Gaffney's 2025 NFL Week 3 Team of the Week

Jack Gaffney
Sep 23
4 min read

A stunning Cleveland Browns upset of the Green Bay Packers on Sunday kept things from being a 4-0 day for the NFC Week 3 was as good a showcase for their higher-end players as it gets. From Isaiah Rodgers' historic performance for the Vikings, to Caleb Williams' career-best game, and some outright bully ball by the Detroit Lions, it was a banner week for one of the more historical divisions across the league. Not that they had a monopoly on good performances, of course. Colts' bellcow Jonathan Taylor continues to impress early in this season, as does rookie WR for the Bucs Emeka Egbuka. Let's see who makes our Teams of the Week for Week 3.

Gaffney's 2025 NFL Week 3 Team of the Week (First-Team)

Offense: Caleb Williams (QB, CHI), Penei Sewell (OL, DET), David Montgomery (RB, DET), A.J. Brown (Pass Catcher, PHI)

While I was down on most QBs in Week 3, that was certainly not the case for Bears' second-year starter Caleb Williams, who took a Cowboys defense led by ex-Bears head coach Matt Eberflus directly to the gates of hell on Sunday. His four TD passes tied a career high, and he was all of two yards shy of joining Justin Herbert as being one of only two QBs to hit the 300-yard mark in Week 3. Obviously, it's the Cowboys' defense that can't cover or rush the passer (can't imagine why), but this was closer to the higher-end stuff Caleb was doing at USC that got him drafted No. 1 last year to begin with—very impressive day.

While David Montgomery deserves heaps of credit for the Lions' huge road win over the Ravens with his 151 yards and four runs of at least 10 yards, Penei Sewell was probably even better. He's clocked in, allowing just one pressure on 30-plus dropbacks for Jared Goff, and PFF graded him out with a 99.3 run blocking grade, which, in watching that game in real time, certainly tracks.

For A.J. Brown, it's fitting that his "breakout" game of 2025 came against the NFL's best cover team through the opening two weeks, with four of his six catches going for first-downs or a touchdown, and additionally hit over 10 yards on air yards per target for the first time this season. Who knew that the key to getting the Eagles' offense somewhat back on track was to get one of the five best wide receivers on the planet more involved, and speciffically as a downfield target?

Defense: Cam Heyward (IDL, PIT), Yaya Diaby (EDGE, TB), Tremaine Edmunds (LB, CHI), Isaiah Rodgers (DB, MIN)

Cam Heyward, while not a bad day on the traditional statsheet by any stretch of the imagination, felt like a guy who did a ton on just about every defense snap for the Steelers against the Patriots. Granted, he did cause a gigantic fumble inside the one-yard line and tip a ball for an interception to save 14 points effectively, but he was massive in keeping the Patriots' running game stuck in the mud, while still racking up five pressures and a sack. It should be remembered forever that a sect of Steeler fans with functioning frontal lobes didn't think he was worth a pay raise for how good he's been for them over the last decade.

Once again, there were a ton of good performers off the EDGE in the NFL, but Tampa's Yaya Diaby impressed me the most in his pass rush clinic vs. the New York Jets. NextGenStats had him down for 11 pressures, a sack, and a drawn penalty (a hold by Olu Fashanu) on 30 pass rush snaps, plus a pair of run game stops (one for a loss). Now, the Bucs' third-year pass rusher is tied for third in the NFL with 18 pressures.

A pair of NFC North defenders, Tremaine Edmunds and Isaiah Rodgers, were turnovers magnets over the weekend, either forcing or recovering five combined, but Rodgers may have had one of the greatest defensive performances ever with a pick-six, a fumble return for a score, and then on the next drive, got a successful peanut punch off on Ja'Marr Chase for a forced fumble. He was targeted only twice and actually had a great rep breaking up a would-be TD to Tee Higgins on a go-route that gets lost, but an unreal game from Rodgers, so much so that PFF gave out their first ever perfect grade for a game: 99.9.

Rookies: Emeka Egbuka (WR, TB) and Mason Graham (IDL, CLE)

I'm beginning to think that Emeka Egbuka is going to end up here a lot over these next 15 weeks. In any case, I thought he was dynamite once again against the New York Jets, hitting a season/career best 85 yards on six catches, and I thought he got robbed of a seventh that would've gotten him over 100 yards on a bad review on his eighth and final target of Sunday afternoon. His lone "real" incomplete target was a pretty rough drop on a 3rd-and-9, but otherwise, he's been absolutely money for these Buccanneers, and will have to be that moving forward with Mike Evans going on the shelf for the short-term.

A few weeks back, a friend of mine asked around about the lack of Mason Graham production after his first career game. Well, I don't think I'll get that comment after Week 3, because even though he only had three pressures (which, by no means, is bad), he made an impact. According to Seth Walder of ESPN, the Michigan product posted a pass rush win rate of 43 percent (FOURTY-THREE percent) against the Packers, which is nearly five times higher than the average IDL. Graham was additionally credited with three stops on what was a miserable day for the Packers offensively. Quite frankly, it was a good day for the bulk of the Browns' rookie class.