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According to linebacker David Vobora, the competition at strong side “is a wide-open thing” with Larry Grant and Quinton Culberson also in the mix. Ideally, one of the three would step up and allow Draft to play the backup role.

Smith-Njigba opened with a sensational one-handed catch in what would be a masterpiece game from both the third-year receiver and offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak. Kubiak schemed Smith-Njigba wide open out of the backfield for his touchdown, and continued to pepper him with short slants against zone and play-action routes late. Smith-Njigba hauled in only one catch in the fourth quarter, but it was an outstanding second-and-10 route that left his defender in the dust and set Seattle up to drain most of the remaining clock. He’ll be priority No. 1 for the New England defense in Super Bowl LX.

Corum took a major step forward in his second season, establishing himself as a weekly threat for 10 touches in a good offense. The rushing line improved from 58/207/0 to 145/756/6, and he had 13.3 rushing EPA to Kyren Williams’ 0.4. That’s the good news. The bad news is that Corum’s role has no real room to grow without an injury to Williams, as Williams signed a long-term extension in August that tied him to the Rams for the near-term future. It leaves Corum as more of an RB3 searching for paths to weekly relevancy. Unless Corum suddenly falls into a Zach Charbonnet-esque red zone role, he’ll be hard to start most weeks in 2026.

It was yet another game where the Rams struggled on the ground, but where Williams’ touchdown-catching prowess was enough to keep him in the scorebook as he got lost on a mesh concept near the end zone. Williams lost his volume back role this year as the Rams gradually started introducing more Blake Corum to the offense in October. He wound up playing 68 percent of the snaps on the season, but it was 63 percent after Week 6. He made up for it by scoring eight touchdowns down the stretch. With a long-term contract secured, there’s no reason Williams can’t be a reasonable RB2 in 2026 — just don’t draft him with the idea that he’s a true volume back.

He played 23 snaps to Cam Akers’ one, so Holani looks like a safe bet to be Seattle’s backup runner in Super Bowl LX. Holani had 15 receiving yards in the regular season and 27 here, so it seems like the Seahawks trust him to handle passing-down responsibilities in Zach Charbonnet’s absence. He might be a reasonable punt play in DFS lineups in two weeks.

He played 42 of Seattle’s 67 snaps, yielding 23 to George Holani as the main backup. Walker was absolutely incredible in the first quarter, putting Rams LB Omar Speights in a blender to create a major carry. He managed just 11 carries for 27 yards in the final three frames, but was heavily involved in the passing game as the Seahawks were able to create opportunities for him to weave in and out of traffic in space. He heads into Super Bowl LX as Seattle’s comfortable No. 1 back and arguably their second-most important offensive weapon outside of Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

With roughly five minutes left in the game and a chance to take the lead, Stafford couldn’t find anyone open on third or fourth down as the Seahawks dropped extra players into coverage. It obscured a middle two quarters where Stafford absolutely torched a defense that has been mostly untouchable by non-Rams opponents this season, as he stuck haymaker after haymaker to keep the Rams in the game after Xavier Smith’s muffed punt put the Rams in an 11-point deficit. The runaway surprise QB1 this year after coming into the season with a scary-sounding back injury, Stafford authored an MVP-caliber 2025, leading the league in passing yards and throwing a career-high 46 touchdowns. He enters 2026 drafts as a mid-range QB1 despite what will be obvious questions about his age (38) and health history.

Darnold had little help from the running game – 64 total yards from his backs – and still managed to shred the Rams defense. He was turnover-free for the first time all season against Los Angeles. Seattle’s pass protection held up amazingly well against the Rams front. Klint Kubiak trusted Darnold to hit several throws on the final drive to drain clock and Darnold managed a third-and-7 conversion to Cooper Kupp as well as a 14-yard pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba on second-and-10 that all but sealed the game. Darnold will get a bye week before he takes on the Patriots in Super Bowl LX.

Sean Payton has long been a card-carrying member of the Lil’Jordan Humphrey Fan Club and reunited with the veteran receiver mid-season in November. Humphrey played his first snaps with the Broncos in Week 11 and wound up catching nine passes for 101 yards and one touchdown in seven regular-season games with the team. Humphrey also hauled in a 29-yard touchdown in the Divisional Round of the playoffs to help the Broncos advance past the Bills. Humphrey started this season with the Giants only to be cut later in the season. He’ll be a free agent this offseason, but his familiarity with Payton and the Broncos could lure him back to Denver on a short-term deal for 2026.

It’s an in-person interview per Adam Schefter. Brady is also still in play for the Bills and Cardinals jobs. This interview is apparently being conducted without Raiders owner Tom Brady, who is busy calling the NFC Championship Game. Brady was also involved in the Ravens, Dolphins, and Falcons searches before they all hired new head coaches.

Engram again failed to replicate the success he had with the Jaguars from 2022 to 2023, when he amassed 1,729 receiving yards on 187 catches while also scoring eight times. The 31-year-old tight end, who has made a name for himself as a short-yardage merchant, averaged a career-low 4.2 ADOT this season, but still averaged 5.9 yards after the catch. Engram signed a two-year contract with the Broncos this offseason and carries a dead cap hit just north of $10.3 million if the team were to release him. Despite obviously being on the back nine of his career, Engram remains a solid option in short-yardage situations and should be locked in for at least one more season with the Broncos. That said, he’ll be hard to trust for fantasy purposes after finishing as a top-12 PPR tight end just twice in 2025.