…and NBA fans are saying OKC can’t trade Chet Holmgren for not showing up in a championship series. Enter Jared Verse! Now this is a seismic trade sending shockwaves through the league: Myles Garrett for Jared Verse to bolster the pass rush! In my article before the draft I had outlined they bolstered their secondary with 2 new corners traded for with Kansas City in Trent McDuffie & Jaylen Watson. This is annexed below.
Now they add a closer to bolster their championship run who has only been to the playoffs 3 times in his career. Garrett’s hunger will be needed to bolster a defense that only had 5 sacks in 3 postseason games. They had 47 on the year but heat on QBs dissipated in the playoffs with Sam Darnold throwing for 346 yards and only sacked him once in the NFC Championship Game.
They’re giving up a young pass rusher in DE Jared Verse and what sucks is he was in the “Friday” remake promo right before the draft. Now he is being banished to the brown water of Lake Erie in Cleveland vs the blue ocean right outside Los Angeles. That is a painful pill to swallow. However the trajectory of the Rams putting the pieces together to win Super Bowl LXI can’t be underscored.
Garrett is a 2 time NFL DPoY, 1 time Taylor Blitz DPoY and the ink just dried in the NFL record books with last season’s 23 sacks. Keep in mind Verse only recorded 7.5 sacks in 2025. *sucks teeth*…upon further review Verse only had 1 sack in 3 postseason games combined last year. The truth is Myles Garrett is a Reggie White level future Pro Football Hall of Famer not just another good player. With the Eagles trading away WR AJ Brown today to the Patriots the NFC runway is clear barring any injuries…
When the clock struck :00 to conclude last year’s NFC Championship Game, the Rams were the 2nd best team. Once the confetti fell on their division rivals in Levi Stadium it was time to dissect what was needed to beat the champion Seahawks. With the ink drying on Seahawk receiver Jaxson Smith-Njigba’s 4 year $156 million contract the Rams needed to upgrade at corner and didn’t wait for the draft.
In 3 games Smith-Njigba scorched Ram corners for 27 rec. 349 yards and 2 TDs. He led the NFL with 119 rec. and an NFL leading 1,793 yards with 10 scores and will be a problem for years to come. Yet the Rams pulled off the move of the offseason (up until Garrett) trading for 2 time All Pro Chiefs CB Trent McDuffie. Then brought in his teammate Jaylen Watson to man the corner on the other side.
These two were fresh off playing in 3 straight Super Bowls and faced the AFC’s best receivers during that run. No 1st round corner the Rams could draft would grant anywhere near that success so that “f*ck them picks” mantra has reared its head again. Brilliant move and these new corners were unsung heroes on last year’s 10th ranked defense which was 12th against the pass. They should immediately improve the Rams who were 17th & 19th respectively. This is the blanket LA expects to throw over the rest of the NFC West:
McDuffie & Watson had 58 passes defensed with 6 interceptions behind one of the weakest pass rushes in the NFL in Kansas City. Notice how many plays Watson made in the video blitzing? Now these two will be able to jump routes as Jared Verse (7.5 sacks) ooops scratch that….. Myles Garrett (23 sacks), Byron Young (12 sacks) & Kobie Turner (7 sacks) spearheaded a rush that had 47 sacks in ’25 compared to just 35 garnered in KC. Their leading sack artist was Chris Jones with just 7 sacks. This is what they have to counter Smith-Njigba and Kupp in Seattle.
The front seven needs a boost at Linebacker. This has been the weakest position over the last 3 years and has to be shored up for this defense to make the final leap. We’re talking no more than a top 10 to 12th ranking in defense with Stafford and the firepower on offense. Reigning MVP QB Matt Stafford (4,707 yds/ 46TDs) is hoping Puka Nacua (129 rec. 1,715 yds 10TDs) returns from rehab ready to go. Once he and DeVante Adams (60 rec. 789 yds 14TDs) can get a full season together should easily repeat as the NFL’s #1 offense. Barring injury this looks like a full sprint to Super Bowl LXI on their homefield in Sofi. Lets see who and what is addressed in this year’s draft:
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As we assess what we expect to see in the upcoming NFL season, everyone is ranking players on where they stand. Here this is a moving target as several players are coming down from career years while others have begun to make names for themselves. At least in NFL circles. This is not an all time standing for these men, its time to offer Taylor Blitz Times Top Ten for the upcoming season:
The truth of the matter is that gaudy 8.48 yards per attempt is 2nd in the league to Drake Maye. If you’re new here I wrote out on Dec 9th 
#9 Caleb Williams: No one grew more during the ’25 season than the former Heisman Trophy winner from Southern Cal. Williams with 5 – 4th quarter comebacks came of age similar to John Elway back in 1986. In his 1st playoff he had to make it happen on 4th and 8 and made a legendary throw for the 1st down. Make that 6-4th quarter come from behind wins as they vanquished the Packers 31-27 in the Wild Card to cement a changing of the guard in the NFC North between the 2 teams.
#8. Joe Burrow: Its been 4 years since Burrow led the Bengals to Super Bowl LVI and he has missed a total of 17 games in the last 3 years and coincidentally they haven’t made the playoffs all 3 years. This includes his spectacular ’24 when he was 460 of 652 for 4,918 yards and 43TDs. So which guy will we see? The MVP level ’24 Burrow or the Joe that missed at least 7 games in both ’23 & ’25?? The injuries are mounting up and if we have a 3rd season in 4 years where he’s missed significant time, we may have already seen the best of Burrow and he won’t be in the Top Ten. This doesn’t include the calf strain where he sat out the entire ’23 preseason.
#7. Dak Prescott: Sigh… now listen, I’ve been 
Hurts was brilliant both running and passing leading the Eagles to the championship in ’04 with the NFL’s 2nd ranked rushing attack. They plummeted to 18th illustrated by Saquon Barkley falling from 2,005 yards to 1,140 yards. Once in obvious passing situations their opponents could clog the intermediate routes and Jalen was too cautious not to take shots. Now that he is the $252 million dollar man he has to get over that and changing OCs for the 5th straight season. Another season of turmoil in ’26 could result in barely making the playoffs and slipping in the quarterback hierarchy possibly out of the Top Ten.
This is not to say every opportunity elsewhere is perfect but there is a much bigger picture for all of us where your visibility will strike a blow for what is right. If these states don’t want blacks to have a vote or representation in state legislature they have no value in you or me as equals.
One aspect is how fast will he be able to learn to play from center. Turning his back to the defense to fake the handoff to Ashton Jeanty then turn and fire on time. This was one of Orlovsky’s points and there have been several QBs who have struggled with this nuance in the NFL vs their college days. Its taken Justin Herbert & Trevor Lawrence time to really get the timing down on this and are still works in progress. Hell Shedeur is having to deal with it in Cleveland after an up & down year. Trust me a rookie with 5 pass plays under center.
The Raiders had a tremendous offseason fortifying the defense and put themselves on a collision course where they have to take him #1 overall. If they fortify the line in the draft, 
I read a comment where someone was talking about money ruining the game of football. Yet I remember uploading a vid of Bernie Casey in 1967 telling Steve Sabol he played football purely for the money. I remember another interview I recorded with the late Deacon Jones and the late Paul Hornung discussing free agency and Michael Strahan and Tim Brown were egging them on when Hornung said (and yes I have this interview recorded to upload) saying that yes if Wellington Mara approached him with a doubling of his salary he would have left the Green Bay Packers. Many tend to overromanticize the past to fit an ideal that only exists in their mind. I have recordings of 
The Seattle Seahawks defense of their Super Bowl crown will undoubtedly be undermined if Kenneth Walker leaves via free agency. A spirited debate has been going on my Facebook page where fans are passionate about believing in GM Schneider’s approach.
His physical play belied his diminutive size as he played as a pint sized intimidator. Lionel “Train” James loves to say “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” Never was this more true than of Pat Fisher. Even in the Super Bowl VII highlight, NFL Films had John Facenda narrate how much a nemesis he was against the run and the pass. Let’s face it, a cornerback his size now is primarily a special team guy who is platooned only against multiple receiver sets. They rarely tackle players other than small slot receivers. Take a look at how Fisher played…
Fellow Linebackers Jamie Sharper (72 tackles /5 forced fumbles) and Peter Boulware clogged passing lanes, stuffed the run, and blitzed effectively. Boulware had 7 sacks as a Nickle rushing end. DE Rob Burnett led the team with (10.5 sacks) was a holdover from the Cleveland Browns days. He and fellow DE Michael McCrary were steady rushers that couldn’t be moved off the ball.
Its amazing how some in the media don’t want to anoint Sam Darnold to an elite status calling him Trent Dilfer etc. Over the last 15 years coverage of the NFL has turned into fan-boy central with most media only supporting the players of their favorite teams. Its cheap and it robs players of coverage they’ve earned and cheats them out of accolades. Once a player they don’t covet turns their career around several don’t want to admit he should be seen differently. It shows they were wrong or need to see it differently and they let their egos get in the way.
Do you realize Super Bowl MVP Malcolm Smith not only wasn’t a week 1 starter, but isn’t guaranteed to be one at Outside Linebacker for 2014?? He replaced KJ Wright #50 who had been injured. Its the depth and lack of drop off in production that makes this group great. They ranked #1 and were led by The Legion of Boom secondary which boasts 3 Pro Bowl Players.
For the season they held 7 opponents to 10 points or less and one of those was the 4th best offense in football, the New Orleans Saints. An 8th team held to less than 10 was the record setting #1 offense of the Broncos in the Super Bowl when they could only muster 8 points. The highest scoring team in history with 606 points averaging 37.8 per game, was held scoreless until the last play of the 3rd quarter. By then they were down 36-0.
The 1984 49ers were a juggernaut becoming the first team to go 15-1 during the regular season. Everyone of the 49 man roster played their role so no one had outstanding stats. However once the 49ers moved past the New York Giants and Chicago Bears during the playoffs, the stage was set for a coming out party in 
Sorry for the interruption, but really quick I wanted to touch on this as I’ve written countless times – football is about the team and there are many ways to build a championship unit. It takes balance and good quarterbacking but more importantly defense. The propaganda of covering just the quarterback has been constantly overblown and its simply not true. Well Super Bowl LX is being played in 4 days and none of these top 10 paid QBs are in it.
John Constantine Unitas: May 7, 1933- September 11, 2002
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Led by Pro Bowlers DE Bubba Smith, MLB 
Placism is still racism…
Bienemy was the Chiefs OC from 2018-2022 when Patrick Mahomes won 2 MVPs and Super Bowl LIV & LVII under his watch. Remember that team?? They scored a team record 565 points (’18) and Mahomes threw for a team record 50TDs. Wait I thought y0u were after offense? Wasn’t the 565 points 3rd most in NFL history? Yes right behind the ’13 Broncos (606 pts) & the ’07 undefeated Patriots (589 pts). So why wasn’t he hired again? Who do you think spread that rumor he didn’t interview well?
What about Byron Leftwich who was Tampa’s Offensive Coordinator (
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Can you tell the story of the National Football League without ______?? Were you among the best at your position for a 5 year period?? What historic feats did you perform during your career?? Feats…not one… feats! It goes beyond just the numbers…. its not The Hall of Accounting. Its the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Those who had the greatest careers and deserve to be in on the 1st ballot earned that right. A competitor wants to be the best and have that one up on their contemporaries. To have that stripped away by some writer who was jealous of your success and voting against you to get some revenge is horrible. Are there prejudices that are rearing their head as well?
I was invited to attend the enshrinement ceremonies and went to everything. The Gold Jacket Dinner, Enshrinement Ceremony, Jerry Kramer’s party the day of Enshrinement, and the Sunday Round Table Discussion with the enshrinees. On social media I heard so much venom from white fans and I worried it would carry over to the events. I applaud then President David Baker as every time he addressed the audience he made sure to mention Terrell Owens respecfully and when there were murmurs in the audience (Gold Jacket on Thursday) he reiterated “he is a Hall of Famer and we respect his decision and he’s welcome here!” and set the tone the rest of the weekend. I got the chance to thank him for that at the end of the ceremony.
That Saturday getting ready for the Enshrinement Ceremony I watched TO’s ceremony online at his alma mater and it was bittersweet. He should have been in Canton but due to voters who were holding a grudge didn’t vote him in on 1st ballot.
Super Bowl XLIX was a great game but the end left a lot of fans empty as Seattle opted for a pass from the 1 with seconds left to play. Immediately I railed it was the worst play call in Super Bowl history on social media. Many former NFLers agreed. So after a small hiatus my thought hadn’t changed and now it was time to revisit another classic case of overcoaching in the NFL.
By not rushing back to the line the Seahawks overcoached the situation. There comes a time where coaches have to drop those silly play charts and coach on guts. Lynch had gained positive yards after contact on all of his runs. Even his last carry he broke a tackle at the 4 and made it to the 1. Had they hurried and faced the same defense the next play you don’t think he scores from the 1?? That same personnel he powered through for their first touchdown and 3 yards after contact.
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Sam Darnold is arriving at Super Bowl LX much like Jim Plunkett arrived at Super Bowl XV many moons ago. A 1st round draft pick who was a bust & the team that drafted him jettisoned him off like garbage. He had become a punchline with his “seeing ghosts” comment while being interviewed after a game in New York. Had stops at Carolina and San Fran before taking the Vikings to a 14-3 season last year and then dumped for unproven JJ McCarthy. The Vikings opting for #9 unstated told us they believed Darnold’s last 2 games in ’24 over the first 16.
When I think of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I think of a treasured museum for everyone who ever played the game, at ANY level, could appreciate. The ongoing history to the greatest sport there is and the telling of that story. Don’t tell me that Emmitt Smith is the greatest if you can’t tell me who Jim Brown was, or OJ Simpson, Ernie Nevers, or who Steve Van Buren was. Someone saying he didn’t see Bronko Nagurski or Red Grange isn’t enough. There are books, the Taylor Blitz Times or more important this incredible museum housing all this history. That’s what makes this building significant.
With it’s enshrinees and special wings to memorable moments, the 92 year history of the NFL, the 10 years of the AFL, and early football pioneers before the NFL, come to life. This is where fathers get to teach sons moments in history… Like the famous “wristband” of Baltimore Colt running back Tom Matte from the 1960s. When injuries to the Colts quarterbacks pressed Matte into service, Don Shula supplied him with a “wristband” with the play calls on it for him to remember. That is how he got through the game as a fill in quarterback.
This is why it is important the players, coaches, innovators, owners and their stories should be here to be told. Its for us to relive moments and future generations to learn how things came to be. The special men who were the embodiment of the very spirit of football.
Last would be one where the fans would have a vote. A write in candidate with a specific number of write in votes by the fans and former players. That number to be determined and the fans (who are the paying customers) would have a little say. Number to be determined later by a committee.
One of the first items the AFL did was secure a television contract to assist the teams that had financial problems like the Titans and Raiders. The Raiders had also come to a point of folding when they contacted their fellow teams and said they couldn’t sustain operation financially. Buffalo’s Ralph Wilson stepped in and lent the Raiders $450,000 to stay afloat because the league couldn’t operate with only 7 teams. As for the Titans and Harry Wismer, the Jets needed an ownership group that had the pockets and vision to rival that of the New York Giants. Enter Sonny Werblin.
In the first two Super Bowls 
In conclusion: It was wrong to not include Davis and to me is the one of the few black eyes in this success story. The AFL was swallowed into the monolith that is the NFL after expanding the AFL to 10 teams with Cincinnati, and Miami emerging. These 10 teams were joined by the Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, and Baltimore Colts, yes the Baltimore Colts who gave the NFL a black eye with that first loss. They didn’t go empty handed, each club was paid $3 million to move to the new AFC. Yet AFL loyalists such as Davis wished the two leagues stay separate, and he truly believed they would have eventually folded the NFL.
In fact in the 3 Super Bowls the Raiders won in the post merger NFL, Davis always used the AFL logo and not the bold modified block “A” of the AFC on their Super Bowl rings. He didn’t relent until the 2002 AFC championship ring where he finally used the AFC “A”.
There you have it…how the AFL changed the sporting landscape after the first shot was fired by the folding of their predecessors, the AAFC. San Francisco’s entering the NFL doesn’t get the impact that it should because so much focus was on champion Cleveland coming over. The western expansion of American Football owes a debt of gratitude to the 49ers yet even more to those original owners.
Then they pasted Boomer Esiason and the NFL’s #1 offense 44-7 on the road. By the way the Bengals were 10-6 that year and the Browns were 12-4 and played for the AFC Championship. The Bears beat them also. In fact they were 4-1 on the year vs top ten offenses.
Thank you Taylor Blitz Times readers as we had a record month in December that has drawn in more readers than ever before. 30,424 to be exact. To those new readers who subscribed there are 725 articles covering all the players, teams, and historical articles. So please go to the search bar or subject categories and look for a particular team, player or subject, you’ll be surprised what you’ll find.
The new goal is to see Taylor Blitz Times hit our 1,000,000th read! So yes share the article, comment, agree with points or disagree with points, just be respectful while doing so. I want someone showing their son, nephew, or daughter a player from the past without stumbling across rancor in the comment section. Its not what I built here and as I curate my work its fun seeing articles showing up in places with youngsters because of such. Now you’ll see an occassional cute model for some eye candy but that’s all. Hey if the networks do it why can’t I? But no mudslinging back and forth you see on Twitter, Threads, or Youtube.
What about The Pro Football Hall of Fame? Well I can tell you my first two subjects 
Who did I hear he had made it into Canton? NFL Network? ESPN? No Alicia Kramer, Jerry’s daughter after the disappointment he didn’t get in again. Which made this picture and the trip to Canton in 2018 so special! Very emotional hug right as Rich Eisen was telling everyone to sit down as The Gold Jacket broadcast was seconds from beginning. She was her father’s presenter on Saturday inside the stadium.
Well enjoy and remember: If you enjoy or learn something like sometthing. Comment on it let me know you were here and what you thought. If you do that go ahead and share then subscribe.
Led by Randy Gradishar, ESPN’s Tom Jackson, and the late Lyle Alzado this defense had an unheard of 4 All Pros concentrated on this defense and 5 Pro Bowlers. This not ready for primetime group came out of nowhere and swallowed the Steelers and Raiders in the playoffs before falling to Dallas in New Orleans in 
Walsh and company ended an 8 year playoff drought with a 13-3 record and homefield advantage as Montana and company had come of age. New York defeated Dallas 13-10 to earn their first trip to the NFL postseason in 18 years. Then after a 27-21 upset of the defending NFC Champion Eagles in the wildcard round, New York was one step away from the NFC Championship Game and traveled west to face San Fran.
The vanquished?? Well New York Defensive Coordinator Bill Parcell’s unit collapsed giving up a season high 38 points. They had only given up 30 once the entire year up to that point. As is the case when teams come up short in the playoffs, they’re knocked off kilter for a couple of years.
However the Giants were manhandled in Chicago 21-0 to the eventual champion Bears. Both teams were built in the same old school fashion. You win with brute force on the line of scrimmage with a heavy front 7 and a strong offensive line with an offense that relied on the run. Yet the Giants sent alarm bells off all around the NFL when they already had a strong defense yet spent their first 6 picks in the first 3 rounds all on defense.
Most try to equate the turnaround with the drafting of Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks when the direction was set in motion several years before these two Hall of Famers were drafted in ’95.
His play was so dominant he broke the team season tackle record in a week 15 win over Chicago. There were still 3 games to go in 1993! So his 1st season ended with 214 tackles, recorded a sack, forced a fumble, recovered a fumble and had an interception.
From that point on the organization geared their personnel decisions on teaming Nickerson with blue chip defensive talent. Gone were the high profile offensive players that turned the “Yucs” into the laughing stock of the NFL. Replaced by one forged of grit and toughness that thrived on the visceral edge of football. This culiminated with the 96 draft and twin #1 selections Derrick Brooks & Warren Sapp along with promoting SS John Lynch up from special teams.
Please lend your thoughts as well by writing in to the Pro Football Hall of Fame to the address below. Be respectful and positively lend your voice:
Did you know that at one point Corey Dillon owned the greatest single game rushing performance and the #6 performance in NFL history?? Not Emmitt Smith, Barry Sanders, Eric Dickerson, LaDanian Tomlinson, nor Adrian Peterson or any great back you’ve ever watched accomplished that . Well, you have to be in your mid fifties at least to say you saw someone perform to that high a level. That was when OJ Simpson held sway in the NFL. You’d have to be in your fifties!!
For an instant you could peer into his soul and you understood him completely. For all the hard work to make it to the NFL, then play for a franchise that couldn’t field a better team. He was toiling in anonymity loss after loss. All those childhood dreams of playing in a Super Bowl were dying an agonizing death.
Try the driving force for their back to back championship season of 2004. He wasn’t just a member of that team. Dillon ran for a Patriots team record 1,635 yards and 13TDs & was the closer for the best of the three champions in their dynasty. He had 9 100 yard performances that year and the playoff clinching win came against Cincinnati. Where he received the game ball from Bill Belichick.
Please lend your thoughts as well by writing in to the Pro Football Hall of Fame to the address below. Be respectful and positively lend your voice:
When you talk about the NFL’s greatest defenses ever, The Chancellor’s pick is the 
Dedicated in memory of Todd Anthony Bell: (November 28,1955 – March 16, 2005)
Has there ever been a running back that was more emulated than this 1970s icon?? When you look back at Foreman’s numbers, they don’t jump out at you. However it was his immediate impact on the entire football landscape that made him important. Every NFL fan can remember his spin moves and patented lateral side step moves that left linebackers reaching for him instead of getting a full on shot. If you close your eyes right now you can picture the famous shot from Super Bowl XI against the Raiders as he spun off two defenders. He was one of the breath-taking runners of the 1970’s…and before we get into the full argument, remember he spent his years as a fullback. Yes, at fullback!
When you plug in his 1,070 yards on the ground with 13 trips to the endzone, Foreman accounted for an astounding 22 touchdowns. This tied the old record of 22 in a season with Gale Sayers because during the same game, 
If you want to get in touch with Chuck…and more on this talent hit him up on his 
Don’t know if it had an affect but Super Bowl XXXVIII was the first league championship game in history with both teams scoring 3 times in the 4th quarter. Fireworks galore with 5 touchdowns scored. As the 2004 season approached the league was still talking about re-emphasizing the 5 yard chuck rule and yardage and points rang up in the ensuing years. In fact 2004 was the year Peyton Manning broke Marino’s single season TD record with 49. Did you know in his 6 previous seasons he hadn’t been within 15 TDs of Marino’s former record of 48?? He hasn’t approached a TD total like that since. Take a look: 
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