NFL Week 14 buzz: What we're hearing on Bryce Young, Shedeur Sanders and tight division races

We’re on to Week 14 of the 2025 NFL season. Insiders Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano have been calling sources around the league for the latest news and buzz on key situations — including some nuggets that might matter for fantasy football.

This week, they have the newest intel on two quarterbacks: Carolina’s Bryce Young and Cleveland’s Shedeur Sanders. Young is extension-eligible this offseason, and the Panthers also have a decision to make on his fifth-year option. Has he played his way all the way back from a 2024 benching into a new contract with Carolina? And what are people around the league saying about Sanders, now that the 2025 fifth-round pick has two starts under his belt? Has he shown any signs of being the future for the Browns?

But first, we have the latest buzz around the NFL on tight division races and key injuries. Which divisions could come down to the wire? And which injuries might affect those races? It’s all here, as our national reporters answer big questions and empty their notebooks heading into Week 14.

Jump to:
Tight division races | Key injury updates
Young’s next deal | Sanders’ future

Which division race is getting the most buzz around the league?

Graziano: Does anybody want to win the AFC North? The Steelers started hot but have lost five of their past seven to drop to 6-6. The Ravens won five in a row to recover from a tough start and get to 6-5 but lost to the Bengals last week and are now tied with the Steelers for first place. The Bengals, with Joe Burrow back from his injury, are 4-8 and only two games out of first place with another game against the Ravens still to come.

The Steelers and Ravens have two games left to play against each other, starting with Sunday’s meeting in Baltimore, so those head-to-head matchups could settle things, but it’s possible they won’t. Baltimore and Pittsburgh haven’t looked very good lately, and there are those who wonder whether the Bengals can steal the division with a hot finish. The sentiment I get is that the Bengals’ chances would look a lot better if they had simply held one of the fourth-quarter leads they had against the Jets or the Bears.

At this point, it seems anything is possible in the AFC North, where no one currently has a winning record. It has led some to wonder whether a team can win the division with nine or even eight wins.

Fowler: The tension is also palpable in the AFC South, one of two divisions featuring three teams with at least seven wins (the NFC West is the other). It’s particularly thick in Indianapolis, which is coming off back-to-back losses and faces a unrelenting finishing stretch. The teams left on the Colts’ schedule have a combined record of 33-15. Among those games is two meetings vs. Jacksonville, which is tied with the Colts at 8-4 but holds the tiebreaker because of its record against common opponents.

The Colts were looking forward to this difficult stretch, which started with a Week 12 loss to the Chiefs, believing it would test their January football mettle. How they play over the next month will be closely watched by many in the league. The Colts have lost three of their past four games, quarterback Daniel Jones is noticeably hobbled, and cornerback Sauce Gardner is probably out multiple weeks because of a calf injury. Meanwhile, Jacksonville keeps finding a way to win without a dominant passing attack, while Houston’s defense can hang with anybody. All of this deepens the intrigue of a normally overlooked division.

Graziano: Since you mentioned the NFC West, I’ll dive in there. It’s possible the two best NFC teams play in the West, and when the Rams and Seahawks met earlier this season, it came down to a last-second field goal attempt. The rematch will occur Week 16 in Seattle and could decide the division champ, as both the Rams and Seahawks are 9-3. But the injury-riddled 49ers miraculously sit a half-game behind them at 9-4 heading into their bye week.

This is an outstanding three-way race that could still tip San Francisco’s way if the Rams and Seahawks slip up slightly. The Niners have benefited from a bit of a soft schedule, and they emerge from the bye with a Week 15 matchup against the woebegone Titans. But they finish with games against the Colts, Bears and Seahawks, each of whom occupies at least a share of first place in their respective divisions. The Rams still have two games against the 3-9 Cardinals along with a trip to Atlanta, but their toughest non-Seattle game takes place at home against the Lions in Week 15. The Seahawks have road games left in Atlanta, Carolina and San Francisco to go with home games against the Colts and Rams.

Fowler: All three of those NFC West teams are a problem if they make the playoffs, Dan. I’m also watching the NFC South, which Tampa Bay has dominated the past four seasons. But the Panthers are a half-game back and keep finding ways to pull off upsets. Panthers coach Dave Canales will get two chances — in Weeks 16 and 18 — to knock off his former boss, Bucs head coach Todd Bowles. Meanwhile, Bowles’ roster is finally getting healthy, and he has a 7-2 December record over the past two seasons.

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Which injury has the most playoff race implications, and what are you hearing on the fallout?

Fowler: We mentioned Jones earlier, and he’s trying to play through a fibula injury. But he’s clearly not 100 percent, and coaches I’ve talked to who have either prepared for the Colts or watched them closely say that his mobility appears compromised. It’s also, based on my understanding after asking around, an injury that he can play through. In other words, I’m not so sure a few weeks of rest will make the issue better. And Jones is very tough and willing to push through. But the Colts are on the ropes and will need him at his best. Their scoring output has dipped 12 points per game since Week 9. Another signature huge game from Jonathan Taylor would alleviate pressure on Jones … and his leg.

Graziano: I spoke with some folks in Houston after the Texans-Colts game Sunday and they said they felt as if Jones really couldn’t move at all. He was able to hit some shots downfield when the pocket held up, but the mobility part of his game is missing, which makes the offense seem more limited. I personally think the injury that has most affected the Colts was the one to defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, and their inability to get the Texans’ mediocre run game off the field Sunday shows his injury is still being felt.

Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown still has a chance to play Thursday against the Cowboys but hasn’t practiced this week. It’s possible the sprained ankle he sustained on Thanksgiving could keep him out of what amounts to a must-win game. Detroit is already without tight end Sam LaPorta and probably can’t afford to be without St. Brown in a game in which they’ll need to score to keep up with the Cowboys.

Also, Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert had surgery Monday to repair a fracture in his left (non-throwing) hand. He has said he plans to play Monday night against the Eagles, but we will see how much he can practice in advance of that game (if at all) and whether that will affect his performance if he does play. The Chargers are in the middle of an extremely tough, cluttered AFC wild-card race and are two games behind the Broncos in the AFC West.

Fowler: The Patriots’ have injuries to two key players — defensive tackle Milton Williams (high ankle sprain) and rookie left tackle Will Campbell (knee sprain) — that loom large. Williams has validated his massive free agent contract with impressive play, and Campbell has protected Drake Maye‘s blind side with ferocity. Both should be back before the playoffs, but how New England holds up in the meantime bears watching.

This provides a big opportunity for Vederian Lowe, Campbell’s replacement and a 2026 free agent. Capable swing tackles get paid, so money is literally on the line for Lowe. Things went well Monday night, as Maye completed 24 of 31 passes for 282 yards and two touchdowns.

Graziano: I really thought those Patriots injuries might show up more Monday night than they did. Good on them for playing well despite them, and I guess shame on the Giants for not being good enough to exploit them. The Patriots go on bye this week and maybe they come out of that healthy (though Campbell is on IR and must sit out at least three more games).

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Could the Panthers extend Bryce Young this offseason?

Graziano: I covered the Panthers this past weekend and asked a bunch of their people about Young. And from what I can tell, they still believe in him. They’ve used 10 different offensive line combinations this season and have a young receiver group, so the team seems to think the ups and downs can be blamed on more than just the quarterback. Young was excellent Sunday in beating the Rams, but he was far less than that against the 49ers the Monday night before. The week before that, he set a single-game franchise record for passing yards in a victory over the Falcons.

It’s hard to really know what the long-term outlook is when the swings are this wild week to week. The Panthers will have to decide by the first week of May whether to pick up his fifth-year option for 2027. I expect them to do that because the cost will be reasonable (around $26.5 million), but then the question becomes what to do after that.

Fowler: This feels like the classic wait-and-see situation. Despite showing flashes, Young hasn’t progressed beyond midtier starter status. The Panthers have overachieved a bit this season and low-key have viewed 2026 as their true jump year. Whether they want to allocate heavy resources to a Young extension during a crucial offseason remains to be seen. Picking up his fifth-year option and having him play at least a portion of his fourth season on his rookie deal is a sensible play.

But Young has two things going for him. He’s proving to be clutch, orchestrating four fourth-quarter comebacks and five game-winning drives this season. And he’s showing touch on intermediate-to-deep passes, completing 30 passes of 20 or more yards. So he’s giving the front office something to think about long and hard. Should the Panthers engage, what’s the sweet spot on his market, Dan? Eleven quarterbacks are making at least $50 million per year.

Graziano: So, if Young is open to an extension in the 2026 offseason, I think it would have to be lucrative to make it worth his while. If the Panthers pick up the fifth-year option, they will have him under contract for two years at around $33 million, so it might be tempting for him take a below-market deal just to improve on that. It might make some sense to do a short-term bridge deal like the one the Packers did with Jordan Love after Year 3 (when he really hadn’t played much, because Aaron Rodgers was in front of him). But I don’t see what Young’s incentive would be to do an extension next spring or summer that averages less than $50 million per year.

The Jaguars extended Trevor Lawrence at $55 million per year after Year 3, and we still don’t know if he’s their long-term answer. Teams do wild things when it comes to quarterbacks because they’re so scared about having to find one. So unless the Panthers are willing to give Young top-QB market value, he could bet on himself and bet on the team being incentivized to continue to improve around him. Then he could play out the 2026 season and put himself in position to negotiate a bigger deal after that, when the Panthers would have him for only one more year, which tilts the leverage Young’s way.

Fowler: Teams are only as good as their quarterback options, and Young is easily the Panthers’ best. He also seems to have good rapport and chemistry with Canales and his staff. But don’t be surprised if teams slightly shift their thinking when it comes to paying quarterbacks and show some level of restraint. If you don’t have a bona fide top-10 guy, why pay obscene market prices so early? That’s an easy call if you have a Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, etc. But Miami (Tua Tagovailoa) and Arizona (Kyler Murray) are among teams saddled with bloated guaranteed money for good, but not great, quarterbacks.

My point is that there’s no rush, barring both sides making concessions that work for them. I think Houston could be more inclined to pay Young’s draft mate, C.J. Stroud, early. He has higher-end traits as a passer.

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What’s the buzz around the league on Shedeur Sanders after two starts?

Fowler: People I’ve talked to see a quarterback who’s willing to stay in the pocket and wait for plays to develop and one who has decent arm strength. But they also see one who needs more seasoning.

“There were a lot of screens and boots [on Sunday vs. San Francisco],” noted one NFL personnel evaluator who watched the game. “You can tell they are trying to protect him, which you want to do with almost all rookie quarterbacks. But overall I thought he looked pretty comfortable in the pocket. He just needs time.”

The Browns entered Sanders’ Week 12 starting debut believing he could avoid turnovers, which he has done with one interception in two games. He struggled mightily with sacks in college, which the Browns knew would be a concern. So taking only four sacks in two starts is a modest victory. What’s your take on Sanders, Dan?

Graziano: To me, and to most of the folks I’ve asked, Sanders looks like a rookie quarterback. He has made some plays and throws, some of which Dillon Gabriel wasn’t making. Sanders has made some mistakes, some of which (like running out of the back of the pocket) align with concerns people have about him. I see no reason why the Browns shouldn’t continue starting him, because the point of the rest of their season seems to be finding out what they have at quarterback so they know how to approach the offseason. They have two first-round picks to help them address it if they want. Sanders won his first start, which is no small thing for this Browns team. The fans are into it. He has some talent. Let it ride and see what you’ve got.

Fowler: The Browns must find out if their 2026 starting quarterback is on the current roster. The body of work through 12 games suggests it’s probably not, but Sanders has a decent runway to give the team something to consider. And my sense is he’ll get the rest of the season to do just that. Gabriel is a good decision-maker whose experience showed up in his six starts, but he projects more as a quality No. 2. Coaches I’ve talked to think Gabriel is slightly further along in his development than Sanders, who has the bigger arm and frame. Armed with two first-round picks (including one in the top five as it stands), the Browns are in prime position to get their future signal-caller, with the chance to supplement him with either a veteran bridge option or a variation of Gabriel/Sanders.

Graziano: If nothing else, Cleveland can come out of this season with some idea whether Gabriel or Sanders can be a solid backup or if one of them is a project it is willing to continue to work on. Best-case scenario is Sanders lights it up and the Browns enter the offseason thinking he can be the guy long term. I’m not sure how likely that is at this point, but there is no harm in finding out. I know Sanders has a lot of people very worked up on both extremes, but my position is that he’s a fifth-round rookie on a bad team that has been looking for a quarterback solution for three decades. The Browns would be fools not to explore every possible solution, and I think that’s what they’re doing.