| NFC WEST |
| LOS ANGELES RAMSThis from Mike Sando of The Athletic: @SandoNFL#rams first team in #NFL history to lose with:•500+ yards•0 turnovers•3+ opponent turnovers@pfref Or this: @DanteKopFlemSince 1975, teams with: 400+ yards0 giveaways0 sacks taken3+ takeaways Were 79-0 prior to tonight. They are now 79-1. Another angle: @drclemsonmdIn 2 games against the Rams the Seahawks are -7 in turnovers and the total score between those 2 games is 58-57! – – – The DB did not know what the anti-Semitic gesture WR PUKA NACUA had made might be. We have now had it explained to us – and we certainly can believe that Nacua did not know that it was something those who monitor such things would say was worthy of suspension. NFL.com: Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua issued an apology on Thursday after making an antisemitic gesture during a recent livestream with Adin Ross and Mikyle Rafiq, also known as N3on, two internet personalities. “When I appeared the other day on a social media livestream, it was suggested to me to perform a specific movement as part of my next touchdown celebration. At the time, I had no idea this act was antisemitic in nature and perpetuated harmful stereotypes against Jewish people,” Nacua said in an Instagram post. “I deeply apologize to anyone who was offended by my actions as I do not stand for any form of racism, bigotry or hate of another group of people.” On the livestream, Ross, who is Jewish, suggested that Nacua perform a touchdown celebration in which he rubs his hands together, a gesture used as an antisemitic stereotype to portray Jewish people as greedy. Nacua then performed the celebration multiple times. Asked by Ross if he would perform the celebration in a game, Nacua said he would. “I promise,” Nacua told Ross. “I got you, man.” “The NFL strongly condemns all forms of discrimination and derogatory behavior directed towards any group or individual,” the league said in a statement. “The continuing rise of antisemitism must be addressed across the world, and the NFL will continue to stand with our partners in this fight. Hatred has no place in our sport or society.” The Rams WR’s actions have received backlash, including from U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell, who represents California’s 14th district. “The Los Angeles Jewish community is on edge after the Bondi Beach massacre. And what does this a—— @AsapPuka do? He promises an antisemitic touchdown dance for his Thursday night game,” Swalwell, who is running for California governor, said Wednesday on social media. “He should apologize or be dropped.” Nacua briefly addressed the situation on Thursday night following the Rams overtime loss to the host Seattle Seahawks. He was asked if he had talked with head coach Sean McVay during the week about the situation and the message delivered. “Coach has just echoed that he’s always in continuous support of me,” Nacua said. “He’s disappointed in some of the actions that are just distracting my teammates. And it’s something I know I’ll learn from. I don’t want to be a distraction in any week, and especially in a short week, so we had talked about that. He’s right there behind me.” Daniel Mader of YahooSports.com: In his appearance on the live stream, Ross instructed Nacua on a touchdown dance he wanted him to do. After pretending to spin a football and flex, Ross tells Nacua to rub his hands together and look at the camera. Nacua proceeded to do the dance. The movement Ross instructed Nacua to make has been criticized as an antisemitic trope, as it can be seen as mocking a Jewish person by rubbing their hands together to suggest greed. Per Awful Announcing, Ross often does the gesture as part of what is referred to as his “Jewish Dance” or “Jewish emote.” Additionally, he has faced platform bans over “hateful conduct” and slurs in the past. Meanwhile, Nacua did not let the controversy diminish his performance in the least against Seattle. Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com: The Rams did not get a victory on Thursday night, falling to the Seahawks in overtime 38-37 in what was an epic comeback performance by Seattle. But Los Angeles’ star receiver Puka Nacua still made some history. As noted by the Prime Video broadcast, Nacua became just the second player in league history to have at least 150 receiving yards in three straight games. The third-year wideout finished Thursday’s contest with 12 catches for 225 yards with two touchdowns. He previously had seven receptions for 167 yards in the Rams’ Dec. 7 victory over the Cardinals and had nine catches for 181 yards in his club’s Dec. 14 victory over the Lions. Nacua caught a 41-yard touchdown in overtime to give L.A. a seven-point lead. But it was not enough, as Jaxon Smith-Njigba caught a 4-yard touchdown before Eric Saubert’s successful two-point conversion to give Seattle the victory, a postseason berth, and the NFC’s No. 1 seed. Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb was the first receiver to go over 150 in three consecutive games, with performances of 158, 191, and 151 during the 2023 season. |
| SEATTLEA nugget from Greg Auman of FoxSports.com: @gregaumanSam Darnold vs. Rams in 2025: 6 INTs in 66 passesDarnold vs. anyone else in 2025: 7 INTs in 346 passes– – -Sean McVay was not happy about how the NFL awarded Seattle two points for a conversion try that appeared to have been disrupted. The Rams lost by one point. Mike Kadlick of SI.com: L.A. lost to Seattle 38–37 in overtime on a successful two-point try from quarterback Sam Darnold to tight end Eric Saubert, yet that wasn’t even the wildest conversion on the night. After making it a two-point game in the fourth quarter on a 26-yard A.J. Barner touchdown, the Seahawks attempted to tie things up, but saw a pass intended for running back Zach Charbonnet tipped by L.A. defender Kobie Turner. That was, until it wasn’t. What initially appeared to be a dead ball was instead recovered by Charbonnet, and after further review via the NFL’s Replay Assist, it was determined that Darnold’s throw was backwards—therefore a fumble—and subsequently recovered for a successful two-point conversion in the end zone. McVay spoke about said play at his postgame press conference, and didn’t mince words about how he thought it was handled. “As far as the game’s concerned,” the coach explained, “It was a great back-and-force battle between two really good football teams … I’ve never quite seen anything like what happened on the two-point conversion, where you’re lined up to kickoff, then they say it’s a fumble because they had the clear and obvious recovery, now you tack it on, you make it a 30–30 game.” “Very interesting,” McVay continued. “Didn’t get clear explanation of everything that went on, just because of some of the timing of it … but I’ve never seen anything, or never been a part of anything like that, and I’ve grown up around this game. I’m not making excuses, we don’t do that, I don’t believe in that, it doesn’t move us forward, but we do want clarity and an understanding of the things that we can do to minimize that when we rejected the two-point conversion.” Woof. With the loss, the Rams fall to 11–4 on the 2025 season and in turn, tumbles into a tightly-contested NFC wild card race with contests against the Falcons and Cardinals to finish the year. Mookie Alexander of YahooSports.com says it was the right call: As the teams were ready for kickoff and a 30-28 Rams lead, referee Brad Allen said that the play was under review. Replay showed a clear backwards pass from Darnold, with a clear recovery from Charbonnet, and therefore two points in one of the most freakish of circumstances. Watching the play live, there is a clear whistle blown shortly before Charbonnet picked the seemingly dead ball up in the end zone. So shouldn’t the whole play be over and therefore no conversion? Not necessarily. Terry McAulay, a longtime NFL referee who officiated multiple Super Bowls and is now a rules analyst for NBC and Prime Video, explained on social media why the call was reversed from an incomplete forward pass to an end zone recovery of a backwards pass. “When a backward pass is ruled forward and incomplete, Replay can reverse if there is a clear recovery in the immediate continuing action,” McAulay said. “The recovering team is awarded the ball at the spot of recovery. Let me make this perfectly clear: whether a whistle is blown or not is completely irrelevant.” We see this happen almost all the time in the NFL thanks to modified replay over the past several seasons; a loose ball recovery can be granted even if a whistle is blown. Charbonnet met the criteria of immediate continuing action The other aspect of this is the distinction between a backwards pass and a fumble; they are not necessarily the same thing, something that even tripped me up. “It’s not a fumble, it’s a backward pass and anyone can recover and advance at anytime,” McAulay noted. The reason why that is important is because two-point conversions actually have special fumble rules applied. For fumbles on 2-point conversions, 4th down, or any time after the two-minute warning, the ball cannot be advanced by anyone other than the original ball carrier. If, for instance, Darnold was strip-sacked and the ball went backwards, Charbonnet could not pick it up and score. Darnold’s pass was not a fumble, and the folks at Football Zebras did an excellent job clearing up any confusion. All of this is to say that Charbonnet grabbing the ball in a nonchalant manner turned out to be maybe the most important play of the season, as well as the most pivotal moment of his young NFL career. I’m sure Sean McVay will understand once he’s calmed down. The DB isn’t as sure as Mookie that it was a pass that was “clearly backwards” – it didn’t go very far. So in retrospect, the Rams should have scrambled to recover the ball, even after the whistle blew, pick it up and collectively stampede towards the other end zone for a “defensive two-point conversion” – although picking the ball up and taking it the length of the field could have been deemed an illegal celebration if the original call on the field was upheld. To win the game, the Seahawks (with the aid of video assist) converted three two-point conversions. Is that a record? The answer is – no, the St. Louis Rams made four in an October 15, 2000 win over Atlanta by a score of 45-29. Rams kicker Jeff Wilkins injured himself on the opening kickoff, made one extra point but then could not continue and the Rams went 4-for-5 on two-pointers on their five subsequent TDs. The Seahawks on Monday night were the 7th team to make three 2-point conversions in a game, the first since the Cowboys against Cleveland in 2020. We see this: @NFLPlusThe @Seahawks are the first team in NFL history to win a game on an overtime 2-point conversion 💪 It would be the first two-point conversion ever made in overtime in any game, regular season or postseason, as near as we can tell. Since the Rams won the first game between the teams, the Seahawks didn’t really have much of choice about going for two (it wasn’t really a “gutsy” decision as we saw in one headline). If this game had ended in a tie, the Rams would have held the tiebreaker over Seattle with a 1-0-1 record in head-to-head play. John Breech of CBSSports.com does a nice job of explaining the new playoff possibilities where San Francisco now controls its destiny to the top seed: The battle for the NFC West has felt like a two-horse race between the Rams and Seahawks for most of the season, but don’t forget about the San Francisco 49ers, because they are very much still in it, especially after Thursday night’s wild game in Seattle. The 49ers got some serious help from the Seahawks, who beat the Rams, 38-37, in a wild overtime shootout. Thanks to the Seattle’s victory, the 49ers now have full control over their path to winning both the NFC West and clinching the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC. That’s right, the Seahawks’ win has kicked the door wide open for the 49ers to come in and steal the top seed in the NFC. If the 49ers win their final three games, that will allow them to clinch the NFC West AND the top seed in the NFC. Of course, winning out won’t be easy, because the 49ers face a brutal schedule over the final three weeks: Week 16: at Colts (8-6)Week 17: Bears (10-4)Week 18: Seahawks (12-3) That’s a remaining strength of schedule of .698, which is the most difficult in the NFL. There are currently only four teams in the NFC with 10 wins or more: The Rams, 49ers, Seahawks and Bears. If the 49ers win out, they will have the head-to-head tiebreaker over both the Seahawks and the Bears. If the Rams win their final two games, that would put them at 13-4, which is the same record the 49ers will have if they win out. If that happens, the division would be decided on tiebreakers. The 49ers and Rams split their season series, so the next tiebreaker would be division record and that’s where the 49ers would win: They’d have a division record of 5-1 while the Rams would be 4-2. It’s a simple path, but the oddsmakers don’t seem convinced that the 49ers are going to be able to pull it off. Here are the current odds for each team to win the division following Thursday’s game: 1. Seahawks (12-3): -1402. Rams (11-4): +2503. 49ers (10-4): +380 Of course, the Seahawks also control their own fate: If they win their final two games (at Carolina, at San Francisco), then they’ll clinch the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC. Heading into the meat of Week 16, the Seahawks and 49ers are the only two teams that control their fate when it comes to the No. 1 overall seed. |
| THIS AND THAT |
| RATING THE NUMBER ONESThe DB was just thinking about this topic – how good have number one overall picks in recent drafts performed – and, voila, Ben Solak of ESPN.com did our work for us: Cam Ward is the latest No. 1 pick to enter the NFL, having been selected by the Tennessee Titans in April. He’s one of 13 No. 1 picks currently in the league. The Titans’ 2-12 record shows winning is not always easy for top picks, and Ward has been scrambling for small signs of progress for himself and the team. “Eventually the storm’s going to end and all of us in the locker room, we’ll remember all this moment,” Ward said in October. “Someone in the world has it a lot worse than I have. So that’s just how I put it in perspective. I’m very blessed. God’s blessed me with the ability to do what I love for a living.” These are the breaks for most players who are chosen first and are also often tasked with being assigned to the worst team. Ward is the fourth quarterback in five years to be chosen first overall only to see their head coach get fired during their rookie year. Sometimes the story plays out for the good over a longer time period. That’s especially the case for 2009 No. 1 pick Matthew Stafford, who put up spectacular numbers for the Detroit Lions but made only two playoff appearances over 12 years. Stafford was traded to the Los Angeles Rams in 2021 for 2016 No. 1 pick Jared Goff and won his first Super Bowl trophy in his initial season with L.A. Despite being one of the NFL’s oldest quarterbacks at 37, Stafford is the favorite to win MVP in his 17th season. Over his career, he has earned over $364 million, the most among the past 20 first overall picks. 2018 No.1 pick Baker Mayfield demanded a trade after four years with the Cleveland Browns when the team inquired about a swap for former Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson. Mayfield was traded shortly afterward to the Carolina Panthers in 2022 before being released and signing with the Rams for the final five games of the season. He would go on to sign a one-year deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before seemingly finding his new home, as he’s currently trying to lead them to the playoffs for the third straight year. Like Mayfield, 2014 No.1 pick Jadeveon Clowney bounced around the league. Clowney went to six different teams in seven seasons after spending his first five with the Texans. His seven teams are the most of any former No. 1 still in the league. Clowney was a 2016 second-team All-Pro and was named to the Pro Bowl from 2016 to 2018. The responsibilities that come with being the first pick are heavy and have produced mixed results. We took a look at how all of the No. 1 picks currently playing are doing in the varying stages of their careers, and NFL analyst Ben Solak rated how they’ve handled the hype since entering the league: 2025: QB Cam Ward, MiamiDrafted by: Tennessee Titans Plays for: Titans Other teams played for: NoneNotable career moments: Only 14 games in, the sample is small, but Ward’s wizard-like ability to go off schedule was showcased on his first career touchdown pass when he scrambled to his right and launched a throw across his body to fellow rookie Elic Ayomanor in the back left corner of the end zone. “I know just from watching film with Cam, if you’ve got a scramble drill — because of the way his mind works and how good his arm is — it is not out of the question to just go to the opposite side of the field,” Ayomanor said. Impact this season: Ward’s impact can’t really be measured in wins and losses because the Titans are bad. But he has been a steady influence for a locker room that could easily splinter from all of the losing. “You just have to wake up with the right mindset every day to get better,” Ward said. “I live the life of a quarterback by never getting too low or too high.” — Turron Davenport Solak’s meet-the-hype rating (1-10): 6 Ward’s numbers look rough (11 touchdowns to seven interceptions, and he is tied for the most-sacked QB in the NFL), but the on-field play has been encouraging. Ward had one of the sleepiest hype trains for first overall picks at quarterback, and accordingly his weekly achievements of processing, ball placement and escapability go largely unnoticed. The Titans believe they have a player worth building around, and with the correct offseason moves Ward can blossom into an above-average NFL starter at the very least. So far, so good. 2024: QB Caleb Williams, USCDrafted by: Chicago Bears Plays for: Bears Other teams played for: NoneNotable career moments: The 2022 Heisman Trophy winner known for his creativity and arm strength has wowed with his Houdini-like ability to avoid sacks (he has been sacked 22 times this season after taking 68 as a rookie) and make off-schedule throws. That showed up in a 31-3 win over the Browns where Williams’ 22-yard touchdown pass to DJ Moore was the most improbable completion (16.1%) by a Bears quarterback in five seasons. “It just shows off why he was the No. 1 overall pick,” tight end Cole Kmet said. “I don’t know how many guys in the league could be able to make that throw.” Williams’ five game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime are tied for the second most in 2025, highlighted by one of his biggest throws of the season — a 58-yard TD pass to Colston Loveland to beat the Bengals. Impact this season: Williams’ growth in his first season under coach Ben Johnson is a big reason the 10-win Bears are off to their best start since 2018 and on the cusp of a playoff berth. Williams has the 12th-most passing yards (3,150) and has mastered the art of playing under center while also discovering that his legs are one of his biggest assets, and not just on scramble-drill plays. Williams has three games this season with 200 passing yards and 50 rushing yards (tied for the most), two of which catalyzed come-from-behind wins. “That’s the best thing about him — he’s built for the big stage, the big moments,” Johnson said. “He rises to that occasion, and on the bigger the stage I think he really comes to life as a player.” — Courtney Cronin Solak’s meet-the-hype rating: 7 Williams’ rookie season looked as if this ranking might be a 1. His sophomore campaign has proved just how bad the offensive system was around him as a rookie. Williams has massively improved in a few areas of his game over the past year and still gets better week over week, but it’s the peak plays — the unbelievable scrambles, the downfield throws — that clearly give him a path into the tier of elite quarterbacks. He isn’t there yet, but signs indicate that the Bears might have gotten a franchise-altering player. 2023: QB Bryce Young, AlabamaDrafted by: Carolina Panthers Plays for: Panthers Other teams played for: NoneNotable career moments: After a rocky beginning to his career, Young was benched following an 0-2 start in Year 2 before returning as the starter in Week 8. He went 6-22 in that time but has improved to 7-6 this season, and his team has a chance at winning the division. Young had arguably his best NFL game yet in Week 13 with three touchdown passes and a career-high 147.1 passer rating in a 31-28 upset of the Los Angeles Rams. Two of the TDs came on fourth down. “The bigger the stakes, the higher the moments,” coach Dave Canales said of Young afterward. It was Young’s 11th game-winning drive since being the top pick. “It’s the consistency of play, and the thing that I appreciate the most about Bryce is regardless of the moment, regardless of the time in the game or the score, when I put the ball in his hands, he stays the same. He stays even,” Canales added. Impact this season: As Young and the running game go, so does the Carolina offense. And for the most part, Young is at his best when the run game is going well so he can utilize play-action. When the running game has struggled, Young has too (as in the Panthers’ 0-2 start against Jacksonville and Arizona and in a later season home loss to the one-win New Orleans Saints). Once Rico Dowdle and the run game gave Young balance in Week 5 against Miami Dolphins, the Panthers ran off four straight wins in which he had six touchdown passes to two interceptions. — David Newton Solak’s meet-the-hype rating: 3 It’s weirdly too early to say just how Young will meet his draft hype despite the fact that we are in Year 3 of his career. Young’s rookie season was disastrous, but the environment was a big part of that. Year 2 included a benching that seemed to fix his mindset. Year 3 has the Panthers in reach of the division title, but Young still has as many head-scratching games as he has quality ones. He doesn’t look like a clear second-contract quarterback, but he still has time to play himself into that range. 2022: DE Travon Walker, GeorgiaDrafted by: Jacksonville Jaguars Plays for: Jaguars Other teams played for: NoneNotable career moments: Walker had a sack and interception in his first game and a 35-yard fumble return for a touchdown in Week 9 in 2024 against Philadelphia. He had 3.5 sacks as a rookie followed by back-to-back double-digit sacks seasons in 2023 (10) and 2024 (10.5), including his lone three-sack game in Week 5 in 2024 against Indianapolis. The Jaguars picked up his fifth-year option this spring, but there has been no movement on an extension. Impact this season: Walker has dealt with a broken left hand and a right knee injury that has cost him a combined three games. He has 2.5 sacks but has still been good against the run. “It’s the most banged up I’ve been since early college,” Walker said. “But I mean, what is life without lessons? That’s just how I look at it. God put me in this position for a reason. I’m not running from it.” — Michael DiRocco Solak’s meet-the-hype rating: 4 The 2022 draft was a rough one for owning the first pick, and the Jaguars took a big swing by going for an incomplete athlete in Walker. He has the misfortune of a rough relative measure, as Aidan Hutchinson was drafted one pick later, plays the same position and has been far more productive. But Walker is still a starting-caliber edge rusher with splash plays against both the run and the pass. So although he might be a relative disappointment, there’s a lot to like about him. 2021: QB Trevor Lawrence, ClemsonDrafted by: Jacksonville Jaguars Plays for: Jaguars Other teams played for: NoneNotable career moments: After a rough rookie season under former Jags coach Urban Meyer, Lawrence flourished in Year 2 under Doug Pederson (25 TDs, 8 interceptions and 4,113 yards) and led the Jaguars to the playoffs. He threw four first-half interceptions and trailed 27-0 against the Chargers but rebounded with four TDs to spark the 31-30 victory. The Jaguars signed him to a five-year, $275 million extension in 2024. He missed seven games with a shoulder injury and concussion that season. Impact this season: Lawrence is coming off the best game of his career — six total TDs (one rushing), 136.7 rating, 330 yards — in a stretch where he’s playing the best football of his career: at least 225 yards and two or more TDs in four consecutive games for the first time. His 23 TD passes in 2025 give him 92 in his career, which is third on the Jaguars’ all-time list. “It’s not anything necessarily that’s changed about anything that we’ve done with him,” Jags coach Liam Coen said. “I think he’s just starting to feel more and more comfortable within the system.” — DiRocco Solak’s meet-the-hype rating: 3 Lawrence has perhaps the highest pre-NFL bar of any top overall pick on this list, as he was ordained the next Peyton Manning or Andrew Luck (also former No. 1 picks) coming out of Clemson. To that end, he has dramatically underachieved relative to expectations. The good news is that the Jaguars are finally coalescing into a top offense under Lawrence, whose early career was marred with bad coaching staffs and supporting casts. If Lawrence finishes the season (and postseason) with the same caliber of play as we’ve seen since the Week 8 bye and then picks up where he left off next year, this number will start to rise. 2020: Joe Burrow, LSUDrafted by: Cincinnati Bengals Plays for: Bengals Other teams played for: NoneNotable career moments: Burrow has done a lot of living in six seasons. Two Pro Bowl nods. Two-time MVP finalist. Led the Bengals to their first playoff win in 31 seasons. A Super Bowl appearance. Two-time Comeback Player of the Year. Five major injuries. And a $275 million contract extension. Burrow has arguably impacted his more than any No. 1 pick in the past 10 years. Impact this season: About those injuries. Burrow was placed on injured reserve for the third time in his career after a turf toe injury in Week 2 that required surgery. But Burrow worked hard to return early, missing only nine games. Peyton Manning sees Burrow carry the same mindset he had as a player. “I’m always trying to work to justify being that pick and give them their return on investment they made in me,” Manning told ESPN. “Whether it’s your draft or if they sign you to another contract, I think you’re always trying to earn it.” — Ben Baby Solak’s meet-the-hype rating: 10 Burrow was billed as a football savant and unflinching playmaker out of LSU, and he has been precisely that in the NFL, vaulting himself into the top tier of passers despite not having the physical tools as Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. Injuries have limited his accolades, and poor teams around him have affected his postseason success, but he has already been to a Super Bowl and two AFC Championship Games. He does what first overall picks at quarterback ideally do: give his team a chance to win it all every year. 2019: QB Kyler Murray, OklahomaDrafted by: Arizona Cardinals Plays for: Cardinals Other teams played for: NoneNotable career moments: When Murray was at his best, he looked like a video game on the field. The times he made defenders not only miss but look silly because of his ability to scramble, run and evade tackles are too many to count. There was Murray’s scramble for a 2-point conversion in Las Vegas in 2022 that took 20.8 seconds, during which he covered 84.9 yards before scoring on the play. There was the “Hail Murray” to DeAndre Hopkins in 2020 to beat the Buffalo Bills in Arizona. Murray’s steady play early in his career earned him a five-year extension in 2022 worth up to $230.5 million that could keep him under contract in Arizona through the 2028 season. Impact this season: Very little. Murray got hurt in Week 5 and hasn’t returned. The Cardinals shut down his season in early December because of a foot injury that’s still lingering. However, before he got hurt, the Cardinals were 2-3 and struggling to close out games. — Josh Weinfuss Solak’s meet-the-hype rating: 3 Murray has always been a fun watch when at his best, but there’s no doubt that he has disappointed relative to expectations. Murray won Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2019 and made two subsequent Pro Bowls, but he saw diminished play out of Kliff Kingsbury’s offense and as injuries accumulated. Especially now on his hefty second contract, Murray doesn’t provide the sort of offense-altering talent that clear stars do. If, and when, he gets out of Arizona this offseason, he might get a Goff-esque bump — but we have to see it happen first. 2018: QB Baker Mayfield, OklahomaDrafted by: Cleveland Browns Plays for: Buccaneers Other teams played for: Panthers, RamsNotable career moments: In 2020, Mayfield led the Browns to their first playoff win in 27 years. He then led the Bucs to consecutive NFC South titles and a playoff victory in 2023. He was awarded a three-year, $100 million contract ($115 million with incentives) after the 2023 season, and after the 2024 season, the team reworked his deal to give him $30 million guaranteed in 2026. He also has been named to the Pro Bowl twice. Impact this season: Things have cooled since the Bucs’ 5-1 start — including Mayfield dealing with a sprained AC joint in his left non-throwing shoulder. Plus, he didn’t get to have his top four wide receivers on the field at the same time until Week 15 — which has dropped Tampa Bay to 7-7 and into a first-place tie in the NFC South with the Carolina Panthers. Still, as offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard put it, “He never flinches in that moment,” and that’s something the Bucs will hold on to as they fight to win these last three games. — Jenna Laine Solak’s meet-the-hype rating: 5 It’s tough to calibrate how well Mayfield met the hype because Mayfield has always generated so much ancillary hype via his personality and playing style. The Browns made him the selection with the first pick over other likelier options in part because of his demeanor. He has been a bad starting quarterback and a great starting quarterback in extreme fluctuations over his career. Mayfield is 30 and still has not sniffed the conference championship game, so he’s probably still a disappointment relative to the first pick — but we are currently in an upswing moment for his career. Let’s see what a couple more years in Tampa Bay bring. 2017: DE Myles Garrett, Texas A&MDrafted by: Cleveland Browns Plays for: Browns Other teams played for: NoneNotable career moments: In his ninth season, Garrett is closing in on the NFL’s single-season sack record. With 21.5 sacks this season, Garrett is one sack from tying the record shared by Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Strahan and Pittsburgh Steelers edge rusher T.J. Watt. Garrett’s 124 career sacks rank 21st all time and are nine more than the next-closest player (Watt, 115) since he entered the league. Impact this season: “There’s no one that I can think of that can do some of the things that he does,” Browns defensive line coach Jacques Cesaire said. “He’s routinely getting chipped from tight ends, backs. He’s routinely getting the slide coming to him, a guard coming off and helping out. When you got that much attention for you every week, and you’re still putting up the numbers that he’s putting up, that’s pretty special. … I think he’s the best defensive player I’ve ever seen.” — Daniel Oyefusi Solak’s meet-the-hype rating: A billion. In my book, Garrett is the best first pick since Peyton Manning (1998). He’s about to set the single-season record, make the first-team All-Pro list for the fifth time in six years and win his second Defensive Player of the Year award in three years. He has gotten better with age and overcome early-career injuries to do so. Coming out of college, Garrett was billed as a once-in-a-lifetime phenom at pass rusher, and he has been exactly that in Cleveland. 2016: QB Jared Goff, CalDrafted by: Los Angeles Rams Plays for: Lions Other teams played for: NoneNotable career moments: Goff, 31, is arguably in the prime of his career and continues to produce at a high level, although this year’s Lions team hasn’t lived up to expectations so far at 8-6. He earned a four-year, $212 million extension in Detroit during the 2024 offseason after leading the Lions to two playoff victories in a single postseason for the first time since 1957, as well as back-to-back NFC North division titles in 2023 and 2024. Last season, he finished fifth in the MVP voting after leading Detroit to a franchise-record 15 victories. Impact this season: Goff has the second-most passing touchdowns (29) while producing the third-most passing yards (3,672) this season. He also has thrown a touchdown pass in 20 straight games and has completely revitalized his career with the Lions after being traded from the Rams. Receiver Jameson Williams describes Goff as being “real competitive” and “a winner.” “We only got one choice to push behind him, and he leads us all the way and we’re going to go as far as he pushes us,” Williams said following practice last week. — Eric Woodyard Solak’s meet-the-hype rating: 6 Goff has been to two conference championship games and one Super Bowl, which is nothing to sneeze at. His four Pro Bowl nods have been split (two with Los Angeles, two with Detroit), and his dramatic improvement as a player in Detroit is a testament to his arm talent and sharpened mental game. Teams hope that top picks become great starters, and Goff didn’t quite become that — though he’s been close. But it’s still fair to say he was a hit of a pick. 2015: QB Jameis Winston, Florida StateDrafted by: Tampa Bay Buccaneers Plays for: New York Giants Other teams played for: Saints, BrownsNotable career moments: Winston threw for over 4,000 yards in each of his first two seasons in the league. At the time, he was one of just three quarterbacks to top 4K yards as a rookie. In 2019, his final season as a full-time starter, he threw a league-best 33 touchdown passes. But he also threw a league-worst 30 interceptions, becoming the first quarterback in NFL history to go 30-30. Winston hasn’t started more than seven games in a season since, given his boom-or-bust nature. The Bucs let him walk and signed Tom Brady instead. Impact this season: Winston began the season behind Russell Wilson and rookie Jaxson Dart. He eventually jumped Wilson on the depth chart and started two games in place of the injured Dart. He showcased his ability respectably, throwing for 366 yards and a pair of touchdowns in a loss in Detroit. He also has proved to be a good influence and mentor for Dart. — Jordan Raanan Solak’s meet-the-hype rating: 3 Every top pick enters the league with huge fanfare and high expectations, but on the scale of top selections, Winston didn’t have crazy buzz — not like some of the quarterbacks taken more recently. Still, Winston was never franchise quarterback material. His play style is too volatile. Perhaps if he had worked with Bruce Arians sooner, he would have developed into a viable second-contract starter. Winston has shown during the second stage of his career — that of a journeying backup — he still has high-tier games that make him a valuable QB2. 2014: DE Jadeveon Clowney, South CarolinaDrafted by: Houston Texan Plays for: Cowboys Other teams played for: Seahawks, Titans, Browns, Ravens, PanthersNotable career moments: The Cowboys are Clowney’s seventh team, an amazing feat for a former No. 1 pick. He has been traded once (to Seattle), released twice (by the Browns and Panthers). He has never had a double-digit sack season, but he has 62 sacks for his career. He was named to the Pro Bowl three times (2016-18) with the Texans. Impact this season: He signed with the Cowboys after the second game of the season as their pass rush was struggling to find its rhythm after losing Micah Parsons via trade right before the season. He has improved steadily since his arrival and had a two-sack game against the Kansas City Chiefs. He missed the Detroit Lions game with a hamstring issue, and the Cowboys sacked Jared Goff just once. “His countermoves and feel for the game is what you would expect from an elite player that’s a veteran that’s been around,” coach Brian Schottenheimer said, adding he has had a positive influence on young rushers such as 2025 second-round pick Donovan Ezeiruaku. — Todd Archer Solak’s meet-the-hype rating: 4 Clowney came into the league with generational buzz, and although he has carved out a respectable career, he has never made the dominant impact that was expected of him. The athleticism, which is what gave Clowney such juice as a prospect, was as promised — but for whatever reason, it never translated into elite sack production. Clowney will retire likely having never achieved a 10-sack season (though he had 9 twice and 9.5 twice). Still, Clowney made three Pro Bowls and one All-Pro list during his prime in Houston. Despite never coming close to reaching his lofty expectations, it would be wrong to call him an outright bust. 2009: QB Matthew Stafford, GeorgiaDrafted by: Detroit Lions Plays for: Los Angeles Rams Other teams played for: NoneNotable career moments: Stafford spent his first 12 seasons in Detroit, but he did not win his first playoff game until he was traded to the Rams. In 2021, his first season in Los Angeles, Stafford led the Rams to a Super Bowl LVI victory. This season, Stafford became the 10th NFL quarterback to throw for 60,000 regular-season passing yards. He is quickly moving up the career list, now No. 8 with 63,531 yards. Impact this season: Stafford is playing some of the best football of his career and is in the conversation for 2025 MVP, an award he has never won. Stafford has thrown 32 touchdown passes and four interceptions this season, at one point throwing an NFL-record 28 straight touchdown passes without an interception. “It feels like the game’s slowing down [for him],” Rams coach Sean McVay said. “I feel like he’s in total command.” — Sarah Barshop Solak’s meet-the-hype rating: 8 Stafford is hard to rate, as he never delivered that which Detroit hoped when it drafted him. But we suspected then and are sure now that the failure wasn’t primarily on his shoulders, as Stafford’s late-career surge in Los Angeles already has one Super Bowl ring, might deliver a second and could include an MVP to boot. It might pain Lions fans, but he has — looking at his career in total — met the hype. |
| BUNNY BUSINESS |
| NFLPA UNRESTHeather McPhee, a former lawyer with the NFLPA, is saying she was retaliated against when she tried to help expose corruption in the organization. Don Van Natta, Jr. of ESPN.com: A senior National Football League Players Association attorney filed a federal lawsuit Thursday, alleging that the union’s former executive director and two current executives conspired to keep her from cooperating with a criminal investigation into union finances. Heather McPhee, the NFLPA’s associate general counsel since 2009, accuses top union executives and former executive director Lloyd Howell Jr. of illegal misconduct, sex discrimination, breach of fiduciary duty and retaliation as she prepared to become the star witness in a yearlong criminal inquiry, according to the lawsuit. McPhee says she was placed on paid administrative leave for alleged workplace “misconduct” in August because she had repeatedly raised legal concerns about union leaders’ decisions and to stop her from testifying before a federal grand jury investigating the NFLPA and the Major League Baseball Players Association. The 52-page complaint, a copy of which was obtained by ESPN, was filed Thursday by McPhee and her lawyers in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. It seeks at least $10 million in damages for her lost earning potential and as “compensation for her humiliation, embarrassment and emotional distress,” the lawsuit says. A union spokesperson issued this statement “We are reviewing the complaint. Due to the pending litigation , we have no further comment at this time.” An attorney for Howell did not immediately respond to calls for comment on Thursday. McPhee’s attorneys, Courtney R. Forrest and Sarah R. Fink, released a statement saying their client “believes this case reveals egregious failures by those still at the organization who owe legal and moral duties to thousands of union members. They deserve better, and she deserves accountability.” In November 2024, McPhee first raised concerns internally at the NFLPA that decisions made by senior executives might violate labor laws governing conflicts of interest and the fulfillment of fiduciary duties. Over the following months, McPhee alleges, union leaders targeted her “in order to conceal and deflect their own misconduct and failures.” Among her complaints, McPhee challenged the legality of the senior executive incentive plan proposed by OneTeam Partners, the $2 billion licensing company owned by the NFLPA and the MLBPA. The plan would have paid millions of dollars in bonuses to Howell, MLBPA executive director Tony Clark and other senior union executives, and is one of the areas now being investigated by federal prosecutors, ESPN has reported. “Specifically, the … grants appeared intended to financially enrich the union’s representatives on OTP’s Board — individuals who were labor organization employees,” including Howell and Matt Curtin, a Howell hire who is now the president of Players Inc., the lawsuit says. “Labor organization representatives are prohibited under federal law from receiving anything of value… from ‘an employer’ where influence on their judgment looms.” McPhee says she also opposed Howell’s decision to keep from NFL players an arbitrator’s ruling in January that had found evidence NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and several NFL owners had openly discussed ways to limit guaranteed contracts for star quarterbacks. The union leaders’ decision to sign a confidentiality agreement with the NFL keeping the arbitrator’s decision “from all union members for six months” appeared to violate the collective bargaining agreement “and raised concerns about a potential violation of the NFLPA’s duty of fair representation to players,” the lawsuit states. “The rights of union members, including those who were free agents in 2025 to have the decision and use it as leverage in their contract negotiations, was denied by agreeing with the NFL to hide it from them.” As McPhee complained that players were being kept in the dark, top executives portrayed her as not “on [their] my team,” with Howell allegedly telling the NFLPA’s executive committee that McPhee “is a problem and we will deal with it,” the lawsuit says. The document adds that longtime union general counsel Tom DePaso “sought to undermine McPhee as ‘too intense and emotional’ and ‘making trouble'” by leaking confidential information to the media. “McPhee was not the leaker,” the lawsuit says. Federal prosecutors sought McPhee’s cooperation last May as a grand jury witness to testify about what she believed was criminal misconduct by Howell and other senior union officials, the lawsuit reveals. After union leaders discovered McPhee had agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and testify, Howell and DePaso sidelined her from meetings and prohibited her from communicating with the board or players, the lawsuit alleges. And Curtin bragged to OneTeam personnel that he had “ordered the Code Red” on McPhee, according to the lawsuit. On Aug. 12, several weeks after Howell resigned amid ESPN reports about his spending of union funds for visits to strip clubs, among other matters, his interim successor, David White, placed McPhee on paid administrative leave for alleged complaints about her “workplace behavior.” In August, sources told ESPN that McPhee was the subject of complaints alleging her failure to follow supervisors’ directions as well as allegations of bullying colleagues and disrupting the union’s work environment. McPhee’s paid administrative leave “appears designed to prevent her from cooperating with DOJ,” McPhee alleges, adding that the workplace allegations against her, which she claims the union has still not presented to her in detail, were “pretextual, discriminatory and retaliatory.” Multiple sources familiar with the matter told ESPN that McPhee has not yet testified before the grand jury or spoken with prosecutors. The sources said McPhee intends her civil lawsuit, which she has been writing with her lawyers this fall, as a detailed road map to alleged wrongdoing she claims to have witnessed inside the NFLPA. The complaint contains a litany of specific allegations against current and former NFLPA leaders: Howell, DePaso, Curtin and OneTeam Partners CEO Sean Sansiveri. Along with the union itself, Howell, DePaso and Curtin are named co-defendants. Sansiveri has not responded to several calls and messages from ESPN since May. An outside lawyer for OneTeam Partners also did not immediately respond. Multiple sources with knowledge of the criminal investigation have told ESPN that prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York are looking into alleged financial misconduct, misuse of union funds and retaliatory actions by current and former NFLPA and MLBPA officials. The criminal inquiry was triggered by a whistleblower complaint filed against Clark with the National Labor Relations Board in November 2024, alleging self-dealing, misuse of resources, abuse of power and nepotism. In her lawsuit, McPhee details what she calls “the scheme to enrich union members’ representatives” on the OneTeam Partners board via the executive incentive plan put together by company and union executives in 2023 and 2024 but apparently never implemented. OneTeam Partners was founded in 2019 by the NFLPA, MLBPA and private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners to offer players’ licensing rights for video games, trading cards and other products. Initially, OneTeam was valued at $375 million, but by 2022, the company’s valuation zoomed to $2 billion when RedBird Capital sold its shares. McPhee’s claim alleges Sansiveri was working as both general counsel of NFL Players Inc. and CEO of OneTeam in the summer of 2023 when he drafted a binding term sheet for an incentive plan that would have benefited himself, Howell, Curtin, Clark and others. The lawsuit says NFLPA members’ corporate lawyers “were never made aware” of the creation of the new senior executives’ bonus plan. McPhee alleges that the plan was “not in the best fiduciary interest of the union owners” of OneTeam Partners. Executives, including Sansiveri, stood to realize millions in personal income in 2027 because of the plan, the lawsuit alleges. Rather than grant bonuses directly to union executives, the OTP board instead enacted a plan to have the cash allocated to the unions, which would then pay bonuses directly to the union executives, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit alleges that executives’ attempt to “get around this” arrangement “would likely be a criminal violation of labor laws for both the individual labor representatives” and OneTeam. As of the lawsuit’s filing, the OTP board decision to grant the bonus funds to executives through the unions has not been revoked, the complaint states. McPhee also alleges that the NFLPA conducted a flawed outside legal inquiry into this plan that Howell had complained was “upsetting” OneTeam board members “and hurting the company’s ability to conduct business.” McPhee’s suit alleges that Howell and Clark launched “a pressure campaign to shut down a thorough review” of the OneTeam bonus plan that would have paid millions to both men. According to the complaint, Sansiveri repeatedly told NFLPA executive committee members that McPhee was “making a big deal about nothing” and told player-leaders that McPhee “might be a genius, but there’s a thin line between genius and crazy.” McPhee’s complaint says she and other union officials were “stunned” when an outside legal review found no problems with the bonus plan’s legality. DePaso “appeared satisfied with the report, and after reviewing it, approved ending the investigation of OneTeam without taking any corrective action,” the lawsuit says. As for her administrative leave, McPhee says the union took no action against senior male executives who she says failed to file annual labor disclosures or who were investigated for toxic behavior. |
