Gaffney's 2025 NFL Week 4 Team of the Week

Jack Gaffney
Sep 30
4 min read

A slew of huge injuries league-wide, unfortunately, headlined Week 4, but on a lighter note, there were several excellent games on Sunday, ranging from Tampa vs. Philly, New York vs. LA, and a Sunday Night thriller of Green Bay vs. Dallas. Players from all three of those tilts make their way onto one of our team of the weeks here post-Week 4, and a bigger theme for these teams is: Blue. 18 of the 20 players either play for an NFL team that has blue in their color scheme or played for a college with blue in their color scheme. Do with that information as you see fit.

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

Offense: Matthew Stafford (QB, LAR), Garrett Boles (OL, DEN), Ashton Jeanty [R] (RB, LV), Puka Nacua (Pass Catcher, LAR)

Whatever that tin camper did for Matty Stafford during Rams camp is clearly working, because he's been excellent so far in 2025, but perhaps even more credit should be lauded at his No. 1 pass catcher Puka Nacua, who's now put up three games of at least 10 catches and 100 yards, putting up a season high 170 against the Colts on Sunday. He won't win it even at this pace, given how the award typically favors QBs, but Nacua is genuinely playing MVP-caliber ball right now for the Rams, and I hope that's being appreciated. This is all against some elite secondaries as well, by the way: Two of his three 100-yard+ outings are against Houston and Philadelphia, and Indy isn't exactly lacking for talent in their secondary either.

Broncos' left tackle Garrett Bolles continued his age-33 season in excellent form. After another great game, this week vs. the Cincinnati Bengals, he's allowed just four (4) pressures on nearly 200 pass blocking snaps, and he and his linemates deserve credit for a great day on the ground for the Broncos, with JK Dobbins and RJ Harvey combining for just a hair shy of 160 yards.

Sticking in the AFC West, Ashton Jeanty finally broke out, and he's just the second rookie to make one of our team of the week squads outright in 2024. The Bosie State alum finally got some good enough blocking up front, racking up five chunk runs, including one for a 64-yard score, and scored a pair of receiving scores on his only two receptions. Nice to see him get some adequate blocking from his line after the first three weeks, because it wasn't looking good whatsoever going into Sunday.

Defense: Jeffery Simmons (IDL, TEN), Tuli Tuipulotu (EDGE, LAC), Devin Lloyd (LB, JAX), Quinyon Mitchell (DB, PHI)

I'm tough but fair, and I can't see how I could leave Chargers defender Tuli Tuipuluto off of our first-team this week after a four-sack game vs. the Giants. A couple of those sacks were uncontested, but Tuipuluto was one of the most overall productive pass rushers in the league this week, boasting a pressure rate of 28%, and was also credited with nine stops on the day. Jeffery Simmons wasn't nearly as productive, but the Titans standout did record one of the most preposterously quick sacks I have ever seen, and was one of just two Titans with a PFF grade north of 80, joining linebacker Cedric Gray.

The Jacksonville Defense has been one of the more pleasant early-season surprises of 2025, ranking as the No. 4 run unit in the league. Although they may lack in pass defense, they make up for it in their ability to cause turnovers. They lead the league with 14 takeaways, with four of those coming on Sunday in San Fran, half of which came via Devin Lloyd interceptions. Quiet as it's kept, he's been the best coverage 'backer in the league this year (No. 1 in EPA allowed, No. 1 in INTs regardless of position), and this is all coming at a great time for him, with free agency looming at year's end.

Lastly, Quinyon Mitchell's shutdown performance on Emeka Egbuka was gigantic in securing the Eagles' big road win in Tampa on Sunday. Aligned on the rookie 22 times, the Eagles' corner allowed just two catches for six yards on six targets. That would be a significant understatement of that performance.

Rookies: Omarion Hampton (RB, LAC) and Abdul Carter (EDGE, NYG)

I want to preface this about Omarion Hampton's Sunday, firstly, in that he had two notably longer runs than the one you're about to see, but watch the effort here by the rookie out of UNC:

Runs like that mean something to a guy like me, man. Just like with Jeanty, this was a career-best day for Hampton, who racked up 128 yards and three chunk runs on the ground for a clean 10.7 per, also racking up five grabs for 37 yards. Especially considering the Chargers lost Joe Alt midgame and were obviously down Rashawn Slater coming in, he certainly made the most of the opportunities he got.

Defensively, we look to a guy who was on the field with Hampton a lot in Giants superstar Abdul Carter for our first-team defensive rookie. Seven of his eight pressures were quick pressures (ones recorded in less than three seconds), which led the league outright in Week 4, and while the sacks aren't coming to him just yet, he's genuinely been phenomenal through four games. Despite only recording a half-sack, Carter is one of just six edge rushers with 100 pass rush snaps, 15 pressures, 8 quick pressures, and a pressure rate north of 15%. The others? Myles Garrett, Josh Hines-Allen, Will Anderson, Micah Parsons, and George Karlaftis.