the schoolkid's pink, heart-festooned backpack that Casey Dawson is schlepping around town as punishment for losing at fantasy football. It keeps me humble. It keeps me grounded. It puts a smile on my face every time I see it. It's kind of ridiculous, but it's fun. It keeps everything fun and light-hearted, said Dawson, a 25-year-old from Park City, Utah, whose first event at this Winter Games comes Sunday in the men's 5,000 meters.
ESPN's purchase of NFL Network and other league digital assets has been finalized after government regulators approved the transaction. The league and ESPN officially announced the closing of the deal Saturday night after the Justice Department and other non-US antitrust authorities completed their reviews. ESPN acquired NFL Network, NFL Fantasy and the rights to distribute the RedZone channel to cable and satellite operators and the league will get a 10% equity stake in ESPN.
Some of it is based on my own philosophies with player evaluations and roster construction, while other takeaways are simply lessons learned from the 2025 season. There are always teaching points... if you look close enough. Coaching and scheme matter I view the game through a coaching and deployment lens. It means everything when evaluating talent, while also projecting a player's role in a specific offense.
Coordinator Vic Fangio's defense has turned it up since Philadelphia's Week 9 bye, ranking first in opponent completion percentage (51.5%), second in opponent passer rating (67.2) and third in points allowed per game (14.3). Philadelphia limited Las Vegas to 75 total yards last week, marking the fewest yards allowed by a team since 2023. Fangio gave the offense a good bit of the credit in the shutout, noting that it moved the ball and got the run game going.
The Buffalo Bills started things off by falling behind their AFC East rival New England Patriots by three touchdowns, yet they came back to win the game 35-31. Then QB Philip Rivers, who retired five years ago and is 44 years old, started for the Indianapolis Colts mere days after signing a contract -- and he nearly led his team to a stunning road win against the mighty Seattle Seahawks defense. Alas, the Seahawks won in the closing seconds.
Henderson scored 30.1 fantasy points, had a pair of 50-plus yard touchdowns on which he was clocked at faster than 20 mph on each, per Next Gen Stats, and ran for 105 more yards than expected on Sunday. In Week 10, he scored 28.0 fantasy points, had a pair of 50-plus yard, 20-plus mph touchdowns, and ran for 93 more yards than expected.
Throughout the season, we hit on the last-minute pickups in this space every Friday. Deeper-league targets, flex plays, WR3s and more. The late-week adds to give you a potential bump or positive streaming option in the lineup. But with the playoffs already rolling in ESPN standard leagues and plenty of formats kicking off their tournaments this week, I want to focus on the players currently being started in under 50% of ESPN leagues who can provide some upside.
With his 259.16 fantasy points so far this season, fifth most among quarterbacks and a larger total than he had in any of the previous three years, Matthew Stafford has leapfrogged Larry Fitzgerald, Matt Ryan and Philip Rivers to assume the eighth overall spot. Rivers' return could shake up the leaderboard: Stafford's entry into the top 10 pushed Rivers back to 11th in scoring. With Rivers signing with the Indianapolis Colts' practice squad on Tuesday, giving him a good chance at playing for the quarterback-starved team during the season's final four weeks, he has a chance to vault back into the top 10 in place of Matt Ryan.
The Week 13 schedule for the 2025 NFL season begins with a great slate of Thanksgiving Day matchups, and we have you covered for what should be an exciting holiday. According to ESPN Research, the average over/under point total of 51.2 is the highest for Thanksgiving games over the past 40 seasons. Buckle up. Ahead of the three matchups, our NFL Nation reporters take you inside each locker room with key storylines and a look back at each team's history playing on Thanksgiving.
Play-action is at the core of the Colts' offense; they use it on 33% of dropbacks, second most in the NFL. And it might be a particularly potent lever in Week 12, because the Chiefs -- while generally a solid defense that ranks 13th in EPA allowed per dropback -- have struggled mightily against play-action. They rank dead last in EPA allowed per play-action play (0.38) and have allowed a 62% success rate against play-action, second worst among all defenses.
This was projected to be the perfect running mate for second-team All-Pro wideout Terry McLaurin, giving quarterback Jayden Daniels a legitimate 1-2 punch to depend upon deep into the playoffs. That hasn't happened. McLaurin has been seldom seen due to injury. Daniels has played only six games and could be out for even longer with a dislocated elbow. Samuel, who was criticized for his conditioning and injury issues after the trade, has been the constant, missing just one game.
The Washington Commanders claim the earliest we could see electric-but-brittle starter Jayden Daniels back on the field is Week 13, though it is important to note that the organization did not place him on the injured list after he dislocated his non-throwing elbow in Week 9. That was a tad surprising. The Commanders have lost five consecutive games and are 3-7 entering this week against the Miami Dolphins.
