The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL

The success of coaches like Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay has created a group of coaches that, at one time in the recent past, were quite rare...non-playcalling offensive coordinators. Fully half the league will have offensive coordinators who don't call plays on gameday this season. So, what exactly do they do? Bengals OC Dan Pitcher, who works under head coach and playcaller Zac Taylor, takes us through it all on this episode of The Athletic Football Show.

Rundown:
0:00 Welcome to the show
2:10 Background reporting on OCs
29:22 Dan Pitcher joins

Host: Robert Mays
Co-Host: Derrik Klassen
Executive Producer: Michael Beller
Senior Producer: Katy Duffy
Social Producer: Scott Krinch

Follow Robert on Bluesky: @robertmays.bsky.social
Follow Derrik on Bluesky: @qbklass.bsky.social
Follow Robert on X: @RobertMays

Theme song: Haunted
Written by Dylan Slocum, Trevor Dietrich, Ruben Duarte, Kyle McAulay, and Meredith VanWoert / Performed by Spanish Love Songs
Courtesy of Pure Noise / By arrangement with Bank Robber Music, LLC
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The NFL, as always, is in good hands going forward with all the young talent across the league. Just how good? Well, Robert Mays, Derrik Klassen and Dave Helman help lay that out by selecting the 24 best players that are 25 years old or younger, not including QBs, on this episode of The Athletic Football Show.

Rundown: 0:00 Welcome to the show
1:35 We’re so back
5:50 Stacking the under-25 QBs
6:05 Jayden Daniels vs Caleb Williams
9:03 Will Anderson Jr
10:27 Anderson a top-5 NFL player?
11:13 Puka Nacua
16:00 Byron Murphy II
20:03 Jaxon Smith-Njigba
22:27 Kyle Hamilton
25:26 Jared Verse
29:40 Joe Alt
31:27 Derek Stingley Jr
34:06 Darnell Wright
37:23 Abdul Carter
40:20 Brock Bowers
43:57 Drake London
46:44 Bijan Robinson
48:00 Robert has mind control powers
49:28 Jahmyr Gibbs
52:36 Jalen Carter
56:45 Quinyon Mitchell
58:27 Tyler Smith
1:00:30 Christian Gonzalez
1:00:45 “Why do you hate Christian Gonzalez?”
1:02:07 Malik Nabers
1:04:44 Carson Schwesinger
1:07:25 Devon Witherspoon
1:08:31 Colston Loveland (who is surprised?)
1:10:51 Armand Membou
1:12:55 Jeremiyah Love
1:14:15 George Pickens
1:16:38 Travis Hunter

Host: Robert Mays
Co-Hosts: Derrik Klassen and Dave Helman
Executive Producer: Michael Beller
Senior Producer: Katy Duffy
Social Producer: Scott Krinch

Follow Robert on Bluesky: @robertmays.bsky.social
Follow Derrik on Bluesky: @qbklass.bsky.social
Follow Dave on Bluesky: @davehelman.bsky.social
Follow Robert on X: @RobertMays
Follow Dave on X: @DaveHelman_

Theme song: Haunted
Written by Dylan Slocum, Trevor Dietrich, Ruben Duarte, Kyle McAulay, and Meredith VanWoert / Performed by Spanish Love Songs
Courtesy of Pure Noise / By arrangement with Bank Robber Music, LLC
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week’s mailbag yielded one of the best hypotheticals we have ever received…and a bunch of other very good questions too. Who are the NFL’s best pass blocking RBs? What are some current NFL trends that may seem archaic in the near future? And are defense-first Super Bowl champions here to stay? Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen answer that and more.

0:00 Welcome to the show
1:51 Finishing piece to a Super Bowl-losing team
5:19 Best pass blocking RBs
10:57 NFL trends that will seem archaic soon
19:17 Creating vs chasing a trend
27:59 Position groups with most potential lost to injury
30:15 Drafting QBs if all other picks were voided
42:32 Are defenses getting smaller?
45:34 Historical trend of defense-first champions
49:42 Bryce Young’s contract extension

Host: Robert Mays
Co-Host: Derrik Klassen
Executive Producer: Michael Beller
Senior Producer: Katy Duffy
Social Producer: Scott Krinch

Follow Robert on Bluesky: @robertmays.bsky.social
Follow Derrik on Bluesky: @qbklass.bsky.social
Follow Robert on X: @RobertMays

Theme song: Haunted
Written by Dylan Slocum, Trevor Dietrich, Ruben Duarte, Kyle McAulay, and Meredith VanWoert / Performed by Spanish Love Songs
Courtesy of Pure Noise / By arrangement with Bank Robber Music, LLC
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For every Will Anderson Jr. and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, there's a Robert Spillane and Parker Washington. In other words, for every superstar who clearly left his mark on a given season, there's a role player who also helped define what the league was, and were it could be going. Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen highlight the players who quietly defined the 2025 season on this episode of The Athletic Football Show.

Rundown:
0:00 Welcome to the show
3:14 Parker Washington
11:36 Byron Murphy II
19:00 AJ Barner
20:20 Colby Parkinson
28:15 Reed Blankenship & Evan Williams
34:49 Devon Witherspoon
41:45 Robert Spillane
46:30 Kamari Lassiter

Host: Robert Mays
Co-Host: Derrik Klassen
Executive Producer: Michael Beller
Senior Producer: Katy Duffy
Social Producer: Scott Krinch

Follow Robert on Bluesky: @robertmays.bsky.social
Follow Derrik on Bluesky: @qbklass.bsky.social
Follow Robert on X: @RobertMays

Theme song: Haunted
Written by Dylan Slocum, Trevor Dietrich, Ruben Duarte, Kyle McAulay, and Meredith VanWoert / Performed by Spanish Love Songs
Courtesy of Pure Noise / By arrangement with Bank Robber Music, LLC
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the first installment of Lingering Questions this offseason, we cheated by asking the same question about four then-rookie quarterbacks. Now, we're kicking this thing off for real. We still have questions about the Cowboys, Commanders, and 49ers. Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen ask - and try to answer - those lingering questions in today's episode of The Athletic Football Show.

Rundown:
0:00 Welcome to the show
3:08 Cowboys offense
23:46 Jayden Daniels & Commanders collapse
39:42 49ers young defenders

Host: Robert Mays
Co-Host: Derrik Klassen
Executive Producer: Michael Beller
Senior Producer: Katy Duffy
Social Producer: Scott Krinch

Follow Robert on Bluesky: @robertmays.bsky.social
Follow Derrik on Bluesky: @qbklass.bsky.social
Follow Robert on X: @RobertMays

Theme song: Haunted
Written by Dylan Slocum, Trevor Dietrich, Ruben Duarte, Kyle McAulay, and Meredith VanWoert / Performed by Spanish Love Songs
Courtesy of Pure Noise / By arrangement with Bank Robber Music, LLC
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.