2025 NFL Preview: NFC North

Chicago Bears

2024 Record: 5-12 (4th in NFC North)

Head Coach: Ben Johnson (1st season)

Notable Additions: C Drew Dalman, G Joe Thuney, DT Grady Jarrett

Notable Departures: G Teven Jenkins, C Coleman Shelton, WR Keenan Allen

Biggest Reason for Excitement: The Hiring of Ben Johnson

Historically, the Bears aren't known for making splashy head coaching hires. Lovie Smith and Matt Nagy are the only times in recent memory they even hired a coach that had a real market for their services around the league and it's probably not a coincidence that they've been the two most successful coaches they've had post-Ditka by a wide margin. When Matt Eberflus was fired after his inexplicably awful clock management cost them a golden opportunity to pull off a miracle comeback against the Lions on Thanksgiving last November, most people thought they would hire a stable vet like Mike McCarthy or the rejuvenated Kliff Kingbury due to his experience working with Caleb Williams at USC. Instead, they shocked the world by hiring Ben Johnson. What made this move particularly stunning was Johnson's well-known pickiness when it came to job offers. He had elected to stay with the Lions in 2023 and 2024 due to not liking the openings that were available, so it was eyebrow-raising that he felt the Bears provided him with the right opportunity to finally make the leap into the head coaching ranks.

As a Bears fan, I can say with zero hesitation that this is the most exciting thing to happen the franchise in forever. Johnson is the most buzzed about coaching candidate since Sean McVay and his innovation and creativity as an offensive mind has made him the best playcaller in football 3 years running. On top of that, the respect he commanded and accountability from his players that he demanded in the Lions locker room offers a much-needed change-of-face from the loose environment the Bears had during Eberflus' tenure. A great offensive mind working with a young QB that has the level of promise that Williams possesses that can also completely change the culture of the team is precisely what this team needs right now and I'm alarmingly optimistic that he's going to deliver on the high expectations that have been placed on him.           

Biggest Reason for Concern: Caleb Williams Not Grasping the Offense

Caleb Williams got thrown to the wolves to a degree that nobody really expected him to in his rookie year. He had to endure a shoddy offensive line that led to him get sacked a whopping 68 times (3rd most sacks taken in a single season in NFL history), mid-season coordinator change from Shane Waldron to Thomas Brown and questionable effort levels from some of his teammates as their season slipped through their grasp as their solid 4-2 start was followed up by a miserable 10-game losing streak. Williams himself deserves his share of the blame as well as he regularly looked indecisive (hence why he only threw only 6 picks last year) and held onto the ball for too long while also missing some easy throws that most QB's would have no problem making.

The biggest red flag surrounding Williams coming into the NFL was his tendency to improvise. Turn on any tape from his time at Oklahoma or USC and you'll be greeted with dozens of plays where he scrambles around like a maniac then chucks the ball downfield. These off schedule plays also happen to be one of his biggest strengths, but it won't be able to be his bread-and-butter in the pros. It's since been revealed that this tendency has developed from playing on teams that didn't require him to adhere a rigid routine. In other words, he didn't receive tough or detailed coaching in high school or college and that caused him to rely on improvisation to make plays.

This brings us to this offseason. For the first time in his football playing career, he's being coached hard and asked to run an offense with a real structure and purpose behind it. Can he handle this responsbility? Early results in camp have been mixed. While there's been periods where he's been sharp, Bears beat reporters and Johnson himself have expressed frustration with their struggles with lining up, timing on throws and basically all of the small but key details that are needed to fall into place for an offense to be effective.

To be fair to Williams, there's inevitably going to be a learning curve with this system. No quarterback on the planet can just seamlessly run shit they've never been asked to do on a football field after a couple weeks of practice. The harsh reality is that there's a real chance that Williams just doesn't have it in him to run a scheme like this. He's still very young at 23 going on 24, but it could be too late for him to pick up something that has a level of intricacy and purpose behind it that's unlike anything else he's seen during his time playing football. Not everybody who sets out to learn a new language can pick that shit up and we should have an answer about Williams' football learning skills by the end of the season.      

Key to Reaching Their Ceiling: Regaining Their Confidence After a Shitshow 2024

The 2024 Bears had themselves one hell of a sad campaign. From a 3-week stretch where they lost games to all 3 of their divisional running mates by a combined total of 7 points to the infamous Hail Mary loss to the Commanders where embattled starting corner Tyrique Stevenson batted the ball up instead of down-which allowed Noah Brown to make an easy catch in the endzone, this string of losses just forced the team to slowly bleed out until Eberflus fully lost the locker room following the aforementioned loss to the Lions on Thanksgiving and got fired. To his credit, interim HC Thomas Brown-who also served as their offensive coordinator for the final 7 games of the year following Shane Waldron's dismissal in mid-November- did reestablish a bit of a spark in the room over the final 5 games and eventually led them to an upset Week 18 road win over an engaged Packers squad that was battling for playoff seeding.

A top priority for Johnson and his top assistants DC Dennis Allen and OC Declan Doyle this year is working to instill confidence back in this locker room. Most of the 2024 roster is still around and certainly hasn't forgotten how deflating it was to lose 10 straight games and have a promising season spiral out of control in the blink of an eye. The way they closed out the season with the win over the Packers was encouraging and this staff would be wise to use as that a springboard even though only a small number of them were actually in the room (special teams coordinator Richard Hightower, tight ends coach Jim Dray, assistant linebackers coach Kevin Koch and defensive quality control coach Kenny Norton III are the sold holdovers from 2024). There's enough on talent on this team, especially on defense, for them to make a quick turnaround this season, they just need to be pushed into believing they can compete at a high level. That's a tough ask for a 1st time head coach in his 1st year on the job, but if Johnson is as special as everybody thinks he can be, he should be able to pull it off.    

Bottom Line:

While it's unquestionably misguided and irrational thought considering their tragic history as an organization, my belief in Ben Johnson is so high that I'm buying into the Bears making to the playoffs this year. 

 Detroit Lions

2024 Record: 15-2 (1st in NFC North)

Head Coach: Dan Campbell (5th season)

Notable Additions: CB D.J. Reed, CB Avonte Maddox, DT Roy Lopez

Notable Departures: C Frank Ragnow (retired), CB Carlton Davis, G Kevin Zeitler

Biggest Reason for Excitement: They're Still Really, Really Good

There's a "the sky is falling!" kind of vibe surrounding the Lions right now that's kind of fucking bizarre. That's not to say there isn't some concerns to be had with this team because there very much are. Losing both coordinators and 2 key pieces to an elite offense line (Frank Ragnow, Kevin Zeitler) in the immediate aftermath of a season that ended with them getting their asses kicked on their home field by an inferior opponent in the Divisional Round is a tough blow that are probably going to be uphill battles for them to overcome. I'm going to say something controversial: I think the Lions are still very good.

They still have an unstoppable 1-2 RB tandem in Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery. Jared Goff will still have the opportunity to throw to a dynamic group of pass-catchers led by Amon-Ra St. Brown, Sam LaPorta and Jameson Williams. The steadiness of their tackle duo of Taylor Decker and Penei Sewell will be able to cancel out at least some of the uncertainty surrounding their overhauled interior line (rookie Tate Ratledge and 2nd year pro Christian Mahogany-who logged 1 start as a rookie- are projected to start at guard while Graham Glasgow shifts over to center from right guard), Aidan Hutchinson will be back from his broken leg and should be hungry to finish a season as the league's leader in sacks after holding that position when he got hurt last season. Top free agent pickup D.J. Reed could prove to be the pure #1 corner they've been looking for and desperately needed since Darius Slay left town ahead of the 2020 season. Their young defensive corps (Hutchinson, Alim McNeill, Jack Campbell, Brian Branch, Kerby Joseph, hopefully Terrion Arnold if he can bounce back from a rough rookie campaign) remains one of the finest in the entire league. Dan Campbell still knows how to lead and motivate his team as well as any coach in the league. Are they going to win it all?  No. As I've said many, many times over the last few years, the Lions aren't allowed to go to the Super Bowl, let alone win it and nothing can be done to break this sacred unwritten rule. But they should continue to be one of the top teams in the NFC and get people excited for a deep playoff run before inevitably breaking their hearts once again.          

Biggest Reason for Concern: The Ransacking of the Coaching Staff

Every so often, one successful team is unlucky enough to lose a ton of assistant coaches in a single offseason including both coordinators. The Lions became the latest member of this club when Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn accepted head coaching jobs with the Bears and Jets respectively in late January. Here's a quick overview of the coaches that Johnson and Glenn took with them to their new homes and the roles they held with the Lions last season:

Ben Johnson: Antwaan Randel El (wide receivers coach), J.T. Barrett (assistant quarterbacks coach)

Aaron Glenn: Tanner Engstrand (passing game coordinator), Steve Heiden (tight ends coach), Cameron Davis (assistant defensive line)

As an extra kick in the balls, defensive line coach Terrell Williams also departed to become the Patriots DC under his old friend Mike Vrabel (Williams was on his staff with the Titans from 2018-23). That brings the final departing staff total to 2 coordinators and 6 position coaches. Yikes!

Naturally, losing so many assistants presents some real challenges. The loss of continuity paired with shifts in philosophies/playcalling tendencies and experience level can drastically damage the efficiency of the entire operation. The best recent example of the damage that can come from this level of changeover is what happened with the Eagles in 2023 after Shane Steichen and Jonathan Gannon left. Brian Johnson and Sean Desai were named the new coordinators and at the start of the year, everything was generally alright as they got off to a 10-1 start despite various hiccups that emerged-particularly on the back end of the defense. Then, things suddenly started to spiral out of control starting with a 42-19 blowout loss to the 49ers in Week 13. The offense stagnated, the defense got so bad that Desai eventually ceded his playcalling duties to Matt F'n Patricia (who was unsurprisingly worse!) and the team ultimately finished the year on a 1-6 skid that ended with a 32-9 beatdown at the hands of the Buccaneers. Of course, the Eagles quickly corrected this problem by axing all 3 of these gents ahead of the 2024 season, hired Kellen Moore and Vic Fangio as their replacements and immediately returned to peak form on their way to winning the Super Bowl.

The two men tasked with taking over for Johnson and Glenn are John Morton and Kelvin Sheppard. Morton served as the Broncos passing game coordinator under Sean Payton for the past 2 seasons while Sheppard was promoted internally after serving as a linebackers coach under Glenn for the past 4 seasons. While they have a big gap in age and tenure on the job (Morton is a 55-year old who began coaching in 1999 after a brief pro career, Sheppard is a 37-year old who played linebacker in the NFL from 2011-2018 and has only been coaching since he joined the Lions in 2021), they're both similarly green in terms of NFL top assistant experience. While this will obviously be Sheppard's first time overseeing a unit in the pros, Morton has one prior stint as a pro OC with the Jets back in 2017 on his resume. Things didn't go great for Morton as the offense ranked 24th in scoring, 24th in passing and 19th in rushing and he didn't get another crack at it as his boss Todd Bowles got fired at the end of the year. It does need to be noted that was the Jets team that had the bright idea to task a 38-year old Josh McCown to lead their team and had to resort to starting Baylor legend Bryce Petty after McCown broke his hand in Week 14, so he didn't exactly have the talent pool in East Rutherford then that he'll have in Detroit now.

While I can't speak on how different they'll be from their predecessors on a schematic or philosophical level, their collective greenness is a huge dark cloud hanging over this team right now. As much as I just poopooed the extent of the over-the-top fatalism the Lions fans are expressing towards their team right now, turning a huge part of their operation over to a pair of guys that lack proven track records as pro coaches is worrisome to say the least. Campbell isn't a great X and O's coaches by any stretch and has relied on his assistants (particularly offensively) to make waves since he got here. If that support system collapses now that Johnson and Glenn are gone, there could prove to be some dire consequences for this team somewhere down the line.        

Key to Reaching Their Ceiling: The Defense Pulling Their Weight

As I discussed a couple weeks back in my Jets preview piece, the Lions defenses under Glenn were mostly quite bad. Even last season when they had the 7th ranked scoring defense and started to really solidify themselves as a strong run-stuffing unit (5th in the league), they quickly unraveled in the playoffs and looked like the perennial bottom 10 unit they were during the 3 prior seasons.

The kicker is this team has a lot of real talent at every level of defense (Aidan Hutchinson, D.J. Reader and Alim McNeill up front, Jack Campbell at linebacker, Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph at safety), it just hasn't coalesced into something that's strong overall. Being able to unlock that great top-to-bottom unit is the biggest challenge that Sheppard faces in his new role.

Given their strength at stopping the run and safety, the focus needs to be in two areas: corner and pass-rushers beyond Hutchinson. The corner situation last season was once again a pure disgrace for the Lions as Carlton Davis had a down year in what ended up being his only season with the team, Terrion Arnold was way too handsy and undisciplined during his aforementioned poor rookie campaign and Amik Robertson was the exact average-to-below average slot corner he while he was with the Raiders. This year, they're merely swapping out Davis for Reed-which should be an upgrade given Reed's steadier track record in coverage and better durability, so the play of Arnold and Robertson could ultimately dictate if they finish in the bottom 3 once again or start to turn this ship around.

The staggering ineffectiveness of the Lions pass rush beyond Hutchinson can be magnified by just 1 simple statistic from last season: Hutchinson led the team in sacks with 7.5 despite appearing in only 5 games. The 2nd place finisher was Za'Darius Smith, who logged 4 sacks in 8 games after being acquired from the Browns ahead of the trade deadline. They seem to be banking heavily on Hutchinson coming back firing on all cylinders to start this season as they signed no new free agents and the only draft pick they made at this spot was a 6th rounder (Ahmed Hassanein) who isn't even a guarantee to make the roster. That's a really risky maneuver by GM Brad Holmes as Josh Paschal has proven that he can't be effective in the pros (he matched his career-high in sacks last season with 2 despite logging 10 starts in place of Hutchinson) and current projected starter alongside Hutchinson Marcus Davenport is one of the least durable players in the league, appearing in just 69 games through 7 NFL seasons (and just 6 in the past 2!!!). If Davenport can stay healthy, they could have something as he's flashed in the past, but that's a big if.

Even if the offense can find a rhythm under Morton, this team will continue to have a hard time in the playoffs if the defense continues to struggle. Every game can't be a shootout and the only way they're going to pull off the impossible is if the defense starts pulling their weight.         

Bottom Line:

Given they went 15-2 last season and lost a ton of assistant coaches this offseason, some sort of regression is basically inevitable. However, this team deserves to remain the favorite in the NFC North and feels like a safe bet to return to the playoffs for the 3rd straight year.  

Green Bay Packers

2024 Record: 11-6 (3rd in NFC North)

Head Coach: Matt LaFluer (7th season)

Notable Additions: CB Nate Hobbs, G Aaron Banks, WR/KR Mecole Hardman

Notable Departures: CB Jaire Alexander, DT T.J Slaton, CB Eric Stokes

Biggest Reason for Excitement: They Drafted a WR in the 1st Round?!?!?!

The Packers have a fascinating organizational philosophy that has spanned several front offices/coaches and endured through major shifts in NFL offenses at this point: Avoid drafting WR's in the 1st round. Historically, there have been plenty of great WR's that were drafted outside of the 1st round (quite a few of them have played for the Packers over the years), but it's still pretty wild for a team to place so little value on a key position. In recent years, fans have been clamoring for them to put this philosophy to the side and have even shown disgust with some of their top selections in recent years-particularly in 2023 when they elected to take Lukas Van Ness while Jaxson Smith-Njgiba and Zay Flowers were both still on the board (they selected Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks later on in the draft, but the jury is still very much out on whether they'll be better than JSN or Flowers while Van Ness has been very quiet through 2 seasons). In late April, a small miracle occurred in front of their own damn fanbase when Roger Goodell stepped to the podium outside of Lambeau Field and announced that they had taken Texas wide receiver Matthew Golden with the 23rd pick of the 2025 NFL Draft. This marked the 1st time the Packers had selected a WR in the 1st round since Javon Walker in 2002 and brought an end to what just might be one of the most absurd droughts in the history of sports.

As for Golden the player, he was a spring workout darling that steadily rose up the WR ranks in this draft class thanks to his inside/outside versatility, YAC ability and high-end speed. He's also yet another Packers receiver who struggles with drops and has questionable play strength, things that will probably both show up at the worst possible time like they have for Reed, Wicks, Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs in recent years. How perfectly he fits the good and bad parts of the current Packers WR mold aside, it's exciting that they actually took a swing at the top of the draft for once. Best of all, fans should get a chance to see what Golden is made of right away as he's projected to start in Week 1 alongside Reed and Doubs.        

Biggest Reason for Concern: The Corner Room

The Packers corner room will look a bit different this season as longtime top dog Jaire Alexander was released and Eric Stokes-who logged 32 starts over the past 4 seasons-left for the Raiders in free agency. This isn't quite as drastic of a change as it sounds as Alexander has only appeared in 14 games over the past 2 seasons while Stokes lost his full-time starting role to rookie Javon Bullard once Alexander returned from injury last year, but the implications from it could be. Last year's group-which was primarily anchored by Keisan Nixon and Bullard-contributed to the group finishing a decent but unimposing 13th in pass defense. With ex-Raider Nate Hobbs taking Alexander's normal starting spot and 3rd year pro Carrington Valentine stepping into Stokes' role as the top backup, there's a real chance of them sliding down the rankings.

Nixon and Hobbs aren't bad players at all, but they've both regressed a bit in the past couple of years and I'm not overly confident that they'll be able to improve with the more strenuous set of assignments that they'll presumably be facing in 2025. Bullard is my biggest concern as he was a huge coverage liability last year (85.2 CMP% allowed) and doesn't feel like a natural fit at slot corner (he played safety at Georgia). Strangely enough, Valentine is the guy that I feel best about right now as he's shown pretty well through 2 seasons (14 passes defensed, 2 INT's, 2 forced fumbles,) and has logged enough starts (19) to feel comfortable with his ability to play his role when he's forced into action. 

Is this group going to straight up stink? Probably not. Hell, they might even end up being better than at least 2 of the teams in their division. However, there's not a single guy that is reliable enough to be trusted to be solid for 17 games and in a conference that boasts so much receiving talent, that's reason enough to have some pause about this team's prospects for 2025.       

Key to Reaching Their Ceiling: Jordan Love Becoming More Consistent

Assessing Jordan Love is a good time because he hasn't played enough to get a real sense of what he's about as a player. We were handed a bit of a clearer picture during his 2nd season as a starter as he was more erratic than he was during his 1st season, especially from an accuracy and decision-making standpoint. These are of course the two areas where Love has struggled the most throughout his football life, they were just more pronounced and backbreaking in 2024 even if the raw numbers don't fully bear that out (his completion percentage only dropped 1.1% to 63.1% from 2023 to 2024 and his 11 INT's thrown matched 2023, although it did come on 154 fewer passing attempts in 2 fewer games). What makes this decline particularly odd is that it came alongside an improved rushing attack led by workhorse Josh Jacobs in his 1st season with the Packers, which theoretically should have taken pressure off him but instead made him a bit more jumpy. 

I could be completely off base, but I believe what we're witnessing here is the downside of him sitting behind Aaron Rodgers for 2 years. Somebody with the weaknesses that Love possesses can't improve solely through simulations in practice or in the film room, he needs live game action to figure how to handle pressure and master the timing with his receivers. The good news is that Love is still young (he turns 27 in November) and the problems with his game can be corrected with time. It took Josh Allen-who has a similar athletic profile as Love-a few years to fix his accuracy woes and cut down on his boneheaded decisions too and Love seems to have the coaching in place and proper mindset to make a similar big leap in his 3rd year as a starter. If Love can indeed become a more consistent, reliable playmaker this year, the Packers could be a real problem come playoff time.          

Bottom Line:

While they should once again be solid, Jordan Love and the back end of the defense should ultimately dictate whether or not they can be more than that. 

Minnesota Vikings

2024 Record: 14-3 (2nd in NFC North)

Head Coach: Kevin O'Connell (4th season)

Notable Additions: G Will Fries, DE Jonathan Allen, DE Javon Hargarve

Notable Departures: QB Sam Darnold, S Camryn Bynum, T Cam Robinson

Biggest Reason for Excitement: They Aggressively Addressed Their Biggest Issues During the Offseason

Over the course of just 8 horrific days, the Vikings went from 14-2 with a chance of clinching the #1 seed in a Week 18 matchup versus the Lions for the NFC North crown to being eliminated in the Wild Card Round by the Rams in embarrassing fashion. Motivated by how astoundingly poorly they played in their final 2 games of the season, GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah locked the fuck in and promptly addressed most of their biggest needs during offseason. He started with the fortification of the interior line that got undressed by the Lions and Rams' interior pass rushes in those fateful final games by cutting ties with their failed draft picks Ed Ingram and Garrett Bradbury and replacing them with sturdier vets Will Fries and Ryan Kelly. They also selected Donovan Jackson out of Ohio State in the 1st round of the draft, who is expected to replace Blake Brendel at LG.

Next, they pounced on a pair of veteran interior defensive lineman who were released at the start of the new league year in Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave. While both of them are coming off down years with the Commanders and 49ers respectively, they're in a good spot to make an impact playing alongside an excellent edge rusher group (Jonathan Greenard, Andrew Van Ginkel, Dallas Turner) and athletic starting linebacker duo (Blake Cashman, Ivan Pace Jr.) in Brian Flores' blitz-happy system.

Lastly, they went out and bolstered their RB depth by bringing in Jordan Mason. While Mason is actually even more injury-prone than their current starter Aaron Jones, he's a full-blown burner of a back that has a more complete skill set than their returning speedster Ty Chandler and should make for a nice complement to the precise, shifty Jones.

Kudos to Adofo-Mensah for not standing pat following a season that was mostly wildly successful for them. He was hamstrung by having very little draft capital to work with (their next pick after Jackson wasn't until the 4th round and they only ended up making 5 picks total) and some cap restrictions to work through after handing out so many big deals in past year or so (Justin Jefferson, Christian Darrisaw, Byron Murphy, Aaron Jones, Greenard, Van Ginkel, Cashman) and still found a way to make bold, necessary moves without overextending themselves to the point where they're unable to further bolster their squad in upcoming seasons.  

Biggest Reason for Concern: Relying on J.J. McCarthy to Start Right Away

Letting Sam Darnold go was a difficult but easily justifiable decision for the Vikings to make. He filled the stopgap role better than anyone could've ever hoped he could with his Pro Bowl-caliber campaign (4,312 YDS/35 TD's/12 INT's/66.2 CMP%/102.5 QBR), and those final 2 games displayed an alarming portal into the bad habits he slips back into when things fall apart around him. The downside to Darnold's departure for the Vikings in the short team at least is that it thrusts J.J. McCarthy into the starting role right away.

For those who forgot, McCarthy was believed to be in a strong position to win the starting job in camp a year ago before he tore his meniscus in the preseason opener and went on season-ending IR. While there's no doubt that Kevin O'Connell can put McCarthy in a position to succeed from the jump, especially given McCarthy's reputation of being a game manager above all else, it does seem a little bit reckless to throw a kid whose never been played in a real NFL game out there Week 1 after he's spent much of the past 12 months focused on rehabbing his knee. We've seen how overwhelmed a lot of young QB's look when they first step onto an NFL field, now imagine how much those jitters can intensify when you haven't played in a real football game of any kind for almost 2 full years. McCarthy has a reputation of being a good leader and kind of a hardo, but there's no evidence those qualities will be able to get him over this enormous hurdle. While having him sit for the opening 3-5 weeks of the season to further observe how the game functions at this level would probably be ideal for all parties involved, it doesn't seem overly likely that O'Connell would be cool with handing the ball over to wild gunslinger Sam Howell if McCarthy is good to go medically for Week 1. He's set to face the Bears, Falcons, Bengals, Steelers and Browns before their Week 6 bye, which isn't an overly daunting stretch by any means, so the kid will at least have a fair chance to hit the ground running to start his pro career.        

Key to Reaching Their Ceiling: Having Another Corner Emerge Alongside Byron Murphy

Over the past 2 seasons with the Vikings, Byron Murphy has turned into the reliable ballhawking corner that he never quite was on a consistent basis during his inaugural 4 seasons with the Cardinals. Murphy's emergence as a top corner earned him a new 3-year deal this offseason and filled a key hole on a Vikings secondary that has had its share of struggles of late. As for the rest of their corner room, it remains a huge steaming mess. One of the biggest reasons their pass defense was so porous last year (30th in the NFL) was due to having to rely on an over-the-hill Stephon Gilmore and journeyman Shaq Griffin to play a ton of reps. Both of those guys were on 1-year deals and didn't return to the team for the 2025 season. Unfortunately, their replacements may not be any better.  

Given their limited draft capital and a poor free agent market for #2/3 corners, the Vikings had to once again throw darts to fill out their corner depth chart. The 3 players they landed on were Isaiah Rodgers, Jeff Okudah and Tavierre Thomas. Rodgers had a decent year as a rotational piece/spot starter for the Eagles last year, especially considering he was out of football for a full year after serving a gambling suspension that got him axed from the Colts. He's currently projected to start on the outside, which is a ballsy proposition considering that he's only had 1 prolonged stint as an entrenched starter for his entire career (9 games for the Colts back in 2022).

Fellow projected starter Okudah is far less interesting than Rodgers as he's less of an enigma with some upside and more of a full-blown reclamation project at this stage of his career. The 3rd pick in the 2020 draft has failed to become a tiny fraction of the player he was projected to be when he came out of Ohio State through an initial 5 NFL seasons that have been marred by poor play and injuries, but the small flashes of potential he's shown, and his elite college pedigree will cause teams in the analytics-era to keep kicking the tires on him until he finally sticks or ages out of getting opportunities (we're probably about 2-3 years away from the latter occurring if he falters here).

Thomas falls somewhere between Rodgers and Okudah on the Risk Appeal Meter as he had a solid season with the Texans in 2021 but hasn't gotten many reps since then. It wouldn't surprise me at all if he found his way onto the field and became the best of this trio by the end of the year.

No matter the path or who ends up doing it (returning Vikings Mekhi Blackmon and Dwight McGlothern should also be in the mix for snaps, if not a starting job), they just desperately need somebody to show up alongside Murphy. This division is shaping up to be an absolute bloodbath once again and something as seemingly small as having another viable corner on the roster could pay huge dividends for the Vikings standing in the NFC North hierarchy.             

Bottom Line:

As much as I believe in Kevin O'Connell's ability as a coach, I'm shaky enough on J.J. McCarthy's odds of being an effective starter and their pass defense to pick them to finish last in this tough division as of right now. 

Predicted Standings:

1.Detroit Lions (12-5)

2.Chicago Bears (11-6)

3.Green Bay Packers (10-7)

4.Minnesota Vikings (7-10)

Benedict Wong 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 Benedict Wong-whose latest project "Weapons" opens in theaters tomorrow. 

Benedict Wong's Filmography Ranked:

17.Raya and the Last Dragon (D+)

16.Sunshine (D+)

15.Hummingbird (aka Redemption) (C+)

14.Johnny English Reborn (B-)

13.Prometheus (B)

12.Gemini Man (B)

11.Kick-Ass 2 (B)

10.Nine Days (B+)

9.Spider-Man: No Way Home (B)

8.Moon (B+)

7.Doctor Strange (B+)

6.Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (B+)

5.The Martian (B+)

4.Annihilation (B+)

3.Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (A-)

2.Avengers: Endgame (A-)

1.Avengers: Infinity War (A)

Top Dog: Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

There are so many damn people in this movie that I feel like I'm writing about it in this column every few months or so. Alas, the doom-filled atmosphere, epic narrative and deep entertainment value of Avengers: Infinity War will probably be enough to keep it in my personal MCU Hall of Fame forever.  

Bottom Feeder: Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)

The further we get into this decade, the more likely I think it is that Raya and the Last Dragon will go down as the worst animated movie I bothered to watch. After a promising into detailing how a formerly unified nation became divided into five kingdoms courtesy of power struggle birthed by the creation of a magical gem, the film becomes a complete snoozefest that would rather focus on the contrived friendship that develops between young warrior princess Raya (Kelly Marie Tran) and Sisu (Awkwafina)-who is the dragon that created this gem centuries earlier-instead of diving into the vast, conflicted world that's teased in the opening scene. It also needs to be said that Awkwafina-who I typically like on screen and in voiceover roles-was completely miscast as Sisu. Her signature goofy schtick is completely out of place in a movie that otherwise maintains a pretty serious tone.     

Most Underrated: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

There were a couple of reasons that I refused to back the "Marvel has lost their way post-Endgame"! narrative that emerged a few years ago and lasted until about a week ago when The Fantastic Four: First Steps marked the third time in the last calendar year that audiences walked away happy with one of their products. 1: I've felt the quality of Marvel's movies has been inconsistent from the jump. 2.Some of their recent efforts fucking rip. One of the films from the current wave of the MCU that I'm quite fond of happens to be the one that is arguably their most polarizing since Iron Man 3: Sam Raimi's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. While the movie does suffer from spotty pacing at times as a result of having its narrative reworked on the fly following a mid-production release date swap with Spider-Man: No Way Home, Raimi is cooking so hard with his directorial choices here that it doesn't really matter. By establishing a campy, pseudo-horror vibe inspired by some of Raimi's signature works (Evil Dead, Drag Me to Hell) and being unafraid to utilize the multiverse as a vehicle to deliver several radically different versions of iconic characters than we've seen in the past, Multiverse of Madness goes down as an utterly delightful piece of macabre entertainment that feels shockingly experimental for the typically strictly homogenized MCU.          

Most Overrated: Sunshine (2007)

After thoroughly enjoying their hotly anticipated surprise reunion on 28 Years Later, Sunshine remains the only Danny Boyle and Alex Garland collaboration that I dislike. To be honest, Sunshine doesn't just represent an outlier among their collaborations, but both Boyle and Garland's filmographies on the whole. While neither of them has a spotless track record in my eyes, they've never been involved with another project that's as convoluted, boring and nonsensical as this ensemble sci-fi thriller.      

2025 NFL Preview: AFC North

Baltimore Ravens

2024 Record: 12-5 (1st in AFC North)

Head Coach: John Harbaugh (18th season)

Notable Additions: WR DeAndre Hopkins, CB Jaire Alexander, T Joseph Noteboom

Notable Departures: CB Brandon Stephens, G Patrick Mekari, K Justin Tucker

Biggest Reason for Excitement: The Addition of Quality Veteran Depth Pieces

The biggest gift of being a Ravens team that is in good, if not great shape at nearly every position on both sides of the ball is that it grants them the freedom to dedicate their free agent efforts to targeting talented vets that can add depth and experience to their roster. This offseason was another masterclass from Eric DeCosta in this area as they were able to land a handful of guys that could make a big difference in 2025. 

Headlining this crop of veteran pickups is DeAndre Hopkins. The 33-year 5x All-Pro may not be the level of playmaker he was during his tenures with the Texans and Cardinals these days, but as he proved with the Chiefs last season, he's still capable of being a productive posession WR in this league and he should slot in nicely alongside returning starters Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman. 

Next up is the addition of longtime Packers corner Jaire Alexander to replace Brandon Stephens-who departed for the Jets in free agency. Alexander was a bit of a surprise cut from the Packers in early June as the team had reportedly been conflicted about keeping him in the fold after missing a whopping 34 games over the past 4 seasons. While there are clearly concerns about his durability after missing so much time recently (hence why the Ravens only signed him to a 1-year deal), Alexander is still only 28 years old, has been excellent when healthy during this period and will have less pressure on him to be a CB1 with an established star in Marlon Humphrey and a promising youngster in Nate Wiggins playing alongside him-making this the epitome of low risk/high reward transaction.

Rounding out the bunch are projected backups Joseph Noteboom, Chidobe Awuzie and John Jenkins. Noteboom and Awuzie are valuable insurance policies to a pair of oft-injured starters (Ronnie Stanley, Alexander) thanks to their heaps of starting experience while Jenkins should be a nice rotational, run-stopping piece on the interior defensive line. If the Ravens are finally going to get over the hump and challenge for a title in 2025, these guys could prove to be immensely valuable pieces that help them do so.      

Biggest Reason for Concern: Derrick Henry Finally Starting to Show His Age

Derrick Henry had himself one hell of a 2024 campaign. The future Hall of Fame running back just put together one of the best seasons of his illustrious career at age 30 during his 1st season with the Ravens, rushing for 1,921 YDS, a league-leading 16 TD's and average a career-high 5.9 YDS per carry. As brilliant as he was, a sad, unavoidable question remains: Will this be the last time Henry has a dominate season? He's now 31 years old-which is basically 65 in running back years-and has been handling a cartoonishly high workload dating back to his school days in Yulee, Florida. All of the punishment he's endured from so many consecutive years of touching the ball 300+ times her season taking away his elite ability is going to eventually KO him and for the sakes of the Ravens Super Bowl aspirations, they have to hope that 2025 isn't the year where age finally comes for Henry.

What made the 2024 Ravens uniquely threatening was how Henry was able to work in tandem with Lamar Jackson. Defenses were constantly on edge as they didn't know whether Henry was going to plow through them or Lamar was going to blow by them or chuck it downfield, which provided this offense with a level of dynamism and unpredictability that they never had in the past. Losing that after just 1 season would be a devastating blow to the functionality of their offense and make them a considerably less imposing team to face, even with Jackson coming off a career year and conceivably continuing to improve as a passer in his 3rd season in Todd Monken's offense.

The other problem Henry falling off and/or getting hurt would provide is thrusting their other RB's into bigger roles. They've built their entire RB room around the idea of Henry being a bellcow who only needs to be taken off the field in certain passing situations (2-minute drills, 3 and long's, etc.), which is why their top backups are Justice Hill and Keaton Mitchell. While Hill and Mitchell are plenty explosive and not exactly strangers to getting carries, they're both slight change-of-pace options who likely couldn't hold up to the rigors that a full RB workload would bring on. If something were to happen to Henry, they would probably have to go out and bring in a bigger back to handle the ugly between-the-tackles rushing in order to try and preserve Hill and Mitchell's freshness/health.

Given how Henry has been operating, it wouldn't be surprising if he staved off his demise as a game-changing force for at least another season. But the harsh reality is that he's at a point in his career where that can no longer be viewed as a safe bet. We've seen plenty of players go from looking ageless to old as shit in a matter of months over the years and as sad as it would be for fans to witness the demise of one of the greats, it could very well happen this season.              

Key to Reaching Their Ceiling: Not Shooting Themselves in the Foot Come Playoff Time

What has transpired with the Ravens over the past 2 playoff runs has been absolutely infuriating to witness. In 2023, a brutal performance from Lamar Jackson and a stupid, stupid play from Zay Flowers that led to a key fumble in the redzone undid a masterful effort from their defense to slow down Patrick Mahomes and co. as the Chiefs defeated them 17-10 in the AFC Championship Game. Last year, was even more aggravating as the difference in a 27-25 loss to the Bills was a lost fumble and dropped 2 PT-CNV from the typically reliable Mark Andrews in the 4th quarter. These 2 mishaps paired with the beatdowns at the hands of the Titans and Bills that ended in their playoff runs in 2019 and 2020 (2022 is excluded as Tyler Huntley was playing QB when they lost to the Bengals) has created a narrative that the Ravens are a regular season team who chokes when the playoffs come around. Even if you're a big believer in Jackson, John Harbuagh and/or the strength of the organization as a whole, it's hard to credibly refute that claim.

There's only 1 way to get people to stop dumping all over your team (for a little while at least), win a championship. And the only way this Ravens team will win a Super Bowl is if they stop shooting themselves in the foot during key games. A perfect game isn't required to win championships, but the messy, backbreaking shenanigans they've engaged in of late are going to have stop at once if they want to lift their 3rd Lombardi Trophy this century. As naive as it sounds given what's transpired with them over the past 6 seasons, I really do believe that they're capable of pulling it off. Jackson has made real strides in big games of late, and their talent remains among the best in the league. Now, it's just time to prove that they're up to the challenge of playing up to their championship-caliber potential on the biggest stage. 

Bottom Line:

A lot is going to have to go wrong for the Ravens to not be among the top teams in the AFC once again, but if they want this season to be truly different than the last handful, they're going to have to get through a playoff run without having a game where they full blown implode.     

Cincinnati Bengals

2024 Record: 9-8 (3rd in AFC North)

Head Coach: Zac Taylor (7th season)

Notable Additions: DT T.J. Slaton, ILB Oren Burks, G Lucas Patrick

Notable Departures: CB Mike Hilton, G Alex Cappa, DE Sam Hubbard (retired)

Biggest Reason for Excitement: Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins Got Paid

Living to see the day where Mike Brown swallowed his pride and inked a pair of players to big money contract extensions during the same offseason is legit crazy. Either he's softening in his old age or Joe Burrow's repeated public lobbying to keep both Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins in the fold long-term simply forced his hand since pissing off the best QB in franchise history would be really bad for business. Regardless of the reason, getting to keep one of the most dynamic receiving duos in the league together for the foreseeable future is a huge win for the Bengals. 

Now, is it wise for cap purposes to commit up to $194 mil to your top 2 wideouts over the next 5 seasons on a team that has as many weak spots as the Bengals currently do? Probably not. But having that kind of weaponry in the passing attack and keeping your QB happy makes it worth the investment. The pressure will now shift to Duke Tobin and the front office to nail the next few drafts so they can accumulate cost-controlled talent and fix the many problems that exists with this team, especially on defense (more on that in a matter of moments).   

Biggest Reason for Concern: Not Doing Enough to Address Their Woeful Defense

As expected, Lou Anarumo was relieved of his duties as DC after 6 seasons in the role after putting together his worst season on the job since his 1st season back in 2019 during 2025. Tasked with bringing this group back from the bowels of the league will be Al Golden, who previously served as Anarumo's LB coach from 2020-21 before departing to be the DC at Notre Dame. Golden was very successful during his 3 seasons at Notre Dame (top 10 scoring defenses in the country in his final 2 season) and his familiarity with some of the personnel here should prove to be helpful, but his ability to serve in the job remains a huge question mark. This will mark the 1st time Golden has been tasked with running a defense in the pros, which isn't exactly encouraging since Anarumo had previous NFL DC experience before he came to the Bengals and hadn't spent most of his career in the college ranks like Golden has (coming into this year, Golden has spent 6 of his 32 seasons of coaching in the NFL).

Further mucking up Golden's uncertain prospects is the fact that he's inheriting an absolute mess of a situation. As bad as shit was for the Bengals last season, things could somehow be even worse for them this season. Reigning NFL sack leader Trey Hendrickson is currently holding out for a new deal and considering this is now the 2nd straight season that he's asked for a new contract and tried to find a trade partner after the negotiations fell apart, it doesn't seem like there's a resolution on the horizon. Their best corner from a year ago in Mike Hilton wasn't re-signed. Pass-rushing specialist Sam Hubbard surprisingly announced his retirement after 7 seasons in the league. 1st round pick Shemar Stewart is currently embroiled in an ugly contract spat with Brown that could end with him sitting out the year and re-entering the draft in 2026 if he never signs his rookie deal. The only new Bengals slated to start this season are free agent pickup from Green Bay T.J. Slaton (defensive tackle) and rookie Demeterius Knight Jr. (inside linebacker).

Given all of these factors, it's hard to believe that they've done to fix their defense. Hell, they might even be in worse shape than last year given that the departure of Hilton makes an already thin corner group that much worse and the potential pair of losses in the one area that was somewhat of a strength for them in 2024 (pass-rushing). Golden is going to have his work really cut out for him to bring this unit that's below average (run D, 3rd down%)-to-awful (pass D, red zone D) in every area of note back to something that even resembles respectability.         

Key to Reaching Ceiling: The Offense Maintaining the Level of Play That Displayed for Most of 2024

Despite a both a lack of commitment to and effectiveness in the rushing game (30th in attempts/30th in rushing YDS), the Bengals had one of the best offenses in football last year. They rode the strength of their passing attack (1st in the league) to the #6 scoring offense in the league and a 5-game winning streak to close the season that got them back into the playoff picture against all odds after a 4-8 start that saw them lose a ton of close games on account of their aforementioned terrible defense along with some bad luck. What made the passing attack hum so well was a combination of Burrow playing the best football of his career (4,918 YDS, 43 TD's, 9 INT's, 70.6 CMP%) and boasting the deepest arsenal of pass-catchers they've had since Zac Taylor took over as HC in 2019 with rookie back Chase Brown, new starting TE Mike Gesicki and 2023 5th round pick Andrei Iosvias all making various notable contributions alongside the established star receiver duo of Chase and Higgins.

Running 5-deep in reliable pass-catchers just opens things up for an offense to an insane degree. The route-running precision/YAC ability that many of these guys have allow them to attack you at every level of the field and rotate alignments in a way that gives opposing defenses huge headaches. With all of them back in the fold and Burrow having the benefit of not having to rehab from an injury this offseason, they're in a great spot to pick up right where they left off in Week 1. If their slightly overhauled line (free agent pickup Lucas Patrick replacing the released Alex Cappa at left guard, rookie Dylan Fairchild replacing 4th year pro Cordell Volson at right guard) can open things up a bit more for Brown in the rushing game, this group could be truly unstoppable. 

Bottom Line:

As unconvinced as I am that their defense will meaningfully improve from a year ago, I do have faith in their offense's ability to maintain the sharpness they showed for most last season and potentially will them into clinching the playoff berth that's alluded them in each of the past 2 seasons.   

Cleveland Browns 

2024 Record: 3-14 (4th in AFC North)

Head Coach: Kevin Stefanski (6th season)

Notable Additions: QB Kenny Pickett, QB Joe Flacco, DT Maliek Collins

Notable Departures: DT Dalvin Tomlinson, RB Nick Chubb, S Juan Thornhill

Biggest Reason for Excitement: Deshaun Watson Has Probably Played His Last Down for the Browns

A rare bit of good news broke for Browns in early January when it was announced that serial sexual predator Deshaun Watson re-ruptured the Achillies he tore in a game versus the Bengals last October while rehabbing and underwent his 2nd surgery in 4 months to repair. Given the rehab required, this will likely keep him out for the duration of the 2025 season. Given his age (30), injury status and the absolute dog shit level of play he's engaged in since he began his tenure with the Browns in 2022, it's now increasingly likely that Browns will just nail him to the bench in 2026 (opting to release him next offseason would give them an absurd dead cap hit of $131.16 mil) and exercise the void option for the final 3 years of his 5 year/$230 mil extension he signed in March 2022 that exists in his contract ahead of the 2027 season. While there's really no winning for the Browns as they gave out the worst contract in NFL history to a deranged sex pest, the fans who had to hold their nose while this piece of shit was their team's starting QB position can at least breathe a sigh of relief that they don't have to experience the pain of watching him play QB horribly every week. Selling your soul for a guy who also is no longer good at football is the most Browns thing imaginable and this disgraceful chapter in their history book can't close soon enough.      

Biggest Reason for Concern: The Collection of QB's That Are Currently Vying for the Vacant Starting Job

The albatross of Watson's contract along with the uh, questionable 2025 QB draft class has birthed one of the saddest training camp QB competitions in league history. Behind door #1, it's a recent Super Bowl Champion that their division rivals moved on from as their starting QB just 3 seasons after drafting him. Come on down, Kenny Pickett! Behind door #2, it's the guy who became a Browns folk hero in 2023 when he came off his couch to lead them to a playoff berth after Watson suffered his 1st season-ending injury as a Brown then immediately came crashing back down to Earth when he left for the Colts last season? Everyone say hello to Joe Flacco. Behind door #3, it's a rookie that everyone was shocked came off the board in the 3rd round due to his very short stature (5'11 on a good day). Please welcome, Dillion Gabriel! And last but not least, it's another rookie whose draft process didn't go as planned and certainly didn't only end up in Cleveland as a result of owner Jimmy Haslam demanding they select him in the 5th round despite a lack of need at the position? It's Sheduer Sanders, everybody! 

     As of today, Flacco seems poised to be the Week 1 starter as Pickett is battling a hamstring injury that has kept from participating in practice for most of camp so and has the advantage of being the only one from this group with prior knowledge of the system Kevin Stefanski runs. Still, there's no guarantee that Flacco will be able to hold onto the job for long as he's now 40 years old and likely has no future in Cleveland (or possibly, even the NFL) beyond this season. Pickett will almost certainly be the first one to get a crack if/when Flacco falters or gets hurt, which makes sense as he's a 27-year-old with recent starting experience and potentially untapped potential. The problem is that Pickett has been thoroughly unremarkable in the pros and didn't appear to show any improvement from his rocky tenure in Pittsburgh during the 2 games where he got extended action in relief of Jalen Hurts last year in Philly. Both rookies are facing similarly long odds to get onto the field this season for slightly different reasons. Gabriel has reportedly been abysmal throughout camp-displaying horrible accuracy and an inability to get in rhythm with his pass-catchers (which is ironic since those were his biggest strengths at Oregon) while Sanders is working his way back from an arm injury and has yet to receive any meaningful reps. This is more or less a choose your fighter scenario where the options are nausea, diarrhea, kidney stones or a migraine. There are no winners here: only pain, aggravation and suffering for all parties involved. Whoever the top QB class of 2026 ends up being might as well start at looking at house in the greater Cleveland area come February because there's just no way in hell they aren't going to the Browns.                 

Key to Reaching Their Ceiling: The Defense Locking the Fuck In

A mere 2 years ago, Jim Schwartz had the Browns defense playing well. They were ranked #1 against the pass and in 3rd down defense, ranked a respectable #11 against the run and were a similarly respectable 13th in scoring defense. They ranked dead last in red zone D, but I guess you can't win 'em all. Despite having much of the same personnel and remaining pretty healthy all season long, 2024 was a much different story. Although they did see their red zone ranking shoot up a bit to #24 and retain their status as a top 10 3rd down D by finishing at #8, their regression was pretty sharp elsewhere as they dropped to 12th against the pass, 21st against the run and 27th in scoring defense. Part of this fall can be attributed to how much their offense was last season, but that still doesn't fully excuse just how much weaker they got in a year's time.  

With another brutal offensive campaign looming, they're going to have their work cut out for them to take a step forward in 2025. As difficult as it will be for them to improve, this group is talented enough to make it happen. Myles Garrett-who agreed to a huge extension in March after requesting a trade in February-remains one of the most dominant pass-rushing forces in the league and at 29 going on 30, he's not likely to slow down for at least another few years. Denzel Ward is one of the top ballhawking corners in the league and is coming off a season in which he appeared in a career-high number of games (16). Grant Delpit has become one of the more quietly solid safeties in the league over the past couple of seasons and he should only get better as he enters his age 27 season. Ronnie Hickman played really well in relief of the injured Juan Thornhill last season and could really thrive now that he's the full-time starter following Thornhill's release at the start of the new league year. Rookies Mason Graham and Carson Schwesinger are the kinds of players that could make big impacts on the front 7 right away if they can adjust to the increased speed and physicality of the pro game early on. Schwartz sure as hell isn't going to shy away from the challenge of making this talented group pop in a difficult environment and if he pulls it off, it'll be a career-defining accomplishment that could very well keep him around the Browns for a little bit longer.       

Bottom Line:

Kevin Stefanski, Andrew Berry and everybody other power player in this organization who isn't a player, get those resumes polished up because this hopeless team is probably going to get your asses fired sometime in the next five months. 

Pittsburgh Steelers

2024 Record: 10-7 (2nd in AFC North)

Head Coach: Mike Tomlin (19th season)

Notable Additions: WR DK Metcalf, CB Jalen Ramsey, QB Aaron Rodgers

Notable Departures: S Minkah Fitzpatrick, WR George Pickens, QB Russell Wilson

Biggest Reason for Excitement: Extending T.J. Watt

After the brief threat of holding out from camp, the Steelers gave T.J. Watt a 3 year/$123 mil/$108 mil guaranteed extension that will keep him in Pittsburgh through the 2028 season early last month. With Watt turning 31 in October, this deal will keep him around for the remainder of his prime but not long enough for the risk of him being completely over-the-hill by the time the deal is over to be overly high. It's a win for both sides as Watt gets the bag he deserves, and the Steelers get to keep one of the few blue-chip talents they still have around for a bit longer.  

Biggest Reason for Concern: Trotting Out Aaron Rodgers at QB

The Steelers have made an interesting decision to push all of their chips on the 2025 season. What about last year's 10-7 team that limped into the playoffs and ultimately got dusted by their pals down in Baltimore compelled Omar Khan, Mike Tomlin and the rest of their brass to do such a thing is completely beyond me, but clearly, they believed it was the right call for their team. 

Designs for this ambitious project started to form shortly after free agency started when they swung a huge trade to acquire DK Metcalf from the Seahawks. While it's not a clear schematic fit given Arthur Smith's love of the run game and dump-off passes, Metcalf is a proven vertical playmaker who brings a level of consistency that they have hadn't at the position in quite some time. This move quickly became less exciting once George Pickens got dealt to the Cowboys a couple months later and they immediately reverted them back to being a 1-horse WR team, but hey, at least they're not a 0-WR operation. 

Building up the veteran pedigree of the team intensified once free agency opened and they snapped up 2x Super Bowl champion Darius Slay from the Eagles, 2x Super Bowl Champion Juan Thornhill from the Browns and 1x Super Bowl Champion Robert Woods from the Texans. The cherry on top of this dramatic offseason was pulling another stunning trade that landed them Jalen Ramsey and Jonnu Smith from the Dolphins in exchange for Minkah Fitzpatrick and adding veteran safety Chuck Clark late last month. This particular set of moves bolstered their biggest defensive weakness from a year ago (pass D, in which they ranked 25th), brought some leadership and a steady possession receiver in Woods to their WR room and gives Smith the ability to deploy a potentially lethal 2-TE formation with Jonnu Smith and Pat Friermuth in the fold. 

So, the only question is who is playing QB for this win-now operation? We know it's not Russell Wilson or Justin Fields, as they let them both of them walk in free agency. It's probably not their old friend Mason Rudolph-who returned to town after a brutal 1-year stint with the Titans-as he lacks the explosiveness and consistency as a passer to lead a team to the promised land. No, it can't be.... Can it? Yep, they are trotting out Aaron Rodgers as their starting QB.

What's particularly funny and egregious about this scenario is that was basically a forced marriage. The 41-year-old Rodgers flamed out in spectacular fashion with the Jets last season and had zero suitors in free agency as a result while the Steelers weren't interested in bringing back Wilson or Fields or drafting a QB early in this suspect 2024 class (they did select Ohio State product Will Howard in the 6th round as a developmental project), which caused them to come crawling to Rodgers. Trusting Rodgers to lead this operation is just malpractice. By waiting till early June to sign him, Rodgers will have minimal time to build up a rapport with his teammates, learn the playbook, etc. and inviting his erratic, high maintenance ass into your locker room at this stage of his career when he's broken down physically and completely checked out mentally just feels like disrupting the apple cart for the hell of it. 

The best part of this whole ordeal? He effectively confirmed to his BFF Pat McAfee that he's going to retire at the end of the season. Why the fuck would any team to do themselves for a single season, especially after just seeing what happened to a Jets that completely tailored their entire operation to his liking and still couldn't win games or make him happy? Rodgers is not a winning player anymore (nor has ever really been given that he has 1 Super Bowl win/appearance on his resume) and it's baffling to see teams treat him as such when he's so visibly washed just out of sheer desperation.               

Key to Reaching Ceiling: Getting the Rushing Attack Going

Arthur Smith's arrival in Pittsburgh last season meant one thing: They were going to commit to the running game even harder than they did under Matt Canada. This proved to be correct as they logged the 4th most rushing attempts in the league (up from 9th in 2023) and finished 11th in rushing offense (up from 13th in 2023). While those are certainly respectable numbers, the individual rushing numbers as Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren both averaged pretty subpar gains per attempt (4.0 and 4.3 respectively). The blame for these numbers is split between the backs for their middling yards after contact numbers and the Steelers O-line for their generally below average run blocking.

Heading into 2025, Smith will have a slightly reconfigured attack as Harris departed for the Chargers in free agency, Warren is projected to take over as starter and rookie Kaleb Johnson will slot into the #2 spot. A Warren/Johnson tandem is more appealing on paper than the Harris/Warren pairing they've had over the past few seasons thanks to Warren's shiftiness and Johnson's decisiveness and vision, but they'll still have to contend with the challenges of playing behind a potentially suspect offensive line that is undergoing yet another reworking as Broderick Jones moves over to LT to replace free agent casualty Dan Moore Jr. and Troy Fautanu steps into the RT role after appearing in just 1 game as a rookie last year (Week 2 versus the Broncos) before going on season-ending IR the following week after sustaining a dislocated kneecap in practice. 

All of Smith's finest hours as a coach involved a rushing attack that was potent as hell, and he's never needed to find a way to make that shit happen more than this year. Rodgers can't move anymore and no receiver on this team has proven that they can get open consistently besides Metcalf. The only chance this offense has of being respectable is developing something dangerous with the ground game and as risky of a proposition as that feels with his current personnel, Smith is skilled enough of a tactician to find a way for these backs to be productive enough to be the lifeblood of this offense. Get wacky with blocking schemes. Have Warren handle outside runs and Johnson handle the between the tackle stuff. Be creative and effective and try to carry Ayahuasca Aaron to one more playoff berth before he retreats to a cave in Ecuador, never to be seen or heard from again.           

Bottom Line:

There are 2 possible scenarios with this team. 1.An aging roster with some major talent deficiencies and the magic poison touch of washed 72-year-old- Aaron Rodgers serve as the catalysts for Mike Tomlin posting his 1st losing season in 19 years of coaching the Steelers. 2.Tomlin wins in spite of those things, and they got trounced in the Wild Card Round in what has become a sadistic tradition in recent years. I like the odds of the former more than the latter, but I'd also never be stupid enough to bet against Tomlin after watching him lead this team to dozens of wins that they had no business earning over the past 7 or 8 seasons.      

Predicted Standings:

1.Baltimore Ravens (13-4)

2.Cincinnati Bengals (11-6)

3.Pittsburgh Steelers (7-10)

4.Cleveland Browns (2-15)

Alison Brie 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 Alison Brie-whose latest project "Together" is in theaters now.

Alison Brie's Filmography Ranked:

20.The Little Hours (D)

19.Joshy (C)

18.Freelance (C)

17.Get a Job (C)

16.Horse Girl (C)

15.How to Be Single (C)

14.Get Hard (C+)

13.Spin Me Round (B-)

12.The Five-Year Engagement (B-)

11.Happiest Season (B-)

10.Somebody I Used to Know (B)

9.The Post (B)

8.The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (B)

7.Scream 4 (B)

6.The Rental (B+)

5.The Kings of Summer (B+)

4.Sleeping with Other People (B+)

3.The LEGO Movie (B+)

2.Promising Young Woman (A-)

1.The Disaster Artist (A-)

Top Dog: The Disaster Artist (2017)

Greg Sestero's The Disaster Artist is one of the few books that I've actually read recreationally since I graduated high school 15 years ago. What struck me the most about this excellent work of non-fiction was how Sestero was able to thread the needle between detailing the dysfunction that plagued the production of The Room, how his own youthful naivety allowed him to remain in the orbit of the enigmatic Tommy Wiseau for so long and the unlikely enduring friendship that came from this singularly strange experience. The movie adaptation does a great job of bringing all of these elements of the novel to the screen along with a heightened sense of comedy and little bursts of sentimentality that capture the beauty of the scrappy underdog spirit that allowed the unicorn that is The Room to flourish against all odds.           

Bottom Feeder: The Little Hours (2017)

Out of respect for its late writer/director Jeff Baena, I'll just say that I found The Little Hours to be a brutally unfunny farce that makes poor use of its incredible ensemble led by Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Kate Micucci, John C. Reilly and Dave Franco. 

Most Underrated: Sleeping with Other People (2015)

One of the crown jewels of the underserved "two assholes fall in love" variant of the romcom genre, Sleeping with Other People uses the diabolically playful chemistry between the potential a-hole couple (Brie, Jason Sudekis) and a colorful collection of side characters played by ace character actors (Adam Scott  Amanda Peet, Jason Mantzoukas, Natasha Lyonne, Katherine Waterston, Andrea Savage) to establish its abrasive yet surprisingly sweet identity. After spending the last decade working in television and recently striking out big time with Star Wars series The Acolyte, it would be great if writer/director Leslye Headland found her way back to making sharp, hilarious stuff like this.    

Most Overrated: Happiest Season (2020)

Happiest Season isn't a bad movie at all. It's pretty funny, Kristen Stewart is very charming in the lead role of Abby-a woman who has to pretend she's her closeted girlfriend's (Mackenzie Davis) roommate when they go visit her conservative family (Victor Garber, Mary Steenburgen, Brie, Mary Holland) for Christmas and the movie has the warmth you'd want from a holiday movie. The only real problem with Happiest Season happens to be a major one: It's a romcom where the protagonist not only has stronger chemistry with another character (Aubrey Plaza's Riley), but the woman she's in a relationship with kind of treats her like shit for the majority of the movie. It's actually kind of a miracle that so much of Happiest Season works given how miscalculated the romantic elements are, so shoutout to Clea DuVall for managing to keep this train somewhat on the rails in spite of its major deficiencies.         

2025 NFL Preview: NFC East

 Dallas Cowboys

2024 Record: 7-10 (3rd in NFC East)

Head Coach: Brian Schottenheimer (1st season)

Notable Additions: WR George Pickens, DE Dante Fowler Jr., RB Javonte Williams

Notable Departures: G Zack Martin (retired), DE DeMarcus Lawrence, RB Rico Dowdle

Biggest Reason for Excitement: Adding George Pickens

One of the more shocking transactions that happened during this pretty wild offseason was the Steelers trading George Pickens to the Cowboys a mere 2 months after they acquired DK Metcalf from the Seahawks. While Pickens requesting the trade himself makes it a little less shocking given how vocal he was with his frustrations with the Steelers low wattage passing attack over the past 3 seasons, giving up on a 24-year-old WR that's going into the final year of his rookie deal and has shown insane flashes of production despite being hamstrung by the brutal combo of poor QB play and playing in a run-first system remains a shocking choice. 

Pickens' arrival in Dallas is a godsend, particularly since the deal happened a week after the draft had concluded. Besides Dak Prescott going down with a hamstring tear in early November, the Cowboys biggest offensive problem last season came from the lack of having a secondary receiving threat on their roster. Opposing defenses didn't have to worry at all about anyone besides CeeDee Lamb hurting them and that granted them the luxury of focusing their efforts on trying to slowdown the 3x All-Pro WR (those efforts proved to be a mixed bag as he only scored 6 TD's and averaged a career-low 11.8 YPC, but still was able to nab 101 receptions and post 1,194 YDS for the season in just 15 games).

That luxury disappears instantly with Pickens in the mix. When he's gotten the opportunity to make plays downfield, he's proven to be an elite vertical threat whose equally adept at blowing past DB's and reeling in absurd contested catches with ease. Putting somebody with those skills alongside a do-it-all weapon in Lamb should open up the Cowboys passing attack in a way that we haven't seen since Dez Bryant and Jason Witten were wreaking havoc together 10-12 years ago. Pickens' ability to stay locked in for 17 games on a team that could be pretty shit this year or remain in the fold beyond this season are different questions entirely, but for right now, the prospects of him joining this team is providing Cowboys with a much-needed reason to celebrate.       

Biggest Reason for Concern: Hiring Brian Schottenheimer as HC

Following a relatively brief yet deeply bizarre holding period once their season wrapped up where it looked like he could be coming back against all odds, Mike McCarthy was officially let go as Cowboys on January 13 after 5 seasons with the team. McCarthy's tenure was an uneven one as the team was generally good (they went 12-5 for 3 consecutive seasons from 2021-23) in the regular season, but were ultimately defined by their ugly playoff flameouts including the infamous 48-32 blowout loss they were handed to at home by a young Packers squad in 2023 and the hilarious clock mismanagement on the final drive that caused them to lose 19-12 to the 49ers in 2021. Despite being a marquee franchise with some high-end talent on their roster, the Cowboys HC gig was viewed around the league as one of the least attractive openings in the league during this hiring cycle. Why would that be? Simple: Working for Jerry Jones is one of the most thankless, miserable gigs in the league. Nobody who values the opportunity to establish their own culture or have input on personnel decisions would be dumb enough to go to a team that is run by an egomaniacal clown that refuses to relinquish even a fraction of the total control he has over the operation.

Through a combination of lack of interest from any candidate worth a damn and Jerry's desire to have a puppet leading his team, the Cowboy elected to promote McCarthy's OC Brian Schottenheimer to HC. Quite frankly, this was a development that was shocking even by Jerry's standards. Schottenheimer wouldn't have been able to land an interview for any of the other 31 HC jobs in the league, let alone be in serious consideration for one. The 51-year-old is the epitome of a journeyman assistant who has had little in the way of real success (including 2023 where he didn't call the plays for the Cowboys, Schottenheimer has overseen 5 top 10 scoring offenses in 14 seasons as an OC) and has earned basically zero respect around the league for his coaching ability despite being the son of one of the most successful coaches in NFL history. His understanding of gamescript is as bad you'll as see from a guy who continues to land playcalling gigs (his love for ill-timed HB dives is unmatched in NFL history) and not a single soul has uttered anything positive about his leadership ability, HC potential, etc. over his 20+ years in the pros. Jerry hasn't been this brazen in hiring a bagman HC since Dave Campo 26 years ago and anybody who cares about this team has to be infuriated to watch Jerry's God complex continue to get worse as he ages.               

Key to Reaching Ceiling: Bounceback Season from Dak Prescott

Even before he suffered his aforementioned season-ending hamstring tear in Week 9, Prescott was in an uncharacteristic funk during 2024. Perhaps it was complacency setting in after securing his $240 million megadeal last offseason or he was just done in by the comparatively poor rushing game, offensive line and pass-catching arsenal he had to work with, but Prescott hasn't looked as sloppy or uncomfortable playing QB as he did in his 8 starts last year since his sophomore season all the way back in 2017.

While he's not getting a complete reset considering that Schottenheimer and his QB coach Steve Shmiko were with the club last year albeit in different roles, the new regime still presents him with an opportunity to reset after a difficult season. His pass-catching situation should be better with Pickens joining the team and Jalen Tolbert-who quietly nabbed 7 TD's last year-slotting into a more natural WR3 role, the continuity on the O-line should be better this year as rookie right guard Tyler Booker is the only new starter in the bunch (center Cooper Beebe, left guard Tyler Smith, right tackle Terrence Steele and left tackle Tyler Guyton-who is coming off an awful rookie campaign-make up the returning group) and the RB committee (Javonte Williams, Miles Sanders, Deuce Vaughn, rookie Jaydon Blue) could be steady enough if the run blocking maintains the solid groove they settled into during the final 7 or 8 games of last year when the now-departed Rico Dowdle became a fantasy darling with his efficient high-volume running. Nobody would mistake this for a slam dunk situation, but Prescott just turned 32 and is only 2 years removed from a career-best campaign. He's capable of getting back on track and he's absolutely good enough to will this team to more wins than people are projecting for them right now if he's successful in his bounceback efforts.       

Bottom Line:

The odds of this team improving with Brian Schottenheimer at the helm are about as high as their playoff win rate from 1996-present.

New York Giants

2024 Record: 3-14 (4th in NFC East)

Head Coach: Brian Daboll (4th season)

Notable Additions: S Jevon Holland, CB Paulson Adebo, QB Russell Wilson

Notable Departures: OLB Azeez Ojulari, QB Drew Lock, S Jason Pinnock

Biggest Reason for Excitement: Drafting Abdul Carter

Landing the 3rd overall pick in the draft put the Giants in a bit of a precarious position as it took them out of the running to land the top QB prospect Cam Ward and reigning Heisman Winner/aspiring two-way player Travis Hunter. Instead of forcing themselves to draft a lesser prospect at a bigger position of need, the Giants went the best player available route with their selection of edge rusher Abdul Carter. There's no arguing that Carter was a luxury pick as the Giants already have a high-paid alpha pass-rusher in Brian Burns and erratic but relatively productive #2 guy in Kayvon Thibodeaux-who was selected #5 overall in the 2022 draft-on their roster. However, there's no such thing as having too many pass rushers in the fold and quite frankly, Carter might end being up the best of the bunch in short order. The Penn State product has one of the highest motors and most complete arsenals of pass-rushing moves I've seen on tape in recent years, and it would shock me if he didn't turn into a productive pro player. Things are still looking pretty bleak for the Giants right now, but if Carter can make the same type of impact that Malik Nabers made last season, they might actually start trending in the right direction pretty soon.    

Biggest Reason for Concern: Whatever the Hell is Going on at QB

Look, I'm not going to come out here and say that the Giants QB situation isn't better heading into 2025 than it was in 2024. The dream team of Daniel Jones, Drew Lock, Tommy DeVito and Tim Boyle put forth roughly 2 good performances (unfortunately for the Giants, one of them came from Lock in a Week 17 upset win over the Colts that cost them the #1 pick in the draft) between them as the G-Men had one of the most lethargic offenses in the NFL (31st in scoring, 28th in passing YDS, 23rd in rushing YDS, 32nd in redzone, 27th in 3D%) for a second straight season.

What awaits them in 2025 is only slightly less nauseating than last year's collection of living, breathing gridiron memes. In an expected move, they named Russell Wilson their Week 1 starter once camp opened last week. Everybody knows how Wilson-who turns 37 in November-pit stop with the Steelers went last year as the vet got off to a hot start leading the team to a 6-1 record after taking over for Justin Fields in Week 7, then proceeded to fade very quickly by losing his final 5 games as the Steelers starter- which concluded with an absolute shellacking at the hands of the Ravens in the Wild Card Round. The reality is that Wilson in his currently athletically compromised form requires a strong rushing game and great blocking upfront to be a respectable game manager. Barring several miracles including the emergence of a solid RB and Andrew Thomas being able to stay healthy for a whole season, there's just no way that the Giants as currently constructed will be able to provide those nonnegotiable conditions for him.

Waiting behind Wilson in the case of injury or poor performance are a pair of uh, shaky options. The first of the bunch is infamous vet Jameis Winston. We had been deprived of the full glory of the Jameis Winston experience since he left the Bucs following the 2019 season but ended up being blessed with the unexpected return of one of the funniest gunslingers in NFL history in Cleveland last season as he appeared in 12 games and logged 7 starts in relief of injured sex pest Deshaun Watson. This sample size was large enough to confirm that Winston's cartoonish recklessness hasn't improved at all with age and enlisting him as anything other than a short-term band aid on a team that has little in the way of talent is a horrible idea.

The second unappealing QB on the depth chart is rookie Jaxson Dart, who the Giants traded back into the end of the 1st round to select after electing to not overdraft a QB at #3. Even before the public became aware of how much Sheduer Sanders' draft stock had tanked, Dart had become a surefire top 3 selection in this year's weak QB class on account of his buzzy workouts during the predraft process. Regardless of how anybody feels about Dart as a prospect (personally, I think he's a completely unremarkable prospect whose ceiling is Gardner Minshew or Case Keenum), this kid is way too raw to seriously consider throwing him out there in any non-emergency situation this year.

The Giants brass have basically put together a buffet full of Lunchables, expired filet mignon and unripe bananas at QB and are just hoping that they can cook up something that's edible enough to keep their jobs for another year. Having any faith in their ability to pull it off would be unwise.            

Key to Reaching Ceiling: Brian Daboll Repeating the Coaching Effort He Put Forth in 2022:

The sole reason that Brian Daboll is returning as Giants head coach for a 4th season in 2025 is because of what he did in 2022. For those who have forgotten, he inherited a hopeless roster from everybody's favorite overly arrogant Bill Belichick protege Joe Judge and perpetually concussed executive Dave Gettleman and led them to a 9-7-1 season that included a playoff berth/upset Wild Card Round victory over the Vikings. It was genuinely one of the best coaching jobs we've seen in recent years, and he should've been handed 4 additional Coach of the Year awards for his efforts. 

Since that magical season, Daboll has gone a dismal 9-25. To be fair to him, his team's failures over the past 2 seasons largely aren't his fault as they've been hamstrung by injuries, horrendous QB play and having one of the worst rosters in the league. As I've outlined above, things aren't looking much better in 2025. Bringing in slightly less shitty QB's, a talented young safety in Jevon Holland and a solid-ish veteran corner in Paulson Adebo isn't going to magically solve the staggering lack of talent this team has on their roster.

What this team is going to need to shock the world this year is for Daboll to pull another coaching miracle out of his ass. The path to doing so is probably going to involve the QB's playing just well enough to allow Malik Nabers to go ballistic (which is possible since he somehow managed to put up 109 REC/1,204 YDS/7 TD's in 15 games last year), the development of a semi-competent rushing attack and Shane Bowen's defense further tightening up the clamps after improving a bit from 2023 to 2024 (26th to 21st in scoring D). If he's able to pull it off, his stock as a real deal NFL head coach will be solidified.      

Bottom Line:

While they'll almost certainly be better than they were last year, the Giants are still far too talent-deficient to truly believe in. 

Philadelphia Eagles

2024 Record: 14-3 (1st in NFC East)

Head Coach: Nick Siranni (5th season)

Notable Additions: OLB Azeez Ojulari, CB Adoree' Jackson, RB A.J. Dillon

Notable Departures: OLB Josh Sweat, S C.J. Gardner-Johnson, OLB Brandon Graham (retired)

Biggest Reason for Excitement: Being the Defending Super Bowl Champions Playing in an Unimposing Division and a Conference That Appears to Be Weaker Than It Was a Season Ago

Everything is coming up Eagles right now. Defending Super Bowl champs? Check. Most of the key pieces from last year's team coming back in 2025? Check. NFC East still very winnable? Check. Competiton level in the NFC on the whole regressing, namely due to the personnel losses that the Lions, Vikings and 49ers endured this offseason? Check. This is all a roundabout way to say that the Eagles are in great shape heading into this year and their opponents should be using whatever tools at their disposal to hope that it somehow manages to implode.    

Biggest Reason for Concern: Being Able to Adequately Replace All of the Talent They Lost in the Offseason

While they fared very well overall namely due to the contract status of guys like A.J. Brown, Saquon Barkley and Jalen Hurts and the youth of key players like Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean and Jalen Carter, the Eagles still had to endure some painful departures this offseason. When it was all said and done, they lost a grand total of 6 starters (Josh Sweat-free agency, Mekhi Becton-free agency, Milton Williams-free agency, Brandon Graham-retirement, Darius Slay-released, C.J. Gardner-Johnson-trade) from last year's team. This changeover creates 2 problems as it eats into their league-best depth at key positions like DE/DT and corner and thrusts unproven players (the new starters are as follows: DE: Moro Ojomo OLB: Jalyx Hunt, Nolan Smith S: Sydney Brown CB: Keelee Ringo LG: Tyler Steen) into starting roles. Given the Eagles history of strong drafting and the trust they have in the coaching staff they have right now to develop talent-especially on defense with Vic Fangio, there's every reason to be confident that this group will retain its winning edge with the overhauled lineup. However, trepidation is going to inevitably sit in when you're looking at a group of 6 largely untested players with a combined total of 26 starts between them stepping into high leverage roles on a team that's looking to win another title.     

Key to Reaching Ceiling: Remaining Healthy

Remaining healthy is an obvious and boring reason to provide here, but it's really the only thing the Eagles need to fall into place to push for another title. This is a well-coached team with a roster that is constructed in a way where they can control the clock with the run game, do damage at every level of the passing game and a defense that is capable of stifling opposing offenses with their combination of physicality, athleticism and discipline. The only way a unicorn-ish teams like this can get tripped up is through sudden mass regression of their roster or an injury bug takes the majority of their top performers off the field. The latter is clearly far more feasible than the former, especially given the fact that they have some guys who are no stranger to getting banged up (Saquon Barkley, A.J. Brown, Lane Johnson, Nakobe Dean, Dallas Goedert). Last year's title run was pretty kind to them on the whole, which lessens the odds of happening it again, but whackier things have happened in this league than a team getting good injury luck in back-to-back years. 

Bottom Line:

The Eagles are as well-positioned as any team in recent memory to repeat as Super Bowl champions and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they were able to pull this very difficult feat off.

Washington Commanders

2024 Record: 12-5 (2nd in NFC East)

Head Coach: Dan Quinn (2nd season)

Notable Additions: T Laremy Tunsil, WR Deebo Samuel, CB Jonathan Jones

Notable Departures: DT/DE Jonathan Allen, S Jeremy Chinn, DE Dante Fowler Jr.

Biggest Reason for Excitement: Having Continuity on the Coaching Staff in Dan Quinn's 2nd Season

The Commanders are experiencing the rare gift of being an NFL team that avoid having their coaching staff ransacked after a great season. While DC Joe Whitt returning isn't much of a surprise as his group finished in the middle of the pack on the whole and had one of the worst run defenses in football (30th), OC Kliff Kingsbury being back very much is. The ex-Cardinals HC underwent quite the image rehabilitation with his role in Jayden Daniels' phenomenal rookie campaign and despite being buzzed about as a hot candidate for this cycle in the latter stages of the regular season, never appeared to be in real danger of leaving. Having a team coming off an NFC Championship appearance be able to avoid having either side of the ball spend their offseason learning a new system or verbiage is a huge boost, especially given their relative youth on the whole, which in turn gives them a golden opportunity to build upon their success from 2024 in 2025  

Biggest Reason for Concern: Terry McLaurin's Contract Status

A bit of a surprise occurred on Sunday when Terry McLaurin ended his holdout and arrived at Commanders camp. The bad news is that he immediately landed on the PUP list with an ankle injury. Is this a phantom injury to sit out camp without receiving any further financial penalties? Possibly! Regardless of the validity of the injury, the contract dispute that caused him to miss the start of camp isn't over and that's bad news for the Commanders.

McLaurin-who turns 30 in September-is entering the final season of a 3-year/$71 mil extension he signed back in July 2022. Naturally, after putting up a career-high 13 TD's and being the undisputed WR1 for an upstart Commanders team, he's seeking a raise. On paper, McLaurin has all the leverage in the world. He's been a leader in their locker room since he came into the league in 2019 and following the departures of key secondary pass-catchers Dyami Brown and Olamide Zaccheaus in free agency, the remainder of the Commanders WR group consists of their talented but oft-injured new acquisition Deebo Samuel, returning journeyman Noah Brown, 2nd year pro Luke McCaffery and the recently unretired Michael Gallup. The Commanders absolutely cannot afford to have McLaurin on the sidelines come Week 1 and every day that passes without him landing a new deal and returning to practice to shake the rust off, that risk goes up. The brass in Washington needs to be very careful with how they handle this situation as it could very well play a huge role in dictating how this team fares this season.      

Key to Reaching Ceiling: Not Letting Last Season's Surprising Success Get to Their Heads

Not even the most bullish Jayden Daniels and Dan Quinn supporters could have anticipated what the Commanders pulled off in 2024. Winning 12 games and making it to an NFC Championship game as a team led by a new HC and rookie QB isn't supposed to be possible in a league as brutally competitive as the NFL and yet, it happened. The Commanders being among the league's bottom feeders for the past 30+ years made it even more impressive.

Of course, a big part of what made the Commanders such a force last year is that there was absolutely zero pressure on them to win games, and the absence of pressure allowed them to play free nearly every week. The price they now have to pay for their unexpected success is the burden of high expectations. Fair or not, they set a standard with that run last year that they're now going to have live up to for the foreseeable future. For every team like the 2018-present Chiefs and post-2001 Patriots that answered the bell after going on deep runs far earlier than expected, there are teams like the Bengals (2022-present) and most painfully, the Jaguars (2018-2020) who have failed to replicate the magic of runs that appeared they could be the start of something special.

Beyond the uncontrollable shit like injuries and officiating costing them games, the biggest thing that will dictate what side of the coin this Commanders team end up on is the mindset they maintain. There's a real argument to be made that Jaguars team from the late 2010's/early 2020's ultimately got done in by letting all the success from their 2017 season get to their heads and losing their edge as a result. Their focus and grit never returned and by the time the 2021season rolled around, barely any of the players from the team that made it to the AFC Championship Game were still on the roster.

The establishment of the Commanders mindset will be dictated at the top by Quinn and Daniels. Quinn is kind of a coin flip on this matter as the Falcons weren't a complete embarrassment following their infamous Super Bowl collapse against the Patriots (in fact, they went 10-6 and won a playoff game the following season), but they also never quite returned to the level of play they displayed prior to that historic loss during his final 4 seasons with the team. Daniels, on the other hand, is a complete question mark. His leadership skills seem strong and at 24 going on 25, his maturity level is higher than most QB's entering their 2nd NFL season. That being said, he's still very green when it comes to the pro game and there's no telling how he'll respond to achieving the great success that he did a year ago. If I had to venture a guess, I think they'll avoid the Jaguars situation, but a scenario like the one the Bengals have been in the past few years feels very feasible for this bunch that has some great talent but plenty of exploitable holes on both sides of the ball.   

Bottom Line:

While I'm expecting a clear regression from a year ago, they should still be good enough to be in the mix for the playoffs once again. 

Predicted Standings:

1.Philadelphia Eagles (12-5)

2.Washington Commanders (10-7)

3.Dallas Cowboys (6-11)

4.New York Giants (5-12)

Adam Sandler 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 Adam Sandler-whose latest project "Happy Gilmore 2" begins streaming on Netflix tomorrow. 

Adam Sandler's Filmography Ranked:

40.Jack and Jill (D-)

39.Zookeeper (D)

38.Coneheads (D)

37.The Cobbler (D)

36.Anger Management (D+)

35.You Don't Mess with the Zohan (C-)

34.Click (C-)

33.I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (C-)

32.Murder Mystery 2 (C)

31.Hubie Halloween (C)

30.You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (C)

29.Airheads (C)

28.Punch-Drunk Love (C)

27.Spanglish (C)

26.Pixels (C)

25.Grown Ups 2 (C)

24.Eight Crazy Nights (C+)

23.Bulletproof (C+)

22.Murder Mystery (B-)

21.Hotel Transylvania 2 (B-)

20.Hotel Transylvania (B-) 

19.The Week Of (B-)

18.The Do-Over (B-)

17.Grown Ups (B-)

16.Little Nicky (B-)

15.Just Go with It (B-)

14.Blended (B)

13.Mr. Deeds (B)

12.Reign Over Me (B)

11.50 First Dates (B)

10.The Wedding Singer (B)

9.Hustle (B)

8.That's My Boy (B)

7.The Waterboy (B+)

6.Funny People (B+)

5.The Longest Yard (B+)

4.Big Daddy (B+)

3.Billy Madison (B+)

2.Happy Gilmore (A)

1.Uncut Gems (A)

Top Dog: Uncut Gems (2019)

After seeing it again in IMAX last year, Uncut Gems has been solidified as a masterpiece to me. The Safdie Brothers-in what sadly could be their final work as a duo-created a chaotic, scuzzy character study about an NYC jeweler (Sandler) whose lengthy history of reckless gambling and taking advantage of everyone around him finally catches up with him as he scrambles to pay back his loan shark brother-in-law (Eric Bogosian) the $100,000 he owes him. Sandler is unreal as a fast-talking hustler piece of shit desperately trying to wiggle his way out of the biggest jam he's ever been in; the gradual escalation of the stakes is a masterclass in building tension and the ending is the type of unforgettable triumph that every filmmaker should be aiming to close their films out on.     

Bottom Feeder: Jack and Jill (2011)

Any issues, of which there are many, with the content of Jack and Jill have been discussed at great length by people that are far more articulate and intelligent than me, so I'm going to bypass addressing them here beyond this sentence. What I will talk about is how brutally unfunny it is. Sandler has had his share of movie misfires over the years, but nothing else even comes close to matching the absurdly high whiff rate of Jack & Jill. The Al Pacino Dunkin' Donuts bit that goes viral every so often is the only remotely funny thing in the entire movie! It's equally embarrassing and head-scratching that a veteran professional comedian was behind something so devoid of laughs.    

Most Underrated: Funny People (2009)

I just revisited this one a couple weeks ago after not seeing since it first came out on home video in November 2009 and to be completely honest, I was somewhat taken aback by how much I enjoyed it. While it's a bit shaggier than Judd Apatow's finest hours as a filmmaker, there's still a lot of laughs, heart and humanity to be found in its story of a superstar comedian-turned-actor (Sandler) who suddenly gets introspective about his life when he receives a terminal cancer diagnosis. Sandler does reliably great work as a man who think he has it all until he's suddenly facing death and realizes he has nothing besides money and fame, Seth Rogen is similarly great as the young comedian Sandler's character brings on his assistant/jokewriter after a chance encounter at a comedy club and Eric Bana-who shows up in the latter half of the film as the brash husband of Sandler's long lost love (Leslie Mann) that he's seeking to make amends with 10+ years after they broke up-shows that comedy is a sharp tool in his acting arsenal that has been underutilized during his career.   

Most Overrated: Punch Drunk-Love (2002)

After being really impressed with Licorice Pizza, I thought I'd maybe had a breakthrough with the work of Paul Thomas Anderson. Punch Drunk-Love was the first PTA film I saw post-Licorice Pizza and it didn't take long for me to realize that no such breakthrough had occurred. Sure, it's distinctly weird and well-acted, but it's also brutally slow and uninteresting. We'll see in a couple months if One Battle After Another becomes the second PTA film I enjoy.