Inside: Before the flood of training camp reports, I’m spotlighting stats for four NFC teams to fix in 2025 — starting with Caleb Williams and the Bears.
Plus: The league’s highest-paid non-quarterback and the best football movies of all time, as voted by you.
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Critical Fixes: NFC
David Carr never had a chance. He remains the only rookie quarterback to take more sacks (76) than Caleb Williams did last season (68), and he led the league in that stat in three of his four full seasons.
Watching all 76 of those sacks taught me two things:
- The blame starts with a historically bad offensive line, which undoubtedly shook his confidence.
- But Carr deserves equal blame. He’s slow to react to the blitz, rarely throws the ball away and runs too often. Yes, sacks are also a quarterback stat, folks.
There’s no lowlight reel of all 68 of Williams’ sacks, but watch him take 15 in two games and you’ll see a quarterback who can often blame his offensive environment. Former offensive coordinator Shane Waldron’s scheme rarely got receivers open, and asked too much from the rookie quarterback and his below-average line.
Chicago finished 32nd in total yards, though Williams’ final stat line was closer to his fellow rookies than you might expect:
Still, the Bears were determined to give Williams the chance Carr never got. They paid up for rookie head coach Ben Johnson, who immediately revamped the interior of the Bears offensive line and added receiving weapons. Optimism abounds in Chicago, for now.
Johnson’s progress is one of 10 storylines to watch during training camp, while the competitions in New York and Dallas, plus the health of a key Panthers defender, are likely to impact three more NFC stats:
Giants: 6.0 yards per pass. Only the Browns saw their average pass fall shorter than the Giants, who also completed the league’s second-fewest deep passes (63) and scored a league-low 15 passing touchdowns. Deep threats WR Malik Nabers and WR Darius Slayton should pair nicely with Russell Wilson, who had the league’s third-highest passer rating on throws of 20-plus yards in 2024.
Cowboys: Six rushing touchdowns. While WR George Pickens is justifiably Dallas’ entry in The Athletic‘s list of 32 players to watch in training camp, I’m more interested in learning who leads the Cowboys backfield. Javonte Williams, Miles Sanders and fifth-round pick Jaydon Blue are jockeying to lead a unit that ranked 27th in rushing yards per game (100.3) and 32nd in rushing scores.
Panthers: 31.4 points allowed per game. The league’s worst defense allowed the most points and yards per game (404.5) in 2024. Improvement should be immediate with the return of star DE Derrick Brown, whose health is crucial to their run defense, and free-agent additions at all three levels.
You can follow along with The Athletic‘s live training camp blog, which promises to have plenty of contract-related updates. Such as …
T.J. Watt resets the market
It is rare for a player’s third contract to reset the market, and even rarer for that player to be a non-quarterback on the wrong side of 30.
Like most offensive linemen, the usual rules failed to stop T.J. Watt. Though he’ll turn 31 in October, the Steelers’ star edge rusher was given a three-year, $123 million extension that makes him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history, when sorted by average per year:
- Watt (age 30): $41 million
- Ja’Marr Chase (25): $40.25 million
- Myles Garrett (29): $40 million
- Maxx Crosby (27): $35.5 million
- Justin Jefferson (26): $35 million
Watt earned this by recording a combined 30.5 sacks and league-leading 10 forced fumbles while playing 17 regular-season games in each of the past two seasons. It’s a mild surprise given his age, but Watt remains elite and should be atop the leaderboard until Micah Parsons, 26, signs his deal.
Meanwhile, 30-year-old Trey Hendrickson — the only player with more sacks (35.0) than Watt since 2023 — just raised his asking price. I am once again begging the Bengals front office to sign players early.
Watt’s $108 million guaranteed hints at future plans to build around a rookie-contract quarterback. There’s plenty more on the extension in Mike DeFabo’s story.
Best football movies, ever 🍿
Last week I asked for your thoughts on the best football movies of all time. Thousands responded, including a producer of “Invincible.” Here are your top five:
- “Remember the Titans” (29.2 percent)
- “Brian’s Song” (15.5 percent)
- “Rudy” (11.1 percent)
- “Friday Night Lights” (10.4 percent)
- “The Longest Yard” (1974 version, 7.4 percent)
An inspiring message, overcoming prejudice with a shared goal, and Denzel Washington — plus an extra appearance by my editor, Jason Kirk — combine to make the greatest football movie of all time.
Your pick for most overrated football movie was “The Blind Side,” with many readers citing questions over its accuracy given the shocking legal case against the Tuohy family.
If you’re looking for drama, follow the NFLPA. Executive director Lloyd Howell Jr. stepped down after a tumultuous few weeks, with reports ranging from hidden arbitration decisions to charging the union for visits to strip clubs. Then one of the favorites to replace Howell, JC Tretter, former NFLPA President, resigned from the organization. Netflix could work with that.
For everything else, I’ll point you to the New York Times’ list of the 100 best movies of the 21st century. Just don’t let it distract you during fantasy football draft season. Priorities, folks.
Extra Points
📈 Aging gracefully. Tom Brady made it work. Brett Favre did, too. Can Aaron Rodgers join the list of quarterbacks who’ve succeeded over 40? Mike DeFabo searched for an answer within the history of aging quarterbacks.
📊 The next generation of college football quarterbacks promises to be better than the 2025 class. The Athletic‘s ranking of all 136 projected starters had Arch Manning lower than you’d expect.
💬 More headlines for Belichick? The former Patriots head coach fired another shot in his ongoing feud with Robert Kraft, saying he took a “big risk” by coaching the Patriots.
⭐ Fantasy football strategy: Shoot for the stars, urges Michael Salfino in an outline of his “if-you’re-not-first-you’re-last” strategy.
▶️ Thursday’s most clicked: Vic Tafur’s take on the win totals of all 32 NFL teams.
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(Photo: Stephen Maturen / Getty Images)
