Trending 📉 📈 after Sunday of NFL’s Week 6 as Chiefs rise, 49ers lose another star

Inside: How teams, players and units are trending after almost all of Week 6, with Buffalo-Atlanta and Chicago-Washington to go tonight.

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Week 6 Risers: Bet on Baker

After upsetting No. 2 Ohio State in 2017, Baker Mayfield planted Oklahoma’s flag at midfield of the Buckeyes’ stadium. “We believe in ourselves,” Mayfield said afterward, “and quite frankly, that’s all that matters.”

Belief has been a common theme in Mayfield’s uneven NFL career.

It began with the Browns, who believed enough to pick him at No. 1 over four other 2018 first-round QBs (Sam Darnold, Josh Allen, Josh Rosen and Lamar Jackson), making him their 29th starting quarterback since the franchise was revived in 1999. (Dillon Gabriel recently became No. 41.)

That faith seemed rewarded in 2020, when Mayfield led the Browns to an 11-5 record and a playoff win — their best marks since that return to the NFL. Super Bowl expectations arrived in 2021, but Mayfield, playing through a shoulder injury suffered in Week 2, struggled. His relationship with Kevin Stefanski was tested during that 2021 season, his final in Cleveland. As Jason Lloyd explained at the time:

💬 “Mayfield was widely viewed as childish and immature. His behavior annoyed teammates and divided the locker room. He was often difficult to coach.”

Per Jason, Mayfield gave the Browns “four years of evidence that he was good, but not good enough.” So, unlike Trevor Lawrence, a fellow No. 1 pick who shuffled through coaches during uneven rookie-contract years, Mayfield didn’t receive a $200 million-plus extension.

Instead, the Browns shipped their quarterback to the Panthers for a conditional fifth-round pick. It took just seven games in Carolina for Mayfield to be cut, but not before an infamous video of him chipping in as a defensive lineman.

The odds were against Mayfield, but that didn’t stop him. How can you not root for this guy?

Fast forward to yesterday, Week 6 of 2025, and Mayfield heard “MVP” chants rain down amid a 30-19 victory over the 49ers. His Buccaneers are 5-1 and in sole control of the NFC.

That was despite Mayfield losing his last healthy starting receiver, Emeka Egbuka, to a hamstring injury. Without Egbuka, Chris Godwin, Mike Evans or Jalen McMillan, Mayfield has done his best impression of an MVP-winning quarterback by finding a way to win.

Throwing mostly to sixth- and seventh-string receivers, Mayfield completed 17 of 23 passes for 256 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. Sometimes, he doesn’t even need receivers. According to NextGen Stats, he had just a 3.7 percent chance of converting this third-and-14:

The Buccaneers believed in Mayfield, and the odds continue to increase that he’ll reward them with an MVP-worthy season. Other figures on the rise:

📈 Kansas City. The 3-3 Chiefs are third in their division, but they can still beat anyone, as last night’s 30-17 victory over 4-2 Detroit proved. Full takeaways here. And next week, their best receiver, Rashee Rice, returns from suspension. Good luck to us all.

📈 Odd happenings in Indy. The Colts lost two players to bizarre injuries during pre-game warmups. Backup QB Anthony Richardson was rushed to the hospital after a “fluke accident” involving a snapped stretching band, and cornerback Charvarius Ward was concussed by running into a teammate. Indianapolis won a surprisingly close game, 31-27, over the Cardinals to move to 5-1.

📈 Panthers’ new star. Running back Rico Dowdle told his former Cowboys teammates to “buckle up,” then wrecked them. For the second straight week, the Dallas castoff was the do-it-all option for the 3-3 Panthers, leading his team in rushing attempts (30), rushing yards (183), receptions (4) and receiving yards (56) in their 30-27 win against the 2-3-1 Cowboys. Dowdle’s 239 scrimmage yards were the most ever by any player against his former team.

📈 Jaxon Smith-Njigba. What happens when you put an accurate Sam Darnold in a Klint Kubiak scheme with an ascending superstar receiver? An NFL-leading 696 receiving yards, 4.49 yards per route run (the second-best mark in the past 10 years) and possibly the league’s most impressive QB-WR combination this season. Seattle moved to 4-2 after their 20-12 win over 4-2 Jacksonville.

📈 George Pickens’ 2026 salary. The NFL’s most entertaining receiver smashed the hurdle button on his way to the league’s best expected-points-added day by a receiver, finishing with nine receptions for 168 yards and a touchdown. Here we go again: Will Jerry Jones pay up for the impending free agent? The Packers could use an elite WR1 …

📈 Chargers’ run game. Jim Harbaugh’s two-game losing streak ended with a 29-27 win in Miami, thanks in part to another forgotten running back: L.A.’s third-string sophomore Kimani Vidal. He took 21 touches for 138 yards and a touchdown behind a makeshift offensive line, which aided Justin Herbert’s passing game. Herbert then made me say, “Dang,” out loud in my living room with this play:

Week 6 Question: Is Pittsburgh legit?

The Steelers are likely 5-1 after Thursday’s game against the Bengals, but then what? They are primed to run away with the AFC North, especially with Baltimore struggling, though expectations for Aaron Rodgers and company seem to end there.

As The Athletic’s experts explained in their Week 6 takeaways, it’s too soon to tell whether the Steelers are legitimate Super Bowl contenders, given that they’ve barely beaten the Jets, Patriots and Vikings and lost 31-17 against their strongest opponent, Seattle.

Pittsburgh’s first true test is quickly approaching. On Sunday night of Week 8, they host the Packers, followed by games against the 5-1 Colts and 4-2 Chargers.

As for Cleveland, they are 1-5 thanks to an offense that has failed to score 20 points in any game this year. Trade for Joe Flacco?

Week 6 Fallers: Save Cam Ward

Remember when we all agreed to ignore Trevor Lawrence’s Urban Meyer-led rookie season? The Titans’ No. 1 pick deserves the same treatment. No quarterback survives blocking like this, let alone a 23-year-old:

That was one of Ward’s three turnovers, but it’s difficult to blame him for looking uncomfortable in the pocket.

📉 Answers in Miami. Had the Dolphins held their one-point lead over the Chargers for 46 more seconds, I’d probably be writing about star running back De’Von Achane. Instead, it’s all questions for the 1-5 Dolphins. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said postgame that players-only meetings are flopping, and that “it starts with the leadership.” Ouch.

📉 Stopping Drake Maye. The Patriots’ 23-year-old quarterback continues his ascent into the NFL’s elite. He’s effortlessly thrown deadly accurate 40-yard passes, and should’ve had this one to Stefon Diggs, had the latter not been wrongly penalized for offensive pass interference:

It was the second such penalty called against Diggs, with the other costing the 4-2 Patriots a long touchdown. Maye still finished 18-for-26 passing for 261 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions in the 25-19 win at 1-5 New Orleans.

As our Chad Graff noted in his postgame takeaways, Maye’s ranking in EPA per dropback is fifth among all second-year quarterbacks since 2000, behind only Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Nick Foles and Brock Purdy. Impressive company.

📉 Scoring in London. Whoever found 12 minutes of highlights from the 4-2 Broncos’ 13-11 win over the Jets deserves a raise. Justin Fields took nine sacks as New York averaged 1.2 yards per play, while Denver’s No. 1 receiver Courtland Sutton had just one catch for 17 yards. Maybe London is to blame?

Postgame, Aaron Glenn was offended when a reporter asked about Fields’ starting role. You’re 0-6, and your quarterback had fewer passing yards (45) than yards lost to sacks (55), Aaron. You’re lucky reporters aren’t asking about your role instead.

📉 49ers. The hits keep coming for SF, which lost Fred Warner for the season after one of those “the foot shouldn’t point that way” injuries. Even kicking sensation Eddie Piñeiro was hurt when a much larger teammate ran over his foot. This is getting ridiculous.

Extra Points

🗑 This feels … worse. As Mike Sando explains in his latest Pick Six column, the supposedly new-look Jets made some questionable choices this offseason. Now what?

🥊 Fight club. An already struggling Lions secondary might be without Brian Branch after the 23-year-old star safety incited a post-game brawl when hitting head of Chiefs receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, who got away with an illegal and unnecessary block against Branch late in the game.

📓 Notes. Zak Keefer shared everything he learned from Sunday’s action, including more on Mayfield’s MVP-caliber start.

🎙 Recap show. I always learn something from “The Athletic Football Show’s” elite Sunday recap podcasts. See for yourself on YouTube. For example, while it’s easy to credit Darnold and Smith-Njigba for the Seahawks’ win over the Jaguars, Robert Mays explains why Seattle’s defensive front deserves your attention.

👀 Highlights. Quick clips from all of yesterday’s games, ranked by entertainment value.

▶️ Friday’s most-clicked: Sean Payton’s stint as a quarterback in London, England.

Before we go, Happy Thanksgiving, eh! (To all my fellow Canadians).

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