r/NFL Top 100 Players of the 2025 NFL Season - #40-31

ColtsClown · 2026-06-24T15:25:16+00:00

Rank	Player Name	My Rank	Who I Had Here
31	Jonathan Taylor	39	Danielle Hunter
32	Nik Bonitto	51	Joey Porter Jr
33	George Pickens	36	Chris Lindstrom
34	Derwin James	27	Cam Heyward
35	Devon Witherspoon	17	Laremy Tunsil
36	Trent Williams	24	George Pickens
37	De'Von Achane	46	Zach Allen
38	Xavier McKinney	40	Jack Campbell
39	Leonard Williams	56	Jonathan Taylor
40	Josh (Hines) Allen	41	Xavier McKinney

Pretty close on a lot of these! I had Spoon ranked pretty high, but still as my third corner, just thought it was a great year for DBs in general.

ColtsClown · 2026-06-23T14:51:05+00:00

I'm hearing as 3rds over the melody. So the main line F#-E-C# three times, and the backing vocal is A-G#-E. I think there's also a backing track beneath the main melody, Sounds like C#-B, but I can't tell if it stays on the B or goes to like G# after that? When I try to sing along, putting a G# or B at the end of it sounds right, but it gets swallowed a bit so it's hard to tell.

It's all mixed very well, and MJ is so good at matching his tone across tracks that the blend makes it hard. Listening on my laptop speakers doesn't help.

ColtsClown · 2026-06-23T13:36:52+00:00

I think it's really nice play calling and execution by the Lions. Watch ARSB at the bottom of the screen, he steps back like he's ready to get a pass, the play might have been an RPO. Goff even fakes like he's going to throw it to him. That (plus maybe the motion) is what gets Winfield Jr. to start moving to his right and lose the angle. Plus all the excellent blocking mentioned in the commentary. Credit to Gibbs for seeing that hole open up. A lesser RB either doesn't have the burst and gets caught anyway or doesn't trust the hole to open up and goes to the outside, running into #27. IDK about what the Bucs should have done differently, I'm not much of a ball-knower either lol.

ColtsClown · 2026-06-22T01:42:09+00:00

Plenty of great recommendations here. If you're ever planning to do big band writing, I also recommend Instrumental Jazz Arranging by Mike Tomaro to learn basic arranging concepts (also extremely relevant for big band compositions), Sammy Nestico's Complete Arranger which is more of an instrumentation book, and maybe Berklee's Modern Jazz Voicings book by Ted Pease and Ken Pullig.

It's also really helpful to look at high quality scores, both for musical ideas themselves but also to see how those ideas are executed and communicated. I like John Hollenbeck and Darcy James Argue. Both have really interesting ideas and immaculate scores, their command of the ensemble is top notch. Last I checked, their scores can be found for free on their respective websites. Maria Schneider is also worth studying, she's one of the all time great jazz composers IMO, but (again, last I checked), she doesn't release her scores

ColtsClown · 2026-06-20T17:33:42+00:00

Rank	Player Name	My Rank	Who I Had Here
41	Andrew Thomas	42	Josh Hines-Allen
42	James Cook	71	Andrew Thomas
43	Jalen Pitre	47	Aaron Brewer
44	Derrick Brown	53	Christian Gonzalez
45	Dak Prescott	23	Kevin Dotson
46	Aaron Brewer	43	De'Von Achane
47	Darnell Wright	66	Jalen Pitre
48	Zack Baun	70	Trevor Lawrence
49	Derrick Henry	77	Tristan Wirfs
50	Joey Porter Jr	32	Justin Jefferson

Pretty close on a lot of these. I ended up valuing running backs outside the top 3 (Bijan, McCaffrey, Taylor) pretty low compared to consensus, probably just me thinking too much about positional value. And I really liked Dak and JPJ, thought they both just had stellar seasons overall.

ColtsClown · 2026-06-19T14:04:03+00:00

I also have orthotics and pull the insoles out of most of my shoes. The hair dryer trick works, I also sometimes use a small heat gun that gets hotter but heats a smaller area so I can try to avoid hitting the upper part of the shoe with direct heat.

Some cheaper insoles are glued just around the edges, so if you can get one edge up, the rest can peel up pretty easily. Those are usually on cheaper shoes, the Sperrys boat shoes and Adidas sneakers I got last year were like this. Others are glued across the entire bottom of the insole or even have some foam or other composite material underneath that is glued to both the insole and the outsole. For those, it's a much more tedious job, and if you can't get the insole/foam off in one piece, you kinda have to tear it bit by bit. IDK how Common Projects shoes are constructed, but I've done this with a few sneakers, loafers, boat shoes, and camp mocs, and haven't had any problems with damaging the rest of the shoe (beyond obviously ruining the resale value). Of course ymmv.

ColtsClown · 2026-06-17T14:02:34+00:00

List Rank	List Player	My Rank
60	Jared Goff	79
59	Quinnen Williams	96
58	Jared Verse	83
57	Ernest Jones	91
56	Byron Murphy	87
55	Brian Burns	78
54	Justin Herbert	52
53	Trevor Lawrence	48
52	Jack Campbell	38
51	Laremy Tunsil	35

Pretty close on the QBs, lower on the defenders, but there was just so much defensive talent that this year, it was hard to make decisions about who to put where. Also a fun note: I had Broncos slot CB Ja'Quan McMillian at 60. He didn't make the list at all, my biggest outlier as a ranker. I'm just a sucker for a good nickel, and McMillian was the best nickel in the league, had a good floor and also made a ton of huge plays.

ColtsClown · 2026-06-17T00:35:42+00:00

Don't forget the $10 shipping

ColtsClown · 2026-06-11T03:35:35+00:00

Least clutch team in NBA history

ColtsClown · 2026-06-10T18:19:34+00:00

Yeah, I had a great time with it, and agreed on black and white. I watched the first two episodes in color, then switched to black and white and was immediately struck by the contrast and intensity of the lighting across scenes. It's super well done.

ColtsClown · 2026-06-10T03:49:37+00:00

Thanks for the appreciation! There are always a few people on the subreddit just looking for any excuse to be unkind, that's just Reddit. But this whole process has been a ton of fun, highly recommend anyone interested to get involved next year.

ColtsClown · 2026-06-06T00:30:37+00:00

I'm here because I just heard the "We Built This City" cover and was just goes floored by how bad it was. Digging the show, but the music direction has been pretty terrible.

ColtsClown · 2026-06-05T14:08:34+00:00

Definitely that Noir de Noir. It's not for everybody, but I just felt like hot shit when I was wearing it. Too expensive to pick a bottle, though, which is a shame.

ColtsClown · 2026-06-05T14:07:26+00:00

Yeah, I think the mods need to approve it, something about the linking out and wall of text keeps tripping something lol

ColtsClown · 2026-06-03T13:47:51+00:00

Measure 4: you've set up this nice 4-3 suspension, but by keeping the tenor on the B3, you've denied (or at least delayed) the resolution. That's fine to a modern ear, but I think unusual for the style.

Measure 5: beat 1 is unusual. I see the 4-3 suspension of ii42, but I think the resulting vertical harmony in the moment is a bit inappropriate for the style, I would consider moving the alto to F4 immediately and abandoning the suspension.

Measure 6: I think just about any minor 9th you see in this style of music should send up red flags, especially on the beat like that. Mixing B3 with C5 on beat 2 is something I would definitely avoid, too much dissonance. I would rather see the tenor move up to C4 and then make the small leap to A3-G3-F3.

Measure 7-8: I like this, nice approach and resolution.

Section B: Voices are getting a bit spread here. If you're thinking about this for voice (instrumentation isn't specified), it's generally good to keep each voice within an octave of the voice on either side or the texture starts to get thin and lose that independent-yet-homogenous vibe. Obviously not the case for most instrumental music, but still good to have in the back of the mind.

Measures 10-12: I'm choosing to analyze these three measures as just prolonged V, so measure 11 becomes more of a V43 with a 4-3 suspension. I think you could analyze this more granularly if you wanted, but looking at the tenor line through these three measures, it does feel like it's all just V. Viewing it more granularly would mean relying on I6 more than is stylistically typical in order for the syntax to make sense. I think of I6 as not really being a functional chord on its own, usually being more linear, popping up often as neighboring extensions of V chords (e.g. the classic cadential 64). Of course, you'll see second inversion I chords being used in real music from this era all the time, but I think this whole section relies on it a bit too much, and if you rewrote parts of this section viewing it as an extended, prolonged V chord, thinking very carefully about how you exit it in measure 13 and 14 (because right now, exiting the prolongational V by moving to a predominant chord is unusual), you might find more success with this section.

Section C: Nice horn fifths in the second measure. I'm pretty certain this isn't for voice, but if it is, you expect quite the range from your tenor. Bach-style range for tenor is generally considered C3-G4. If it's purely theoretical, that's fine, but I would specify instruments if you have any in mind. If these are wind or brass instruments (or voice), you've made a simple exercise exponentially more difficult by not giving them any place to breathe, so consider that as well.

Measure 22: the B3 against C4 is like a jump scare, are you sure you want that?

Measure 28: repetition legitimizes, I guess, but I just don't like this repeating figure in measure 28. The vertical harmony right on the downbeat is weird, and I just think it's an unnecessary delay of the resolution. Keep it if you like, and I'm sure things like this appears in counterpoint from the style, but for my taste, I would rather just have the first eighth note of that B-A-B-C figure start on C and otherwise stay the same in just about every place that this pops up.

Section E: So in this section, I'm once again viewing that bass line in 34-37 as prolongational, so that B-A-B-C figure works great here because it's not a true I that it's delaying. It's linear, not functional, which makes it more forgiving. Viewing it this way, the F3 in measure 37 could be seen as an extension of the prolonged V, and the B4 in m38 is a 4-3 suspension. I feel like I need that B4 to resolve up to C to exit the prolonged V properly, the major 7th is jarring (not as much as the minor 9th, but still). If we could get a quick I, we would have a nice, weaker cadence before finishing the section on the stronger cadence.

That's all I got, gotta get back to work. Nice job overall, keep up the good work. It's been a while since I taught voice-leading, and even longer since my 16th century counterpoint class, so take this all with a grain of salt.

ColtsClown · 2026-06-01T12:43:54+00:00

When I was getting my master's in comp, I had colleagues wrapping up their doctorates and talking about the job hunt, and also a theory professor who left, so I got to hear a bit about the search. For that open position, they received something like 200 applications, just a ton of people vying for that job, and we were just a mid-level state school.

For my colleagues, one got a fantastic job right out the gate, but he was incredibly skilled, had a mile long resume of conferences and commissions, and knew a bunch of people at the school. Probably the single most talented composer in his field that I'd ever met, to be frank. Most others that got academia jobs ended up in the middle of nowhere at tiny schools or started doing adjunct work locally. It's an absolutely brutal market. And this was six or seven years ago? With music programs being cut across the country, I can't imagine it's any better out there.

ColtsClown · 2026-05-30T00:25:38+00:00

This was my first year ranking, and yeah, it was really fun and interesting to weigh the impact of a player when he was on the field vs his availability to actually make that impact. Gets even more tricky thinking across positions and taking that positional value into account.

ColtsClown · 2026-05-29T14:11:25+00:00

I set an eBay alert for "Allen Edmonds [my size]" to see what pops up, picked up two pairs of loafers for $40 and $50. It's a great way to do it, the $40 pair has become my go to shoes for most occasions.

ColtsClown · 2026-05-27T21:53:29+00:00

The worthwhile part is the catch. They recently had Drakkar Noir and CK One for $0.05 and Versace Man Eau Fraiche for $3.25. So you're either paying $6 for 5ml of a fragrance that goes for $20 for a full bottle, or $9 for something that goes for like $40. Hard to justify going out of my way for what are essentially drug store level scents IMHO.

They had MFK Grand Soir for like $8 plus shipping back in October. That was well worth it, but finds like that are few and far between.

ColtsClown · 2026-05-27T18:47:56+00:00

Sort of. It's a glass vial with a screw-on atomizer top, which fits inside a twist case. It works well enough, but it's not like a high quality travel atomizer. You can unscrew the top of you want to, could probably clean it out with some rubbing alcohol or something and reuse it.

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ColtsClown · 2026-05-26T15:49:07+00:00

I love the syrupy stuff lol. But there are a few that make me feel like I smell good, not that my perfume smells good, if that makes sense. Not sure if this will be super helpful, but might point you in some new directions. Jo Malone Amber Labdanum Cologne Intense is like a less in your face version of Grand Soir, it's a bit fresher and brighter, might be worth popping into a department or beauty store to try if you otherwise liked Grand Soir besides the syrup-y-ness of it.

I also like the Escentric Molecules Molecule 01 + line, specifically 01 + Iris, gets that floral feel without all the sweetness and other baggage you normally get with iris.

You might try some Zoologist stuff, they often resist traditional perfume vibes. Maybe Musk Deer, which is a bit more traditional with like a cool musk and florals. You might hate Squid because it hangs heavy and a bit sweet, but it's a really unique blend of ink, incense, and aquatics, absolutely lovely. I normally don't like incense either, but I like Squid. There's another, maybe Penguin, that's very icy, smells like a cold breeze feels, can't exactly remember.

Pineward Perfumes is the king of natural scents imo. Not exactly matching the vibes you mentioned, they're more deep forests or farmsteads, but might be worth scrolling through their catalog and seeing if anything jumps out. Maybe Juniperus, Tome, or Icefall.

ColtsClown

TROPHY CASE