Sports

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Minutes after celebrating their place in NFL history, they were scrambling in terror.

Every prominent member of the Kansas City Chiefs — Andy Reid and his coaching staff, general manager Brett Veach, quarterback Patrick Mahomes, tight end Travis Kelce and their teammates — left the stage in front of Union Station and headed back into the grand hall. It was the city’s parade to honor their Super Bowl LVIII victory, the first NFL team to successfully defend a championship in almost two decades.

Minutes later gunshots sounded; the team and the thousands of fans celebrating on an unseasonably warm Valentine’s Day were plunged into chaos.

The 66-year-old Reid and a trio of players — running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, right guard Trey Smith and long snapper James Winchester — were among those who ran toward children during the gunfire and tried to comfort those around them. According to a law enforcement source, granted anonymity for this story because he doesn’t have permission to speak publicly on the shooting, at one point police thought there was a shooter inside Union Station, where Chiefs personnel, coaches, players and their families had run for cover.

“I went to my grandkids and my family, like, Where are they?!” Reid said two weeks after the shooting. “Your instincts take over.”

Chaos has broken out at the end of the Chiefs Super Bowl parade. Police and military personnel just took off inside of Union Station pic.twitter.com/mqNeodS9r5

— Jacob Meikel (@Jacob_Meikel) February 14, 2024

Edwards-Helaire, who has a reputation as one of the Chiefs’ most jovial players, had his usual offseason training halted several times while he dealt with post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition he has grappled with since fatally shooting a man attempting to rob him in 2018; the parade shooting worsened his severe anxiety.

When the shots finally stopped, 22 victims — half of them under the age of 16 — were wounded and one person, Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a disc jockey at Kansas City radio station KKFI and mother of two, was dead. The shooting stemmed from a dispute between several people, two of whom were under the age of 18 when they were detained by the Kansas City Police Department.

That horrific scene was how the Chiefs’ offseason began. It barely calmed down over the next six months: a rising star became embroiled in legal issues stemming from a high-speed crash, a future Hall of Famer battled time and the scrutiny that comes with dating the world’s most famous woman, their kicker thrust himself into the culture wars and a 25-year-old teammate almost died at the team’s training facility.

Starting Thursday night against the Baltimore Ravens, Chiefs players, coaches and front office members will spend the next five months trying to accomplish an unprecedented feat: Win a third consecutive Super Bowl. But first, they had to endure an offseason unlike any other.

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Rashee Rice’s rented Lamborghini SUV was approaching 120 miles per hour on a Dallas highway. He was part of a late-afternoon drag race on a busy stretch of the Central Expressway and, as he tried to weave through traffic, he slammed into a hatchback traveling in the left lane, setting off a chain reaction. The hatchback careened into the black Corvette that Rice was racing, sending the Corvette into a minivan before crashing into a retaining wall on the other side of the road. The minivan and a white SUV were sent spinning in the center lane. In the end, six vehicles were involved. In the immediate aftermath, Rice and four of his friends exited the two vehicles, made their way to the breakdown lane and walked away before police arrived, leaving behind the crash’s victims, baffled onlookers and two mangled luxury vehicles.

From Rashee Rice’s attorney, Royce West: “Rashee is cooperating with local authorities and will take all necessary steps to address this situation responsibly.” via @AdamSchefter.@dallaspd was reportedly looking for the Chiefs’ wide receiver following Saturday’s crash. @FOX4 pic.twitter.com/ubD0dBSBJ4

— Peyton Yager (@peytonyager) April 1, 2024

The March 30 crash involved Teddy Knox, a former SMU teammate of Rice who was the driver of the black Corvette. Two drivers of other vehicles were treated at the scene for minor injuries, and two occupants of another vehicle were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

On April 11, Rice turned himself in at the Glenn Heights (Texas) Police Department after the Dallas PD issued an arrest warrant. Records showed Rice, who was booked and released on a $40,000 bond, is facing one count of aggravated assault, one count of collision involving serious bodily injury and six counts of collision involving injury, although a trial date has yet to be set. Two crash victims, Irina Gromova and Edvard Petrovskiy, are suing Rice and Knox for more than $10 million; a trial is set to begin next June.

Rice made his first public comments about the crash through an Instagram story post: “I take full responsibility for my part in this matter and will continue to cooperate with the necessary authorities. I sincerely apologize to everyone impacted in Saturday’s accident.”

Less than a week after turning himself in to the police, Rice returned to work, participating in every aspect of the Chiefs’ offseason program. During training camp, he declined to share if he had been interviewed by commissioner Roger Goodell or anyone else from the league.

“The main thing for me is being able to be the best person I can be for my team so we can all come together and dominate,” Rice said in early August. “I’m just continuing to surround myself with the people I want to be like and continuing to surround myself with people who are going to allow me to grow to become a better person on and off the field. I’m going to continue to grow.”

Brian McCarthy, a league spokesman, said in a news video conference last week that Rice wouldn’t be placed on the league’s commissioner’s exempt list — which allows the league to remove a player facing felony charges from the playing field and take that disciplinary decision away from the team — “unless there is a material change in the case.”

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Since Reid became their head coach in 2013, the Chiefs have been willing to bring in players with a history of off-the-field transgressions. That was true of Rice, who was taken off at least three teams’ draft boards due to character concerns, according to league sources, before Kansas City moved up nine spots to select him in the second round of the 2023 draft.

A common misconception is that Reid’s Chiefs employ a loose, fun-all-the-time culture. In reality, Reid runs one of the most physical training camps in the NFL and they maintain those grueling practice habits throughout the season. Reid has learned to micromanage less, but swap out sleeveless hoodies for Tommy Bahama shirts — and Tom Brady for Mahomes — and you have an organization that has much more in common with the Patriot Way than most outsiders think. And similar to New England, the winning encourages players to buy in.

“They trust their infrastructure,” a rival GM said. “(Reid) can handle just about anything and make sure the leadership is strong to absorb those players. … Talent is a premium, for sure, and figuring out where to draw the line can definitely be taxing on the assistants. Bill (Belichick) was the same way. It’s all about risk tolerance and at what cost.”

Just a few weeks before the crash, Rice was in Fort Worth, Texas, training alongside Mahomes and Marquise Brown, the Chiefs’ newest veteran receiver. Mahomes, who spent a portion of his childhood in a Major League Baseball clubhouse, understands the need to use his voice to criticize Rice in a manner that is not solely punitive.

“There’s going to be punishments and stuff that they’re going to have to deal with,” Mahomes said of Rice last month. “But when you’re a guy on the team, you’re kind of like an older brother to the guy. You want to bring him up as best you can.

“Obviously, they know they’ve made mistakes. They own up to them. But at the same time, how are we going to be better now? How can you learn from that mistake and not make that same mistake again? That’s what you’re doing in every aspect of life, not just football.”

The Chiefs have a potential superstar in Rice. As a rookie last season he was the Chiefs’ best receiver, recording 79 receptions for 938 yards and a team-high seven touchdowns. Based on his on-field performance this summer, the 24-year-old is expected to not merely build on that success in 2024 but potentially establish himself as one of the NFL’s elite receivers. The Chiefs have proved, in the short term, they can win without great receiver play. For the long term, Rice could be the answer to one of the questions looming over the franchise: Who will become Mahomes’ next go-to target? After all, Kelce cannot play forever.

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Kelce was emotional, almost choking up at one point during the short social-media video directed toward Chiefs fans. He thanked them for their support and reminisced about when he arrived in Kansas City. It was April 29, the Monday after the NFL Draft, and the tight end had just signed a two-year contract extension.

The news was significant for two reasons: It made him the NFL’s highest-paid tight end for the first time in his career; and it was the first public indication of what Kelce, who will be 35 in October, told Reid and Veach before signing the deal: He thinks he has at least two more good years left.

Kelce plans to help the franchise continue its success for at least a couple more seasons even as his fame in the world outside football grows exponentially after, last fall, his relationship with pop superstar Taylor Swift became public.

“I love playing in the NFL,” Kelce said in June. “This will always be my main focus. But outside of that, football ends for everybody, so (I’m) kind of dipping my toes in the water and seeing what (I) like in different areas and different career fields. I think the offseason is the best chance you can get to try and explore that and set yourself up for after football.”

Kelce spent much of the offseason in Los Angeles, his first step toward the acting career he plans to pursue after football. His first opportunity was in the spring; actress/comedian Niecy Nash-Betts revealed in early May that Kelce would be guest-starring alongside her, in an unspecified role, in “Grotesquerie,” an FX horror and drama show. Comedian and actor Adam Sandler shared last month that Kelce will play a supporting role in the much-anticipated “Happy Gilmore 2.” Kelce also flew to Europe several times — London, Dublin and many other cities — to attend as many of Swift’s concerts as possible, consistently shocked at the growing number of Chiefs jerseys he saw in each city.

WE HAVE A CLOSE UP NOW pic.twitter.com/BUnSTn5a4k

— line 🌙 (@nessianxx) June 23, 2024

Kelce’s life changed last season when he began dating Swift. His weekly podcast with his brother, Jason, “New Heights,” became one of the medium’s fastest-growing shows. Travis’s social media followers grew by more than 400,000. In less than a week, his No. 87 jersey rose to the top five in NFL sales, according to Fanatics.

Kelce’s life also changed in less desirable ways. For instance, as paparazzi descended on his suburban home, he learned the hard way that dating the world’s most famous woman requires a gated community; he moved in November.

In 2023, the Chiefs became the third team in NFL history to play 21 regular- and postseason games in a single season. In the first six years of the Mahomes era, the Chiefs played an unmatched 18 postseason games, for a total of 117 games during that span; Kelce played in all but four of them. And yet, the Chiefs are not worried about Kelce potentially slowing down. As he followed Swift’s Eras Tour around the world this summer, Kelce brought a small team of trainers along with him. The world saw his surprise on-stage appearance as a performer during Swift’s late-June show at London’s Wembley Stadium, but few saw the full-time football work he continued to put in while overseas. And, European tours and acting gigs aside, he didn’t miss a single Chiefs workout this summer, mandatory or voluntary.

It might not be TB12, but those in the Chiefs building say Kelce is obsessed with body maintenance. It’s cliché to insist that your best players are your hardest workers, but even Veach was surprised when, on his way out the door on Monday — after the team’s hardest practice of the week — he saw his All-Pro tight end doing band work in an otherwise empty weight room at 9 p.m.

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There’s no doubt that Kelce still has both feet in the football world, just like there’s no doubt that Swift is fully embracing her Chiefs fandom. It did, however, take everyone involved a little bit of time to find the rhythm to this dance.

For instance, Swift made her first appearance at Arrowhead Stadium last September. The lasting image of an otherwise forgettable blowout victory over the Chicago Bears: When Kelce caught a 3-yard touchdown to stretch the lead to 41-0, cameras caught Swift jumping, cheering and shouting three words: Let’s f—ing go!

Before the Chiefs’ locker room was opened after the game, players were asked to not discuss Swift with reporters, a request from Kelce that led to awkward interactions between players and reporters surrounding one of the game’s biggest storylines.

“It’s crazy that someone was at a football game, right?” defensive end George Karlaftis said, smiling, in response to a question about Swift. “I don’t know what you guys want. I’m happy for him.”

That day brought a new kind of stress for the Chiefs’ security operation, which had to coordinate with Swift’s team for her safe entry into and exit from the stadium. With the game winding down in the fourth quarter, security put its original plan into motion, ushering Swift out to a meeting point with Kelce. Only, Swift had a different idea: She wanted to watch the end of her boyfriend’s game. That meant plans had to change on the fly. Ultimately, the security detail had Swift wait in the suite after the game until Kelce was ready to meet her there. The couple later exited Arrowhead as if they were the homecoming king and queen, driving downtown in his burgundy convertible. Their first public date occurred at Prime Social in the city’s Country Club Plaza area, a night when more than a third of Kelce’s teammates joined the gathering with Swift’s friends.

At a practice the next week, Kunal Tanna, Veach’s assistant, made the usual rounds, asking those in each position room if they had any song requests for that day’s workout. That’s how one of Swift’s songs made it onto the playlist, making for a light moment during practice. Mahomes approached Tanna. “That was really funny,” he said, before adding, “don’t ever do it again” — a message for Tanna, and for the team, that outside noise stays outside the practice field.

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Swift was learning a new world as well. She attended her first road game a week later, a Sunday nighter against the New York Jets in East Rutherford, N.J. When Swift arrived at MetLife Stadium, rather than being greeted by a raucous crowd of paparazzi, it was a collection of sports journalists, as polite as they were unsure of what to do. “It’s so quiet in here,” Swift said after exiting her car; she then had a chance to enjoy the likely unfamiliar sound of her own footsteps echoing as she made her way through the tunnel.

Swift continued attending games, and as the season progressed, the rhythm became more familiar for everyone involved. The organization embraced her presence. She was on the field next to Kelce just minutes after the Chiefs won the AFC Championship Game in Baltimore. Much to the surprise of just about everyone, she was on the field in the chaotic moments after Super Bowl LVIII. (For those wondering, she will be in attendance for Thursday night’s season opener against the Ravens.)

Even with Mahomes, on a trajectory to become the greatest player in NFL history, as their leader, no one has generated more positive buzz for the Chiefs than Kelce. When 32 players took the stage in front of the Rose Garden with President Joe Biden in late May, it was Kelce who was given the opportunity to step into the spotlight.

After an invitation from the president, Kelce joined Biden at the lectern: “My fellow Americans, it’s nice to see you all again… I’m not gonna lie, President Biden, they told me if I came up here I’d get tased, so I’m gonna go back to my spot.”

The ceremony ended with owner Clark Hunt and Reid presenting Biden with the gift of a Chiefs helmet that featured three autographs in black marker, from Reid, Veach and team president Mark Donovan. When there was a pause during a photo opp, Kelce led a group of players encouraging Biden to put the helmet on.

Biden obliged. There were cheers and laughter. Even kicker Harrison Butker, stoic in the top row for most of the ceremony, couldn’t help but crack a smile.

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Speaking to a packed gymnasium in Atchison, Kan., on May 11, Butker’s address to Benedictine College’s Class of 2024 started the way most commencement speeches do: He congratulated the graduates. Nothing else he said over the next 20 minutes was ordinary.

The 28-year-old kicker referred to Pride Month, the events in June demonstrating inclusivity and support for the LGBTQ+ community, as an example of the “deadly sins,” as he advocated for a more conservative brand of Catholicism. He criticized Biden on several issues, including abortion and the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, even questioning Biden’s personal devotion to Catholicism. Addressing a class that included hundreds of women, Butker said a woman’s most important title is “homemaker.”

“It is you, the women, who have had the most diabolic lies told to you,” Butker told them. “Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.”

Hours after the speech was posted to YouTube, the backlash began. GLAAD, a non-profit LGBTQ advocacy organization, denounced the speech. So did the order of nuns affiliated with Benedictine College. Jokes started rolling in. At the 2024 ESPY Awards, which Butker attended, tennis legends Serena and Venus Williams discussed the year in women’s sports onstage with “Abbott Elementary” star Quinta Brunson. Venus told the audience to “go ahead and enjoy women’s sports, like you would any other sports, because they are sports.”

Serena added the punchline: “Except you, Harrison Butker. We don’t need you.”

“At all. Like, ever,” Brunson added.

The Williams sisters made a joke at Harrison Butker’s expense at the 2024 ESPYS.

Venus: “So, go ahead and enjoy women’s sports like you would any other sports, because they are sports.”

Serena: “Except you, Harrison Butker.”

🎥 @awfulannouncing pic.twitter.com/3LWmIQqfkd

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) July 12, 2024

There were also those who rallied in support of Butker. Within a week of the speech, the women’s version of Butker’s jersey was out of stock in the official Chiefs Pro Shop, and his men’s jersey was listed among the top sellers on NFLshop.com. A fan made a large sign in support of Butker, placing it alongside the highway near Missouri Western State’s campus, where the Chiefs held training camp: “Thank you Harrison Butker for having the courage to speak the truth.”

The NFL released a statement distancing itself from Butker’s comments, saying his views are not those of the league. Mahomes and Kelce expressed their disagreement with Butker’s comments, too, but voiced their respect for him as a teammate.

In the days after Butker’s speech, those in Chiefs leadership felt all they could do was wait to see what happened when Butker returned for OTAs. They were surprised, not only by the amount of attention the speech drew but that Butker had agreed to make a speech at all. While the Chiefs know Butker is devoutly religious, he has never been especially aggressive in sharing his beliefs. For Butker’s part, when Benedictine College asked him to be its commencement speaker just days after Super Bowl LVIII, he initially declined before reconsidering.

“I try to protect my privacy as much as possible, but I’ve been in the league seven years and I do have a platform,” Butker said. “With that comes people who want me to state what I believe to be very important.”

All eyes were on Butker, and his interactions with his teammates, on that first day back in the locker room. He did crossword puzzles in the training room with some of the defensive linemen. He chatted with other teammates. And for the Chiefs, it seemed clear that, while this was an understandably big issue outside their facility, it wasn’t going to be a problem inside it.

“Ever since that speech, there’s been tons of conversations in the locker room, guys connecting and trying to understand each other,” Butker said. “It’s been a beautiful thing to see. That’s what’s so special about sports. There’s not many sports where you have 50 to 100 guys with a bunch of different beliefs and we’re all fighting together to win.”

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Sitting in a special teams meeting on June 6, Butker heard a commotion behind him. Then he felt the jolt of someone kicking his chair. “I turned around,” Butker said, “and B.J. wasn’t doing well.”

The kicker sprinted out of the meeting room and to the Chiefs’ training room, alerting assistant trainers Julie Frymyer and David Glover. By that point, B.J. Thompson, a 25-year-old defensive end, was in the throes of a seizure.

Within minutes, vice president of sports medicine and performance Rick Burkholder and his staff — Frymyer, Glover, Tiffany Morton and Evan Craft — and Dr. Jean-Philippe E Darche, a former center who played nine seasons in the NFL, worked together to resuscitate Thompson, who fell to the floor after going into cardiac arrest. He was taken by ambulance to the University of Kansas Medical Center and was placed on a ventilator under heavy sedation.

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The NFL requires every team to practice its emergency action plan before every game and during the workweek at its training facility.

“We practiced on (that) Monday with a group called Walters Incorporated, who comes in and educates us and goes through scenarios like we went through,” Burkholder said.

Thompson woke up in a stable condition and was responsive within 24 hours. A week after being released from the hospital, he rejoined his teammates, making his first public appearance for the Chiefs’ Super Bowl ring ceremony at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.

📹VIDEO: #Chiefs BJ Thompson walks the red carpet ahead of Thursday’s ring ceremony– just one week after going into cardiac arrest during a team meeting @KSHB41 pic.twitter.com/gyAbJXTLkH

— Aaron Ladd (@aaronladdtv) June 14, 2024

Thompson, a second-year player who was selected in the fifth round of the 2023 draft, was working to contribute as a role player on defense and special teams after appearing in only the regular-season finale as a rookie. After his release from the hospital, he spent several days watching practice. He’ll start this season on the non-football injury list, which will give him more time to go through several medical evaluations before he can be cleared to participate in football activities again. Reid said Thompson could return to the practice field as early as November.

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The Chiefs’ offseason drama extended beyond their football operations. Two weeks after the parade shooting, Hunt spoke publicly at a news conference inside Arrowhead about the future of the 52-year-old venue. The Chiefs unveiled renderings of what they hoped would be the next major renovations — changes included enhanced suites, video boards and club lounges. The renovations were projected to cost $800 million; Hunt said he and his family would contribute $300 million.

During the news conference, the NFL Players Association released the findings of its second annual survey, team-by-team report cards that assess players’ working conditions and environments. The Chiefs ranked 31st among the NFL’s 32 teams. The bad news kept coming when, a month later, voters in Jackson County, Mo., rejected an extension of the three-eighths-cent sales tax on a ballot initiative that would have funded stadium renovations for the Chiefs and Kansas City Royals. The margin of defeat was overwhelming: 58 percent voted no.

None of that stopped Hunt from investing in the on-field product. He signed Reid, Veach and Donovan to contract extensions through the 2029 season, with Reid earning $25 million per year, becoming the league’s highest-paid coach. Having already signed Mahomes to the longest contract in the league (which runs through the 2031 season), Hunt authorized Veach and Reid to sign Kelce, Butker, pass rusher Chris Jones and center Creed Humphrey to new deals, each one becoming the highest-paid player at their position. If the Chiefs fall short of a three-peat, it won’t be because the organization didn’t invest in its upcoming mission.

The Chiefs endured an offseason that required unique resilience. Perhaps the most meaningful sign of that resilience came not in the days or months, but the minutes after Super Bowl LVIII in February. Kelce, exhausted after the overtime victory that ended the longest season of his career, took a moment to celebrate on the field.

Then, during a long, slow walk back to the locker room, he delivered a simple message: “We’re doing this again next year.”

(Top photos, left to right: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images; Courtney Culbreath / Getty Images; Michael Owens / AP)

The 2024 season is here. The Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs get things started tonight, followed by a Friday night matchup between the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles.

With no time to waste, let’s look at The Athletic’s NFL staff picks for MVP, Super Bowl champion and more.

Forty-two staff members responded (some opting not to answer everything, so there aren’t always 42 responses). Here’s what they think.

Patrick Mahomes has already won the award twice — in 2018 and 2022 — so why not a third time while the Kansas City Chiefs try to three-peat? Our staff overwhelmingly picked the soon-to-be 29-year-old quarterback to do just that.

While quarterbacks dominated our MVP voting, they took a back seat in this category. Tyreek Hill finished fourth in the AP Offensive Player of the Year voting two seasons ago and was runner-up last season when he led the league with 1,799 receiving yards, 13 TDs and a career-best 112.4 receiving yards per game. Our staff thinks he’ll continue his dominance catching passes from Tua Tagovailoa in Mike McDaniel’s offense in Miami.

In his three NFL seasons, Micah Parsons has finished second, second and third in Defensive Player of the Year voting. His sack totals have inched up every year — 13 to 13 1/2 to 14 — and signs point to the former Penn State star linebacker breaking through in 2024. Myles Garrett won it last season after a 14-sack campaign that followed five consecutive double-digit sack seasons. Entering the season, it looks like a Parsons-Garrett battle and we’ll get to see them on the same field Sunday when the Cowboys visit the Browns.

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Six quarterbacks were selected within the first 12 picks of the 2024 NFL Draft and three are among the five rookies receiving votes from our staff in this category. No. 1 pick Caleb Williams received 31 of 42 total votes. Expectations are high for the Bears’ quarterback, to say the least.

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As long as Mahomes is in Kansas City, this feels like the safest choice. The Chiefs won the past two Super Bowls, three of the past five and have played in four of the last five. Mahomes was named MVP in each of the Chiefs’ Super Bowl victories. The Bengals and Texans both received four votes. Cincinnati lost the 2021 Super Bowl to the Los Angeles Rams and the Texans have not reached a conference title game since joining the league in 2002.

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The Lions made the playoffs last season for the first time since 2016 and reached the NFC Championship Game — they lost 34-31 to the 49ers — for the first time since 1991. Can Dan Campbell get Detroit to its first Super Bowl in franchise history? The Packers and 49ers won’t make it easy, according to our staff.

Surprise … it’s the Chiefs. OK, that’s not really a surprise. But that’s what happens when you win back-to-back Super Bowls and have Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Chris Jones on your side. The 49ers finished with the second-most votes, fitting after they lost to the Chiefs in overtime in last season’s Super Bowl.

Kansas City occupied the three top vote-getting matchups and received votes against six different opponents. But our staff likes the Chiefs-Lions showdown most, followed by Chiefs-Packers and a Chiefs-49ers rematch. The top non-Chiefs Super Bowls? Texans vs. Eagles and Bengals vs. Lions.

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NFL Hope-O-Meter results: Ranking fans’ optimism for all 32 teams

What they said

“Mike McCarthy. McCarthy has proven he can win in the regular season with three straight 12-5 seasons. But that regular-season success hasn’t translated to the playoffs. If that doesn’t change, the coach of the Cowboys will.” — Dan Duggan, Giants writer

“Nick Sirianni. When you fire and replace both of your coordinators, the pressure is now on you. It’s win or be fired yourself.” — Adam Jahns, Bears writer

“Robert Saleh. He’s entering his fourth year in New York with an 18-33 record. Saleh’s personality and perch in the league’s most high-profile city give him more cache than his results have earned. With Aaron Rodgers back from injury, Saleh and the Jets are out of excuses. If this team doesn’t make a run, there will be major changes in New York.” — Josh Kendall, Falcons writer

“Sean McDermott. He only gets so many shots with Josh Allen to prove he can get the Bills back to the Super Bowl.” — Paul Dehner Jr., Bengals writer

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“Mike McCarthy: He’s got 36 regular-season wins to one playoff win over the last three seasons and is on an expiring contract with Bill Belichick as a coaching free agent. That’s a lot of pressure.” — Jeff Howe, NFL writer

“Robert Saleh. If he can’t win this season with that defense and a healthy Aaron Rodgers, he may not be long for his job.” — Adam Hirshfield, NFL editor

“Nick Sirianni. Was last season’s second-half collapse a fluke or a sign of a bigger problem? The Eagles are talented, but a slow start will turn up the volume and heat on the man in charge.” — Doug Haller, Cardinals writer

“Dave Canales. He’s the least proven head coach in the league in terms of overall track record, which means he has the most to prove. There are other coaches facing greater pressure this season, but they are much more seasoned/proven.” — Mike Sando, NFL writer

“Dennis Allen. The Saints are on the short list of middling teams that could bottom out this year as some of their top talent is getting older and a bit worse. They have issues at quarterback and may struggle on both the offensive and defensive lines. Things seem a bit stale in New Orleans, and Allen needs to prove that isn’t the case.” — Joe Buscaglia, Bills writer

What they said

“Arizona. Last year you saw the culture set, now the talent level has risen for a full season with Kyler Murray.” — Dehner

“The Falcons are in a really good place. The mood around the building with Raheem Morris is through the roof, and Kirk Cousins and OC Zac Robinson should really help the skill players shine. They’re also in a very winnable division.” — Howe

“Tennessee Titans, because after an aggressive offseason following another double-digit loss season, they will force their way into contention in the AFC South and have a shot at the playoffs.” — Mike Jones, NFL writer

“Denver Broncos. I’m a believer that the Sean Payton-Bo Nix pairing will work well. I don’t love the skill-position pieces around Nix, but it’s the first time since Payton coached Drew Brees that I can see him having full confidence in a quarterback. I could envision a second-place finish in the AFC West and a possible wild-card berth.” — Larry Holder, NFL writer

“The Chargers — they have the talent to turn things around and they have a head coach who knows how to win.” — Dan Pompei, NFL writer

“Cardinals. I’m reaching deep for this one because anyone can say the Bears. But the Cardinals could be a sneaky team for the biggest turnaround even if they’ll still be far from a serious contender. They were more competitive than the typical 4-13 team in Jonathan Gannon’s first season as head coach. They also were 1-8 without Kyler Murray and 3-5 after he returned to the lineup. A healthy Murray combined with Marvin Harrison Jr. could turn things around fast for the Cardinals.” — Duggan

“Seattle Seahawks. Geno Smith should have a nice rebound of a season and the Seahawks defense should be much improved with more youth under new head coach Mike Macdonald. The Seahawks also have a very favorable schedule, which should allow them to make a run to make the playoffs.” — Nate Taylor, Chiefs writer

“Falcons. Atlanta gets a new coach with a strong defensive pedigree and leadership skills in Raheem Morris, and a proven quarterback in Kirk Cousins to pair with ascending playmakers Bijan Robinson and Drake London. It also helps that the Falcons play in the NFC South.” — Joe Person, Panthers writer

“Washington. The Commanders only won four games last year. I think they could double that win total and maybe compete for the NFC East title if things go poorly for the Eagles and Cowboys. Dan Quinn ends up improving the defense and Jayden Daniels shows they have a franchise QB.” — Jon Machota, Cowboys writer

(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; photos: Todd Rosenberg, Cooper Neill, Kara Durrette / Getty Images)

Kemba Walker is an NCAA champion and a four-time NBA All-Star. He also is a product of the Bronx. Those things, he believes, are inextricably linked.

Walker, who retired from playing pro basketball in July and joined the Charlotte Hornets coaching staff, is one of the last great New York City basketball stars. The city used to mass produce basketball players, but that pipeline has slowed to a trickle over the last decade.

The city still has talent, but it is leaving the five boroughs at an earlier age. While Walker remained in New York before he left for the University of Connecticut, his path is no longer the norm.

“That’s changed over the years,” Walker said.

Power Memorial Academy, which produced greats like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Len Elmore, closed in 1984. Rice High in Harlem — where Walker and other former college stars went — closed in 2011. Some of the area’s best players have flocked to New England and New Jersey schools.

Orlando Magic guard Cole Anthony left Archbishop Molloy in Queens for Oak Hill Academy in Virginia. Detroit Pistons forward Taj Gibson left Brooklyn for Stoneridge Prep in California. Philadelphia 76ers center Mo Bamba left the Bronx for Westtown School in Pennsylvania.

“There are still players that come (out of) New York, but the problem is so many of them leave,” said Ron Naclerio, the head coach at Benjamin N. Cardozo High School in Queens and the all-time winningest public school coach in New York history. “I hate that it’s happening,” he added.

Naclerio, and others, like Gibson, have been looking for solutions. Two New Yorkers want to make New York a hotbed for basketball once again.

Griffin Taylor and Jared Effron launched The Program intending to make New York City hoops good enough that up-and-coming players don’t need to leave. Their goal is to convert an empty warehouse in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn into a state-of-the-art youth facility with a full-sized court and an adjacent weight room, hoping it helps.

“Statistically and reputationally, New York isn’t producing the talent at quite the rates that it used to,” Taylor said, “and so what Jared and I really wanted to solve for is the why.”

Taylor and Effron grew up in the shadow of the New York Knicks and the St. John’s University teams of the 1990s. The sport has always been a part of the city’s DNA and spawned some of the best amateur and pro players in history, from Lew Alcindor to Kenny Anderson to Stephon Marbury.

Madison Square Garden might still be known as the mecca of the sport, but the city itself is no longer considered the epicenter by some.

The area’s college programs have struggled. The Knicks’ recent resurgence broke two decades of dysfunction and losing, but the 2023-24 team failed to end the franchise’s 51-year championship drought after falling to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The high school scene has regressed, and there’s been a talent drain out of the city. From 2020-23, per 247 Sports, there wasn’t a single top-50 recruit from a New York City high school.

“There’s really a divide between the pay-for-play and the AAU circuit,” said Effron, The Program’s co-founder and president. “I think there’s a big reason that we haven’t been able to develop kids: Because we’re not mixing that world together. I don’t know if this is a national problem, but I definitely see it here in New York.”

Gibson, who came up through the famed New York Gauchos AAU program, felt he had no choice but to leave. Gibson said his coaches were the ones who convinced him and his mother to go to the West Coast before his sophomore year of high school because they felt he needed to have a change of scenery from where he had grown up. When he arrived in California, first at Stoneridge Prep and then at Calvary Christian, he felt he had landed in another basketball ecosystem altogether.

“I’m out there and I’m seeing it’s a different lifestyle,” Gibson said. “These guys are basically already preparing to go to the pros. The way the workouts went, the way guys were carrying it. I don’t know if it was the weather … it was just a different kind of atmosphere.”

Added Rod Strickland, a Bronx native who played for the Knicks and is now the head coach at Long Island University: “Just like the NBA has gone global, our country, the U.S., has kind of caught up.”

Strickland used to be a prototypical New York City product, a lightning-quick point guard with a tight handle and flair. He said the city used to create players of a certain mold.

Naclerio believes it’s because there aren’t enough places for young players to play in the city anymore, and when they do, they’re working with trainers instead of in competitive games. One solution Naclerio suggested is for more top-flight indoor courts — he has nothing for disdain for the double-rims found in parks across New York City.

The Program is trying to close that gap by offering just that. It has grown slowly. Taylor and Effron incorporated The Program in late 2021 and started taking on partners in April 2022. Last spring, they left their full-time jobs and fully committed to getting The Program off the ground. Early on, it held several amateur events around the metropolitan area, attracting some of the best high school players from the state and neighboring New Jersey.

Last winter, The Program signed a lease for its first physical space, a 12,500-foot warehouse in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn not too far from the East River and set to be a development home for some of the city’s talent. There are designs on one day housing its teams, too. They also have amassed a group of investors — including Walker, Chris Mullin and Carmelo Anthony — who believe in keeping New York City’s best young players in the city and helping them grow, much like they did.

Taylor and Effron hope to use The Program as a vehicle to help emerging players have a space and amenities to build their skills. Their facility will serve as a development academy and also could eventually lead to a basketball program. The duo has raised a little more than $4 million so far from investors, Taylor said, with the goal of raising $6 million total. Roc Nation is an investor, as are JJ Redick, Miles McBride and Moe Harkless.

The Program NYC has leaned on Ross Burns, a trainer for NBA players, to design its on-court agenda. It will hire coaches and instructors who have all at least played college basketball to implement it. NBA champion and Hall of Fame broadcaster Kenny Smith will serve as an adviser, as will grassroots staple Chad Babel and longtime New England high school coach John Carroll. 

The Program will have annual membership plans, and it also intends to offer scholarships through a charitable trust for children. The facility is slated to open by June 2025, Taylor said. 

It plans to make its gym available to the city’s AAU teams, and it wants to be a go-to option for NBA and WNBA teams and players who need a space to work out when they’re in town during the season or in the offseason. Taylor and Effron hope to have their own boys and girls teams, too, with Nike’s EYBL circuit as a destination.

“There’s nothing better than being able to train and watch a pro train and emulate that,” Mullin said. If that’s something that can be a reality, that’s what it’s all about is passing on your knowledge, your daily work habits, and things like that to the younger generation. That’s really how you influence and impact, you know, the people behind you.”

Mullin, who went to high school at Power Memorial in Manhattan and then Xaverian in Brooklyn, said he felt he never had to leave. He stayed in New York and starred at St. John’s before building a Hall of Fame NBA career.

Gibson wants to bring back prominence and spot the disconnects that have hampered the basketball scene in the last decades. He believes it will take the whole community uniting again.

There is hope, and a belief from him and others, that it’s possible to get New York City back to where it was, even if it will be difficult.

“New York City is New York City, so there’s always a possibility,” Strickland said. “You can’t tell me there’s not talent.”

Anthony grew up in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn before moving to Baltimore at 8. The environment Anthony sees now as he guides his son, consensus four-star guard Kiyan Anthony, through the amateur basketball ecosystem, is one he wants to help.

“I’ve seen firsthand how access to the best gyms, training and coaching can accelerate development,” Anthony said in a statement to The Athletic. “To be able to provide accessible court space, and elite coaching and training under one roof to kids all across the city, it can only improve the collective talent pool coming out of New York.

“And if we can keep our most talented kids home instead of them leaving at younger ages to go to schools in other states and markets, it is a win for New York across the board.”

Taylor and Effron already have a plan for the future, too. If this goes as they hope it will, there also is room for growth. The Program owns the air rights in its current location and can build up on its current one-story operation. Eventually, the decision-makers could build out, too, and expand to other major cities across the East Coast.

Walker is the last product of NYC’s high school system to make an All-Star team; his last appearance was in 2020. Walker believes he would not have gotten to that point if he had not just been raised in New York City but also built his career there. He hopes The Program can create that path for others.

“I would like the same for the next generation of kids,” Walker said. “I feel like a lot of the kids don’t stay in the city to pursue their basketball career. I feel like this could be the opportunity to get them to stick around and to have someplace to go as a safety net and as a place to get better.”

(Illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic; photos: David Dow, Rich Schultz, Jean Catuffe / Getty Images)

When Idaho scored on its second trick play of Saturday night’s surprising showdown against No. 3 Oregon to pull to within three points of the Ducks midway through the fourth quarter, the Vandals looked poised to pull off the biggest upset in college football history.

The Ducks, who had beaten all of their FCS opponents in the past 20 years by an average score of 60-13, were a 45 1/2-point favorite. But dreams of a stunning upset for the Vandals were snuffed out after Oregon wide receiver Tez Johnson scored on a 12-yard pass from quarterback Dillon Gabriel to seal a 24-14 Oregon victory.

On paper, the Ducks dominated the game, outgaining Idaho 487-217 yards. But make no mistake: The Vandals gave the Ducks fits. Idaho limited an Oregon team many predicted would win the national title to under three yards per carry and without a play longer than 24 yards. More impressively, Idaho sacked highly-sought-after transfer QB Gabriel three times. Oregon only allowed five sacks all of last season.

“They won critical situations,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said. “We didn’t score any points in the middle eight (the last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half), which is unique for us. I thought they also had a good plan: We’re not gonna get beat over the top with shots. We’re gonna tackle what’s in front of us, and we’re gonna make Oregon beat Oregon — not feel like Idaho had to beat Oregon. They stuck to their identity and did a good job of it.”

The real story of Oregon vs. Idaho, though, is about the realities of college football in 2024.

The Ducks, thanks in large part to mega booster Phil Knight, co-founder of Nike, are viewed inside the sport as the gold standard of NIL due to their well-organized, well-funded school collective. Even Georgia’s Kirby Smart joked this summer that he “wished” he could get some of “that NIL money that he’s sharing with Dan Lanning.”

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Meanwhile, this offseason, the Vandals lost seven of their top players to FBS programs via the transfer portal. Five of them received NIL deals in the low six figures, Idaho coach Jason Eck said.

“If we had those (five) guys that got paid, I think we’d probably have beaten Oregon,” Eck said. “We got sacked four times. Our quarterback, who is now at Oregon State, can really evade pressure and extend plays.”

Quarterback Gevani McCoy, who transferred to Oregon State, was a 2023 Walter Payton Award finalist after throwing for 5,631 yards, 42 touchdowns and running for five more the last two seasons. McCoy went 9-for-10 in leading the Beavers to a victory over Idaho State last weekend. Cornerback Marcus Harris, a first-team All-American who left for Cal, set an Idaho record with 36 passes defensed to go with three picks in 2023. He had an interception in his debut for Cal, helping the Bears to a win.

Anthony Woods, a first-team All-Big Sky running back, who ran for 1,155 yards and 16 touchdowns, left for Utah. Linebacker Xe’ree Alexander, who led the Vandals as a true freshman with 75 tackles and two forced fumbles last year, left for UCF. Cornerback Ormanie Arnold, who had 33 tackles and two interceptions, left for Cincinnati.

“They’re well coached and they also do a good job in the portal of identifying guys,” Lanning said. “They went to (NAIA) Montana Tech to go find a player (top pass rusher Keyshawn James-Newby) and to (FCS) Weber State (DB-KR Abraham Williams). Eck does a great job.”

Eck, a 47-year-old former Wisconsin offensive lineman, took over a program reeling from five consecutive losing seasons. He led the Vandals to seven wins in his 2022 debut season before going 9-4 and No. 8 in the nation in the FCS last year. Even though he’s only been a head coach for just over two seasons, the job has changed quite a bit in that time — as it has for all college coaches, especially those in the bottom half of the FBS and in the FCS.

“It’s definitely gotten harder than when I took this job, and I got hired in December 2021,” he said. “NIL had just become legal. You wouldn’t have thought guys would be getting recruited off your roster like it happens. It’s just a balancing act of trying to do right by the kids because for some, it’s life-changing money.

“The one thing that we’re gonna try to do with some of ours this year is, especially guys who are younger players — and we started a lot of younger players in this game — is have that ‘one more year’ thought,” Eck said. “Our guys went to Oregon State, Cal, UCF and Cincinnati, they weren’t going to premier destinations. ‘Wait another year. Don’t go to a bottom-half Power 4 school.’”

Idaho has a collective now and is hoping to get $100,000 raised by the portal opening in December, Eck said.

Eck knows that his team’s performance against the Ducks will likely draw more interest from a bunch of FBS programs looking for help. Defensive tackle Dallas Afalava, a 6-1, 290-pound sophomore, gave Oregon problems inside and had one sack; sophomore cornerback Andrew Marshall made nine tackles and broke up one pass. The 6-foot, 186-pound Southern California native was an under-the-radar recruit who the Vandals worried a Boise State or Colorado State was going to come back in late in the recruiting process. Now, there’s game film of him playing well against a top-five opponent with speedy receivers.

“He’s going to get attention, and our pitch may be, stay one more year (here) and then you might be able to get $500,000 (from a Power 4 school) — don’t just jump for $100,000,” Eck said, though of course there’s no guarantee of that. “They (Oregon) tested him early, tried to go deep on him. Couldn’t hit it. … He didn’t give up any big plays against all those receivers. They weren’t beating him one-on-one.”

Idaho cornerbacks coach Stanley Franks Jr. came to the Vandals from Washington State. He saw how the Cougars had scouting staffers perusing lower-tier ranks to study all-conference level players. For many FCS coaches or lower-level FBS coaches, it can be bittersweet to invest in recruits only to see them leave for bigger programs, but Franks understands that for many of those players, the chance to get life-changing money to help out their families is something they can’t pass up.

Before Harris transferred to Cal, he came into Franks’ office to speak with him. “He acted like it was a hard decision,” Franks said. “I said, ‘This is a no-brainer. Go bless your family.’ There was no doubt he could play at that next level.

“We use that as a recruiting tool. We have to recruit Mountain West-caliber guys: ‘Come here, get developed and play, and then bless your family your last couple of years of college.’ You want to educate these guys as much as possible. I tell them, we develop cats here. Why go somewhere else where I might sit on the bench just because of a logo? We flip it as a positive.”

Eck has always thought of Idaho as a developing program. He and his coaches talk about that with recruits, and in this new era, when you have a cornerbacks coach who has developed two players who, combined, will probably make $300,000 this year, he said, that’s a feather in his recruiting cap. At this level you have to be that way for coaches too, Eck said. Last offseason, they had three coaches leave for FBS jobs — two to San Diego State, one to Oregon State.

“That’s part of our sell: We gotta have that for coaches coming in here, too,” he said. “We’re gonna help you get better and get bigger opportunities. Same thing with players. Hopefully, not everybody wants to leave.”

Part of the pitch in hopes of retaining players is to remind them that if you can play in FCS, the NFL will see you. Former Vandal long snapper Hogan Hatten just made the 53-man roster of the Detroit Lions.

“I really do not think it helps you with the NFL,” Eck said. “As long as you’re an FCS school, every team still comes through here, scouting. But it’s tough to try to discourage a guy from even making $150,000 when his family doesn’t have any money.”

At Idaho, Eck thinks he can get his top players $10,000-$15,000 a year — nowhere near, of course, the six figures some Power 4 schools might offer. They were recently able to cover their players’ cost of attendance, providing around $2,500 a semester.

There’s one other potential player of interest Eck has thought about, a young player who had a big game against the Ducks who might’ve crossed on some FBS teams radar now: His son Jaxton. Jaxton, a linebacker, had a game-high 14 tackles, which included a couple of plays where he was able to corral dynamic Ducks receiver Johnson in space.

“Yeah, that’ll be interesting,” Eck said, laughing. One of the FBS head coaches he knows texted him after the game and mentioned Jaxton. “It might’ve been half-joking. We’ll see.”

(Image: Dan Goldfarb/ The Athletic; Photos: Young Kwak / AP; Brian Murphy / Icon Sportswire via Getty)

Presumably, once you’ve won Olympic gold and broken your own world record, you get a little bored.

At least, that’s the simplest explanation for Mondo Duplantis and Karsten Warholm racing each other over 100m on a warm, early September evening in Zurich, the night before the Weltklasse Diamond League meet.

Neither athlete is a sprinter and it is less than a month since their respective Olympic finals: Duplantis jumped 6.25m to win in Paris, his ninth world record (he has since cleared 6.26m for world record No 10) and second Olympic crown, which made him the first man to retain an Olympic pole vault title since Bob Richards in 1956.

Warholm achieved the Olympic gold/world record combination three years earlier, in Tokyo, running the 400m hurdles in 45.94. Unlike Duplantis, Warholm did not leave Paris as an Olympic champion, taking silver behind the USA’s Rai Benjamin.

Duplantis, a notoriously humble winner, made it a joke in the pre-race social media build-up. An Instagram poll showed that two-thirds expected Duplantis to win, to which Warholm asked if he was “buying votes” and Duplantis retorted that fans were “just taking gold over silver”.

The favouritism held in the build-up to the race, with fans stretched along the home straight and handed A4 cards with Duplantis’ face on one side and Warholm’s on the other. There were more cheers for Duplantis and more of his face held up when the commentator asked who was going to win.

They really didn’t need to be here — two of the greatest track-and-field athletes wanting to one-up the other in a neutral event. The idea was sparked over a year ago, in Monaco, when the pair were preparing for the Diamond League meet. That didn’t mean it wasn’t compelling.

Similar PBs and different strengths made for, theoretically, a competitive race. Duplantis says he trains “like a sprinter”, only vaulting once a week, and his pole vault run-ups are — essentially — 45-metre sprints.

Warholm benefits from being a better and more frequent block starter and has superior speed endurance, even if his style is to start hard. He says he sent videos of his block starts to Usain Bolt to get some tips, while Duplantis did some blockwork with USA’s Fred Kerley.

Elite athletes were split when asked for their predictions. Botswana’s Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo and USA’s Masai Russell, Olympic 100m hurdles champion, both backed Duplantis because of his top-end speed.

Noah Lyles, 100m world and Olympic champion, and 1500m Olympic silver and bronze medallists Josh Kerr and Yared Nuguse thought Warholm would win because of the block start.

As it transpired, Duplantis’ block work was phenomenal. He reacted more quickly than Warholm and was faster in his first three steps and faster through his acceleration phase. Duplantis led from the gun and crossed in 10.37, one-tenth faster than Warholm, with a big enough winning margin to turn his head at the line and stare the Norwegian down.

Pre-race, Duplantis said his biggest strength “used to be my closing speed, but I’m a lot more explosive now than when I was at high school. I think I still have really good top-end speed and sprint endurance”. He was right.

Neither had raced the distance competitively for years — Duplantis, 24, not since his high-school days, and Warholm, 28, not since 2016. Duplantis stressed how “completely different” and “matured” his body and training regime are now. Eight years is a lifetime in athletics. In 2016, Usain Bolt was still racing.

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Seven years after he retired, the Jamaican is still king. He has the top three 100m times, four of the seven fastest 200m clockings and world records in both distances that have lasted 15 years. Sprinting has seen nothing like those four days in Berlin at the 2009 World Championships when Bolt ran 9.58 and 19.19.

Inadvertently, Bolt might have been too good. The 100m has always been athletics’ blue riband event, but in an era of meticulously designed tracks and enhanced shoe technology, world records have been smashed.

Of the Olympic-distance track events, only the 1500m world record (Hicham El Guerrouj from 1998) has lasted longer than Bolt’s 100m and 200m crowns. For men, the 110m and 400m hurdles, 800m, 1500m and 3,000m steeplechase all have world records that athletes are genuinely threatening to break again.

Meanwhile, few have come close to Bolt’s times. Nobody has run faster than 9.76 since Justin Gatlin in 2015 and the fastest male 100m time in each of the last seven years has been held by a different athlete.

Only look at the world record and you fall into the fallacy that men’s 100m sprinting is getting worse. The reality is the opposite.

The progression of Olympic standard times prove that. It crept down from 10.21 in 2008 (Beijing) to 10.16 in Rio eight years later. Then sprinters had to run 10.05 to qualify for Tokyo in 2021 and 10.00 was the threshold in Paris.

Part of that was because World Athletics wanted to move to a 50-50 split of half the athletes qualifying for global championships through world rankings and the other half through times, though look through the number of sub-10s times (the hallmark of a truly elite male sprinter) and improvements are clear.

From the start of 2008 to the end of 2016 (encapsulating the Bolt era), there was an annual average of 55 100m times under 10 seconds, with a peak of 91 in 2015, a world championship year.

Over that period, around 18 unique athletes per year (a peak of 27, again in 2015) were breaking 10 seconds.

Post-pandemic, those numbers have boomed, way up from Bolt’s heyday — at least 75 sub-10s times each year since 2021, with 102 last year. There were 24 athletes under the threshold in 2021, 30 in 2022, 40 last year and 35 so far in 2024. Even if the sprinting ceiling has stayed still, the floor has risen massively.

The Paris Olympics hosted the most competitive championship 100m ever. The final was the hardest to qualify for, the first time that a sub-10s time did not guarantee a spot, and the final was the closest in Olympic history.

Only five one-hundredths separated Noah Lyles and Kishane Thompson for gold, but there were only 0.12 seconds between first (Lyles) and eighth (Oblique Seville).

Duplantis and Warholm’s times were in a different stratosphere to that final. Neither would have made it out of the heats in Paris — 10.16 was the slowest qualifying time and of the 68 100m heat times, 52 athletes ran faster than Duplantis, and 59 quicker than Warholm.

Admittedly, Duplantis said he only cared about winning, not the time, and Warholm called it a “good, old-fashioned pissing contest”. That showed in the walkouts, boxer-style, with Warholm in a red gown and Duplantis in blue and strobe lights decking the back straight.

The bragging rights were escalated pre-race, as the loser was told they would wear the national vest of the other in the Weltklasse Diamond League the following day. A big deal given the Norway-Sweden rivalry.

In all the spectacle, it was easy to remember how athletes used to move across events. This summer marked 40 years since Carl Lewis won 100m, 200m and long jump gold at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

That feat is now all but impossible, owing to increased participation rates and professionalisation across the globe and the enhanced specialisation of athletes that David Epstein spoke of in his 2014 Ted Talk.

Neither Duplantis nor Warholm would partake in a second event (barring perhaps Warholm in a 400m relay) because of the risk of injury and the detrimental impact it would likely make to their primary goal.

Wednesday’s 100m race in Zurich also proved the absurdity of a YouGov poll from August 10, 2024, which was conducted during the Paris Olympics. 27 per cent of Britons believed they could be an Olympian in 2028 if they started straight away, with six per cent backing themselves to do so in the 100m (17 per cent when isolated for just 18-24 year-olds).

Perhaps it was misguided belief or they were unserious responses, but it showed the British perspective towards the 100m. Great Britain had Daryll Neita in the women’s 100m final, who finished fourth, but no representation in the men’s final. Maybe the respondees hadn’t watched it.

Even if Bolt’s record shows no signs of going in the immediate future, the depth of men’s sprinting is astounding. Iron sharpens iron, so the saying goes. More sprinters are only getting faster and eventually the 9.76s ceiling will be broken.

(Top photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)

There’s still a long season ahead in college football with most teams only having played one game but Florida State couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start. The Noles, who began the season ranked No. 10, are 0-2 with losses to two unranked opponents.

The team has struggled despite the Noles making a big investment in their defensive line this year with almost $2 million going to their starting front in what is an NIL team budget of around $12 million, a source briefed on FSU’s NIL strategy told The Athletic this week.

On Monday night, FSU got blown out at home by Boston College, 28-13. The Eagles ran all over FSU, outrushing them 263 to 21 yards.

Meanwhile in 2023, the Noles ran through the ACC, going 13-0 and claiming the conference before being left out of the Playoff. Since then, though, it’s been a nightmare for FSU.

Georgia whupped a depleted Noles team, 63-3, that had 20 players opt out of the Orange Bowl in 2023. Florida State coach Mike Norvell dipped heavily into the transfer portal again, signing 17 players in hopes of replacing 10 draft picks. Norvell previously did a superb job mining the portal, but this year, it’s had dreadful results.

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One of the headliners of the new-look Seminoles was former Clemson and Oregon State quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, who transferred in after FSU was unable to land Washington State transfer Cam Ward, who chose Miami.

Uiagalelei is off to a very shaky start for FSU with the former five-star recruit throwing just one touchdown and completing 58 percent of his passes for a 6.7 yard-per-attempt average. A team that averaged 35 points a game last year scored just 34 in its first two games.

However, the more surprising issue is a defense that was gashed in both games. Boston College had 10 runs of at least 10 yards against FSU.

The Noles rank No. 124 in the country in run defense, allowing 227 yards per game on the ground. FSU was No. 4 in the country in sacks in 2023 with 46 and has just three in two games this season. The program did have to replace two top-40 draft picks in Jared Verse and Braden Fiske, but the expectation was it was still loaded up front with transfers Darrell Jackson, a 328-pound defensive tackle, who was brought in along with Georgia transfer defensive end Marvin Jones Jr. to go with Patrick Payton and Joshua Farmer.

FSU’s issues have been on both sides of the ball. The Seminoles rank last in the ACC among 17 teams in third-down defense, giving up conversions 56 percent of the time. The Noles were No. 2 in the ACC last year, allowing first downs less than 29 percent of the time. On offense, they’re only No. 14 in the ACC in third-down conversions and their No. 14 in red zone touchdown percentage.

Norvell’s team has this weekend off to try and sort out some of its problems before Memphis visits Tallahassee on Sept. 14.

Required reading

(Photo: Chris Leduc / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

There’s no ‘I’ in team but there is one in ‘best player in the world’ and that, one and all, is where the Ballon d’Or comes in.

Crowning the number one footballer in the world over the last year may seem like a fool’s errand given the multitude of nuances involved, but that’s what the France Football magazine has been doing since 1956 and, on Wednesday night, the nominees for the 2024 men’s award were announced.

The big names were all there (you’d think so given there are 30 players on the shortlist) and will be voted on by a group of pesky journalists before the winner is named on October 28.

So now that we know the identities of the players who could be named as the sport’s leading light — and, for the first time since 2003, that won’t be one of Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo — we can discuss who was lucky to be included, who was unlucky to miss out, and who seems nailed-on to win it.

Here, four writers from The Athletic critique this year’s Ballon d’Or nominations.

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Who was the most surprising inclusion?

Ademola Lookman had the night to remember when he scored a hat-trick in the Europa League final in May. It was a campaign that also saw him help Nigeria to the Africa Cup of Nations final, scoring three goals in the process.

However, Lookman did not set the world alight across the whole season, managing just 55 per cent of Atalanta’s league minutes as he was rotated in and out of Gian Piero Gasperini’s side. His was a strong campaign, sure, but perhaps it’s a surprise to see him in the top 30 players of the year.

Mark Carey

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Vitinha. A really good player, no doubt, but what have I missed? Compared with the other midfielders on the shortlist and what they achieved, it is difficult to make an argument in his favour — particularly after Portugal’s disappointing Euro 2024.

Dani Olmo is quite fortunate, too. He deserves to be considered among the best players in the world and he was exceptional in Germany over the summer, but that was form he rarely produced in the Bundesliga or Champions League during 2023-24. In fact, he only started 19 games in those competitions combined.

Seb Stafford-Bloor

Dani Olmo had a good Euros and, while that’s important, the award is supposed to reflect the whole of last season, in which case, someone like Riccardo Calafiori, for example, is more deserving as he excelled for Bologna. As a Wolves fan, the heights Vitinha has reached still amaze me. Also, the award is supposed to take good behaviour and fair play into account, so Emi Martinez can count himself lucky (don’t @ me, Aston Villa fans, I’m just joking).

Tim Spiers

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Honestly, Emiliano Martinez. I think his year was 2022 with the World Cup, but I don’t think his season is worth a Ballon d’Or nomination. He won the Copa America and I see some justification there, but with Aston Villa, even though they had a good season, they ‘only’ qualified for the Champions League. I understand what this means for the club, but I don’t know if he deserves a nomination.

Laia Cervello Herrero

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Who was the most unfortunate player to be left off?

If we’re going on pure attacking numbers, Serhou Guirassy could be disappointed that he didn’t make the list. With 28 goals (plus three assists), only six players in Europe’s top five leagues had more goal contributions than Guirassy last season — and five of them made the list (poor Ollie Watkins).

Guirassy’s rate of 1.1 goals per 90 last season was bettered by no other player in Europe. It earned him a move to Borussia Dortmund but sadly was not enough to earn him a place on this shortlist.

Mark Carey

Jamal Musiala was probably the most talented player to be left off, but how about Lukas Hradecky, the Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper and captain? Leverkusen are well represented with Florian Wirtz, Alex Grimaldo and Granit Xhaka and all three deserve their place, but Hradecky was subtly fundamental to what Xabi Alonso’s side achieved and reached an extremely high level that, previously, many thought he was incapable of.

He was one game away from leading a team to an unbeaten domestic and continental treble, after all.

Seb Stafford-Bloor

Again, if we’re going on form over the whole year, how Mats Hummels is there and Virgil van Dijk isn’t makes little sense. Jamal Musiala was surely in the top 30 players of last season. Also, with 19 goals and 13 assists for his club, plus having won the Premier League and the Copa America, Julian Alvarez deserves a shout.

Most disappointingly of all, especially in an AFCON year, only one African player makes the list and even Ademola Lookman’s inclusion might have more to do with Atalanta than Nigeria.

Had William Troost-Ekong been named best player at the Euros rather than AFCON, he’d have been guaranteed to be on there, ditto James Rodriguez at the Copa America, but this remains a Euro-centric award almost exclusively for players based on the continent. It’s very strange not seeing Lionel Messi on there.

Tim Spiers

Call me old school or romantic, but Leo Messi. Yes, I know he’s not playing in one of the big leagues, but I find it strange to see an award he deserved every year previously without him after… 18 years? I know he has been injured for months and it has not been his best season, but he has also won the Copa America with Argentina, like Martinez.

Laia Cervello Herrero

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Who will finish in the top three?

Rodri, Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior — in that order.

Mark Carey

Vinicius Jr, Rodri, Erling Haaland.

Seb Stafford-Bloor

 

It’s hard to imagine Rodri or Vinicius Jr not being up there. As for the third player, going on previous voting habits, it’s probably between Dani Carvajal, Erling Haaland, Harry Kane, Lamine Yamal, Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappe and maybe Lautaro Martinez. Let’s say Carvajal.

Tim Spiers

I can imagine Rodri and Vinicius Jr in the top three without a doubt and the third is probably Kylian Mbappe.

And I know many will disagree and say it is very hasty because he did not have a full season at Barcelona, but Lamine Yamal, despite his youth and the fact it is his first full season in the elite, also deserves a place because of the weight he had with Spain’s Euro 2024 champions and with a club as big as Barca at 17 years of age. His level was out of the ordinary. Maybe I’m saying this too soon, but I’ll just drop this suggestion here and go.

Laia Cervello Herrero

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Who do you think will win — and who should win?

All roads lead to Rodri. He has been the most consistent, dominant, influential player for club and country in the past 12 months. He has his fingerprints on anything his team does well — in and out of possession — with a Premier League and European Championship to show for his efforts.

It is about time more midfielders won this individual trophy. No one would be more deserving.

Mark Carey

Vinicius Jr will likely win, but Rodri probably should. It does still feel as if attacking players are overprivileged, as are success and performances in the Champions League. It’s quite interesting that, despite what Manchester City have achieved in his time at the club, Rodri has never so much as made the top three. Understandable in one sense because it can be hard to price his contribution accurately, but also clearly an oversight.

Seb Stafford-Bloor

GO DEEPER

Why Rodri winning the Ballon d’Or would be both good and bad news for Manchester City

Rodri.

Tim Spiers (that’s just my name, I don’t think I should win it)

Rodri. Although there are players like Dani Carvajal who have won all the big trophies like the Champions League, La Liga and the Euros, I think Rodri — although he didn’t win the Champions League — deserves it for what he is bringing to Manchester City, one of the best sides in Europe.

His position is undervalued in the individual awards, but I think he should be the one to win, and I think he will.

Laia Cervello Herrero

The Ballon d’Or shortlist: Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), Phil Foden (Man City), Ruben Dias (Man City), Federico Valverde (Real Madrid), Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa), Erling Haaland (Man City), Nicolas Williams (Athletic Bilbao), Granit Xhaka (Bayer Leverkusen), Artem Dovbyk (Roma), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Vinicius Jr (Real Madrid), Martin Odegaard (Arsenal), Dani Olmo (Barcelona), Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen), Mats Hummels (Roma), Rodri (Man City), Declan Rice (Arsenal), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Cole Palmer (Chelsea), Vitinha (PSG), Dani Carvajal (Real Madrid), William Saliba (Arsenal), Lamine Yamal (Barcelona), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Hakan Calhanoglu (Inter Milan), Antonio Rudiger (Real Madrid), Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid), Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan), Ademola Lookman (Atalanta), Alex Grimaldo (Bayer Leverkusen)

(Top photos: Getty Images)

The Bills were knocked out of the playoffs last season by the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Divisional Round while the Cardinals missed the postseason with a 4-13 record.

Dissecting the Bills’ options at safety

In the final year of his rookie deal, Hamlin went from potentially on the roster bubble heading into training camp to having everything at the position break his way. Now, the Bills have rewarded both his work and overall availability with his first start since the 2022 season. Hamlin benefitted from the early training camp injuries to both second-round rookie Cole Bishop and veteran Mike Edwards, taking nearly every first-team rep from late July until the team’s joint practice in Pittsburgh in mid-August. Bishop and Edwards are also in their first year in the defensive scheme, with Hamlin in his fourth year, giving him a legitimate advantage. The Bills shut Hamlin down near the end of the preseason with a minor hamstring injury, likely to ensure he’d be ready for the start of the season.

Hamlin’s grasp on the starting role is not locked in for the entire season. The safety position has remained fluid all spring and summer, and with offseason investments in both Bishop and Edwards, they could factor into the starting discussion if they begin to show signs in practice. The Bills might also contemplate splitting snaps at some point when they feel Bishop, Edwards or both have had enough practice time to have a good grasp of their defensive scheme. McDermott listed safety as one of the three hardest in their scheme for a young player to transition from college to the NFL. Additionally, the Bills have yet to close the door on a potential Micah Hyde reunion, leaving it open as recently as one week ago. Hyde, a seven-year starter for the Bills, openly mulled retirement at the end of the 2023 season but has yet to decide on his future. — Joe Buscaglia, Bills writer

Australian breaker Rachel “Raygun” Gunn, who quickly became one of the most talked about Olympians at the Paris Games following her performance, said much of the heavy criticism of her skills was due to a lack of knowledge of the sport.

“The energy and vitriol that people had was pretty alarming,” Gunn told “The Project,” a show on Australia’s Channel 10 in her first interview since the Olympics.”It was really sad how much hate that it did evoke and a lot of the responses, though, was also due to people not being very familiar with breaking and the diversity of approaches in breaking.”

Gunn, 37, failed to win any of her three round-robin battles with a combined score of 54-0 at the Paris Games, where breaking made its Olympic debut. Her performance immediately sparked a wave of memes and internet fodder, particularly her dance moves mimicking a kangaroo when she held her arms close to her body and kicked her leg in the air.

Back home, the Australian media and other breakers quickly criticized Gunn’s moves.

“I am very sorry for the backlash that the community has experienced, but I can’t control how people react,” Gunn said. “Unfortunately, we just need some more resources in Australia for us to have a chance to be world champions. … We haven’t had the best track record of winning world championships, so I don’t think that’s just on me.”

Gunn said an AOC media liaison warned her about the immediate online criticism after her Olympic performance, causing her to take a break from social media. She said it “put me in a state of panic” and she wasn’t comfortable going out in public after Australian media started criticizing her.

Theories over how Gunn qualified for the Olympics began circulating online, and a Change.org petition alleging she manipulated the qualification process garnered over 45,000 signatures before the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) requested its removal.

AOC chief executive Matt Carroll called the petition “disgraceful” and said it spread misinformation based on opinions.

“The conspiracy theories were just awful,” Gunn said. “That was upsetting because it wasn’t just people (who) didn’t understand breaking and were just angry about my performance. It was people now attacking our reputation and our integrity. None of them were grounded in any kind of facts.”

Gunn secured her spot in the Paris Games after winning the QMS Oceania Championships in Sydney, an automatic qualifying competition with 15 breakers. She said she knew “the odds were against me” when competing in the Olympics.

“I knew I was going to get beaten and I knew that people were not going to understand my style and what I was going to do. I wanted to bring out some Australian moves and themes. I love our Olympic mascot, BK, the boxing kangaroo, and I wanted to show that. … I had to go with what I was good at. I had to go with my strengths.”

Gunn added that she doesn’t plan to compete “for a while” to stay out of the spotlight and is focused on the positive responses to her Olympic performance.

“It has been honestly so amazing to see the positive response to my performance. I never thought that I would be able to connect with so many people in such a positive way.”

Required reading

(Photo: Harry Langer / DeFodi Images via Getty Images)

After the Añejo tequila from the night before had worn off, Aaron Rodgers asked Packers assistant director of communications Tom Fanning for Jordan Love’s cell phone number.

Rodgers was driving home in Southern California from a workout the morning after the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Before he entered an area without service, he stopped on the side of the road to call his newest teammate.

Brett Favre infamously said his contract didn’t mandate mentoring Rodgers, the 2005 first-round pick who sat behind Favre for three years. For all Love knew, he’d get the same cold shoulder.

Love didn’t want to initiate the conversation with Rodgers that soon after the pick since he didn’t know how the starting quarterback felt. As the mayhem from draft night faded, Love got that answer.

“‘Look, man, I know it’s not the ideal situation right away for you, but I know what it’s like to be in your position,’” Rodgers recalled telling Love in a recent phone conversation with The Athletic. “‘We’re gonna have some fun together. I’m gonna help you out.’

“So just trying to alleviate any nerves he might have. I was in that position, so I knew it wasn’t his fault. He didn’t ask to be picked by the Packers.”

Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst shocked the NFL by trading up in the first round to draft a quarterback with four years remaining on Rodgers’ contract. The Packers were fresh off an NFC Championship Game appearance, too.

Gutekunst not drafting a wide receiver to complement Davante Adams was highly scrutinized — the Vikings took Justin Jefferson at No. 22 and the 49ers took Brandon Aiyuk at No. 25 — but …

“We were looking to trade up to possibly get a receiver,” Gutekunst says now. “We were looking at doing a lot of different things in that draft. Didn’t come together.”

Instead, the Packers dealt a fourth-round pick to the Dolphins while moving from No. 30 to No. 26.

“The opportunity came to take Jordan, who was the last best guy on our board,” Gutekunst said. “It was like, ‘Am I really gonna pass up on a quarterback that we really think can play because of a fourth-round pick?’ Not knowing if he would be there four picks later, it didn’t make any sense.

“Sitting here today, sure glad we did it.”

The @packers traded up to get @USUFootball QB @jordan3love! 🧀 #NFLDraft

📺: 2020 #NFLDraft on NFLN/ESPN/ABC
📱: https://t.co/G7fI4KRbG7 pic.twitter.com/CYwVPSx65u

— NFL (@NFL) April 24, 2020

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The Packers’ quarterback room in 2020 implemented a system of fines. At the end of each week, the number of fine points totaled for various infractions equaled the number of throws on a dart board players and coaches got. Whoever had the highest darts score bought everyone in the room a gift.

Head coach Matt LaFleur fined himself for making bad jokes. Rodgers fined himself for being too sensitive. Love?

“He wasn’t talking, so we had to find a way to get his fine points up,” Rodgers said. “So we just tagged him with a bunch of quiet fines all the time … It’d be a conversation, he wouldn’t say anything for a minute. Quiet fine, Jordan.”

“If I didn’t say anything, somebody would blurt it out,” Love said, “whether it was him, (Nathaniel) Hackett, (Luke) Getsy … That was always fun and obviously it got old, but I racked up a ton of quiet fines throughout the year.”

While the objective of the fines was to have fun, the genesis of Love’s dates to Rodgers’ NFL beginning.

“I was really quiet in my meetings,” Rodgers said. “I just didn’t wanna interrupt anything … nobody ever said, ‘Hey, Aaron, this is why this happened or this is why I’m doing this,’ so I learned from that and I always said if I got that opportunity, I’m gonna do it how I would’ve wanted it. So I tried to involve him in the conversation and make sure he could see things the right way and give little critiques, but always felt like it was important to, when he did make mistakes, to remind him that every one of those mistakes that you’ve made, I’ve made that and then some.”

GO DEEPER

Packers’ Jordan Love could ride last season’s momentum and become a top fantasy QB

Not only was Love timid in meetings as he processed information slower than others, but also he was raw on the field. The Packers knew that’s who they were getting. In the summer of 2019, Gutekunst watched Love’s sophomore season at Utah State from the year prior. He completed 64 percent of his passes for 3,567 yards, 32 touchdowns and six interceptions. Gutekunst saw a gifted quarterback who was raw, yes, but one who had what he called a loose shoulder and elbow, able to make plays a lot of quarterbacks couldn’t.

That October, Gutekunst visited Baton Rouge, La., to watch Love play No. 5 LSU. The Tigers won, 42-6, while Love completed 15 of 30 passes for 130 yards and three interceptions.

“Obviously, they got hammered,” Gutekunst said. “But at the same time, the way he handled himself and the way he kept trying to win … he never backed down, started checking the ball down not to get hit. He kept trying to make plays, which I thought said something about the kid.”

Gutekunst then visited Texas Tech to scout linebacker Jordyn Brooks, whom the Seahawks drafted the selection after Love, and to pick the brain of Red Raiders head coach Matt Wells. Wells, who had been the quarterback coach for Gutekunst’s brother at Navy, was Love’s head coach at Utah State during his freshman and sophomore seasons and raved about him. So yes, Love was raw. And yes, such drastic turnover with Utah State’s offensive staff and personnel led to Love throwing only 20 touchdowns and a nation-worst 17 interceptions as a junior. But there was plenty under the surface that enticed the Packers.

LaFleur says now that Love was a natural thrower, meaning he played with a good base, could throw from different platforms and could throw from a muddy pocket without moving his feet. His fundamentals, footwork and pocket manipulation, however, needed help.

“It was foreign to him,” LaFleur said. “He had never been coached on all that stuff.”

Love was keenly aware of the Packers’ quarterback pecking order when his cell phone displayed the Green Bay area code on draft night. He wasn’t ready to play anyway, so much so that Tim Boyle made the 53-man roster to back up Rodgers while Love refined his fundamentals and learned the offense.

LaFleur mentioned four quarterbacks — Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Rodgers and Kirk Cousins, whom he coached in Washington for the first two years of Cousins’ career — to illustrate how sitting to start a career can help. Most first-round quarterbacks, LaFleur said, are forced into situations they’re not ready for because their fundamentals aren’t good enough and/or the surrounding talent is deficient.

“And they get ruined,” LaFleur added. “So to allow (Love) to come into a situation, to learn, to develop, to allow just that natural growth (to) occur certainly benefitted him.”

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Love didn’t know if he’d ever play regular-season snaps for the Packers again after Rodgers signed his three-year contract extension in March 2022.

In reality, the deal was for one year to alleviate salary cap stress with two years tacked on, but Love still pondered playing for another team as he entered Year 3 still behind Rodgers.

“Probably won’t be playing for whatever the foreseeable future is, so what now?” Love recalled thinking. “It was definitely a lot of questions and what’s gonna happen here? Didn’t really know what my future would be like, if I would be here in Green Bay, if they were gonna try and trade me, but talking to my agents, a lot of different things, a lot of different scenarios … it was tough for me right after that.

“I’m gonna get reps in preseason that I know I’m gonna get, so just going out there and trying to make the most of that and if I have a great preseason and another team is asking for me to come in and try to be the starter for them, just kinda play it out.”

Did Gutekunst ever consider trading Love?

“Not one time,” he said.

When the Packers drafted Love, Gutekunst didn’t have a “grand plan” regarding Love’s takeover timetable. Rodgers thought he had one or two years left in Green Bay after Love’s arrival, but then he won consecutive MVPs. Gutekunst thought Love was close to ready after the heir apparent’s second season. He had spent the entire offseason leading the starting offense as Rodgers held out after his agent requested a trade.

Gutekunst was wary of trading Rodgers after his second MVP, however, because of how the decision would’ve been received inside 1265 Lombardi Ave.

“I don’t know if the organization was ready for that and if we would’ve had some struggles, just how that all would’ve gone,” Gutekunst said. “Just like we had struggles last year, I’m not sure … how our organization would’ve handled it.”

If Gutekunst wasn’t entirely sold on Love after the 2021 season, the 2022 season made up his mind. Love again ran the starting offense during the offseason. As scout-team quarterback, he threw no-look passes against the starting defense, cornerback Jaire Alexander said. He was in “complete control,” Gutekunst said, noting how Love was more aggressive while also striking the fine line between attempting high-difficulty throws and being conservative.

When Rodgers missed the final quarter-plus of a Week 12 Sunday night game in Philadelphia with what he feared was a punctured lung, Love showed a national audience what the Packers saw every day. Green Bay lost, 40-33, but Love completed 6 of 9 passes for 113 yards and a touchdown, a 63-yard Christian Watson score after Love hit him on a strike route over the middle. His best throw was an incompletion, a hole shot to running back Aaron Jones up the right sideline that Jones has since lamented dropping. Love executed multiple plays he was uncomfortable with because of a lack of reps, but LaFleur asked his quarterback to trust his play calling and the backup delivered.

Rodgers likened that game to Week 13 in 2007, when Favre suffered an elbow injury in the second quarter against the Cowboys. The Packers lost, just as they did in 2022 to the Eagles, but Rodgers completed 18 of 26 passes for 201 yards and a touchdown to prove it was time.

Love learned from Rodgers over their three years together how to be consistent with pocket movements, setting protections, ball placements, reads, footwork and the confidence to make every throw after a Utah State career Love called a roller coaster.

Equipped with what he learned from a future Hall of Famer, Love’s time had come.

“Once he started playing well in the third year,” Rodgers said, “it really felt like the entire year that this (Rodgers as a Packer) was probably coming to an end unless we won the Super Bowl. Win the Super Bowl, who knows what I do? But either way, it felt like it was time for Jordan to take over.”

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Packers center Josh Myers lost his father at age 59 early in training camp this year. The team gave Myers a private jet to fly home to Miamisburg, Ohio, for the funeral on an off day. Joining him were offensive line coach Luke Butkus, offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich, director of player engagement Grey Ruegamer, former Packers offensive lineman Royce Newman, left guard Elgton Jenkins and Myers’ quarterback, Love.

“That’s exactly an example of his leadership,” Myers said. “To say that that meant a lot to me is an understatement, so yeah, that’s a perfect example of it.”

Love knew what Myers was going through. When Love was 14, his father died by suicide and it meant a lot to Love when his teammates at the time attended his father’s funeral.

“Josh is my brother. He’s one of the guys I’m closest with on the team,” Love said. “Knowing what Josh was probably going through, what his family’s going through … it was a no-brainer.”

Earning the respect of a locker room helps one become a franchise quarterback. Love wanted to be a fly on the wall in those quarterback meetings, but now he commands the walls inside Lambeau Field.

Whether it’s spending his off day at the funeral of a teammate’s father in Ohio, inviting teammates to his house for film sessions and dinner or creating custom handshakes with running backs who have no chance of making the team, Love makes guys want to play for him for reasons beyond football.

“Franchise QB, that’s the basis of it,” Packers quarterback Sean Clifford said. “For him to take time out of his day — a guy who, you never know, could be in one day and then out literally the next — but he’s gonna make sure to go in, say hello, make time for that person because that’s just the type of person he is.”

LaFleur was the Falcons quarterbacks coach in 2015 and 2016 and once asked Matt Ryan what the best advice he ever got was. When he entered the league in 2008 as the No. 3 pick, Ryan said, he was told to just be one of the guys.

“He’s the highest-paid player ever … and he doesn’t walk around and act like it,” Alexander said of Love. “His spirit and his energy toward the locker room is infectious.”

GO DEEPER

Paying Jordan Love this much is a big risk, which Packers are no strangers to with QBs

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In multiple interviews with The Athletic over the past two years, Gutekunst has pinpointed one game Love played in both college and the NFL that impressed him. One was the 36-point loss to LSU. The other was Green Bay’s 13-7 loss to the Chiefs in 2021, a Sunday afternoon game Love started on short notice after Rodgers tested positive for COVID-19 that Wednesday.

Most of Green Bay’s plan to face defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s blitzes was formed on Monday and Tuesday. That plan was for a quarterback of Rodgers’ caliber, not one making his first career start. In hindsight, LaFleur says, they should’ve scrapped the plan altogether. They stuck with it and the Chiefs pressured Love into oblivion.

“I still beat myself up over that,” LaFleur said, “because that could potentially ruin the guy.”

Yet it was how Love tried to make plays against LSU and how he persevered through the disaster in Kansas City — some of his lowest moments — that might’ve proven more to the Packers than his highest. Even last season, Love weathered a miserable first half to become arguably the NFL’s best quarterback in the second half of the season and lead the Packers to a surprise Divisional Round appearance.

Peyton Manning, who called the Packers’ Week 5 loss against the Raiders on ESPN’s ManningCast last season, has developed a relationship with Love and was impressed with how he responded to that dud and subsequent ones in the first half.

“That didn’t break him,” Manning said. “That didn’t put him in a hole or in a shell and it goes back to my rookie year. I mean, I threw 28 interceptions. We only won three games and look, it was bad. It was no fun. It’s the kind of season that can kinda break you … the next year, we went 13-3 and I had a good season, so I kinda used that season to learn what I could do and what I can’t do and I think Jordan used the early part of the season to kind of learn to figure some things out and he continued to get better and to me, that’s a great quality.”

That ability to counter challenges with an impressive calm, whether on the field or off, was instilled in Love by his parents. His mom, Anna, and late father, Orbin, were police officers. They witnessed tragedy at work but put that aside at home to parent Love and his three sisters.

Orbin was a youth pastor at the family’s church, too, one of the calmest people Love said you’ll ever meet, always had a smile and tried to help others.

“There’s so many situations that came up with kids at church and just different upbringings of people and things that might (be) going on with their family and you just gotta be calm,” Love said. “Seeing him kind of react to any situation and find an answer for it or solution for it definitely has helped me in my life and football and it’s like being a quarterback. You plan for certain things to go right on a play and you gotta react to what the defense is doing and be as calm as possible and just kind of have a solution for everything, so it definitely applies on the football field.”

Love’s composure in the face of adversity — the LSU blowout, the Chiefs onslaught, sitting for three years, last season’s slide, you name it — helped him earn a four-year, $220 million contract extension that ties him for the highest-paid player in NFL history.

When Rodgers texted Love in late July, he didn’t say that he’d get Love ready to play or that they’d have fun like he did on that April morning in 2020. Instead, Rodgers offered congratulations on a payday for which he takes no credit. They had their fun, even if the quiet fines got old, and Rodgers certainly prepared Love to play. He won’t buy Rodgers’ primary home in Green Bay, but Love has done all right taking over his other one.

“I just take moments to be like, ‘Man, I’m an NFL starting quarterback,’” Love said. “‘I’m living the dream.’”

On Friday in Brazil, Love will again take the field against the Eagles. This time, it won’t be as an unproven emergency plan. One of the most controversial draft picks in recent history is the face of the sport’s most storied franchise now.

The Packers just might have done it again.

(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; photo: Patrick McDermott / Getty Images)