Justin Herbert will forgo the 2019 NFL draft and return to school for his senior season. 

Oregon’s star quarterback announced his decision Wednesday:

A 247Sports 3-star recruit coming out of high school, Herbert quickly became one of the nation’s top passers after he grabbed the starting job as a freshman in 2016. Herbert threw for 1,866 yards and 19 touchdowns in seven starts, becoming the first true freshman to start at quarterback for the Ducks since 1983.

He followed that strong performance by completing an impressive 67.5 percent of his passes as a sophomore but missed five games in 2017 because of a broken collarbone. Herbert completed 59.6 percent of his passes for a career-high 2,985 yards and 28 touchdowns in 12 games as a junior in 2018.

Former Oregon coach Mike Bellotti believes Herbert “regressed” last year, per The Oregonian‘s John Canzano, so another season in Eugene could help the Ducks star’s development.

Still, he had a good chance of being the first quarterback off the board on April 25. The 6’6″, 233-pound signal-caller has good size, pocket presence and a strong arm. He also has the mobility to pick up rushing yards.

One of his biggest knocks is he doesn’t have much experience in playing an entire season. Even though this was Herbert’s third year in Eugene, it marked the first time he appeared in double-digit contests. He didn’t move into the starting lineup until game No. 6 as a freshman. Now, he will get a chance to prove he can play a full year. 

As of Nov. 16, Herbert was the ninth-ranked prospect on Matt Miller’s NFL draft big board. In a defense-heavy class, he was both Miller’s top-rated quarterback and top-rated offensive player. 

Herbert’s return gives Oregon a huge win as the program chases its first Pac-12 title since 2014. The Ducks are 8-4 and will play Michigan State in the Redbox Bowl on Dec. 31. 

Injured Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota says he’s trying to return for Sunday’s crucial matchup against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday with a postseason berth on the line.

“Just taking it day to day,” he said on 104.5-FM’s Wake Up Zone on Wednesday, per Jim Wyatt of TitansOnline.com. “I am doing my best, [trying] to get back. That’s all I can do. I’ll do everything in my power to see if I can go. Again, it is just taking it one day at a time.”

Mariota, 25, suffered a stinger against Washington on Saturday, putting his status in jeopardy for this Sunday’s showdown with the Colts. In his stead, backup Blaine Gabbert led Tennessee to a 25-16 win.

“It was one of those deals where it kind of crunched and basically sent my whole right side numb and tingly,” Mariota said. “It was one of those things, man, and it’s unfortunate because nerves are weird, they take time. But again, I am fighting and I am going to do my best to be out there.”

Having Mariota back for Sunday’s AFC South clash would be vital. With a win, Tennessee would earn the AFC’s final playoff berth. And with a win and a Houston Texans loss against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Titans would win the division with a superior divisional record.

With a loss, however, Tennessee’s season is over.

Mariota has had a solid if unspectacular season, throwing for 2,528 yards, 11 touchdowns and eight interceptions in 14 games, completing a career-high 68.9 percent of his passes. He’s also rushed for 357 yards and another two scores.

Injuries have remained an issue for Mariota, however, as Gabbert has been cast into relief duty in five games this season (Mariota came off the bench after Gabbert was concussed against the Jaguars in September).

Gabbert has been solid enough when called upon to play, but the Titans lose the dual-threat dimension that Mariota offers with his backup on the field.

With the season on the line, Mariota’s presence would be key.

Three days away from the College Football Playoff semifinals, Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa‘s injured ankle is close to full strength.  

Per Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press, Tagovailoa said Wednesday his ankle is between 80-85 percent.

After an ankle injury forced him to exit in the fourth quarter of Alabama’s 35-28 victory over Georgia in the SEC Championship Game on Dec. 1, Tagovailoa had surgery the next day. 

Head coach Nick Saban told reporters the expectation was for Tagovailoa to recover by mid-December:

“He had a high ankle sprain. We’ve got a great medical staff here, and they scope those things to get him to come back together a little bit quicker. It’s usually about a two-week deal. We’ll re-evaluate him in two weeks and see where he is. Very similar injury to what Jalen (Hurts) had, which took him a couple weeks to come back, as well. That’s as much as we can say about it right now, but we’re hopeful that by the time we get started in practice, he’ll be ready to go.”

Tagovailoa participated in Alabama’s first practice on Dec. 14 leading up to the Orange Bowl against No. 4 Oklahoma. 

Alabama’s sophomore sensation had his worst game of the season against Georgia. He went 10-of-25 for 164 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Jalen Hurts led the Crimson Tide on two late scoring drives to complete the come-from-behind win and secure a spot in the College Football Playoff. 

The Crimson Tide will play Oklahoma on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET in the second College Football Playoff semifinal. 

Patrick Mahomes needs a D, and the Raiders need a GM…will they get them? Who’s the Eagles’ best quarterback? How did Derrick Henry become Todd Gurley? The questions (and some answers) in this week’s 10-Point Stance.

1. Being the next Aaron Rodgers isn’t exactly ideal

Once again, he has amazed us.

We think we’ve seen Patrick Mahomes do something he can’t eclipse. A bending and twisting throw. A no-look pass. We think we’ve seen him do it all, and then he does something greater.

Mahomes had another of those moments Sunday night at Seattle. It was, perhaps, his most jaw-dropping one yet:

Throw after throw, play after play, game after game. Mahomes continues to amaze us.

But there’s one problem. A very big problem.

Mahomes can’t do it all alone. He needs help, and he’s getting little from his defense.

Despite his heroics and despite how Mahomes continues to redefine the quarterback position, the Chiefs have lost two straight games and look vulnerable.

Mahomes is terrific, but the Chiefs still have significant holes, mainly on defense. They can barely stop a runny nose. The Seahawks absolutely brutalized them on the ground, rushing for 210 yards and two scores in a 38-31 victory.

What we see with Kansas City is that Mahomes is so good, the Chiefs rely on him almost too much. His specialness is a crutch that the entire franchise leans on far too heavily.

The danger for Mahomes is that he becomes like Aaron Rodgers earlier in his career. Rodgers had to carry the entire franchise on his back because the Packers could never surround him with enough talent on offense and never built a defense that matched his greatness.

What the Packers learned with Rodgers, and the Chiefs need to with Mahomes, is that no one can do it alone in the NFL, no matter how talented he is.

Andy Reid, in the short term, needs to find a way to make the defense work. In the long term, the Chiefs need to avoid becoming those Aaron Rodgers Packers. 

Unless Coach Reid figures out a way to make that defense a whole lot better, the Chiefs could easily be early-round playoff roadkill.

The Seahawks and other teams have exposed Kansas City’s underbelly.

Of course, all is not gloomy. If the Chiefs defeat the visiting Raiders on Sunday, they still get home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, and they are hard to beat at home. 

They are still a dangerous and formidable team because Mahomes is so good.

The Chiefs are also vulnerable for the same reason. They rely too much on Mahomes.

That has to change fast. 

2. Baker Mayfield has to be Offensive Rookie of the Year

Before this season, over the previous two years, the Cleveland Browns went 1-31. The franchise was viewed as a total joke.

Then they drafted Baker Mayfield at No. 1 overall, and the turnaround has been one of the most impressive in NFL history.

The Browns are 7-7-1, and last week against the Bengals, Mayfield went 27-of-37 for 284 yards, three touchdowns, zero interceptions and a passer rating of 121.9. He has 24 passing touchdowns, just two behind the rookie record set by Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson. He’s near this record despite not starting until Week 4.

Giants running back Saquon Barkley will likely win the offensive rookie award, and Colts offensive lineman Quenton Nelson deserves a ton of consideration. But Mayfield changed the direction of an entire franchise.

Not just any franchise. The Browns.

3. Pete Carroll‘s best coaching job

The Seahawks started 0-2 and looked doomed. The roster had turned over. There was no Richard Sherman. No Michael Bennett or Cliff Avril. It seemed like Seattle was clearly in rebuilding mode.

Now the Seahawks are a playoff team, and their young stars, like wide receiver Tyler Lockett, have created an entirely new franchise: one that’s dangerous and will be one of the toughest outs in the postseason.

Carroll has managed all of this with immense skill and resiliency. The team’s front office has long been one of the best in all of sports, but Carroll has been the key this year. The Seahawks weren’t supposed to be this good, this soon.

But they are, and they are in part because of Carroll.

On Monday, the team announced Carroll had agreed to a contract extension.

4. Officiating is still terrible

Just in case you missed the Texans-Eagles game, there was one play that showed not just how officiating continues to be a huge problem but also how officials are missing the most basic of calls.

Defensive lineman Jadeveon Clowney clearly grabbed quarterback Nick Foles by the facemask. You could tell from the way Foles’ head turned around like he was a stunt double in The Exorcist.

There are tough calls during a game, but this wasn’t one of them. It was about as obvious as it gets. And the bad officiating doesn’t even include suspect calls like this one:

Officiating is becoming a total joke.

5. Few want to be Raiders GM

One of the more important—but least discussed—recent stories came from ESPN’s Adam Schefter. He reported that former Giants general manager Jerry Reese declined to interview for the same position in Oakland. Read that again. Reese didn’t decline an offer. He declined an interview.

I can tell you (and this isn’t breaking news) there is great trepidation from personnel men over the Oakland GM position because everyone in the NFL knows the deal. They know it isn’t a true GM position because Jon Gruden is the real general manager.

The Raiders will have a difficult time finding more than a paper-pusher to take that job. It’s like being Donald Trump’s chief of staff. Few people of quality want to do it.

6. What if Nick Foles keeps lighting it up?

The numbers are staggering. Nick Foles had 471 passing yards Sunday in Philadelphia against the Texans, setting a franchise record. He had a 120.4 passer rating.

Foles presents a dilemma no matter what the Eagles say. The problem is: What if Foles keeps playing great, the Eagles get into the postseason, and Foles replicates the success he had last year?

The Eagles say both publicly and privately that this is Carson Wentz’s team. It’s the smart move to both say that and believe it.

Yet, privately, players are absolutely amazed at Foles. They think he has an uncanny ability (one player described it as “freaky”) to run this particular offense with this particular group of players better than any other quarterback in football, including Wentz. But they think Wentz is the better overall quarterback and best for the long term.

Like most things in life, multiple opposing things can be true.

This situation is one of the more interesting to watch in football, especially if Foles gets the Eagles into the playoffs.

7. Why has Derrick Henry exploded?

The Titans running back is putting up some remarkable numbers. Two of them, according to ESPN Stats & Info, are fairly striking:

1. His 12 rushing touchdowns this year are the most by a Titans player since Chris Johnson had 14 in 2009. Johnson remains one of the most underrated players in recent NFL history. The fact that Henry is close to Johnson’s TD numbers is impressive.

2. Henry also has eight rushing touchdowns in his last four games. Neither the Dolphins nor the Raiders nor the 49ers nor the Jaguars had scored as many all year as of Sunday afternoon.

Why is Henry soaring now? Sometimes the answer is simple, and that’s the case in this instance. The Titans knew they needed a better running game, and they emphasized Henry in the game plan. He responded big time, and so did the offensive line.

8. The remarkable Tom Brady

It hasn’t been the best season for the Patriots and quarterback Tom Brady. They look slow and old, and their star receiver, Josh Gordon, is suspended indefinitely.

Still, don’t lose sight of something Brady has done this year. He’s passed for over 4,000 yards. No other player has passed for over 2,000 yards at age 41 or older, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Just step back and take that in for a moment. Despite Brady’s and the team’s struggles, he’s still doing remarkable things. The question now is: How long can he do them?

9. Mike McCarthy’s class act

Fox’s Jay Glazer reported the fired Packers coach won’t interview with any team that currently has a head coach, and I’ve heard the same.

McCarthy doesn’t want to seem like he’s a vulture going after other people’s jobs. This is actually sort of unusual in the NFL. It’s a cutthroat world.

McCarthy has decided to take the high road, and anyone who knows him isn’t surprised.

And, by the way, McCarthy remains at or near the top of a number of teams’ lists.

10. Hopkins No. 1?

In October, I tweeted a list of my top five receivers. The response was, shall we say, interesting. The vitriol from Vikings and Saints fanbases was pretty neat. They were angry because I didn’t have the Saints’ Michael Thomas or the Vikings’ Adam Thielen ranked high enough for their liking. It’d been a while (maybe a few weeks) since I’d been called an idiot that much.

The list was: Antonio Brown, DeAndre Hopkins, Odell Beckham Jr., A.J. Green and Julio Jones.

It might be time to adjust the top of that list. Brown is probably still No. 1, but Hopkins is making the argument for the best in football because he constantly makes catches like this. 

The thing is, Hopkins makes these impossible receptions all the time. That’s not hyperbole. Even when there’s tight defense, he makes the catch.

It’s close. Really close.

Maybe it’s tied.

Mike Freeman covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @mikefreemanNFL.