#player-evaluation

#player-evaluation

The NFL's Most Valuable Player award will very likely come down to Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford and Patriots quarterback Drake Maye. Even if you agree that they were the two most valuable players in the league this season -- spoiler alert, I do not! -- there are several interesting questions beyond those two. While the NFL's MVP almost has to be a quarterback,

Immanuel Quickley's 2025-26 season averages include 16.3 points on 42.4% shooting, 34.6% from three, 79.1% from the free throw line, along with 4.2 rebounds, 6.1 assists, and 1.1 steals per game in 41 starts for the Raptors so far. At first glance, those numbers aren't terrible - in fact, they're quite passable in most respects. But it's one thing to interpret metrics, and another to focus on the eye test and in-game assessments to draw conclusions.

For months, Jan. 15 was supposed to be the grand opening of the Jonathan Kuminga bazaar; the day was when trade restrictions lifted and the Golden State Warriors could finally swap their most confounding asset for a missing piece of their championship puzzle. But as the sun rises on this long-awaited dawn, the Warriors don't look like shrewd dealmakers preparing to fleece the league. No, they look like a desperate homeowner trying to unload a haunted house in a flood zone.

If the Heat could acquire Young with a package that is built on Tyler Herro and Simone Fontecchio, I'm not sure how the fans could be mad at that. At the same time, I'm not sure how the front office could strike that down. If this were a feasible offer that could get a deal done, this comes down to a Tyler Herro vs. Trae Young conversation, and not necessarily one about assets/draft capital anymore.

Alexis Lafreniere is a bust. As a huge fan of Lafreniere (he is my favorite player on the New York Rangers), it's taken me far longer to say that than most. I held out hope through an up and down first season. I held out hope through a rough second season. In the 2022 postseason, I was the first one to point out his seemingly improved play. In 2024, I was the first person screaming that this was the start of a breakout for the young forward.

His vision between the tackles stands out first, as he consistently identifies creases early, presses his leverage effectively, and understands how to manipulate second-level defenders to create extra yardage. That vision is paired with an electric first step following the mesh point, allowing him to capitalize before the lanes close. And while the former Alabama State-to-Arizona product isn't a back who needs perfect blocking surfaces to be productive, his ability to get north quickly and generate momentum through contact has translated to the professional level.

The Washington Commanders are struggling to find positives from a season that quickly went down the road to disaster. However, one NFL analyst believes the flashes displayed by wide receiver Treylon Burks since joining the club are worth another go-around in 2026. Burks had plenty of interest after his abrupt departure from the Tennessee Titans. They set him up to fail. Injuries didn't help his cause, either.

The Commanders didn't expect Quan Martin to fall flat. All the offseason hype was centered on the 2023 second-round pick making a monumental leap this season, potentially even entering breakout status and surging into the conversation among the best young safeties around the league. That has not gone according to plan. Martin has been way short of the required standards this season.

These days, the best defensive midfielders in the world tend to be specialists who stay deeper in the engine room. But this was never the case 30 years ago: midfielders tended to chip in to do a little of everything, getting forward when needed and tracking back in reverse. As the role of a DM evolves, it's not unusual that some of the best players in the world right now play at the base of a midfield, given that it's a position that you need vision, awareness and a high IQ so let's delve into what makes a world-class no.6 in 2025.

Ireland striker needs to prove his worth to Italian club before the end of the year if he is to stay in Serie A for rest of the season Like any footballer in any league right now, if Evan Ferguson was asked how he thought he was doing and what his hopes for the future were, he'd reply with, "I'm just taking it game by game". But the 21-year-old appears to be running out of games in his time as a Serie A player with AS Roma.

Much of the buzz surrounding the Phillies this winter has concerned their efforts to re-sign one or both or Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto. Since either of those free agents might well end up leaving Philadelphia for another team, the Phils have also been doing their due diligence on other major free agents or trade targets, including Tatsuya Imai and Ketel Marte.

Nolan Arenado is a veteran third-baseman known for his very good defense (he has 10 Gold Gloves to date). He was on the Rockies from 2013-2020 before being traded to the Cardinals in 2021, where he has since remained, until very possibly this offseason. Trading for him would likely cost some minor prospects and money for the Cardinals to use in their rebuild.

Adding Tucker would be a significant game-changer for the Blue Jays. Last season with the Chicago Cubs, Tucker slashed .266/.277/.464 with 22 home runs in 597 plate appearances for a 136 wRC+. This was a down year for the outfielder as he's good for about 30 home runs a season, albeit his wRC+ was just slightly below his career wRC+ of 138.

De La Cruz showed promise early in his career with Miami, hitting .269/.318/.430 with 18 homers, 27 doubles and a pair of triples in his first 574 plate appearances from 2021-22. He popped 19 homers in 2023, but poor glovework and an OBP barely north of .300 made him a roughly replacement-level player. De La Cruz had a better start in '24, connecting on 18 long balls through his first 454 turns at the plate.

Morel finished the 2024 season with a 50 OPS+ in 49 games with the Rays, hitting three home runs and driving in only nine runs. For the season, he slashed .196/.288/.346 with an 81 wRC+ and -1.0 fWAR.

Austin Reaves has improved each season he has been in the NBA, peaking last season at 20.2 PPG, 5.8 APG and 4.5 RPG as the third option on a Lakers team where the first two options shifted midseason from LeBron James and Anthony Davis to Luka Doncic and James. This season, the 27-year-old Reaves has been the second option to Doncic while James has been sidelined, and he has also played three games as the first option when Doncic was out as well.

Many Rangers fans felt at the time of the Mika Zibanejad trade that the Rangers made a mistake. Brassard had been crushing it for the Blueshirts and Zibanejad had a couple of good seasons but hadn't truly broken out yet. Fast forward to today, and Zibanejad has been one of the most valuable Rangers ever. How do we come to terms with Mika Zibanejad's career, though? This is a player who never truly competed for any major award, never made it to the Stanley Cup Final, and at this point in his career is someone fans look at as a potential negative if his decline is real.

"There's no secret sauce," Roy said. "We have a lot of good players and we're going to rotate some guys. Some guys are going to be in and out of the lineup."

Grisham has gone from fourth outfielder to the top center fielder in the class within six months. He picked a great time for the best season of his career. Grisham connected on 34 home runs, doubling his previous season high. He pushed his already strong walk rate to a career-high 14.1% clip while cutting his strikeouts (23.6%) to the lowest mark in four years. The end result was a .235/.348/.464 slash line across 581 plate appearances.

Keep in mind that there's plenty of time between now and the start of the draft on April 23 in Pittsburgh. Beyond multiple months of football still ahead, some players could decide to head back to school, while others could surprisingly declare early. We also have predraft events such as all-star games and the combine, which will shake up boards. And every team's needs will continue evolving as they move toward the upcoming offseason.

Using a high draft pick on an injury-prone player, or any player who misses a lot of games, can ruin a fantasy season in a hurry. The same is true of using a high pick on a player who is set to see their minutes decrease from last season. Savvy fantasy managers are able to sniff these type of situations out in advance, and stay away from those players on draft day. Here are five big names to avoid in your drafts this season.

Hard-working game by our guys. We were in control of the game, and then we took the penalties. That is a pretty talented power play over there. It's our own fault for taking the penalties. We have to be more disciplined in those situations. We let them back in the game. Like everybody on the team, I thought the effort was really good tonight.

After a long offseason with plenty of twists and turns, the Miami Heat are going to return to the basketball court on Saturday night when they take on Orlando in San Juan to open up preseason play. Given it's preseason, we should see a vast array of players getting minutes. And while the 15-man roster seems to be locked down, that doesn't mean rotational minutes are set in stone.

Plenty of Toronto Maple Leafs will be haunted by the name Mitch Marner, but fair or not, Matias Maccelli may inspire the most comparisons of all. Both are smallish wingers. While you should expect a mammoth gap in actual production, each forward boasts sometimes-dazzling passing skills. Critics may at times even complain that passing is too often their first, second, and last options. Heck, they both even have alliterative names starting with an "M."

It is one of those preseason games. Montreal worked hard and played a simple game. We kind of complicated things at times. That is what you get sometimes in preseason games. They are. It lacks intensity. That can drive a coach bananas, but I understand. There was some good stuff, too. I was happy with some of it. I look for structure stuff. I look for routes, and things like that - our systems.

Over the last five years, and arguably even before that, the Patriots have dealt with far more misses in the draft than home runs, and their roster continues to deal with the consequences. Most of the blame can be placed on Bill Belichick's shoulders, primarily due to his stubbornness and apparent value of how well a player does in an interview, and it has led to several busts coming to the Patriots, while superstars go to teams that didn't pass on them.

As always, these games are difficult to evaluate; played at the beginning of the hockey schedule, it's a group of young players who have never played together facing opposition who have also never played together, leading to some chaos and a lack of structure. With that caveat out of the way, here are some of my impressions from the weekend: