Nine players who quietly defined the 2025 season

Robert Mays· Host0:00

Welcome to The Athletic Football Show. I'm Robert Mays. Last week, we spent an entire show talking about the tight end moment in the NFL. Talked to Charlie Kohler a little bit about it, talked to Derek about it, and just what this looks like, the moment that we've arrived in at that position specifically, and how it's kind of expression, an expression of the way the game is currently being played. Today we wanted to have sort of a similar conversation, but about some other positions. There is one tight end in this discussion, but there are also guys who do a lot of other things. We're gonna zero in today on about eight to 10 players who we feel like were quietly representative of what the NFL was in 2025. The position that they play and the way that they play that position, how it factors into good offense and good defense based on what those teams are trying to accomplish in 2025, and I think heading into 2026. So that's what Derek and I did today. We picked about eight to 10 guys and tried to explain, examine why those guys were a reflection of what the NFL felt like in 2025. Really enjoyed this conversation. Think you guys will as well. Let's get to it right now. [upbeat music] Doing a little bit of a look back today. Obviously in June, a lot of space to play with, not a ton of news coming down the pike every single day. We've been able to look back at some lingering questions that we've had