Welcome to the Thursday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!
The NFL news you’ve been waiting for is finally here: The 2025 Pro Bowl rosters have been revealed!
OK, so that’s not actually that exciting, but we do have some exciting stuff in the newsletter today. Not only do we have the results of our latest MVP poll, but we also decided to rank the most important games of Week 18. And yes, we’ll also be taking a look at the Pro Bowl rosters, because I know everyone is clamoring to know who made the Pro Bowl and who didn’t.
As always, here’s your daily reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter or you can tell people you run into at the grocery store. That also works. To get them signed up, all you have to do is click here.
1. MVP watch: Lamar Jackson on cusp of third career MVP award
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We’ve had a tight MVP race for most of the season, and if our latest least MVP poll here at CBS Sports is any indication, this thing is going to go down to the wire.
To figure out who has the upper hand right now, we rounded up 16 CBSSports.com writers and editors and had them vote on who they think will win the MVP. Under the new voting rules that were implemented last year, the 50 media members who vote on the award will each get to name up to five players on their ballot, so that’s exactly how we handled the voting here.
Here’s a look at our top five heading into Week 18, along with each player’s point total. (A player got five points for a first-place vote, four points for a second-place vote and so on.)
1. Ravens QB Lamar Jackson (69 points)
2. Bills QB Josh Allen (64 points)
3. Bengals QB Joe Burrow (43 points)
4. Eagles RB Saquon Barkley (36 points)
T-5. Lions QB Jared Goff (8 points)
T-5. Vikings QB Sam Darnold (8 points)
If our poll is any indication, Jackson appears to be the frontrunner, but he’s neck-and-neck with Allen. Also, there is definitely some drama here because Allen actually got MORE first-place votes than the Ravens quarterback. On our 16 ballots, Allen got eight first-place votes compared to seven for Jackson (The other one went to Saquon Barkley). A big reason Jackson is ahead of Allen in our poll because he was named on all 16 ballots while Allen was only named on 15 ballots.
Jackson has come a long way in a month. Back on Dec. 5, he was only given one first-place vote and that CAME FROM ME. Apparently, I’m driving the Lamar bandwagon. Since then, he’s picked up six more first-place votes, and in Week 18, he’ll have a chance to sway some more people when the Ravens play the Browns. On the other hand, Josh Allen won’t be playing, so Jackson will certainly have a chance to make an MVP statement on Saturday.
Overall, a total of 11 players received at least one MVP vote. If you want to see a full list of every player who got a vote, then be sure to click here.
Of the four guys who got the most votes in our poll, we had four separate writers make a case for each player, and you can check that out here.
2. Ranking the most important games of Week 18
There are 11 games being played this weekend that will have playoff implications so Jeff Kerr decided to do us all a favor and rank them from most important to least important. Basically, this is Kerr’s way of telling us which games we really need to pay attention to and what games we only kind of need to be paying attention to.
Let’s check out the top three games on his list:
1. Vikings (14-2) at Lions (14-2), 8:20 p.m. ET (NBC). “This one is for everything in the NFC, perhaps the best regular-season finale the league has ever had. The winner of this game takes the NFC North and clinches home-field advantage for the NFC playoffs — along with the lone first-round bye. The loser gets dropped to the No. 5 seed despite having 14 wins, becoming the first 13+ win wild-card team in NFL history.”
2. Bengals (8-8) at Steelers (10-6), 8 p.m. ET (ESPN/ABC). “The stakes are pretty high for the Bengals in this one, as Cincinnati needs to win in order to keep its playoff hopes alive. Because Cincinnati plays on Saturday, the Bengals can put the pressure on the Broncos and Dolphins to win on Sunday.”
3. Chiefs (15-1) at Broncos (9-7), 4:25 p.m. ET (CBS). “The Broncos control all the chaos on the final day of the regular season. All the Broncos have to do is win and they will make the playoffs as the No. 7 seed, the final team into the tournament. If Denver loses, that opens the door for Miami or Cincinnati to get into the playoffs. The Chiefs will be resting their starters, so the pathway is there for Denver to make the playoff.”
As I mentioned at the top, Kerr ranked a total of 11 games and you can check out his full ranking here.
3. NFL All-Rookie Team for 2024 season: Jayden Daniels leads the offense
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The NFL season isn’t quite over yet, but we’ve seen enough to make our All-Rookie Team. The first-rounders in this rookie class might go down as one of the best groups in NFL history.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the All-Rookie Team on the offensive side of the ball:
QB: Jayden Daniels, Commanders
RB: Bucky Irving, Buccaneers
RB: Tyrone Tracy, Jr., Giants
WR: Malik Nabers, Giants
WR: Brian Thomas Jr., Jaguars
WR: Ladd McConkey, Chargers
TE: Brock Bowers, Raiders
OT: Roger Rosengarten, Ravens
OT: Joe Alt, Cardinals
OG: Dominick Puni, 49ers
OG: Jackson Powers-Johnson, Raiders
C: Zach Frazier, Steelers
The Rams landed the most players on the All-Rookie Team with four, but you don’t see any of those players listed above, because they all came on defense. If you want to see what the defensive side of the All-Rookie Team looks like, then be sure to click here to check out the full roster.
4. Pro Bowl rosters revealed: Ravens lead the way with nine players
There will be 88 players in Orlando for this year’s Pro Bowl, and those players were revealed this morning when the NFL announced the official rosters for both the AFC and NFC. The rosters were decided with input from fans, players and coaches, with each group counting one-third toward the vote.
Here are a few nuggets about this year’s Pro Bowl rosters:
- Ravens have the most Pro Bowlers. The Ravens had nine players named to the Pro Bowl roster, which was two more than any other team. The Lions had the second most with seven players. Not to be outdone, the Vikings and Eagles both had six players named to the Pro Bowl. As for the Ravens, their list of Pro Bowlers includes Zay Flowers, marking the first time in franchise history that a receiver has been voted to the Pro Bowl.
- Patrick Mahomes left out. Mahomes had been voted to six straight Pro Bowls since taking over the Chiefs’ starting QB job in 2018, but that streak is now over. Even though he got left out, it wasn’t exactly a snub and that’s because the AFC QB spots went to Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow.
- Jayden Daniels joins impressive club. The Commanders rookie was one of three quarterbacks named to the Pro Bowl out of the NFC, which makes him just the fourth rookie QB since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970 to be named to the initial roster (In other years, we’ve seen rookie quarterbacks land on the team as alternates). Daniels joins Dan Marino (1983), Robert Griffin III (2012) and Dak Prescott (2016) as the the only rookie quarterbacks to be voted to the Pro Bowl’s initial roster.
- Rookie party at the Pro Bowl. The Pro Bowl will feature 24 players who have been selected for the first time, including three rookies: Jayden Daniels (Commanders), Brock Bowers (Raiders) and Jared Verse (Rams).
- Chasing history. Ja’Marr Chase was voted to the Pro Bowl for the fourth straight year, which makes him just the fourth receiver in NFL history to make the Pro Bowl in each of his first four seasons. Surprisingly, two of the other three guys on the list are also Bengals players. Chase joins Isaac Curtis, A.J. Green and Tyreek Hill.
- Four teams got shut out. There were 28 teams that had at least one Pro Bowl representative, which means there were four teams that got shut out. Those teams were the Titans, Dolphins, Jets and Saints.
If you want to see the full roster for each conference, then be sure to click here. One of the biggest snubs this year was Eagles left tackle Jordan Mailata. If you want to see our full list of snubs, then be sure to head here.
Remember, there’s no actual Pro Bowl “game” this year. Instead of a standard NFL game, the rebranded Pro Bowl Games will be a week-long celebration that will include multiple events. In the week leading up to the game, players will participate in multiple skills competitions (You can check those out here). The week in Orlando will conclude on Feb. 2 with a flag football game between the AFC and NFC. The two teams will once again be coached by Peyton and Eli Manning.
Oh, and one thing to keep in mind is that if any team makes the Super Bowl, their players will NOT be participating in the Pro Bowl Games.
5. Projecting the 2025 QB market: Derek Carr ends up in Indy, Sam Darnold stays put
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With only 14 teams making the playoffs, that means the offseason will officially be starting on Monday for the 18 teams that don’t make the postseason. Those teams will immediately begin to try and improve their roster for 2025. If you want to be a contender in the NFL, you have to have a good QB, so Cody Benjamin decided to take a look at the QB market for the upcoming offseason.
What’s going to happen? Here are three big moves that Cody is predicting:
- Sam Darnold re-signs with Vikings. “After six years of flailing around for mostly dysfunctional rebuilds, the former top-three pick has blossomed into MVP form under Kevin O’Connell, feeding the Vikings’ elite playmakers with career-best anticipation and fearlessness. Still just 27, he finally looks the part of a big-time arm with help by his side.”
- Justin Fields signs with Raiders. “Summoned to open the Steelers’ season under center as Wilson recovered from injury, the former Chicago Bears first-rounder has been equally dynamic as erratic when asked to win through the air, though his Pittsburgh debut was more efficient. He remains something of a high-upside unknown.”
- Derek Carr signs with Colts (after getting cut by Saints). “After playing through multiple injuries in 2023, the former Raiders veteran succumbed to them in Year 2 with New Orleans, appearing in just 10 contests as the Saints made a long-awaited coaching shift. Going on 34, with a long but inconsistent resume, his release would save the team up to $30 million.”
Cody made predictions for a total of seven veteran quarterbacks while also predicting where several rookie quarterbacks might land, and you can check out every player on his list by reading his full story here.
6. Extra points: Eagles keeping Saquon Barkley on the bench
It’s been a busy 24 hours in the NFL, and since it’s nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you.
- Saquon Barkley won’t be breaking the single-season rushing record. Eagles coach Nick Sirianni has announced that he’ll be resting his starters in Week 18, which includes keeping Barkley on the bench. Barkley is just 101 yards away from breaking Eric Dickerson’s all-time rushing record of 2,105 yards for a single season. Barkley said he would have liked to break the record, but not if he was “putting the team at risk.” You can check out his full reaction to Sirianni’s decision here.
- Jimmy Garoppolo to start for Rams. Sean McVay hinted this week that he’d likely be resting several key players on Sunday and he wasn’t kidding. Jimmy Garoppolo will be getting the start against the Seahawks, which means Matthew Stafford will be spending Week 18 on the bench. The Rams can clinch the No. 3 seed in the NFC with a win, but clearly, McVay isn’t worried about whether his team gets the third or fourth seed in the NFC.
- Tyler Huntley likely starting for Dolphins. It’s not set in stone yet, but it’s looking more and more like Tyler Huntley is going to be the Dolphins’ starting QB on Sunday when they face the Jets. Tua Tagovailoa is dealing with hip injury that kept him out of Week 17, and apparently, things haven’t gotten much better. This is a huge game for the Dolphins, who could make the playoffs with a win combined with a Broncos’ loss to the Chiefs. Speaking of the Chiefs …
- Carson Wentz set to start for Chiefs. With the top seed in the AFC wrapped up, the Chiefs will be resting several starters this week, including Patrick Mahomes. That means that Carson Wentz will be getting the start at QB. If the Chiefs beat the Broncos, that would open the door for the Bengals or Dolphins to make the playoffs. Wentz’s last start actually came with the Rams in LAST YEAR’S regular-season finale and he led L.A. to a win over the 49ers.
- Josh Dobbs to start for 49ers. This game doesn’t have any playoff implications, but we’ll throw in this update anyway. Brock Purdy, who injured his elbow on Monday night, won’t be healthy enough to play on Sunday, so the 49ers will be rolling with Dobbs.
Read the full article here
