desk. So it might be simpler to let him go than it might be to remain the course.
Yet, right here we’re, and McCarthy, coming off three consecutive 12-win seasons, was confronted together with his darkest hour as Cowboys coach. And he’s giving the Joneses lots to consider.
I like that Sean Payton was slightly salty after the Denver Broncos’ win. Denver crushed the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. It put the crew by itself in second place within the AFC West, behind solely the division champion Chiefs. It gave the crew 9 victories, to lock up the franchise’s first profitable season in eight years. It all occurred with a crew that’s gotten youthful over the 2 years the coach has been in Colorado.
So right here was Payton afterward: “If you’re on this business, you wish to be someplace the place it’s actually essential and the expectations are excessive. So it’s good to get the ninth win. We’ll have some cupcakes for you guys as you allow after which we’ll go from there.”
Translation: This isn’t near the place I’m trying to be.
By invoking the usual set by John Elway and Peyton Manning within the Broncos’ previous, Payton is implicitly setting the bar there for his gamers. Which, by each indication I’ve gotten, the gamers appear to know—not simply in how they dealt with Sunday and its aftermath, however in how they’ve embraced his demanding, tough program.
And should you don’t imagine it, the fourth quarter of Sunday’s sport offers proof, not simply in how the Broncos outlasted the Colts, however in how they beat them in each part of the sport.
Denver entered the fourth quarter trailing 13–10. Rookie Bo Nix had three picks and was most likely enjoying his worst sport in three months. The run sport had stalled. The protection had taken it on the chin slightly, too—with Anthony Richardson and Jonathan Taylor getting their footing, and loads of yardage, on the bottom.
Then, Marvin Mims Jr. returned a punt 61 yards to the Colts’ 15. Two performs later, Nix discovered second-year tight finish Nate Atkins for a rating to place Denver up 17–13. Four snaps later, third-year move rusher Nik Bonitto sniffed out a double-pass, picked off Adonai Mitchell’s cross-field throw (technically it was scored as a fumble, as a result of it was thrown behind the road), and ran it again 50 yards for a landing to make it 24–13. And after that, Nix drove Denver 35 yards for a last rating to money in a Patrick Surtain II interception.
So identical to that, the particular groups, protection and offense coalesced when it mattered most.
It hit the Colts like an avalanche, which is precisely how Payton’s finest New Orleans Saints groups used to make their opponents really feel. And whereas I don’t suppose the Broncos are fairly there but, this, to me, was one other compelling piece of proof that they’re on their approach.
I additionally suppose Payton believes that.
Otherwise, I’m unsure he’d be speaking postgame the way in which he was.
The very finish of Bill Belichick’s trip of teaching, to me, colours who he’s. And that begins together with his temporary flirtation with the New York Jets, how that occurred, and why it ended.
Belichick has a pre-existing relationship, going again to the Nineteen Nineties, with Mike Tannenbaum, who’s working (together with fellow ex-NFL GM Rick Spielman) as a guide to the Jets’ search. So the coach reached out to his former Browns and Jets colleague to gauge curiosity, and Tannenbaum took it to the crew. The Jets then mulled it, then labored to arrange a gathering between Belichick and proprietor Woody Johnson.
At that time, issues between Belichick and North Carolina had been heating up. So the coach circled again. The Jets, in fact, are on the very entrance finish of what they anticipate to be an exhaustive and thorough course of. As such, the timing didn’t work out. Additionally, my understanding is Belichick didn’t simply indiscriminately attain out to each crew with a gap.
What does this inform us? Well, first off, whereas the Jets did have geography going for them, this does present {that a} fairly sensible soccer man thought the soccer state of affairs there could possibly be rotated comparatively shortly, in any other case the decision wouldn’t have gotten made. Second, Belichick nonetheless had designs on the NFL, nevertheless it couldn’t simply be any NFL job (once more, he didn’t name everybody).
That signifies two issues: Belichick needed to get again to his life’s work and coach in 2025, and his overwhelming desire was to do it his approach. In different phrases, he didn’t need somebody going midway in on him (possibly letting him coach, whereas delegating out the remaining). And I do suppose the final yr confirmed him that whereas an NFL job supply may’ve been coming, it most likely would’ve been tougher to get something approximating the management he had in New England.
To me, that’s not about being a dictator. It’s about Belichick’s personal perception in what works.
And with Belichick’s examine of school soccer having gone deep, aided by his son’s place as Washington’s defensive coordinator and his personal huge Rolodex, the chance to run issues his approach, and win his approach, was there at that stage in a approach it wasn’t within the execs. In truth, as these round him see it, NFL parts like NIL (wage cap) and the switch portal (free company) ought to give him and his employees a leg up on the competitors.
So how will it work? I believe by way of older gamers, three or 4 years in and sad with their draft standing, coming over within the portal below the premise that Belichick and his employees will higher put together them for the professionals, with a gradual stream of youthful gamers growing by way of the pipeline. And having performed for Belichick, these guys can be extra enticing to NFL groups, that’ll doubtless presume they’re extra prepared for the professionals.
In truth, Rams coach Sean McVay informed me over the weekend that UNC prospects will completely be extra attractive to him now, as a result of they’ll have gone by way of Belichick’s program.
Maybe Belichick will wind up loving it, and make his approach off into the sundown in just a few years having modified the Carolina soccer paradigm. Maybe it gained’t work. Or possibly he’ll wind up, in a yr or two, again within the execs after displaying his program nonetheless works—his buyout drops from $10 million to $1 million on June 1, which means there’s not a lot stopping an NFL crew from coming after him in 2026 or ’27.
Either approach, whereas I’m slightly upset we gained’t get to see him within the NFL subsequent yr, I’m fascinated to see how the following chapter for the best coach ever performs out.
The 49ers face a slew of massive selections this offseason. The Niners are actually 6–8. They’re getting ready to elimination from the playoff image after a run of 4 NFC title video games, and two Super Bowl appearances, in 5 years. They’ve mortgaged contracts to facilitate it. The invoice is coming due. Could they push issues off one other yr? Sure. But …
This is the place the Rams had been in early 2023, on the level the place they wanted to reset their cap, or it would grow to be a two-year ordeal, relatively than one that may be handled in a single offseason. The excellent news? The Rams wound up making the playoffs, regardless of carrying $75 million in lifeless cash on their cap—and did it because of a complete soccer program that was buzzing within the departments of participant growth and training.
The Niners are like that, too.
They have between $250 million and $300 million in cap commitments for 2025, and that’s with out lifting a finger in free company, including a draft class or, most notably, doing a long-term take care of Brock Purdy. They have 12 guys with cap numbers for subsequent yr exceeding $9 million. There are guys corresponding to Deebo Samuel who could possibly be on the chopping block. There are free brokers corresponding to Charvarius Ward who can be powerful to maintain. Tough calls are coming.
And that’s the place Purdy comes into the image. He’s the Niners’ man. They imagine in him, and think about re-signing him as a “when,” not an “if.” But “when” is actually sophisticated by this visitors jam of massive contracts—a results of the excessive stage at which the Niners have developed expertise over Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch’s time in cost. They’ll be prepared to do enterprise with Purdy this offseason, however at what stage? That, to me, is the query, with the query for Purdy being how prepared he may be to push issues to the restrict?
The Niners have been right here earlier than. Coming out of 2017, they shortly moved to re-sign Jimmy Garoppolo relatively than franchise tagging him a few months later. They did it in January to provide themselves a measure of certainty, nonetheless within the infancy of the present regime. I’d suppose they could attempt, once more, to maneuver quick, to see if there’s a compromise to be completed early with Purdy.
But with Purdy below contract for 2025 at a really cheap price, they’ve some flexibility with him that they don’t have with different gamers.
Which solely underscores how sophisticated the following six months or so can be.
So whereas there’s each cause to imagine that Shanahan and Lynch will have the ability to work their approach out of all this (the 2019 and ’23 Super Bowl groups did look significantly completely different from each other), it certain gained’t be simple.
Travis Hunter is essentially the most fascinating draft prospect we’ve had coming into the league in years. The Colorado nook/receiver/the whole lot edged out Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty for the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night time, and his subsequent step can be taking his unprecedented résumé—nobody has ever gained the Heisman, Bednarik and Biletnikoff awards earlier than—to the professionals.
One factor I really feel comparatively assured saying is he gained’t be used within the NFL the way in which he has been in faculty, as a full-time, two-way participant.
So the operative query when contemplating his skilled future is which approach is finest to make use of a man who has the potential of being a top-shelf receiver or nook. And the reply I’ve received from scouts, and fairly emphatically, is similar because it was for Charles Woodson, Champ Bailey and Chris Gamble once they had been popping out, after having been used at each these positions as collegians (Woodson was much less full-time on offense than the opposite two).
“Dominant CB that can be a job participant at WR on third down,” texted one AFC faculty scouting director. “Special man cowl abilities. Long, explosive, twitchy, tremendous instinctive. Rarely permits separation. Outstanding ball abilities. Can match up and canopy a number of forms of receivers and takes the ball away. He’s a uncooked receiver with pure athleticism and arms.”
“Best participant within the draft,” texted a second AFC faculty scouting director. “He’s simple [to evaluate].”
“He’s an incredible athlete with uncommon instincts,” added one other AFC exec Sunday. “Great size, a playmaker. Best worth league-wide can be at cornerback because of the issue of discovering elite gamers on the place. But proper now, he’s truly a greater receiver. Thin body and sturdiness is a matter. He’s nonetheless maturing, however most likely won’t ever be over 185 to 190 kilos.”
The subsequent query, then, is whether or not he’s a greater receiver than Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan or a greater nook than Michigan’s Will Johnson, with McMillan and Johnson thought-about the standard-bearers this yr at these spots. When I requested the third AFC exec that, he shortly responded, “No,” however then backtracked.
“Actually, at receiver, probably,” he added. “They’re simply completely different stylistically.”
The first faculty scouting director went the opposite approach, saying, “I’d say no with McMillan, and sure with Will Johnson.”
So possibly he’s the draft’s finest receiver. Maybe he’s the draft’s finest nook. Maybe he’s not.
But that it’s even a query on each on the identical time tells you all it is advisable to know. I’ll have slightly extra on Hunter coming within the Tuesday notes.
Fourteen video games down, two to go. Let’s empty the pocket book on Week 15 right here with the quick-hitters …
• Jerod Mayo’s postgame press convention after a 30-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals ought to get your consideration. The New England Patriots’ coach was requested about not operating Drake Maye on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1 performs close to the aim line, given the QB’s athletic traits and dimension. “You mentioned it, I didn’t,” Mayo responded, in what appeared like a criticism of his personal offensive employees. Not nice.
• The Cardinals rushed for 163 yards Sunday, in a sport they needed to have. James Conner stays among the many league’s most underrated gamers, and Arizona’s not going away after a midseason lull.
• Here’s hoping Geno Smith is all proper. It was terrible seeing him go down Sunday night time.
• While we’re there, the Green Bay Packers appeared downright terrifying to open that sport towards the Seattle Seahawks, marching proper down the sphere, and to a 14–0 lead, on the highway. They scored on 5 of six possessions by way of three quarters, and cruised to a win—and the protection, below Jeff Hafley, appears prefer it’s catching as much as the offense, significantly with the expansion of younger guys corresponding to Edgerrin Cooper.
• If the Eagles are locked in for Week 18—and never sitting guys with their playoff standing set—it’d be powerful to anticipate a Giants win there. But I believe it’s truthful for New York to hope for a break up of its subsequent two (on the Falcons, then residence towards the Colts) to keep away from ending the season on a 12-game shedding streak. Because it’d be laborious to promote the concept of simply operating the entire thing again once more if the crew’s final win of the yr got here within the first week of October.
• My sense is Mike Vrabel is excessive on the record of the three groups with head coach openings now, and can most likely be essentially the most wanted candidate in January. What’ll be fascinating to see is who’ll be prepared to let him set a program up his personal approach—which might imply bringing ex-Tennessee exec (and present Giants exec) Ryan Cowden with him as basic supervisor and maybe Browns tight ends coach Tommy Rees as OC (although Josh McDaniels may be a risk to come back with him to sure locales, too).
• The Washington Commanders did nicely to outlive within the Superdome on Sunday, however you’re beginning to see the place the roster might be one other offseason or two away from being an actual contender. Which is to be anticipated, understanding what GM Adam Peters and coach Dan Quinn inherited. They’ve completed nice work. That doesn’t imply there isn’t nonetheless a variety of work to do.
• I like how the Saints hold enjoying for Darren Rizzi, and the way Rizzi gambled on them in going for 2 when down 20–19 on the finish there. As my colleague Conor Orr wrote Sunday, New Orleans might do worse than simply rolling with Rizzi subsequent yr.
• Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams could also be outdated and enjoying out the string of a misplaced season, nevertheless it was enjoyable to look at the chemistry these two have come again to life on Sunday in Jacksonville, because the Jets notched their fourth win of the yr (and, by the way, their first Sunday win in precisely three months).
• Joe Burrow has each proper to be pissed off. He went by way of loads over the previous yr, and received himself to a spot the place he’s enjoying nice ball. It’s a loss for all of us that we gained’t get to see it proceed into January, because of a Bengals protection that appeared to get outdated .
