Week 2 of the 2025 fantasy football season was as predictably unpredictable as Week 1.

With two Monday Night Football games pending, the top three quarterbacks are Jared Goff, Russell Wilson and Drake Maye. Four of the top eight wideouts are Rome Odunze, Wan’Dale Robinson, Hunter Renfrow and Troy Franklin. And the top finishers at tight end are Tucker Kraft, Zach Ertz and Juwan Johnson.

Week 3 is upon us now.

Here’s an early look at Week 3 fantasy football rankings. Toggle between standard, half PPR (point per reception) and full PPR to see where players rank in your league’s format.

Our team at USA TODAY Sports has you covered with plenty of content to help with your Week 3 waiver wire and roster decisions. Wondering who the best waiver-wire claims are? We have that covered, so you can make your pickups. Need to know what players you can drop? We have that as well. We also have a list of the nine best buy low/sell high candidates and our biggest winners and losers from Week 2. Finally, here’s our roundup of the most important fantasy football injury updates.

Please note: These rankings will change significantly as the week goes on. Check back on Sunday morning for final updates.

(The risers and sleepers sections will focus on players available in at least 40% of Yahoo leagues. All snap and target data from PFF.)

Week 3 fantasy football quarterback rankings: Risers and sleepers

Daniel Jones, Indianapolis Colts (18%) – Entering Monday, only Lamar Jackson has scored more fantasy points at quarterback than Jones. The Titans project as a tough matchup, but then again, so did the Broncos. Jones did finish as the QB9 in 2022, so it’s certainly plausible that he remains a fantasy asset for the remainder of the season.
Jake Browning, Cincinnati Bengals (1%) – With the news that Joe Burrow is expected to be out for at least three months, Browning enters the high-upside streamer conversation. After taking over for Burrow in Week 12 of the 2023 season, the 29-year-old ranked as the QB9 or better in five of his seven starts.
Sam Darnold, Seattle Seahawks (11%) – Darnold dropped a dud in Week 1, but he rebounded in Week 2 with 295 yards and two tuddies. His schedule over the next four weeks makes him an optimal pickup, as he’ll be facing the Saints, Cardinals, Buccaneers and Jaguars over that stretch.

Week 3 fantasy football running back rankings: Risers and sleepers

Cam Skattebo, New York Giants (59%) – It didn’t take long for the Giants backfield to undergo a seismic shift. Rookie Cam Skattebo led the way in snaps (35) and touches (14), while running just one fewer route than Tyrone Tracy Jr. If you’re in the 41% of leagues where he’s still available, make him your top priority.
Bhayshul Tuten, Jacksonville Jaguars (55%) – While Travis Etienne looks like a top-tier running back again, Tuten has emerged as one of the better handcuffs in fantasy. The rookie played just 18 snaps in Week 2, and he certainly made the most of them, turning 10 touches into 80 yards and a score. He should be rostered in all leagues.
Trey Benson, Arizona Cardinals (52%) – Week 2 saw Benson and James Conner in a near-even timeshare. While Conner led the way in snaps (30 to 25) and carries (11 to 3), Benson outpaced the veteran in routes (16 to 12) and targets (5 to 1). Conner has been one of the least efficient runners in all of football to start the season, and if that continues, look for Benson to keep eating away at that timeshare.
Chris Rodriguez Jr., Washington Commanders (4%) – Prior to suffering a season-ending injury on TNF, Austin Ekeler was dominating the Washington backfield in snaps (36), routes (21) and touches (12). While Jacory Croskey-Merritt should be the primary beneficiary, it’s possible that Rodriguez will get enough touches to be a viable flex play in deeper leagues.
Blake Corum, Los Angeles Rams (8%) – Speaking of inefficient backs, Kyren Williams hasn’t improved on his 2024 efficiency through two games. For just the second time in the last two seasons, Williams had a snap share below 75% in Week 2. Corum has his best game as a pro on just five carries, racking up 44 yards and a touchdown. The Michigan product remains one of the more valuable handcuffs in fantasy, and it’s possible that he carves out a standalone role as the season progresses.

Week 3 fantasy football wide receiver rankings: Risers and sleepers

Troy Franklin, Denver Broncos (3%) – Against the Colts, Franklin led all Denver wideouts in snaps (49), routes (28) and targets (9). This came after finishing second in all those categories in Week 1. The 22-year-old has garnered a 23.4% target share to date, which puts him firmly on the fantasy map.
Cedric Tillman, Cleveland Browns (39%) – Through two weeks, Tillman sits among the league leaders in snaps and routes, and his 15 targets are nothing to sneeze at. His fantasy day was saved by a touchdown that should have been intercepted, but the fact that he’s getting elite usage makes him a viable flex play every week.
Elic Ayomanor, Tennessee Titans (8%) – Through two games, Ayomanor ranks second among Tennessee receivers in snap share (78%), route rate (75%) and target share (23.6%). In Week 2, he turned his six targets into 56 yards and a score. He should be rostered in far more than 8% of leagues.
Darnell Mooney, Atlanta Falcons (51%) – After missing the opener, Mooney returned in Week 2 to lead the Falcons in snaps (57) and routes (24 – tied with Drake London). While he only generated four targets, that was likely due to a game script that allowed the Falcons to go run-heavy. Mooney is flex-worthy in plus matchups.
Wan’Dale Robinson, New York Giants (22%) – Through two weeks, only 14 receivers have generated more targets than Robinson (18). The 24-year-old is currently tied for seventh among wideouts with 14 receptions, and he ranks sixth in receiving yards. Given that the Giants will likely be in a lot of negative game scripts, Robinson should maintain fantasy value as long as he remains healthy.
Romeo Doubs, Green Bay Packers (16%) – While Doubs is unlikely to be a consistent option week-to-week, Jayden Reed’s injury makes him a viable flex play going forward in deeper leagues. The 25-year-old has played 21 more snaps than the next-closest Green Bay receiver.
Hunter Renfrow, Carolina Panthers (1%) – Renfrow played just three fewer snaps than Tet McMillan in Week 2, and finished tied with the rookie in routes run (53) and targets (9). Carolina is unlikely to attempt 51 passes on a regular basis, but Renfrow is worthy of consideration in deeper PPR leagues due to his role.
Dontayvion Wicks, Green Bay Packers (1%) – Through two weeks, Wicks (six targets in Week 2) is the only Green Bay wideout to have eclipsed five targets in a game. Despite Reed’s injury, Wicks remains a deep league-only add.

Week 3 fantasy football tight end rankings: Risers and sleepers

Juwan Johnson, New Orleans Saints (44%) – Johnson leads all tight ends in targets through two weeks. I’m sure everyone saw that coming. He also happens to be the TE3 in half-PPR points. He’s easily in the top-10 conversation until Foster Moreau and Taysom Hill return from the PUP list.
Zach Ertz, Washington Commanders (57%) – While Johnson ranks as the current TE3 heading into Monday Night Football, Ertz is a spot ahead at TE2. The veteran, who was the TE5 over the final eight weeks last season, needs to be rostered in all leagues until further notice.
Harold Fannin Jr., Cleveland Browns (42%) – For the second consecutive week, rookie Harold Fannin played a large enough role to be fantasy-relevant. The 67th overall pick currently ranks fifth at the position in targets and yards, and is tied for third in receptions. With David Njoku a free agent after the 2025 season, Fannin’s role could very well grow as the season chugs along.
Jake Tonges, San Francisco 49ers (3%) – In the first game with George Kittle on IR, Tonges led all 49ers tight ends in snaps (56), routes (31) and targets (5). He’s also one of just 14 tight ends with multiple red zone targets this season. Tonges will be on the Week 3 streaming radar against a Cardinals defense that has ceded the most receptions to the position.

Week 3 fantasy football rankings: PPR and non-PPR

The Minnesota Vikings quarterback suffered an ankle sprain during his team’s ‘Sunday Night Football’ loss to the Atlanta Falcons in Week 2, according to head coach Kevin O’Connell.

O’Connell also shared that the Vikings are already preparing to face the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday without McCarthy under center.

It’s the second lower-body injury of McCarthy’s pro career. His first, a torn meniscus in his preseason debut last year, knocked out last year’s No. 10 overall pick for the entirety of his rookie season.

Through two career regular-season games, McCarthy is 24-of-41 passing (58.5% completion rate) for 301 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions, currently tied with six other players for the league lead.

McCarthy has a 1-1 record in his two starts after orchestrating a fourth-quarter comeback in his regular season debut against the Chicago Bears, then dropping his second game to the Falcons Sunday night.

J.J. McCarthy injury update

McCarthy sprained his ankle in the Vikings’ Week 2 loss to the Falcons on ‘Sunday Night Football,’ according to their head coach.

O’Connell added that he doesn’t see the injury as a short-term IR situation, but second-year quarterback is expected to miss his third career start against the Bengals next Sunday.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter adds that the injury could shelve McCarthy for 2 to 4 weeks.

Who is the Vikings’ backup quarterback?

Carson Wentz, who played the 2024 season with the Kansas City Chiefs, is McCarthy’s backup in Minnesota.

The Vikings signed Wentz to a one-year deal after trading Sam Howell to the Philadelphia Eagles at the end of training camp.

If Wentz starts for the Vikings in Week 3 as expected, it would be his first start of consequence – i.e. outside of two Week 18, ‘rest-the-starters’ games each of the last two years – since 2022, when he was with the Washington Commanders.

That game, a 24-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns, infamously opened the door for the Commanders’ elimination from playoff contention, which became official with a Green Bay Packers win later that day.

A post-game press conference question about then-head coach Ron Rivera’s decision to bench previous starter Taylor Heinicke in favor of Wentz given the pending elimination led Rivera to ask reporters, ‘We can be eliminated?’

Vikings QB depth chart

Minnesota has two backups for McCarthy on its active roster.

J.J. McCarthy (doubtful – ankle)
Carson Wentz
Max Brosmer

Brosmer was an undrafted free agent pickup by the Vikings in April. The University of Minnesota product won the third-string job over Brett Rypien (and Howell, whom the Vikings traded to Philadelphia) with strong performances in training camp and the preseason.

Eddie Giacomin totaled 290 wins for the New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings.
The Rangers fan favorite was serenaded with chants of ‘Eddie, Eddie’ when he returned to Madison Square Garden with the Red Wings.
He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1987. The Rangers retired his No. 1 jersey in 1989.

Hall of Fame goaltender Eddie Giacomin, who starred for the New York Rangers in the 1960s and 1970s, has died at the age of 86, the team said.

Giacomin was the Rangers’ franchise leader with 267 regular-season victories when he was claimed by the Detroit Red Wings off waivers in 1975. That figure has been surpassed in Rangers history only by Mike Richter (301) and Henrik Lundqvist (459).

The six-time All-Star led the league three times in victories and in shutouts. He had 30 or more wins during four seasons with the Rangers, won the Vezina Trophy in 1970-71 and went to the Stanley Cup Final in 1972.

‘Eddie Giacomin was an integral member of the New York Rangers for a decade and personified what being a Ranger is all about, both to his teammates and the Blueshirts faithful. You cannot discuss the history of this organization and not immediately think of Eddie,’ the Rangers said in a statement.

‘The great Rod Gilbert called him the heart of their team, and we cannot think of a greater honor to bestow on one of the greatest goaltenders to ever play the game. Our thoughts are with Eddie’s family, friends and teammates during this incredibly difficult time.’

Giacomin’s Rangers career ended when he was placed on waivers and claimed by the Red Wings on Oct. 31, 1975. He appeared in Madison Square Garden two days later and was serenaded by Rangers fans with chants of ‘Eddie, Eddie.’ Detroit won the game 6-4.

He retired in 1978 with a 290-209-96 record, 2.82 goals-against average and 54 shutouts.

Giacomin became a New York Islanders broadcaster and later an assistant coach for the Islanders and Red Wings. He had two stints as a Rangers goalie coach.

He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1987. The Rangers retired his No. 1 jersey in 1989.

The second week of the 2025 NFL season wraps up tonight with a Week 2 ‘Monday Night Football’ doubleheader – because two games are always better than one.

It’s the first ‘Monday Night Football’ doubleheader of the season, which kicks off in Houston with the Texans hosting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their home opener. It’ll be a battle between two 2024 playoff teams.

The visitors are coming in off a Week 1 victory in which they bested the Atlanta Falcons, 23-20. Tampa Bay has ruled the NFC South for the last four seasons – crowned division champs in each – and is looking to start 2-0 for the fifth consecutive season.

Meanwhile, Houston took a tough road loss against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 1. Quarterback C.J. Stroud and the offense sputtered, failing to score a touchdown in the game, ultimately losing 14-9. Texans edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. will look to make an impact against the Buccaneers’ offensive line that will be without All-Pro tackle Tristan Wirfs for the second straight week.

Tampa Bay’s offense is also missing wide receiver Chris Godwin, who is recovering from a dislocated ankle he suffered last season. Still, the Buccaneers have an embarrassment of riches at the skill positions; rookie Emeka Egbuka will look to replicate the success he achieved in his NFL debut alongside Mike Evans.

Houston’s defense is the team’s strength, led by coach DeMeco Ryans. The offense is aiming to gain momentum and secure a victory for the first time in 2025. Tampa Bay looks to improve to 2-0 despite starting the season with consecutive road matchups.

USA TODAY Sports will provide live updates, highlights and more from ‘Monday Night Football’ below.

What time does the Texans vs. Buccaneers game start?

Start time: 7:00 p.m. ET (6 p.m. CT)

The Houston Texans and Tampa Bay Buccaneers game will kick off at 7:00 p.m. ET on Monday. It’s the first of the ‘Monday Night Football’ doubleheader in Week 2.

What TV channel is Texans vs. Buccaneers?

TV channel: ABC, ESPN

The Houston Texans vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers game will be simulcast on ABC and ESPN on Monday night.

Where to watch Houston Texans vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Texans vs. Buccaneers is the first of the ‘Monday Night Football’ double-header tonight.

Date: Monday, Sept. 15, 2025
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Location: NRG Stadium in Houston, TX
TV: ABC and ESPN
Streaming: ESPN Unlimited | ESPN Select | Fubo

Watch all the action from the 2025 NFL season on Fubo

Texans vs. Buccaneers live odds, moneyline, over/under

Buccaneers vs. Texans injury report

Buccaneers vs. Texans prediction

Sometimes it boils down to the roster, and the Buccaneers simply have a better roster at the moment. The Texans offensive line is no bueno, the receiver situation is pretty questionable. The defense did look good in Week 1, as they held the Rams and the trio of Matthew Stafford, Puka Nacua and Davante Adams to just 14 points. They take a small step down in competition this week vs. Baker Mayfield, Mike Evans and Emeka Egbuka, but expect the Bucs to play well on the road and snatch the win.

Prediction: Buccaneers 20, Texans 17

Texans QB CJ Stroud arrives for ‘Monday Night Football’

The Texans third-year quarterback has only played in one Monday Night Football game in his career – a 2024 Week 11 road victory over the Dallas Cowboys. He aims to make it 2-0 in prime time tonight.

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Think (Jonathan) Smith, not Sanders, for UCLA. Deion Sanders best stay at Colorado.
Could Dan Mullen get a wandering eye with UCLA and Virginia Tech open? The Hokies make sense.
Marcus Freeman admits he doesn’t have the answer to Notre Dame’s woes. Uh-oh.

Everything we thought we knew about college football is wrong.

Arch Manning is mid. Notre Dame’s defense stinks. All that returning production for Clemson meant very little. Vanderbilt is a wrecking crew.

Just like we drew it up in August, yeah?

Three weeks into the season, the coaching carousel already has shifted into gear, with more firings to come.

Here are four questions left on my mind after college football’s Week 3:

Would Deion Sanders consider UCLA?

Coaching searches begin (on the internet, at least) with the hot boards filled with white whales. Fans want their school to force the wish-list candidates to say no, in hopes of getting an improbable yes.

But, seriously, why would Coach Prime say yes to a UCLA job Chip Kelly wanted to leave so badly, he bolted for a coordinator position? Kelly’s successor performed so badly, he lasted just 15 games. UCLA’s program looks a mess within the Big Ten.

Sanders has built a little kingdom at Colorado. Nobody interferes with his operation. Colorado allows him to bring in his own video crew, turning Buffaloes football into an informercial for Prime. Sanders recruits without ever leaving campus, and, at Colorado, he’s not traveling to play road games at Ohio State.

In a vacuum, a Big Ten job is a better job than a Big 12 job. In this instance, I fail to see the upside of Sanders coaching at UCLA, in Southern California’s shadow, and leaving his Boulder fiefdom behind.

UCLA plays home games miles away from campus, a couple of towns over, in front of sparse crowds. Reported budgetary concerns don’t make for a great sales pitch, either. Neither does playing road games three time zones away against Big Ten powers.

Likewise, UNLV’s Dan Mullen will have other, better opportunities than UCLA, as long as the wins keep coming for his Runnin’ Rebels. Mullen’s name surfaces on speculative candidate lists for UCLA, but I wouldn’t see that as a smart move for Mullen, who did his best work in Starkville, Mississippi.

If I’m running UCLA’s search, I’d peek at Tulane’s Jon Sumrall. He’s thriving at the erudite school in “The Big Easy.” Sumrall’s Green Wave are in contention for the Group of Five’s playoff bid. He previously excelled at Troy.

Sumrall played at Kentucky, and he’s spent most of his career in the South. A move to the left coast would be a shift, but he’s bound for a “Super Two” job eventually. UCLA’s best move could be nabbing a rising, proven coach before someone else in the Big Ten or SEC snaps him up.

Another intriguing name: Former Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald. If you can win at Northwestern, you can win at UCLA.

Northwestern fired Fitzgerald after a player hazing scandal surfaced. After the firing, Fitzgerald took Northwestern to court, and he reached a legal settlement with his former employer last month. He’s maintained he had no knowledge of the hazing within Northwestern’s program. The school, in a statement announcing the settlement, said it uncovered no evidence that Fitzgerald condoned the behavior or that any player reported the conduct to the coach.

In sum, the findings and legal settlement could make Fitzgerald hirable.

One more … would Pasadena, California, native Jonathan Smith leave Michigan State in favor of a SoCal homecoming? UCLA should find out. Think Smith, not Sanders.

Dan Mullen for Virginia Tech? That’d be interesting

I mentioned Mullen’s best work occurred in Starkville, and I’ve always said Blacksburg, Virginia, is the Starkville of Appalachia.

Well, I’m saying that now, anyway.

Mullen is a good coach whose career got sidetracked by the LS-Shoe game, followed by one bad season at Florida. He’s got a mind for X’s and O’s, and he proved at Mississippi State he can develop three-star prospects into four-star talents.

North Carolina should have hired Mullen instead of experimenting with Bill Belichick. UNC’s mistake can become an opportunity for ACC rival Virginia Tech.

Mullen, in his first season coaching UNLV, is 3-0 and piling up points with transfer quarterback Anthony Colandrea, a former Virginia Cavalier.

Mullen won in the SEC’s West Division at the height of its power. He’d win in the ACC.

Marcus Freeman says dreaded ‘E’ word

Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman wants us to believe “it’s not the (play) call, it’s the execution,” after the Irish got gutted for a second consecutive game under new defensive coordinator Chris Ash.

Ah, the dreaded ‘E’ word. Execution. Coaches who bemoan their team’s execution usually wind up with an average product on their hands, because it’s often easier to fix play-calling than it is to eradicate bad execution.

In truth, Notre Dame’s abysmal defensive performances in losses to Miami and Texas A&M are a combination of questionable calls and shaky execution.

Notre Dame’s hesitancy to blitz Carson Beck in Week 1 became a head-scratcher. The Irish didn’t apply enough pressure on Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed, either. They have one sack through two games after amassing 40 sacks last season under coordinator Al Golden, who’s now in the NFL. Freeman’s experiment to incorporate more zone coverage has failed, too.

“I don’t have the answer for you right now,” Freeman said of his team’s defensive woes.

No answers, faulty execution and questionable calls tend to result in the dreaded ‘M’ word: mediocrity.

Kirby Smart gets (oddly) philosophical

After Georgia’s comeback overtime victory at Tennessee, Kirby Smart took a shot at nebulous naysayers, who, apparently were “whistling by the graveyard.”

“I don’t mean this directed at Tennessee, but I told our players, there’s a lot of whistling by the graveyard,” Smart said. “A lot of people don’t know what that saying means, but there’s a lot of whistling by the graveyard, and that ain’t who we are.’

“We’re not going to go down without a fight,’ he added.

I don’t think Smart knows what that saying means, either.

Whistling past the graveyard means acting upbeat and unafraid in a dire situation, to distract yourself from the reality of doom. I fail to comprehend how it applies to Georgia and the supposed naysayers.

Perhaps, Smart meant to say Georgia’s enemies ought to know better than to “dance on the grave” of the Bulldogs, a different adage that would better fit this situation.

Georgia looked to be on the ropes in the first quarter at Neyland Stadium, but it came very much alive in the second half and overtime.

As Georgia Tech learned last season, the final shovel of dirt onto an upset of Georgia can prove to be the heaviest lift.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

Todd Marinovich, subbed ‘Robo QB’ by sportswriters, played college football at USC before being a first-round pick of the Los Angeles Raiders.
Marv Marinovich, one of the original ‘worst sports fathers,’ put Todd through rigorous daily training sessions as a child.
“Marinovich: Outside the Lines in Football, Art, and Addiction” is Todd’s effort to tell his well-chronicled story in his own words.

Marv Marinovich was one of the original “worst sports fathers,” decades before the obsession with young athletes spilled over to social media, years before there was even an Internet.

‘I didn’t make it through a full tackle football season until high school,” Todd Marinovich, his father’s prodigy turned USC quarterback and Los Angeles Raiders first-round NFL Draft pick, recalls in his new memoir. ‘Why? Marv bodychecked my coaches when he disagreed with their decisions.”

His father, Marinovich told USA TODAY Sports, “did not miss a (expletive) practice in any sport I played, from youth until I went to SC.”

It was Marv who caught flak from in-laws critical of punishments such as forcing the 9-year-old Todd to run alongside the car from Huntington Beach to Newport Beach after the boy had not played his best in a basketball game. Sportswriters call his son ‘Robo QB” and ‘the first test-tube athlete.‘ … Parenting authorities say his methods signal an abhorrent and dangerous trend among upper- and middle-class parents: over-programming their children and depriving them of childhood. Child-rearing experts say ‘hot housing,’ or the forced maturing of young children, has become a frightening national trend in academic and social life as well as sports.

— Los Angeles Times, June 17, 1990

The process of ‘letting go” has been cathartic. Marinovich met once a week with co-author Lizzy Wright. He shared his story of soaring to the NFL after his college sophomore year and his downward spiral out of it with drug abuse. He is at peace with ‘Marv,” the father he called by his first name.

A term of affection? ‘There’s probably some deep psychological or subconscious thing that I might have been doing, but it truly was,’ Todd says.

Their relationship was complicated: The every day (even Christmas) football training routine, the hand signals from the bleachers, the healthier ‘Marv-sanctioned” versions of cake and ice cream he had to bring to birthday parties while other kids ate the real thing.

Todd became a father of two who now manages youth football, and fatherhood, in a completely opposite way and with deep perspective.  

‘The most challenging endeavor of my life is being a parent,” he says.

USA TODAY Sports spoke with him about what young athletes and their parents can learn from his story.

Pull out the good you remember from your parents and coaches

‘Marinovich: Outside the Lines in Football, Art, and Addiction” is Todd’s effort to tell his well-chronicled story in his own words. It’s through the eyes of a father to Baron, a sophomore in high school, and Coco, a freshman.

Baron plays quarterback, and also receiver, the way Todd started out.

‘What’s really cool about having a son and a daughter is they get to have their own experience with the game,” says Todd, now 56. ‘It’s beautiful, and it’s not always fun.

‘I just am a huge fan of team sports, where you learn that it’s not about ‘me.’ My son’s getting his own experience that’s so different than mine, and I just get to be a spectator and watch it. It’s hard not to want to get too involved.”

He laughs heartily.

 ‘I know,” he says. “Marvisms are coming up left and right when I’m teaching. … But being on the other receiving end of that kind of coaching, I just try to emulate my favorite coaches all in one, and they all had something special that they did that affected me as a player.”

Marv had been a football captain at USC in 1962, and he played ever so briefly in the NFL, before his body broke down. He moved on to breaking ground as an NFL strength and conditioning coach.

And he set out to make his son a perfectly engineered athlete who was ahead of his time. Squats and shamrock shakes (“swamp water,” Todd thought as he digested them before a youth game) were a must.

It was Todd against the world, entangled in an endless loop of ‘Bull in the Ring,” a training technique Marv particularly loved where two football players grapple like Greco-Roman wrestlers.

“It’s a great drill,” Todd admits, “and you find out really quick who your players are.”

He found himself using it in recent years when he volunteered to coach football at a local high school on Hawaii’s big island, where he lives now.

But Todd’s team practiced for an hour and headed to the beach. He took a similar approach when he coached in a kids flag football league.

‘I don’t go more than 40 minutes because I can’t concentrate for more than 40 minutes,” he says. “How am I gonna expect a 10 year old to stay with me for 40 minutes? I don’t understand when my son calls me and says they’re out from 2 to 6, on the field. What the heck? I mean, come on, guys.

“You’ve gotta make it fun and throw in some coaching along the way. So many coaches ruin high school experiences or even youth where the kid doesn’t want to do it again, because it’s no fun. So I try to be super encouraging because you can always find something, even if they’re new to the game, that they’re doing right.”

IT’S THE FALL SEASON: Here’s how we reset as youth sports parents

It’s easy to treat kids as adults and expect too much, too early

The way Todd breaks down Marv today is similar to how Andre Agassi describes his own autocratic sports father: It’s as if dad loved them so much, it turned into obsession.

When Marinovich reached high school, he became starting quarterback at nationally-renowned Mater Dei High in Santa Ana, California, as a freshman. When he told his father the news, he saw something that loosely resembled a smile.

Writes Todd: ‘He wouldn’t say he was proud, but I knew it.”

‘People tagged him for all kinds of things of just being like that stage mother,” he tells USA TODAY Sports. ‘That’s what he was passionate about, training athletes, and football was the vehicle for a while. And so I was just immersed in it. That’s what the family did. It was just part of our culture. So did he influence that? Yeah, but he wasn’t like, ‘You gotta play this.’ If I just wanted to do basketball, he would have been fine with it. He just wanted me to  perform at a high level and train.

‘It wasn’t, truly, about living through me, like some people have said because he never did much in the NFL. It was none of that. I have always known that he wanted the best for me. He did the best he could at the same time. Did I agree with some of it? No, but that’s part of growing up.”

When he was 10, Todd opened the garage (the fitness “dojo” as he called it) and found Marv explaining the day’s training regimen with four Los Angeles Rams players.

They called him Marv and they got excited when they said it. Todd loved feeling close to dad, so he tried it, too.

‘Hey, Marv.”

Everyone paused, Todd feeling palpable tension before his father broke out in laughter.

‘Okay, Red Rocket, you can call me Marv too.‘

‘The thing that I seem to be able to do that my dad couldn’t is know appropriate for the age,” Todd says. ‘He was working for like an All-Pro, eight-year veteran and a nine year old. There’s just no difference with the way he used to do it.”

Marv told a 2011 ESPN ’30 for 30” he stretched his son’s hamstrings in the crib. Todd said he could probably run 4 miles at four and 10 miles at 10.

When he didn’t perform well, though, he felt family life held in the balance.

Traci, his older sister, remembers being in the car on a disciplinary run home. His mom, Trudi, didn’t have the courage to tell Marv how she felt about what their life had become.

One weekend, Trudi wrote him a brief note and whisked their son away to San Diego, where Todd had ice cream, beach time and freedom.

“She just knew when I needed that break from Marv,” Todd says. “And throughout my struggles, she’s just been that unconditional love. It’s a mother’s love, and I put her through some sleepless nights, I know that. And my amends to her is trying to live right, and she’s been there. Thank God. I’ll tell you what: I don’t think I would be here (without her).”

Don’t let your teammates down, it’s not about ‘me’

Todd felt that freedom playing basketball, too.

‘You’re in range when you step in the gym,” Gary McKnight, his middle school coach, would tell him. “And if you don’t shoot, I’m sitting you down.’

‘Within his constructs, you could really have fun,’ Todd says. ‘It wasn’t my main sport. It was more I’m just doing this for fun. And when you’re in that state, you tend to perform better.”

The team became a machine, he says, going 177-7 over three years.

McKnight played to strengths and gave everyone a distinct role. You tried not to step out of it.

Leaning on other people would become a consistent theme in Todd’s life, through all the turmoil yet to come from USC to the Raiders to rehab.

“In an undercover way, I was getting these fundamentals or principles ingrained,” he says. “You realize that’s what it’s about. It’s not about me. When I start getting into me, I am completely (expletive). Every time. But if I’m thinking about the guy next to me, not wanting to let them down, and showing up, that whole thing about showing up, you show up, no matter what. There’s no calling in sick. That doesn’t exist. You cannot do that because they got doctors there. So that’s just priceless stuff that you only learn through time.

“I thought when I was doing it, it was about winning.”

Win, he did, at Capistrano Valley High, where he transferred and set a then-a national record for passing yards; at USC, where he won a Rose Bowl; and even with the Raiders for a fleeting moment over a small stretch.

But when he looks back on his career, he thinks more about the guys with whom he spent it.

Among many others, there was Jeff Peace, the linebacker from a rival high school Todd went against when they competed for a league title. “He just snuffed me,” Marinovich says. They became roommates at USC and are still tight.

There was Marcus Allen, the Hall of Fame running back and Raiders teammate who roused him from bed the morning after another bender with ecstasy, cocaine and liquor and got him to practice.

And there was Marv.

The spirit of a coach/parent lasts a lifetime

Father and son lived together, alone, when Todd’s parents separated as he played at Capistrano Valley. It was Marv without emergency brakes, as Todd put it, and a period where he was a budding addict.

At USC, the quarterback was under the care of Larry Smith, an old-school coaching assistant to Bo Schembechler at Michigan.

‘He got a hard package to handle,” Todd says. “It’s not that way anymore, but any authority really was Marv. So when I left Marv, Larry became Marv. Larry was trying to tell me what to do, like, cut my hair? Well (expletive) you. You can’t wear sandals? I was over the ‘Yes, sir, no, sir,’ and it just happened, and Larry had come from that kind of background in the Midwest. It was the army, pretty much what you were in. That was like the furthest thing that I wanted the game of football to be.

‘I just thought it was definitely more creative and free spirited than that. So it was a volatile time that second season. It just came to a head.”

The two erupted in an argument on the sidelines captured on television at the 1990 Sun Bowl after an up-and-down season. It was decades before the transfer portal.

‘I was enjoying my college experience,” Todd says. ‘I did not want to do the NFL as a sophomore. I just felt like that was my only option.”

A month later, he was arrested for cocaine possession after a long night of revelry with his buddies. His first two experiences with rehabilitation came when he was still with the Raiders.

“I was winding down as my career was going up,” he says.

When his NFL career ended after eight games over two seasons, he faced more arrests and rehab stints. Father and son had drifted apart when he left for USC. But eventually, they found themselves back together.

“Even as hardcore as he was, he was always in times of doubt … there to give me that quiet confidence of, no, I do belong here, and yeah, I can overcome,” Todd says, “and throughout my whole journey, being strung out on heroin, he was there, saying, ‘You can do this.’”

Toward the end of his life, Marv, who died in 2020, had Alzheimer’s. Father and son lived together for long stints.

Over nearly 16 months, Buzzy, as Todd then called Marv, brought a wood sculpture to life, while Todd painted nearby. It was Todd’s turn to provide support.

‘It’s just crazy being on the other end of this illness,” Todd says. ‘It’s just bizarre, but I’m so grateful that I was there. If I would have done what I wanted – my head said just run from that because he’s not the same person – I would have missed lots of just priceless (moments). Because it was all about the now. We weren’t talking about yesterday; that’s gone with that illness. It’s just locking into the now and enjoying each other.”

It’s how he approaches life as he paints for a living in Hawaii. He talks to his son, Baron, who plays at Costa Mesa High in Orange County, after practices and games.

He bonds with his daughter, Coco, over art, his new life’s passion. It was their mother, Alix, his wife at the time, who suggested he paint.

“I find that place in creating art where time is nonexistent,” he says. “I felt similar coaching. And that’s a beautiful thing. That’s a sweet spot that I try to be in as much as possible.”

He steps into painting, and he never knows how long he’ll be there. Sometimes 10 minutes, sometimes 10 hours. Either way, he says, there are no shortcuts.

It’s a lesson he learned from football, and from Marv. He uses a different name this time.

“Dad really flourished into like a best friend toward the end,” he says. “It was really an amazing journey with him.”

Steve Borelli, aka Coach Steve, has been an editor and writer with USA TODAY since 1999. He spent 10 years coaching his two sons’ baseball and basketball teams. He and his wife, Colleen, are now sports parents for two high schoolers. His column is posted weekly. For his past columns, click here.

The Cincinnati Bengals were dealt a brutal blow in their Week 2 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars when Joe Burrow went down with a toe injury.

Burrow exited the game in the second quarter, required help getting to the locker room and was later ruled out for the remainder of the contest. The star quarterback has been diagnosed with a turf toe injury and is expected to need surgery that will sideline him a minimum of three months, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

With Burrow set to miss time, the Bengals are likely to turn to backup quarterback Jake Browning to lead the team. The 29-year-old led Cincinnati to a come-from-behind win over Jacksonville, has a career record of 4-3 as a starter and has completed 69.8% of his career passes for 2,177 yards, 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

That said, the Bengals will still need to add extra depth behind Browning. They have just one other healthy quarterback in the organization, practice squad veteran Brett Rypien.

What type of quarterback might the Bengals bring in? ESPN reports the team is already ‘calling around to other free-agent quarterbacks’ to fill out their room.

That said, if Cincinnati wants to get aggressive in its quest to stay afloat without Burrow, it could target a couple of higher-end trade candidates to add depth and talent to the team’s quarterback room.

Here’s a look at the top quarterback options the Bengals could consider.

Kirk Cousins

OK, let’s just get this one out of the way. Any time a major quarterback injury occurs, Cousins’ name will be bandied about as a potential trade option, and with good reason. The 37-year-old has long been a quality NFL starter but finds himself stuck in a backup role behind Michael Penix Jr. with the Atlanta Falcons.

Cousins would give the Bengals a proven starter who could take advantage of the team’s high-quality receiving tandem of Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Zac Taylor also comes from the Sean McVay coaching tree, and Cousins enjoyed success playing under McVay during their time together in Washington.

The main problem with the Bengals acquiring Cousins? The veteran quarterback is in the second year of a four-year, $180 million contract. Paying him and Burrow (who is playing on a five-year, $275 million deal) would get expensive even if Cincinnati simply treated Cousins as a rental.

As such, Cousins isn’t a realistic option for the Bengals, especially if they are confident in Browning as a temporary starter. Cincinnati will probably seek a cheaper option to jockey for position on its quarterback depth chart.

Jameis Winston

If the Bengals are going to trade for a quarterback, Winston might be the prime candidate. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft has made 87 starts during his career and has the type of gunslinger mentality that could work in a Bengals offense sporting great talent at the skill positions.

Winston is playing on a two-year, $8 million deal that is commensurate with the pay of NFL backup quarterbacks. The Bengals could easily absorb that salary, install Winston as the backup behind Browning and ready the 31-year-old veteran to start should Browning stumble.

Winston went 2-5 in even starts with the Cleveland Browns last season, completing 61.1% of his passes for 2,121 yards, 13 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

Taylor Heinicke

If the Bengals prefer to dip into free agency to address the need for depth behind Browning, Heinicke may represent the best available option. The 32-year-old has a 13-15-1 record in 29 career starts and has completed a respectable 62.5% of his career passes for 6,663 yards, 39 touchdowns and 28 interceptions.

Heinicke spent the 2024 season with the Los Angeles Chargers and returned to them on a one-year extension in 2025. He lost the backup job to Trey Lance during the preseason, leading to his release ahead of the NFL’s 53-man roster deadline.

Tyler Huntley

Could Huntley continue his tour of the AFC North by signing with the Bengals? The 2022 Pro Bowler is currently on the Baltimore Ravens practice squad but could join Cincinnati if he signs to the team’s 53-man roster.

Huntley started five games for the Miami Dolphins last season, going 2-3 and completing 64.7% of his passes for 829 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. The 27-year-old brings a nice mix of short accuracy and mobility – he ran for 135 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries last season – to the table.

Logan Woodside

If the Bengals want to add a different player from an AFC North practice squad, Woodside could be an option. He is presently with the Pittsburgh Steelers but could join the Bengals’ 53-man roster if offered a deal.

Woodside, 30, was originally a seventh-round pick by the Bengals in 2018. He failed to make the team and has bounced around as a journeyman since, but he landed back with Cincinnati in 2024. He re-signed with them on a one-year deal for 2025 but was released in July. Perhaps after Burrow’s injury, the Bengals will consider bringing him back.

Desmond Ridder

Ridder is the other quarterback the Bengals could consider re-signing. He was signed to the team’s training camp roster after Woodside’s release and remained with the team until the team trimmed its roster to 53 men.

Ridder was a third-round pick by the Atlanta Falcons in the 2022 NFL Draft. He has a career record of 8-10 as a starter and has completed 63.6% of his passes for 4,002 yards, 16 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. The 26-year-old has played for four teams over the last three seasons and may relish a chance to return to Cincinnati, where he starred collegiately for the Bearcats, if given the opportunity.

Trevor Siemian

Siemian signed with the Bengals during the 2023 NFL offseason to compete with Browning for the backup job. Browning won and Siemian was released, but could he return now that the Bengals could use an experienced backup?

Siemian has a 15-18 record in 33 career starts over 11 seasons in the NFL. He has completed 58.5% of his passes for 7,751 yards, 44 touchdowns and 32 interceptions and most recently guided the New York Jets to a 2-1 record across three starts in 2023.

Siemian is currently a member of the Tennessee Titans’ practice squad. Brian Callahan, the Titans coach, used to be Cincinnati’s offensive coordinator, so that added familiarity could make Siemian a good fit to come right in and battle for the backup job behind Browning.