In just his second game with his new team, Cam Bynum sprawled out onto the turf for a game-swinging fourth-quarter interception. It gave his Indianapolis Colts new life against the then-undefeated Denver Broncos, and it marked another triumph for the 2021 fourth-round pick once considered too small for football. How did the safety celebrate such a clutch play? By running over to Blue, the Colts' mascot, and wobbling jubilantly together.

At this point, seasoned NFL fans are used to seeing Blue across their screens. He's a staple of Colts broadcasts, and he's amassed a dedicated following on social media. It's not like Indianapolis is a premier market, and the franchise itself hasn't reached a Super Bowl since the 2009 season. Blue simply has the juice. Some mascots are born for the limelight and gravitate into the frame, while others choose to stay in the shadows a bit more. There's no right or wrong way to cheer as a fuzzy, anthropomorphic team symbol.

Bynum and Blue's semi-synchronized dance got us thinking about the other mascots we see on TV. Watch enough NFL RedZone and certain characters start to stand out. Below are our 10 picks for the most telegenic mascots in the league, plus an honorable mention for Nashville's cheerleader-eating raccoon.

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He's not on screen as much as some of his peers, but he deserves recognition for ingesting a Titans cheerleader during the doldrums of a 2010 game. That high-definition video is still up on the Titans' website.

Why is he a raccoon? Because that's the state's official wild animal, apparently. Where did he go to college? The Tennessee Academy of Fine Arts and Hysteria, which is very much unaccredited because it does not exist. Why did he eat that cheerleader? "It's the unanswered questions that makes it worth getting up in the morning," Stephen King once wrote, presumably about T-Rac.

Philadelphia is on a higher plane of consciousness when it comes to mascots. Gritty (NHL's Flyers) has his own mythos that continues to grow in the public imagination. The Phillie Phanatic (MLB's Phillies, duh) is one of the most famous mascots in all of pro sports. By comparison, Swoop is a bit more modest in behavior and straightforward in aesthetic. But he's still all over the TV screen, buoyed by the team's recent string of Super Bowl appearances (and rowdy championship parades). Other winged and beaked mascots soar higher, but Swoop definitely dances the most.

Do you know who holds the Guinness World Record for highest indoor rope swing drop? It would be weird if the answer were anyone other than Freddie Falcon, right? Yes, it's Freddie Falcon. ATL's feathered friend had an early national TV moment when he tackled a streaker during "Thursday Night Football" in 2014. Later, Fox caught him dumping a bucket of cheese on a visiting Packers fan. The expressive eyes make his antics a bit funnier and carry him into the top 10. He was the NFL's Mascot of the Year after the 2023 season.

Twenty-eight NFL teams have mascots, but precisely one was brave enough to name theirs after the king of Gothic fiction. Baltimore's trio of black birds are named Edgar, Allan and Poe, which is unequivocally awesome. Unless you're a fan of an AFC North rival, Poe's triumphant emergence from the tunnel after a preseason injury will give you chills. A star is born:

We are all products of our environment, and Blitz perfectly carries the grungy cool (or gray-sky sorrow) of the Pacific Northwest. He sulks when things go south, as seen above, but he moshes in better times. Blitz repeatedly finds himself in the middle of touchdown scrums, and his glow-up from bright-beaked ball of feathers to buff neon frontman has been nothing short of miraculous. He and No. 3 on this list (we take spoilers seriously) are the two most recent inductees into the Mascot Hall of Fame.

Sir Purr is everywhere. He's the only mascot to down a punt in the field of play. He's the team's replacement DJ. TV crews capture him jumping around as part of the "Keep Pounding" bass drum smash, and he won Mascot of the Year for the 2017 season, probably off the strength of his elaborate outfit changes. Seriously, so many costumes -- Darth Vader, Paul McCartney, the Easter Bunny and this Paddington Bear-inspired getup among them. Maybe the camera loves him because he leads the league in dressing up. And maybe that's why one of his teammates couldn't recognize him:

Miles was the one to break Peyton Manning's retirement news, days before Super Bowl 50 kicked off. Miles was the one who encapsulated the entire Russell Wilson-in-Denver experiment, dejected and down on all fours. He does numbers online for crowdsurfing, and leads the Bronco Shuffle in pregame studios. Above all, Miles is an energy-setter. He cannot and will not stop drumming, even when he is repeatedly asked to stop during a playoff game. The piercing orange eyes get him on TV, and the relentless intensity keeps him there.

Like Swoop with the Eagles, the Chiefs' costumed totem benefits from the omnipresence of his team. Is this guy a system mascot? Absolutely not. There's a reason why he was the first NFL mascot to make the Hall of Fame (class of 2006). If you are not supposed to be on the field at Arrowhead, be prepared to get decked by KC Wolf (exhibit A; exhibit B; exhibit C). He earns his favor through sheer fearlessness. Inside all of us are two wolves, but inside this particular wolf is one man ... who incurred seven broken ribs, a collapsed lung, a shattered tailbone and a broken vertebra after a stunt went awry in 2013. That man, Dan Meers, worked another dozen seasons before announcing his retirement. And no, we are not holding the KC Wolf's armed robber look-a-like against him.

Now is when you realize that there are five NFL mascots in the Mascot Hall of Fame, and three of them hail from the AFC South. That's right ... the division that has long functioned as a meme and a pejorative is the undisputed No. 1 at something. Toro is the self-proclaimed CEO of pranks, but he's nice on the zip line as well. Do you know how hard it is to get Joe Buck to acknowledge sideline whimsy? Toro did it on "Monday Night Football." He's what it looks like when the bull becomes the bull fighter, as seen in this skit from his inaugural 2002 season. This is a good time to check behind your closet door and underneath your couch, because there is a non-zero chance that Toro is posted up and waiting to get your reaction.

If this is the only thing that British onlookers know about the Jags, well, that seems wholly appropriate:

Before Bynum was celebrating with the Colts, he was choreographing group dances for the Minnesota Vikings defense. Which mascot would have the courage to disrupt that dance and almost start a fight? It's Jaxson, of course. He pulled up to a 2022 game in a speedo, and it was as disarming as you'd expect. Does a mascot get its hackles raised after plunging into the home stadium's end zone pool? We all know who to ask. Like Toro, Jaxson is enshrined in the HoF.

Who else could it be? The hip thrust may look celebratory for Colts touchdowns, but it gets reworked to antagonize opponents. He falls to his knees in agony like Greco-Roman combat art. He pies his coworkers with righteous fury. The kids like him even as he hit-sticks them. Blue is a four-time Mascot of the Year and the reigning winner. It's early, but we like the Hall of Famer's chances to repeat and add a fifth ring for the cobalt-colored pinky.

Before the outrage comes in, we have two clarifications here:

The NFL's top 10 scene-stealing mascots, from a flying falcon to a jiggling blue horse