Culture
Pre-training camp NFL Power Rankings: Chiefs and 49ers reign, Texans and Bears on the rise
The longest offseason in major professional sports will be over by the end of the week. Five NFL teams have already opened training camp. Twenty-three more start on Tuesday, and the remaining four kick off Wednesday. The Hall of Fame Game between the Houston Texans and Chicago Bears is less than 10 days away.
So we can officially say the NFL is back, and the power rankings are just as happy about that as the rest of you. The preseason rankings start where last season’s rankings ended — with the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers at the top — but there’s been some movement down the line. The Hall of Fame Game participants, for instance, are among the biggest risers because of one young quarterback who has already proven himself and another who everyone expects to soon.
On with the list:
Last season: 11-6 in regular season, Super Bowl champions
The last time the Chiefs failed to make the NFL’s final four, Matthew Stafford was a Lion, Ryan Tannehill was a Dolphin and Ben Roethlisberger was an active player. That was 2017. Since then, Patrick Mahomes has won 15 playoff games (more than all quarterbacks but Tom Brady and Joe Montana) and never finished a season as a starter short of the AFC Championship Game. Mahomes is 28 years old. If he plays as long as Brady, that means 17 more years to pad what could be an otherworldly stat line.
Last season: 12-5, lost Super Bowl
The 49ers are the NFL’s narrative busters. Need a top-10 quarterback to compete at the highest level? Nope. San Francisco has gone to two Super Bowls and two more NFC title games with Brock Purdy and Jimmy Garoppolo at quarterback. There are consequences for missing on a top-five quarterback? Not for the Niners. This team traded three first-round picks to draft Trey Lance No. 3 in 2021 and hasn’t missed a beat despite Lance already being off the team. Kyle Shanahan, despite his near misses, might be underpaid.
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Last season: 12-5, lost NFC Championship Game
The Lions have won more games since Nov. 6, 2022 (22), than they did in the previous 1,769 days (18). These are giddy times in Detroit, and the Lions have responded by throwing cash around, extending quarterback Jared Goff, offensive lineman Penei Sewell and wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown to big-money deals this offseason. Maybe just as importantly, Detroit retained offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, who led the Lions to the fifth-best offense in the league last season based on EPA (expected points added) per play, according to TruMedia.
Amon-Ra St. Brown and the Lions have fans excited about the possibilities in 2024. (Nic Antaya / Getty Images)
Last season: 10-7, lost in AFC divisional round
For most of the NFL’s history, calling a team the Lions of the AFC would have been fighting words. Not anymore. The Texans are the cross-conference counterparts of the Lions, which is to say they are their conference’s best-vibes team. After C.J. Stroud’s remarkable rookie season, Houston is going all in behind its young quarterback, re-signing tight end Dalton Schultz and adding wide receiver Stefon Diggs and running back Joe Mixon to an offense that scored 45 points against one of the league’s best defenses in Stroud’s first career playoff game. If the Texans can survive being this offseason’s hot team, it could be a special season in Houston.
Last season: 13-4, lost AFC Championship Game
The 2023 Ravens were the NFL’s best team for long stretches. The 2024 Ravens are something different. Baltimore has added Derrick Henry but lost defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald, linebacker Patrick Queen, safety Geno Stone, defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, three starting offensive linemen and about 10 percent of a quarterback. Reigning league MVP Lamar Jackson appears to have lost more than 20 pounds. Will he be the same player who has led Baltimore in rushing and passing each of the last five years? Probably.
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Last season: 11-6, lost in AFC wild-card round
In the first four seasons of Deshaun Watson’s career, he had a passer rating of 104.5, a 2.4 touchdown-to-interception ratio and was off target on only 6.4 percent of his throws, according to TruMedia. It’s why the Browns sent three first-round picks, a third and two fourths to the Texans to acquire him. In two seasons in Cleveland, Watson has a passer rating of 81.7, a 1.6 TD-to-interception ratio and has been off target on 15.8 percent of his throws. Last year’s Browns still won 11 games. If Watson and running back Nick Chubb (coming off a knee injury) can return to form this year, Cleveland will be a contender.
Last season: 12-5, lost in NFC wild-card round
In the last three seasons, the Cowboys have won 36 regular-season games and one playoff game. Owner Jerry Jones is so fed up that he … did basically nothing this offseason to improve the team. Head coach Mike McCarthy is back (with a new defensive coordinator — Mike Zimmer, who replaced Dan Quinn). Linebacker Eric Kendricks and running back Royce Freeman were Dallas’ only free-agency additions. Plus, quarterback Dak Prescott will be playing with a $55 million cap hit and in the final year of his contract this season because the Cowboys don’t seem concerned about getting an extension done.
Last season: 9-8, lost in NFC divisional round
Green Bay was the fourth-youngest playoff team in NFL history last season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. In the second half of the season, the Packers’ offense was eighth in the league in scoring (23.7) and fourth in yards per play (6.0), and they won seven of their last 10 games. In the playoffs, Green Bay put 48 points on the Cowboys and then lost by just three to the 49ers in the divisional round. Coach Matt LaFleur and 25-year-old quarterback Jordan Love seem to be getting along fine.
Last season: 11-6, lost in AFC divisional round
Only the Chiefs have a longer active streak of double-digit-win seasons than the Bills’ five. Whether Buffalo can continue that streak is one of the league’s most interesting questions. It lost Diggs, Jordan Poyer, Tre’Davious White, Mitch Morse, Tyrel Dodson and Leonard Floyd in the offseason. That means more of the load falls on quarterback Josh Allen, who already carries plenty for the Bills. In the last five seasons, no player has averaged more fantasy points per game, according to TruMedia. It’s not an exact match for on-field value, but it’s a pretty good indicator.
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Last season: 11-6, lost in NFC wild-card round
Questions abound in Philly. Will new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore’s system suit quarterback Jalen Hurts? How will the offensive line hold up without “the other Kelce,” center Jason who, like his brother Travis, is a future Hall of Famer but, unlike his brother, is not dating Taylor Swift and is now retired? But the biggest question is: What the heck happened last season? The Eagles lost six of their last seven games, and their point differential (minus-59) was the fourth worst in the league during that stretch, suggesting something more than personnel fits was amiss with the one-time juggernaut.
Can Jalen Hurts and the Eagles rebound after their late-season collapse in 2023? (Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
Last season: 10-7, lost in NFC wild-card round
The Rams won seven of eight to end the regular season and dropped a one-point game to the Lions in the playoffs. In the offseason, they remade their secondary and fortified their offensive line. And just like that, 38-year-old coach Sean McVay is back in the fray in the NFC. McVay enters his eighth season already in the top 100 of all-time head-coaching wins (70). Just two years ago, he coached a five-win team and the media job offers were piling up. Now, he’s coaching a contender again.
Last season: 11-6, lost in AFC wild-card round
Through Week 15 last season, the Dolphins led the NFL with 31.5 points per game. From Week 16 through a wild-card round playoff loss, they were 30th in scoring with 15.5 points per game. Did defenses figure out the league’s fastest offense? Did injuries catch up to Miami? Was it just that they played better teams down the stretch? Yes to all three, but coach Mike McDaniel has had an entire offseason to adjust, and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa should have lots of motivation playing in the final year of his contract.
Last season: 7-10, missed playoffs
Aaron Rodgers is ninth all time in the NFL in passing yards (59,055), and he realistically could pass Dan Marino and Matt Ryan this year to move to seventh. He’s fifth in passing touchdowns (475) and could pass Brett Favre to get to fourth. These numbers are provided here in case anyone forgot Rodgers actually plays football. And usually pretty well. If he can do that again this year after playing only four snaps before snapping his Achilles tendon last year, the Jets will be legitimate contenders. New York returns most of a defense that was second in the NFL in expected points added last season.
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Last season: 9-8, missed playoffs
The defense that quietly helped power Cincinnati to Super Bowl LVI completely fell apart last season. The Bengals gave up 6 yards per play, the worst number in the league. That’s going to have to be corrected if the vaunted return of Joe Burrow is going to mean much. The quarterback played only 10 games last season because of a wrist injury that everyone in Cincinnati hopes is behind him. In the last three seasons, Burrow’s passer rating (101) is the fourth best in the league, and he’s going to need to be special again this year.
The Bengals are counting on a big season from Joe Burrow, who is returning from a wrist injury. (Andy Lyons / Getty Images)
Last season: 7-10, missed playoffs
A quick NFL history lesson: This team used to be referred to as the Monsters of the Midway. That’s right. The Bears were once good but have had only one winning season since 2012 and one playoff win since 2006. So why are Bears fans so giddy? No one in the NFL has added more in the offseason. The list includes No. 1 pick quarterback Caleb Williams, No. 9 pick wide receiver Rome Odunze, veteran wide receiver Keenan Allen, safety Kevin Byard and running back D’Andre Swift. They also overhauled their entire offensive coaching staff.
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Last season: 5-12, missed playoffs
Jim Harbaugh won 11 games in his second season as the University of San Diego’s head coach. He won 12 games and an Orange Bowl in his fourth year at Stanford. He won double-digit games in each of his first three seasons as coach of the 49ers. He won 10 games in his first year at the University of Michigan and a national title seven years later. The former quarterback is an odd duck, but he can coach. And now he has quarterback Justin Herbert, who has topped 4,700 passing yards in two of his four professional seasons.
Last season: 7-10, missed playoffs
The Falcons gave 35-year-old quarterback Kirk Cousins the largest total-money free-agency deal in NFL history (four years worth up to $180 million) and then spent the No. 8 pick on University of Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. That’s how scarred Falcons owner Arthur Blank and his executives were after two years of alternating Marcus Mariota and Desmond Ridder as the starting quarterback. Cousins will be playing in the McVay offensive system thanks to Atlanta’s hiring of former Rams defensive coordinator (and before that Atlanta interim head coach) Raheem Morris as head coach.
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Last season: 9-8, missed playoffs
Entering his second season, Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson is 15th in the NFL’s MVP odds, according to BetMGM. His odds are as good or better than those of Cousins, Christian McCaffrey, Justin Jefferson and many more proven players. So it seems the betting markets are putting as much pressure on the young quarterback as the Colts, who seem to be expecting Richardson to be some sort of Superman despite playing only four games in 2024 before a shoulder injury ended his season. He averaged 144 passing yards and 36 rushing yards per game in his four starts, during which Indianapolis went 2-2.
Last season: 9-8, missed playoffs
If you allow Seattle to have a mulligan on the 2009 season, when Jim Mora went a forgettable 5-11 before being fired, the Seahawks have had only two head coaches since 1999. Mike Holmgren held the job for 10 years, and Pete Carroll just finished a 14-year stint. Now it’s Macdonald’s turn. The former Ravens defensive coordinator was a college graduate assistant just 11 seasons ago and is taking over a team that could go either direction. The hopes of Macdonald and the Seahawks rest on quarterback Geno Smith, who is on a career-redefining run in Seattle.
Last season: 10-7, lost in AFC wild-card round
After 17 almost maddeningly consistent seasons in Pittsburgh, it seems like coach Mike Tomlin is going one way or the other in a big way this year. He has two new quarterbacks who come from starting jobs — Russell Wilson and Justin Fields — and a new offensive coordinator in Arthur Smith. Tomlin has never had a losing season in Pittsburgh, but this offensive mix might end that. Or it might rejuvenate a team that hasn’t won a playoff game since 2016. Wilson and Fields both bring dynamic talents to the mix, and Smith has a good history with athletic quarterbacks. It should be fun to watch either way.
The Steelers offense should be more interesting than last season with quarterbacks Russell Wilson, left, and Justin Fields playing in new coordinator Arthur Smith’s system. (Joe Sargent / Getty Images)
Last season: 9-8, missed playoffs
The Jaguars and their quarterback are the NFL’s Rorschach test — is this team the AFC South favorite led by one of the league’s best quarterbacks or is it teetering on the brink of a rebuild? It depends on how you squint. Trevor Lawrence, the No. 1 pick in 2021, has topped 4,000 passing yards in each of his two non-Urban Meyer-coached seasons, but his touchdown-to-interception ratio since joining the league (1.5) is 27th in the last three years. That’s Daniel Jones and Garoppolo territory. Meanwhile, Jacksonville went 15-5 from Week 12 of 2022 through Week 12 of 2023 and then lost five of its last six to fall out of playoff contention.
Last season: 9-8, lost in NFC divisional round
Most of the Buccaneers’ offseason work consisted of holding on to their own free agents — quarterback Baker Mayfield, wide receiver Mike Evans and safety Antoine Winfield Jr. chief among them. The status quo feels fine to the Bucs these days after four straight seasons making the playoffs. That has happened only once before in the team’s 47-year history. A fifth straight trip would set a team record but likely will require holding off a restocked Falcons team in the NFC South. Given the recent history of both teams, the Bucs probably like their chances.
Last season: 7-10, missed playoffs
Jefferson became the highest-paid non-quarterback in the league this offseason when he signed a four-year, $140 million contract extension. That raise comes with heightened workplace expectations because instead of playing with a veteran quarterback in Cousins, Jefferson will have some combination of journeyman Sam Darnold and rookie J.J. McCarthy this season. Jefferson already has 4,825 receiving yards, the most by any player in his first three seasons. He’ll have longtime Packers running back Aaron Jones to help on offense this season.
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Last season: 6-11, missed playoffs
The Titans will attempt to play a football season without Henry this year. Maybe it’ll work, but it feels like a bad idea. Since being selected 45th in the 2016 draft, Henry has accounted for 24 percent of Tennessee’s yards from scrimmage. In place of the bruising Henry, new head coach Brian Callahan has added running back Tony Pollard and wide receiver Calvin Ridley to pair with DeAndre Hopkins around young quarterback Will Levis.
Last season: 9-8, missed playoffs
New Orleans’ cold war against the salary cap continues. The Saints, who are scheduled to be $88 million over the cap next year, are paying a lot of old players a lot of money this year. Alvin Kamara, Marshon Lattimore, Cameron Jordan, Derek Carr and Taysom Hill, all 29 or older, are their highest-paid players and on the back end of their peaks. If free-agency addition Chase Young can jump-start his career, it will help.
Last season: 8-9, missed playoffs
The Raiders signed defensive tackle Christian Wilkins to the third-largest free-agency contract of this offseason, so they’re not acting like a rebuilding team. Just a thought, maybe it’s time they did. Las Vegas has had only two winning seasons since 2002 and will be quarterbacked by Aidan O’Connell or Gardner Minshew this season. In defensive tackle Maxx Crosby and wide receiver Davante Adams, the Raiders have two of the most coveted trade pieces in the league. The Raiders can miss the playoffs without Crosby and Adams the same as they will with them, and they could restock with lots of high draft picks if they move them.
Is Raiders star Maxx Crosby in Las Vegas for the long haul or will he be traded this season? (Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
Last season: 4-13, missed playoffs
The Commanders signed a host of second-tier free agents in March, but the big move came in April when they drafted Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Jayden Daniels with the No. 2 pick. It looks to be a long build behind Daniels. The Commanders were 25th in scoring (19.35 ppg) and last in points allowed (30.5 per game) last season. Former Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn was hired in the offseason to fix things after a long courtship with Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson proved unfruitful.
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Last season: 6-11, missed playoffs
Giants fans should keep Oct. 19 clear on their calendar. That’s when the Georgia Bulldogs will be playing the Texas Longhorns, and chances are at least fair the Giants’ next quarterback will be on the field. With Georgia’s Carson Beck, Texas’ Quinn Ewers and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, the 2025 quarterback draft class should have plenty of options. Of course, maybe Daniel Jones (and his $41 million, soon-to-be $58 million cap hit) will be the answer. His career 22-36-1 record and career 6.6 yards-per-attempt average, which ranks 39th in the NFL in the last five years, would suggest otherwise, though.
Last season: 4-13, missed playoffs
The first Patriots season without Bill Belichick as head coach since Bill Clinton was president starts with a question at quarterback. How long can veteran Jacoby Brissett hold off No. 3 pick Drake Maye? That’ll be up to new head coach Jerod Mayo, the former New England linebacker and linebackers coach. Both Maye and Mayo should get some grace as they start their careers because New England is 29-38 in the last four seasons (yes, that’s how long Brady has been gone).
Last season: 4-13, missed playoffs
The Cardinals enter coach Jonathan Gannon’s second season with more optimism than has been earned by the team’s eight wins in the last two seasons. Quarterback Kyler Murray got some help this offseason in the form of No. 4 pick wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., but it’s the defense that really needs a boost. Arizona gave up the second-most points (455) in the NFL last season. The Cardinals have been the most generous team in the league over the last two seasons, allowing 904 points.
Last season: 8-9, missed playoffs
Sean Payton’s career post-Drew Brees hasn’t gone much better than Belichick’s did after Brady left New England. Payton is 17-17 in two seasons without Brees — one in New Orleans and last year in Denver. Payton thinks he’s found the answer in rookie quarterback Bo Nix, whom the Broncos took with the 12th pick of the first round. Not many people agree with him. Nix was widely considered a second-round prospect who padded his college numbers in a quarterback-friendly offense at Oregon. In fact, Denver’s entire quarterback room — Nix, Jarrett Stidham and Zach Wilson — makes it seem like Payton just wants to prove how good he is as a quarterbacks coach.
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Last season: 2-15, missed playoffs
Maybe the Panthers really, really wanted Dave Canales as their head coach. Or, maybe more high-profile candidates were scared off by the combination of owner David Tepper and quarterback Bryce Young. Canales had a nice year as Tampa Bay’s offensive coordinator in 2023, but it was his only season as a coordinator. If he can reverse Young’s career track, none of that will matter. The former Alabama quarterback’s 5.5 yards per attempt in his rookie season were the fewest for any quarterback in the last eight seasons.
(Top photo of C.J. Stroud: Carmen Mandato / Getty Images)
The Green Bay Packers and quarterback Jordan Love have reached an agreement on a four-year, $220 million contract extension, league sources said Friday. The deal also includes a record $75 million signing bonus and $155 million in new full guarantees, per sources, making Love the highest-paid NFL quarterback.
Love’s new deal puts him in line with Trevor Lawrence and Joe Burrow, all of whom are earning $55 million per year as the top-paid quarterbacks on an annual basis. Those figures come in above quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa ($53.1 million per year), Jared Goff ($53 million per year), Justin Herbert ($52.5 million per year) and Lamar Jackson ($52 million per year).
The agreement also ends Love’s “hold-in” as the quarterback decided to skip practice until he received a new contract. Love reported to camp on time and will participate in other team activities outside of practice.
Love participated in all offseason activities even without a new contract, but the quarterback’s representation informed the Packers just before the start of training camp that he wouldn’t practice.
“I feel we’re close,” Packers GM Brian Gutekunst said at the start of training camp.
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Love, 25, was set to enter the final year of his contract and is coming off a breakout first season starting in which he helped the Packers to a surprise divisional-round playoff appearance. He threw for 4,159 yards, 32 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in 17 regular-season games.
He now heads into his second season as the Packers starter after sitting four years behind current New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The Packers and Love agreed on a one-year contract extension ahead of last season that only tied the quarterback to Green Bay through this coming year. That extension was worth up to $22.5 million, including $13.5 million fully guaranteed.
Why Green Bay made this deal
The Packers shocked the NFL when they traded up in the 2020 first round to draft Love with four years remaining on Rodgers’ contract. Love bided his time for three years behind Rodgers and the long game paid off for him, Gutekunst and the organization that kept faith in their new franchise quarterback.
The Packers are hoping Love can follow in the footsteps of Brett Favre and Rodgers and give them three consecutive Hall of Fame quarterbacks, though Love has plenty more to accomplish to get there after a breakout first year starting in which he was arguably the NFL’s best quarterback the second half of the regular season.
In his first three years in the NFL, Love only started one game, a Week 9 loss to the Chiefs in 2021 on short notice after Rodgers tested positive for COVID-19. Love struggled under relentless pressure from Kansas City as the Packers only scored once in a 13-7 loss, but Gutekunst was impressed with Love’s ability to persevere through adversity. In addition to three years of watching Love behind the scenes and in practice, the Packers felt confident enough to hand the reins of the offense over to an unproven 24-year-old.
Their decision paid off, and Green Bay looks to have struck gold again in the form of a player now tied for the highest-paid player in NFL history. — Matt Schneidman, Packers staff writer
Required reading
(Photo: Patrick McDermott / Getty Images)
Winning an Olympic gold medal is considered a crowning achievement for an athlete, so it’s only fitting that the physical medal represents the significance.
What’s on each gold medal is special for every Olympic Games, but Paris 2024 is particularly notable because, when athletes win gold, they will take home a piece of the Eiffel Tower, an iconic landmark of the host city.
The Eiffel Tower played a major role in the Paris 2024 opening ceremony. From beaming lights and the Olympic rings to the comeback performance of Celine Dion, “La Tour Eiffel” showcased its grandeur to the world. And now, it will be part of the athletes’ medal collections.
What else is unique about these gold medals and how are they connected to the Eiffel Tower? Here’s what to know.
How many Olympic medals are created?
Around 5,084 medals were developed for Paris 2024, per multiple reports, which note that approximately 2,600 medals have been created for the Olympics and 2,400 for the Paralympics.
How much do the Olympic gold medals weigh?
The gold medal weighs 1.17 pounds. The silver medal, by comparison, weighs 1.16 pounds while the bronze is one pound.
Who designed the Olympic gold medals?
Chaumet, the French luxury jewelry and watch brand, designed the Olympic medals. Founded in 1780, Chaumet is owned by LVMH (Moët Hennessey Louis Vuitton).
What features are on the Olympic gold medals?
The Olympic gold medal consists of three features: the hexagon, radiance and setting.
In the middle of the medal is a hexagon. It pays homage to France’s nickname “L’hexagone” given the country’s roughly six-sided shape.
The hexagon is surrounded by several strand-like shapes. This symbolizes the radiant light, as Paris is often referred to as the “city of light.”
On the six edges of the hexagon are claw settings. The shape is similar to those found in the rivets on the Eiffel Tower.
Olympic rings were illuminated on the Eiffel Tower during the opening ceremony of 2024 Games in Paris. (Photo: Ludovic Marin – Pool / Getty)
What is the Eiffel Tower connection?
The Eiffel Tower was the defining fixture of the 1889 World Fair. The original tower was made with wrought iron.
When the Eiffel Tower underwent renovations in the 20th century, they preserved pieces of the original iron and kept them in storage. Those chunks make up the hexagon figure in the middle of the Olympic gold medal.
According to multiple reports, 0.04 pounds of iron renovation pieces from the Eiffel Tower are included in each medal.
Gold, silver and bronze medals began at the 1904 St. Louis Olympic Games. It’s estimated that 1,011 medals — in terms of the Games’ medal count — will be handed out at Paris 2024 (more medals were developed to account for team events). This is the first time a piece of a city’s historic landmark is included in an Olympic medal.
How much is an Olympic gold medal worth?
According to Forbes, a Paris 2024 Olympic gold medal is worth approximately $950.
What happens at the medal ceremony?
The gold medal is placed around the winning athlete’s neck atop the podium. The athlete also receives a stuffed souvenir of the Paris 2024 mascot. Then, the national anthem of the winning athlete’s country plays — a tradition that began for gold medalists at medal ceremonies in 1932.
Required reading
More on the 2024 Paris Olympics from The Athletic…
(Photo: Thomas Samson / AFP via Getty Images)
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — It’s the biggest event of Induction Weekend that no one on the outside ever gets to see. It arrives on that Sunday night, far from the induction stage …
When all the living Hall of Famers come to dinner.
And so often, when that moment arrives, the questions these men ask is not: What’s for dinner? It’s more like: What the heck am I even doing here?
“I’m going to say this,” new Hall of Famer Adrián Beltré admitted the next day, at the annual Hall of Fame roundtable. “I don’t think I belong here, because I idolized so many players here that I could not believe I was in the room that night, having dinner with those guys.
“We walked in, and you can see all those guys,” Beltré went on. “It’s like you’re in heaven, right?”
The awe he felt is still a thing, but not just for him. And that should tell us something, because the two legends who have spent the last four decades inspiring the most awe in that room are no longer with us.
Willie Mays first attended that dinner in 1979, when men like Earl Averill and Cool Papa Bell were sitting at those tables. Hank Aaron first joined him in 1982, at a time when he was still surrounded by a group that included Luke Appling and Bill Dickey.
From then on, at least one of those two icons was in attendance for nearly every one of those gatherings, from the late ’70s until the pandemic. And let’s just say that when Mays and Aaron were present, there was never any question about who in that room was considered true baseball royalty. Nearly everyone else was just a baseball player.
But now that they’re both gone, I found myself wondering about a fascinating question. When all the living Hall of Famers assemble now, who else in the room makes them feel the way Mays and Aaron once made them feel?
So I spent this Induction Weekend asking seven of them that question. Their answers ranged from names you would expect (Sandy Koufax, Johnny Bench, Mike Schmidt) to names I bet you’d never expect (stay tuned for those). Now I’ll let them tell you why some of their fellow Hall of Famers are not like all the others.
Mays and Aaron reign forever
Willie Mays and Hank Aaron, baseball royalty. (Bettmann / Getty Images)
Willie Mays and Henry Aaron will never walk through the doors of the grand Otesaga Hotel again. But memories of them are still so vivid, and they’re still the names that some of these men mentioned first.
Aaron — “Mr. Aaron. I mean, he was my guy,” Craig Biggio said. “He was the guy. Like when I got inducted (in 2015) — his last year here, I think, was that year. And the picture on my computer is still him and my family. And I don’t call him Hank. I call him Mr. Aaron.
“Even with all the things that he’s been through and everything like that,” Biggio said, “that man was as classy and as great and as amazing, on the field and off the field, as anyone I’ve ever known.”
(Author’s note: Aaron’s last Induction Weekend was actually 2019, not 2015.)
Mays — “If Mays were to walk in this room right now,” said Ted Simmons, a 2020 inductee who never got to dine in Cooperstown with Mays or Aaron, “I’d back up, because let me tell you. I’d want to have a good look.”
Simmons then spun a tale that took him back a half century. This was 1973, when Mays was hanging on in his final season, as a Met, and Simmons was beginning to establish himself as a young All-Star catcher in St. Louis. Then there he was, crouching behind the plate — and up stepped Willie Mays.
“I remember going over him in a pregame meeting,” Simmons reminisced. “And then, when he came up the first time and I got ready to put the signals down … I looked him up and down, and I said to myself — I’m not lying — I said, ‘That’s Mays. That’s Mays, right?’
“Then I put the signals down, and off we went. But if you think I didn’t acknowledge that, you’re mistaken, because this was Mays. And there he was. And I just said: This is a long way from the 28705 (zip code) where I grew up.”
Sandy Koufax, movie star
“The class act just oozes out of his pores,” Ryne Sandberg said of Sandy Koufax, with his wife, Jane Purucker Clarke, at a statue unveiling in 2022. (Kirby Lee / Associated Press)
Sandy Koufax is 88 years old now. He hasn’t delivered a pitch since 1966, when he was still only 30. So he has been a Hall of Famer for an incredible 52 years. Koufax hasn’t attended an Induction Weekend since 2019. But that only adds to the mystique of a man viewed by the other Hall of Famers with astonishing reverence.
“I almost forgot about Sandy because I hadn’t seen him in a while,” said Dennis Eckersley, a 2004 inductee. “But I used to get lunch with him because I got friendly with him here. … So I got to know him a little bit, and I was in awe of him.”
And why, Eckersley was asked, did he feel those goosebumps? What was it about that man that inspired the word “awe”?
“He’s Sandy Koufax,” Eckersley replied, with a look that said it all. “It’s hard to explain it. He’s Sandy Koufax.”
This is where the conversation took a hard turn away from the question many people have been asking since Mays’ death — the who’s the best living player now question. It’s hard to make the argument that the answer to that question is Sandy Koufax, since, despite his unhittable peak, he finished his career with “only” 165 victories, fewer than Derek Lowe or Kevin Millwood.
But if the question is more like who has That Aura about him, then that’s different. Who has that aura? Oh, Sandy Koufax has it, all right — unmistakably.
“Oh, yeah. His name. His aura. The Dodgers back in the day,” said 2005 inductee Ryne Sandberg. “He has a movie-star look about him. He’s a very handsome guy, even as he got older. But just talking to him, the class. The class act just oozes out of his pores. You get that feeling that you don’t know if you’re with the best left-handed pitcher ever or if you’re with a top-notch movie star, or somewhere in between.”
Juan Marichal, last link to the pre-expansion era
Juan Marichal, 86, was the oldest Hall of Famer at Sunday’s dinner. (Gregory Fisher / USA Today)
Let’s think more about The Aura — and why certain people have it. If the only vision we have of a player seems like it came out of an old, grainy black-and-white newsreel, that alone makes him feel like a figure from a different time and place. Doesn’t it?
Does that add to the mythology of Koufax? Of course, it does. And Juan Marichal, the oldest Hall of Famer at that dinner Sunday night (at 86 years old), is in that same class.
Marichal’s first game with the Giants was on July 19, 1960, when there were still only eight teams in each league. Mays and Orlando Cepeda were in his lineup that day. Marichal took a no-hittter into the eighth and punched out 12.
It wasn’t merely a huge day in San Francisco. It was one of the most important baseball moments ever in the Dominican Republic, where Adrian Beltré grew up, hearing about the legend of Marichal.
“He definitely has that aura,” Beltré told me. “And not just with me. With the whole group. You can tell how all the guys are respectful of him. He’s so grateful to everybody. And the way he acts with everybody and talks to anybody, I mean, he has That Thing, that thing that you can tell. He was a really good player, but he has that humanity in him. And he’s got that humbleness to him that people just gravitate to him as a person.”
Cal Ripken Jr., the modern-day Lou Gehrig
Scott Rolen reminisced about watching Cal Ripken Jr. break Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games played record when he was in the minor leagues. (Denis Paquin / Associated Press)
Sometimes, it’s not simply about what you’ve done. It’s what you represent. Do we really have to explain what Cal Ripken Jr. represents? He’s this group’s Tony Stark — the Iron Man of baseball.
He broke one of those Records That Could Never Be Broken, the consecutive games streak of the great Lou Gehrig. And he did that in a time (1995) when every one of these Hall of Famers was alive to see it, to feel it, to remember its impact. So of course, his name came up.
There’s an easy argument that he’s the greatest living shortstop, and the greatest of the last 100 years. So Ripken belongs in two discussions: Who has That Aura … and Who’s the greatest living player now that Mays is gone?
“The pretty cool answer, for me,” said 2023 inductee Scott Rolen, “has got to be Ripken. I can still remember being in Double A, watching him take that victory lap around the field at Camden Yards, breaking the all-time record. That’s pretty iconic.”
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Mike Schmidt, the gold standard at third base
“He is, for me, in my opinion, the pinnacle,” Adrian Beltré said of fellow third baseman Mike Schmidt. (Gregory Fisher / USA Today)
To enter the Greatest Living Player debate, you don’t need to buy a ticket if you’re The Best Ever at your position. So that’s Mike Schmidt, widely acknowledged these days as the best all-around third baseman of his time … or any time.
It was no surprise that Schmidt’s name was mentioned a lot, especially from the men who entered the Hall in the past couple of years.
Of course, Rolen mentioned Schmidt, the third-base giant who preceded him in Philadelphia. But Schmidt’s peak came before Rolen was quite old enough to remember it. Then his arrival in Philadelphia prompted so many comparisons that Rolen was reluctant to wade into that discussion, even now, despite his immense respect for Schmidt and all he represents.
The 2024 inductees, on the other hand, had none of those reservations.
“Michael Jack Schmidt,” said Todd Helton. “That was my guy. So it was cool seeing him.”
Then there was the newest Hall of Fame third baseman. It made perfect sense that Mike Schmidt was the very first name to roll off Adrián Beltré’s tongue when this conversation took off.
“I think mainly, for me, that guy is really Mike Schmidt,” Beltré said. “He is … in my opinion, the pinnacle. Even though I never saw him play, I understood what he meant to the game, what he did at third base.”
Johnny Bench, the best there ever was
“You get here, and he runs the show.” Scot Rolen said of Johnny Bench at Induction Weekend. (Jim McIsaac / Getty Images)
There’s a case for Yogi Berra as the best catcher ever. If you’d like to argue for Bill Dickey or Pudge Rodriguez, Mike Piazza or Gary Carter, go right ahead. But the correct answer is Johnny Bench. So Bench holds a special place in the Cooperstown pantheon — for that and many other reasons.
More than 50 Hall of Famers attended that dinner Sunday night. But when those legends assemble, there is never any doubt about which of them will arise to take charge of every big occasion, from beginning to end of Induction Weekend.
Johnny Bench is that guy. For years, he has taken on the responsibility to represent the group, lead the group and speak for the group. So his fellow Hall of Famers can’t help but pay back that respect, for a man willing to act as the spokesman for the greatest players walking around our planet.
“Johnny’s presence is huge,” Rolen said. “Cal was kind of leading the charge in Major League Baseball when I was trying to get there. And Johnny came before that. But I know what he carries and what presence he has. You get here, and he runs the show.”
Ryne Sandberg grew up riveted by the magnetism of the Big Red Machine, even from 2,000 miles away in Washington state. So no one needs to explain to him why you can’t have any of these conversations without tipping a cap to Johnny Bench.
“His name is just synonymous with baseball,” Sandberg said. “And (loving him) as a kid, and the Big Red Machine, and the catcher, and being that guy and that hitter. … He’s the full package as well. He has the charisma. He’s the character (in the group).
“He has the ability to work a room. He has the ability to stand up there and give a speech and have everybody rolling, and it would be top-notch. He just has that about him. When you say he presides over the group, he does. That’s just what he does.”
Reggie Jackson, captain of the Nickname Hall of Fame
“Mr. October, man, is not a name that everybody gets.” (Thomas B. Shea / USA Today)
When you’re talking about aura, isn’t that what the mythological status of Reginald M. Jackson is all about?
You just have to watch Reggie walk by, and the highlights begin to roll in the minds of folks of a certain age: the three-homer eruption in a World Series clincher … the All-Star Game home run that nearly soared out of Tiger Stadium … and so many more.
Jackson has missed the last two Induction Weekends. But before that, he was a constant for three decades. So even when he’s in the presence of fellow Hall of Famers, he’s larger than life — not to mention louder than life.
“I remember walking down one of these steps (at the Otesaga), I think last year,” said Ted Simmons. “And coming up in the other direction was Reggie Jackson. And think what you want about him. But Reggie Jackson is pretty close to that stratosphere we’re talking about.
“Mr. October, man, is not a name that everybody gets. I mean, there’s something going on there. So if there’s a guy who was on that kind of projectile, he was on it. And I don’t care what you think about Reggie Jackson. He was a superstar. There’s a lot of nicknames. I’m real proud of mine, in fact. I’m proud of being Simba. But they don’t call me Mr. October. And they don’t call anybody else Mr. October. There’s only one: Reggie Jackson.”
George Brett, the Yankee killer
The 41st anniversary of the fabled Pine Tar Game was this week. If it’s not the most famous home run of George Brett’s career, it at least goes down as the most famous overturned home run of anybody’s career.
Does it matter anymore, to the living Hall of Famers, that American League president Lee MacPhail eventually ruled that it counted after all? It does not. It just adds to the legacy of one of the greatest third basemen in history, the greatest Kansas City Royal in history and a man who has spent the past 25 years as one of the most beloved Hall of Famers in this group.
“I always loved George Brett,” Craig Biggio said. “You know, growing up as an East Coast kid and watching him beating up on the Yankees and the whole Pine Tar deal, I loved all that. I was never really a Yankees fan or a Mets fan growing up. So watching him do his magic and then being up here and eating dinner with him, that type of stuff is kind of amazing to me.”
Rod Carew and Jim Kaat, connections to another time
Todd Helton has a special connection to Jim Kaat, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2022. (Gregory Fisher / USA Today)
One of the beauties of Cooperstown is that it’s a reminder that baseball is more than just a game. It’s one of those forces in life that connects generations — especially fathers and sons.
So when Todd Helton gazed around the room at his fellow Hall of Famers at dinner Sunday night, part of the emotion that swept over him was the powerful personal connection that two of the players in that room convey.
To him, Rod Carew and Jim Kaat were more than baseball players whose long, distinguished careers led them to this place. They were links to the short-lived baseball career of his late father, Jerry.
In his speech Sunday, Helton explained that link, saying: “My dad had a brief history in the minor leagues with the Minnesota Twins. After that, he poured that passion for baseball into me. I will never forget being in the backyard, pretending I was Jim Kaat, the first baseball player I ever knew of.”
Helton also spoke in that speech of the first VCR his family ever owned — “for the sole purpose of me watching this 15-minute video of Rod Carew on ‘The Baseball Bunch.’ He was talking about hitting the ball the other way. It was literally the only video we owned, and I must have watched it a million times.”
As he delivered those words, Carew and Kaat sat behind Helton on the stage. Then at dinner Sunday night, Helton was overcome one more time by the sight of those two living links to his father, who died in 2015.
“Obviously, there was the Jim Kaat story,” Helton said the day after that dinner. “As I said, my dad played for the Twins. And he caught him one year in spring training. So that’s who we talked about, was Jim Kaat. Both left-handers. So that’s who I pretended to be. So that was just so cool to see him. And obviously, Rod Carew too, because as I also said, I’ve watched his video a million times.”
But this time, when Helton’s count rose to a million and one visions of Rod Carew — this was different. This was real. This was the magic of Cooperstown.
Other names that came up
THE STARS NO LONGER WITH US: Mays and Aaron weren’t the only missing heroes whose names were dropped in these conversations. Tom Seaver came up. Al Kaline came up. Bob Gibson came up.
“The last few years,” Eckersley said, “we had all those guys leaving. We lost Gibson and (Joe) Morgan, (Don) Sutton and (Lou) Brock, and on and on and on. So the whole room has changed.”
But when Eckersley walks into that room, the men he is most in awe of are still “all the guys I watched when I was 10.”
“They stand out,” he said. “And they always will. Because you were 10. You didn’t have the perspective then, at all. Right? But then again, when I was 10, they didn’t have the spotlight like they do now. You could be a good player. And you might think he’s a superstar if he played for the right teams. But there’s not very many of them.”
THE STARS OF THE LAST QUARTER-CENTURY: Here’s another thought. Do we only have to confine this conversation to the best players of the 20th century?
At first, I was surprised when I began hearing the names of men who played in the 2000s. But why not? There were no rules or time limits to this discussion. So why wouldn’t those names be part of this?
Jim Thome’s name came up — because “there are the guys I played against — the Jim Thomes,” Helton said. “Jim is a great guy and a great person … and there’s certainly an aura factor with him.”
And if we’re talking aura … “I think about the guys who came after me,” said Eckersley. “Griffey Jr. would be a guy to think about in that Greatest Living Player thing.
“In some ways, I’m more in awe of the guys who just came in (to the Hall), like the (Derek) Jeters,” Eckersley went on. “I mean, look at all the publicity they have, guys like Mariano (Rivera) and Jeter and (David) Ortiz. Those guys, they’re bigger than life. Wow. But as great as they are, you can’t put them in Mays’ category.”
So here we are, right back where we began. It was special to talk about every one of these men — living, breathing Hall of Famers with a force field of greatness that surrounds them. We can talk about their aura. We can debate where they stand in the Greatest Living Player discussion. Heck, we just did.
But does that mean it’s safe to drop their names in the same sentence as the late, great Willie Mays? Even for the Hall of Famers who were part of this conversation, that was too big a leap.
“You can maybe try to do it position-by-position,” said Ted Simmons. “But it’s really hard to do. You can’t do it safely.
“But with Mays, you could do it. He played in the right place (New York in the 1950s). He was a way-above-everybody-else type star. And with that kind of focus in that kind of place, with that kind of player, you could jump to that stratosphere. That’s not to say there couldn’t have been others who could do that, but it doesn’t matter — because they could. But Mays did.”
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(Top photo: From left, Hank Aaron, Johnny Bench, Sandy Koufax and Willie Mays are introduced at the 2015 All-Star Game: Icon Sportswire via Associated Press)
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