NFL Trades

Moves I’d like to see ahead of the 2025 NFL trade deadline:

With the 2025 NFL trade deadline coming up next Tuesday (Nov. 4) at 4pm ET, here are the ten moves I’d like to see happen!

(This is simply a copy of my social media post, rather than my typical full-fledged article)

 

 

Colts QB Anthony Richardson ➡️ Vikings

This is more of a long-term investment for Kevin O’Connell, potentially having two more years of contractual control. They can still give JJ McCarthy his opportunity, but could get Richardson onto the field late and give themselves options.

 

 

Titans RB Tony Pollard ➡️ Chiefs

There’s no need for Tennessee to limit touches for Tyjae Spears, off the high-ankle sprain. Meanwhile, Isiah Pacheco just got banged up and the Chiefs haven’t found much consistency on the ground. Pollard is scheme-versatile and adds some juice.

 

 

 

Saints WR Chris Olave ➡️ Steelers

New Orleans has been openly shopping their WRs. Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers is throwing the ball 3.1 yards short of the sticks on average, relying heavily on yards after the catch. Olave could provide some air underneath as a vertical threat.

 

 

 

TE David Njoku ➡️ Buccaneers

Tampa Bay has lost Mike Evans for the season, along with having other WRs in and out of the lineup. Adding Njoku’s explosiveness from the TE spot could diversify their passing attack. Cleveland can continue to lean more into rookie Harold Fannin Jr.

 

 

 

Raiders IOL Jackson Powers-Johnson ➡️ Texans

The Raiders OL has been a mess. With JPJ having started to settle in at guard, this would offer Houston options to either plug him in there or replace center Jake Andrews. We just saw what C.J. Stroud is capable of with a solid pocket.

 

 

 

Bengals EDGE Trey Hendrickson ➡️ 49ers

Cincy handed Hendrickson a one-year extension in the offseason, but now not competing for a title, it’s best for both sides to move on, and the Niners badly need pass-rush help. They could also be in the market for Jets LB Quincy Williams.

 

 

 

Eagles LB Nakobe Dean ➡️ Colts

Dean took a massive step forward last season and has looked solid in his return from injury. Yet, Philly can’t afford to take rookie Jihaad Campbell off the field. Meanwhile, LB is a major weakness for Indy (no one with a PFF grade higher than 58.0).

 

 

 

Giants EDGE Kayvon Thibodeaux ➡️ Ravens

Although NY’s defense has been best on defined dropbacks, putting KT on the field with Burns & Carter, they should try to get returns on the former top 10 pick, in the final year of his rookie deal. Baltimore is tied for 31st in sacks (9).

 

 

 

Jets CB Michael Carter II ➡️ Bears

NY traded for Jarvis Brownlee Jr. in Carter’s absence, who’s become a key contributor for them, limiting the veteran to 6 defensive snaps in his return. Chicago recently placed starting nickel Kyler Gordon on IR and Carter would be a great fit.

 

 

 

Cardinals SAF Jalen Thompson ➡️ Bills

Buffalo could use help at DT with Ed Oliver’s injury, but their biggest issue has been angles + missed tackles by their safeties – Thompson is right at his career average of just a 7%. Dadrion Taylor-Demerson is ready to step in for Arizona.

 

 

Other fun player-team matches:

Saints QB Spencer Rattler ➡️ Browns

Panthers RB Chuba Hubbard ➡️ Vikings

Jaguars WR Brian Thomas Jr. ➡️ Patriots

Titans IDL Jeffery Simmons ➡️ Cowboys

Jets LB Quincy Williams ➡️ 49ers

Vikings CB Isaiah Rodgers ➡️ Eagles

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NFL Power Rankings

NFL Power Rankings after the first quarter of the 2025 season:

We’re four weeks into the NFL season, and as always, this is the point at which I first try to reflect on what we’ve seen and actually try to put all 32 teams in order. Please bear in mind that these are power *rankings* rather than standings. So you may see one team be listed above another with a (slightly) better record or even one they’ve already lost to head-to-head at some point – the objective is to weigh them against the rest of the league at large, and how many opponents I’d favor them over.

This is meant to be a snapshot of how I view each of these teams as of right now, taking injuries into account, although as objective as one tries to be when putting these together, there may be some projection of certain areas improving or declining with time. I will use a variety of statistics and advanced metrics to support my arguments, but they’re all grounded in having watched all 64 games so far on the broadcast and/or All-22 – yes, even some of the atrocious AFC South matchups in the early going.

Overall, I wouldn’t say there’s one dominant group in the league right now, and there are a bunch of teams in the middle of course, where I expect plenty of movement over the next three plus months still, while the bottom-eight teams feel pretty distant to the rest of the competition.

Let’s get into the list:

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Fantasy Football

Fantasy diamonds for 2025:

Fantasy football season is upon us, and while I don’t label myself an expert in the field, this has become an annual tradition to lay out some of my favorite picks for where they’re going in drafts. And they’ve worked out pretty damn well for me over the years!

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NFL Draft

Top 10 safeties of the 2025 NFL Draft:

In our final defensive segment of this positional draft rankings series, we’re looking at safeties. With the modern NFL being so much more against spacing the field with interchangable skill-sets and being in two-high looks at the snap, differentiating between free and strong safety is obviously an antiquated view at the position. Instead, I will reference the different roles certain players are capable of filling – do they profile as someone who can extensively play in the high post, as part of the box, be a big nickel in three-safety packages, etc.

Personally, I wasn’t particularly high on this group on the surface, but as I started to dive into names lower on consensus boards, I did find some guys with redeemable qualities down the line. To me, there’s one standout who simply isn’t being discussed enough and ultimately will end up in my top-ten overall prospects. The order of the next few names is rather different to what you generally see because one other guy has simply been forgotten about it seems like. And while ten seems to be pretty much the ceiling of safeties we’ll see selected over the first two days, there are plenty of role players and potential core special teamers beyond that, who’ll probably make active rosters.

This is my list:


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NFL Draft

Top 10 cornerbacks of the 2025 NFL Draft:

Finishing up the second week of our positional draft rankings, we’re flipping back over to the defensive side of the ball, going from wide receivers to the guys who will be covering them – the cornerbacks. Once again, I’ll break down my top ten prospects with compact scouting reports for each of them, along with some names who just missed the cut. More than at any other position so far, I feel like I should mention that these rankings don’t reflect injuries but rather purely the talent/film and generally, I don’t love trying to weigh those anyway since we don’t have insight into medical records, like NFL teams do.

This CB class to me is a little misunderstood because it’s highlighted by a player who we don’t have a firm grasp if he’ll primarily play on offense or defense – or potentially both. Three of the next four names for me didn’t finish this past college football season and therefore have kind of been forgotten. And after that, a lot of better prospects are primarily considered nickelbacks. So while this group isn’t as strong as last year’s, I believe if healthy there are five guys worthy of first-round consideration, the other eight listed here will probably find themselves inside my top-100 big board, and even though there are a couple of names that have fallen from grace beyond that, there are also a few with impressive profiles, that’ll be appealing to NFL evaluators.

Here’s my list:


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NFL Quarterbacks, NFL Rookies, Player Rankings

Checking in with the rookie and sophomore NFL quarterbacks:

Over the last two drafts, ten quarterbacks were selected within the first 33 picks respectively and now that all but one of them have logged double-digit starts, I thought it was time to review what they’ve shown. I will provide my general thoughts, aided by some advanced metrics, and express my level of confidence in their long-time viability at the pro level.

Just to be clear, I won’t be discussing this year’s eighth and eighth overall selections Michael Penix Jr. (Falcons) and J.J. McCarthy (Vikings), who only saw very limited action in mop-up duty and unfortunately got hurt after a promising preseason showing respectively. Therefore, we’ll be looking at four guys from each of those draft classes.

Let’s dive in, going by chronological order of when they got selected:


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NFL games, NFL Weekly Recap

Three takeaways from each week one NFL game (2024):

Week one of the 2024 NFL season is in the books and before we even kicked off on Sunday, there was a lot going on, with last-minute contracts being finalized, star players getting handcuffed and more. For now, we‘ll focus on what we saw across the actual matchups however.

You‘re going to hear a bunch of overreactions based on what we saw in these opening games and especially with so many star players not taking part in preseason at all, there‘s a good chance many of them look very different the next time they step on the field. Nevertheless, there‘s a lot to take away for now, as we get our first look at new schemes, rookies, regrouped units, etc.

I‘m going to outline three takeaways for all 16 games based on watching the broadcasts and/or tape afterwards. So obviously these are rather subjective in terms of on what stood out to me, but I’ll try to encapsulate what matters most for individual players and teams here.

Let’s dive in:


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Fantasy Football

Fantasy diamonds for 2024:

We’re just three weeks away from kicking off the 2024 NFL season and many of you are currently preparing for your fantasy drafts. So here’s my annual video on players you should be targeting, specifically in later rounds and deeper leagues!

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Fantasy Football

Fantasy diamonds for 2023:

Fantasy football is back and it’s time to help out everybody listening, by giving you a few names to target in your upcoming drafts!

Comparing my personal rankings to consensus boards, I’ll highlight the names who I believe present the most surplus value and therefore I’ll be targeting in my leagues.

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