Albert Breer’s Takeaways: Sean Payton Resolute That Giving Up Play-Calling Duties Is What’s Best For Broncos

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Denver Broncos
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Patrick Mahomes
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RB signings
Roger Craig and head injuries
Aaron Donald
Quick-hitters

GREEN BAY, Wis. — I’ll be making my 15th training camp stop later today, but first, an extended set of MMQB takeaways for you from my overflowing notebook …

Denver Broncos

Sean Payton’s decision to cede play-calling wasn’t made haphazardly. It also wasn’t done to persuade Davis Webb not to leave and go call plays elsewhere. Or because somehow one of the best play-callers ever decided he didn’t want to do it anymore. Or because the staff needed him serving in some other capacity.

It was simpler than that: Payton just thought it was the best thing for the team.

And the genesis of that thought process for Denver’s fourth-year head coach wasn’t the interest that other teams showed in poaching Webb, the Broncos’ quarterbacks coach over Payton’s first three years, to be their own head coach or offensive coordinator. It actually came last August, when Webb got to call a preseason game against the Cardinals.

As that game began, Payton slipped him a small sheet of paper from his playcalling debut for the Giants in 2000. “Hey,” Payton said to Webb, “let’s see if you can match this.”

Jarrett Stidham and Sam Ehlinger combined to go 30-of-39 for 395 yards and two touchdowns, and the Broncos finished with 167 yards and another touchdown rushing on 32 carries that night. But it was more than just that 27–7 win or how he called the 2024 East-West Shrine Bowl (which Payton studied) that convinced him about Webb.

“I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t think it was going to help us,” Payton told me. “Like, it wasn’t just a recruitment tool to keep Davis. He’s more than ready. And I’ll still have that opportunity to be in the offensive meetings. And ultimately, you’re discussing, like, all right, these are some of the things we want to do. But I think he’s got it. Like, man, I think it comes out quick, I’ve watched him in preseason operate. I think he’s a tremendous teacher. And I think that it’s something that is just another thing to help us win more this year.”

Payton was also quick to point out that he’s been here before.

In 2011, the head coach tore his MCL and fractured his tibia in a freak sideline hit in Week 6 in Tampa. As a result, he wound up passing play-calling to his longtime coordinator Pete Carmichael Jr.—who was on the Broncos staff in '24 and '25—for an extended period of time.

“Pete called probably, I’m going to say, seven, eight, nine games,” Payton said. “I don’t recall when we transitioned back and it’s unimportant to me. That was a really good offense and Pete was fantastic.”

Really good is an understatement. Those Saints set team records for total yards, passing yards, passes completed, completion percentage, first down and points at home, and Drew Brees broke the NFL’s all-time single-season yardage and completion percentage records, along with the record for most consecutive games over 300 yards passing.

Which explains why Payton has the level of conviction he does in Webb doing it, and why he promises this is no experiment. He wouldn’t be doing it this way otherwise, especially given his own experience being stripped of play-calling in New York in 2002.

“I know that he’s going to be quick in and out. And then things that we do well, we’ll keep emphasizing,” Payton said. “Things that we don’t, we’ll tinker with. Yeah, it is going to work. It’s not one of those where if it doesn’t by Week 5, what’s this going to look like? It is going to work. It’s not going to have that wait-and-see. And I told him that. I said, Look, I was on that other side way back when in New York with Jim [Fassel].

“And we’re not going to have any of that.”

Of course, then there’s the question that arises, again, on how Payton’s job will change.

Thus far, he says it hasn’t. He still works with the offense and the quarterbacks, Bo Nix in particular. He isn’t going to pull away from helping to create a vision. He knows that’ll change when the games start, when, Payton jokes, “It’s like, what are you doing with your left hand?”

He trusts he’ll get that figured out, and maybe find a way to be a better resource to all his coaches, not just the ones on offense.

“For me, it’s not going to feel any different,” he continued. “I’m going to have a call sheet. I’m going to be involved in the game, that part of it. But how is it going to look for the fan or anybody watching? Yeah, there’ll be things we tinker with that, hopefully, and we said this at the start, we have that balance with the significance of our running game as it complements what we’re doing defensively, time of possession, those things. That’ll be real important. And hopefully it continues to highlight what we’ve seen from Bo.”

The Catch-22 of all this, of course, is if it does come together that way, then there’s a decent chance the arrangement will be only for a year or two, after which Webb will go elsewhere to get a head-coaching job of his own.

And then what? Well …

“Well, A, I haven’t thought that far out,” Payton continued. “But, B, would be like, All right, who’s best able to do it? Listen, I’ve done it for so long, I understand why it’s a notable story. … But again, man, we’re looking for these margins where we just won 15 games, and where are these margins? And we have to look across the board. You get to a point where you just want to win.”

Which, again, is why Payton went to Webb in the first place.

🏕️🏕️ 5️⃣ from @Broncos 🏕️🏕️

🏈 Bo Nix back and in command.
🏈 Jaylen Waddle adding a different dimension.
🏈 RB room 📈📈📈📈
🏈 Roster’s DEEP with rushers, corners.
🏈 Big ❓ (Maybe only ❓): Depth up the middle of D.https://t.co/LCqKqYXnnR
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) August 4, 2026

Maxx Crosby

Maxx Crosby is happy where he’s at. And, quite honestly, there was a good chance it wouldn’t be that way after the Raiders-Ravens trade crumbled the way it did.

Here’s why that’s possible: the people involved.

When I talked to the 28-year-old five-time Pro Bowler on a 114-degree day last week, that much was clear. His initial animus with the team that drafted him in the fourth round in 2019, born over a disagreement on the handling of his torn meniscus, had subsided. The Raiders, to their credit, handled the trade process to follow professionally. Most poignantly, new coach Klint Kubiak, GM John Spytek and owner Mark Davis were real with him.

“The people that are really with me, I know that,” he said, “and that’s all that really matters.”

But there was also a feeling he had through a messy couple of days in Baltimore, even before he took the ill-fated physical that scuttled the transition. One that he couldn’t shake.

“God’s blessed me in a lot of different ways. I got my flaws. I got my strengths,” he said. “One thing is, I feel like my intuition, I can read a room and I understand people and energy and vibes. That’s something I could pick up real fast. And I just felt like in that situation, it didn’t feel right when it was happening. And it has nothing to do with or against them at that time. Like, it was what it was, how that whole situation went down. It felt like the world was telling me I’m not leaving, even when I was in the Baltimore city limits. Just being 100% honest.

“I couldn’t look at a TV without seeing, Raiders are having the best offseason, signing these people. ... I’m like, Why is this happening? My phone’s blowing up—Oh my God, now they want to sign players. And I’m laughing. I’m like, Stop talking to me about that s---.”

That, of course, is not to say that it didn’t hurt in the moment. When I asked Crosby if there was a low moment, he quickly said, “Of course.”

He then added that he wanted to keep that moment to himself. But what was clear was that going through it, he felt trapped. For a couple of days, the career he busted his ass to create was in a state of limbo. Worse, there was nothing he could do to change that. He had to hear the football world weigh in on his situation. He had the urge to respond, but he held back.

“As a young guy, I would react a certain way, or get emotional or pissed off at this person, like, trust me, there’s a lot of people I have on a list that I don’t like anymore, because of that,” he said. “And I’m just not going to give them a platform, because they want to talk about me, because I’m a popular subject at that time because of all the drama and stuff going on. But it gave me a beautiful perspective on what the world is like, especially when things are going the other way. I learned a lot. I evolved a lot.

“It allowed me to, really, take a step back so I can take three forward. And I’m in an incredible place. And I know where everybody stands. And that’s actually … it’s a beautiful place to be.”

On the day I saw him, it was in the desert heat, with a new staff and a new lease on his football life. He says his knee feels great, and he’s working to get his muscle memory back after missing OTAs. Going against Kubiak’s offense, he thinks, is making him better, and he believes he’s got plenty of football left—which would buck the narratives being tossed out in March.

🏕️🏕️ 5⃣ from @Raiders 🏕️🏕️

🏈 Mendoza checking boxes early.
🏈 Offensive core living up to expectations.
🏈 Questions lingering at WR and OG.
🏈 @CrosbyMaxx anchoring an improved front 7.
🏈 Secondary experience is a 🔑.https://t.co/b9JuRTUqwP
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) August 3, 2026

Most of all, he wants to be a Raider. He knows things could change again. But after the past six months, he knows he’s where he wants to be and, more than just that, is supposed to be.

“People don’t even understand, I never wanted to leave in the first place,” he said. “But people have their own opinions on that. And that is what it is. And that’s part of it. I never, ever wanted to leave this place. … I don’t do business. I’m not on the business side. I’m not on the third floor. So I don’t know. I’m not a mind reader. I’m not a future predictor. I’m not going to do that. I’m going to be present. I’m going to be the best Raider I can be for as long as I possibly can be.

“And, yeah, I do want to be here. And I do plan on winning here. And I do plan on continuing improving as a player and a person. And that’s all I can control.”

Houston Texans

The Texans seem to have a real understanding of the opportunity in front of them. And what I really like about where they are is the young leadership they have.

Will Anderson Jr. is still just 24 years old. He’s going into his fourth year, with two Pro Bowls and a first-team All-Pro section under his belt. He was the best player on the NFL’s best defense in Year 3. He’s also surrounded by contemporaries. Two-time first-team All-Pro cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. and newly re-signed linebacker Henry To’oTo’o is 25. Rising star defensive backs Calen Bullock and Kamari Lassiter are 23.

Yes, there are older guys on that defense, too. Danielle Hunter is 31. Azeez Al-Shaair is 29. Still, the temptation would be for the younger guys to think they’ll have a ton more shots at the ultimate prize. After three straight divisional-round exits, Anderson knows better.

“We've been doing this for three years now, we keep getting the same results,” Anderson told me. “And I told the guys, man, the level of seriousness and the level of what we're trying to do has to rise. What we're trying to do here is something that's never been done here. And you see the results that we keep getting. So coming into OTAs, coming into training camp, it's like, we gotta raise the bar, we gotta raise the standard, guys. We just can't keep going through the same thing every single time.

“When we get in position to win games, we gotta finish the right way; we’ve got to go out and execute. So for me, the level of seriousness, what we're trying to get done here, that's up big-time. And I think everybody's buying into that.”

Of course, what’s unsaid there—and Anderson wasn’t going to say it himself—is that his unit was plenty good enough to keep advancing in the playoffs. The Texans were No. 1 last year in total defense, and no lower than eighth in any major statistical category. They sacked Drake Maye five times, generated five turnovers and held the Patriots to 248 yards in a playoff ouster in which Houston was undone by its offense’s worst day.

Now the good news: The two-year project to rebuild the culture on offense under offensive coordinator Nick Caley looked this summer like it’s turning a corner. The goal was to match the defense’s edgy, tough ethos on offense, and the offense’s willingness to fight back in practice is giving Anderson and the defense hope that its burden to carry the day will be lightened in 2025.

And by fight, in the case of additions such as rookie lineman Keylan Rutledge, the term is meant literally, based on what the defensive guys have seen.

“What we want to exemplify as a team, what we exemplify on defense is ‘swarm’,” Anderson said. “And I think those guys have been doing a good job of setting that foundation over there on offense. In previous years, it hasn't been like that. And now they're coming in, the offensive line is way nastier, way meaner, gritty. I mean, trying to finish blocks, and that's what they need. Somebody hit C.J. [Stroud], get in on somebody's face, and like, No, man, stay off our quarterback. And that's what I appreciate about those guys.

“You can see the sense of urgency, being faster on that side of the ball, getting in and out of the huddle, C.J. taking command. Offensive line finishing blocks, staying on those double-teams and doing things the right way to make sure that we're operating as a team and operating as ‘swarm’ and setting that foundation of who we wanna be as a team.”

And if young guys like Rutledge and Aireontae Ersery and Jayden Higgins keep it up, and vets like David Montgomery and Wyatt Teller continue to set that tone, and Stroud rebounds, it’s not hard to see where DeMeco Ryans’ and Nick Caserio’s vision for the team might encapsulate more than just the defense.

Which is why Anderson’s urgency is an all-time high. He can see the opportunity in front of him, and his team, too.

Patrick Mahomes

It was good to see Patrick Mahomes moving around like he was when I visited last Tuesday. I remember seeing video of the three-time champion early in camp, when he had a bulky brace and sleeve over his surgically repaired left knee. By the time I got to St. Joseph, Mo., he’d changed it up slightly, with the brace underneath red leggings that made it a little tougher to see—and harder to notice that he was even coming back from an injury.

Mahomes hasn’t missed a first-team rep thus far in camp, which has to be scored a big win given that he’s still less than eight months removed from a torn ACL and LCL.

That win has very much been earned by a quarterback determined to get back.

“Yeah, well, he’s going to do whatever it takes,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid told me after that practice. “Not that we didn’t know that, but that’s what this situation was. It wasn’t about going back home and going here, going there, traveling, all that. It was about him wanting to be back, ready to play. And so there was a sacrifice there of staying here and knocking it out, working with [Chiefs assistant trainer] Julie [Frymyer] every day and spending seven hours at it—and not always fun, right? But he didn’t care. I mean, he was going to do it.

“And it’s a great lesson, probably for all the players in the league: When you go into a rehab, go in and attack it. And then love what you're doing because this thing doesn’t last very long for guys. And so, if you’re in it for 10 years, you’re a lucky cat. But you attack these rehabs and good things can happen.”

Indeed, Mahomes stayed in Kansas City for nearly the entire offseason, taking what was described to me as a regular-season, or even playoff, approach to his rebab. That meant working with a schedule that would make someone think he had a game that week.

At times, that meant protecting the quarterback against himself. In spring OTAs, for example, Mahomes did everything but 11-on-11 work.

It killed him to miss that. He told people that. But Kansas City was always going to be smart.

“Communication is what you have to do,” Reid said. “We want what’s real from the player. And Pat, he would tell you, Julie is a [physical therapist], she’s our P.T. on staff, and so she’s done rehabs before. And she would communicate with him, and the docs would communicate with him, and the communication becomes important. But to have the will to do it and trust, that’s another thing. And he had that.”

You may remember Frymyer’s work from the 2022 playoffs, when she was by Mahomes’s side and an unsung hero in getting the quarterback ready to play in the AFC title game and then the Super Bowl, through relentless, calculated rehab work.

“She’s special,” Reid says.

And having that background and trust in the people he’s working with sure looks like it’s helping Mahomes now, in the runup to his 10th year as a pro.

So much so that there appears to be very little doubt that he’ll be out there when the Chiefs open the season against the Broncos at Arrowhead on Sept. 14. For his part, Reid didn’t want to commit to anything. But based on what he and Mahomes’ teammates are saying—“Patrick’s the same dude he has always been,” All-Pro guard Trey Smith told me—there’s no question which way this one’s trending.

“Well, we’ll see. I’m not counting on anything. I’m just taking it day by day with him,” he said. “And we’ll see where it goes. If it’s up to him? That’s what he’s shooting for, sure.”

Los Angeles Chargers

The Mike McDaniel–Jim Harbaugh marriage is one of the things I’m most excited to see this year. And not because of the combined quirkiness of both guys, though the videos the Chargers have put out are highly entertaining and I’m enjoying those, too.

It’s the football vision that Harbaugh had in hiring McDaniel that I think is fascinating.

I’ll let the third-year Chargers coach explain.

“I mean, watching the football, watching the tape, just not knowing it, but the respect for what you see on the tape,” he told me. “And man, I like him. I like him. And I didn’t know him. I’d never really met him or talked to him, but it’s like, that guy’s going to have to prove to me that I don’t like him. That was my initial impression. And, like, Wait, he’s available? Wow, let’s swing for the fences here. This was a year where eight or nine … I mean, some of the top offensive minds and play-callers, you’re looking at it, like, Oh, they’re all available? But he was at the top of the list. … I love him. I don’t just like him. I love him.

“Love his energy. Love the way he thinks. Love the way he sees football. I always thought it was a great fit with Justin [Herbert]. Both those guys are so smart, Albert. And it’s even better than I thought. We can talk about all the football reasons, and that’s really why it’s a great fit. Justin’s accuracy, Mike’s vision of football and timing and receivers out of the break? That’s Justin. I mean, he can put the ball in a spot. It’s like watching a guy do a 45-yard handoff. I never knew what that looked like until I was around Justin.

“And, O.K., how do we utilize that talent? This system utilizes that talent the most. So I wanted that fit.”

Give us all the Harbaugh/McDaniel content 😂

(via @chargers) pic.twitter.com/BpCZnXnjie
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) July 30, 2026

But maybe the greatest fit between the two is philosophical grounding in the run game.

Harbaugh has taken that ethos with him from the University of San Diego to Stanford to the 49ers to Michigan and now to the Chargers. And while the bones of McDaniel’s run game may be different, L.A.’s new offensive coordinator has enough in his bag to adapt and meld his system to Harbaugh. What’s more relevant here is their shared belief in building that up.

“People think of the ball [coming] out quick, the motions, the timing, the passing game with Mike. I think generally people view it that way because it’s so good,” Harbaugh continued. “But, I mean, at the heart, he’s a run-game guy. And practice, usually it’s the O-line and D-line are in the end zones. I’m an end-zone guy. Mike is that at heart. And [offensive line coach] Butch Barry, I call him the man in the straw hat, watching him coach offensive line, and the commitment is in the run game and in the play-action game, and that’s two peas in a pod.”

And for what it’s worth, McDaniel’s ecstatic to have landed in that pod with Harbaugh.

The match, he said, couldn’t be better.

“Well, it’s like hiding in plain sight,” McDaniel said. “Anybody that’s been around me professionally as a coach, I’m just finding a million different ways to carpe diem—seize the day. And you have a guy that’s attacking each and every day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind. Just that and the professional expectation of bringing what the organization needs from you each and every day. Like, he comes into the office, and he has that pep in his step and is very solution-oriented.

“And he really fosters the maximum out of me because he gives me responsibility and doesn’t micromanage things I earned, in his opinion, that he’s comfortable with me taking ownership of. He’s just an elite leader that way. … Our relationship couldn’t be stronger.”

For sure, the Chargers, and Herbert in particular, should be stronger for it.

Detroit Lions

The Lions’ new deal with Jahmyr Gibbs highlights something that seems pretty obvious to me: That team is still loaded. Head coach Dan Campbell and GM Brad Holmes do get their due when it comes to the culture they built in turning that team around. But I’m still not sure most folks really understand what sort of job they’ve done assembling the roster they have.

Gibbs is just the latest in a line of homegrown stars rewarded in the Motor City.

• Penei Sewell, the seventh pick in the 2021 draft, signed a four-year, $112 million extension two years ago, and this year is flipping from right to left tackle to replace franchise cornerstone Taylor Decker. Sewell has been a first-team All-Pro three years in a row.

• Receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, taken in the fourth round in 2021, got a four-year, $120 million extension that same offseason. He has been a first-team All-Pro twice.

• Defensive tackle Alim McNeill, the team’s third-round pick in 2021, got a four-year, $97 million deal in 2024. He has been a mainstay on the interior of the defensive line and is poised for a big year after returning last year from a torn ACL he suffered in December 2024.

• Defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, the second pick in 2022, signed a four-year, $180 million extension last October. He was second-team All-Pro last year and has made two Pro Bowls.

• Receiver Jameson Williams, whom the team traded up to take at No. 12 in 2022, signed a three-year, $80 million extension earlier in 2025 and is now coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons.

• Safety Kerby Joseph, the team’s third-round pick in 2022, signed a four-year, $86 million extension last year. He was first-team All-Pro and led the NFL in interceptions in 2024.

• Linebacker Jack Campbell, the 18th pick in 2023, signed a four-year, $81 million extension in May after garnering first-team All-Pro honors in 2025.

• And now Gibbs, the 12th pick in 2023, regarded by some as the best player on the team, has landed a three-year, $67.5 million extension after making the Pro Bowl in each of his first three NFL seasons.

Add in more modest extensions such as the one 2021 fourth-rounder Derrick Barnes got (three years, $24 million) then tack on quarterback Jared Goff’s deal from two summers ago and this is an absolute embarrassment of riches and a foundation to build on for years to come.

And that, I can tell you after visiting the Lions, is the idea in Detroit now. Going back and evaluating what went wrong last year led Campbell and Holmes to make the conscious decision to rip out some weeds and further empower their young homegrown guys to own (and enforce) the culture they’ve built.

No, the Lions aren’t the up-and-coming darling of football they were the past few summers. But they have plenty of reasons to think they can be better than those teams ever were.

RB signings

Gibbs’s deal was one of three running back pacts last week, giving the market a clear reset at the position. With that in mind, here’s a little more on what you need to know about each of the contracts …

• The Falcons’ Bijan Robinson went first and got a $15 million signing bonus, $18.74 million (including a camp bonus he already earned from his rookie deal) in 2026, then $37.567 million over the first three years of his deal, all of it fully guaranteed. He has another $22 million coming in 2029, $8.5 million of which becomes fully guaranteed in March 2028. Robinson had $15.067 million on the final two years of his rookie contract, with his new deal giving him a raise of just over $12 million for that period.

• Gibbs’s deal is a virtual carbon copy of that, with a $15 million signing bonus, $18.18 million (including a slightly smaller camp bonus than Robinson’s that he already earned as part of his rookie deal), and $37.976 million over the first three years of the deal, all of it fully guaranteed. He also has $22.5 million coming in 2029, $8 million of which becomes fully guaranteed in March 2028. And Gibbs had $17.473 million on the final two years of his rookie contract, with the new deal giving him a raise of about $12 million over those years.

• Taylor’s deal, his third as a pro, is different. Working off a bigger contract, Taylor gets $15 million to sign and $23 million total in 2026. All of that’s fully guaranteed. His $16.02 million in base pay for 2027 is now guaranteed for injury, and becomes fully guaranteed the week after the Super Bowl, meaning the Colts would have to cut him very early to get out of it. That’s a raise of about $11 million for this year, and just under $8 million for next year.

Bottom line, all three deals are strong, and the market has improved for running backs.

That Taylor got a third deal as a running back is a win in itself, but the Colts can bail from it after any year, unless he finishes 2026 injured and can’t pass a physical in February. And the two younger guys getting guarantees heading into their fourth year is fantastic for both, while their teams get a shot to manage the numbers over a longer period. Robinson is averaging $16.36 million over the five total years of his deal, while Gibbs is at $16.995 million.

Which is to say this is good work all the way around.

Roger Craig and head injuries

Good for Roger Craig. I’m going to be a little blunt on this one. I hate the avoidance of talking about the obvious in football. I hate that people don’t want to talk about it with Chris Johnson’s tragic situation, and I hate that Craig’s courageous announcement of his condition during his Hall of Fame speech on Saturday didn’t seem to get much traction either.

Here’s why: I love football. And avoiding these topics doesn’t do the sport any good.

It might help keep the owners from writing checks to lawyers. But in the long run, having frank and honest discussions about these topics is vital to the future of football. I coach my kid’s youth team. I’ve had talks with parents about the dangers of the game. And the one thing I know will shut down a parent who’s on the fence about letting their son play is lying to them. So we try to be honest. It’s dangerous. Coaching matters. Safety is our priority.

There’s a reason why so many people are so distrustful of people in football, and it goes back to some of the horrific missteps the NFL made in the recent past, in not being truthful with players who were putting their bodies on the line to play the game. That has left a lot of folks I know in a place where they assume they’re being misled on the realities of the sport, a sport I love that’s given so much, from the time I was a little kid to now.

I’ve said this to people at the league office over the years, and I believe it. To truly nurture the game and affect change, and create the safest environment possible, you have to do the work at the grassroots level. That’s because by the time players get to the NFL, they’re all too big and moving too fast, and the margins are too small, to fundamentally change who they are. I do think some of that change has happened, and I’ve seen some of it myself.

But to me, unless we have real, open discussion about guys like Johnson and Craig, the segment of the population that’s not going to trust they’re being told the truth by people in football is going to keep growing, and that’s going to affect the number of kids playing the game, and you know where things go from there.

Anyway, congrats to Roger Craig for finally making it into the Hall of Fame—and thank you for having the guts to bring your personal situation to light, in the hopes it might help other people.

January 28, 1985

The cover of Sports Illustrated

"THE NINERS NAIL 'EM"#49ers fullback Roger Craig — SI's post-Super Bowl XIX coverage. #FTTB pic.twitter.com/drZ0ippIL9
— Kevin Gallagher (@KevG163) January 28, 2026

Aaron Donald

I think we’re squarely in play now for an Aaron Donald return. Like I said last week, this decision was always going to come after the team broke camp at Loyola Marymount, and now that has happened. Donald has been getting his work in at the team’s practice facility a half hour or so north (depending on traffic) in Woodland Hills, which is why, when he put a helmet and pads on last week, the team needed to report it to the league.

As we’ve said since June, so much of this was always going to ride on Donald getting through this sort of work and being convinced he could be himself again—and I don’t think he’d be two months into testing if he wasn’t very much getting there. That’s even with the acknowledgment that the bar for “feeling like himself” must be historically high, relative to what it would be for another player in this position. My sense is the decision on that is coming later this week.

So what’s next? Again, Donald and Rams coach Sean McVay are very close, and have a plan in place to ramp him up for the season, presuming Donald pushes his comeback over the goal line.

The framework for that plan wasn’t overly difficult for the Rams to dig up, either, with some elements they used to get him ready for 2017 and 2018 after lengthy holdouts applicable in this case. The plan would be for him to play 30–40 or so snaps a game, as I understand it, with the depth of the Rams’ defensive tackle group enabling that. For reference, Donald averaged 54 snaps per game in 2023, his final season, and that was scaled back a bit from the 61 snaps per game he averaged two years earlier, during the Rams’ title season.

All of this, of course, is subject to adjustment.

What’s certain to me, at this point, is we’re getting closer to talking about this stuff in very real terms, rather than all of it being hypothetical.

Quick-hitters

And now, the quick-hitting takeaways …

• Time moves fast—Andy Reid is now in his 14th season in Kansas City, which matches his tenure in Philly. So I asked him if he realized that. He smiled, “I do … I mean, you never think about it. And then time flies. So every day is a different day. You know how it goes. Every season is different. Every day is different. I still like doing what I'm doing. I mean, I tell people all the time, I’m blessed to have the opportunity to do it.”

• The Laremy Tunsil injury is a tough one. The good news is the Commanders have options. The first one they’ll try is putting Brandon Coleman, who started 12 games at the position in 2024, in Tunsil’s spot. And if that doesn’t work, 2025 first-round pick Josh Conerly Jr., who played right tackle as a rookie, was a left tackle at Oregon. So flipping him back over there and moving veteran Andrew Wylie in at right tackle would be another relatively easy solution.

• The deployment of Anthony Richardson Jr. in the preseason will be interesting. He elicited next to no trade interest this offseason. So how the Colts choose to showcase him in the games could determine whether or not he’s on the team in a month.

• Based on the delivery of his speech, Drew Brees honestly looks like he could be a head coach or even run for office. One of the best ever I’ve seen at the Hall of Fame.

• While we’re there, that was some zinger Adam Vinatieri delivered on Bill Belichick, who I’d guess will be in Canton next summer for his own induction. It’s my understanding that earlier this offseason, voters got a talking to from the Hall on criteria—and that they were to vote for the most deserving people, period. The message wasn’t explicitly about any one candidate or situation. But the voters could certainly read between the lines.

• With Tennessee’s Peter Skoronski landing a deal with a new money average of $25 million per year, there are now seven guards above the $20 million mark, and Buffalo’s O’Cyrus Torrence’s new contract falls just shy of that.

• Happy trails to Teddy Bridgewater, who I’m pretty certain has great things ahead. It’s obvious from the time he already logged as a high school football coach that the 2014 first-round pick is going to be making a difference for someone somewhere.

• It’s interesting hearing the Rams’ receivers gush over cornerback Trent McDuffie. I had someone there tell me that they believe he’ll be the best defensive back in all of football this year. And part of that lies in the plan to deploy him, which won’t be unlike how the Rams moved defensive back Jalen Ramsey around years ago, to make sure he could impact the game in multiple ways.

• Fun note, maybe only for me … I was at Ohio State fall camp on Friday, and there were 29 NFL scouts at practice. This time of year, for those who don’t know, is a great time for those evaluators to go out and hit the trail. Still, 29 for a run-of-the-mill summer practice is a lot. And they all got a good look at a receiver, Jeremiah Smith, that very few of them will have the opportunity to draft in April.

• Finally, Haynes King’s game-winning touchdown run may be the most electrifying play in the long, illustrious history of the Hall of Fame Game. It’s also, for what it’s worth, very much indicative of the kind of player he was for all those years at Georgia Tech.

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