Many say the NFL world is a small one. In truth, every single one of the 1,500 players taking the field in Saturday or Sunday’s regular-season finales is connected to Damar Hamlin.
A teammate played at Pitt, or a teammate was with the Bills last year, or a teammate played high school ball in Western Pennsylvania, where Damar Hamlin was not only one of the best players in the country, but where he was so good that he was offered 48 Division 1 scholarships before ultimately opting to choose to play close to his family and his hometown of McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, with the Pittsburgh Panthers.
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As far as the NFL goes, no two teams have been as closely linked to the situation as the Bengals and Bills, of course. But the New York Giants are an organization with real ties to Hamlin, too.
Giants first-year general manager Joe Schoen was not only in the front office with the Bills last year, but he was one of the key voices in the Bills’ draft room the day Hamlin was drafted in 2021. Schoen and current Bills GM Brandon Beane were as aligned as any GM and deputy, and the selection of Hamlin was one met with long-term plans. He’d learn from Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde, and when the time was right, he’d get his snaps.
Those opportunities didn’t come in bushels in 2021, but when Hyde went down a few months ago, Hamlin was thrust into the starting job. He has started 13 games for the Bills this season and is third on the team in tackles. That isn’t something sixth-round selections are expected to do, especially in their second seasons.
Accompanying Schoen in those draft meetings was first-year Giants coach Brian Daboll. When Daboll and Schoen came to New York, they looked to model the organization with some of the same values they had seen Buffalo build its team with. And with that came a slew of signings in free agency of players who suited up for Buffalo — alongside Hamlin — a year ago.
Those names include Jon Feliciano, Davis Webb, Antonio Williams, Isaiah Hodgins and Matt Breida. Defensive back Nick McCloud was an undrafted free agent who made the Bills roster a year ago and shared a defensive backs room with Hamlin. Jason Pinnock, a young talent with New York, played four years at Pittsburgh with Hamlin as well.
Brian Daboll wasn’t very forthcoming about what he told his team and what has been said in that building this week, but I assure you the Giants staff and medical personnel have encouraged their entire team to be honest, open and vulnerable about how they’re coping with the events of Monday night. This isn’t one or two players who know Hamlin, it’s a large group of guys who suited up with him in Buffalo a year ago.
And then there are Daboll and Schoen. They’re not invincible. They’ve both got a connection to Hamlin, the player and the man, as well.
When asked about whether he has reached out to folks in Buffalo this week, Daboll said, “I’ve talked to a lot of people there. Just offered my support, not that I can do much. Those people, I’d say, mean a lot. I don’t want to speak for Joe, but I know it does. They mean a lot to both of us. I know there’s a lot of people in the building, the players, the staff, the trainers — thank God for them — you build relationships. Being there for four years, I have a ton of respect for the people in that building.”
The Giants have a game to play this weekend and aren’t in the same division or conference as the Bills, but their building has been impacted in a major way by Monday night’s tragic incident. It just shows what a small world the NFL really is.
A silver lining
You’d like to think people are ultimately good. And if there’s a silver lining in all of this, it’s the overwhelming amount of goodwill and love on display over the last few days. We know about Hamlin’s toy drive and the overwhelming amount of support and funds that have been raised in the last week, but I also love this nugget from the apparel company Fanatics. Since Monday night, the No. 1-selling jersey in the entire NFL is Hamlin’s No. 3 Bills jersey. Those orders have come from not only all over the country, but all over the world. One pretty cool side note here is that Fanatics — run by former 76ers part-owner and current NFL power player Michael Rubin — is donating all the proceeds of these jerseys to Hamlin’s toy drive. That gofundme page, by the way, has raised over $7 million.
This campaign gives you the opportunity to contribute to our first initiative and positively impact children who have been hardest hit by the pandemic. 100% of the funds raised will go toward the purchase of toys for kids in need.
Mahomes’ quest for history
A lot of players (and benevolent coaches) are going to be looking at the stat sheet on Saturday and Sunday, trying to get to certain contract incentives. Patrick Mahomes has a different reason to keep an eye on the stat sheet. Very quietly, Mahomes has put together a magnificent 5,000-yard, 20-TD passing season this year. Mahomes becomes just the second player in NFL history to have multiple 5,000-yard, 20-TD campaigns, joining Drew Brees, who did so in just 16 games.
On Saturday, the Chiefs will look to win their final game of the regular season and do everything they can to secure the No. 1 seed in the AFC. That’s the primary goal against Las Vegas. But gosh, Mahomes is 430 passing yards from breaking Peyton Manning’s single-season passing yardage record, which was set in 2013. Does it matter? Andy Reid may downplay it, but it’s a hallowed NFL record, and if this goes like the Las Vegas-San Francisco game a week ago, Mahomes may need to get in a shootout with Jarret Stidham for Kansas City to come out on top.
Going through the list of 5,000-yard passers in NFL history, a few names pop out. First, Dan Marino, who broke the 5,000-yard barrier in 1984 and held the single-season passing record until 2011, when Drew Brees topped him. Next is Jameis Winston, who threw for 5,000 yards in 2019, in a season in which he also threw 30 interceptions. He was replaced by Tom Brady the following season. The last name that sticks out is Justin Herbert, who did it last year. Is that the quietest 5,000-yard season in the history of the sport? Did anyone know that Justin Herbert threw for 5,000 yards a season ago?
Mahomes already has 5,000 yards. With 430 on Saturday, he’ll be the all-time single-season record holder. Albeit with one more game to play in than most other quarterbacks did.
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Jared Goff Needs the Rams
When the NFL schedule-makers released the Week 18 schedule, the times were staggered in such a way that the Rams-Seahawks game in Seattle is in the late afternoon window, while the Packers-Lions game kicks off three hours later. Why is that significant?
The Lions need the Rams to beat the Seahawks for their game to matter in any real way for them Sunday night. If the Rams — playing for nothing (including a draft pick) — can somehow upset the Seahawks, the Lions are in a win-and-in situation at Lambeau Field Sunday night. Naturally, because the NFL is a crazy cyclical world, Lions QB Jared Goff — unceremoniously packaged by the Rams with a bushel of draft picks to Detroit two years ago — now needs his former team to play the role of underdogs and defeat the Seahawks.
Though Sean McVay openly courted and was the aggressor in trading for Matthew Stafford in March of 2021, there’s truly nothing but love from McVay for Goff now. And though Goff would have every reason to resent or dislike the Rams as an organization, he’s always taken the high road in those public comments, even when Stafford was hoisting a Lombardi and Goff was quarterbacking the second-worst team in the NFL a year ago. Perhaps Baker Mayfield saves his best for last. Perhaps Bobby Wagner gets the ultimate revenge against the team that cut him after all those years of service. Perhaps Sean McVay just coaches his ass off. But there’s a scenario where the Rams do Jared Goff the ultimate favor: give him the opportunity to compete for a playoff spot Sunday night. And then hand his team a premium draft pick.
Coaching rumors and news
Keep an eye on my feed (@Pschrags) starting Sunday morning and right through next week. I’ll have all the latest on the coaching firing and hirings over the next few weeks. A few names I think you’ll be hearing a lot about in the coming days:
1. Ben Johnson, Lions OC: A special talent. The 36-year-old wunderkind has turned Detroit from a dormant offense a year ago into one of the most dynamic in the league.
2. Brian Johnson, Eagles QB Coach: I’m not sure if Johnson is going to get any head-coaching interviews, but I do know he has a lot of fans around the league in positions that matter. The former Utah QB has known Jalen Hurts for years and has gotten the very most out of him.
3. Lou Anarumo, Bengals DC: Coach Lou doesn’t lead an offense and isn’t a 30-something. He’s just a leader of men who’s proven himself as the best in-game adjustment DC in the league.
4. Demeco Ryans, 49ers DC: He leads the No. 1 defense in the league and has a sterling reputation.
5. Dan Quinn, Cowboys DC: The Cowboys defense may be limping to the finish line, here, but Quinn still is one of the most respected leaders in the game. He’ll get several interviews.
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Peter Schrager is an NFL writer for FOX Sports and a host of “Good Morning Football” on NFL Network. You can follow him on Twitter at @PSchrags.
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