Gaffney's 2025 NFL Week 17 Team of the Week

We're getting down to the wire in the NFL's regular season, and multiple division races are already wrapped up, namely the AFC West, both the AFC and NFC East, and the NFC North. Lots of big moments in Week 17 once you get past a pretty brutal Christmas Day slate of games, and as always, big performers. Here's who led the way in what's the final full week in the 2025 calendar year.

Gaffney's 2025 NFL Week 17 Team of the Week (First-Team)

Offense: Drake Maye (QB, NE), Quinn Meinerz (OL, DEN), Derrick Henry (RB, BAL), Stefon Diggs (Pass Catcher, NE)

Keeping up with the late-season trend of smoking the Jets defense and making it onto our Team of the Week, Drake Maye and Stefon Diggs both make their way here in Week 18. Not a particularly long day for the first-team Patriots offense, but Maye's 256 yards and five TDs on just 24 dropbacks were one of the best EPA starts a quarterback has had in the last decade, and his 157 passer rating only trails the perfect 158.3 mark Jalen Hurts put up back in Week 7. As for Diggs, he backed up his monster outing in Baltimore with a second straight 100-plus yard game, bringing him to five on the year, and it only took him six catches, highlighted by this boundary grab.

The night prior, Derrick Henry, just nights after getting effectively benched vs. the Patriots, was a one-man wrecking crew against the Packers in Lambeau Field. With the Ravens' season effectively on the line and without Lamar Jackson to boot, "The King" chalked up 216 yards and four scores on a season-high 36 carries, with his 14.9 rush EPA making this the second-best game of the season on that front. However, Henry is the only rusher to put up a rush EPA of at least 10.0 in a game with more than 19 rushing attempts—absolute domination when Baltimore needed him the most.

Defense: Johnny Newton (IDL, WSH), Andrew Van Ginkel (EDGE, MIN), Blake Cashman (LB, MIN), Denzel Ward (DB, CLE)

The Christmas slate didn't exactly produce games to write home about, but three guys with effectively nothing to play for showed up gigantic for their respective teams in the form of Johnny Newton, Andrew Van Ginkel, and Blake Cashman. Newton became the first IDL of the entire season to hit three sacks in one game, a mark only five other players league-wide can say they've also done. The 32 percent pressure rate on 28 pass rush snaps is impressive in itself to boot.

As for the pair of Vikings defenders, it was one of those games where AVG was simply on another level. His two fumble recoveries were a huge reason why the Lions are now out of the playoffs, but Van Ginkel also racked up 1.5 sacks, five tackles, and three stops to boot. Not as important now since they've been out of the playoff picture for enough time, but that was a huge outing given Jonathan Greenard's absence. Excellent game for Cashman as well, whose 17 tackles led the league this week.

Why Aaron Rodgers decided the quite literal end of the game was the right time to target Browns corner Denzel Ward exclusively was beyond me (most people frankly), but he was nails for Cleveland on a day where the Steelers had zilch through the air before that final drive that got them down to the goalline. Multiple incompletions lined up against Marquez Valdes Scantling later, and that was your game.

Rookies: Luther Burden (WR, CHI) and Abdul Carter (EDGE, NYG)

It was obviously a brutal loss for the Bears on Sunday Night out in San Francisco, but if not for nothing, Chicago fans should be over the moon with how their latest WR draft pick, Luther Burden, played. His 138 yards led all players through Sunday, and it was a great mix of tough, timely grabs, some action after the catch, and, most notably, a score on a post route in the first half. If this was a sign of things to come right before the playoffs, that makes a Bears offense, which admittedly can be up and down, very, very interesting.

Offense: Brock Purdy (QB, SF), Jordan Mailata (OL, PHI), Christian McCaffrey (RB, SF), Parker Washington (Pass Catcher, JAX)

Defense: Jeffrey Simmons (IDL, TEN), Aidan Hutchinson (EDGE, DET), Henry To'oTo'o (LB, HOU), Tyson Campbell (DB, CLE)

Rookies: Tyler Shough (QB, NO) and Jihaad Campbell (LB, PHI)

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