Nine players who quietly defined the 2025 season

About this episode

<p>For every Will Anderson Jr. and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, there's a Robert Spillane and Parker Washington. In other words, for every superstar who clearly left his mark on a given season, there's a role player who also helped define what the league was, and were it could be going. Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen highlight the players who quietly defined the 2025 season on this episode of The Athletic Football Show.</p><br><p>Rundown:</p><p>0:00 Welcome to the show</p><p>3:14 Parker Washington</p><p>11:36 Byron Murphy II</p><p>19:00 AJ Barner</p><p>20:20 Colby Parkinson</p><p>28:15 Reed Blankenship &amp; Evan Williams</p><p>34:49 Devon Witherspoon</p><p>41:45 Robert Spillane</p><p>46:30 Kamari Lassiter</p><br><p>Host: Robert Mays</p><p>Co-Host: Derrik Klassen</p><p>Executive Producer: Michael Beller</p><p>Senior Producer: Katy Duffy</p><p>Social Producer: Scott Krinch</p><br><p>Follow Robert on Bluesky: @robertmays.bsky.social</p><p>Follow Derrik on Bluesky: @qbklass.bsky.social</p><p>Follow Robert on X: @RobertMays</p><br><p>Theme song: Haunted</p><p>Written by Dylan Slocum, Trevor Dietrich, Ruben Duarte, Kyle McAulay, and Meredith VanWoert / Performed by Spanish Love Songs</p><p>Courtesy of Pure Noise / By arrangement with Bank Robber Music, LLC</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>