Gaffney's 2025 NFL Week 16 Team of the Week

Jack Gaffney
Dec 23, 2025
3 min read

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas week to you and yours, as NFL Week 16 is now in the rear view. Nice that an honest to god great set of primetime games from Rams-Seahawks to Packers-Bears to Patriots-Ravens got us through this week for once, and the parade of major injuries wasn't nearly as bad this week as it had been the prior two or three. In any case, here were my top performers with just two weeks to go in the season.

Gaffney's 2025 NFL Week 15 Team of the Week (First-Team)

Offense: Trevor Lawrence (QB, JAX), Mike Onwenu (OL, NE), Jaylen Warren (RB, PIT), Puka Nacua (Pass Catcher, LAR)

If dismantling the Jets last week wasn't that impressive to you, how do you feel now after Trevor Lawrence went into Denver and became the first road QB to win there all season in a 279-yard 3 TD (plus another on the ground) day? Nothing short of a banner day in what's been a fantastic late-season run for the ex No. 1 overall pick. Lawrence's three best EPA games of the season are all in the last three weeks, and he's thrown 10 touchdowns to zero interceptions. Peaking at the right time, perhaps?

There have been weeks of tough sledding for Steelers running back Jaylen Warren this year, but much like Week 7 against the Bengals, that was far from the case against the Lions. Three runs of at least 20 yards, two of which were 45-yard touchdowns, ended up being huge in what ended up being a somewhat controversial win for the Black and Gold in Ford Field. With 143 yards and two scores, Warren's Rush EPA was at 8.00 in a week where no other running back hit 5.00. Massive game for him to keep the Steelers ahead, and with breathing room, in the AFC North title race.

A PR nightmare of Puka Nacua's own making ultimately dominated the conversation going into Thursday Night Football for obvious reasons (how do his own PR people clear him to do a stream with Adin Ross, of all streamers, to begin with????), but his performance against the Seattle Seahawks was one of his best of the year in a losing effort. He became the first player to have a game north of 200 yards, and is over 400 over his last two games as well.

Defense: Poona Ford (IDL, LAR), Greg Rousseau (EDGE, BUF), Jack Campbell (LB, DET), Cooper DeJean (DB, PHI)

Poona Ford was another Ram who was really good in defeat, and you can say the same thing about Jack Campbell with the Lions in their loss to Pittsburgh, but Greg Rousseau and Cooper DeJean were clutch players in wins for the Bills and Eagles, both of whom were on the road this week. The former had his best game of the season easily, bulldozing the Browns' tackles around with a season-high nine pressures and 2.5 sacks in Cleveland, while DeJean helped the Eagles out on their game-winning score by setting the offense up with an interception near the end of the third quarter. His -9.7 coverage EPA was the third best among all defenders league-wide prior to Monday Night Football.

Rookies: Cam Ward (QB, TEN) and Jonas Sanker (DB, NO)

Say whatever you want about the lack of bodies for Kansas City defensively in Week 16, Cam Ward still had to deal with a Spags defense and all that entails as a rookie, and I thought he did great. By any metric you want to use, this was his best game of 2025 period. Yards, passer rating, EPA, completion percentage, and yards per attempt, Ward hit seasonal highs. Very impressive.