Like any class, college football's group of 2023 recruits has high-profile hits along with some notable whiffs. Our projections are based off college impact and NFL upside. There are 13 prospects from our original top 25 who are on Mel Kiper's Big Board rankings. Other high-profile prospects such as quarterbacks Arch Manning and Dante Moore decided to return to college even with high NFL grades. Both are listed in Matt Miller's top early 2027 NFL prospects.
Rewind to the beginning of September, when there were 32 NFL teams gearing up for a run to Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California -- home of Super Bowl LX. Now, only two remain -- with the Seattle Seahawks set to take on the New England Patriots on Sunday for the Lombardi Trophy. The last time the Seahawks played the Patriots in a Super Bowl 11 years ago, Malcolm Butler intercepted Russell Wilson to effectively end the game,
The NFL's Most Valuable Player award will very likely come down to Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford and Patriots quarterback Drake Maye. Even if you agree that they were the two most valuable players in the league this season -- spoiler alert, I do not! -- there are several interesting questions beyond those two. While the NFL's MVP almost has to be a quarterback,
Around Week 8, the MVP race starts to follow a predictable script: Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson (if the Ravens are rolling) will almost certainly feature. Between 2015 and 2019, the NFL had four first-time MVP winners Cam Newton, Matt Ryan, Mahomes and Jackson. But in the last five years, only Allen has been a first-time winner (Aaron Rodgers, Mahomes and Jackson were the other victors).
Clemson has the advantage of continuity, and that matters early in the season. Quarterback Cade Klubnik is coming off a breakout year with 43 total touchdowns, has four returning starting offensive linemen and his top three receivers ( Antonio Williams, Bryant Wesco Jr., and T.J. Moore) are also back. That chemistry cannot be overstated, especially when facing an LSU defense that ranked 75th against the pass last year and struggled to limit explosive plays.
This was far more than a trim. NFL teams had to shear an enormous number of players from rosters Tuesday, dropping from as many as 90 players to 53 by 1 p.m. PDT. The league's tallest player and heaviest player both were cut. A former Rams star running back is out of a job. So is a star receiver. And so is one of Deion Sanders' sons, but not the one so many folks seem to love to despise.
With a strong nucleus of veterans and ascending young players, and the addition of several key free-agents, the Rams went into training camp with a deep and talented roster. So deep that veteran running back Ronnie Rivers and several recent draft picks were among 23 players waived on Tuesday as the Rams trimmed the roster to the NFL-mandated 53 players.
C.J. Stroud and Bryce Young have a unique friendship, stemming from their history as rivals in California, enduring through their careers up to the 2023 NFL Draft.
