Five must-read books for current NFL players

"Beautiful Ugly" by Alice Feeney | Jalen Hurts | Philadelphia Eagles

How else can anyone describe the Eagles’ 22-10 victory over Green Bay or their quarterback’s performance in Sunday’s wild-card matchup? Hurts was expected to be rusty after missing the team’s last two games with a concussion, but nobody could have predicted how bad he’d actually play.

Hurts connected on his first six throws before throwing seven straight incompletions. He had just 39 yards towards the end of the third quarter and finished the day with only 131 yards. Eagles fans can only hope he does better in the divisional round.

"The Crash" by Freida McFadden | Justin Herbert | L.A. Chargers

As bad as Hurts looked, no one played worse than the Chargers quarterback this weekend. Making his second playoff appearance and first under new head coach Jim Harbaugh, Herbert went 14-of-32 in a 32-12 loss to the Texans while throwing four interceptions.

Of course, the Chargers did him no favors by rushing for only 50 yards as a team, but it was still quite a fall for Herbert, who had thrown just three interceptions in the regular season.

"Say You'll Remember Me" by Abby Jimenez | Aaron Rodgers | New York Jets

In this story, a young woman meets a seemingly perfect guy only to be disappointed whenever he opens his mouth. Here’s what the Jets’ 41-year-old quarterback had to say about his future with the team:

"I'm disappointed about the performance with myself and as a team, but really thankful for the opportunity," Rodgers told ESPN. "If I feel good coming back and they want to make another run at this, that'd be fantastic, but I'm not naive to the situation we're in."

With a new head coach and general manager on tap for 2025, Jets ownership is expected to cut ties with Rodgers, as well as wide receiver Davante Adams, who followed him from Green Bay via Las Vegas. Here’s hoping they do it soon and spare fans the drama of another “will he, won’t he” offseason from Rodgers.

"Out of the Woods" by Hannah Bonam-Young | Nico Collins | Houston Texans

Collins led all NFL receivers with 567 yards and had three 100-yard games under his belt when he suffered a hamstring injury against the Bills in Week 5. He returned in Week 11 and averaged 88.3 yards over the next three weeks but failed to top 60 yards in any of the team’s last four games.

Fortunately for the Texans, Collins looked like his old self against the Chargers on Saturday, catching seven of eight targets for 122 yards with none better than this 41-yard catch and run in the third-quarter.

"Tell Me What You Did" by Carter Wilson | The entire Titans roster

That’s what the Titans’ next general manager needs to find out. Only Philadelphia (278.4) allowed fewer yards per game than Tennessee (311.2) in the regular season, yet the team still finished with a 3-14 record.

Interviews to replace former GM Ran Carthon are ongoing, but whoever gets the job needs to sit down with incumbent head coach Brian Callahan and identify where things went wrong before making the first pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.