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Baker Mayfield gives advice for Shedeur Sanders in Cleveland<\/p>\n
As a former Cleveland quarterback, Baker Mayfield offers guidance to Shedeur Sanders on handling pressure and finding success in the NFL.<\/p>\n
Sports Seriously<\/p>\n
Star hold-ins like Micah Parsons … are still awaiting their just rewards.One of the Giants’ first-round picks might be August’s MVP \u2013 if there was such a thing.The returns for rookie quarterbacks were generally quite solid, though Cleveland’s Shedeur Sanders (and his brother) ended on low notes.<\/p>\n
And that’s a wrap.<\/p>\n
The rehearsals are over, the exhibitions are done, and the figurative football bullets are set to fly after the NFL\u2019s 2025 preseason officially reached its conclusion Saturday night.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s only so much to glean from pro football in August. The game plans are typically diluted, the stars are typically in sweats, and even legions of fans are typically home and maybe not even paying attention. Still, some key positional battles and compelling performances have been on display over the past month. How much of it translates into regular-season relevance? Stay tuned.<\/p>\n
But, for now, here are your winners and losers from the freshly completed preseason:<\/p>\n
WINNERSJaxson Dart<\/p>\n
Yep, the Force is strong in this one. Dart, the Giants<\/a>\u2019 Round 1 rookie quarterback and an avid \u201cStar Wars\u201d fan<\/a>, would probably be the prohibitive preseason MVP<\/a> if such an award existed. He passed for 372 yards, three TDs and crafted a 113.1 QB rating while rushing for another 52 yards and a score. He even fed teammate Jameis Winston a \u201cW\u201d during Thursday night\u2019s walkover of the New England Patriots. (Priceless content, Padawan.)<\/p>\n Perhaps most important, his swag has sent an infusion of optimism through the Giants’ fan base. Dart may not be a Jedi master just yet or even an NFL QB1. But don\u2019t be surprised if his powers prove too strong for incumbent starter Russell Wilson before long. \u201cI feel like whenever my number is called that I\u2019m going to go out there, and I\u2019m going to play my game, and I\u2019m going to ball,\u201d Dart said Thursday.<\/p>\n Rookie quarterbacks<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t just Dart, one of two QBs taken in the first round of this year\u2019s draft. No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward of the Tennessee Titans appeared comfortable<\/a> and steady as he heads into his rookie season, even if his numbers don’t necessarily bear that out. Tyler Shough, a second-round pick of the New Orleans Saints, also has a shot to be a Week 1 QB1. The Seattle Seahawks\u2019 Jalen Milroe and Philadelphia Eagles\u2019 Kyle McCord had their moments, too. And, of course, so did highly scrutinized Cleveland Browns rookies Shedeur Sanders<\/a> and Dillon Gabriel, who will both apparently make their team\u2019s 53-man roster<\/a> (despite Sanders\u2019 rough showing Saturday afternoon).<\/p>\n New York Giants<\/p>\n The buzz Dart has generated alone was a welcome spark for a franchise badly in need of it. But the G-Men looked resurgent in many other aspects while winning all three of their games in dominant fashion \u2212 by a collective score 107-47. There\u2019s a nice collection of young talent on this team, Dart joined by the likes of fellow rookie LB Abdul Carter, second-year WR Malik Nabers and others. Given how difficult their schedule projects<\/a>, the Giants may not improve much from last season\u2019s 3-14 finish, but they could also be positioned to take off in 2026. It\u2019s worth wondering if coach Brian Daboll and GM Joe Schoen have already sewn enough hope to save their jobs beyond this year.<\/p>\n Joe Flacco<\/p>\n Naturally, the 40-year-old guy is the only Browns quarterback who didn\u2019t get hurt this summer, allowing Flacco to fairly easily beat out<\/a> Kenny Pickett, Gabriel and Sanders for Cleveland\u2019s starting gig to begin the season. The Super Bowl 47 MVP is also quite simply one of the game\u2019s good guys and an easy one to root for \u2026 if you don\u2019t actually have a rooting interest. Flacco sliced up the Los Angeles Rams while playing into the second quarter Saturday, his only preseason action of the month.<\/p>\n Emeka Egbuka<\/p>\n The Tampa Bay Buccaneers\u2019 first-round pick not only made a strong impression in camp, he showed his wares on the field \u2013 his first professional TD catch a spectacular one. With fellow WRs Chris Godwin and Jalen McMillan expected to be weeks away<\/a> from playing, Egbuka should be starting early \u2026 and could be a quasi-sneaky find for your fantasy roster.<\/p>\n Cam Little<\/p>\n The Jacksonville Jaguars\u2019 second-year kicker drilled a 70-yarder \u2212 eclipsing the regular-season record by 4 yards \u2212 in his first game this month and hit a 59-yarder Saturday. Of Little’s seven August field goals, four were from 50+ yards.<\/p>\n Tyler Loop<\/p>\n The Baltimore Ravens’ rookie kicker looks quite comfortably installed as the replacement for disgraced and departed Justin Tucker<\/a>. Loop hit all eight of his extra-point tries in preseason and was 9-for-11 on field goals, including five from at least 50 yards. His misses were from 46 and 50 yards. Don’t be surprised if Loop winds up as the league’s leading scorer given the numerous opportunities he’s likely to get this season.<\/p>\n Buffalo Bills<\/p>\n They added RB James Cook to a long list of players who landed extensions this year \u2013 preventing his negotiations from spilling over into the regular season. They haven\u2019t embarrassed themselves on \u201cHard Knocks<\/a>\u201d \u2013 yet \u2013 and seem generally ready to make another strong run at their first Lombardi Trophy.<\/p>\n NFL RECORD PROJECTIONS: How many games will Buffalo win in 2025?<\/a><\/p>\n Kansas City Chiefs<\/p>\n As head coach Andy Reid has been historically inclined to do, he played his starters extensively this month<\/a>. And they generally looked pretty good, the first teamers shining Friday night against the Bears<\/a> while scoring 17 points on their first three possessions. \u201cThis is a little step but it\u2019s a step in the right direction,\u201d said QB Parick Mahomes, who was not sacked in August behind his reconfigured offensive line.<\/p>\n Cincinnati Bengals offense<\/p>\n In a bid to get off to a better start \u2013 coach Zac Taylor is 1-11 in his career during Weeks 1 and 2 \u2013 they played starters like QB Joe Burrow and WR Ja\u2019Marr Chase this month, and their high-scoring chemistry seems to be carrying over from 2024. We\u2019ll see what that means in September.<\/p>\n Dak Prescott<\/p>\n He\u2019s healthy on the heels of a season cut in half by a serious hamstring injury and was encased in bubble wrap throughout the preseason ahead of the Dallas Cowboys\u2019 game Sept. 4 in Philadelphia, when they and the Eagles kick off the 2025 regular season. Not only that, with so much attention on teammate Micah Parsons\u2019 contract impasse, there\u2019s been little relatively little heat on Prescott and his high-profile team heading into what could be the 30th consecutive season in which \u201cAmerica\u2019s Team\u201d fails to make the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n Trey Lance<\/p>\n The No. 3 overall pick of the 2021 draft was the Los Angeles Chargers\u2019 leading passer and second-leading rusher this preseason. After making a strong case to be Justin Herbert\u2019s backup, Lance might finally be in the right situation with coach Jim Harbaugh to get his long-stagnant career finally on track.<\/p>\n Micah Parsons, Trey Hendrickson and Terry McLaurin<\/p>\n All All-Pro-caliber players. All hold-ins. All still, maybe not so patiently, awaiting much-deserved contract extensions. But, hey, at least all of them got to more or less coast through training camp and preseason while their mostly younger, mostly less accomplished teammates had to grind through the heat. The entire trio should be fresh for Week 1 \u2026 assuming they\u2019re actually in uniform by then.<\/p>\n LOSERSMicah Parsons, Trey Hendrickson and Terry McLaurin<\/p>\n All All-Pro-caliber players. All hold-ins. All still, maybe not so patiently, awaiting much-deserved contract extensions. Assuming those deals eventually come, all three players must then try to vigilantly avoid the soft tissue injuries that so often plague players forced to deal with business instead of football at this time of year. Yet maybe it shouldn\u2019t be a foregone conclusion all will find a middle ground. Parsons and Hendrickson, in particular,<\/a> have been at loggerheads for months and more \u2013 both have even expressed a desire to be traded \u2013 in their bids to extract raises from owners, Dallas\u2019 Jerry Jones<\/a> and Cincinnati\u2019s Mike Brown, respectively, very much set in their ways … for better or worse. Kinda hard to fathom why three teams with playoff aspirations have chosen to play with fire this long over stars who are arguably their most important players, quarterbacks notwithstanding.<\/p>\n Anthony Richardson<\/p>\n Lance can relate to Richardson\u2019s seemingly premature demise. The No. 4 overall pick of the 2023 draft for the Indianapolis Colts, he now finds himself backing up Giants washout Daniel Jones<\/a> going into Week 1. Maybe Richardson, a raw but sublimely talented dual threat passer who\u2019s 8-7 as an NFL starter, can work his way back into the lineup and flourish. But it currently feels like he might need a change of scenery in order to fulfill his estimable potential.<\/p>\n Joe Milton III<\/p>\n The second-year man with the howitzer attached to his right shoulder was acquired by the Cowboys via an offseason trade with the Patriots to be Prescott\u2019s backup. Milton played much better Friday night, albeit mostly against Atlanta Falcons backups, but generally left much to be desired in his other appearances \u2013 and for a team that had to rely so heavily in recent years on QB2 Cooper Rush, now Baltimore’s backup. At some point, Prescott has to shed that aforementioned bubble wrap …<\/p>\n Cincinnati Bengals offense<\/p>\n In a bid to get off to a better start \u2013 coach Zac Taylor is 1-11 in his career during Weeks 1 and 2 \u2013 they played starters this month \u2026 and they continued their 2024 pattern of getting scorched, whether by front-line opponents or backups. Might help having Hendrickson out there, fellas. We\u2019ll see what that means in September.<\/p>\n Chicago Bears<\/p>\n Caleb Williams and the offense looked fantastic<\/a> in a Week 2 whitewash of the Bills<\/a>, who, notably, didn\u2019t play their starters at Soldier Field. Yet the Bears’ first team looked just as bad in Friday\u2019s loss at Kansas City, Williams seemingly reverting to some of the indecision and bad habits that plagued him as a rookie. \u201cIt was not the start we wanted from our (starters), really on offense, defense or special teams\u201d said Chicago rookie head coach Ben Johnson. \u201cOffensively, the first two possessions were really sloppy football that has plagued us in and out of camp so far and unfortunately that is what we got here tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n The Bears should be better in 2025, but it might take a minute for that improvement to show up in the win column.<\/p>\n Derrick Harmon<\/p>\n The Pittsburgh Steelers\u2019 first-round defensive lineman could miss up to a month of his rookie season after suffering a sprained MCL on Thursday. Definitely a bummer.<\/p>\n Matthew Stafford<\/p>\n He\u2019s finally back on the practice field<\/a> after missing most of training camp with a disc issue in his back. Stafford seems on track to play in Week 1 \u2026 but is a 37-year-old with a bad back going to last until Week 18 and hopefully beyond for a team with serious Super Bowl aspirations?<\/p>\n Brian Robinson<\/p>\n After getting traded from the Washington Commanders to the San Francisco 49ers<\/a>, he\u2019s been relegated from starting in D.C. to backup running back duties behind Christian McCaffrey heading into his walk year.<\/p>\n Kirk Cousins<\/p>\n After not getting traded by the Falcons \u2013 yet \u2013 he\u2019s still a backup quarterback in search of something more.<\/p>\n Christian Wilkins<\/p>\n After getting cut by the Las Vegas Raiders<\/a> amid fairly bizarre circumstances in July, the talented defensive tackle remains without a job.<\/p>\n J.J. McCarthy<\/p>\n Heading into his second NFL season \u2013 after missing all of his rookie campaign with a knee injury \u2013 he\u2019s got all of two career preseason appearances (one of them this year) under his belt as he prepares to take over for Sam Darnold as the Minnesota Vikings\u2019 starting quarterback. What could go wrong in September given McCarthy\u2019s scant professional experience?<\/p>\n Aaron Rodgers<\/p>\n Pittsburgh opted not to play him at all in preseason even though he\u2019s new to the roster and OC Arthur Smith\u2019s playbook. Maybe it\u2019s no biggie given Rodgers got some live work against the Bucs in a joint practice and knows a thing or two about thriving in a league he’s been MVP of four times \u2026 even if the Steelers open against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium, where Rodgers infamously blew out his Achilles in Week 1 two years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m never a fan when guys don\u2019t play in the preseason, especially at the quarterback position,\u201d said NFL Network analyst and former two-time league MVP Kurt Warner. \u201cLast year wasn\u2019t (Rodgers\u2019) best year \u2026 would\u2019ve loved to see him get out there and just play a little bit \u2013 with a new system, with the new guys, get that feel back.\u201d<\/p>\n Deion Sanders\u2019 Saturday<\/p>\n He watched one son, Shedeur, play like a rookie who deserved to be drafted in the fifth round<\/a> Saturday afternoon. In the evening, he saw another son, Shilo, an undrafted free agent trying to stick on Tampa Bay\u2019s roster, get ejected for throwing a punch<\/a> against the Bills. As Coach Prime has been known to say, \u201cOh Lawd.\u201d<\/p>\n Lord I thank you for it all. \ud83d\ude4f\ud83c\udffe<\/p>\n \u2014 COACH PRIME (@DeionSanders) August 23, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n All NFL news on and off the field.\u00a0Sign up<\/a>\u00a0for USA TODAY’s 4th and Monday newsletter.<\/p>\n