Since picking them almost feels like cheating, I\u2019ll try to look at the other seven last-place finishers. That\u2019s where things get hard. The Patriots, Raiders and Giants should be better, but they\u2019re looking up at the Bills, Chiefs and Eagles in their divisions. The Saints and Titans could be starting rookie quarterbacks, and are in divisions with repeat champions. So the Bears might be the surprise.<\/p>\n
How would it happen? If everything comes together on the offensive line, Caleb Williams makes a Year 2 leap like Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes once did, and Dennis Allen brings a talented defense together. J.J. McCarthy doesn\u2019t live up to expectations in Minnesota, and the coaching staff drain hits Detroit harder than expected. Likely? No. Possible? I guess.<\/p>\n
From Chase Snyder (@ChasingSnyder): If Josh Simmons is recovered and is the starting LT on day 1 of training camp, is there any chance he loses that job to Moore unless he\u2019s a total disaster or is it a real competition?<\/p>\n
Well, Chase, it seems to me like Josh Simmons would have to win the job from Jaylon Moore, since Simmons is coming off a significant injury, is a rookie and still hasn\u2019t strapped on a pair of shoulder pads for an NFL practice. Moore, to be clear, was signed at $45 million over three years to be the Chiefs\u2019 left tackle. They had no idea whether Simmons would even be available at No. 32, let alone whether they would take him if they had the chance. So, in April, Moore and Jawaan Taylor were the team\u2019s presumptive tackles.<\/p>\n
That said, given the issues the Chiefs had at the position last year, which necessitated Joe Thuney moving outside from guard<\/a>, Kansas City is going to have a real competition at camp. Moore and Taylor might get the first snaps at those spots. But if Simmons proves to be one of the two best answers at the position, Andy Reid, Matt Nagy and Andy Heck won\u2019t hesitate to put him out there.<\/p>\n There\u2019s too much on the line this year, and every year they have Patrick Mahomes under center, not to approach it that way. So, again, Taylor, Moore and Simmons will go into camp as the team\u2019s top options, and two of the three will come out as starters.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t From Old Purchase (@old_purchase): Hey, Albert, do you think all of the Achilles injuries occurring across the NBA\/NFL is related to the type of footwear players are wearing off the field\/during training\/during the game? I feel as if \u201cthe games are played faster now\u201d doesn\u2019t tell the whole story.<\/p>\n Old Purchase, at this point, you can call me a multisport evangelist. I think this stuff ties to how athletes are brought up now. I wrote a story over a decade ago<\/a> at NFL Media on the development of quarterbacks, where Tom House shared some pretty interesting research he\u2019d done into the science of multisport vs. single-sport athletes. From the story \u2026<\/p>\n Just as the high schoolers in Texas are quarterbacking year-round, preteens are being drilled on the position at younger and younger ages, a sign that specialization is hitting football full bore, the way it already has baseball and basketball and hockey.<\/p>\n House, like many others, thinks it\u2019s a little much. His research shows kids should be playing all sports before they turn 12 and continuing with a few after that while putting muscle and nerve together, only beginning to specialize at 17 or so. He points out that [Tom] Brady was a baseball star, and that [Drew] Brees was both that and an exceptional tennis player.<\/p>\n The idea, House told me, went well beyond being a well-rounded athlete. There was an injury prevention element to it, too. The science shows what\u2019s logical, that focusing on one sport at too early an age leads to overtraining of some muscles, and undertraining of others, which puts wear and tear on certain parts of the body without the necessary strength to support it in other parts.<\/p>\n That explains the explosion of UCL injuries, and resulting Tommy John surgeries, with young pitchers in baseball, the uptick in Achilles injuries in basketball players and the rise in ACL injuries in soccer players.<\/p>\n Now, does that mean footwear or the speed of the game isn\u2019t an issue? No. I\u2019m sure there are plenty of factors. But I would say that because fewer football players in general specialize (Mahomes was a baseball star, Joe Burrow was All-State in hoops<\/a> and Josh Allen was a three-sport athlete), the same issues with single types of injuries that you see in other sports don\u2019t exist quite as much (though the injury rate in football is higher for other, much more obvious reasons).<\/p>\n From \ud835\udc03\ud835\udc08\ud835\udc04-\ud835\udc07\ud835\udc00\ud835\udc11\ud835\udc03 \ud835\udc11\ud835\udc04\ud835\udc00\ud835\udc0b \ud835\udc04\ud835\udc12\ud835\udc13\ud835\udc00\ud835\udc13\ud835\udc04 (@Eaglesfans9): How is Nick Sirianni viewed by coaches and owners around the league? Does he get more respect inside NFL circles than he does from fans and the media?<\/p>\n![\"aaro-rodgers-jets-trainers-injury\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/01jykyn1zxf87yaag5jh.png\")
\n\t\t\t\tThe NBA playoffs have generated more conversation about Achilles injuries, but they have struck NFL stars, too. | Robert Deutsch\/USA TODAY Network<\/p>\n
![\"daniel-jones-colts-otas-pitching-bal\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/01jykywjyme1vtsw3kqa.jpg\")