Hello friends, and welcome to the Thursday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!
If you want to watch the NFL today, I have some bad news: It's July, and there is no NFL on TV right now. However, you can watch the next best thing: NFL players trying to play golf. The American Century Championship will be teeing off this weekend from Lake Tahoe and it will feature multiple current and former NFL players, including Trevor Lawrence, Baker Mayfield, Davante Adams, Kyle Hamilton, Drew Brees, Jerry Rice, Marcus Allen, Derek Carr, Jerome Bettis, Larry Fitzgerald, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jason Kelce, and, of course, Tony Romo. And since I work at CBS Sports, I will obviously be rooting for Romo.
There is also World Cup soccer on today, but I still haven't mentally recovered from the bludgeoning the USMNT took on Monday, so I'll probably stay away from soccer for at least the next 48 hours. One thing I won't be staying away from is today's newsletter. I'll be on vacation next week, so this is the last time you'll be hearing from me around these parts until July 20.
As always, here's your reminder to tell your friends to sign up for the newsletter. Let's get to the rundown.
1. Top 25 players under the age of 25: Bijan Robinson lands at the top of the list
If you haven't noticed by now, we've been making our way through the dead part of the offseason by unveiling a new ranking pretty much every week here at CBS Sports. Three weeks ago, we revealed Prisco's list of the top 100 players in the NFL. Two weeks ago, we unveiled our list of the top quarterbacks, and today, we're ranking the top 25 players under the age of 25.
Before we get to Tyler Sullivan's ranking, there are two very important rules to go over:
- To be eligible for this list, a player has to be 25 or younger when the first game of the season kicks off on Sept. 9. If a player turns 26 on Sept. 10, they're eligible.
- This list will NOT include rookies, because we want to focus on players who actually have NFL experience.
Now that we have the rules out of the way, let's check out the top three players on Tyler Sullivan's list:
1. Falcons RB Bijan Robinson (24 -- turns 25 on Jan. 30, 2027). Bijan Robinson has turned into a cheat code. He's arguably the best dual-threat running back in the league and has put together a start to his career unlike anything we've seen before. Robinson's 2,298 scrimmage yards led the NFL in 2025 and set a new franchise record. So far, he's compiled 5,648 yards from scrimmage, the most by a player age 23 or younger in NFL history. Those scrimmage yards also rank fourth-most through a player's first three seasons in NFL history.
2. Rams WR Puka Nacua (25 -- turns 26 on May 29, 2027). Pound for pound, Puka Nacua has an argument as the best wide receiver in the NFL. The Rams receiver led the league in receptions (129) and receiving yards per game (107.2) last season. His career average of 95.3 receiving yards per game is also the highest in NFL history.
3. Lions OT Penei Sewell (25 -- turns 26 on Oct. 9, 2026). Penei Sewell is becoming the gold standard for offensive tackles in the NFL. He's elite as both a pass blocker and a run blocker. He's been a first-team All-Pro in each of the last three seasons, and it's not hard to see why.
Although Sewell ranked in the top three this year, he won't be in the top three next year and that's because he'll be 26, so he won't be eligible for the list.
Remember, there are 25 names on our list, and if you want to see the full ranking, you can do that here.
2. Ranking the best offensive infrastructures in the NFL using a complicated formula we created
If you've spent the offseason wondering which team is going to have the best offense in the NFL this year, I think we might finally have the answer. Jared Dubin created a system to rank each team's offensive infrastructure, and it's so complicated that I'm just going to assume his ranking is 100% right.
Here's a quick summary of his rating system:
- He used a weighted grading system where each team was given a 1-5 ranking (1 = terrible, 3 = average, 5 = elite) in the following areas: Play caller (head coach and/or offensive coordinator), offensive line, pass catchers (WR/TE), and running backs. Those scores were then weighted so that the importance of the play caller, offensive line, and pass catchers were greater than that of the running backs, so that the weights reflected as closely as possible the reality of the way modern NFL offenses work..
- Quarterbacks aren't included in the rate. In previous seasons, we included the quarterback in the infrastructure rankings and, in fact, made him the most important component in the weighted grading system. We're changing things up this year because we feel the rankings should quantify how well teams have set up their quarterbacks for success, and including the quarterback himself in the grading sort of defeats the purpose.
Hopefully, that explanation makes sense, because we're moving on to his actual rankings. Based on Dubin's formula, here are the two best teams and the worst team in the ranking:
1. Rams 2. Bears Dubin's take on the two teams: Ben Johnson and Sean McVay are two of the very small handful of best offensive minds in the league. The pass-catching groups have either huge stars (Rams) or great depth (Bears). The offensive lines are above-average to good, and the running backs are solid. When you account for the quarterback, the Rams have the advantage, and that's why Matthew Stafford was able to win MVP last year, but in a vacuum, Caleb Williams has just about as good a chance for success on a play-to-play basis as he does because of the talent around him in all areas of the field.
32. Dolphins Dubin's take on Miami: The distance between the Dolphins in last place and the next-closest team is larger than the distance between any other two teams in the rankings. That's how bad we think the Dolphins' infrastructure around Malik Willis is. This ranking is dragged down by the 1 the Dolphins got in the pass-catcher department, where the options range from Jalen Tolbert, Malik Washington, Tutu Atwell and an injured Chris Bell, to Greg Dulcich and Will Kacmarek.
If you want to see the rest of Dubin's ranking, we've got that here.
3. Sean Payton's crazy plan: Broncos coach thought about stepping aside and giving his job to Bill Belichick
Let me start by saying, yes, you read that headline correctly. Back in 2024, Sean Payton had an idea that would have turned the NFL upside down: he wanted Bill Belichick to serve as the Denver Broncos' head coach.
Um, what?
The reason we even know about this is that an ESPN reporter was embedded with the Broncos during the playoffs back in January, and that's when Payton shared the details about his crazy idea (although the playoffs happened six months ago, the ESPN story wasn't published until Tuesday).
Here are three things to know about this crazy idea:
- Why Payton wanted to help Belichick. Payton is a student of the game who knows NFL history, so he's well aware that Belichick ended his time in New England with 333 career wins. That ranks second on the NFL's all-time list for most coaching wins, behind only Don Shula, who finished his legendary career with 347 victories. With Belichick needing just 15 wins to break the all-time record, Payton thought the Broncos could help the six-time Super Bowl-winning coach get to 348. Under Payton's plan, he would have stepped aside as head coach and turned the job over to Belichick, and he would have stayed on the job until he broke Shula's record.
- Why the plan didn't happen. The 62-year-old Payton was going to pitch this wild idea to Broncos owner Greg Penner, but in the end, the proposal never got quite that far. According to ESPN, the plan turned out to be "too complicated." Since Belichick needs 15 wins to break the record, it would likely have required at least a two-year commitment, adding another layer of complication.
- Payton was asked about the plan. The Broncos coach was asked about the plan this week by SportsBoom's Jason La Canfora and Payton confirmed that he actually considered the crazy idea, but just briefly. "I'm just a big fan of Bill's and I think our league's better when he's in it," Payton said. "But it was just one of those ideas that, you know, sometimes you'll brainstorm something, and then you'll quickly move on."
If you need to know all the details on this wild story, I've got them here.
4. NFL veterans who could experience a career resurgence in 2026
There are plenty of NFL veterans who will be looking to bounce back this season after struggling last year. For those veterans, this becomes a huge season, because if you struggle two years in a row, you could quickly find yourself out of the NFL.
So, which vets could be in line for a bounce-back year? Josh Edwards made a list of 10 players who could have a big year after having a down season in 2025.
Let's check out three names that made Josh's list:
- Vikings QB Kyler Murray. Between the 2023 and 2025 seasons, Murray missed a combined 21 games. Despite Arizona releasing him for future salary cap relief, the Oklahoma native turns just 29 in August and now joins a head coach (Kevin O'Connell) who has been credited with rejuvenating the careers of Daniel Jones and Sam Darnold. In addition to O'Connell's coaching, the Vikings have a better offensive line when healthy, as well as Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Jauan Jennings and T.J. Hockenson in the pass game.
- Jaguars WR Brian Thomas Jr. was sensational as a rookie when he recorded 87 receptions and nearly 1,300 receiving yards. The encore was less impressive. Over the course of 14 games, he amassed 48 receptions for 707 yards and two touchdowns; zero 100-yard receiving performances. Jacksonville struggled to best deploy his skill set and that led to frustration and rumored trade availability. To this point, the Jaguars have rebuffed all trade offers and the franchise has publicly maintained its confidence in Thomas.
- 49ers LB Dre Greenlaw. Greenlaw parlayed a fruitful career with the 49ers into a lucrative contract from the Broncos. In his lone season with Denver, Greenlaw missed nine games, but had been productive in his limited availability. Durability has been an issue for the 29-year-old, but returning to the system that developed him, alongside Fred Warner, may help get back on an upward trajectory.
Josh's full list includes six more players and you can check out his full list here.
Imagn Images 5. Harry Kane to the NFL? Brandon Aubrey says English star is talented enough to make it happen
Right now, English soccer star Harry Kane is only focused on one thing and that's leading his country to its first World Cup title in 60 years. However, when he's not busy playing soccer, Kane tends to only focus on one other thing and that's THE NFL. Not only is he a huge fantasy football fan, but Kane has said multiple times that he'd like to play in the NFL at some point after his soccer career is over.
- What Kane has said in the past about playing in the NFL. Three years ago, the soccer star mentioned that kicking in the NFL was something that he'd like to attempt at some point. "I know it will be a lot of hard work. I'm not expecting to just rock up and start kicking field goals. It would be a lot of practice," Kane said in 2023, via Fox Sports. "The NFL is something I've been following for about 10 years now. I love it, so I would love to give it a go."
- Brandon Aubrey thinks Kane has the talent to pull it off. One athlete who has made the jump from professional soccer to the NFL is Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey, and he thinks Kane has the talent to do the same. "He's a fantastic striker of the ball, so that'll age gracefully as a kicker, and he has the talent if he wanted to do that," Aubrey said in a recent interview with Talk Sport. If you kick a soccer ball well, that doesn't automatically translate to kicking a football well, but Aubrey thinks that Kane would be able to pull it off. "If you strike a soccer ball a million times, it's going to translate to striking a football," Aubrey said recently, via The Athletic. "You have got to figure out where to hit the football and how to shape your foot. The mental aspect of taking a set piece or a penalty is very similar to taking a field goal."
- Kane won't be leaving soccer anytime soon. Kane, who is 32, was recently asked if he still had any interest in being an NFL kicker, and well, it doesn't sound like he plans on leaving soccer anytime soon. "It's something that's in the back of my mind," Kane said during an interview in September with CBS Sports Golazo in September. "It's something that I'd like to explore at a future date, but I still feel like I have many more years ahead of me [in soccer]."
Kane is one of the most decorated English players in the history of the sport and if England ends up winning the World Cup, it would be interesting to see if that would be enough to get him to make the move to the NFL, since there wouldn't be much left for him to accomplish on the pitch. Of course, Kane makes a lot of money playing soccer right now, so taking an NFL job would actually be a pay cut for him, and that might be one of the biggest impediments.
Anyway, Kane is easily the biggest NFL fan who's still in the World Cup, so if you're looking for a new team to root for now that the USMNT is out, England could be a solid option.
6. Extra points: Brandon Aiyuk might be forcing himself into retirement
It's been a busy few days in the NFL, and since it's nearly impossible to keep track of everything, I put together a quick roundup for you.
- Brandon Aiyuk won't be able to return to the NFL if he doesn't change his mind. Every week, there seems to be a new Brandon Aiyuk video on social media, and this week, we had a very interesting one. The receiver took to Instagram and said he's done doing business with the 49ers. "I will not be reinstating with them nor ever doing any kind of business with them," Aiyuk wrote, via 49ers Web Zone. "I'm locked in and focused on my opportunity to return to the field this season!" The problem for Aiyuk is that the 49ers placed him on the reserve/left squad list and the only way for him to play for ANY TEAM this year is if he applies for reinstatement from that list. Simply put, if he "will not be reinstated with them," then he won't be playing in 2026 or ever again. Aiyuk's career is definitely at a crossroads, and at this point, it's impossible to say if we'll ever see him back on the field.
- Von Miller appears to be eyeing the Cowboys. The former Super Bowl MVP is 37, but despite his age, he's made it clear he wants to play at least one more season. Miller has been pushing for a return to Denver, but if that doesn't work out, it appears he has a second team in mind. He posted a photo on social media this week showing him in a Cowboys uniform, so it will be interesting to see if the Cowboys give him a call.
- Adam Vinatieri is being inducted into the Colts Ring of Honor. It's a big year for Adam Vinatieri. Not only will he be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame next month, but the Colts will be inducting him into the team's Ring of Honor. Vinatieri made a name for himself while playing for the Patriots, so it's easy to forget that he actually spent the MAJORITY of his career in Indy. The NFL's all-time leading scorer spent 14 years with the Colts after spending his first 10 seasons with the Patriots. Vinatieri holds multiple NFL records, including most points scored (2,673), most field goals made (599) and consecutive field goals made (44). He also hit the game-winning field goal for the Patriots in both Super Bowl XXXVI and Super Bowl XXXVIII.
