Latest Micah McFadden injury update is exactly what Giants didn't want to hear
The New York Giants' offense looked as bad as everyone expected in their 2025 season opener, highlighting that this defense needs to play at peak efficiency every week to wring a few wins out of this schedule. That task got much harder when it was announced that a locked-in starter will miss a good chunk of time.
Starting inside linebacker Micah McFadden was taken out of their Week 1 loss against the Washington Commanders with a serious lower body injury that remained a bit of a mystery. There has been some clarity after the latest injury update, and it's not good for the Giants' defense.
Mike Garafolo is reporting that McFadden is in line to miss a significant part of the 2025 season with a foot injury he suffered in the Washington loss. While the Giants are hopeful McFadden could come back before the end of this season, New York will be without him for most of their most important games.
Giants LB Micah McFadden to miss most of 2025 with foot injury
McFadden has topped 100 tackles in each of the last two seasons while picking up four sacks and an interception in that same timespan. While Joe Schoen has a very up-and-down history when it comes to drafting and developing in the later rounds, McFadden was one heck of a fifth-round pick.
In terms of filling McFadden's spot next to Bobby Okereke, look for one of either former Ravens special teams ace Chris Board or 2024 sixth-round pick Darius Muasau to step in. Neither of those two is an ideal starter, but desperate times call for desperate measures in New York.
The Giants don't have a ton of time to lick their wounds. Their next three games without McFadden will come against a division rival in the Dallas Cowboys, who looked better than expected, the reigning AFC Champions in the Kansas City Chiefs, and a Los Angeles Chargers squad led by a terrific quarterback in Justin Herbert.
2025 may be a long year for both the Giants as an organization and their fans, and losing one of the team's better internal development stories right before the schedule starts to show teeth is brutal.
Broderick Jones Under Fire as Big Ben Questions Steelers’ Front Five
The Pittsburgh Steelers got off to a 1-0 start to the 2025 season after picking up a 34-32 Week 1 road win over the New York Jets Sunday. It wasn’t all perfect, however, and former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger came away concerned about the offensive line, more specifically, left tackle Broderick Jones.
Aaron Rodgers, making his team debut under center, was sacked four times. Three of those sacks were allowed by Jones, according to Pro Football Focus. From what Roethlisberger observed, Jones looked like a “turnstile” against the Jets.
“What’s going on, on the O-line has to be like pulling hair out because you’re running for 53 yards, and you’ve given up four sacks,” Roethlisberger said on his Footbahlin podcast. “And with all due respect, Broderick Jones looks like a turnstile. I mean, it was bad. I don’t know how many of the sacks were on him, but it felt like there was a lot of pressure coming from that left side.”
Jones was ineffective as a pass blocker, and a run blocker. PFF gave him an overall grade of 54.5, 50th among 65 offensive tackles in Week 1. Beyond the sacks allowed, Pittsburgh’s offensive line struggled to create holes for the ground game. The Steelers rushed for just 53 yards on 20 carries.
The Steelers need Broderick Jones to be better
This is a big year for Jones. He was the Steelers’ 2023 first-round selection out of Georgia and to this point, he hasn’t proven to be a viable starting option. This year, he’s back at his natural left tackle spot after starting 16 games at right tackle last season.
The spotlight is on Jones to perform and help keep the 41-year-old Rodgers upright — he did not do that Sunday. Head coach Mike Tomlin acknowledged that Jones needs to play better.
“It could be better, but certainly all of our performances could be better,” Tomlin said. “As I mentioned, our quarterback got hit too much, and he was a component of that.”
Tomlin isn’t worried about Jones losing confidence: “I do not… because it’s football. You don’t get to the National Football League by being fragile emotionally. There’s a lot of confident guys that I work with. You win some battles, you lose some battles. You come back fighting. That’s just the nature of the men that play this game at this level.”
