The New York Jets continue to work on a contract extension for Breece Hall – they have officially placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on the running back ahead of Tuesday’s 4 p.m. ET deadline.

The non-exclusive franchise tag allows Hall to talk to other teams, and the Jets can offer him a contract, with the Jets given a chance to match any offer. However, if they choose not to match the team signing him, they have to give the Jets two first-round picks in return.

The tag will guarantee Hall to make $14.293 million next season and will almost certainly keep Hall in New York for at least one more season.

Jets general manager Darren Mougey spoke on his running back at the NFL combine, saying Hall “is a good player and we want to find a way to keep him around.”

Once the news broke, Hall took to X by posting, “Always been the type to bet on myself. Been working… see yall soon, Love.”

Hall, 24, will be entering his fifth season and has rushed for 3,398 yards so far in his career. Hall averages 4.4 yards per attempt and has reached the endzone 18 times.

The Jets drafted Hall in the 2022 NFL draft out of Iowa State when they took him with the 36th overall pick in the 2nd round.

Hall rushed for a career-high 1,065 yards this past season, surpassing his 994 rushing yards in 2023. Hall most likely would have surpassed that mark in his rookie season, but the running back suffered a torn ACL, ending his first season just seven games in.

The Cleveland Browns and quarterback Deshaun Watson have agreed to restructure his contract, freeing up $36 million in cap space to be cap-compliant before the new football year begins.

Watson, 30, missed all of last season while recovering from an Achilles injury he suffered in 2024. He was supposed to have a cap hit of $80.7 million, which was by far a league high, before the restructure.

The Browns will owe Watson $46 million guaranteed in 2026 after signing a five-year, $230 million fully guaranteed contract after being traded to the Browns.

Watson has hardly seen the field for the Browns due to suspensions and injuries, but the Browns expect and hope Watson to be in the mix to be their starting quarterback next season. In games he has played, he has not been good, posting a league-worst 33.1 total quarterback rating.

He will be competing with Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel and potentially another quarterback if they choose to bring one in.

New Browns head coach Todd Monken said he wants Watson in the mix because “anytime that you have a player that at one time has exhibited the skill set at an elite level,” hope remains.

“I think you’re always going to give them the benefit of the doubt that somehow we might be able to get that out of him again, and I think that’s how you should look at every player.”

The Browns still have more work to do and more contracts to restructure before free agency officially begins.

On Thursday’s Pat McAfee Show, future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers spoke about his mystery wife and why he wants to stay in shape all the time.

Rodgers has yet to go public with his wife, but he did talk about her for the first time in the media. He and his wife do not want to be in the spotlight, according to Rodgers, and he plans to keep it that way.

McAfee told Rodgers that he looked good and happy at the beginning of the interview, asking Rodgers what is next for him as a human and football player. Rodgers gave a quick response, saying that he is “trying to stay fit.” Admitting that it gets harder as he continues to get older.

“You can’t take the same amount of time off as you used to,” Rodgers said. “After so many seasons, I would take a few weeks off, a month off, a month-and-a-half. Now, at 42, just to stay in shape, you got to kind of always be… on the diet and sleep and workouts if you want to look the right way.”

He then admitted that he wants to look as good as possible, as he candidly said, “I want to look good. I want my wife to want to f— me all the time,” causing McAfee and his co-host to burst out in laughter.

Rodgers also said that the outside obsession with his and his wife’s relationship is “bizarre,” claiming that he has allegedly been stalked on numerous occasions.

“I’ve been getting stalked at my house for about a year-and-a-half when I was living there. Not just that, but stalked at the coffee shop I would frequent, the gym at Proactive that I would go to, which was really bizarre and still is. Then the paparazzi was stalking me for a long time, flying drones over my house.”

As Rodgers settles into his personal life, the 42-year-old has a big decision to make: whether he wants to continue playing football or retire into the sunset.

The Atlanta Falcons fired assistant defensive line coach LaTroy Lewis on Friday after he was accused of sexual assault. In a statement, the team said that they were “aware of allegations regarding Lewis” and were “in the process of gathering information.”

In 2024, while at the University of Michigan, Lewis met a woman on a dating app.

Karen Truszkowski, the woman’s attorney, said that Lewis’s behavior became “increasingly aggressive” over the phone and recalled that Lewis was supposed to return the goods her client had given him.

In December 2024, Lewis allegedly raped and battered Truszkowski’s client at Weber’s Hotel in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The Milford Police Department responded to a call from the woman’s house in January 2025 after an intense argument between her and Lewis occurred. Despite no charges being filed following the incident, Truszkowski claimed that Lewis physically abused her client and that she was too afraid to tell the police at the time.

Former Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore was notified about the incident but did not take further action. Truszkowski remarked that Moore instead “weaponized” the incident by sending the woman sexually charged messages. Moore is currently awaiting trial after being arrested on charges related to his inappropriate relationship with a female staff member.

Lewis was hired to the Falcons on Feb. 10 after spending the 2025 season coaching the University of Toledo’s defensive line.

Lewis spent three seasons with the Michigan Wolverines as a graduate assistant – he was a member of the 2023-2024 coaching staff, the season when Michigan won the National Championship.

Before coaching, Lewis played for the Volunteers in Knoxville, Tennessee, for a couple of seasons and later spent 2020 with the XFL’s Houston Roughnecks. Lewis was fired less than a month into his tenure with the Falcons.

The team has faced other legal drama this year.

Falcon’s Linebacker James Pearce Jr. was arrested in Miami in early February after fleeing police and crashing his car after a domestic dispute with his ex-girlfriend, WNBA player Rickea Jackson.

Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles performed in the NFL combine on Thursday and caught the eye of many after destroying the combine.

Styles, a projected top-10 pick in this year’s NFL draft, put up one of the best vertical jumps for a linebacker in over two decades. 43½-inch vertical jump is the highest by an off-ball linebacker since 2003 and the highest by any linebacker since Cameron Wake did a 45½-inch jump in 2005.

The linebacker measured in at 6-foot-5 and 244 pounds, as Styles is ranked 7th on ESPN’s Mel Kiper’s big board. Styles ran a 4.46 40-yard dash, which was the same time as his college teammate, Arvell Reese, who had the combine’s best time so far. Styles had an 11-foot-2 broad jump and stoodout during the position drills.

“I think I would say that – the great defenses you look at, there’s at least two or three guys who can play a multitude of roles,” Styles said when answering questions at the combine. “Like for example, this year for the Seahawks, Nick Emmanwori was a versatile player, and when you have guys like that on your defense, you’re able to do a lot of different things as a coordinator.”

Styles truly had one of the best combine performances ever, grading out at 10.00 on the relative athletic score, the first linebacker to do so since 2022.

Former New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez is facing new accusations of drug use in the hotel fight that cost him his TV anchor job.

The charges arose after Sanchez got into an altercation with Perry Tole, a truck driver, outside a Downtown Indianapolis hotel last October. The altercation arose when Tole’s truck blocked an alley next to the hotel where Sanchez was running sprints.

Things intensified after Sanchez entered the truck’s cab without permission and blocked Tole from getting his phone. The situation further escalated after the ex-Jets quarterback threw Tole toward a wall and to the ground. Sanchez was stabbed in his upper torso because Tole was fearing for his life.

“This guy is trying to kill me,” Tole remarked to authorities. Police noted that Sanchez smelled like alcohol and “acted erratically.”

This week, Tole’s attorneys accused Sanchez of being under the influence of cocaine, fentanyl, marijuana and alcohol during the incident. Tole’s legal team also alleged that a hotel bar violated the law by continuing to serve Sanchez alcohol when he was “visibly intoxicated.”

Fox Sports eventually fired Sanchez and replaced him with Drew Brees as an analyst. Sanchez joined Fox Sports in 2021 after spending two years with ESPN as a college football analyst. “Mark deeply values his time at FOX and the exceptional colleagues he’s had the privilege to work with,” said Sanchez’s brother, Nick Sanchez Jr., in a statement.

Sanchez’s trial is set for April 9, pushed up from Mid-March. The ex-analyst could face up to six years in prison if convicted.

The Indianapolis Colts and former first-round pick Anthony Richardson Sr. will be working together to find a fresh start for the former Florida Gator.

The Colts drafted Richardson with the fourth overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, and for whatever reason, it just never seemed to work out for both sides.

Richardson started only 15 games in his three seasons with the Colts, dealing with shoulder injuries and inconsistent play. In those 15 starts, Richardson had 21 total touchdowns and 13 interceptions, while going 8-7. On the surface, those numbers are solid, but Richardson completed just above 50% of his passes.

This season, Richardson lost the preseason battle to Daniel Jones, whom the Colts brought in to compete with Richardson. Richardson missed all of last year after suffering a fractured orbital bone in a pregame incident that left him on the injured reserve, where he finished the season.

Richardson, who is only 23 years old, seems healthy and, with his vision back, hopes to follow the Malik Willis trajectory.

His agent, Deiric Jackson, will look for a suitor for Richardson who can help his development, whether that means being a backup next season and learning under a veteran quarterback.

The Colts would save $5.385 million in salary cap space with $5.43 million in dead money if Richardson is traded before June 1. Richardson has one season remaining on his rookie contract unless his 2027 fifth-year option is exercised.

Kirk Cousins‘ tenure with the Atlanta Falcons is coming to an end as the veteran quarterback is expected to be released when the free-agent signing period begins in March.

Falcons general manager Ian Cunningham announced the news on Tuesday during a local radio interview, adding that he has already informed Cousins and his agent of the decision.

Cousins, 37, was the team’s backup quarterback to begin the year last season but took over as the starter when second-year quarterback Michael Penix Jr. suffered a season-ending injury. In his time as the starter, Cousins threw for 1,471 yards and 10 touchdowns, showing his tank isn’t empty just yet.

The Falcons went 5-2 with Cousins, missing the playoffs by one game.

Cousins will have plenty of suitors who are looking for a veteran quarterback to provide stability or as a backup quarterback for a team that already has a younger quarterback.

The Falcons signed Cousins in 2024 after he tore his Achilles tendon the previous season with the Vikings. After signing Cousins, the Falcons drafted Penix with their first-round pick, causing confusion about why they had signed Cousins. Cousins was later benched that season in favor of the rookie after struggling in the new system.

Cousins will be heading into his 13th season in the NFL and has put together a career to be proud of, totaling just under 45,000 passing yards and throwing 298 touchdowns.

It is yet to be seen what teams will show interest in Cousins, but his strong finish to the 2025 season showed teams he still has some juice in his arm.

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni could not guarantee that star wide receiver A.J. Brown would be back with the organization heading into next season. Eagles general manager Howie Roseman also declined to confirm that Brown would be back with the team next season.

This comes after season-long speculation that the Eagles and Brown could be heading toward a divorce as Brown voiced his frustration with his role in the offense.

Sirianni spoke to the media about Brown, saying, “Yeah, my expectation is he wants to be here. And obviously you want good players like that in your building.”

“As Howie said, it’s hard to get good players in this league. A.J.’s a great player and A.J. is a good teammate and A.J. is a good person. Does he want to be here? Yes. Do I want him to be here? Yes.”

Then Sirianni was asked directly whether he can confirm if Brown will be back, adding, “Will A.J. be here next season? I think we’re still in a spot, like, I can’t guarantee how anything is going to play out into next season. I’m thinking I’m going to be the coach next season, but you can’t guarantee anything past tomorrow.”

Brown, 28, called Philadelphia “home” when he appeared on Micah Parsons’ podcast during the week of the Super Bowl. He also said that he was “fortunate” to be one of the leaders on the Eagles’ offense.

Brown still managed to eclipse 1,000 yards last season and score seven touchdowns, despite what was considered a “down” year for the receiver.

It remains to be seen whether Brown will be back with the Eagles or will have a new home next season.

NFL journeyman quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was a former high school football coach before being suspended from his coaching duties, which led him to return to the NFL.

Bridgewater was suspended by the Florida High School Athletic Association in September after providing impermissible benefits to athletes. Bridgewater coached Miami Northwestern High School in 2024 and planned on coaching them in 2025 before being suspended and joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Bridgewater was also suspended by Northwestern High School in July after he revealed that he spent $700 a week on Uber rides for his players during the football season. He covered meals, clothing, recovery expenses and travel expenses.

This new bill, passed by the state legislature, would make Bridgewater’s actions legal, dubbing it the “Teddy Bridgewater Bill,” which allows coaches to use personal funds to assist players as long as it is reported.

Bridgewater spoke to the media after signing with the Buccaneers, saying, “I’m protective, and I’m a father first before anything,” and “when I decided to coach, those players became my sons. And I wanted to make sure that I just protected them in the best way that I can. I think that’s what came about.”

“Miami Northwestern’s in a tough neighborhood, and sometimes things can happen when the kids are walking home and things like that. So I was just trying to protect them and give them a ride home instead of having to take those dangerous walks.”

Bridgewater retired from the NFL in 2024 and led Northwestern to a state championship in his first and only season as head coach. Bridgewater was also named the Florida Dairy Farmers Coach of the Year.

It is unclear whether Bridgewater will return to Northwestern or to the NFL for a 13th season.

Earlier this week, the Miami Dolphins announced they released veteran wide receiver Tyreek Hill after four seasons with the organization. To the delight of one person, the cop who handcuffed and pinned Hill to the ground in the first week of the 2024 NFL season celebrated the release of the receiver.

Now-retired cop, Danny Torres, was the one who was involved in the interaction with Hill, forcibly removing him from his car before putting him in handcuffs. Hill allegedly sped past cops on his way to Hard Rock Stadium.

Bodycam footage later revealed that Hill did not comply with Torres’s demands, prompting Torres and his partner to become aggressive toward the NFL star.

Torres took to Facebook to express his emotions, posting, “Hmmmmm… I guess it took a bit, but KARMA got you. Now that I am retired, I can tell you how I feel about you.”

“You’re an entitled A–H– and an embarrassment to the team and city that kissed your ass. I wish you the best and hope you are able to afford ALL that child support, especially now that you’re unemployed.”

He continued, “But I’m sure someone will pick you up, and you will cause havoc in their team and city. Just as you did in Miami. Btw (by the way), next time, roll you F—- window down.”

As for Hill, he will look to come back from a gruesome knee injury he suffered in week four. Hill will be a free agent and will be 32 years old when the 2026 season begins.

It was a Super Bowl to forget for New England Patriots left tackle Will Campbell, allowing 14 pressures last week against the Seattle Seahawks.

Those 14 pressures mark a season-worst in any game this year from an offensive lineman. Campbell revealed to the media that he had been playing with a torn ligament and was not 100%.

Campbell got injured in Week 12 against the Cincinnati Bengals, forcing him to be carted off the field and missing four games. The injury was an MCL sprain that never fully healed when he returned to action.

Patriots quarterback Drake Maye was sacked 21 times during the NFL playoffs, setting a new record and surpassing Joe Burrow, who was sacked 19 times in 2021. Both QBs went on to lose the Super Bowl.

After declining to speak to the media after the Super Bowl, Campbell spoke on Tuesday about the criticism he has received, saying, “When you don’t perform, obviously, I was [drafted] high, paid a lot. So people expect a certain thing, and I expect more of myself. So whenever I don’t perform, I don’t expect everyone to be like, ‘It’s OK, buddy.’ I mean, obviously, it sucks. But it doesn’t suck for anyone more than it sucks for me.”

The Patriots drafted Campbell with the fourth overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, hoping for him to be the franchise left tackle and protect Maye. “I’m gonna fight and die to protect him with everything I got,” Campbell said after he was drafted.

The Patriots still have high hopes for Campbell to be their franchise left tackle, despite allowing 29 pressures in the postseason.

On Friday, New England Patriots star wide receiver Stefon Diggs pleaded not guilty to felony strangulation and other criminal charges in an incident with his personal chef.

The arraignment was postponed until after the Super Bowl so Diggs could play in the championship game. Diggs is next scheduled for a pretrial hearing on April 1.

The chef told officers that she and Diggs had argued about money that Diggs allegedly owed her. The incident happened on December 2 when Diggs “slapped her across the face” and “tried to choke her using the crook of his elbow around her neck,” causing her to be unable to breathe, according to court records.

A day before the hearing, Diggs made a last-minute change in attorneys, appointing Mitchell Schuster.

Schuster said he “categorically denies these allegations” and that the dispute over money is the motivating factor.

Schuster also added that he doesn’t think there will be a plea deal because he doesn’t “think he is liable or guilty in any way, shape or form.”

Investigators have said that the chef first reported the incident to the police on December 16, two weeks after the altercation.

The Patriots have come out saying they are fully supporting Diggs during this time.

President Donald Trump has pardoned ex-NFL players Nate Newton, Joe Klecko, Travis Henry, Jamal Lewis and the late Billy Cannon.

Alice Marie Johnson, known as the White House “pardon czar,” announced the pardons on Thursday. Johnson took to social media to thank Trump, saying, the president is showing a continued commitment to second chances.”

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones shared the news with Newton, who won three Super Bowls with the Cowboys, Johnson announced.

Newton was a two-time All-Pro offensive lineman and made the Pro Bowl six times before he pleaded guilty to a federal drug trafficking charge in 2002. Authorities found $10,000 in his pickup truck along with 175 pounds of marijuana in an accompanying car that was driven by another man.

Klecko was a former defensive lineman for the New York Jets, being a two-time All-Pro, and is a member of the Hall of Fame class of 2023. He pleaded guilty to perjury in 1993 after he lied to a federal grand jury investigating insurance fraud.

Henry was a running back for the Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans and Denver Broncos, making the Pro Bowl in 2002 with the Bills. Henry pleaded guilty in 2009 to conspiracy to traffic cocaine and was financing a drug ring that moved between Montana and Colorado.

Lewis is the most notable player to be pardoned, being named AP Offensive Player of the Year in 2003 while a member of the Baltimore Ravens. Lewis pleaded guilty to using a cellphone to try to set up a drug deal shortly after he was drafted as the fifth overall pick in the 2000 NFL Draft.

Cannon was a two-time All-Pro, three-time AFL champion, and a former Heisman trophy winner when he was at LSU. Cannon admitted to counterfeiting in the mid-1980s after a series of bad investments left him broke. Cannon died in 2018.

The White House has yet to comment on why these players received pardons from Trump.

San Francisco 49ers defensive linemen Keion White was shot in the ankle following Super Bowl LX in San Francisco. The incident occurred on Monday morning when White was attending an event.

White, who is a former New England Patriot, was in attendance for the Super Bowl on Sunday.

“Per sources, 49ers DL Keion White was shot in the ankle during an event in SF early this morning. White had surgery and is expected to be OK. Police say there was an altercation at an event on Mission Street. White is not believed to have been part of the altercation,” according to an X post from Matt Barrows of The Athletic.

The 49ers have released a statement regarding White, saying, “Keion White was a victim of a shooting and sustained a bullet wound to his ankle this morning in San Francisco,” and that “he is currently undergoing surgery at a local hospital. We will provide further updates when appropriate.”

“A preliminary investigation revealed a verbal altercation occurred between two groups inside a business, said the PD. “The victim was injured when shots were fired by an unknown suspect,” according to the San Francisco Police Department.

White was drafted in 2023 by the Patriots before becoming a 49er this past offseason.

Hall of Fame quarterback Sonny Jurgensen has died at the age of 91. The former Philadelphia Eagle and Washington Redskins player was a fan favorite for his bubbly personality.

In a statement released by the Commanders on Friday, Jurgensen’s family announced that he died due to natural causes in Naples, Florida, the family saying, “It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of our husband, father, and grandfather, Sonny Jurgensen.”

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Jurgensen is best known for his time in Washington, where he played 11 seasons with the Commanders. Jurgensen made the Pro Bowl five times in his career, four in Washington and one in Philadelphia. He also led the league in passing yards three times, and his 31 passing touchdowns in 1967 are a Washington Commanders franchise record.

Jurgensen went from the Eagles to the Commanders in 1964 when he was swapped for quarterback Norm Snead in a rare quarterback-for-quarterback trade.

Jurgensen was a backup quarterback for the Eagles for four seasons before becoming the starter. He was a backup when the Eagles won the NFL title in 1960.

The Hall of Fame quarterback holds the record, tied with many, for the longest touchdown pass ever, throwing a 99-yard touchdown to Gerry Allen in 1968.

Jurgensen was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1983 and is a part of both the Eagles and Commanders Hall of Fame/Ring of Fame.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was not part of the 2026 Hall of Fame class, joining former Patriots coach Bill Belichick as non-Hall of Famers this year.

Kraft was a first-time Hall of Fame finalist but did not receive the 40 of 50 votes needed to be selected into the prestigious club. The full 2026 Hall of Fame class was announced on Thursday at the NFL Honors.

This comes in the wake of a controversial decision to keep Belichick out of the Hall of Fame, in what was a bizarre outcome. Kraft being left out is not as egregious as Belichick not being inducted, but Kraft’s status as a six-time Super Bowl-winning owner probably warrants induction into the Hall of Fame.

Kraft spoke on Belichick being left out, saying, “As head coach of the New England Patriots for more than two decades, he set the standard for on-field excellence, preparation, and sustained success in the free agency and salary cap era of the National Football League. He is the greatest coach of all time, and he unequivocally deserves to be a unanimous first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer.”

Some people speculated that Belichick’s exclusion was to get Kraft into the Hall of Fame, but that was quickly put to rest by the results. It is also speculated that Kraft’s behavior outside the Hall of Fame case impacted his Hall of Fame case.

Kraft, 84, has bigger worries this week as his Patriots face the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday in the Super Bowl and look to add another Lombardi Trophy to their case.

The jerseys for the big game on Sunday have been released, and the New England Patriots will be debuting a new look, while the Seattle Seahawks are 0-2 in the uniform combination they chose. Both teams will have a new special patch on their jerseys.

The NFL has added a “USA 250” patch to the uniforms this season, celebrating the 250th birthday of the United States. Commissioner Roger Goodell announced in November that they would be celebrating this throughout 2026, starting on Super Bowl Sunday.

The Patriots, being the home team, got first choice of jersey combinations and chose to debut a new look with white jerseys and white pants. The Patriots have worn their white jerseys in the Super Bowl before, but have yet to do white-on-white. The Patriots are 4-2 in Super Bowls with these jerseys, including a win over the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX.

The last time the home team wore white uniforms was five years ago, when Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers wore their white jerseys.

Bad news for the Seahawks: the Patriots are undefeated in white jerseys this season, going 6-0, including an NFC Championship win over the Denver Broncos.

Some good news for the Seahawks is that the last two times a team has worn white in the Super Bowl, they have lost. The Kansas City Chiefs last season and the San Francisco 49ers in 2024.

The Seahawks and the Patriots will look to get their first Super Bowl wins with this uniform combination. The jersey will almost certainly not be the reason either team wins, but both teams will take any good superstitions into the biggest game of the season.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame will be welcoming five new members to Canton this season, amidst the Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft controversy. Along with Belichick and Kraft, two-time Super Bowl champion Eli Manning will not be joining the Hall of Fame either.

The five new members inducted into the Hall of Fame are: New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, New England Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri, Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly and San Francisco 49ers running back Roger Craig.

Brees and Fitzgerald were the only first ballot Hall of Famers this year, and rightfully so. Brees is a one-time Super Bowl champion and finished with over 80,000 passing yards and 571 passing touchdowns. Fitzgerald is second all-time in receiving yards behind the legendary Jerry Rice at 17,492 receiving yards and adding 121 receiving touchdowns. What is arguably most impressive about Fitzgerald’s career is that he played with 21 different starting quarterbacks.

Kuechly, Vinatieri, and Craig have all been on the ballot in years past, finally getting into Canton this year.

Craig waited the longest to join the prestigious club, having retired 30 years earlier. Craig is most known for being the first player ever to have 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards in the same season.

Although Kuechly had a short career, he was undoubtedly one of the best linebackers of all time, winning defensive player of the year in 2013 and earning five first-team All-Pro selections.

Vinatieri was the one member of the Patriots dynasty to make the Hall of Fame this year, arguably being the greatest kicker of all time. Vinatieri has had numerous clutch kicks in the postseason and was a crucial part of the Patriots’ dynasty.

Some of the new names on the ballot next season include Ben Roethlisberger, Adrian Peterson and Rob Gronkowski.

On Thursday night at the NFL Honors, Matthew Stafford was named the NFL MVP for the first time in his career. The Los Angeles Rams quarterback narrowly won it over New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye.

This was the closest MVP race since 2003, when Peyton Manning and Steve McNair shared the award. Stafford received 24 first-place votes, while Maye received 23. Josh Allen received two first-place votes, as did Justin Herbert, who received one first-place vote.

Stafford, 37, became the third-oldest player to win the prestigious award behind Tom Brady in 2017 and Aaron Rodgers in 2021. Stafford became the oldest player to win his first MVP award in NFL History.

In year 17, Stafford posted a career-high in passing touchdowns with 46 while also throwing for 4,707 passing yards. His counterpart, Maye, posted 36 total touchdowns and 4,394 passing yards while completing 72% of his passes. The argument for Maye was that he simply won more, leading the Patriots to a 14-3 record and an AFC East division title.

While accepting the award, Stafford brought his four daughters on stage with him and gave a heartwarming speech, one that all Rams fans will love, saying, “You’re unbelievable cheerleaders for me. I appreciate it. I am so happy to have you at the games on the sideline with me, and I can’t wait for you to cheer me on next year when we’re out there kicking ass,” announcing that he will be back for his 18th NFL season.

The camera panned to Rams coach Sean McVay and runningback Kyren Williams, celebrating as their quarterback will return for at least one more season. Stafford and the Rams are hoping not to be at the NFL honors next year and instead be preparing for the Super Bowl, which will be at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.