Week 18 settles playoff field and draft order but also served as the last chance to reach bonuses

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Week 18 settles playoff field and draft order but also served as the last chance to reach bonuses

2025-01-07 18:55 Last Updated At：19:11

DENVER (AP) — It's not about the money until it is.

The final weekend of the NFL regular season brought the usual intrigue over which teams would clinch the final playoff spots — the Buccaneers and Broncos — and who would get the No. 1 overall draft pick — the Titans — presumably to choose between Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders and his teammate, Heisman Trophy-winning, two-way star Travis Hunter, in the NFL draft in Green Bay.

Then, there were the smattering of money-packed milestones for some players who were within reach of lucrative contract incentives in Week 18.

Tampa Bay receiver Mike Evans had the most at stake. He needed five catches totaling 85 yards for an extra $3 million, which is one reason Baker Mayfield didn't just take a knee when the Bucs got the ball back with 36 seconds left up 27-19 on the Saints with Evans sitting at eight receptions for 80 yards.

That put his season total at 995 yards, threatening to end his streak of 10 consecutive 1,000-yard seasons.

So, Mayfield threw to Evans, whose 9-yard reception on the final play of the game allowed him to surpass the 1,000-yard mark for the 11th straight season, tying Jerry Rice for the most ever in the NFL and setting off a wild celebration by teammates glad he got a piece of history and that big bonus.

Seattle quarterback Geno Smith needed 185 yards passing against the Rams on Sunday to claim a $2 million bonus and he threw for 223 yards and four touchdowns in Seattle's 30-25 victory.

And Buffalo pass rusher Von Miller's sack of Drake Maye on Sunday was his sixth of the year, good for a $1.5 million bonus.

Baltimore running back Derrick Henry needed one touchdown against Cleveland to earn a $500,000 bonus and he scored twice in the final seven minutes of the Ravens' 35-10 rout of the Browns.

Denver wide receiver Courtland Sutton needed 82 yards receiving against Kansas City for a $500,000 bonus and he got 98 yards on five catches in the Broncos' 38-0 whitewash of the Chiefs' backups.

“Today, with you know, trying to keep track of some of those bonuses, those are good problems,” coach Sean Payton said after leading the Broncos into the playoffs in his second season in Denver. “It's hard to keep track of yards, catches are easy. Sutton needed 82 yards.”

In that game, three-time All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, who was acquired by the Chiefs in a midseason trade with Tennessee, had $1 million worth of bonuses that would have been triggered by catching nine passes ($250,000), for 140 yards ($250,000) and a touchdown ($500,000).

“We want the guys to be able to reach them if they’re reachable,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said last week.

But Reid decided it was better to hold Hopkins out along with the other starters so they could rest up for the playoffs.

Among others who fell short were Cardinals QB Kyler Murray, who threw four TD passes in leading Arizona over the 49ers 47-24 but he needed to run for 50 yards and a touchdown for a $750,000 bonus. He ran for 22 yards and no TDs.

Commanders tight end Zach Ertz stood to earn an extra $250,000 each for reaching 90 yards receiving and two TD catches Sunday and had 44 yards and one TD catch in Washington's 23-19 win over the Cowboys.

Payton recalled when Emmanuel Sanders approached him on the eve of the season finale when they were both in New Orleans.

“When Emmanuel Sanders needed six or seven catches in New Orleans, he came up to me and I said, ‘Look, I already know why you’re here,’ I said, ‘You’ll have six catches before the end of the first quarter, but you’re staying in the game,’ and I think he had like, nine or 10 catches,” Payton said. "But yards are different, some of those things are different, and I want all of them to realize all those things they earned.”

More than securing his bonus, Sutton was elated to clinch his first trip to the playoffs in his seven-year career in Denver.

“Through those dark times, through those seasons where we were playing the last three, four games of the season without playoff contention, those are those times where you have to lean on faith,” Sutton said. “You have to understand that the picture is going to get bigger and better in the long haul. You just have to continue to have that faith that it’s going to get there.”

That bonus was, well, a bonus.

Behind the Call analyzes the biggest topics in the NFL during the season.

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South and Midwest pounded by rains and floods while still reeling from tornadoes

2025-04-05 06:28 Last Updated At：06:32

HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Torrential rains and flash flooding battered parts of the Midwest and South on Friday, killing a boy in Kentucky who was swept away as he walked to catch his school bus. Many communities were left reeling from tornadoes that destroyed entire neighborhoods and killed at least seven people earlier this week.

Round after round of heavy rains have pounded the central U.S. for days, and forecasters warned that it could persist through Saturday. Satellite imagery showed thunderstorms lined up like freight trains over communities in Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky, according to the national Weather Prediction Center in Maryland.

In Frankfort, Kentucky, a 9-year-old boy died in the morning after floodwaters swept him away while he was walking to a school bus stop, Gov. Andy Beshear said on social media. Officials said Gabriel Andrews' body was found about a half-mile from where he went missing.

The downtown area of Hopkinsville, Kentucky — a city of 31,000 residents 72 miles (116 kilometers) northwest of Nashville — was submerged. A dozen people were rescued from homes, and dozens of pets were moved away from rising water, a fire official said.

“The main arteries through Hopkinsville are probably 2 feet under water,” Christian County Judge-Executive Jerry Gilliam said earlier.

Tony Kirves and some friends used sandbags and a vacuum to try to hold back rising waters that covered the basement and seeped into the ground floor of his photography business in Hopkinsville. Downtown was “like a lake,” he said.

“We’re holding ground,” he said. “We’re trying to maintain and keep it out the best we can."

A corridor from northeast Texas through Arkansas and into southeast Missouri, which has a population of about 2.3 million, could see clusters of severe thunderstorms late Friday. The National Weather Service’s Oklahoma-based Storm Prediction Center warned of the potential for intense tornadoes and large hail.

The seven people killed in the initial wave of storms that spawned powerful tornadoes on Wednesday and early Thursday were in Tennessee, Missouri and Indiana.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said entire neighborhoods in the hard-hit town of Selmer were “completely wiped out” and it was too early to know whether there were more deaths as searches continued.

Heavy rains were expected to continue in parts of Missouri, Kentucky and elsewhere in the coming days and could produce dangerous flash floods. The weather service said 45 river locations in multiple states were expected to reach major flood stage, with extensive flooding of structures, roads and other critical infrastructure possible.

In Christian County, which includes Hopkinsville, 6 to 10 inches (15.2 to 25.4 centimeters) fell since Wednesday evening, the National Weather Service said Friday afternoon. The rain caused the Little River to surge over its banks, and 4 to 8 inches (10.2 to 20.3) centimeters more could fall by Sunday, it said.

A pet boarding business was under water, forcing rescuers to move dozens of dogs to a local animal shelter, said Gilliam, the county executive. Crews rescued people from four or five vehicles and multiple homes, mostly by boat, said Randy Graham, the emergency management director in Christian County.

“This is the worst I’ve ever seen downtown,” Gilliam said.

Hundreds of Kentucky roads were impassable because of floodwaters, downed trees or mud and rock slides, and the number of closures were likely to increase with more rain late Friday and Saturday, Beshear said.

A landslide blocked a nearly 3-mile (4.8-kilometer) stretch of Mary Ingles Highway in the state's north, according to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. A landslide closed the same section of road in 2019, and it reopened last year, WLWT-TV reported.

Flash flooding is particularly worrisome in rural Kentucky where water can rush off the mountains into the hollows. Less than four years ago, dozens died in flooding in the eastern part of the state.

Extreme flooding across a corridor that includes Louisville, Kentucky, and Memphis — which have major cargo hubs — could also lead to shipping and supply chain delays, said Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather.

Forecasters attributed the violent weather to warm temperatures, an unstable atmosphere, strong wind shear and abundant moisture streaming from the Gulf. At least 318 tornado warnings have been issued by the National Weather Service since this week’s outbreak began Wednesday.

The outburst comes at a time when nearly half of National Weather Service forecast offices have 20% vacancy rates after Trump administration job cuts — twice that of just a decade ago.

Homes were ripped to their foundations this week in Selmer, which was hit by a tornado with winds estimated up to 160 mph (257 kph), according to the weather service. Advance warning of storms likely saved lives, as hundreds of people sheltered at a courthouse, the governor said.

In neighboring Arkansas, a tornado near Blytheville lofted debris at least 25,000 feet (7.6 kilometers) high, according to weather service meteorologist Chelly Amin. The state’s emergency management office reported damage in 22 counties from tornadoes, wind, hail and flash flooding.

Workers on bulldozers cleared rubble along the highway that crosses through Lake City, where a tornado with winds of 150 mph (241 kph) sheared roofs off homes, collapsed brick walls and tossed cars into trees.

Mississippi's governor said at least 60 homes were damaged. And in far western Kentucky, four people were injured while taking shelter in a vehicle under a church carport, according to the emergency management office in Ballard County.

Schreiner reported from Shelbyville, Kentucky. Associated Press writers Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas, Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee, Jeff Martin in Marietta, Georgia, Obed Lamy in Hopkinsville, and John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia, contributed.