The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL

It's easy to overlook second-year players who A) didn't have huge rookie seasons, or B) aren't quarterbacks. But you don't have to be Jayden Daniels or Malik Nabers or Jared Verse to be an X-factor for your team—and, by extension, the league—in your second season. Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen highlight six sneaky second-year X-factors on this episode of The Athletic Football Show. Rundown (times...

There's a temptation to believe that surprise teams from the previous season are on a clear upward trajectory. But we know that isn't always true. Just ask the 2022-23 Giants or 2021-22 Raiders. Four of last year's playoff teams significantly outperformed preseason expectations and made the playoffs: the Commanders, Chargers, Broncos and Vikings. Is the arrow really pointing up for those teams? Da...

Take a moment to think about the unexpected developments that helped define the 2024 NFL season. The Washington Commanders going to the NFC Championship Game. The 49ers missing the playoffs entirely. Jared Verse immediately taking the league by storm. Saquon Barkley changing teams and having a season for the ages. Each of those was a huge story last year that was felt across the league. What might...

If you're listening to this episode the day it comes out, the Lions and Chargers are at training camp. If you're listening to it a few days later, even more teams are at camp. No matter when you're listening to it, training camp is here. And we have questions. Oh boy, do we have questions. Robert Mays, Derrik Klassen and Dave Helman talk through their biggest questions as camp begins on this episo...

No Free Lunch is a new podcast in The Athletic podcast network. Hosted by former NFL star Ndamukong Suh, No Free Lunch talks to athletes and experts about how the most successful people in sports manage their money and grow their wealth. On this episode, Ndamukong talks with his former teammate and current Tampa Bay Buccaneer Vita Vea. They discuss what goes into rookie contracts - specifically th...

We're deep into July. Training camp is right around the corner. NFL people have all taken their vacations. It's official...the offseason is over. And with that comes the end of regular TAFS mailbag episodes. In our final mailbag of the offseason, Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen tackle questions on the league's most cursed franchise, the most important non-QB factors for floor and ceiling, Zac Taylo...

Our own Derrik Klassen loves talking about honorable and dishonorable play across the NFL. Perhaps you've found yourself sitting there saying to your device, 'Hey Derrik, what exactly does it mean to be honorable?' Well, today is your lucky day. Using the quarterback position as a vehicle, Derrik walks through his Honorability Index with Dave Helman on this episode of The Athletic Football Show. H...

Everyone—literally everyone—people would place Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow among the top-five quarterbacks in the NFL. An overwhelming majority would round out that list with Justin Herbert. Ask 10 people who the sixth-best QB is, though, and you could get 10 different answers. Robert Mays, Derrik Klassen and Dave Helman try to pin who that sixth-best QB is on th...

Pablo Torre kicked the NFL news cycle into hyperdrive last month in what's supposed to be a relatively quiet part of the calendar when he dropped on his podcast the 61-page ruling behind a collusion grievance filed by the NFLPA against the league. The story has only picked up steam since then, highlighted by news—broken by ESPN last week—of a confidentiality agreement between the league and player...

We spend all offseason watching, considering and analyzing every move every team makes. Despite all that time and critical thought, there are always a handful of teams that we can't quite figure out on the doorstep of training camp. Derrik Klassen and friend of the show Dave Helman highlight the teams that they can't fully pin down on this episode of The Athletic Football Show. Hosts: Robert Mays...

Every year, a handful of teams have to convince themselves that a certain story they've been telling themselves all offseason will turn out to be true. Their success for the coming season hinges on it. One example for 2025...Ben Johnson is exactly what Caleb Williams needs. So what are the other stories that teams are telling themselves as we approach the beginning of training camp? Robert Mays an...

July is here, which means training camps are just a few short weeks away. The football is getting closer, and that's reflected in this week's TAFS Mailbag. Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen answer a bunch more of your questions on this edition, including...How do you separate a player from his situation? How does a competing team correctly balance a desire to go all-in with the patience necessary to...

Revisiting recent drafts can help inform what we think about the league in the present moment and the ways that teams make decisions. Especially when you've got Dane Brugler at your disposal. Dane joins Robert Mays on this episode of The Athletic Football Show to look back at the 2018 NFL Draft, a class that, in real life, saw Baker Mayfield, Saquon Barkley and Sam Darnold go 1-2-3, Josh Allen lan...

If you listen to a show like this, you already have an idea of how much modern technology is shaping the NFL. There's a decent chance, though, that its reach into what you watch on Sundays...and Mondays...and especially Thursdays is far greater than you suppose. And it's only increasing. Sam Schwartzstein, the analytics expert behind Amazon's Thursday night Prime Vision broadcasts, joins Robert Ma...

Every now and again in this business, breaking news works in your favor. That was the case for us at The Athletic Football Show on Monday, when news of the Jalen Ramsey Dolphins/Steelers trade broke early in the morning. It became even more the case when the deal got stranger and more interesting, roping in Minkah Fitzpatrick, Jonnu Smith, and a couple of draft picks over the ensuing 90 minutes or...

Mailbag Monday rolls on as we get deeper into summer and closer to the start of training camp. Among the questions answered by Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen on this edition...where would Baltimore fall among QB supporting classes in the NFC? Which contract-year players have the widest range of outcomes this season? What are the best single-offseason QB/coach upgrades of all-time? Hear their answe...

The 2024 rookie quarterback class was a big story from the moment that it put six players in the first round of the draft. The group had about as diverse a range of rookie season experiences as possible, from J.J. McCarthy missing the season due to injury, to Jayden Daniels leading the Commanders to the NFC Championship Game. What was 2024 really like for the five guys who played? And what are rea...

Every NFL season includes multiple instances of teams surprising us on the positive side of the ledger (hello 2024 Broncos and 2023 Texans) and the negative side (oh, hi 2022 Buccaneers and 2020 Eagles). Are there any threads those teams share? Any traits that repeat themselves year after year that can help inform how we're looking at the 2025 season? Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen dig into the ty...

We at The Athletic Football Show like to think that we've established our thoughtful, incisive bona fides. But we aren't above a Taco Bell meal and a slapstick comedy every now and again. We, too, have our guilty pleasures. How does that translate to the football world? Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen let you in and indulge in their guilty pleasure NFL storylines on this episode of The Athletic Foo...

Our fine listeners once again did not disappoint when we opened the mail over the weekend. Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen tackle questions on evaluating play callers based on the talent at their disposal, the worst QB rooms of the past decade, the new Protector of the Year Award, current players becoming coaches, low-expectations teams that can make the playoffs, and a whole lot more on this episo...

If this is indeed the end of the Lingering Questions line this offseason, then we definitely got to indulge our intellectual curiosities. On this fourth, and potentially final, edition of Lingering Questions, Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen ask, and attempt to answer, the following questions: Have the Steelers been held back in recent seasons by only their quarterback situation? How good are the pl...

Even the most plugged-in, tunnel-visioned, 99th percentile football fan can turn into an ineffectual puddle of nothingness when trying to explain the salary cap. And yet, we all understand that the cap plays a huge part in how teams are build and championships are won. So how can we untangle the complexities of the cap? Well, we can start by talking to an expert. Former agent and current CBS Sport...

If the AFC is defined by the league's superstar quarterbacks, then the NFC is where the meticulously constructed offenses and elite playcallers can be found. That means the exercise of ranking the supporting casts in the NFC is not for the faint of heart. Luckily, we've got Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen at our disposal. The pair ranks the NFC's supporting casts from worst to first on this episode...

Robert Mays, Derrik Klassen and Michael Beller went back out to the TAFS mailbox and found another stack of great letters. On this edition of the Mailbag, Robert and Derrik answer questions on the possibility of the QB age cliff shifting (in the wrong direction), whether GMs should get a longer leash before losing their jobs, their ideal—and financially feasible—offensive lines, the new occupant o...

The NFL is a quarterback driven league, there's no doubt about it. But do the Eagles win the Super Bowl last year without their offensive line? Do the Chiefs establish a dynasty without Andy Reid? Are the Rams and Bengals playing in Super Bowl LVI without Cooper Kupp, Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins? The supporting casts around quarterbacks matter, too. Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen rank the suppor...