Super Bowl Lead-Up Takeaways: How Teams Can Learn From Eagles' Saquon Barkley Signing

The Giants' decision to let Barkley walk in free agency has been widely mocked, but the situation wasn't as cut-and-dry as many think. Plus, an early look at the 2025 draft standouts, and how Tom Brady's influence is shaping the new-look Raiders.

Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley has rushed for 442 yards and five touchdowns during the 2025 playoffs. / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Jump to a topic

1. Philadelphia Eagles
2. Dallas Cowboys
3. 2025 NFL draft
4. New Orleans Saints
5. Minnesota Vikings
6. Los Angeles Rams
7. Pittsburgh Steelers
8. Baltimore Ravens
9. Las Vegas Raiders
10. Quick-hitters

Super Bowl week is upon us. And there’s a lot to dig through after a busy week in the NFL. So let’s do that in the final MMQB Takeaways before the big game …

Philadelphia Eagles

The lessons from Saquon Barkley making it to New Orleans aren’t as black and white as you think. The easy thing to do is to look at facts and add them up. Barkley, over 16 regular season games, went for 2,005 yards rushing and 2,283 scrimmage yards, with 15 total touchdowns. The Philadelphia Eagles are in the Super Bowl, and Barkley, at less than $13 million per year, is their 11th-highest-paid player. The New York Giants have the third pick in the 2025 NFL draft.

But here’s the thing, Barkley was never turning that 2024 Giants team into a Super Bowl contender. And it’s fair to say that, with the road ahead, by the time they had a chance to get to that level again, there’s a good shot that the wheels would be falling off on No. 26.

To me, that’s the greater context of this whole thing. Part of the Giants’ calculation last spring was that they simply weren’t in a position to reset the market to keep a seventh-year running back. They’re rebuilding. But because it’s New York, the simple decision to let Barkley go turned the volume up to 100. Do you hear similar criticism directed at the Tennessee Titans and Las Vegas Raiders, who let Derrick Henry and Josh Jacobs go?

Of course you don’t, because in both those cases those teams were more than a running back away from contending. So, while Henry and Jacobs are great players, and were magnificent signings for the Baltimore Ravens and Green Bay Packers—who, like the Eagles, came into the season as Super Bowl contenders—it was easy to see, with rebuilds at hand, that they had become unnecessary luxuries for resetting teams.

Now, one fair thing to point out here is that the Titans and Raiders had first-year coaches, and Brian Daboll and GM Joe Schoen are headed into Year 3 in New York. So, naturally, it’s a little easier to swallow this strategy in the other cases. Still, where does Barkley get this year’s Giants? To six wins? Seven, maybe? Then, would it have been a good signing?

To me, the mistake was made the year before. They should’ve signed Barkley then, coming off their 2022–23 playoff run. If they had, they’d likely be out of the guaranteed portion of the contract by now. But as it was? It’s understandable the decision New York made.

With that established, here are a few more things to consider, as Barkley is set to arrive at his first Super Bowl …

• It caught my attention in March and should have your attention now, that three very smart perennial contenders bucked recent history in the offseason and paid for top-of-the-market running backs. Their decisions came down to the idea that the position had been devalued to the point where signing one had become a value play. Barkley is the 184th highest-paid player in football, at $12.583 million per year. There’s a tie at 185, between Cole Kmet, Gardner Minshew, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Lloyd Cushenberry.

• Here’s what one AFC exec told me in 2017 about Barkley, then amid his final season at Penn State: “You can build an offense around him. He’s so f---ing good. Zeke [Elliott] is solid in all areas. [Leonard] Fournette is a special athlete for the position. This kid? He’s way better than both of them. … He’s a step above Zeke in all categories and has much better hands and feet and vision than Fournette does. He’s special. I haven’t seen a better college football player.”

• The other thing that was hyped about Barkley was how clean he was both medically and character-wise. On the former count, I had one team tell me that they’d rarely seen a prospect’s medical report like Barkley’s, aside from kickers. Obviously, over time, Barkley has taken his nicks. But on the character piece? That’s been evident in how he’s weathered the storm of injuries, which, again, is why teams spend so much time and resources trying to get to know a kid.

That character piece, and what the Eagles knew about Barkley’s workout regimen, was another reason why Philly was comfortable spending to get him. How the Eagles’ personnel and coaching staff felt going up against Barkley when he was a Giant was also a factor—which shows you that even the most analytically driven and advanced franchise relies on instincts to a degree.

• For what it’s worth, this is the second consecutive year a top-of-the-market running back has made it to this stage, and the third time in four years. One thing that Barkley, Christian McCaffrey (Super Bowl LVIII) and Joe Mixon (Super Bowl LVI) have in common? All are capable of producing inside and outside in the run game, and bring plenty of pass game value.

So, it’ll be interesting to see how teams approach the position over the next couple of offseasons. How high Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty goes in the draft looms as an indicator—especially considering how Jahmyr Gibbs and Bijan Robinson produced for the Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons last season after going in the first half of the first round in 2023.

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Dallas Cowboys CEO Stephen Jones (left), head coach Brian Schottenheimer (center) and owner Jerry Jones speak to the media at Schottenheimer's introductory press conference. / Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

Dallas Cowboys

Jerry and Stephen Jones are really sticking their necks out on this one. But, as usual, they have no problem accepting the heat that comes with the seats they sit in, running the show for America’s Team. So if you don’t like the Dallas Cowboys’ hiring of Brian Schottenheimer, that’s actually just fine with the guys who own the team.

“I don’t think you know until you put someone in that position. Anyone we would’ve picked, there would be question marks,” Stephen Jones said over the phone on Friday. “We weren’t getting [Bill] Belichick, he was already to North Carolina. He’s a six-time Super Bowl winner. But pretty much after that, people are going to have criticism for anyone you pick. And we understood that. That’s to be expected. I saw something where Dan Campbell was universally seen as a questionable hire. And obviously, he’s done a great job with the Lions.

“Anytime you’re gonna go down the road with a first-time head coach, you’ll always have the question marks, and it’s the McVays and the Shanahans vs. the first-time head coaches who don’t work. I would say this—Schotty has a lot more experience than some of these younger, quote-unquote wizards. He’s spent his whole life around coaching, with his father, then had 25 years of NFL experience. So we feel great. The reality is there are gonna be question marks until we change the narrative.”

The narrative, of course, is also Dallas’s reality.

It’s been nearly 30 years since the Cowboys made it to a conference title game—only the Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns have longer droughts, and Cleveland didn’t even have a team for three of the years over that period. And that, of course, is one reason why so few have trouble at this point putting their faith in a coaching hire that was far from conventional.

To be clear, the 51-year-old Schottenheimer is universally well-liked and respected, and there have been points over his 24-year run in pro football when he’s been seen as a head coach candidate. What makes the timing wonky here is what he’s coming off of. Dallas initially brought him aboard as an analyst three years ago, after he was fired as part of Urban Meyer’s Jacksonville Jaguars staff. A year later, he replaced Kellen Moore as Dallas’s offensive coordinator, while Mike McCarthy took play-calling duties back.

A year after that, the Cowboys sent McCarthy into a contract year without much effort to extend him, then, three weeks ago, let him go without any real negotiation.

So, sure, the idea that they’d then tap one of his assistants didn’t make a ton of sense.

And yet, the Joneses will tell you that they saw something in the affable Schottenheimer over the past couple of years that led to the pieces coming together. Stephen Jones said he was taken by his OC’s confidence and ability to communicate. He was also struck by how Schottenheimer delivered assessments going into and coming out of games and in the runup of the draft. All of that was only reinforced when they sat down to interview him for the job.

“He had great energy, he had great presence, and, obviously, made a huge impression on Jerry, myself—everybody involved in the interview process was certainly impressed,” Jones said. “Of course, we interviewed others, had some informal interviews. Some people might want to be somewhat critical, but we really got a feel for what the direction should be, and what our future should be. With Dak [Prescott] at the helm, we have a major commitment there, and thrilled we have it, we feel like we have one of the best in the business.

“And so some forms of continuity, and some forms of change were the right answer.”

Part of that, Jones continued, resulted from discussions with Prescott himself—with the brass having time to get the quarterback’s take over the past couple of months while he was sidelined after undergoing hamstring surgery in November. “He wasn’t involved in the decision-making process, nor did he want to be,” said Jones. “But he had input.”

The input mostly mirrored what the Joneses saw. That, yes, the franchise needed some level of change. But, no, McCarthy’s program wasn’t broken after three straight 12-win seasons. The Cowboys kept fighting after Prescott went down, and contended for a playoff spot deep into December, which is more than most teams can claim after a major quarterback injury.

“The team never quit on Mike,” Jones said. “And as we said, what we put together, over that three-year period, during the regular season, we had as many wins as anyone in the league. And then of course we met the challenges last year with the injuries that were tough to overcome. But I felt like they played hard and that’s a compliment to coach McCarthy and also to Mike Zimmer, as well as coach Schottenheimer.

“And we did feel like Dak, with the offensive group we have there, some continuity needed to be considered. We also looked at the fact that we didn’t have success in the postseason after any of those three seasons, that was certainly in our mind. … We felt like there’ll be change and freshness that will happen. That’s in no way critical of Mike—we just wanted the combination of change and freshness, but also wanted to have some continuity as well.”

Schottenheimer gives them that and, if the Joneses are right, it’ll just be the start of what he can bring to the table in Dallas.

Including the chance to prove just about everyone else wrong.

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2025 NFL draft

We have a long way to go, but the two names to know for the 2025 NFL draft are, clearly, Abdul Carter and Travis Hunter. With three months until draft day, the Penn State edge rusher and Colorado two-way anomaly have emerged as the prospects in pole position, with teams heading into pre-combine meetings and the 2025 offseason starting to simmer.

That says two things.

The first is that both are excellent prospects. The second is that this draft isn’t great at the top. While those guys are notable, the dropoff from great to very good will come earlier on the first night than it normally does.

“It’s a weak draft,” said one AFC college scouting director, who’d just gotten home from Senior Bowl week in Mobile, Ala. “I think that those [two] guys are certainly the best overall players in the draft, I think that it’s pretty clear cut. … After those two guys, you’re totally done with the consensus. There are a lot of talented players. But those two guys are in a league of their own.”

Another AFC exec took it a step further.

“I’d actually argue that it’s just Abdul,” he said. “Travis is a very good player, I just don’t know if he has the generation qualities Abdul has.”

Asked to expound on that, the exec explained that while Hunter is unique, he didn’t see him as the same caliber of receiver or corner that Carter is an edge rusher. It’d almost certainly be too much to ask him to come close to playing the number of snaps he did in college—all of which is very fair.

“Abdul’s Micah Parsons 2.0—maybe not as strong, but a little more flexible, and can take over a game the same way,” he continued. “And he’s still not refined as a rusher. He’s so physically gifted, he might be an All-Pro [off-ball] linebacker, too. Travis’s football skill is high-end, but he’s not as freaky. He’ll jump well, and maybe won’t run as fast, he’s probably 4.4, not 4.3, and that’s at like 180 [pounds]. He’s more [Stefon] Diggs than Calvin Johnson.”

Some disagree, and regard Hunter as the draft’s best player over Carter.

But the larger point remains that after these two, there is a sizable drop-off. In fact, once those two guys are gone, how the rest of the top 10 will fall could be determined by position, not skill. “It’ll really come down to need, then,” said the second exec. “I don’t think there’s another player where you’ll be like, ‘We need, say, a D-lineman, but this guy is too good to pass up.’”

In that next cluster, you’ll likely see names like Michigan DT Mason Graham, Arizona WR Tetairoa McMillan, Michigan CB Will Johnson, LSU OT Will Campbell, Penn State TE Tyler Warren, Georgia OLB Jalon Walker and Jeanty. That there is no consensus on the order in which those guys will come off the board is great for building draft drama over the next few months, but, perhaps, not as good for the teams picking up that high.

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New Orleans Saints

Mickey Loomis has had a good group around him helping in the search for the next New Orleans Saints coach, but it’s clear the decision is his. And that Kellen Moore is coming back in a week (or staying in New Orleans after coaching in the Super Bowl, as the case may be) is a pretty good sign that Loomis has his guy.

As for who’s been involved, it’s been a pretty sizable group compared to how other teams have done it this year. Among those in the mix: senior VP of football operations/assistant GM Khai Harley, senior VP/assistant GM Jeff Ireland, VP of pro personnel Michael Parenton, senior personnel advisor Randy Mueller, and at least until he left for the Titans last week, consultant and former Raiders GM Dave Ziegler.

When asked about Moore, all of those guys would tell you that it’s Loomis’s call. That said, they were all in there for the interview process, helping Loomis along.

So, what was there to like about Moore? I think it’s some of the things that mirrored what Aaron Glenn brought to the table, though Moore doesn’t have the same presence that Glenn does (and, to be fair, few coaches do). Like Glenn, Moore’s a former player who’s built strong, lasting relationships with the guys he’s coached and sees the big picture of the game, beyond what’s inside the purview of his job.

He’s also a really good quarterback guy and play-caller.

Obviously, having played the position, his background there is beyond reproach. He played an integral part in developing Prescott into what he’s become in Dallas, coached Justin Herbert through a bit of a trainwreck year in Los Angeles and has helped the Eagles get Jalen Hurts out of a bit of a mid-career lull, maximizing Barkley’s home-run ability in Philly.

And here’s what’s really interesting: Everyone I’ve talked to about that Eagles offense says what they’re doing is remarkably simple. That, to me, matches up with where the Saints were starting to go this year. Part of the belief internally has been that the offense, under Sean Payton and then Pete Carmichael Jr., had become too complex, after years and years of adding to it, because Drew Brees could handle it. Last year’s hire of Klint Kubiak was made with the vision of striking the other way, running a simplified Shanahan-style offense.

Going to Moore would be doubling down, and allowing Loomis, Ireland, Harley and the team-builders in New Orleans to cast a wider net for talent going forward, while ensuring that the quarterback, whoever it is, is well taken care of.

It’s a plan that makes sense, and good on Loomis for leaving his comfort zone—which probably would’ve been hiring McCarthy—to make this call.

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Minnesota Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings are really happy with J.J. McCarthy. He’s back moving around and throwing, and will have a full offseason following August’s meniscus repair and a subsequent second procedure in the fall that turned out to be more of a cleanup than anything else.

In turn, Minnesota now has some flexibility with Sam Darnold. And to fully see this situation for what it is, you gotta go back to where things were when McCarthy got hurt.

McCarthy’s progress over the spring and summer—and his performance in the Vikings’ preseason opener against the Raiders—complicated Minnesota’s plan to start Darnold and redshirt the rookie. 

Despite his knee injury, McCarthy stayed engaged. 

How much so? Well, he resumed traveling with the team, starting with Minnesota’s October trip to Los Angeles, just so he could get a better feel for the routine on the road, and so he could be on the headsets on gameday. And he was a regular in the quarterback room during the week because—and this is a credit to Darnold, OC Wes Phillips and QBs coaches Josh McCown and Grant Udinski—the room was a very healthy environment.

That said, I don’t think that means you close the book on Darnold in Minnesota. The Vikings are still projecting performance with McCarthy, and the team is coming off a 14-win season, which means the brass almost owes it to the veteran to do everything it can to make sure the most important position on the field will be in good shape in 2025. But with the feeling that McCarthy can at least be a solid starter, the Vikings don’t need to act out of desperation.

So, if Darnold’s contractual demands are in line with where the Vikings see him, then great. If not? They could tag him at around $40 million, and maybe trade him. Or tag him and keep him for a year. Or they could let him go to free agency and find out—I would guess that he lands in the Baker Mayfield ballpark on a new deal.

We’ll see how it plays out. Either way, I think the Vikings feel like they’ll be O.K. And, yes, it’s a problem to be solved—but a high-class problem, for sure.

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Over his last nine games (including the postseason), Stafford threw for 2,033 yards with 15 touchdowns and just one interception. / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Los Angeles Rams

Matthew Stafford’s future in Los Angeles is uncertain, and that’s one offseason domino that few are talking about. The Los Angeles Rams renegotiated Stafford’s deal a year ago. He’d pressed them on it all offseason, to the point where they weren’t sure if he’d show at camp in early July. And just as the Rams reported, it got done.

Essentially, the Rams gave him a $5 million raise and guaranteed all his money, a tick over $36 million, for 2024. That $5 million was moved from the two years left on the deal after 2024, with $4 million coming out of his ’25 total and $1 million coming out of ’26. The giveback, on Stafford’s end, is he removed all future guarantees from the deal—with the agreement that the sides would revisit the whole thing after the season.

Since then, Stafford put together another Stafford year, through which he helped the team navigate through offensive line issues, receiver injuries and a 1–4 start. The Rams finished 10–7 and NFC West champions. Los Angeles thumped the 13-win Vikings in the wild-card round and went to the wire with the Eagles in a Philly snowstorm in the divisional round, coming back from a two-touchdown deficit with less than five minutes left, largely on the back of Stafford.

So now, Stafford, who turns 37 this week, goes to the table holding the cards. Is the strain of last year’s negotiation still there? Is he going to look for another contract adjustment or, with just two years left on his deal, a brand-new extension?

I know how his coaches feel about him and the job he’s done, and clearly, the goal is to work this all out. But these are fair questions.

And teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers or Giants certainly will pay attention to how this plays out.

As they should.

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Pittsburgh Steelers

Not to get too quarterback-centric, but the Steelers are another interesting team to follow. Pittsburgh would love to keep working with Justin Fields, who’s been a good fit in a lot of different ways. I’m just not sure they’d hand him the starting job, and a contract to go with that, even if another team shows a willingness to do so. Russell Wilson, meanwhile, would give them some certainty, but there’s definitely split opinion on him in the building, and I’m not sure how bringing him back as a starter would go over.

That puts the Steelers in a familiar spot, going into the offseason—as they did in 2022, and ’24—with a boatload of uncertainty at the position.

The presence of aging vets like T.J. Watt (who will be 31 in October) and Minkah Fitzpatrick (29 in November) on the roster—a roster that has some growing pieces on the offensive line and at receiver—complicates matters, as Pittsburgh resembles a win-now type of outfit.

If they lean into it with a big swing at quarterback, then great. If they don’t, it’ll be hard to see the Steelers competing with teams that have Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow at quarterback in January. This might mean bigger questions—like what to do with some of those older core players—will need to be asked.

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Baltimore Ravens

The Justin Tucker situation will test the Ravens. This week, Pro Football Talk resurfaced a quote from Baltimore coach John Harbaugh from a couple of years back, when Harbaugh was asked about the 11-game suspension the NFL levied on Deshaun Watson for his alleged sexual assaults of scores of massage therapists.

“I respect what [owner] Steve Bisciotti and [ex-president] Dick Cass created here almost 10 years ago,” Harbaugh said, referencing the Ray Rice aftermath. “Basically, we’re zero tolerance. You have to know the truth, you have to try to understand the circumstances, but we’ve stayed away from that particular situation—when we draft players, when we sign them as free agents.

“That’s Steve’s decision, and I’m glad that we have that policy.”

Now, Baltimore has a guy on the roster facing allegations that mirror Watson’s.

The temptation for most will be to ask, Why is this guy even around anymore? Only adding to that train of thought is internet evidence that these allegations aren’t new.

And I agree that the Ravens have to put their money where their mouths are on this one.

That said, I also think that it’s fair to let things play out with a player who’s been with the team for 13 years. I’d assume their security people are doing their own investigation of the matter and have an idea of where law enforcement stands with it, too—which is going to give the team more insight than the rest of us have.

If he’s guilty, and the team has credible evidence of it, he should be gone today. Conversely, if they cut him based on public reaction, and a bunch of really bad press they’ve gotten the past few days, that’s wrong too.

The Ravens don’t have another game for nine months, or a practice for four months.

Sometimes, being patient and getting the full picture isn’t a bad thing.

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Brady has already shown his influence on the direction of the Raiders, with the organization investing heavily to hire an experienced new coaching staff. / Brooke Sutton / Getty Images

Las Vegas Raiders

​Tom Brady promised candidates that the Raiders would spend, with the backing of uber-wealthy new partners that recently bought into the team, and they’re already putting their money where 12’s mouth was. And this isn’t just about hiring Pete Carroll, a Super Bowl-winning coach who, even if he is older, will bring credibility to Vegas. It’s also about what he’s being allowed to do in luring a top-shelf staff to the Raiders.

Last week, he was able to keep Patrick Graham on staff by giving him a nice raise—even though his salary already topped $3 million per year. Then, over the weekend, the Raiders gave Chip Kelly a deal that’ll make him the highest-paid coordinator in NFL history, averaging $6 million per year, to poach him from Ohio State.

That, by the way, is even though the Raiders have three years left on the blockbuster deal they got Josh McDaniels on in 2022, and three years left on Antonio Pierce’s deal.

Of course, this starts with Mark Davis, the owner who, for all his faults, badly wants the Raiders to be back where they were during his dad’s glory days. But it’s also about the infusion of new money from Brady’s business partner Tom Wagner, Silver Lake CEO Egon Durban and Discovery Land founder Mike Meldman—all of whom bought minority shares of the team, with the promise that they’d bring new levels of resources in.

That they’d invest like that was important to Davis, who sold pieces of the team, at least in part, to prepare for the eventuality that he’d have a hefty estate-tax bill to pay (his mother, Carol, who is the principal owner, is in her 90s), and ensure that he’d be able to keep the team long-term.

And now, this is simply a different looking operation. Brady, who’ll still be living in Florida full-time, pledged to those candidates that the reshaped team would be first class in every way, full of folks who are obsessed with football and winning the way he is. With Carroll, new GM John Spytek, Kelly and Graham, plus the new owners, they’re off to a flying start.

What’s next? Well, there’s over $100 million in cap space and 10 draft picks to work with over the next few months, so the fireworks may be just getting off the ground.

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Quick-hitters

From the ground in New Orleans, finally, come your quick-hitting takeaways for Week 21 of the NFL season (22 if you count the bye week) …

• Very clearly, Grant Udinski is a name you’ll want to file away. The 29-year-old has had offensive coordinator interviews with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Houston Texans, New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks and Jaguars. And while he may not land one this time around, it’s pretty obvious that Kevin O’Connell’s right-hand man is on the rise.

• How about San Diego State’s 2004 quarterback room—new Jets GM Darren Mougey and OC Tanner Engstrand were backups to the redshirt freshman O’Connell. Last year, of course, all three were in prominent roles for playoff teams (Mougey as the Denver Bronco’s assistant GM and Engstrand as the Detroit Lions’ pass-game coordinator). Shout out, again, to former Aztec LB Kirk Morrison for pointing out the connection to me.

• Detroit’s decision to hire John Morton as OC and David Shaw as pass-game coordinator (with OL coach Hank Fraley) is fascinating in that the Lions passed over Engstrand to stock their staff. I wonder if it’s a stability play for Campbell, with Morton at 55 years old, and likely less of a flight risk than a young, rising play-caller would be.

• Good hire by new Chicago Bears coach Ben Johnson to bring Eric Bieniemy aboard as running backs coach. I think, to a degree, what Bieniemy does well was misunderstood the past few years, and he’ll be valuable as a guy who can help set a culture for Johnson.

• Wilson in Vegas would make sense in that Pete Carroll always had the answer on how best to deploy the quarterback in Seattle. It’s taken time for Wilson to realize it, but his willingness to buy in to how the Steelers used him seems to confirm that he’s there now. And with such a barren quarterback crop in the draft, Wilson makes sense as a bridge.

• Keeping Dan Quinn’s first staff in Washington largely intact—with Kliff Kingsbury and rising young assistant David Blough officially staying—is a big win for the Commanders.

• Liam Coen’s “Duval” call wasn’t a masterpiece, but introductory press conferences generally are very bad predictors of future success or failure. See: Nick Sirianni,  Matt LaFleur and Campbell. 

• As I see it, Burrow’s comments at the Pro Bowl were a very direct message to the team’s brass about keeping the core around him intact. In particular, the challenge will be getting Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Trey Hendrickson back.

• The Bucs were pretty impressed with Rams tight ends coach Nick Caley in his OC interview, but went with their own 34-year-old pass-game coordinator, Josh Grizzard, instead. Why? Well, Grizzard will be Mayfield’s eighth coordinator in eight NFL seasons, so giving him some continuity was a factor.

• Loved seeing TCU WR Jack Bech score the game-winner in the Senior Bowl. Bech’s older brother, Tiger, a former Princeton receiver, was among those who died when a pickup truck sped down Bourbon Street in New Orleans on New Year’s Day. All the players at the Senior Bowl wore “7” decals to honor him, and Jack, who wore 18 at TCU, switched to 7 for the game.