Tag Archives: Football

NFL Power Rankings

NFL Power Rankings heading into the fourth quarter of the 2025 season:

We’re three quarters through the 2025 NFL season and it’s time for one more look at all 32 teams. As always, please bear in mind that these are power *rankings* rather than standings. So you may see one team be listed above another with a 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. Especially, as playoff seedings are starting to materialize, we’re somewhat looking ahead at who can go the distance, even though this is more meant to be a snapshot of this moment.

I took injuries into account and weighed current form more heavily, while compared to earlier in the season, we have a pretty good picture of what teams are in all three facets of the game. Although you’ll find a variety of statistics and advanced metrics to support my arguments, they’re all primarily grounded in having watched every single matchup up to this opponent, either on the broadcast, the All-22, or both.

Let’s get to the full rankings:

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NFL Film Breakdowns, What makes him so good

Four things I’m thankful for across the NFL

On the eve of Thanksgiving, I wanted to get out this video on four things I’m thankful for being able to watch around the league, on a weekly basis – including both players and coaches, two on offense and defense each.

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NFL Quarterbacks

NFL quarterback rankings heading into week 12:

Now with every NFL team having played double-digit games, I thought it was time to reflect on the current state of the league when it comes to quarterback play, by ranking and bucketing all 32 starters, as I ultimately settled on eight different categories.

For this exercise, I chose the players who have been fixtures in the lineup for multiple contests and largely are expected to be in those roles for the rest of the season. That means you won’t see names like Joe Burrow, Mac Jones, Kyler Murray and Spencer Rattler, who other than Burrow of course, would probably all end up around the top of the “starters with defined limitations” tier.

This is how I have everyone stacked up:

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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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Storylines around the NFL

Ten statistics that have defined the initial third of the 2025 NFL season:

Six weeks into the NFL season, you’ll hear a bunch of numbers thrown out there by different mainstream media shows but also niche podcasts, from basic yardage totals to hyper-specific metrics about efficiency by a certain unit, depending game situation, personnel grouping, and so much more.

So what I did once all games from this past slate were concluded, was to dive into a variety of outlets, play around with filters and compare statistics I found with the tape, to come up with what I believe are the ten most meaningful numbers, as I try to describe what this year has been about.

Just a quick disclaimer – these all concern teams that have earned equity to be deemed significant so far this year or at least came into the season as a franchise of note in regards to competing for the Super Bowl. So you’re not going to read about the Raiders’ atrocious run-blocking or the horrible splits for the winless Jets through the first three quarters compared to garbage time.

Let’s get into these:

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NFL Predictions

Predicting the entire 2025 NFL season:

We’re at the eve of the 2025 NFL season and once again, it’s time to put my predictions out there in the ether – all the awards, playoff teams and who I have facing each other in Super Bowl LX.

Unlike I’ve done in previous years, where I chose my top three candidates for each category, I decided to present my choice to win and my favorite dark horse. Along with that, I’ll lay out my cases for the playoff seedings and how I came to my matchup on the game’s biggest stage. Of course, those categories often are intertwined, and I will refer to how I combined individual and team success in the following paragraphs.

In order to determine the playoff picture, I went through all 272 individual matchups, taking into account important circumstances, such as rest (dis)advantages, how games fit within those schedules and, of course, personnel clashes.

Yet again, I‘ve added the full Excel file with every single team’s weekly results and final record at the very bottom, if you’re interested!

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NFL Draft

Top 150 prospects of the 2025 NFL Draft:

All my positional draft rankings are now available for everyone to go through and read up my scouting reports on over 130 total prospects. So at this point, it’s time to combine those and create my overall big board, where I stack up all of these players regardless of position.

In recent years I limited myself to 100 names, but always added “the next 30”. This time around, I wanted to expand this thing to some degree, since I’ve now cracked the 350 mark in terms of players I’ve evaluated, but I thought 150 was a good cut-off since that’s around the size of big boards NFL teams also typically have. Beyond that point, you’re more so looking to still address needs and take flyers on high upside profiles.

For the purpose of this exercise, I did try to weigh current injuries various players are dealing with to some degree but didn’t let off-the-field/character concerns affect my rankings, since I simply don’t have the needed insight that people around the league gather through background checks.

(*) indicates players coming off significant injury


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NFL Draft

Top 10 quarterbacks of the 2025 NFL Draft:

We’ve arrived at the final segment of our positional draft rankings and as always, we’re closing out with the quarterbacks. Of course, this group is always getting the most attention and as someone who doesn’t put his full thoughts out there until this point, it’s funny to listen to narratives changing throughout each draft cycle when there’s no actual football being played, other than for the guys who partake in all-star game weeks.

I have thought all along that the name at the top of this list was in a completely different tier to the rest of the class – and it seems like that’s become general consensus as we’ve gone along here. After that, I believe there are four names who I’m personally much more comfortable across day two, even though I understand that a couple of them will probably get pushed up into the first round. Beyond those, I see a lot of disagreement between people I respect and the order looks different for me than what consensus boards would suggest, but ultimately I don’t feel great about any of them becoming legit starters at the next level, even though I believe there qualities worthy of investing some capital into.

So one more time, let’s dive into this:


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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 tight-ends of the 2025 NFL Draft:

This opens the last full week with an offensive and defensive position ranking for the draft. First, we’re looking at a pretty good tight-end group with a wide variety of prospect types. In the modern game, we rarely find traditional “Y” tight-ends lining up next to the offensive tackle, but rather movable “F” pieces, H-backs in the offensive backfield and big-bodied slot receivers.

Obviously, this group is headlined by a duo of guys, who I personally have flipped compared to general consensus, but see both as legit targets in the top half of round one. Beyond that, there are four more names clearly worthy of going on day two, along with a couple of names that could sneak in if a team values those specific skill-sets. The depth beyond that is somewhat questionable, although there were some interesting evaluations for me.

This is my list:


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