play1:06Alex Smith: Eagles need to ‘play with their foot on the gas’Alex Smith and Damien Woody break down the Eagles forgoing a predictable offense plan and defeating the Vikings.
play2:30Are the Cowboys one trade away from being Super Bowl contenders?Domonique Foxworth, Peter Schrager, Jeff Saturday and Kimberley A. Martin discuss if the Cowboys trading for a star defensive player can make them Super Bowl contenders.
Jeremy FowlerCloseJeremy Fowlersenior NFL national reporterJeremy Fowler is a senior national NFL writer for ESPN, covering the entire league including breaking news. Jeremy also contributes to SportsCenter both as a studio analyst and a sideline reporter covering for NFL games. He is an Orlando, Florida native who joined ESPN in 2014 after covering college football for CBSSports.com.Follow on XDan GrazianoCloseDan Grazianosenior NFL national reporterDan Graziano is a senior NFL national reporter for ESPN, covering the entire league and breaking news. Dan also contributes to Get Up, NFL Live, SportsCenter, ESPN Radio, Sunday NFL Countdown and Fantasy Football Now. He is a New Jersey native who joined ESPN in 2011, and he is also the author of two published novels.Follow on XOct 22, 2025, 06:20 AM ET
Dan Graziano on Dolphins: ‘It’s bad in Miami’ (2:10)The “Get Up” crew weighs in on the state of the Dolphins after Mike McDaniel’s news conference on Monday. (2:10)
Alex Smith: Eagles need to ‘play with their foot on the gas’Alex Smith and Damien Woody break down the Eagles forgoing a predictable offense plan and defeating the Vikings.
Alex Smith and Damien Woody break down the Eagles forgoing a predictable offense plan and defeating the Vikings.
Are the Cowboys one trade away from being Super Bowl contenders?Domonique Foxworth, Peter Schrager, Jeff Saturday and Kimberley A. Martin discuss if the Cowboys trading for a star defensive player can make them Super Bowl contenders.
Domonique Foxworth, Peter Schrager, Jeff Saturday and Kimberley A. Martin discuss if the Cowboys trading for a star defensive player can make them Super Bowl contenders.
The Chiefs are back on track. But could they get aggressive and add more help at the deadline?
Call it now: How many Dolphins will be traded before the deadline?
What is the most interesting looming offseason quarterback contract situation?
Week 8 of the 2025 NFL season is here, and insiders Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano have been making calls to sources around the league for the latest news and buzz on key situations.
It’s all here, as our national reporters answer big questions and empty their notebooks heading into Week 8.
Jump to: What’s next for the Jets? Could the Chiefs add at deadline? Dolphins who could be dealt Offseason QB contract situations More notes for Week 8
On that note, I’m here at the owners meetings and Jets owner Woody Johnson sounds done with the Fields experiment.
Rich Eisen: It’s a total disaster for Justin Fields and the Jets
Fowler: I’ve talked to multiple NFL coaches who believe the Jets should have leaned heavily into Fields’ running ability earlier. He has rushed 42 times in six starts this season, averaging three designed rushes per game over his past three. In Week 1, Fields had nine designed runs, which helped the Jets to a 32-point outing. From 2022 to 2024, Fields averaged roughly 10 rushes per game as a full-time starter.
“That’s what he’s most comfortable with,” an NFL assistant coach who has worked with Fields said. “And then you can throw him off play-action with more success. I don’t care if you use a high-school-style offense, but he needs to run.”
It’s probably moot now. If Glenn wants to eventually make a move, he should probably do it now. And Johnson scorching Fields publicly makes turning back to him a challenge. Don’t expect fireworks with Taylor at this stage, but he can at least operate a rhythm-and-timing passing game.
Graziano: Yeah, I agree with your idea that they need to use Fields as a runner more. That was tough to do against the Broncos, who limit opposing rushing QBs better than any team, but they should have been able to do it Sunday against the Panthers.
Fowler: With the trade deadline less than two weeks away, expect the Jets to consider dealing veterans to acquire draft capital and build for the future. Edge rusher Jermaine Johnson, corner Michael Carter II and running back Breece Hall are among the options generating interest.
Graziano: The Chiefs are almost always active at the trade deadline. It seems they add a receiver most years. But assuming everyone stays healthy, they seem to like what they have at that position. I also don’t get the sense they’re desperate to add a running back, as has been speculated by many on the outside since the season began.
Fowler: The Chiefs’ cornerback room is one to watch entering the deadline. Free agent addition Kristian Fulton is a healthy scratch. Could they find a way out of his two-year, $20 million deal? Rookie Nohl Williams is emerging, and fourth-year player Joshua Williams could have trade value.
Fowler: I’ll say two: a pass rusher and one other. The Dolphins have Jaelan Phillips and Bradley Chubb to deal, with Phillips having the most trade value of Miami’s edge rushers. Several personnel departments have been enamored with his trajectory, which was derailed by injury. Miami doesn’t appear ready to give the 2026 free agent an extension. It could be similar to Washington trading Chase Young and Montez Sweat at the deadline two years ago.
Trade-deadline talk is easy when we just look at guys whose contract situations make them expendable for a team going nowhere. But I’d love to know what happens if they decide to blow things all the way up.
Fowler: Observers can see where this is probably headed with coach Mike McDaniel barring a turnaround, but the Tagovailoa conversation is more layered. Trading that contract doesn’t seem feasible. Miami can work around the salary cap, but the guarantee is an albatross. No team wants to absorb a fraction of that because they don’t have to (think Russell Wilson in Denver two years ago). Any form of release triggers a $54 million payout, minus offsets.
What made Tagovailoa productive — and what McDaniel helped bring out of him — was processing and decision-making. He thinks through the game well and throws with anticipation. He’s missing that touch right now, and after placing teammates directly under a teal-and-orange-colored bus in a post-Week-6 news conference, it’s fair to wonder whether he has lost the trust of the locker room, too. His teammates certainly played Sunday’s game as if he had.
But if Tagovailoa is still there next season and McDaniel is not, a new coach would be tasked with finding a way to maximize his abilities the way McDaniel did initially. And if you’re doing this dance for the second time in four years, maybe it’s not the coach who’s the problem.
The second thing is that Jackson still doesn’t have an agent, which has made negotiations difficult in the past. If the Ravens have to renegotiate to get next year’s cap number down but Jackson doesn’t care to, there’s no intermediary to work out those differences. I imagine this all works out in the end, as it did last time. But you’ll remember it got dicey the last time and obviously could again for a number of reasons.
Fowler: Considering very few people on the planet can do the things Jackson does (if any), the Ravens should get ahead of the rapidly ballooning quarterback market whenever feasible. His value went up after Baltimore managed only 13 points in two games without him.
Both sides are happy with this arrangement. Mayfield has proof of concept, which means his per-year average should probably have a “5” in front of it. The wild card is the Glazer family, which hasn’t always spent big money on players. But Mayfield could look to add a tax on this deal, due to leverage and the below-market deal on which he’s currently playing.
Alex Smith: Eagles need to ‘play with their foot on the gas’
I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Eagles address this situation next spring or summer. I would be surprised if Hurts wanted to go first this time, rather than wait to see what happens with Jackson and others.
Fowler: How Hurts plays over the next 10 games plus the playoffs could determine the path forward there. If he catalyzes another deep playoff run, the Eagles would be smart to approach him. His passing from the pocket has been erratic, to be sure. But all he does is win, and he’s a plus in the toughness and intangibles categories.
Finally, if he meets any of those conditions and his team makes the playoffs, those bonuses above would double. So, for example, if Flacco plays in 75% of the team’s offensive snaps and the Bengals make the playoffs, he’d get a $2 million bonus.
Are the Cowboys one trade away from being Super Bowl contenders?
• Matt Bowen and I went deep on 25 trade candidates today, including intel, team fits and the likelihood each player is actually dealt. One player not in our top 25 was Las Vegas edge rusher Maxx Crosby, but a tweet from Trey Wingo got my attention: He suggested the Cowboys might be interested.
Now, it’s a long season, Rodgers is 41 and what he does next year is anyone’s guess. I certainly don’t think any sweeping determinations have been made. But the marriage has been a successful one for both parties, and perhaps that continues beyond this season.
Fowler: Changes should be expected, but I don’t believe that currently applies to coach Aaron Glenn. The Jets did an exhaustive coaching search that landed on Glenn, one of the most sought-after candidates in the 2025 cycle. It hasn’t worked thus far, and he has had his share of miscues. But the Jets have remained competitive despite their struggles at quarterback. Five of their seven losses are by a combined 19 points, and the defense appears to be on the upswing after a slow start. I’m not putting the offensive struggles entirely on Glenn.
Graziano: Glenn is at least considering sitting Fields for Tyrod Taylor, since he addressed that topic directly at his Monday news conference. He said he hadn’t decided yet and wanted to consult other coaches who’d dealt with similar situations. One of the issues is that the 36-year-old Taylor obviously isn’t the long-term answer for this franchise, while Fields theoretically could be if he cleans up some of his issues. If the Jets sit him for Taylor now, they’re effectively giving up on a quarterback to whom they guaranteed $30 million in the offseason and indicating the search for a long-term solution will pick up again next spring. That’s a tough way to go through the rest of the season.