Dan Johnson has been an editor, writer, and analyst for DraftKings and DraftKings Network since 2024. He’s previously held editorial posts at The Paris Review, Macmillan Publishers, Bedford/St. Martin’s Press, ASSIGNMENT Magazine, and FantasySixPack. You can find his various editorial work & writing (sports-related and non-) at all of the above.
MetLife gets these games when the standings are already settled and the tape still matters. Minnesota is 6–8, New York is 2–12, and the playoff race is gone. The Giants live under the No. 1 pick shadow, even if nobody says it out loud. Wind at this stadium turns routine drives into decision drives. J.J. […]
December 20, 2025
Miami is 6–8 and Cincinnati is 4–10, and both are already eliminated from the AFC race. That puts this game in the “jobs, standards, and evaluation” bucket, not the seeding bucket. Quinn Ewers gets his first real NFL start, so Miami is stress-testing its structure in real time. Joe Burrow arrives after a shutout, and […]
December 20, 2025
Sunday in Arlington cares not for either team’s pre-December pedigree. The Chargers walk in with clinch pressure in their pockets and a coach who treats December like an audit. Dallas plays with the season’s oxygen thinning, and the building will feel it early. This is the kind of Week 16 window where the out-of-town scoreboard […]
December 20, 2025
This one feels like a December knife fight dressed up as an NFC South game. Both teams are 7-7, and this is the kind of afternoon that turns a division into a referendum. Tampa has owned the rivalry, but Carolina has stopped playing like a polite underdog. It’s also the first of two meetings in […]
December 20, 2025
No. 3 Duke walks into Madison Square Garden unbeaten at 11-0, carrying the ACC’s cleanest profile into a spotlight slot. No. 19 Texas Tech shows up 8-3 from the Big 12 grind, built to drag games into contact and late-clock toughness. The board is asking Duke to create distance on a neutral floor. Duke -8.5 […]
December 20, 2025
No. 21 Auburn and No. 6 Purdue meet in Indianapolis with the kind of neutral-floor tension that makes December feel like March. Purdue is 10-1 and carrying Big Ten expectations into a spotlight game that demands polish. Auburn is 8-3, battle-tested, and wired to turn these stages into full-contact exams. The number says Purdue should […]
December 20, 2025
Saturday night in Chicago isn’t entertainment, it’s an audit. The Bears and Packers drag the same division argument back into the room, only louder. Last week’s result lives in both staffs’ heads, but it cannot write the sequel. Late-season whistle chatter hangs over every tight fourth quarter, and both teams know it. Chicago also comes […]
December 19, 2025
Washington walks into Climate Pledge with the shiny-name tax, but this is not some sleepy buy-game. Seattle U is 9-2, sitting atop the WCC, and they’ve been playing with real edge in their own city. This is a late-night Seattle stage where the underdog gets to throw punches without the early-tip nerves. Washington is 7-3 […]
December 19, 2025
Week 16 quarterback feels like the position got dragged into a cold courtroom and cross-examined under stadium lights. Patrick Mahomes’ season-ending knee injury wiped out the league’s safest autopilot, and Gardner Minshew now steers Kansas City. Miami just benched Tua Tagovailoa for rookie Quinn Ewers, a mid-December gut-check with nothing sentimental left. Washington ruled out […]
December 19, 2025
Two OVC teams open a conference stretch that can rescue a season fast. Little Rock shows up at 2–9 after living out of suitcases for a month. Southern Indiana sits 3–7, and this is the kind of home spot that has to become a foothold. Nobody’s coasting into January with these resumes. This is urgency […]
December 18, 2025
OVC play opens with two 5–6 teams that badly need a clean league start. SEMO arrives with preseason expectations and a recent three-game surge to steady its footing. Tennessee Tech gets the comfort of Hooper Eblen, plus a real chance to bank a statement win early. The number sits at SEMO -2.5 with a 155.5 […]
December 18, 2025