Most-clicked NFL stories from each month, plus how Rams-Falcons summed up 2025
SOURCE:The Athletic|BY:Jacob Robinson
Today and tomorrow are special, year-end editions of this newsletter. Plus: Jake Ciely shares his top five fantasy picks.
If you needed to pick one game to exemplify the uncertainty of this season, the final game of the calendar year turned out to be a strong choice.
L.A. visited Atlanta as a 7-point favorite and BetMGM’s top Super Bowl contender. The Falcons? Playing for little but pride and job security, having been eliminated from the playoff race weeks ago.
Yet the game had everything we’ve seen throughout the league this season:
Strength became weakness. The Rams had allowed the league’s fewest rushing touchdowns and ranked top-10 in most run-defense metrics. Naturally, Bijan Robinson ran for a career-high 195 yards, including this 93-yard touchdown.
A defensive masterpiece, on par with this season’s defense-first winners like the Texans, Eagles and Seahawks. Atlanta held the league’s top offense scoreless in the first half and finished with three interceptions of MVP candidate Matthew Stafford, returning one for a touchdown and nearly another.
A comeback. In a season with multiple 21-point rallies already, Stafford led the Rams on three scoring drives in the second half. Thanks also to Jared Verse’s runback of a blocked field goal, L.A. overcame a 21-0 deficit to tie it 24-24 with 2:46 to go.
More 2025 themes followed. Uncertainty about a catch, plus another upset led by a backup quarterback, as Kirk Cousins set up Atlanta’s third kicker of 2025, Zane Gonzalez, to hit the game-winner. Full takeaways here.
The upset humbled the Rams and ensured the usual mess in the NFC South, as the Falcons (7-9), Panthers (8-8) and Buccaneers (7-9) could all finish with the same mediocre record. My colleagues explained the complicated tiebreaker here. Now let’s zoom out further on a year when anything was possible.
Inside: Today and tomorrow are special, year-end editions of this newsletter. Plus: Jake Ciely shares his top five fantasy picks.
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Most-clicked stories of 2025, by month
If the 2024 season felt orderly, 2025 has been anything but. Here were the 12 stories that made up this NFL year, based on your most-clicked links in this newsletter. Listed chronologically:
January: Inside Mike Vrabel’s year in Cleveland. Before he was a Coach of the Year candidate in New England, he spent a season with the Browns. My colleague Zack Rosenblatt spent extensive time with Vrabel to understand how he works.
February: Best Super Bowl commercials. Catching up on what you missed during bathroom breaks? Jake Ciely’s ranking of the top 10 ads was more popular than the game recap itself.
March: Mock draft. Unlike many other pundits, Dane Brugler’s post-combine 2025 mock draft had Shedeur Sanders falling in the draft (though not as far as the fifth round). On that note:
April: That draft slide. “The former Colorado quarterback and son of Hall of Famer-turned-college coach Deion Sanders waited two-and-a-half days, four-plus rounds and 143 selections before he heard his name called,” wrote Mike Jones, adding that it should’ve taught Shedeur and his father a hard lesson.
May: Execs on the AFC draft. Sanders’ fall still dominated headlines, and was probably a big reason — along with Cleveland’s blockbuster trade that sent the No. 2 pick (Travis Hunter) to the Jaguars — why we all wanted to know what Mike Sando was hearing from NFL executives about every AFC team’s draft.
June: Offseason workout reports. Our beat reporters shared one insight each for all 32 teams, back when every player was in the best shape of their lives. Matt Barrows, who covers the 49ers for us, was sold on Christian McCaffrey’s health. He’s proved correct.
August:Vrabel and Drake Maye. Shortly before the season, the eventual 23-year-old MVP frontrunner (after Stafford’s three interceptions last night) joined his coach in speaking with my colleague Dianna Russini. It’s interesting to look back at what we learned from those conversations.
September: What is turf toe? An explainer on the injury that cost Joe Burrow most of his season and Brock Purdy plenty of his. It’s time to mandate grass fields.
December: Controversy. Seattle converted the wildest 2-point conversion in NFL history with the Zachwards Pass. Here it is again.
We’ll end with Jake’s top fantasy picks of the year.
All In with Jake Ciely: McCaffrey, fantasy star of 2025
With the fantasy season wrapped for most leagues, I hope you’re celebrating a championship. In the spirit of review, these are my candidates for the top five best draft picks of the fantasy season:
1. McCaffrey. No question. Even as someone who argued for taking the 49ers running back third or fourth overall, I’d say he still outperformed his draft position by outscoring every other running back by over 1.4 fantasy points per game (FPPG). That included nine games of 20-plus points and just one game under 13. League. Winner.
2. Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The Seahawks receiver shouldn’t have been regularly slipping into fantasy third rounds (average draft position, or ADP, of 35th overall). You could, and I did, argue he should have been a fringe first-rounder near the likes of Puka Nacua and Malik Nabers. Nobody but Nacua had more points than JSN, who only had one game under 11.
3. Maye. No matter how much anyone expected Maye to break out, nobody was putting him as the QB2 behind only Josh Allen. Maye was usually the 10th or 11th quarterback drafted, typically picked in those rounds. Huge value for the quarterback who might be the MVP of both the regular season and your fantasy drafts.
4. Javonte Williams. Concerns about the Cowboys running back felt warranted, given his injury history and lackluster performance since, but watching him fall to the ninth round (on average) as the RB37 in drafts was eyebrow-raising. Not only did he stay healthy (essentially), he finished as the 10th-highest-scoring running back with just four single-digit scores, two of which were still 9-plus.
5. Trey McBride. You knew the Cardinals tight end had to make the list after having an ADP in early Round 3. Not only did you pay a full round discount from Brock Bowers, you got a tight end scoring 84.9 more points than second-place Kyle Pitts, a Pat Freiermuth-sized gap. McBride also produced 2.4 more FPPG than George Kittle.
📽 Week 17 film. Ted Nguyen helps you understand the 49ers’ offensive success and the starter potential of Green Bay’s Malik Willis. Read his film review here.
📈 QB Rankings. New Orleans’ Tyler Shough is the highest-ranked rookie passer in Jeff Howe’s QB Stock Report, which examines Cam Ward’s roller-coaster season for the 3-13 Titans.
🎯 2026 mock. How will the first 18 picks of the upcoming draft go? Nick Baumgardner’s latest mock draft sees the Raiders surprising with Oregon’s Dante Moore at No. 1.
🤷 Seattle’s dilemma. The Seahawks can win it all, but need Sam Darnold to overcome his turnover woes. Michael-Shawn Dugar examines the situation in detail.
📈 Caleb’s quest. Chicago’s famously never had a 4,000-yard passer, a mark that Caleb Williams is currently just 270 yards shy of. Lions at home on Sunday. Dan Wiederer explains what this means for the Bears.