NFL offseason leads to summer reading

Last offseason, Seattle Seahawks defensive tackle Leonard Williams took on all 1,000-plus pages of Leo Tolstoy’s classic novel “War and Peace.” He has a much quicker read this summer.

Given to him by Seahawks defensive coordinator Aden Durde, “Chop Wood Carry Water” is a motivational fable about a young boy who trains in Japan to be a samurai archer. The book’s prevailing theme is about mastering a process and not fixating on end goals, something Seattle coach Mike Macdonald often preaches to his team.

In every chapter, the boy’s sensei teaches him a lesson, one being about a renowned homebuilder in Tokyo who is famous for his work. At the behest of the homebuilder’s boss, he reluctantly agrees to put off retirement for one last build. He’s told that it’s a special home for a special client. But with his heart not in it, the builder cuts corners — only to learn once he’s finished that he was building his own home: It was a retirement gift from his company.

The lesson is applicable to the 32-year-old Williams and the other players on Seattle’s defensive line who are also reading the book: Jarran Reed (33), DeMarcus Lawrence (34) and Uchenna Nwosu (29) — accomplished veterans who are in the second half of their careers and are coming off their Super Bowl LX victory over the New England Patriots.

“It’s kind of a representation that he wanted to talk to me and some of the older guys on the team, that even though we’ve had great careers, we’ve got respect around the league and stuff like that, how do we really want to keep finishing our legacy?” Williams said.

The Seahawks’ defensive linemen are far from the only players with books on their summer reading lists. For some players, the break between June minicamp and the start of training camp in late July will mark the last focused time they have to read (beyond their playbooks) before the grind of the 2026 season starts.

Next on Washington Commanders offensive tackle Josh Conerly Jr’.s list is “Atomic Habits” by James Clear. Conerly got the book from Commanders general manager Adam Peters, who gave it to him after he was selected at No. 29 in the 2025 draft.

But while New Orleans Saints guard David Edwards said he feels he has more of a capacity to read during the offseason, New York Giants outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux said it’s the opposite for him. Thibodeaux, who says he’s a big reader of self-help books, said he focuses his offseason time on “business and philanthropy” and doesn’t “really have time to read.”

“Then during the season all of that slows down, and I can read books to kind of help you mentally get through that long stretch,” Thibodeaux said.

A torn Achilles caused Saints cornerback Martin Emerson Jr. to miss the 2025 season, and he got back into reading while on bed rest. Emerson, who said he almost exclusively reads nonfiction books, said the nearly six months off gave him “a lot of time to read and to learn.”

Some players say they try to read a little bit every day. Minnesota Vikings quarterback Carson Wentz said he has been reading the Bible and has been going through the text and journaling for the past year or so. In early June, Wentz said he was “still in the Old Testament, in the book of Psalms, moving slow with the journaling.”

“I really just write down, OK, what happened?” Wentz said. “Like, what’s God saying? What’s the storyline in each chapter, but then also what’s the heartbeat of God and what am I learning? How do I apply this?

“I found myself over the years just reading the words on the page. I might get something out of it, I might not.”

Buffalo Bills tight end Dawson Knox is working his way through the books of the New Testament.

“Growing in that way, I think that’s the most important thing I can do with my days,” Knox said. “The most important 30, 45 minutes I can spend during my day is reading the Bible.”

And though Saints linebacker Kaden Elliss said he reads the Bible every day, he’s also reading “Miracles” by C.S. Lewis, even though he claims reading doesn’t come naturally to him.

“Some people are like, ‘Oh, I love to pick up a book,'” Elliss said. “I have to force myself, but I do force myself.”

Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker Foye Oluokun said he likes learning from books, adding, “Reading is an opportunity to kind of lose yourself back into that learning mindset.” Oluokun said his focus is reading the playbook and the game plan during the season, but sometimes he’ll put an audiobook on while in the locker room.

“A chapter a day keeps dementia away, as I say,” Oluokun said. “Just listen to something else that can refresh your mind.”

Our NFL Nation reporters spoke with players around the league about their book habits and what they’re reading this summer. Check out the many picks below.

Bijan Robinson, RB, Atlanta Falcons (age: 24)

Book pick: “The Way to Win” by John Maxwell

His take: “That’s a very good book for me leadershipwise, on and off the field. But doing it with God and trying to enhance everybody here with the same thing, I listen to it every morning.”

Nick Cross, S, Washington Commanders (age: 24)

Book pick: “Mastery” by Robert Greene

His take: “I like it because it’s about how to become a master in a certain craft. It’s always about learning under an apprenticeship. You don’t have to follow the exact road of your apprentice, but it’s taking what you learned from them and making it bigger, making it better, being able to roll in the ebb and flow of what you learned.

“It’s OK if you don’t have all the answers. It’s being able to be flexible enough and fluid enough to learn from someone else, and at the end of the day don’t let them put you in a box, take what they taught you and put your spin on it and just become really good at it.”

Kayvon Thibodeaux, OLB, New York Giants (age: 25)

Book pick: “The Power of Your Subconscious Mind” by Dr. Joseph Murphy

His take: “It’s a short read that goes to show you that everything that your mind absorbs impacts your daily decisions and everything with your happiness and everything else.”

Caleb Lomu, OT, New England Patriots (age: 21)

Book pick: “As a Man Thinketh” by James Allen

His take: “I want to take the time to sit down and [read] it. Kind of a mindset/mentality book, and I thought it would be good for me coming in as a rookie, being able to read that and learn about myself more and how I think and how I work.”

Marcus Mariota, QB, Washington Commanders (age: 32)

Book pick: “Becoming Like Jesus” by Matt Chandler

His take: “It talks a lot about fatherhood and becoming the best version of yourself for your kids, and I’m in that kind of mode right now. So the more that I can learn and how I can be a better father is what really interests me.”

Foyesade Oluokun, LB, Jacksonville Jaguars (age: 30)

Book pick: “1984” by George Orwell

His take: “I read it in high school. We read a lot of books in high school and you didn’t really know the rhyme or reason, but I think things are popping back up, and it’s just cool to refresh yourself of why you learned what you learned back in the day. And it kept you thinking for yourself, really, and thinking bigger picture, but really as you’re becoming your own man, making sure that you’re keeping your values and understanding how people may try to manipulate you into thinking other things and what you learn.

“Now what you learn might also be the wrong thing, too, so you have to see the world for how you see it and stick true to you.”

Damar Hamlin, S, Buffalo Bills (age: 28)

Book pick: “Collective Illusions” by Todd Rose

His take: “It is a very good perspective on learning yourself and learning feelings of navigating, being in different groups of people. How to identify, when you’re a part of a collective illusion, just going along with something because that’s what the group thinks and then realizing that nobody actually agrees with the collective illusion. They just think that that’s what everyone else agrees with and then they commit themselves to it. So, it’s a crazy concept. … It really is a good book.”

David Edwards, G, New Orleans Saints (age: 29)

Book pick: “The Case for Heaven” by Lee Strobel

His take: “He was an atheist [and then] his wife became a Christian. He was an investigative journalist for the Chicago Tribune, went to Yale Law School and he applied his journalism and law tactics to investigate Christianity. … He investigates what the Bible says about heaven, what the different denominations of Christianity also say about it, other religions. And then there is a little bit of near-death experience in there, but it’s just looking at the big picture based on scripture, what the churches teach, how it all kind of fits together. It’s really good.”

Quentin Lake, S, Los Angeles Rams (age: 27)

Book pick: “The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell

His take: “It talks about certain events where things just hit this mark and then they explode after that. … They might have no traction before that, but a certain thing happens incrementally over time and then it just compiles afterwards.”

Other titles NFL players say they’re reading:

Jake Ferguson, TE, Dallas Cowboys: “Lord of the Rings” by J.R.R. Tolkien

Martin Emerson Jr., CB, New Orleans Saints: “The 48 Laws of Power” by Robert Greene; “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill; “The 7 Levels of Consciousness” by Maxwell Sterling

Michael Hoecht, DE, Buffalo Bills: “A World Appears” by Michael Pollan

Juwan Johnson, TE, New Orleans Saints: “Never Finished: Unshackle Your Mind and Win the War Within” by David Goggins

Drew Allar, QB, Pittsburgh Steelers: “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne

Additional reporting by Todd Archer, Mike DiRocco, John Keim, Alaina Getzenberg, Brady Henderson, Brooke Pryor, Jordan Raanan, Marc Raimondi, Mike Reiss, Kevin Seifert and Katherine Terrell