Jon Bernthal Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked"-a weekly series where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out assorted relevant superlatives. This week, I'm profiling the work of Jon Bernthal-whose latest project "Sharp Stick" releases in theaters tomorrow.  

Jon Bernthal's Filmography Ranked:

19.Fury (C+)

18.Grudge Match (B-)

17.The Peanut Butter Falcon (B-)

16.The Accountant (B-)

15.The Unforgiveable (B-)

14.We Are Your Friends (B-)

13.Date Night (B)

12.Snitch (B)

11.Those Who Wish Me Dead (B)

10.Widows (B)

9.Shot Caller (B)

8.The Wolf of Wall Street (B+)

7.Small Engine Repair (B+)

6.Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (B+)

5.Ford v. Ferrari (B+)

4.King Richard (A-)

3.Sicario (A-)

2.Baby Driver (A)

1.Wind River (A)

Top Dog: Wind River (2017)

Taylor Sheridan's first credited directorial effort is one of the more impressive movies released in the past 5 years and a confirmation that his directorial instincts are just as sharp as his writing ones (Sheridan penned Sicario and Hell or High Water before he added director to his responsibilities here).Wind River is a smart, brilliantly acted (Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen and Gil Birmingham are particularly terrific) slow burn murder mystery thriller that takes the time to firmly establish its characters before cranking up the tension to a suffocating degree in the final act ahead of its quietly powerful conclusion.

Bottom Feeder: Fury (2014)

David Ayer's noble intention to make a tribute to WWII tank crews can't save Fury from being a middling war film with a bizarre lack of narrative focus and thinly drawn characters that are difficult to get invested in. 

Most Underrated: Small Engine Repair (2021)

A combination of COVID (it was initially set to premiere at the canceled 2020 edition of South by Southwest), being distributed by a tiny studio in Vertical Entertainment and the dark places the story goes buried the release of Small Engine Repair-which is damn shame because it's a really great movie. Writer/director/lead actor John Pollono successfully turns his own play into a movie by staging scenes with the camera in mind without sacrificing its intimate scale, surrounding himself with a pair of actors (Bernthal, Shea Wigham) that completely threw themselves into parts that required a lot of different emotions as well the creation of a tricky relationship dynamic between old friends who are trying to heal very deep wounds that have recently been opened up and writing a really tight, uncomfortable script that reckons with masculinity, generational trauma and the high cost of humans acting on their most vile violent/predatory impulses. 

Most Overrated: The Accountant (2016)

It's bizarre to find myself siding with professional critics on a not overly well-reviewed action thriller that was warmly embraced by audiences, but then again, The Accountant isn't a standard entry in the genre. This twisty story about an autistic accountant/weapons and martial arts expert (a deeply committed Ben Affleck in yet another underappreciated performance from the modern day king of underappreciated performances) who quietly launders money for various criminal enterprises that has his clean little operation go in up flames after he's hired to audit a robotics company with a really sketchy payroll situation is an inherently silly movie that makes the fatal mistake of taking itself way too seriously. Its straight-faced idiocy laced with undertones of cornball family melodrama gets so extreme by the time 62nd big reveal in the final half hour surfaces that it's hard to focus on anything else besides the pervasiveness of its dumb, contrived storytelling decisions. But hey, at least Affleck's performance and the fight scenes go pretty hard.                

2022 NFL Preview: AFC East

 Buffalo Bills

2021 Record: 11-6 (1st in AFC East)

Head Coach: Sean McDermott (6th season)

Notable Additions: DE Von Miller, G Rodger Saffold, WR Jamison Crowder

Notable Departures: CB Levi Wallace, DE Jerry Hughes, WR Emmanuel Sanders

Biggest Reason for Excitement: Spending the Offseason Adding to Their Embarrassment of Riches

The AFC turned into an increasingly high stakes arms race this offseason and while the Bills didn't grab as many headlines as the Raiders, Broncos or their AFC East peers Dolphins, the moves they made to help them keep up with their most important opponents shouldn't be slept on.

Headlining their activity was the surprising signing of Von Miller-who was perceived to be a lock to return to the Rams after winning his 2nd Super Bowl with them last season. There's an undeniable risk of inking a 33-year old with a pretty extensive injury history to a lengthy, big money deal (6 years/$120 mil/$51.4 mil guaranteed), but as Miller proved once he joined the Rams last season, he's still capable of being a major factor as an all-around edge defender when healthy.

They followed up that whopper with a subtle overhaul at the guard position. Primary 2021 starters Jon Feliciano and Daryl Williams both got cut right before free agency started after putting together pretty poor seasons. Their spots were quickly filled by vets Rodger Saffold and Greg Van Roten. Saffold isn't quite the player he once was, but he's still a plus starter who particularly excels as a run blocker while Van Roten is a well-rounded albeit unflashy player who doesn't make a lot of mistakes.

Even their relatively minor roster-filling moves like replacing Cole Beasley with the shiftier, quicker Jamison Crowder at slot WR should and bringing back old friend Shaq Lawson as a rotational pass-rusher to spell Miller and promising 2nd year player Gregory Rousseau helped make them better on paper than they were a year ago. Building depth, actively addressing needs and making a splashy move or two when the opportunity arises is how championship teams are built and the Bills were able to triumphantly check all of those boxes this offseason.      

Biggest Reason for Concern: The Departure of Brian Daboll

Josh Allen has become such a dominant force over the past couple seasons that it's easy to forget how bleak things were at the beginning of his NFL journey. From 2018-19, Allen threw for a combined 30 TD's and 21 INT's and completed just 55.8% of his passes. The man that was behind bringing Allen out of the darkness of QB purgatory and into the glowing light of stardom was Brian Daboll-who also joined the Bills in 2018. Daboll was able to fix Allen's brutal accuracy and timing issues after just 2 seasons in the league, which was really all the tweaking that athletic freak Allen needed to be turned into a dynamic weapon that is really difficult to contain.

After being bafflingly passed over during the 2021 hiring cycle, Daboll was named the Giants new head coach in late January. Unsurprisingly, QB coach Ken Dorsey took over for Daboll-which is a move that Allen has publicly backed. When the man who was responsible for coaching up a young quarterback leaves, concern immediately enters the picture-particularly when the new guy is somebody whose as green as Dorsey. The 41-year old-whose perhaps best known for being the University of Miami quarterback from 1999-2002- has never called plays before and his only other coaching endeavor before taking the Bills QB coach job in 2019 was a muted 4-year stint as the Panthers QB coach from 2013-17. 

To be fair, things are much brighter now at the skill positions than they were during Allen's rough 2018 and 2019 when his leading receivers were John Brown, Cole Beasley and Zay Jones and it would be shocking if Allen reverted all the way back to the sloppy, chuck-and-duck gunslinger he was at the start of his career without Daboll in his ear. Still, the loss of a creative offensive mind that helped turn Allen into an elite young quarterback could be a much bigger deal than it's currently being made out to be. 

Key to Reaching Their Ceiling: Being Able to Overcome Being a Cursed Franchise

Their fans might be in denial about it, but the Bills are a cursed team with a capital c. Upstate New York's biggest sadness factory has churned out some all-time painful sports moments including 4 straight Super Bowl losses from 1990-93, a 16-year playoff drought that was the longest in American sports until the GOAT losers Sacramento Kings topped them with their still active 18-year streak and most recently, found themselves on the wrong end of an absurd shootout with the Chiefs in the 2021 AFC Divisional Round that was lost through a combination of a lost coin toss at the start of overtime, Harrison Butker hitting a 49-YD field goal at the end of regulation and a few baffling coverage mistakes that left Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce wide open at pivotal moments of the game. 

Why am I bringing this up? Well, what the hell else is going to hold this team back other than their tragic history? They've made to at least the Divisional Round in back-to-back seasons, have a roster with minimal weaknesses (running back and what their corner group is going to look like with Tre'Davious White coming off an ACL injury and a physically gifted but notoriously undisciplined rookie Kaiir Elam replacing sturdy vet Levi Wallace at the other outside spot appear to be the only real areas of concern) and a coach in Sean McDermott that is battle-tested and not intimidated by the spotlight. If this decades-long misery anchor can finally be lifted off their shoulders, Bills fans just might be able to finally celebrate their 1st ever Super Bowl victory.    

Bottom Line:

The Bills are well-positioned to be at the top of the AFC for a 3rd straight season and it's going to take a lot of injuries or bad shit to knock them out of this tier.

Miami Dolphins

2021 Record: 9-8 (3rd in AFC East)

Head Coach: Mike McDaniel (1st season)

Notable Additions: WR Tyreek Hill, T Terron Armstead, G Connor Williams

Notable Departures: WR DeVante Parker, QB Jacoby Brissett, WR Will Fuller

Biggest Reason for Excitement: Adding Legit Firepower on Offense

The sole sources of offensive excitement on the 2021 Dolphins were watching Jaylen Waddle make being a checkdown option as sexy as humanly possible and Duke Johnson come off the bench and absolutely obliterate the Patriots in a hilarious Week 18 blowout. Courtesy of the major moves they made this offseason, things are all but guaranteed to be more entertaining in 2022.

Tyreek Hill is massive, downright shocking get who should thrive as a versatile option for Mike McDaniel to scheme around, Terron Armstead is a top 3 left tackle in football when healthy that should greatly improve the quality of this long-struggling line on Day 1, the massive new running back platoon (Chase Edmonds, Raheem Mostert, Sony Michel) should keep opponents on their toes with the array of different types of backs they can throw out there over the course of the game and having Connor Williams join Robert Hunt on the interior immediately makes them a much meaner bunch in the trenches. Pair all of these additions with the less attention Waddle and Mike Gesicki will draw as a result of these moves and you suddenly have an offense that deserves to be viewed as a legit threat immediately.   

Biggest Reason for Concern: Mike McDaniel

As much as Stephen Ross and Chris Grier have tried to spin it as a move driven by player complaints and "underachievement", the firing of Brian Flores in January was unwarranted and just plain wrong. Flores brought the Dolphins out of the gutter that Adam Gase left them in by getting them to the playoff bubble in only his 2nd season and going an impressive 24-17 after an 0-7 start with a talented-deprived, recently blown-up roster in 2019. If the Football Gods were fair, this sleazy organization would get punished for what they did. 

Now this brings us to who the Dolphins replaced Flores with: An upstart offensive coach named Mike McDaniel. Courtesy of some incredible soundbites and stronger than expected output from the 49ers offense, McDaniel caught fire as a potential HC candidate during the 2021 season and seemingly racked up the most interview requests during this cycle outside of Brian Daboll before he ultimately got hired by the Dolphins. Despite his meteoric rise, people don't really know a lot about McDaniel-which makes his head coaching prospects a complete mystery. 

As hard as it to believe considering that he looks like he's about 27 years old, McDaniel has actually been around the league for quite a while. He got hired by Gary Kubiak to be an offensive assistant with the Texans back in 2006, developed a relationship with then WR coach Kyle Shanahan during his time there and then went onto work alongside Shanahan in Washington, Cleveland, Atlanta and San Francisco. The strength and longevity of their relationship gave McDaniel unprecedented input on the game planning and in 2021, he became the only official offensive coordinator Shanahan has had since he became the 49ers head coach in 2017. A notoriously uncollaborative coach like Shanahan giving McDaniel that much of a voice in the offensive meeting room indicates an immense level of respect for his football mind that he's never had for any of his other offensive assistants.

For as much respect as McDaniel had from Shanahan and the players in San Francisco-who hailed him as a smart, creative coach that deserved to be viewed as an offensive mastermind, nobody knows what  McDaniel is going to be like as a head coach. Is his system just going to be a bunch of zone rushes, play action passes and jet sweeps or is McDaniel going to deviate from the "Shanahan" offense? What is he like as a play caller? Does he have what it takes to elevate Tua's game and break the Dolphins offensive out of the monotonous rut they've been stuck for the better part of the best? Is he capable of dealing with any potential philosophical differences and rifts between himself and the defensive coaching staff-which largely consists of holdovers from Flores' staff?  McDaniel's identity and aptitude as a coach is going to go very far in dictating whether the Dolphins sink or swim in 2022.     

Key to Reaching Their Ceiling: The Play of Tua Tagovailoa

What the hell did Tua Tagovailoa do to become so hated? It's not his fault that the front office took him instead of Justin Herbert-who nobody on the planet would've drafted over Tua in April 2020- and he has a 13-8 record as a starter in his inaugural 2 NFL seasons, so it's not like the team has collapsed with him under center. The frustration with Tua stems from the fact that he was picked #5 overall and has yet to make the impact people expected out of top 5. He's been a glorified game manager with tremendous accuracy (his 67.8% clip was actually the best in the league last year) who hasn't really won or lost a game for the Dolphins over the past 2 seasons. When people are expecting big plays and franchise-altering greatness out of a player, steady, unflashy play that doesn't tend to impact games isn't going to leave a lot of fans feeling great about the pick or player (especially when the player in question was drafted over someone who does have those electrifying qualities).

As training camp opens, all eyes are on Tua. Everything from the velocity and distance of his throws to what McDaniel is having him do under center to how many reps his new backup Teddy Bridgewater gets with the 1's will be analyzed like the fucking Zapruder film by local and national media alike. To be clear, I do understand why Tua watch is the biggest Dolphins narrative heading into the season. This is the most talent the Dolphins have had on their roster since the late 2000's/early 2010's and the one guy that has the best odds of holding them back is their quarterback. Filling holes at other spots on the fly can work fine, but poor QB play is something that can't be fixed in-season and having the QB drag down an otherwise promising team is just plain infuriating.  

Make no mistake, the Dolphins can win if Tua remains more or less the same player. Their offensive line/running game should be much better with all of the new blood they brought in and they have a defense that is strong enough to hold their opponents to 17-22 points per game if Tua can simply limit turnovers and sustain drives for long enough to keep them relatively fresh. 

But if McDaniel is able to get Tua to the point where can mirror what Jimmy Garoppolo did in San Francisco by making some splash plays and putting together the occasional 300-YD passing game while still effectively functioning as a game manager, the Dolphins will be in a great spot. Even though I'd like to see Ross' dirtbag ass continue to fail, Tua is a really easy guy to root for and I hope he takes a long-awaited step forward in 2022.   

Bottom Line:

If Tua and McDaniel can gel and improve this offense to the point where they can match the level of their defense, the Dolphins could be the AFC's surprise contenders 

New England Patriots

2021 Record: 10-7 (2nd in AFC East)

Head Coach: Bill Belichick (23rd season)

Notable Additions: WR DeVante Parker, CB Malcolm Butler, S Jabrill Peppers 

Notable Departures: CB J.C. Jackson, G Shaq Mason, OLB Kyle Van Noy

Biggest Reason for Excitement: Year 2 of Mac Jones 

Jones' rookie year went about as well as it possibly could've. Although things didn't end well for the Pats as they went 1-4 after their bye week and got blown out by the Bills in the Wild Card round, the #15 overall pick in the 2021 draft was a steadying presence for a Patriots offense that was held back by Cam Newton's physical limitations in 2020. Amidst all of the concerning developments about the state of the offensive coaching staff and roster following the departures of multiple key players, the frequent news drops about how serious Jones was taking his offseason program served as a much-needed silver lining during a period where bad headlines were dominating the news coming out of Foxboro.

He bulked up, hosted multiple offseason workouts with his receivers and reported to training camp a full week before he was required to. As routine as this sounds, not every quarterback is willing to go to those lengths to try and improve their game. Jones has limitations with his athleticism and arm strength that will probably prevent him from ever becoming an elite quarterback, but the Patriots should be proud that they drafted a kid who has the attitude and work ethic required to have a long, successful NFL career to be their next starting QB.   

Biggest Reason for Concern: Offensive Coaching Staff 

Getting positive early results out of Mac Jones finally gave Josh McDaniels the courage to flee the safety of the Patriots OC job and give head coaching another crack 12 full years after he was canned from the Broncos after less than 2 tumultuous seasons. Losing the steady presence of McDaniels-whose second stint as Patriots OC ended up lasting 10 seasons-was a devastating blow to Jones and a youth-driven offense that would've really benefited from that continuity. With McDaniels gone, the narrative quickly shifted to who was going to replace him. Would they promote Nick Caley-the longest-tenured returning member of their offensive staff and lone assistant that they explicitly prevented from joining McDaniels' staff in Vegas? Would they give Massachusetts native Bill O'Brien a call and ask him if he'd be interested in returning to the post that he officially occupied in 2011 (and unofficially occupied for the 2 years prior to that)? Would Bill Belichick entertain bringing in his former AFC East colleague Adam Gase-who is currently unemployed and has tons of OC experience? None of these men ended up getting the job. 

Instead, Belichick shocked the world by tasking 2 people that nobody in a million years would've ever wanted or expected to them run the offense: Matt Patricia-whose official title is senior football advisor/offensive line coach and Joe Judge-whose official title is senior offensive assistant/quarterbacks coach. Belichick's loosey goosey approach with titles and roles on the defensive coaching staff works well enough because Bill himself is a defensive maestro who has always been hands-on with the day-to-day coaching/playcalling. Utilizing this same approach on the offensive side of ball just reeks of arrogance and laziness.

For starters, Patricia and Judge are not offensive coaches. Patricia logged 2 seasons as an offensive assistant/assistant o-line coach back in 2004-05 and Judge was involved with coaching the WR's during the final season of his previous tenure with the Patriots in 2019 (there is some belief that he was involved with the Giants offensive play calling last season-which if true, would actually make him getting this role more alarming than it is currently). Tasking 2 guys with barely any relevant experience to not only run the offense but implement a new system (they're apparently shifting to a more QB-friendly, zone-blocking scheme that's similar to what Kyle Shanahan uses with the 49ers) feels ill-advised at best and needlessly reckless at worst.

On top of their inexperience, Patricia and Judge are coming off head coaching stints that can only be described as catastrophic failures. Both of these guys got shitcanned after being testy with the media, completely losing the respect of their players due to their arrogant, hardo personas and doing an absolutely miserable job of managing games. These guys were downright radioactive in their previous gigs and if they weren't loyal acolytes of Bill Belichick, they'd be competing with Mike Singletary and Marc Trestman for gigs in the XFL right now.

Topping off the laziness/arrogance trifecta are the reports out there that the only reason Belichick tapped Judge and Patricia for these roles is because he knows they'll be around for a while and doesn't want to frequently reshuffle his staff at this point in his career. What kind of idiotic bullshit is that? That's basically admitting that somebody like O'Brien or Caley would be good enough in the role to potentially earn a head coaching gig!!!! And even if Bill insisted on hiring somebody who was in no danger of leaving to become a HC elsewhere, why not just hire Gase? He at least has proven he's a legit NFL OC and wouldn't gain any traction in a head coaching search unless he paid off a GM to throw his name in the hat. If/when this shit blows up in his face, Belichick's egotistical desire to fully surround himself with yes men at this point in his career will be solely to blame.      

Key to Reaching Their Ceiling: The Play of Their Defense

Up here in the Boston area, questions over the construction/talent level of the defense are a massive narrative going into camp. While the major personnel losses are limited to top corner J.C. Jackson and outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy, the gaps in the lineup their departures have created are being filled in ways that are understandably making people nervous. Jackson's replacement at outside corner is currently projected to Patriots Super Bowl folk hero turned Patriots Super Bowl scapegoat Malcolm Butler-who is back in football after "retiring" following a training camp stint with the Cardinals last year or below average journeyman Terrance Mitchell while Van Noy's slot is currently expected to be filled by trade acquisition Mack Wilson-who spent his 3 seasons in Cleveland dazzling people with his speed and infuriating people with his suspect tackling. Not exactly the type of players you want competing for starting spots on your defense in a non-injury related situation...   

Even with these couple of instances of clear downgrades at key spots, I'm not as concerned about the defense on the whole as most people are. Covering up deficiencies with ideal scheming and turning guys into unexpected assets through strong coaching is something that Belichick has been able to do a lot of throughout his career. Their lack of a clear #1 corner can be canceled out by playing a ton of zone-which is something that Jalen Mills, Jonathan Jones, Mitchell and Butler should have no issue doing and if Belichick can get anything of an untested, athletic wild card like Cameron McGrone or Raekwon McMillan at the linebacker spot alongside returning starter Ja'Whaun Bentley, they'll be able to make a lot of plays in the middle of the field that that their lack of speed prevented them from making last season.

Plus, they still have plenty of established talent to balance out their problem areas. Their safety group (Kyle Dugger, Devin McCourty, Adrian Phillips, newcomer Jabrill Peppers) are as rangey and versatile as any group in the league, the interior defensive line group is a reliable group of vets (Lawrence Guy, Davon Godchaeux, Carl Davis, Henry Anderson) that are regularly joined by a young buck (Christian Barmore) who appears on track to become the league's next great interior pass-rusher and while they won't be mentioned among the league's most feared attacks anytime soon, Matthew Judon and Deatrich Wise Jr. are a perfectly fine pass-rushing tandem that could receive a nice boost if Josh Uche or Ronnie Perkins pops. The keys to the Patriots overachieving lies on this side of the ball and deep down, Belichick probably knows that and is doing everything he possibly can to try and turn this group into a top 10-12 unit. 

Bottom Line:

The offensive coaching staff situation paired with their failure to adequately replace departed/traded talent on both sides of the ball (didn't get a chance to mention it above but losing Shaq Mason and Ted Karras could be devastating to their o-line) has me believing that this is going to be the worst season the Patriots have had under Belichick since 2000.   

New York Jets

2021 Record: 4-13 (4th in AFC East)

Head Coach: Robert Saleh (2nd season)

Notable Additions: G Laken Tomlinson, CB D.J. Reed, S Jordan Whitehead

Notable Departures: S Marcus Maye, WR Jamison Crowder, T Morgan Moses

Biggest Reason for Excitement: The Arrow is Pointing Up for the First Time since 2016

There's an unfamiliar feeling going around Jets circles right now: Optimism. Even after another ugly 4-13 season last year, Joe Douglas has made enough savvy moves of late to have people drinking that J-E-T-S Kool-Aid.

Robert Saleh is a living, breathing human being who is loved by his players and seems to know what the hell he's doing. Douglas has put together back-to-back drafts that have given the team a promising young corps (Zach Wilson, Alijah Vera-Tucker, Elijah Moore, Michael Carter, Sauce Gardner, Garrett Wilson, Jermaine Johnson II, Breece Hall) on both sides of the ball. The offensive line appears to be pretty good and seems set to improve further in 2022 after the signing of veteran guard/world class people mover Laken Tomlinson this offseason. They've made savvy free agent signings to address problem areas (Tomlinson, D.J. Reed, Jordan Whitehead, C.J. Uzomah, Tyler Conklin, possibly Carl Lawson if he can bounce back from the Achillies injury he suffered at camp last year) while maintaining the cap flexibility to pursue star talent in future years if they happen to become available. Anytime the Jets seems like they're trending up is a cause for celebration, so let the good times roll while you can people. 

Biggest Reason for Concern: Their Secondaries Ability to Hold Up Against High-Powered Passing Attacks 

The 2021 Jets ranked 30th in passing YDS allowed, 20th in passing TD's allowed and 30th in INT's. Given those horrific stats, the Jets made the secondary a top priority this offseason and brought in several new pieces to try and fix this long-standing problem. 

 Sauce Gardner is one of the most highly touted man-to-man outside corner prospects of the past decade after allowing 0 TD's during his time at the University of Cincinnati, D.J. Reed was a quietly rock solid outside corner for the Seahawks over the past couple seasons that is still young enough (25 going on 26) to greatly improve over the course of his 3-year deal and Jordan Whitehead put together back-to-back productive seasons with the Bucs as a safety who split his time between the box and dropping back in coverage. They also have the potential of getting another new starter in veteran journeyman Lamarcus Joyner, who missed all but 1 game last season and will ironically be competing with his 2021 injury replacement Ashtyn Davis for the open safety spot next to Whitehead. Considering the skill limitations of the personnel they were trotting out last season, this group is pretty much guaranteed to be much better. 

 While the Jets deserved to be commended for who they brought in to be the new starters in the secondary, there's reason to believe that they could still have some issues slowing down opposing receivers. A look around the AFC East alone reveals 6 weeks' worth of imposing matchups against a collection of established elite talents (Stefon Diggs, Tyreek Hill), promising young guns (Jaylen Waddle, Gabriel Davis) and home run hitters (Kendrick Bourne, Nelson Agholor) that have the ability to blow past a corner or juke somebody out of their cleats on any given play. Things only get more imposing when you look deeper on their schedule and see matchups against the Bengals, Vikings, Steelers, Broncos and Seahawks. In terms of opposing receiver draws in the year 2022, that's pretty close to bad as a 17-game NFL slate can possibly get.  

Even if Reed and Gardner are able to hold their own against this WR gauntlet, projected starting slot corner Michael Carter II-who played pretty poorly as a rookie-allowing 60 receptions on 78 targets with 0 INT's and only 5 passes defensed to counteract his high completion percentage allowed- could be an exploitable hole that receivers with inside/outside versatility like Hill, Ja'Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson can take full advantage of if he doesn't make serious strides in year 2.

Further complicating things is the presence of an oft-injured, coverage-challenged player in Joyner or a below average 3rd year player in Davis occupying a key space in the middle of the field. Neither of these guys seems equipped to stop burners from making plays downfield and that could end up causing bigger problems than a slot corner not playing up to par. If they can register even a half decent 2022 campaign while having their feet held to the fire in roughly 2/3 of their games, this largely young group should be in dame fine shape moving forward. 

Key to Reaching Their Ceiling: Zach Wilson Making a Sizable Year 2 Leap 

There may not be a bigger enigma from the 2021 QB class heading into this season than Wilson. Everybody is writing off Trevor Lawrence's struggles as simply collateral damage from the Urben Meyer clown show. Justin Fields and Trey Lance have already amassed an impressive list of vocal doubters that arguably surpasses anybody in the past 7-8 years not named Josh Rosen. Davis Mills is being billed as the pleasant surprise and potential savior of the Texans franchise. And last but certainly not least, Mac Jones is being viewed as a worthy heir to Tom Brady's throne in New England.

Where Wilson actually stands heading into 2022 completely depends on who you talk to. Some people believe his improved decisionmaking/accuracy in the final weeks of the 2021 season, the Jets improvements at the skill positions and his advantage of returning to the exact same system-which is a luxury that none of his fellow class of 2021 members have-are signs that he's going to improve. Others point to his ugly INT's, struggles with handling pressure and lack of significant production (he only threw for 2,334 and 9 TD's in 13 games last year) as signs that he's going to continue to falter at the pro level. 

Prior to the emergence of the "banging his mom's friend" story earlier this month that tabled any football-related discussions about Wilson for the time being, the chatter on the Jets beat surrounding him was strong. His OTA/mini-camp performances were sharp and his top returning target from last year Elijah Moore publicly gushed about how much better he's gotten from year 1 to year 2. While it's clearly too early to tell if these positive practice showings will mean anything when the meaningful game reps come around in September, any sign that possibly indicates Wilson is on the right track after a pretty rough rookie year should be music to Jets fans ears. Wilson has a raw skill set that is reminiscent of Justin Herbert and Josh Allen and if Mike LaFluer can help him get the ball out quicker and cut down on the boneheaded throws that lead to easy picks, he has the chance to be really special this year and beyond.

Bottom Line:

Book it folks: I think Zach Wilson and the defense will improve significantly enough for the Jets to squeak into the playoffs. Dice Roll City, USA Population: Me. 

Projected Standings:

1.Buffalo Bills (12-5)

2.New York Jets (10-7)

3.Miami Dolphins (9-8)

4.New England Patriots (6-11)

2022 NFL Preview Series is Coming

The NFL season starts 7 weeks from Thursday when the Bills travel to Los Angeles to take on the reigning Super Bowl champion Rams, which means it's officially time to kick off the 2022 edition of my NFL preview series. Here's the tentative schedule for this year's edition:

Tomorrow: AFC East:

Next Week: NFC East

Week of August 9th: AFC North, NFC North

Week of August 15th: AFC South

Week of August 22nd: NFC South

Week of August 29th: AFC West

Week of September 5th: NFC West

I'm thrilled to get started on this journey again and hope you're entertained in some capacity by these 32 writeups and all of the far too early predictions that come with them. See you tomorrow with some Bills, Dolphins, Jets and Patriots takes gang.

Chris Maitland 

Movie Review: The Gray Man

Fiending for a movie franchise to call their own has become a drawn-out, backbreaking journey of unfilled desire for Netflix's brass. They've thrown billions of dollars into making blockbusters (their splashier investments include Bright, 6 Underground and last year's Red Notice) since they started significantly investing in their film division back in 2016 and remarkably, not a single one of them has been able to earn a level of cultural significance that is even remotely comparable to their successful theatrical peers. Their latest carefully curated attempt to become a zeitgeist power player comes in the form of The Gray Man-a $200 million globetrotting action/spy flick from The Russo Brothers (Avengers: Infinity War/Endgame, Captain America: The Winter Solider/Civil War). While The Gray Man is a respectable blockbuster that will almost certainly yield enough positive streaming data to earn sequels, it would be pretty shocking if it went onto become Netflix's first megahit film.

Action movies don't tend to become special because of their plot or the presence of any substantial drama or social commentary within that narrative, so the familiarity of The Gray Man's setup-which involves a convict turned covert CIA operative is forced to go on the run from his own agency after he aborts a mission following the uncovering of some compromising information about his boss-bares very little weight on the quality of the final product. Where The Gray Man cements itself as a competent but flawed film is with the unadventurous execution of that routine plot. 

Kicking off this celebration of routine proficiency is the disappointing revelation that the shootouts, fist fights and car chases of The Gray Man aren't as kinetic or hard-hitting as what the Russo Brothers delivered in their Captain America movies. As nice as it was to see them ditch their signature drab gray color palette for something that contains actual bursts of colors from time to time, most of these scenes are held back by a rhythmless editing style that goes from dizzying quick cuts to pretty clean and back again within a matter of 3-5 seconds and bizarre shot selections that remove the viewer from the heart of the action at pivotal moments where assailants are about to meet their demise or take a knockout blow. There's enough energy and solid fight choreography present in its impressively large-scale action setpieces to ensure their effectiveness, but it's frustrating to watch these scenes play out and know that they've would've notably improved if the director just made a couple of easy compositional tweaks.

Since The Russo Brothers were able to get this gig through their work with Marvel, The Gray Man is of course further hampered by their insistence on bringing MCU-style humor to this movie. The Gray Man may not have the same issue that Red Notice had where Ryan Reynolds looked like he would rather lie down in the middle of the highway than have another snarky quip fall out of his mouth, but even with the actors trying their best to deliver these one-liners, at least 75% of them land with a thud. The weakness of the jokes is further exacerbated by their forced insertion into scenes where they're trying to add a little bit of dramatic backbone to the proceedings or build suspense. The returns of this style of safe, snarky comedy have been rapidly diminishing in recent years and it's getting to the point where I'd rather watch something that's deadly serious over something that's idea of comedy is just half-assed pieces of sarcasm that rarely produce real laughs or feel organic to the bulk of the characters that are spitting them out.

$200 million might not have boughten Netflix a great movie, but it did get them a great ensemble cast that boosts the entertainment value of The Gray Man just by showing up and putting forth a noticeable effort. Ryan Gosling reminds everybody that's he a god damn movie star that could be the biggest action star on the planet if he wanted to be. Chris Evans has a blast as a psychotic douchebag mercenary that no one would ever want to be around if he wasn't really good at tracking down, torturing and killing people. Ana de Armas further elevates her ascending action star status as the reluctant partner to Gosling's character. Billy Bob Thornton makes a long overdue return to the world of movies and easily puts together the highest quip hit rate of the entire cast. Rege Jean-Page and Jessica Henwick play quite the tandem of corrupt CIA officials with Jean-Page being the sleazy, arrogant boss that will gladly go to any lengths necessary to silence anyone that threatens his agenda and Henwick complementing him as the more by-the-books agent who only reveals her true scumbag colors when the shit really hits the fan. Even the veteran character actors (Alfre Woodard, Wagner Moura, Callan Mulvey, Shea Wigham) and Tamilan megastar making his English-language debut (Dhanush) that signed on for extended cameos prove their worth by bringing ample gravitas to largely thankless characters. As effective as high production values and big action sequences shot in multiple countries are at demonstrating the presence of big dollars on a movie, proper actors showing up and lending their talents to a movie that really needs their services is the surest sign that The Gray Man is a legitimate blockbuster affair.    

Netflix should be pleased that The Gray Man isn't Red Notice 2.0 and actually looks and feels like a real blockbuster. However, it's also further proof that their algorithmic, desperation-fueled approach to big movies that is likely only going to worse in the wake of this year's drastic subscriber losses isn't likely to bring them the results they desire.  The Gray Man is a solid yet not even remotely special project that a major studio would put out as an appetizer or dessert for the main courses on the summer movie slate. These are the types of movies that largely get forgotten within months of release and since this is a streaming title, it will probably be erased from most people's minds by the end of next week. 

Franchises don't come from simply handing out zillion dollar budgets to make IP adaptations with name actors. They're produced organically when a filmmaker with a vision hires the right people to help bring that vision to life and with a lot of effort and a little bit of luck, magic gets made. Netflix's hand-off approach in the actual creative process could make them a great destination for ambitious filmmakers who can't find the funding to make something huge elsewhere, but they're going to keep tripping over themselves if they remain obsessed with using their viewer data to try and manufacture a hit franchise instead of simply valuing the artform and trusting talented people to organically give them what they want more than anything in the world.              

Grade: B

Movie Review: Nope

In an internet era where people get off on spoiling movies and TV shows, being afforded the opportunity to walk into a mainstream blockbuster without knowing what it's actually about feels like a borderline miracle. The fact that the project in question is a heavily promoted film from rising auteur Jordan Peele makes this feat even crazier. Sustaining an aura of mystery around Nope prior to its release and seeing how it's able to shatter and subvert any of the expectations of what it was expected to be is a big part of the reason why Nope is so exhilarating to watch.

To "spoil" one mystery about Nope right out of the gate, the movie does indeed deal with aliens. The extraterrestrial beings are introduced pretty much right away when a cloud containing a UFO mysteriously appears at the secluded ranch of a second-generation family (Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer) of Hollywood horse trainers. The confirmed presence of alien life is the beginning and end of Nope making an expected creative choice.

In terms of the alien invasion subgenre at least, there's never been a movie like Nope. It builds a slowly escalating tension by consistently raising questions about what is exactly is going on with the aliens, breeds some fascinating commentary about humanity's nature by putting a collection of characters (Steven Yuen, Michael Wincott and cast MVP Brandon Perea join Kaluuya and Palmer at the forefront of this story) with various personal agendas into the path of the UFO and does an exceptional job of giving the viewer little nuggets about the aliens without completely destroying the terrifying ambiguity of a mysterious species that's just arrived on Earth. This slow, human-driven approach to the alien invasion genre allows Peele's exceptional instincts as a storyteller (his understanding of when to let things breathe and when to go for the throat is particularly masterful) to take center stage while also showing off a skill for crafting huge setpieces that he wasn't able to showcase in his previous, more modestly budgeted films. There are certain bigger thematic ideas that it introduces that would've benefited from being further developed, but the volume of creativity, excitement and stellar craftsmanship on display here are more than enough to forgive a couple of small scripting issues. Peele's status as a generational talent is all but fully cemented with this stunning summer blockbuster and Universal deserves all the credit in the world for trusting him to make an original film of such a big scale.  

Grade: A     

Ryan Gosling Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked", a weekly series where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out assorted superlatives. This week, I'm profiling the work of Ryan Gosling-whose latest project "The Gray Man" is in theaters now and hits Netflix on Friday. 

Ryan Gosling's Filmography Ranked:

18.Only God Forgives (D)

17.The Notebook (C)

16.Murder by Numbers (C+)

15.First Man (B-)

14.Half Nelson (B-)

13.Blade Runner 2049 (B-)

12.La La Land (B-)

11.The Place Beyond the Pines (B)

10.Fracture (B)

9.The Ides of March (B)

8.Crazy, Stupid, Love (B)

7.Gangster Squad (B+)

6.Lars and the Real Girl (B+)

5.The Big Short (A-)

4.Drive (A-)

3.Remember the Titans (A)

2.Blue Valentine (A)

1.The Nice Guys (A)

Top Dog: The Nice Guys (2016)

In a perfect world, The Nice Guys would've turned into a Lethal Weapon-esque franchise that hammered out a new entry every 2-3 years for a decade or so and cemented Gosling and Russell Crowe as one of cinema's all-time great odd couples. Alas, it didn't do very well at the box office, and was sentenced to an eternity of being a cult movie with a particularly vocal fanbase. Overwhelming disappointment about its commercial failure aside, The Nice Guys is a clever, uproarious dark buddy comedy with noir undertones that will hopefully continue to find new audiences on streaming as the years go by (funnily enough, it was confirmed earlier today that it will start streaming on Netflix on August 9th)    

Bottom Feeder: Only God Forgives (2013)

The second collaboration between Gosling and director Nicolas Winding Refn wasn't the next Drive. Hell, it wasn't even the next Murder by Numbers. Only God Forgives is a wet fart of a crime movie that proved that the impact of Refn's mesmerizing visuals can be wiped out by incoherent storytelling and a cast that seems like they have no desire to be starring in such a scuzzy, brutal movie.

Most Underrated: Blue Valentine (2010)

If certain engaged couples were to watch Blue Valentine at any point before their wedding day, they would break things off with little hesitation and never speak to each other again. By making the decision to constantly switch between timelines to show the blissful start and seemingly imminent demise of a romantic relationship and casting a pair of actors (Gosling, Michelle Williams) as the couple that have the fearlessness and commitment to explore every emotion that needs to be explored to properly tell this story, Derek Cianfrance made a devastating portrait of how even the most loving, supportive relationships can simply erode to an unrepairable degree over time and neither party is at fault. It's a cinematic gut punch that I'm not confident I ever want to experience again, but the raw power and authenticity of the emotions on display here make it an unshakable artistic masterwork.    

Most Overrated: Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Blade Runner 2049 is a competent sci-fi epic that features staggering cinematography from Rodger Deakins, a terrific lead performance from Gosling and some of the best VFX in the history cinema. But to best, I've never quite understood why this film has been billed as this groundbreaking masterpiece. Denis Villeneuve himself made better sci-fi movies before (Arrival) and after (Dune) this, its themes of robots trying to find humanity and struggling with their status as second-class citizens haven't been innovative since the original Blade Runner explored them in 1982 and 10-15 minutes could've easily been shaved from the nearly 3-hour runtime-particularly in the glacial early stages of the second act where the story seems to be stalling in order to further build up anticipation for the return of Harrison Ford's Rick Deckard.

Relatively Poorly Received Early-ish Gosling Title That Deserves a Reappraisal: Gangster Squad (2013)

A re-watch last week reaffirmed a take I've had since the film was released all the way back in January 2013: Gangster Squad is fun as hell. As soon as Sean Penn's Mickey Cohen is introduced in a scene where he has a guy who disrespected him killed by ripping him in half via a chain that's connected to two cars that are driving in opposite directions and feeding his corpse to a group of dogs, this film announces itself as a cartoonish romp and keeps pouring on the over-the-top stylized cheese until the credits start rolling. The flurry of big shootouts/car chases/robberies are staged with gusto by director Ruben Fleischer (both Zombieland films, Uncharted), the loaded ensemble cast (Josh Brolin, Gosling, Penn, Anthony Mackie, Michael Pena, Giovani Ribisi, Robert Patrick, Emma Stone, Troy Garity, Nick Nolte) has fun looking cool and chewing up the scenery and the lens of veteran cinematographer Dion Beebe beautifully captures the abundance of picture-esque sleaziness that Los Angeles has to offer.   

Movie Review: Where the Crawdads Sing

Speaking as someone who can't comment on the quality of the adaptation (given there's been no significant backlash from the fans of the book, I'll assume that it's at least pretty faithful), it's easy to see why Where the Crawdads Sing was a bestselling novel. It's basically a period soap opera that mixes several crowd-pleasing genres (romance, mystery, legal drama, coming-of-age, good old-fashioned misery/poverty porn) together with just enough salaciousness to make the jaws of middle-aged people whose primary entertainment consumption comes from the CBS primetime lineup drop to the floor. 

To be fair, the story it tells about a reclusive young woman named Kya (Daisy Edgar-Jones) who gets arrested for the murder of a young man (Taylor John Smith) that she previously had a romantic relationship with despite no evidence linking her to the crime being found at the scene isn't an uncompelling one. There's some intrigue to be had in watching Kya-who grew up mostly alone in a secluded marsh-attempt to navigate a murder trial in a North Carolina town where nearly everyone has viewed her as a vile, scary freak for her whole life and Edgar-Jones is a captivating lead who brings understated feelings of pain, resilience and pride to Kya that helps roots the character in a tangible humanity that likely wasn't present in the script's stage directions.    

The problems with Where the Crawdads Sing just about exclusively lie with how the story is told. All of the transitions between the flashbacks and present timeline are clumsy enough to ensure that the jarring nature of the time jumps (along with the genre shifts that often coincide with them) are fully felt and the development of Kya's key relationships with her abusive father (Garret Dillahunt) that abandons her as a child, the nice man (Harris Dickinson) who breaks her heart as a young adult and man she's accused of killing all feel stunted due to the film's eagerness to set up the next scenario where Kya emotionally or physically suffers. Having an ending that is so sickeningly sappy that it feels like it was lifted straight from the pages of a Nicolas Sparks book seals Crawdads fate as a potentially interesting film that is kneecapped by its dodgy handling of the actual meat of its narrative. While it's never close to bad enough for me to regard it as a painful or unworthy watch, my lasting memories of Where the Crawdads Sing will likely be limited to Edgar-Jones' impressive ability to elevate such average material and the Taylor Swift song that plays during the end credits. 

Grade: C+

Natalie Portman Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked", a weekly series where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out assorted related superlatives. This week, I'm profiling the work of Natalie Portman whose latest project "Thor: Love and Thunder" is in theaters now.

Natalie Portman's Filmography Ranked:

20.Garden State (D+)

19.Brothers (C)

18.Your Highness (C+)

17.Star Wars: Episode II-Attack of the Clones (C+)

16.Star Wars: Episode I-The Phantom Menace (C+) 

15.Thor: The Dark World (B)

14.Jane Got a Gun (B)

13.No Strings Attached (B)

12.Star Wars: Episode III-Revenge of the Sith (B)

11.Hesher (B)

10.Mars Attacks! (B)

9.Thor (B)

8.Heat (B)

7.The Darjeeling Limited (B)

6.Thor: Love and Thunder (B+)

5.Annihilation (B+)

4.V for Vendetta (A-)

3.Jackie (A-)

2.Leon: The Professional (A-)

1.Black Swan (A)

Top Dog: Black Swan (2010)

Saying that Darren Aronofsky has gone through a "slump" recently is an overstatement, but Black Swan is definitely the last instance of him making a truly incredible film. This borderline perfect psychological thriller is an unsettling tale of obsession, delusion and lust in the name of art that is anchored by a career-best performance from Portman that is easily among the most astonishingly transformational pieces of acting I've ever seen.

Bottom Feeder: Garden State (2004)

Sundance has done so much good for the world of cinema by simply giving independent filmmakers a big stage to showcase their works on. In the past decade alone, the world might've never known the names Damien Chazelle, Ryan Coogler or Robert Eggers if their work wasn't shown in the hallowed mountains of Park City, Utah. On occasion, something like Garden State shows up on its lineup and I briefly discard just how cool and important this festival is and wish that it never happened again. Zach Braff's insufferable yawnfest launched a blueprint for shitty indie dramedies (inorganic quirk, smug characters that speak like they're being fed lines from an AI program whose only pop culture references are The Catcher in the Rye and Neutral Milk Hotel's discography, a level of melodramatic sentimentality that makes The Notebook looks restrained) that continues the haunt the community today and for this sin alone, I'll always get queasy when Braff's name is mentioned.    

Most Underrated: Jackie (2016)

2016 was a very strong year for awards contenders with the likes of Moonlight, Manchester by the Sea, Hell or High Water, Hacksaw Ridge and Arrival having a heavy presence on Oscar night. While Portman was rightfully nominated for her exceptional turn as Jackie Kennedy, Jackie deserved to be recognized across the board like the aforementioned films were. Pablo Larrian made a powerful, riveting character study that focuses on Kennedy's life in the immediate aftermath of her husband's assassination as she has to navigate honoring his legacy in public while fighting her own grief, guilt and unresolved frustrations with him in private. Despite being not completely rooted in facts, it's an intimate look at the psyche and emotions of one of the 20th century's most endearing public figures and this approach has made Larrian the most interesting cinematic biographer working today.   

Most Overrated: Heat (1995)

I considered Garden State here as well, but there's not very many people that view that as a true classic, so I chose to go with Heat. If Heat was just heist sequences, the diner scene between Robert de Niro and Al Pacino and moments where the devastating human cost of committing/fighting crime are fully on display (namely the final scene with Danny Trejo and de Niro and the hotel scene with Portman's character), it would be a raw, electric crime film that ranks among the greatest ever made. But since Michael Mann doesn't know when to rein it in, it's a needlessly drawn-out affair with questionable pacing, a contrived romantic subplot and an ending-which admittedly does feature a great final scene-that comes to pass because of a decision that directly violates de Niro's character's well-documented code to being a successful thief.

Movie Review: Elvis

It only took me 30 years of living on this divine planet known as Earth, but I've finally seen a Baz Luhrmann film. After sitting through Elvis, I wish I'd kept this unintentional boycott intact for at least another 30 years.

Before Austin Butler's Elvis Presley belts out a tune or even utters a word in the film, it becomes evident that Luhrmann fancies himself a showman. The camera whips around like a sports car doing donuts at a 100 MPH, the color palette resembles a Pollack painting that was composed with a liquefied rainbow and rapid dissolves bring the action into new locations/time periods so rapidly that it makes things like time and place feel like restrictive concepts designed to keep mankind in line. It's a fittingly glossy approach for a movie about an entertainer that had a larger-than-life persona when he was alive and has become an otherworldly entity in death. For the opening stretch of the film, this non-stop maximalism is a neat trick that helps distinguish it from other biopics while also showing off the immense talent of cinematographer Mandy Walker and editors Matt Vila and Jonathan Redmond. When the second act begins, this technique starts to feel pretty repetitive. By the time final act comes into focus, it becomes painfully clear that Luhrmann's flashy filmmaking techniques are being used to cover up the fact that he has nothing to say about Elvis the man, the artist or the God.

Calling Elvis hollow doesn't feel like an adequate way to describe the emptiness of this film. Its storytelling is so rudderless, cold and impersonal that it makes Presley's Wikipedia page feel like an emotional powerhouse packed with the exhaustive detail of a tell-all memoir. If Luhrmann harbors some kind of affection, fascination or even slight curiosity towards Elvis' music and legacy, it didn't make its way to the screen. Elvis' complicated, fascinating life story and deep musical catalog are reduced to background noise for the main attraction: Baz Luhrmann. 

This movie is so openly in love with its stylistic choices that it's borderline shocking that it's not titled Baz. Every performance, triumph and tragedy involving Elvis that is portrayed in the film are just perfunctory details designed to serve as the gas for whatever busy, over-the-top montage or editing choice Luhrmann has cooked up for the scene in question. I'm as sick of watered down, generic life-to-death music biopics as anyone, but if the alternative is some egomaniacal director delivering the cinematic equivalent of an AND1 Mixtape for nearly 3 hours instead of actually exploring the person/group they decided to make a movie about, I'll happily accept safe, mildly entertaining fan fiction like Bohemian Rhapsody for what it is and never ask for anyone to deviate from that mediocre formula ever again.  

It needs to be noted that the actors are in no way responsible for Elvis' failures. Butler looks and sounds like Presley every step of the way, Tom Hanks' choice to turn Colonel Tom Parker into a cartoony villain is fitting for a guy who was a career grifter and Olivia DeJonge may not look anything like Priscilla Presley, but her Kacey Musgraves cosplay is unbelievably accurate. They can't help that they got stuck in Luhrmann's deep void of neon-colored nothingness and their efforts deserved better than glorified bit players in a vanity project for a filmmaker who somehow manages to make chaos dreadfully dull. If Hollywood decides to produce an Elvis Presley biopic someday, these folks should all be in the running to star in it.     

Grade: D

Movie Review: The Princess

The only thing separating The Princess from a Scott Adkins vehicle is a company of legit Hollywood actors (Joey King, Dominic Cooper, Olga Kurylenko, Vernonica Ngo) appearing in place of random American martial artists and struggling actors they pulled out of casting agencies in Sofia or Zagreb. Is this a bad thing? Not at all. All this means is The Princess is a low budget, loosely scripted film that gets by solely on the strength of its fight sequences. 

King acclimates nicely to the action genre as the title heroine who has to fight for her and her family's freedom after she's locked away in a tower by the vengeful wannabe tyrant (Cooper) who her father (Ed Stoppard) arranged for her to marry and succeed him as the ruler of whatever unknown kingdom he presides over. Director Le-Van Keit's (Furie, this year's widely torched VOD shark movie The Requin) have a scrappy energy to them that suits its down-and-dirty style well and King proves she has a future in this space if she wants to pursue it by committing to the intricate fight choreography and seemingly having a good time kicking people's asses on screen.

If Keit didn't insist on constantly cutting back to dull dramatic scenes featuring Cooper plotting to kill the royal family for embarrassing him during and flashbacks of The Princess calling her dad an asshole for not believing she could run the kingdom herself, it could've easily matched the gritty fury of one of Adkins' Undisputed sequels or his more recent standout Avengement. But since The Princess grinds its momentum to a halt after nearly every sequence of King (and sometimes with the aid of Ngo-who plays her mentor) using her wits and extensive combat/weapons training to dispatch legions of admirable fighters, the movie never builds up the breakneck level of energy it needed to fulfill its goal of being the gender-flipped medieval version of The Raid. With that being said, 2022 has been a huge action movie desert to date and I'm willing to embrace anything that displays competence in the execution of its actual action at this stage of the calendar. 

Grade: B- 

Movie Review: Thor: Love and Thunder

With the thoroughly excellent Ragnarok, Taika Waititi became the savior of the Thor franchise. His vibrant energy and goofy humor were exactly the lightning rod the God of Thunder needed to be elevated out of the doldrums of the MCU's basement and finally get a long-overdue piece of the sweet center stage action that Iron Man, Captain America and The Guardians of the Galaxy have been soaking up for years. Of course, the downside to making a beloved film that's widely considered to be one of the franchise's best is the wave of buzz that comes with it and that resulted in some absurdly high expectations being placed on its sequel Love and Thunder. In typical superhero follow-up fashion, these high hopes resulted in a lot of fans walking away disappointed with what Love and Thunder delivered. While I do agree that Love and Thunder isn't as special as Ragnarok, it still has plenty of charms that make it a worthwhile follow-up for Waititi and co.

If Ragnarok was the Thor's franchise Appetite 4 Destruction, this is the series Use Your Illusion I and II. Waititi takes what worked about Ragnarok (absurdist humor, a kaleidoscope color palette, irreverent weirdo supporting characters), cranks the camp amp up to a million and let's that glitter bomb behemoth run wild for 119 minutes. This corny, glam metal-infused monster cranks out absurdist gags and tonal shifts so quickly that it will make some unsuspecting viewers wish the theaters passed out barf bags to deal with all of the genre-jumping sensory overload on display. Within a matter of 5 minutes, it goes from being a romantic power ballad to a loud, goofy radio rock anthem to an over-the-top amusement park haunted house that blurs the line between spooky and silly and back again. This brand of brazenly spastic cheese harkens back to the underrepresented era of the 80's where entertainment wanted to evoke as many emotions as humanly possible while also being the most unapologetically silly shit the creative team in charge could cook up and it's a hoot to watch something that takes such pleasure in being a multi-faceted cornball opus.

Underneath all of the silly jokes and gaudy pageantry, Love and Thunder is really a story of Thor re-discovering his purpose in the world and this is where the film manages to shine brightest. Following the destruction of Asgard and the death of his father Odin in Ragnarok and the death of his brother Loki in Infinity War, Thor has been a lost soul. At the start of Love and Thunder, Thor is 3 years into his travels with the Guardians of the Galaxy that started at the conclusion of Endgame and things aren't going great. The entire Guardians crew is fed up with Thor's antics as he's anointed himself the de facto leader of their group and taken sole credit for their victories in a long string of intergalactic battles. Following a messy win on a distant alien planet, the Guardians part ways with Thor and Korg (voiced by Waititi). After receiving a distress call from his old friend Sif (Jamie Alexander)-who informs him that a man named Gorr (Christian Bale, in a deeply creepy performance that fuels the film's darker moments) has gotten hold of the Necromancer-a cursed sword that is capable of killing Gods- and is headed to wipe out his people next, he returns to New Asgard. Shortly after his arrival, he unexpectedly reconnects with ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (a very funny and charismatic Natalie Portman)-who has gained the powers of the Mighty Thor for reasons that are too spoiler-y to discuss here-and soon sets out on a crazy adventure with Jane, Korg and Valkryie (Tessa Thompson) to save New Asgard from imminent destruction. 

The reunion with Foster and the danger that Gorr poses to his people sends Thor down a path of self-exploration that eventually leads him to shedding his ego, re-learning the selflessness that's supposed to drive heroism and accepting love for the powerful driving force that it can be when it's coming from a pure place. As gushy and overbearingly sentimental as this journey proves to be, this arc makes a lot of sense for Thor at this stage of the MCU and the writing from Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Someone Great, Unpregnant) along with Hemsworth's performance balance the sincere with the schmaltz gracefully enough to make the character's steady growth over the course of the film feel earned.

Like the other recent "polarizing" MCU titles Eternals and Multiverse of Madness, Love and Thunder is a movie that would've benefited from a bit more time in the oven. The script is a draft or two away from figuring out to juggle all its narrative threads, Bale and Thompson are both relatively underutilized and Marvel's tight scheduling demands caused the inclusion of a bunch of CGI that unsurprisingly looks very cheap and rushed. Also like the aforementioned films, it's undeniably a product of the director that made it and isn't afraid to venture into darker, weirder and campier territory than the typical MCU project. Sure, this phase has produced some films that don't have the carefully curated polish that the bulk of the earlier films had, but the trade-off for having messier storytelling are movies that are more ambitious and specific to the director's vision than just about anything that came before them. From where I'm sitting, that's a huge win for creatives and hopefully Kevin Feige and Disney will let this era of minimal studio interference continue for as long as possible. 

Grade: B+

2022 NFL Position Rankings: Full Series Recap

Quarterbacks:

25.Davis Mills (Texans)

24.Mitch Trubisky (Steelers)

23.Tua Tagovailoa (Dolphins)

22.Carson Wentz (Guardians)

21.Jameis Winston (Saints)

20.Jared Goff (Lions)

19.Mac Jones (Patriots)

18.Jalen Hurts (Eagles)

17.Baker Mayfield (Panthers)

16.Jimmy Garoppolo (49ers)

15.Ryan Tannehill (Titans)

14.Kyler Murray (Cardinals)

13.Matt Ryan (Colts)

12.Derek Carr (Raiders)

11.Kirk Cousins (Vikings)

10.Lamar Jackson (Ravens)

9.Dak Prescott (Cowboys)

8.Justin Herbert (Chargers)

7.Joe Burrow (Bengals)

6.Russell Wilson (Broncos)

5.Matthew Stafford (Rams)

4.Josh Allen (Bills)

3.Tom Brady (Buccaneers)

2.Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs)

1.Aaron Rodgers (Packers)

Running Backs:

50.Rex Burkhead (Texans)

49.Darrel Williams (Cardinals)

48.Mark Ingram (Saints)

47.Boston Scott (Eagles)

46.Alexander Mattison (Vikings)

45.Khalil Herbert (Bears)

44.Gus Edwards (Ravens)

43.Darrell Henderson Jr. (Rams)

42.Kenyan Drake (Raiders)

41.Ronald Jones (Chiefs)

40.Sony Michel (Dolphins)

39.J.K. Dobbins (Ravens)

38.Rashaad Penny (Seahawks)

37.Chris Carson (Seahawks)

36.Devin Singletary (Bills)

35.Jamaal Williams (Lions)

34.Rhamondre Stevenson (Patriots)

33.Nyhiem Hines (Colts)

32.Clyde Edwards-Helaire (Chiefs)

31.D'Andre Swift (Lions)

30.Michael Carter (Jets)

29.AJ Dillon (Packers)

28.Cam Akers (Rams)

27.Chase Edmonds (Dolphins)

26.Elijah Mitchell (49ers)

25.Miles Sanders (Eagles)

24.Tony Pollard (Cowboys)

23.Javonte Williams (Broncos)

22.Saquon Barkley (Giants)

21.Cordarrelle Patterson (Falcons)

20.Antonio Gibson (Commanders)

19.James Conner (Cardinals)

18.Kareem Hunt (Browns)

17.Leonard Forunette (Buccaneers)

16.Josh Jacobs (Raiders)

15.Melvin Gordon (Broncos)

14.Najee Harris (Steelers)

13.James Robinson (Jaguars)

12.Ezekiel Elliott (Cowboys)

11.David Montgomery (Bears)

10.Damien Harris (Patriots)

9.Christian McCaffery (Panthers)

8.Austin Ekeler (Chargers)

7.Aaron Jones (Packers)

6.Alvin Kamara (Saints)

5.Joe Mixon (Bengals)

4.Nick Chubb (Browns)

3.Jonathan Taylor (Colts)

2.Dalvin Cook (Vikings)

1.Derrick Henry (Titans)

Wide Receivers: 

50.Gabriel Davis (Bills)

49.Mecole Hardman (Chiefs)

48.DeVante Parker (Patriots)

47.JuJu Smith-Schuster (Chiefs)

46.Julio Jones (Free Agent)

45.Kendrick Bourne (Patriots)

44.Jarvis Landry (Saints)

43.Amon-Ra St. Brown (Lions)

42.Michael Gallup (Cowboys)

41.Russell Gage (Buccaneers)

40.A.J. Green (Cardinals)

39.Jakobi Meyers (Patriots)

38.Christian Kirk (Jaguars)

37.Tyler Boyd (Bengals)

36.Corey Davis (Jets)

35.Kenny Golladay (Giants)

34.Brandon Aiyuk (49ers)

33.Marquise Brown (Cardinals)

32.Odell Beckham Jr. (Free Agent)

31.Jaylen Waddle (Dolphins)

30.Darnell Mooney (Bears)

29.Robert Woods (Titans)

28.Courtland Sutton (Broncos)

27.Hunter Renfrow (Raiders)

26.Michael Pittman Jr. (Colts)

25.Dionate Johnson (Steelers)

24.Michael Thomas (Saints)

23.Tee Higgins (Bengals)

22.Amari Cooper (Browns)

21.Brandin Cooks (Texans)

20.CeeDee Lamb (Cowboys)

19.Adam Thielen (Vikings)

18.Allen Robinson (Rams)

17.Mike Williams (Chargers)

16.Terry McLaurin (Commanders)

15.D.J. Moore (Panthers)

14.Mike Evans (Buccaneers)

13.D.K. Metcalf (Seahawks)

12.Tyler Lockett (Seahawks)

11.Keenan Allen (Chargers)

10.Chris Godwin (Buccaneers)

9.Ja'Marr Chase (Bengals)

8.AJ Brown (Eagles)

7.Deebo Samuel (49ers)

6.DeAndre Hopkins (Cardinals)

5.Justin Jefferson (Vikings)

4.Stefon Diggs (Bills)

3.Cooper Kupp (Rams)

2.Tyreek Hill (Dolphins)

1.Davante Adams (Raiders)

Tight Ends:

20.Gerald Everett (Chargers)

19.C.J. Uzomah (Jets)

18.Cole Kmet (Bears)

17.David Njoku (Browns)

16.Logan Thomas (Commanders)

15.Dawson Knox (Bills)

14.Pat Friermuth (Steelers)

13.Noah Fant (Seahawks)

12.Zach Ertz (Cardinals)

11.Tyler Higbee (Rams)

10.Dalton Schultz (Cowboys)

9.Hunter Henry (Patriots)

8.Mike Gesicki (Dolphins)

7.T.J. Hockenson (Lions)

6.Kyle Pitts (Falcons)

5.Dallas Goedert (Eagles)

4.Darren Waller (Raiders)

3.Mark Andrews (Ravens)

2.George Kittle (49ers)

1.Travis Kelce (Chiefs)

Tackles:

30.Jonah Williams (Bengals)

29.Taylor Lewan (Titans)

28.Donovan Smith (Buccaneers)

27.Andrew Thomas (Giants)

26.Charles Leno Jr. (Commanders)

25.Brian O'Neill (Vikings)

24.Rob Havenstein (Rams)

23.Penei Sewell (Lions)

22.Elgton Jenkins (Packers)

21.Jordan Mailata (Eagles)

20.Orlando Brown Jr. (Chiefs)

19.Taylor Decker (Lions)

18.Kolton Miller (Raiders)

17.Dion Dawkins (Bills)

16.La'el Collins (Bengals)

15.Braden Smith (Colts)

14.Garrett Bolles (Broncos)

13.Jake Matthews (Falcons)

12.Laremy Tunsil (Texans)

11.Rashawn Slater (Chargers)

10.Jack Conklin (Browns)

9.Ronnie Stanley (Ravens)

8.Taylor Moton (Panthers)

7.Tyron Smith (Cowboys)

6.Terron Armstead (Dolphins)

5.Lane Johnson (Eagles)

4.Tristan Wirfs (Buccaneers)

3.David Bakhtiari (Packers)

2.Ryan Ramcyzk (Saints)

1.Trent Williams (49ers)

Guards:

30.Gabe Jackson (Seahawks)

29.David Edwards (Rams)

28.Graham Glasgow (Broncos)

27.Nate Davis (Titans)

26.Ezra Cleveland (Vikings)

25.Jonah Jackson (Lions)

24.Issac Seumalo (Eagles)

23.Dalton Risner (Broncos)

22.Mark Glowinski (Giants)

21.Andrew Norwell (Commanders)

20.Alijah Vera-Tucker (Jets)

19.Austin Corbett (Panthers)

18.James Daniels (Steelers)

17.Alex Cappa (Bengals)

16.Trey Smith (Chiefs)

15.Michael Owenu (Patriots)

14.Cody Whitehair (Bears)

13.Rodger Saffold (Bills)

12.Matt Feiler (Chargers)

11.Connor Williams (Dolphins)

10.Laken Tomlinson (Jets)

9.Kevin Zeitler (Ravens)

8.Chris Lindstrom (Falcons)

7.Brandon Scherff (Jaguars)

6.Wyatt Teller (Browns)

5.Joe Thuney (Chiefs)

4.Shaq Mason (Buccaneers)

3.Joel Bitonio (Browns)

2.Quenton Nelson (Colts)

1.Zach Martin (Cowboys)

Centers:

20.Ted Karras (Bengals)

19.Ethan Pocic (Browns)

18.Tyler Biadasz (Cowboys)

17.Bradley Bozeman (Panthers)

16.Matt Hennessy (Falcons)

15.Mitch Morse (Bills)

14.Brian Allen (Rams)

13.Connor McGovern (Jets)

12.Ryan Kelly (Colts)

11.Erik McCoy (Saints)

10.Chase Roullier (Commanders)

9.Ryan Jensen (Buccaneers)

8.Creed Humphrey (Chiefs)

7.Rodney Hudson (Cardinals)

6.Frank Ragnow (Lions)

5.J.C. Tretter (Free Agent)

4.David Andrews (Patriots)

3.Ben Jones (Titans)

2.Jason Kelce (Eagles)

1.Corey Linsley (Chargers)

Defensive Ends:

35.Kwity Paye (Colts)

34.Deatrich Wise Jr. (Patriots)

33.Gregory Rousseau (Bills)

32.Dean Lowry (Packers)

31.Chris Wormley (Steelers)

30.Harrison Phillips (Vikings)

29.Charles Harris (Lions)

28.Trevis Gibson (Bears)

27.Carl Lawson (Jets)

26.A'Shawn Robinson (Rams)

25.Shelby Harris (Seahawks)

24.Josh Sweat (Eagles)

23.Sam Hubbard (Bengals)

22.Jonathan Greenard (Texans)

21.Brandon Graham (Eagles)

20.Akiem Hicks (Buccaneers)

19.Jerry Hughes (Texans)

18.Brian Burns (Panthers)

17.Jadeveon Clowney (Browns)

16.Montez Sweat (Commanders)

15.Denico Autry (Titans)

14.John Franklin-Myers (Jets)

13.Marcus Davenport (Saints)

12.J.J. Watt (Cardinals)

11.Chase Young (Commanders)

10.Emmanuel Ogbah (Dolphins)

9.Leonard Williams (Giants)

8.Calias Campbell (Ravens)

7.Robert Quinn (Bears)

6.DeMarcus Lawrence (Cowboys)

5.Trey Hendrickson (Bengals)

4.Von Miller (Bills)

3.Nick Bosa (49ers)

2.Cameron Jordan (Saints)

1.Myles Garrett (Browns)

Defensive Tackles:

35.Armon Watts (Vikings)

34.Christian Barmore (Patriots)

33.Maliek Collins (Texans)

32.Matt Ioannadis (Panthers)

31.Sebastian Joseph-Day (Chargers)

30.DaQuan Jones (Bills)

29.Daron Payne (Commanders)

28.Derrick Brown (Panthers)

27.Greg Gaines (Rams)

26.Lawrence Guy (Patriots)

25.Shy Tuttle (Saints)

24.D.J. Jones (Broncos)

23.Michael Pierce (Ravens)

22.Grover Stewart (Colts)

21.Ed Oliver (Bills)

20.Quinnen Williams (Jets)

19.B.J. Hill (Bengals)

18.Fletcher Cox (Eagles)

17.Dexter Lawrence (Giants)

16.Poona Ford (Seahawks)

15.Javon Hargrave (Eagles)

14.David Onyemata (Saints)

13.Dalvin Tomlinson (Vikings)

12.Grady Jarrett (Falcons)

11.Kenny Clark (Packers)

10.D.J. Reader (Bengals)

9.Christian Wilkins (Dolphins)

8.Jeffrey Simmons (Titans)

7.Vita Vea (Buccaneers)

6.Arik Armstead (49ers)

5.Jonathan Allen (Commanders)

4.DeForest Buckner (Colts)

3.Chris Jones (Chiefs)

2.Cameron Heyward (Steelers)

1.Aaron Donald (Rams)

Outside Linebackers:

35.Uchenna Nwosu (Seahawks)

34.Odafe Oweh (Ravens)

33.Kyzir White (Eagles)

32.Lorenzo Carter (Falcons)

31.Melvin Ingram (Dolphins)

30.Kyle Van Noy (Chargers)

29.Samson Ebukam (49ers)

28.Markus Golden (Cardinals)

27.Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (Browns)

26.Bradley Chubb (Broncos)

25.Andrew Van Ginkel (Dolphins)

24.Shaq Thompson (Panthers)

23.Harold Landry (Titans)

22.Randy Gregory (Broncos)

21.Alex Highsmith (Steelers)

20.Tyus Bowser (Ravens)

19.Leonard Floyd (Rams)

18.Bud Dupree (Titans)

17.Za'Darius Smith (Vikings)

16.Justin Houston (Free Agent)

15.Matt Milano (Bills)

14.Rashan Gary (Packers)

13.Matthew Judon (Patriots)

12.Haason Reddick (Eagles)

11.Chandler Jones (Raiders)

10.Preston Smith (Packers)

9.Josh Allen (Jaguars)

8.Micah Parsons (Cowboys)

7.Danielle Hunter (Vikings)

6.Maxx Crosby (Raiders)

5.Darius Leonard (Colts)

4.Shaq Barrett (Buccaneers)

3.Khalil Mack (Chargers)

2.Joey Bosa (Chargers)

1.T.J. Watt (Steelers)

Inside Linebackers:

25.Jordyn Brooks (Seahawks)

24.Bobby Okereke (Colts)

23.David Long Jr. (Titans)

22.Cole Holcomb (Football Team)

21.Deion Jones (Falcons)

20.Jerome Baker (Dolphins)

19.Denzel Perryman (Raiders)

18.Leighton Vander Esch (Cowboys)

17.Anthony Walker (Browns)

16.Ja'Whaun Bentley (Patriots)

15.Nick Bolton (Chiefs)

14.Jayon Brown (Raiders)

13.Logan Wilson (Bengals)

12.Pete Werner (Saints)

11.T.J. Edwards (Eagles)

10.Blake Martinez (Giants)

9.Jordan Hicks (Vikings)

8.Zach Cunningham (Titans)

7.Roquan Smith (Bears)

6.De'Vondre Campbell (Packers)

5.Eric Kendricks (Vikings)

4.Bobby Wagner (Rams)

3.Fred Warner (49ers)

2.Demario Davis (Saints)

1.Lavonte David (Buccaneers)

Cornerbacks:

50.Mike Hughes (Lions)

49.Jackrabbit Jenkins (Free Agent)

48.L'Jarius Sneed (Chiefs)

47.Troy Hill (Rams)

46.Cameron Dantzler (Vikings)

45.Kristian Fulton (Titans)

44.Emmanuel Moseley (49ers)

43.Sidney Jones (Seahawks)

42.Rasul Douglas (Packers)

41.Rashad Fenton (Chiefs)

40.Levi Wallace (Steelers)

39.Avonte Maddox (Eagles)

38.Nate Hobbs (Raiders)

37.Chauncey Gardner-Johnson (Saints)

36.Eric Stokes (Packers)

35.Greg Newsome II (Browns)

34.Jalen Mills (Patriots)

33.Steven Nelson (Texans)

32.Taron Johnson (Bills)

31.Jonathan Jones (Patriots)

30.William Jackson III (Commanders)

29.Charvarius Ward (49ers)

28.Jaylon Johnson (Bears)

27.Patrick Surtain II (Broncos)

26.Shaq Griffin (Jaguars)

25.Darious Williams (Jaguars)

24.Mike Hilton (Bengals)

23.D.J. Reed Jr. (Jets)

22.Byron Jones (Dolphins)

21.Trevon Diggs (Cowboys)

20.James Bradberry (Eagles)

19.Stephon Gilmore (Colts)

18.Kendall Fuller (Commanders)

17.Casey Hayward Jr. (Falcons)

16.Carlton Davis (Buccaneers)

15.Chidobe Awuzie (Bengals)

14.Marcus Peters (Ravens)

13.Jamel Dean (Buccaneers)

12.Kenny Moore (Colts)

11.Adoree' Jackson (Giants)

10.Tre'Davious White (Bills)

9.Denzel Ward (Browns)

8.Marlon Humphrey (Ravens)

7.A.J. Terrell (Falcons)

6.Xavien Howard (Dolphins)

5.Marshon Lattimore (Saints)

4.Darius Slay (Eagles)

3.J.C. Jackson (Chargers)

2.Jaire Alexander (Packers)

1.Jalen Ramsey (Rams)

Safeties:

50.Mike Edwards (Buccaneers)

49.Jaquiski Tartt (Eagles)

48.DeShon Elliott (Lions)

47.Kareem Jackson (Broncos)

46.Terrell Edmunds (Steelers)

45.Taylor Rapp (Rams)

44.Trevon Moehrig (Raiders)

43.Nasir Adderley (Chargers)

42.Jalen Thompson (Cardinals)

41.Anthony Harris (Eagles)

40.Eddie Jackson (Bears)

39.Rodney McLeod (Colts)

38.Xavier Woods (Panthers)

37.Bobby McCain (Commanders)

36.Eric Rowe (Dolphins)

35.Tracy Walker (Lions)

34.Jayron Kearse (Cowboys)

33.Jevon Holland (Dolphins)

32.Justin Reid (Chiefs)

31.Chuck Clark (Ravens)

30.Kamren Curl (Commanders)

29.Juan Thornhill (Chiefs)

28.Jimmie Ward (49ers)

27.Jeremy Chinn (Panthers)

26.Amani Hooker (Titans)

25.Darnell Savage (Packers)

24.Jordan Whitehead (Jets)

23.Marcus Maye (Saints)

22.Kyle Dugger (Patriots)

21.Xavier McKinney (Giants)

20.Jamal Adams (Seahawks)

19.Jordan Fuller (Rams)

18.Devin McCourty (Patriots)

17.Vonn Bell (Bengals)

16.Quandre Diggs (Seahawks)

15.Adrian Phillips (Patriots)

14.Tyrann Mathieu (Saints)

13.Budda Baker (Cardinals)

12.John Johnson III (Browns)

11.Jordan Poyer (Bills)

10.Jessie Bates III (Bengals)

9.Minkah Fitzpatrick (Steelers)

8.Adrian Amos (Packers)

7.Antoine Winfield Jr. (Buccaneers)

6.Derwin James (Chargers)

5.Harrison Smith (Vikings)

4.Justin Simmons (Broncos)

3.Micah Hyde (Bills)

2.Marcus Williams (Ravens)

1.Kevin Byard (Titans)

Kickers:

20.Matt Prater (Cardinals)

19.Greg Joseph (Vikings)

18.Cairo Santos (Bears)

17.Zane Gonzalez (Panthers)

16.Ryan Succop (Buccaneers)

15.Jake Elliott (Eagles)

14.Graham Gano (Giants)

13.Joey Slye (Commanders)

12.Greg Zuerlein (Jets)

11.Dustin Hopkins (Chargers)

10.Nick Folk (Patriots)

9.Evan McPherson (Bengals)

8.Robbie Gould (49ers)

7.Tyler Bass (Bills)

6.Younghoe Koo (Falcons)

5.Matt Gay (Rams)

4.Daniel Carlson (Raiders)

3.Chris Boswell (Steelers)

2.Harrison Butker (Chiefs)

1.Justin Tucker (Ravens)

Punters:

20.Mitch Wishnowsky (49ers)

19.Sam Martin (Broncos)

18.Johnny Hekker (Panthers)

17.Brett Kern (Titans)

16.Pat O'Donnell (Packers)

15.Kevin Huber (Bengals)

14.Corey Bojorquez (Browns)

13.Jordan Berry (Vikings)

12.Tommy Townsend (Chiefs)

11.Cameron Johnston (Texans)

10.Thomas Morstead (Dolphins)

9.Blake Gillikin (Saints)

8.Michael Dickson (Seahawks)

7.Logan Cooke (Jaguars)

6.Jake Bailey (Patriots)

5.Andy Lee (Cardinals)

4.A.J. Cole (Raiders)

3.Bryan Anger (Cowboys)

2.Jack Fox (Lions)

1.Tress Way (Commanders)

Top 10 Appearances by Team:

Tampa Bay Buccaneers-9 (Shaq Barrett, Tom Brady, Lavonte David, Chris Godwin, Ryan Jensen, Shaq Mason, Vita Vea, Antoine Winfield Jr., Tristian Wirfs)

Baltimore Ravens-8 (Mark Andrews, Calias Campbell, Marlon Humphrey, Lamar Jackson, Ronnie Stanley, Justin Tucker, Marcus Williams, Kevin Zeitler)

Cincinnati Bengals-7 (Jessie Bates III, Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase, Trey Hendrickson, Evan McPherson, Joe Mixon, D.J. Reader)

Dallas Cowboys-7 (Bryan Anger, DeMarcus Lawrence, Zach Martin, Micah Parsons, Dak Prescott, Dalton Schultz, Tyron Smith)

Green Bay Packers-7 (Jaire Alexander, Adrian Amos, David Bakhitiari, De'Vondre Campbell, Aaron Jones, Aaron Rodgers, Preston Smith)

Los Angeles Chargers-7 (Joey Bosa, Austin Ekeler, Justin Herbert, J.C. Jackson, Derwin James, Corey Linsley, Khalil Mack)

Miami Dolphins-7 (Terron Armstead, Mike Gesicki, Tyreek Hill, Xavien Howard, Thomas Morstead, Emmanuel Ogbah, Christian Wilkins)

San Francisco 49ers-7 (Arik Armstead, Nick Bosa, Robbie Gould, George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, Fred Warner, Trent Williams)

Cleveland Browns-6 (Joel Bitonio, Nick Chubb, Jack Conklin, Myles Garrett, Wyatt Teller, Denzel Ward)

Kansas City Chiefs-6 (Harrison Butker, Creed Humphrey, Chris Jones, Travis Kelce, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Thuney)

Los Angeles Rams-6 (Aaron Donald, Matt Gay, Cooper Kupp, Jalen Ramsey, Matthew Stafford, Bobby Wagner)

Minnesota Vikings-6 (Dalvin Cook, Jordan Hicks, Danielle Hunter, Justin Jefferson, Eric Kendricks, Harrison Smith)

New Orleans Saints-6 (Demario Davis, Blake Gillikin, Marshon Lattimore, Cameron Jordan, Alvin Kamara, Ryan Ramcyzk)

Las Vegas Raiders-5 (Davante Adams, Daniel Carlson, A.J. Cole, Maxx Crosby, Darren Waller)

New England Patriots-5 (David Andrews, Jake Bailey, Nick Folk, Damien Harris, Hunter Henry)

Philadelphia Eagles-5 (A.J. Brown, Dallas Goedert, Lane Johnson, Jason Kelce, Darius Slay)

Tennessee Titans-5 (Kevin Byard, Zach Cunningham, Derrick Henry, Ben Jones, Jeffrey Simmons)

Atlanta Falcons-4 (Younghoe Koo, Chris Lindstrom, Kyle Pitts, A.J. Terrell)

Indianapolis Colts-4 (DeForest Buckner, Darious Leonard Quenton Nelson, Jonathan Taylor)

Pittsburgh Steelers-4 (Chris Boswell, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Cameron Heyward, T.J. Watt)

Arizona Cardinals-3 (DeAndre Hopkins, Rodney Hudson, Andy Lee)

Detroit Lions-3 (Jack Fox, T.J. Hockenson, Frank Ragnow)

Jacksonville Jaguars-3 (Josh Allen, Logan Cooke, Brandon Scherff)

Washington Commanders-3 (Jonathan Allen, Chase Roullier, Tress Way)

Carolina Panthers-2 (Christian McCaffery, Taylor Moton)

Chicago Bears-2 (Robert Quinn, Roquan Smith)

Denver Broncos-2 (Justin Simmons, Russell Wilson)

New York Giants-2 (Blake Martinez, Leonard Williams)

Free Agents-1 (J.C. Tretter)

New York Jets-1 (Laken Tomlinson)

Seattle Seahawks-1 (Michael Dickson)

Houston Texans-0