Welcome to the Friday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!<\/p>\n
If you need something to do this weekend, you can count all the diamonds in the Eagles<\/a>‘ Super Bowl<\/a> ring. The players don’t have their rings just yet, but they will be getting them in a ceremony tonight<\/a>. Once those rings have been handed out, we can officially turn the page on the 2024 season and start focusing on 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n Speaking of focusing, we’re going to focus on several things in today’s newsletter, like T.J. Watt’s<\/a> record-setting contract extension. We’re also going to rank the top offensive triplets in the NFL<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n As always, here’s your daily reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter. To get them signed up, all you have to do is\u00a0click here<\/a>. Let’s get to the rundown.\u00a0<\/p>\n 1. Who has the best QB\/RB\/WR trio in the NFL? Ranking every team\u00a0 It’s time for our annual triplets ranking! This is where Jared Dubin rounds up a bunch of CBS Sports NFL writers and asks us to rank every QB-RB-WR\/TE combination in the league from one thru 32. Dubin then tallies up all the votes to give us our official ranking.\u00a0<\/p>\n So, who has the best QB-RB-WR\/TE trio in the NFL this year? Let’s find out.\u00a0<\/p>\n 1. Bengals<\/a>\u00a0(QB Joe Burrow<\/a>, RB Chase Brown<\/a>, WR Ja’Marr Chase<\/a>) I know what you’re thinking, and no, I did not beg Dubin to put the Bengals on top, even though I did think about it. The overall ranking was actually voted on by 10 different NFL writers and editors here at CBS Sports, and the Bengals ended up edging out the Eagles with an average score of 1.6 compared to 2.4 for Philadelphia. (Each team’s point total was based on the average score the team got from our 10 writers. For instance, the Bengals got six first-place votes, two second-place votes and two third-place votes.)<\/p>\n If you want to see the breakdown of the vote and why the Bengals ended up on top, be sure to check out Dubin’s full story by clicking here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n 2. T.J. Watt lands record-setting contract: Three things to know<\/p>\n There will be no holdout for T.J. Watt. With the Steelers<\/a> getting ready to report to training camp in less than a week (July 23), Watt was able to get an extension done with the team that will make him the highest-paid non quarterback in the NFL.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here’s what you need to know:\u00a0<\/p>\n Watt is getting paid. The Steelers’ star pass-rusher has agreed to terms on a three-year, $123 million extension<\/a> that includes $108 million in fully guaranteed money. With Watt getting an average of $41.1 million per year, that moves him past Ja’Marr Chase ($40.25 million) as the highest paid non-QB in the NFL. JJ Watt<\/a> would like his brother<\/a> to know that T.J. will be on the hook to pay for any dinner the two have together going forward.\u00a0Watt will likely be worth the price. Watt has been one of the most dominant players in the NFL since his rookie year in 2017. He has 108 sacks over eight seasons, which is the third-most in NFL history for a player in his first eight seasons. He also has 73.5 sacks over the past five years, which is the most in the league over the span. Watt has also led the NFL in sacks a total of THREE times, making him the only player in NFL history to pull that off. This was a deal the Steelers had to get done because they almost always struggle when Watt isn’t on the field. He’s missed a total of 12 games in his career and the Steelers have gone 1-11 in those games. The only question mark with Watt is his age — he turns 31 in October — so the Steelers will now be hoping that Father Time doesn’t catch up with him any time soon. \u00a0How this could impact the market. The price for Micah Parsons<\/a> just went up for the Cowboys<\/a>. Whenever Parsons gets his new deal, it’s a near certainty that he’ll become the highest-paid non-QB. If the Cowboys had gotten a deal done in February, the highest-paid non-QB was making just $34 million per year, but now, that number has gone up to $41.1 million in just five months. The Cowboys only have themselves to blame and Garrett Podell explained why here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Watt’s contract could also have an impact on the Bengals’ negotiations with Trey Hendrickson<\/a>. Although Hendrickson isn’t looking to be the highest-paid pass-rusher, Watt’s deal could cause him to raise his asking price since the entire market just went up. \u00a0<\/p>\n 3. NFLPA executive director resigns under cloud of controversy Lloyd Howell’s shaky two-year tenure as the head of the NFLPA is over after he surprisingly resigned on Thursday night. Howell had been under fire for the past few weeks over a variety of things and after originally planning to keep his job, he decided to quit and he did that with a statement that he released just before 11 p.m. ET on Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here’s what you need to know:\u00a0<\/p>\n Howell said he had turned into a distraction. In his statement, Howell didn’t admit to any wrongdoing, but he did say that it was pretty obvious that he had become a distraction. “It’s clear that my leadership has become a distraction to the important work the NFLPA advances every day. For this reason, I have informed the NFLPA Executive Committee that I am stepping down as Executive Director of the NFLPA and Chairman of the Board of NFL Players effective immediately. I hope this will allow the NFLPA to maintain its focus on its player members ahead of the upcoming season.”Why was Howell a distraction? It all started with the NFLPA’s collusion case against the NFL. Although the NFLPA won, Howell made a deal with the league to keep the decision confidential, so none of the players knew about it. An arbitrator made a ruling in the collusion case in January and it stayed confidential until June, and Howell has faced some backlash since the decision became public. (You can read more about the collusion decision here<\/a>.)Howell appeared to have a conflict of interest. Despite being the head of the NFLPA, Howell also had a side job as a part-time consultant with the Carlyle Group. The problem there is that the Carlyle Group was one of several private equity firms that was given permission to purchase minority stakes in NFL teams<\/a>. As the head of the NFLPA, Howell was supposed to help the players get more money from owners, but he was also working for a company that was permitted to invest in NFL teams, which would essentially make them partners with the owners.\u00a0<\/p>\n ESPN also reported<\/a> this week that Howell had been sued for sexual discrimination and retaliation in 2011. Howell kept a low-profile during his two-year tenure, which started in June 2023, but the fact of that matter is that he seems like he was in over his head.\u00a0<\/p>\n It’s not clear who will be replacing Lloyd, but the NFLPA executive committee will be meeting “as soon as possible”<\/a>\u00a0to figure that out. We’ve got more details on Howell’s resignation here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n 4. Comeback candidates: Veterans who could have a career resurgence in 2025<\/p>\n Hope springs eternal in the NFL and that’s extra true for players who struggled last year. There will be several veterans this season who will have the chance to rebound from an ugly 2024 with a strong 2025. Chris Trapasso took a look at a few players who could have a bounce back year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Let’s take a look at three names on his list:\u00a0<\/p>\n TE Evan Engram<\/a> (Broncos<\/a>).\u00a0“The Broncos signed the soon-to-be 31-year-old tight end presumably to serve as Bo Nix’s<\/a> security blanket underneath in his second season. I expect Engram’s catch figure to be much closer to his 2023 total of 114 receptions than the total he put up last year (47).”RB Kenneth Walker<\/a>\u00a0III (Seahawks<\/a>).\u00a0“Walker got a raw deal last season in Seattle. His yards-per-carry average dipped for the third-straight season from 4.6 to 4.1 to 3.7, and he averaged fewer than 14 carries per game for the first time in his professional career. … In 2025, the Seahawks will at least start the season more healthy up front, with at times punishing left tackle Abraham Lucas<\/a> ready for the season after not playing until Week 11 last year. Plus, the Seahawks selected uber-athletic blocker Grey Zabel in the first round of the draft.”RB Keaton Mitchell<\/a> (Ravens).\u00a0“The Ravens’ ground-game brilliance is anchored by Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry, but Mitchell has the juice to rebound as the ideal lightning complement to Henry’s thunder. Remember, this is a back who ran 4.37 with a 38-inch vertical entering the league out of East Carolina just two years ago. He only turned 23 years old in January.”<\/p>\n You\u00a0can see Trapasso’s full list here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n 5. Ranking the most surprising Super Bowl participants since 2000 We are a quarter of the way through the new century and we’ve been celebrating that fact all summer long here at CBS Sports. Not only did we recently unveil our All-Quarter Century Team<\/a> last week, but we’ve got more fun in store today: We ranked the most surprising Super Bowl participants of the past 25 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bryan DeArdo was in charge of this ranking, and here are the top three teams on his list: \u00a0<\/p>\n 1. 2001 New England Patriots<\/a>. “Facing the heavily-favored Rams<\/a>, the Patriots led 17-3 in the fourth quarter before St. Louis rallied to tie the score with 90 seconds left. Instead of settling for overtime, the Patriots gave Brady a chance to win the game in regulation. Brady did just that, as he masterfully led New England’s two-minute offense with five clutch completions. The completions set up Adam Vinatieri’s<\/a> game-winning field goal as time expired, thus completing the most unexpected Super Bowl win of the 21st century.”<\/p>\n 2. 2000 Baltimore Ravens. “The Ravens’ Super Bowl win over the Giants<\/a> was surprising largely due to the fact that the franchise had not had a winning season since moving from Cleveland to Baltimore four years earlier. In many ways, that season jumpstarted the Ravens to becoming the franchise it is today.”<\/p>\n 3. 2017 Philadelphia Eagles. “In Super Bowl LII, Nick Foles<\/a> won an epic shootout against Tom Brady<\/a>, who in a losing effort threw for a Super Bowl record 505 yards. But his performance was overshadowed by Foles, who threw for 373 yards and three touchdowns. His most memorable play was his touchdown catch on the now famous ‘Philly Special.'”<\/p>\n There are a total of 10 teams on DeArdo’s list, including five that didn’t end up winning the Super Bowl. If you want to check out his full list, you can do that here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n 6. Extra points: Former first-round pick surprisingly retires<\/p>\n It’s not the busiest time in the NFL, but there’s still a lot happening, so I went ahead and put together a small roundup for you.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mike Williams<\/a> retires. The Chargers<\/a> receiver, who was taken with the seventh overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft<\/a>, has decided to call it a career. Williams, who’s only 30, announced his retirement on Thursday after eight NFL seasons. If you want more details on his surprising decision, we’ve got that here<\/a>.\u00a0Jordan Addison<\/a> suspension likely coming. The Vikings<\/a> receiver agreed to a plea deal in his DUI case on Thursday. Addison agreed to plea to a “wet reckless,” which essentially reduces his DUI down to a reckless driving charge. Now that his legal case is behind him, Addison could now be staring at a possible NFL suspension. You can read more about Addison’s situation here<\/a>.\u00a0Shemar Stewart<\/a> not returning to college. After Stewart was spotted working out at Texas A&M, there was some speculation that he might try to return to college, but that definitely won’t be happening. Aggies head coach Mike Elko said this week that Stewart has no intention of trying to return to A&M<\/a>. By rule, Stewart isn’t even allowed to return A&M. If he wants to play another year of college football<\/a>, he would have to file a lawsuit, which would likely lead to a lengthy legal battle.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome to the Friday edition of the Pick Six newsletter! If you need something to do this weekend,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8694,12753,11591,4566,117,925,4132,256,257,258,292,113,2826,7,3188,9628,8633,1674,492,1029,1577,8265,110,21396,9294,895,262,58,491,5859,259,249,56,6,5341,499,109,57,4000,894,261,1496,5226,1369,1503,4648],"class_list":{"0":"post-219218","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-a-j-brown","9":"tag-abraham-lucas","10":"tag-adam-vinatieri","11":"tag-amon-ra-st-brown","12":"tag-baltimore-ravens","13":"tag-bo-nix","14":"tag-chase-brown","15":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","16":"tag-dallas-cowboys","17":"tag-denver-broncos","18":"tag-derrick-henry","19":"tag-detroit-lions","20":"tag-evan-engram","21":"tag-football","22":"tag-isiah-pacheco","23":"tag-j-j-watt","24":"tag-jamarr-chase","25":"tag-jahmyr-gibbs","26":"tag-jalen-hurts","27":"tag-jared-goff","28":"tag-joe-burrow","29":"tag-jordan-addison","30":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","31":"tag-keaton-mitchell","32":"tag-kenneth-walker","33":"tag-lamar-jackson","34":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","35":"tag-los-angeles-rams","36":"tag-micah-parsons","37":"tag-mike-williams","38":"tag-minnesota-vikings","39":"tag-new-england-patriots","40":"tag-new-york-giants","41":"tag-nfl","42":"tag-nick-foles","43":"tag-patrick-mahomes","44":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","45":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","46":"tag-rashee-rice","47":"tag-saquon-barkley","48":"tag-seattle-seahawks","49":"tag-shemar-stewart","50":"tag-t-j-watt","51":"tag-tom-brady","52":"tag-trey-hendrickson","53":"tag-zay-flowers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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2. Eagles\u00a0(QB Jalen Hurts<\/a>, RB Saquon Barkley<\/a>, WR A.J. Brown<\/a>)
3. Ravens<\/a>\u00a0(QB Lamar Jackson<\/a>, RB Derrick Henry<\/a>, WR Zay Flowers<\/a>)\u00a0
4. Lions<\/a>\u00a0(QB Jared Goff<\/a>, RB Jahmyr Gibbs<\/a>, WR Amon-Ra St. Brown<\/a>)
5. Chiefs<\/a>\u00a0(QB Patrick Mahomes<\/a>, RB Isiah Pacheco<\/a>, WR Rashee Rice<\/a>)\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n Getty Images<\/p>\n
\n Getty Images<\/p>\n