July 10, 2025
By Daniel Cohen
Just two weeks remain in the regular season and the playoff race is as tight as ever, with final seeding still yet to be determined in all four divisions. MVP-esque performances are undoubtedly coming down the stretch, and this week’s watchlist should provide plenty of post-Fourth-of-July fireworks in Week 12.
Hayden Austin-Knab, Atlanta Hustle
In Atlanta’s last game against Carolina, Hayden Austin-Knab led the team in scores and total yards, and he’s averaging 543 yards per game in three games against the Flyers this year, over a hundred more than his season average. He’s having a career year as a thrower, having set career highs in assists (31), completions (337), throwing yards (2,870), and huck completions (19) while taking on an expanded offensive role in his sixth year with the team. He’s brought significant explosiveness as both a thrower and receiver to the league’s number two offense—his deep throws especially have been a revelation alongside those of Austin Taylor—and with this week’s matchup presenting an opportunity to knock Carolina out of the playoffs, expect Austin-Knab to add another strong performance to his stellar season.
Jeff Babbitt, Boston Glory (Pictured)
Jeff Babbitt is just three blocks shy of 20 for the season; if he gets there, he’ll have recorded 20-plus blocks in seven of his nine career seasons, with the only two outliers being two O-line heavy seasons with New York in 2022 and 2023. Since switching to the D-line last month, the two-time MVP has recorded 12 blocks in four games, which puts him on pace to hit 26 in the regular season, a number that’s only been reached once since 2021 (by Lukas Ambrose in his 2024 Defensive Player of the Year season). He remains one of the most dominant jump ball athletes in the league and continues to fly around on defense despite his injury history, using his instincts to poach cutting lanes, help deep, and generally make plays all over the field. Despite suffering their first loss of the season, Babbitt and the Glory defense held DC’s O-line to a 45 percent conversion rate last week, and have now held them to a combined 37.8 percent O-line conversion rate across both meetings (DC’s season average is 54.7 percent).
Noah Coolman, Colorado Summit
The Colorado Summit need someone defensively to disrupt the Shred offense, and Noah Coolman is the guy I’m looking at to step up in their rematch this week. After six straight games with multiple blocks, Coolman failed to record a takeaway for just the second time this season in last week’s loss to Salt Lake and the Summit finished with their lowest takeaway number of the season (just three blocks in 42 total points). The Shred went 18-for-20 on their offensive possessions, their most efficient performance of 2025, and while they came down with their fair share of contested catches, the Colorado defense always seemed to be playing catch up. Coolman is the type of player that can set the tone defensively with shoulder-high layouts and jaw-dropping skies, plays that can rally the team and spark momentum to change the flow of any game, so look for him to take some more chances tomorrow night as the Summit look to pull off the road upset.
Thomas Edmonds, DC Breeze
Thomas Edmonds enters Week 12 coming off his best game of the season in DC’s win over Boston last week. Edmonds tossed two assists and scored four goals (including the game winner) without committing a turnover, and he now has six scores in back-to-back games for the first time since he joined the team in 2023. Like most guys on the Breeze O-line, Edmonds is that prototypical hybrid on which this offense thrives, and while he played mostly on the D-line last year, Edmonds has been slowly becoming an O-line mainstay and played exclusively offense last week. His versatility as a distributor and downfield athlete makes him a brutal matchup for any defense—he’s riding a five-game streak of 300-plus total yard performances—and he’ll look to replicate last week’s success in the final DC–Boston meeting of the regular season.
Scott Heyman, Philadelphia Phoenix
While he’s cooled off a bit in recent weeks since a hot start to the season, Scott Heyman still ranks fourth in the league in yards per game (567) and eighth in scores per game (6.1). He’s looked like one of the most dynamic players this Phoenix offense has ever had, as he’s continually showcased an all-around explosiveness that has clearly leveled up Philly’s attack; in the two games Heyman has missed against Boston and Montreal, the Phoenix converted on just 44.4 percent of their O-line possessions compared to 52.9 percent when Heyman has been on the field this year. They’ve got two do-or-die games this weekend against Boston and New York, and if Heyman can limit turnovers while maintaining his up-tempo hybrid playstyle, Philly could reignite some of their early season fire heading into the playoffs.
Jack Williams, New York Empire
Calvin Brown is not expected to play at home against Philly, which means Jack Williams and John Randolph should be the primary engines of the Empire offense this Sunday. Williams has been turning it on lately, averaging over five scores and 544 total yards per game over his last three; in his first five games of the year, he averaged just three scores and 339 yards per game. He still has the ability to put the team on his back, and one has to wonder if we start seeing even more glimpses of Playoff Jack in these pre-playoff must-win games. It’ll be worth watching whether the offense can keep up its effectiveness without Brown in the lineup, and how roles shift around his absence, but there’s certainly a world in which Jack takes over offensive drives and the O-line doesn’t miss a beat. While it’s been a weird year for New York, they still control their own destiny and will be in a great spot to secure an East Division playoff spot with a win over Philadelphia.
Chad Yorgason, Salt Lake Shred
Chad Yorgason had his second 300-300 (throwing yards and receiving yards) game of the year last week against Colorado, and he’s about to become just the third Shred player in franchise history to record 2,500 throwing yards and 2,500 receiving yards in a single regular season. Having already set a new career high in scores this year with 53, Yorgason’s leap to offensive superstar has clearly elevated Salt Lake’s ceiling, as the team is currently converting a league-leading and franchise-best 63.9 percent of their offensive possessions. There’s yet to be a team that has shown the ability to slow him down in any meaningful way, including Colorado, who threw Noah Coolman on him last week. Sure, throwaways occasionally plague his video game statlines, but Yorgason’s green light is well worth the risk/reward. Will Selfridge is again out of the lineup this week, so Yorgason should continue leading the team in explosive plays and stuffing the stat sheet as usual.
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