NFL Tiers Ahead Of The 2025 Season
I've been extensively working on tiering and breaking down all the teams of the 32 NFL ahead of the new season. Every time I think I'm close to finishing, another team comes to mind, and I find myself saying, "Oh, I forgot about them!" Has that ever happened to you when typing nearly 12,000 words?
In mid-February, the last moments of football come to a close as the final seconds of the Super Bowl tick away. The confetti covers the ground, and a swell of emotions begins to fill the void left by the absence of football. For those invested in the winning team, five months of hysteria give way to excitement and anticipation for the upcoming celebration. However, for everyone else, there is a long wait of seven months—from February to September—before they can experience even a hint of those emotions again. Standing in February, that wait feels especially long. For many fans, feelings of frustration, inquisitiveness, and dread follow. Fortunately, the days of 2025 have moved at a near-record pace, bringing us closer to August and, soon, September. The question now is: which teams have the best odds to bask in the thrill of those emotions, and which teams can prepare me and my fanbase for the coming season? I didn't want to write a "traditional" power ranking because traditions can get boring, especially when none of these teams have established a clear hierarchy based on the lack of football played. This article categorizes all 32 teams into tiers: Contenders, Sub-Contenders, Teams That Need a Little Help to Get Over (a mouthful), and Teams That Have Little to No Shot. According to PFF, out of the fourteen teams from the previous playoffs, half are unlikely to return to the postseason. So, amidst all this uncertainty, we find ourselves sorting through the mess of teams.
Tier 1: Contender.
**Philadelphia Eagles** The Eagles won the Super Bowl in 2025 using a strategy similar to their victory in 2018, primarily by leveraging a superior roster compared to most of the teams they faced during those playoff runs. Unfortunately for the rest of the league, many of the engagement rules, particularly on offense, make the Eagles' quarterback seem like the team's chief weakness, aside from the guard position. While the quarterback remains an MVP, the Eagles' offense relies heavily on the running game, especially when it managed to hit 2,000 yards and nearly break the record. Can the Eagles count on Saquon Barkley to maintain this level of efficiency? Seasons with 2,000 rushing yards are rare for a reason; they don’t happen every year. Will opposing defenses commit to playing single-high coverage, forcing the Eagles to depend more on the arm and passing game of Jalen Hurts in the upcoming season?
**Baltimore Ravens** The Ravens boast one of the most talented rosters in football, though they lack a definitive, elite wide receiver. Zay Flowers, while promising, has yet to prove himself as a game-changer, particularly since he thrives when the Ravens’ offense utilizes him in the slot. Lamar Jackson remains a perennial MVP candidate, and doubts about his ability to win as a passer have largely faded. Similar to the Eagles, the Ravens generate much of their offense through the run game. In fact, only the Eagles attempted fewer passes than the Ravens last season. Baltimore primarily relies on a strong running game, play-action plays, and timely deep throws, creating a surgically effective offense capable of scoring points while controlling the clock. Derrick Henry had an impressive 94.1 PFF grade last season, but concerns remain about whether the Ravens can rely on another outstanding performance from a 31-year-old power back to drive their offense, especially given that the Baltimore offensive line has received generally weak reviews this offseason. On the defensive side, the Ravens aim to bounce back after a disappointing year. While the talent appears strong on paper, the effectiveness of the scheme and how well the players fit into it will ultimately determine their success. The Ravens' standing among the league's contenders will likely be clarified only in the final days of the playoffs.
Kansas City Chiefs—Counting the Chiefs out is a mistake. The AFC still runs through Mahomes and Reid until another team topples this juggernaut. While signs of vulnerability have begun to show, the Chiefs consistently find ways to win. Rashee Rice is expected to return from injury, and the offense will need someone to step up and make a significant impact, potentially Xavier Worthy or Marquise Brown. Either player could provide the necessary deep threat. If none of them can fill the large void in offensive playmaking, the Chiefs will likely remain limited to their efficient short-pass game. On the defensive side, key players such as Chris Jones, a top interior rusher; George Karlaftis, an elite edge rusher; and Trent McDuffie, a top-tier cornerback, all return to anchor the Chiefs' defense. Across the AFC, many of the Chiefs' opponents have weaknesses, especially since the Chiefs don’t need to address every issue; they simply require the right combinations to compete against teams like the Ravens, Bills, and Texans.
Detroit Lions—
The Lions Squandered A Great Chance To Make A Deep Playoff Run By Haplessly Going One and Done In The First Round Of The Playoffs. So Much Can Change Between Offseason, Roster, and Coaching Staff Turnover That Opportunities To Contend do not cease to Become The Stone that starts the Ripple Effect of Downhill Failure. The Lions Lost Both Lead Coordinators, The Offensive Line Suffered Some Turnover, and The Outside Offensive doesn’t exactly leave Fans Convinced. Jameson Williams Had His First 1000 Yard season and Generated A 116.7 Passer Rating On 2.18 Yards Per Route Run. He’s Still Not A Complete Product. He Crushed Defenses After The Catch 8.4 yards per catch, But He’s Still Raw As A Route Runner and doesn’t Bring The Same effectiveness Against Man Defense. The Lions Still Had A Top Ten Defense even after Aidan Hutchinson Went Down With an Injury, and I expect Detroit’s Defense To Remain Strong With The Additions Of DJ Reed, the Return Of Alex Anzalone, and A Strong Secondary.
Buffalo Bills—This Season Could Prove Make Or Break For The Bills under Sean McDermott Or The First Steps Of Their Second Iteration Of The AFC Hopeful. In Sports, it’s Understood That Once A Team Emerges Into The Form Of A Contender, they need To Win It All Or Make The Championship Round Within Maybe five years before The Team becomes disheveled and Needs To Rebuild. After Decades Of Futility, The Bills Became That Contender In 2020, Since They’ve Won The Division Five Straight Seasons, Staving Off Aggressive AFC East Rivals In The Process, But Falling Short Of Championship Glory. The Roster Has Suffered The Effects Of Roster Turnover That Hit Every Team, But The Bills Took Those Strikes At Key Positions and Could Suffer A Few More In The Coming Seasons. The 2025 Roster Looks Nearly Unrecognizable To The One that Ended The Playoff Drought Or Even The Roster That Went Toe-to-toe With The Chiefs In That 2022 Thriller. The Bills' Offense Will Go As Far As Josh Allen Takes Them. The MVP Makes Everything From The Pass and Run Game Work, as He Adjust To Playing With An Unproven Cast Of Players. The Bill's defensive line has good player continuity, but the secondary needs growth outside of Christian Benford.
Washington Commanders—Jayden Daniels Looks Like An MVP candidate Heading Into Next Season, And While The Commanders Have A Tougher Schedule This Year Compared To Last Season, The Team’s Roster Improved Nearly Across The Board. The Commanders Added An Elite Left Tackle In Laremi Tunsil, and A Potential Weapon In Deebo Samuel, To Join Forces With A Hopefully Extended And Well Compensated Terry McLaurin. The Commanders' Defense Has Potential. The Unit forced Several Turnovers On The Teams' Run To the NFC championship Last Season, and This Unit Has The Opportunity To Build On Those Key Performances. The Marshon Lattimore Trade Looked Like A Bad Deal Last Season, But He Could Regain Anything Close To His Pro Bowl Form. I expect the Commanders To Field A Solid, If Not Inexperienced, Secondary.
Minnesota Vikings—Even With Another Transition At Quarterback, This Vikings Roster Has The Mold and Build Of A Contender. A lot Will Depend On The Proficiency and Development Of JJ McCarthy, But The Structure Around Him Looks Nearly Faultless, From The Coaching Staff To The Skill position Players. Very Few Players Fall Into A Near “Dream” Scenario Like The One McCarthy Did In Minnesota. Health Has Nagged The Vikings In the Past Season, With Key Offensive Contributors Like T.J. Hockenson, Justin Jefferson, And Christian Darrisaw All Missing Critical Time. With Darrisaw, One Of The League’s Best Pass Protectors, Not Expected Back Until Maybe Mid Season. The Defense Could Reach Top Five Heights If Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave Display Any Form Of Their Peak Season. Jonathan Greenard Proved He’s Amongst The Best Pass Rushers In The League For Less Than The Price Of Danielle Hunter.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers—Baker Mayfield’s Turnover Problem and The Buccaneers' Turnover At Offensive Coordinator. Mayfield Put Together An Elite Year Last Season: 4500 Passing Yards, 41 Total Touchdowns, a 7.2% Touchdown Per Attempt rate, and Multiple Games Of 3+. The Former Number one overall Pick Took A Circuitous Route To His Place As A Franchise Guy. His New Offensive Coordinator, Josh Grizzard, was Elevated From Passing Coordinator. The Bucs Have One Of The Best Skill Position Groups In Football, and options at Grizzard and Mayfield’s Disposal Should Shake The League—If Deployed Effectively. Did the Bucs secure their Needed Elite pass Rusher In Hasson Riddick? The Former Eagle/Jet Finished a Tumultuous 2024 Season With Uninspiring Numbers. Worse Of All, He’s past the 31-year-old mark.
Of His Career. The Bucs Landed In The Top Ten With 46 and 24% Pressure rate, and an Elite Force Like Riddick Could Propel The Bucs To The Top Of The NFC.
Sub-Contenders—Teams That Have Some Promise But Need A Few Attributes Of The Season To Go In Their Favor To Rise Above The Rest.
Houston Texans—
The Texans Just Missed The Cut For A Spot Amongst The Contenders, For A Reason Everyone Should Know, But Everyone Involved Has To Feel Generally Confident In What They’ve Witness From This Newer, Younger Iteration Of The Franchise. C.J. Stroud's Sophomore Slump didn’t Damage The Promise He Dispelled As A Rookie. He’s A Top Ten Quarterback When Everything Clicks, A Quarterback who's already led his Team To Two Playoff Wins. The Texans Improved Their Skill Position Group Through The Draft, But Until They Suit Up And Catch A Ball, Rookies Don’t Move The Needle For The Team, No Matter how Promising They Look On Draft Boards. PFF Ranked The Texans' offensive Line Last This Offseason, And While I don’t Blame Them For Trading Aging Offensive Lineman Laremi Tunsil, The Team Will Have To Get Creative To Protect Stroud long-term and pave the way for Joe Mixon and Nick Chubb Behind Him. Mixon Ranks as One Of The Best Backs in Football, But With an Offensive Line In Disrepair, His talents alone don't prove enough. The Texans' Defense Looks Elite, The Secondary Could Matchup With The Best Passing Offenses In Football, and The Pass Rush Lead By Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter Should Keep The Texans In Every Game. The Texans Should At The Very Least Clear The AFC South.
Los Angeles Chargers— The Chargers Broke Their Two-Year Playoff Drought With Jim Harbaugh’s First Season With the Franchise Before Inevitably Suffering An Embarrassing Ousting By The Houston Texans In The Wild Card Round. The Chargers Put Together The fourth-best point Differential In The AFC Last Season, But They’ll face A Harder Road To 11 Wins Or Even Playoffs, As The Cupcake Schedule They Faced Last Season Won’t Visit Them Again. Instead, the Chargers Face The 12th Hardest Schedule Next Season. Justin Herbert Had A Controlled But Less Than “Pheromonal”. According to PFF, “no quarterback dropped back to pass more often than Herbert over those two seasons…” But Last Season, the Chargers ranked bottom Five In Passing attempts and Bottom Ten In Pass Rate. The Chargers' Offensive Line Ranks As One Of The Best In Football, But The Team Lacks an Established Wide Receivers Threat Besides Ladd McConkey And Whatever Is Left Of Keenan Allen. The Rushing Game Will Start With Omarion Hampton, the Chargers' New Force Out Of The Back. The Defense Ranked Top Ten, Shickingly Almost, Dealing With Injuries and Age, But Facing A Tougher Schedule Will Make A Replay Tougher. Kahlil Mack Returned To The Team In The Offseason, But A lot of “Cast-Offs” Make Up The Glut Of This Roster.
Green Bay Packers—
The Packers Have A Strong Team, Loaded With Talent At Multiple Positions But Lack A Standout “Force Multiplier” Type That Augments and Transforma A Team Into Threat To The Rest Of The NFC. Jordan Love Has Steadied His Play Over His First Two Seasons As A Starter His Completion Percentage Has Dropped, so Did His Passing Yards(He Missed Two Games Due To Injury) And His Passer rating Has Never Reached 100 Or Better With a Solid QBR 69.4. The Packers Have Yet To Supply Love With a Truly Shelf Weapon. Instead, They’ve Work With A Committee Of Receivers, and That Will Continue Even With The Addition Of Round Pick Matthew Golden. The Packers Receivers Struggled To Gain Separation consistently Last Season. Consistently, Hopefully Golden Can Add some Depth And Quality To This Roster. Knowing This, I Expect Opponents Of The Packers To Commit To Slowing Down The Run And Forcing Jordan Love To Beat Man Defenses
With His Arm, Which He Struggled To Achieve Last Season. The Packers Finished With A Top Five Defense Last Season and Return Most Of A Strong Unit, and Finished Top Ten In Sacks Last Season, Top Three In Both Interceptions and Passer Rating Allowed. The Offense and Jordan Love’s Arm Could Determine The Trajectory Of This team.
The Loss Of Jaire Alexander Shouldn’t Hurt The Team Too Much, As He’s Missed A Good “Chunk” Playing Over The Past Few Seasons.
Los Angeles Rams—
The Los Angeles Rams Pulled Off The Impossible For the Second Season In A Row. The Rams Used A Late Turnover To Lift them from below.500 Not Only Make The Playoffs But Come Within One Down Of Knocking Off The Eventual Champs, The Eagles. The Rams Could Find Themselves In That Lurker Role Again In This Division, With Both The Niners and Seahawks Looking Like Clear favorites and the Cardinals More Of A Dark Horse. The Offense Got Far More Dangerous, adding an elite Davante Adams aside The Already Uncanny and Outstanding Paku Nacua. The Health Of Matthew Stafford Will Make Or Break The Level These outside threats reach. Stafford Can Possess All The Wizardry Of His Youth, But In Less Dosages. He’s Not The Quarterback You Want To Face On A Heater. Stafford Had A Robust Trade Market Last Season, So Even At 37 Years Of Age, he's still among the Most Feared quarterbacks. The Rams Locked Up Running back Kyren Williams For Three Years $33 million this Offseason. Only Saquon And Derrick Henry Have Produced More Yards Than Williams Over The Past Three Years. The Rams' Defensive Front showed Us Last Season They’re Capable Of 39 Sacks, 21.4% Pressure Rate, and 16 Sacks In Two Games. The Defense Still Has Ways To Go After All They’re Built On Youth, But They’ve Gained Crucial Experience, And The Best For Them Has Yet To Arrive. The Heights For This Rams Team Stretch As High As The Super Bowl, But This Team Could Ultimately settle As A Mediocre Team With A Few Bright Spots As Matthew Stafford’s Body and Not His Talents Break Down.
Cincinnati Bengals—
The Bengals Suffered Through The Lively And Extended Offseason As The Team Faced Extension Discussions With Multiple Key Players, including Tee Higgins and Ja'Marr Chase, who, along with Joe Burrow, Account For Most Of The Bengals' Cap Room. The Bengals’ Offense Didn’t Burden The Team’s Failed Playoff Run, Not with Joe Burrow Putting Up MVP And Jamar Chase Snatching A “Triple Crown” For Receivers. Instead, The Offensive Line and More Over The Defense Doomed The Bengals' Hopes For Contention. With Joe Burrow Approaching His age-29 Season, the Bengals Secured Their Core Offensively To Make Another Crack At The Super Bowl, But The Cost was a Standoff With Elite Edge Rusher Trey Hendrickson, Who Hasn’t Signed A new Deal Or Taken Part In Bengals Training Camp. Hendrickson Has Consistently Earned His Place among the Top Ten Pass Rushers. 17.5 sacks in 2024, Led The league(Tied With Myles Garrett), Nearly Half Of The Bengals' Sack Total(36), 83 total pressures, and A 20.0% pass Rush Win Rate. The Bengals' Defense Gave Up The fourth-most passing touchdowns in The League and the eighth-worst total EPA. The Offense May Have To Carry This team Once More, And With a top-heavy roster And A Trio Of Players With Suspect Injury History, the Bengals Could Find Themselves Hanging In The Wind.
San Francisco 49ers—
The Niners Paid Brock Purdy This Offseason The Money He Deserved Maybe Since The End Of His Rookie Season. Debate How Long Purdy Has Played Elite Ball, But He Deserved A Raise More Than Anyone, And Now He’s Amongst The League's Highest Paid Players at The Position. The Niners' Offense Struggled With Injuries Last Season. They Shipped Deebo Samuel To Washington This Offseason, and Now The Offense Will Shift To Featuring RICKY Pearsal More. Look Forward To The Return Of Brandon Aiyuk, The Continued Emergence Of Juan Jennings, and the Steadiness Of George Kittle. The Niners featured An Elite Offense Despite A Heap of injuries, and Not To Mention The Key To The offense's Ignition In Christian McCaffrey, who is expected Back Healthy. Trent Williams anchors the Offensive Line That Suffers A Serious Drop after Him. Purdy Responded By Doubling His rushing numbers and registering a 90.4 Rushing Grade According To PFF, But Ideally, the Niners want Purdy Dropping Back And Targeting Downfield. The Finished 13th Offensively, And 20th Defensively According To ESPN’s Efficiency Metric. The Defense Features Two Of The Highest Paid Players At Edge Rusher And Linebacker In Nick Bosa and Fred Warner. The Niners Put Up Solid Counting Stats With The 8th Fewest Yards Allowed And the 6th Lowest Average Yards Per Play. They played Better Than Their Win Record, but health, Not Salary, not stats, Will Prove The Numbers That matter by The End Of 2025.
Denver Broncos—
The Broncos Made The Playoffs With “Rookie” Starter Bo Nix At Quarterback, And If Only For A Brief Moment, The Team Shock The AFC Powerhouse Bills In The First Round. For A Moment Only, Before The Bills Completely Outclassed The Broncos after Bo Nix’s Opening Drive Touchdown. Bo Nix will enter his Second season carrying the Weight Of Something Heavier Than Changes Along The Offensive personnel that Some Rookie Quarterbacks Have Faced Or Changes To The Coaching Staff Like Some Other Rookie Quarterbacks Have Faced. Instead, Bo Nix Has The Weight Of Expectations On His Shoulders. Moreover, Entering His Age 25 Season, The Shortcomings That Labored Him Last Season Have To Tighten Up. Did The Broncos Acquire The Right Combination Of Players At Skill Position To Elevate Bo Nix's Play? The Broncos upgraded Courtland Sutton’s Raising Him to 23 Million Per Year With A 4 Year 92 Million Extension If Sutton Can Elevate His Play To The Level Of a bona fide number One Receiver—He’s More Of a Tweener Or A Number One impostor—This Deal Could Prove Steal For Denver. Sutton(1-4, as Russell Wilson Said) Put Forth His Best Effort As A Pro Last Season, 81 receptions, 1,081 yards, and eight touchdowns. But observing Sutton's Games, He’s Got Room To Grow. The Broncos Added Tight End Evan Engram In The Season As An Established Pass Catcher, But Beneath Sutton And Engram, A Cliff Of Varying Separate The Rest Of The Broncos’ Receiving Threats. The Denver Defense Ranked Top Three On Any Viable Board, and With Defensive Player Of The Year Patrick Surtain II AND Newly Extended Zach Allen Along The Defensive Line, Expect Another Solid Effort From This Unit. The One Caveat is that the Broncos Will Face A Tougher Schedule Than Last Season. Their Opponents This Season Have An Average of .504 Based On Last season's Win Total, and not to mention the AFC West Still Runs Through The Chiefs.
In The Third Tier Teams That Need A Little Help To Get Over. These Teams Have the Potential To Contend For The Playoffs, Some For The Championship, But Too Many Unknowns, a New Quarterback, a solid Roster With No Credible Quarterback, Make Projections An Unstable Ground.
Pittsburgh Steelers—
The Steelers And Aaron Rodgers Held A Months Long Staring Contest Before The Four Time MVP And Former Jet Rodgers Settled On The Steel City As The Home Of His Final Season. Rodgers' Play Has Certainly Declined Over Two Decades Of Football, But After Putting Up Nearly 4,000 Passing Yards, 28 Touchdowns With The Jets, He Puts Him Over The Average Of Your Next Bargain Quarterback. The Steelers Want To Win Now, And This Offseason, The Team Made Several Moves, Including Trading For Seattle’s Number One Receiver, DK Metcalf, Who Replaces Mercurial George Pickens, Who The Steelers Traded To The Cowboys. Metcalf has Displayed HIs True "nuclear-level talent" When He Made Deep Ball Magic With Russell Wilson and Geno Smith in Seattle, with a 99.9 Deep Passing Grade For Smith In His Time As A Starter —Both Had Their Best Deep Ball Success When targeting Metcalf. When Metcalf is Not Frustrated and Locked In, He’s A Force, Even If Deep Balls Aren’t Rodgers' Specialty. The Steelers' Offense Gets Thin Underneath the Offensive Line, Ranks 21st Overall, and That Doesn’t Bode Well For The Run Unless One Of Their Young Steelers Players Makes the Leap. The Defense Ranked Top 10 Last season, and TJ Watt Just Picked A Big Contract Extension, So One of the League’s Elite Pass rushers should Return To Form And Wreak Havoc. The Steelers' Defense Gave Up The Tenth Worse Air Yards in Pass Defense. Jalen Ramsey Lost A Step Last Season, But I Still Think A Defense Scheme Around Him In The Secondary. The 40 Sacks Were Solid, But If The Steelers Hope To Take The AFC North, They'll Need More Dominating Numbers.
Seattle Seahawks—
Seattle nearly grabbed a Spot In The Strata Above This One based on Talent Level, But A lot has changed in the Pacific Northwest from Last Season. Out Went One Reclamation Of A Former Jets Starting Quarterback, Geno Smith, and in came another Former Jets Starting Quarterback Reclamation Project, Sam Darnold. The USC Product Darnold Put Up MVP Numbers Last Season, so Much So That his tanking In The Playoffs Didn’t deter Seattle From Giving Him Over $110 million on A New Contract. Darnold Play As A Deep Passing Marksman, which Should Fit Well In Seattle’s Offense That Ranks in the Top Five In EPA Per Play On Deep Pass Plays. Unfortunately, The Seahawks Traded Away DK Metcalf, The Wide Receiver who Averaged A 14.3 Average Depth Of Target and 15 Yards Per Reception. Darnold Will Work With Jaxson Smith-NJigba, who is A short-yardage guy With Some Added Burst, coming off his First 1000 Yard Season And Looking To Establish Himself As A Superstar. Behind Jaxson, Cooper Kupp, The Former Ram And Former Triple Crown Winner, and Rookie Tory Horton. The offensive line will be critical to the team's offensive success, as it is one of the youngest units in football. This Talented, Young Seahawks Defense Has A High Floor. The Secondary Can Compete With nearly Any In The League after Forcing A sub-100 Passer Rating and Less Than Seven Passing Yards Per Attempt Last Season, While The Defensive Line Gobbled Up 45 Sacks.
Atlanta Falcons—
The good News For The Falcons is that They Only Have One Team In Their Way In The Division To Look Up To, and Atlanta Swept The Bucs Last Season, both wins By The Arm Of Kirk Cousins, but Atlanta collapsed down The Stretch After A 6-3 Start. The Falcons Have A Top Seven Offensive Unit, A Top Offensive Line, Bijan Robinson Can Match Capabilities Of any back In The League, Drake London, The Falcons Number One Receiver, He’s Quietly As Good As Anyone You Can Name Off The Top Of Your Head, And Darnell Mooney The Teams’s Second Receiver Compliments Drake Well With Speed and ExplosiveNess. The Two Wild Cards Quarterback Micheal Penix Jr And Tight End Kyle Pitts, Truthfully I’m Surprise Atlanta Held On To Pitts Considering He’s Never Lived Up To The Hype After His Rookie Season And He’s More Of A Distraction—Like How Atlanta’s Offense Has Used Him, He Only Got Targeted 10 times After Penix Took Over—His $10 Million Cap Hit Doesnt Hurt The Team But If You’re anot committed Best To Reset Early. Michael Penix Jr. earned an 87.9 Passing Grade from PFF, Even If He Didn’t Complete Better Than 60% Of His Passes or Register A Passer Rating Better Than 90. Penix Passes For Over 200 Yards In Each Of His Three Starts, But We Haven’t Gotten A Complete Look At The 24-Year-Old. The Defense Centers On Move Wild Cards, The Pass Rush Improved From Dead Last A Season Ago To Less Than Dead Last In 2024, But Atlanta Hit Another Reset and The Team Signed Veteran Leonard Floyd, Whose 54.5 PFF Pass Rush Grade Won't Move The Needle. The Falcons could’ve wrapped Pitts And Some Draft Capital For Kayvon Thibodeaux or Josh Hines-Allen instead. Atlanta Drafted Two Pass Rushers In Jalon Walker and James Pearce In The First Round, And If Either Could Get Atlanta to the Middle Ground As A pass Rush, Then The Falcons Won The NFL 2025 Draft.
Dallas Cowboys— The Micah Parsons’ Contract Delimna Looms Over The Cowboys, And The Reckoning For Jerry Jones Starts With Accepting That The Team Can't Hold On To All The Star Players They Draft, and A Failure To Plan Demonstrates The Failure Of Jerry Jones In Oversight. The Cowboys’ Business and Accounting Team Should Have Known That At Some Point They Couldn’t Keep Three Massive Contracts Without Hamstrung The Team’s Cap Situation. The Cowboys could’ve traded Micah A Season Ago and Netted The Team A Treasure Trove Of Players And Picks. Instead, Both Sides Have Met At An Impasse, As Neither Side Wants To Budge On Parsons ' holdout. The Trade Value For A Player Shifts After They Sign A New Contract, and Teams Have To Surrender assets and Take On an albatross contract. Speaking of Unmovable Contract, the Cowboys need Dak Prescott and His $60 Million A Year Wages To Return To Football. The Cowboys' Offensive Line Doesn’t Carry a Heavy Price Tag, But The Team Has Exhausted Multiple First-Round Picks On Multiple Players, Including The 13th Overall Pick, Tyler Booker. Behind Ceedee Lamb, The Cowboys Added George Pickens To The Pass Catchers, But Behind Those Two, The Boys' Depth Gets Thin. Javonte Williams Takes Over At Running back, a Solid Receiving Back Who Can Travel Through Tackles, and the Cowboys Finished With A Top Ten Run Blocking Unit Last Season. The Defense For the Cowboys Would Honestly Look Better With Parsons, But The Team Has Started Shedding Talent, And Injuries Continue To Pile up. A Healthy Travon Diggs Should Improve The Secondary, But By How Much? He’s not exactly Elite These Days. The Cowboys Finished Bottom Ten(10) In Passer Rating, Completion Percentage, Touchdown PercenTage, and Yards Per Completion, and The Cowboys Lost A Pretty Solid Corner In Jourdan Lewis. Demarvin Overshown's return to Linebacking doesn’t Seem Imminent, But He’s A difference Maker When He Suits Up. The Cowboys re-signed OSA Odighizuwa In The Offseason To Hold Down The Defensive Front. The Front Also Boosts Mazi Smith, the First Pick from Last year’s Draft, Looking to put an Abysmal Season Behind Him. The Cowboys ' Heavy Roster Will Strive To Make The Playoffs, But I’m Not Sure Dallas Ranks As One Of The Top Seven, Maybe Top 10 Teams In The NFC Even When Healthy. Opinion-Aires Still Label Prescott An Elite Quarterback, But I Think He and The Cowboys Have “Peaked” Under His Guidance.
Chicago Bears—
Last Season, Sports Writer Christened Chicago As The “Premier” Landing Spot, an “atypical situation” For A Rookie Quarterback To Enter. The Number One Pick Would Meet A Bears Roster already Furnished With Offensive Skill Talent and Defensive Pieces, Caleb Williams, The Generational Talent Out Of USC, Would Prove to be The Final Piece, The Redeemer Of All The Bears' failed first-quarterbacks of The Past. Nevertheless, The Season Didn’t Pan Out For Chicago, And Even CALEB Williams Wanted To Avoid Getting Drafted By The Bears During The Pre-Draft Process Before He Ultimately Looked Like A Bust His First Season. After A 4-2 start, the Rails started falling off in Chicago, Starting With The Jayden Daniels Hail Mary in Week Eight, which dropped Chicago to 4-3. The Bears Would Win One Game In The Final Ten Weeks Of The Season To Finish 5-12. Head Coach Matt Eberflus and Others Of His Staff Got Fired Mid-Season, and Now The Bears Snagged The Most Coveted Name In Coaching, Former Lions’ OC Ben Johnson. The Football Media Credit Johnson With Saving The Career Of A Former Number One Overall, Jared Goff. Now, Johnson Will Attempt To Rectify Caleb’s stuttering, Albeit From A Different Place Than Goff’s, Who Just Needed A Confident Boost—Caleb might undergo A Complete Remodeling. Williams Demonstrated Little Of The Proficiencies That Made Him A Star In College. He Struggled With The Deep Pass(56.4 Deep Pass Grade, PFF), and Those Big Splash Plays He Created In Trojan Red and Gold turned into sacks and misreads in the Midwest. Johnson will Have To Morph Together A System That Takes Advantage Of Caleb's Inclination To Pass On The Move, but also gets The Ball Into His playmaker's Hands Quicker. For Johnson Caleb’s Not The Only Issue This Offense Presents, The Pass Catchers Struggled To Get Open and Win Routes Consistently. The Run Game With D’Andre Swift And Rochonn Johnson Didn’t Add Much To The Offensive Attack. Chicago’s Offense Line Projects As One Of The Best In The League With Two Top 30 Tackles, A Top Ten Guard In Joe Thuney, A Solid Center, and A wild Card AT The Next Guard With Jonah Jackson. Johnson Has a Strong Track Record With Strong Offensive Lines. Chicago Posted A Top Ten defense For Most Of The Season, finishing 11th EPA Per Play. Still, The Team Leaves Much To Desire In Terms Of Pass Rush Despite Finishing Top Ten In Pressure Rate. Montez Sweat didn’t exactly “WOW” In his First Full Season With The Bears, and The Team signed Dayo Odeyingbo and Grady Jarrett To The Line. The Bears Finished With a Top Ten Secondary Last Season, and Much Of The Same Unit Will Return To Scouring The Back Half Of The Defense. The Bears Have A lot Of Talent, But Too Many Things Need To Go Right For Them To Save Another DOWN year.
Las Vegas Raiders—
Had Davante Adams Stuck Around This Season With The Raiders, it Could Have Held More Promise With The Addition Of Geno Smith As The Team’s Passer. Does Geno Smith’s Abrupt End To His Seattle Tenure Also Close Off His Redemption Arc, Or Do The football gods Have Another two Chapters Of Development To Scribble Out? According To PFF, Smith Ranks As The Seventh Best
Quarterback In Football Over The Past Three Seasons, Throwing For Over 4000 Yards Twice and Acclimating 71 Passing Touchdowns to 35 Interceptions. As Smith Creeps Deeper into His 30s, How Much More Of This Production Will He Drain From The Well Of His Latent Talent? This Raiders Offensive Line Will Go A Long Way In Helping Smith As A Top 15 Unit. This Could Prove to be The Best Line Smith Has Played Behind In His Multi-Team career. Kolton Miller And DJ Glaze at Tackles Look Solid But Not Faultless. Alex Cappa At Right Guard Stands Out As The Largest Hole After He Suffered Through A Miserable Run with The Bengals. With Their First Round Pick, the Raiders Selected Top Running Back Ashton Jeanty sixth Overall To Add Some firepower to The League’s worst run game From A Year Ago. On The Outside, the Raiders don’t Have Much In Terms Of Proven Talent At wide Receiver. Jakobi Meyer, Outstanding Production With A 1000 Yard Season 2024, Mostly with Back Up Quarterback Throwing, But He’s More of a 1b Talent, Not The Type Of Player that Forces Defensive Adjustments, just a Solid Outside Option. Behind Meyers Tre Tucker is a Dimensional Speedster who has Deep Threat Ability, which Matches Well With Geno’s Deep Throw Strength. Besides Stretching The Field, Tucker Offers Little Else As A Receiver. Of Course, The Raiders Have One Of The Best Tight Ends In Football At Their Disposal In Brock Bowers, And He Functions As The Team’s Number One Option On Most Pass Plays with Versatility. Out Of The Gate, Bowers Ranked Number One In a Plethora Of Tight End Targets, And While Geno Didn’t Target Tight Ends A Ton In Seattle, He Didn’t Play with A Player Of Brock’s Caliber. With A Player Like Terry McClaurin Available Via Trade, The Raiders Should Begin Making Moves To Try And Acquire A Stronger Outside Weapon. The Raiders’ Defense Has Far fewer redeemable Qualities, Though The Defense Still boasts an Elite Edge Rusher in Maxx Crosby. The Man Who Briefly Held The Title As The Highest Paid Non-Quarterback Had A Down Year, Which Still meant He Finished Top 25 In Pressure Generated Off The Edge. With Christian Wilkins' unceremonious Departure From The Defense, it Has Very Few Difference makers to Rely On. The Raiders’ Secondary Consistently Ranks as The Worst on Most Boards, and The Front Office Didn’t Achieve Much In The Offseason To Change The Outlook For The Team. I Like The Look For The Raiders, Even If the Defense Hampers In the Hope Of The Team Making The Playoffs, The Team Needs To Add More On Offense If They Hope To Maximizes These Final Years Of Geno Smith’s Prime.
Arizona Cardinals—
The Cardinals Just Missed The Bottom Tier Of This Ranking, and although These Team Aren’t Necessarily In Order, The Cards Land At The Bottom Of This Particular Tier. I’m Going To Go Ahead and say Kyler won’t Lift The Cardinals Out Of the NFC West and NFC Seller. Murray Produced The Best Completion Percentage Of His Career(68.8), Second Most Passing Yards(3851), and Third Best Passer Rating(93.5), and Played all Eighteen Games. The Former MVP Candidate Has Never Thrown For More Than 26 Touchdowns In A Season As A Full player and has Only Once Registered A Passer Rating Over 100 back in 2021. He Does Add The Threat Of The Run, but Murray doesn’t Run As Much Anymore, and I’m Not Saying The Cardinals will Look Better Without Him, But He’s Not The Guy To Get Them Over. The Supporting Skill Position Players Also Present A ProbleM As The Cardinals Need A lot Of Players To Suddenly step Into Stardom On Offense. Outside of an Aging James Connor and an established Trey McBride At Tight End, the Cardinals have An Inconsistent Marvin Harrison Jr. and oft-injured Michael Wilson On The Outside To spearhead a Lackluster Group. Marvin Harrison Jr. Would Have To Go Nuclear To Get This Cardinals Team Off The Ground After “disappearing for Stretches” Last Season. The Offensive line ranks 18th On Most Boards, and While The Young Pieces Have Started To Come Along across The Line, A Writer projects a Leap only happens when The Leap Happens. The Cardinals Addressed Their Hole At Edge Rusher By Signing Josh Sweat In Free Agency. Now, The Team Sits and waits to Witness Which Of Their Players Will Emerge To address The Other Hole The Team Has At the Edge, As This, Like Most Of The Roster, Needs Specific Players To Make Drastic Leaps. The Cardinals' Defensive Secondary Still Has Buddha Baker at Safety, But The Rest Of The Secondary Still Has A Lot To Prove. Will Johnson Will Come In As A Rookie Starter Opposite Corner Garrett Williams. The Cardinals Need Several—Not One, Not Two, But Many—Players To Make Leaps Next Season For The Team To Come Out With Any Competitive Edge.
Miami Dolphins—
A Few Years Ago, the Dolphins looked like An Upstart Team, putting Up Video Game Numbers, Revolutionizing Offense, while Head Mike McDaniels Became A Media Darling. Unfortunately, “Defying Convention” Doesn’t Yield Consistent Success; Conventions Exist For Those Reasons. Quarterback Tua Still Commands A Flock Of Believers—Including Myslef— But He Needs To Stay Healthy, As Concussions Have Become A Recurring Theme In His Career In Recent Years, And The Dolphins Offense Has Slumped. The Offensive Line, Which Looks Like One Of The Worst In Football, Also Doesn't Bode Well For The Dolphins' Run Game, Even With A talented but oft-injured running Back Like Devon Achane. Star Wide Receiver Tyreek Hill Still Calls Miami Home. For Now, He's Struggled With Injuries, Consistency, and Overall Morale After Leading The League In Receiving Yards His First Two Seasons In South Beach. Injuries have defined the offense for Miami. Jaylen Waddle, The Excellent 1-B Receiver, has Struggled With injuries and Consistency. Talent, Injuries, and Inconsistencies Define The Dolphins’ Offense And Offensive Skill Position Players. Poetically and Morosely, The Dolphin’s Defense reflects The Same issues As The Offense, Loaded With Tons Of Talent along The Defensive Line, But Simply Can’t Stay Healthy. Bradley Chubb, a Former top-five pick, Pushed Out an 84.9 pass-rush grade in 2023, But He Missed The Entire 2024 Season With An ACL Injury. Teammate Jaelan Phillips, a Talented Pass Rusher, can’t Escape Injury Problems As He Also Recovers From An ACL Injury After Generating A Promising 90.1 PFF pass-rush grade. Without Those Two Leading Rushers, the Dolphins Still Managed 35 Sacks and Have A Promising Young Stud In Chip Robinson, who tallied 56 Total Pressures And An 18.8 Pass Rush Win Rate, 78.7 Pass Rush Grade(PFF). The Dolphins Also Have/Had Some Bad Contracts. The Chubb Contract Looks Bad Because Of His Injury History, and The Steelers Saved The Dolphins From The Ramification Of The Bad Jalen Ramsey Extension. The Ramsey Trade Returned Minkah Fitzpatrick To The Dolphins, A Younger and Cheaper Secondary Option For The Dolphins. The Dolphins' Ceiling Starts With Tyreek Hill Returning To His Game-Changing Form And Tua Playing A Full Season, Like An AFC Offensive Coordinator Said, “…they are a top-10 offense when [Tua] is out there,". Along With The Full Return Impact Of The Defense, But The Offensive Line Limits The Heights This Team Could Aspire Towards.
Indianapolis Colts—
If You’re A Football Fan—A Safe Assumption—You’ve Probably Heard Of The Colts' Undying Revolving Door At Quarterback. Several Journeyman Backups, Several Former Starters, and Multiple Draft Picks Made By The Team, The Colts Have Tried Them All, and After six Seasons Since Luck, The Team Still Has No Quarterback. For The First Four Games Of Quarterback Anthony Richardson’s Career, The Colts Looked Like They Initially Had An Answer, But A Plague Of Injuries And Inconsistency Has Suffused His Young Career. Richardson Now Faces The Threat Of Daniel Jones, A Former Top Ten Pick And Playoff Quarterback, With Questions To Answer About His Own Career, As He’s Only Posted One Season Of Credible Quarterback Play. Depending On Who You Listen To, The Colts Have a Strong Roster Surrounding The Vacant Quarterback Spot. The Offensive Line Lost A lot Of Talent, But Re-Up Bernhard Raiman at Left Tackle, and Still Quentin Nelson Continues To Play Top Level Ball, But The Team Will Have To Replace two starters. Running Back Jonathan Taylor 14 Games Over 1400 Yards On The Ground. He Remains A Top Ten Back. Pass Catchers Josh Downs Earned Himself A Place In Pff Top 32 Wide Receivers For His Play Out Of The Slot. Michael Pittman Jr. continues to Demand Respect As a Number One Threat, But He Needs To Return To 1000 Yards After A Dip To 808 Yards Last season. ALEC Pierce Gives The Team A Field Threat With His 4.4 Speed and 96th Percentile Catch Radius. He Needs To Step Up In The Final Year Of His Rookie Deal. With Highly Touted Rookie Tyler Warren At Tight, The Colts Arguably Have A Formidable Roster On Offense. If Shane Steichen Wants To save His Job, He’s Better Off Starting Jones Over Richardson. Maybe Jones didn’t give the Colts A long-term answer, But He Answers The Immediate Need, and Jones Has That Playoff Pedigree. Defensively, the Colts Could Use more In Terms Of Pass Rush After Finishing In The Bottom 11 Of Teams in Pressure Rate and generating 36 Sacks. The Colts Have A Young Defensive Front led by Kwity Paye, with Young players like Laiatu Latu To Step Up. The Secondary Added Chardavius Ward and Cam Bynum, Both Solid Players But Not Stars, To A team That Struggled In Passing Defense Last Season. The Colts Defense Could Rise To A Top 15 Unit By Season’s End, But I Don’t Expect A Higher Output From This Talent Level. The Offense Could Lift This Team Into The Playoffs, But those Hopes Rest On The Shoulders Of Either One Of Their Quarterbacks.
New York Jets—
Will 2025 Mark The Year The Jets “Cash In” On All Their Talent Because The Have Some Harrowing Qualities? The Bears and Steelers Gave Up On Justin Fields, But If The Jets Can Tinker With This Reclamation Project, They Could Come Out With A Quarterback Who lasts as A Starter For More Than Two seasons. Fields Had Some Success With The Steelers Last Season, But He’s Found Some Success Wherever He Goes. He’s Sustainability and Advancement Has Always Betrayed Him. The Jets Have What Projects As A Top Ten Offensive Line Build On Tackles Olu Fashanu, Entering His Second Year, and Rookie Armand Memebou, And Guards John Simpson And Alijah Vera-Tucker. The Jets Give Fields Maybe The Best Offensive Line He’s Ever Worked With in His Career. Running Back Breece Hall Needs A strong Line In Front of Him As He Continues To Resurrect His Career Coming Off A Knee Injury Two Seasons Ago And Entering A Contract Year. Number One Receiver Garrett Wilson New Contract Probably Same Spectacular Player, But Behind Him, The Jets Still Haven’t Built Anything Half As Special. Josh Reynolds Solid But Not Great, Allen Lazard Stayed With The Team Despite The Departure Of Aaron Rodgers and Rookie Mason Taylor At Tight End. For Years, The Jets' Defense Kept The Team Narrowly Competitive and Dwarfed The Offense In Importance, But This Season The Team Has Started To “Even out”. The Defense Still Features The Stalwarts Like Sauce Gardner At Corner, Fitted With A New Contract, But He Needs to Bounce Back From A Down Year, ranking Far Outside The Top 10 Of Corner, Where He’s perennially expected to Lead The Pack As The Top Corner. Andre Cisco and Brandon Stephens Come Over From Jacksonville and Baltimore To Add Some Depth To The Secondary That Lost D.J. Reed In Free Agency. Quinnen Williams, The Bug Man In The Middle, and Another Big Name Looking To Rebound From A Pedestrian Season By His Standards. The Jets Also Have A solid Bevy Of Pass Rushers Like Will McDonald IV, who posted 10.5 Sacks Last Season, and Jermaine Johnson, who appears on His Way To Making A splash In The League Before An Achilles Injury Truncated His Third Season. Jamien Sherwood, One Of The Better Linebackers In The League, and Quincy Williams, One Of The Best Linebackers In The League, and Also Another Former All-Pro Needing A Bounce Back Year. If The Jets' Defense Plays Up To Their Talent Level, The Unit Will Generate Another Five-Ish Season, Which Could Place Them In Playoff Contention. The Jets Offense Lacks Sure-Fire Talent, But If The Jets Get A 2022 Version Of Justin Field
With Another Solid Year, maybe The Offense Scores Enough Or Keeps The Game Respectable For The Defense to Carry Them Forward.
Final Tier: These NFL Teams Need The Unprecedented, Borderline Miraculous To Make A Playoff, Make A Super Bowl, Or Heck Even Improve Their Win Total From Last Season. In Recent Seasons, we’ve witnessed teams set To Struggle Rise Unexpectedly, and I expect one Or Two Of This Group To Follow That Trend—Storylines Make Football Compelling—But I won't force a Project on which Team Could Rise.
Carolina Panthers—
The NFL Media Circus Has Really Bought Into The Revival Of Bryce Young, Mostly Because They All Pegged Him as A Star Coming Out Of Alabama, and The Entire Consortium can't look Wrong. Young Shook Off An Early Season Benching To Fetch Some Promising Performances Out Of “Dour” Situation, And For His Efforts, PFF gifted Him A 75.1 Passing Grade. Young made Strides As A Passer, His rainbow-ball throws Struck Deep At The Heart Of Defenses, but Young has a way to Go To Improve, Only Producing One Game With A Passer Rating Over 100. Overall, Sparing A Few Moments, Young Had A Pedestrian Season. He Also Registered the Lowest Bad Throw Percentage In Football, And The Panthers Will Need Young’s Supporting Cast To Lift Him Any Further. The Panthers Should’ve Looked To Upgrade Their Backup Situation With A Younger And Higher Upside Option And Hope To Strike Rather Than Continuing to Roll Out Andy Dalton, Who Creeps Towards 40 And Doesn’t do Much, If Any, Good Football Ahead Of Him. Unfortunately, The Panthers Start The Season with One Of The Weakest Supporting Cast In Football. Despite A Strong Average Depth Of Target, Young’s Receivers Struggled To Generate Yards Down The Field, Generally Because Talent didn't fit the Conductor. Adam Theilen couldn’t match The Revival Season. He Produced in 2023 With Over 100 Catches. Instead, His production dropped, and at 35, He’s Not Expected To Play To That 1000 Yard Level Again In His Career, but his Veteran presence has Value. He gained 1,014 receiving yards for the third. Last Year’s First Round Wow Fans With His Ascent, But Play Despondent Football, Dropping Passes, and The Falcons Hopes He Acclimates To The Consistency Of The League’s. The Panthers Will Hope that new Round Receiver Tet McMilan Expedites His Growing Pains And Emerges As The Leading Receiver The Team Needs So Desperately. I’m More McMilan Agnostic, But He’s Got A Skillset As A Jump Ball Receiver That Teams Covet. The Tight End Position won't scare Too Many Teams, But Maybe Carolina could divide and Move For A Guy Not Too Far South. The Panthers' Offensive Line Has Risen From One Of The Worst When Bryce Young Came Into The League To A Top Ten Unit In Football, As Former Top Ten Pick Ikem Ekwonu Has Risen Into A Strong Left Tackle Prospect. No Matter Which Side Of The Jaycee Horn argument you Land On, Is He Elite Or Better Than Average? The Panthers Overpaid, Resetting The Market At Corner For Horn. PFF Graded Him A 57.7 In Coverage Ranking 137th overall, 98.3 Passer Rating Allowed When Targeted Looks Good, Target Separation Of 1.1 Looks Good, But He’s Generally Not Thought Of As A High-end Corner Despite His Pedigree As A Top 10 Draft PICK. The Rest of Carolina’s Defense Outside Of Derrick Brown Doesn’t Move The Needle By Name, As The Team Will Rely On some Veterans And Young, Unproven Talent. The Panthers, Like Some Other teams, Will Need Several Unexpected Leaps For This Team To Turn Out a Winning Record, if they Even Make The Playoffs. Bryce Young Has Looked Limited, And I Don’t Think More Reps Will Save His Career. Another Top Five Pick Wouldn’t This Team.
Cleveland Browns—
So Many Angles, So Many Angles, Where To Start On The Browns. This Offseason, Cleveland Acquired Five Quarterbacks Two Through The Draft, Most Notably Shedeur Sanders, Two Signings and One Trade If Only To Explore The Most Options Available at The Position But To Stripe The Thought Of Deshaun Watson Out Of The Team’s Zeitgeist Whatever The Case The Browns Have A Long Road To Playoff Contention From Just A 2023 Ago. The Browns’ Offense Doesn’t Really Improve In Quality From The Quarterback Position. The Offensive Line Will Start the Season Ranked Last, But If All Players Return Healthy, Including Left Tackle Dawand Jones, The Browns Could Find Themselves Battling For A Better Position Amongst The Worst-Blocking Units In Football. The Rushing Game Feels Unmentionable, The Receiving Unit Got A Surprisingly Robust Season Out Of Jerry Jeudy, Whom The Team Picked Up From the Broncos Ahead Of 2024. Jeu Ran An Astonishing 42 Route Per Game And Churned Out 1229 Receiving Yards On Top Of 90 Receptions For His Season. A Season That doesn't Justify His Place Drafted Before Justin Jefferson, Ceedee Lamb, Brandon Aiyuk, Tee Higgins, and even Michael Pittman Jr, but a Season That Leaves Jeudy As The Lone Promising Piece Of The Cleveland Offense. The Defense Doesn’t Paint A Less Bleaker Picture Of Brown’s Roster. Two Season Ago, Cleveland Had The Second Highest Ranked Defense In Football. Two Season Later, Only One Player On Cleveland’s Defense, Myles Garrett, Generated An Average Grade. Garrett Flirted With A Trade Request This Offseason Until The Browns Signed Him to a Shifting Extension. The Browns Should Have Traded Garrett For Younger, Cheaper Players Instead Of Anchoring Their Already Rudderless Defense To An Aging, If Still In Its Prime, Engine. The Brown's Should Hope One Of Their Quarterbacks strings together Some Good Performances. Fortunately, each possesses enough Athleticism To Work On the move And Survive The Offensive Line(except the 40-year-old Joe Flacco), But After Two Or Three Seasons of high-quality football, the Browns have returned to Their Place As The Picture Of league Ineptitude.
Jacksonville Jaguars—
The Jags Made The Splash Move Of The Biggest Part Of The Offseason, Trading Up In The Draft To Grab Colorado Star Travis Hunter Second Overall. The debate whether Hunter Will Play Both Ways On The Football Field Will Rage On Throughout The Season, But The Jags Have Other Storylines To Catch and Defend Outside Of Hunter. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence Continues To Baffle The Football World With How badly he’s played in his Career. He’s Like An Actor Built For A Role. He’s 6’6, Athletic With A great Arm, but Lawrence Really Struggles To Play Quarterback. Head Coach Liam Ceon Comes Over From Tampa To Attempt The Second Career Revival Of Trevor Lawrence. The Jags’ Offensive Line Filled With Upside Because Walker Little and Anton Harrison Had Solid Stretches but Finished Last In Time To Sack, and For Now They Sit In The 20s In Ranking. At Pass catchers I Wouldn’t Dear Say The Jags Have A Formidable unit But A Respectable One, Brian Thomas Jr. Notch Over A 1000 Yards In His First Season, Travis Hunter Hasn’t Played A down But He’s A Respected Talent and Dyami Brown As A Third Receiver With Parker Washington Who Ran 383 Routes and Caught Three Touchdown With The Team Last Season. In The Run Game, Travis Ettienne has recaptured the Magic Of His 1000 Yard Rookie Season, But Some Of That Falls On The team’s Blocking. The Jags Struggled In Pass Defense Last Season, Giving Up The Most Passing Yards A Game In 257.4, The Most EPA -161. 72 In The Pass Game, and second-worst Passer Rating 103.4. The Jags Need A bounce-back season from Tyson Campbell. The Addition Of Jourdan Lewis adds A Average Presence, But They Lack difference-making talent On The Back End Of Their Defense. The Defensive Line Travon Walker, The Former Number One Overall Pick, Showed Some Signs That His Elite Traits started to calcify into Quantifiable Production With Ten sacks last year. Josh Hines-Allen Continues His Elite Play, PFF Graded JHA With an 83.4 Pass Rush Grade, Top Ten In The League. Devin Lloyd, Linebacker, The Former First Round Pick Has Emerged Into A Solid Linebacker, Top Ten Pass Rush Grade For His Position, Top 25 Player For His Position, and If The Jags Can Continue To Pull Caliber Play out Of These Players, The Defense Could Have Something To Rest Their Heads On Going Into 2025. Will Trevor Lawrence improve His Game under New Head Coach Liam Coen? The Jaguars can’t Trade Him, But Years Wasted Trying To “Fix” Lawrence’s Prevent defense will keep The Team From Finding Another Passer.
New York Giants— The Giants couldn’t Make The Marriage With Daniel Jones Last, And If The Colts Make Something Of Him, The Fans And Franchise That Had To Watch As Saquon Barkley completed the Best Rushing Season Of His Career With division Rival Eagles Will Watch Another Top Ten Pick Excel Elsewhere. Unlike Many, The Offseason After Their 2012 Super Bowl, the Giants Have A lot To Hang Their Heads On This Coming Season. Signed Quarterback Russell Wilson And Immediately Named Him The Starter, not one of Those Things, But The Giants Have What Looks Like A Franchise Guy Behind Him After Moving Up To the First Round To Draft Jaxson Dart from Ole Miss. Dart Will Sit Out His First Season For His Own Good. Wilson Had A Short Spell Of Success With The Steelers Once He debuted, But Ultimately Finished The Season On a Down Note, And Not Much Of The Wilson Magic Remains In His Legs. But He Remains Deft At Those Deep Passing attacks. Giants Head Coach Brian Daboll Has To Roll Out The Best Quarterback Available To Save His Job—Even With a Roster That Lacks The Competitive Value Compared To Other Teams In The Division—Wilson Has The Lead On The Rest Of The Guys. The Giants' Roster Features One Of The worst offensive lines in Football, and so Wilson saves Dart From Getting Obliterated, But This Doesn’t help Wilson win. The Giants Grabbed A New Number One Wide Receiver In Malik Nabers, A Top ten from 2024, Who Piled Up 1204 Receiving Yards, 109 Receptions, and 7 Touchdowns In his Rookie Year, and He and running back Tyrone Tracy spearheaded The Offense. The Giants treated Malik as A Number One Out Of The Gate, with 165-170 Targets(34.9% Target Share), but Nabers hasn’t completed his Potential With a low Average depth of Target of 9.7. The Giants Kept Darius Slayton A Solid Deep Threat Receiver. Wide Receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey Displayed Excellent Receiving Chops As “X” Receiver Option in Denver, And Wan’Dale Robinson As A Slot Option. Still, This Group Doesn’t Scare Even The Weakest Coverage Groups In Football. The Giants Have A Stout Defensive Line After Drafting Abdul Carter Over The Many Offensive Tackle Options Available At Third Overall. Could Prove The Undoing Of The Giants’ Offense, But The Team Has Waves, Waves Of Pass Rushers To Throw At Teams and Disrupt Opponent Game Plans. Solid Linebacker In Bobby Okereke, The Giants Also Added Jevon Holland, One Of The Better Safeties From Miami, And New York Has The Makings Of A top Ten-like Defense If Anyone On The Outside Can Cover. Like Many Of The Teams At The Bottom, Here The Offensive Line Or The Quarterback Situation Limit Any Possibility Of Mobility For These Teams to Inch Up Into A Higher Tier, and The Giants Fit Right In With This Group.
New Orleans Saints—Derek Carr’s abrupt Retirement Took One Massive Logjam Out Of The Saints' Engine, but New Orleans Still Remains Hamstrung In The Cap Mud, and The Roster Has Suffered In Competitive Value Because Of Shortsighted Money Moves. The Saints Will Roll With A “Rookie-Ish”—Or As Veteran A Rookie Could Get —In 25-Year-Old Tyler Shough, Who Spent Seven Years In College. He’s Got Some Talent, but Head Coach Kellen Moore hopes to Coach A long-term Starter Out Of Shough And Mold Some Of Shough's imperfections into Something Resembling NFL Quarterbacking. The Cap Problems In New Orleans Have Reared Their Head In Many Areas Of The Roster, But None More Than The Offensive Line. The Saints Have Exhausted Lots Of Draft Capital To Improve The Unit With Four Round Picks, Three In Consecutive Years. In A Few Seasons, The Saints Could Have An Elite Group, But For Now, They’re Raw. The Saints Drafted Left Tackle Kelvin Banks, who I thought looked like The Best Tackle Ninth Overall, and hopefully they get A Joe Alt Season Out Of Him. The Saints' Wide Receivers Feature A lot Of Speed Guys, Chris Olave, Brandin Cooks, and Rashid Shaheed, But The Injury History On All These Guys remains more Than Skittish, So Don’t Expect The Saints Offense To Improve From Last Year. Chris Olave Showed Signs Of Next Level Play, But Concussions Have Limited His Production and His Exposure. Juwan Johnson, tight End, Played Well Enough To Earn A New Contract On 548 receiving yards and a 1.34 yards-per-route-run average in 2024. Unless The Receivers Stay Healthy, I don’t Think The Saints have enough Power To Avoid The Bottom Of the NFL Offensive Rankings. Alvin Kamara’s Continued Drifting Past His Prime Hamper The Upside Of This Roster. The Defense Lost Safety Tyran Mathieu To Retirement, But The Questionable Signing Of Justin Reid Looks reasonable, Has new Value As He Slots In At Safety. Last Year’s Second Round Pick Kool-Aid McKinstry had A Decent Year In Coverage, Registering A 67.1 Coverage Grade, Placing Him in the middle Of The Pack of Corners, just 33 Receptions Allowed, Five Pass Breakups, Not Bad For A Rookie. The Saints had Some Success Against The Pass, Last Churning Out 61% Completion Percentage( 5th Best In The League), just 19 Passing Touchdowns, 3.2 Touchdown Percentage, Second Best In The league. The Only Blemish: 4055 Yards Passing Surrendered. The Defense Just Played A lot Of Snaps As The Offense Couldn’t Stay On The Field. The Saints' Pass Rush Finished With A Better Pressure Rate Than The Rams, Colts, and 49ers, But That Didn’t Make Them Elite, Just Better Than The worst. Former Second Overall Pick Chase Young Had A Strong Aid Not Capable Season With 66 Pressures, 7 Sacks, So The Saints Resigned Him For Another Three seasons. The Other Saints Edge Carl Granderson Comes In With 61 Pressures and 9 Sacks, and He’s Generally Considered A Top 25 Edge Rusher. Cameron Jordan Also Returns because The Saints Can’t Afford To Cut Him Yet, Because of all The Void Years and the Cap Ramifications Those Years Carry. The Saints Needed To Hit Reboot A Few Seasons Now, But Keep Playing The Same Cards By Rolling The Cap Charges Over To The Next Season. The Saints Cap Situation exists in A State of Complexity Far Beyond The Scope Of This Write, but Even With the Retirements Of Their Expensive One, moves or two won't solve The Hole They’ve Dug For Years. The Saints Just Need to Avoid Signing Or Extending Anyone—Even Olave—Until They Can See AN End To Starting Every Season Over The Cap In Desperate Need For A Cap “Miracle”.
Tennessee Titans—Every Time I Study The Best Passing Defenses Of 2024, This Odd Stat Pulls Up. How The Titans Surrender The Second Fewest Passing Yards and Passing Yards In All Of Football. No, Tennessee didn’t Have A Great Defense, and This Number Doesn’t Exist By Obvious means, Like Having A Terrible Run Defense That Most teams just Attack On The Ground. Instead, The Titans Just Had Terrible Special Teams Play That Would Lead To Opponents Netting Excellent Field Positioning. The Titans Surrendered The Most Punt Return Yards and The Most Kick Return Yards Per Return Of 32.1 Yards. Offenses Facing The Titans Only Ran 5.7 Plays But Scored 40% Of Their Drives.
After A Few Seasons Of Trying To Pull A Franchise Quarterback Out Of Athletic Big Arm Types Like Will Levis And Malik Willis With The Number One Pick, The Titans Settled On Cam Ward As Their Franchise And Day One Starter. Ward Played Five Years Of College Football and managed to Spin One Picturesque Season At Miami as a Number One Overall Pick From A Projected Rounder The Year Before. Titans Can Only Hope Wards’s Rise Continues Along This Promising Trajectory. The Titans Roster lacks Essential Components, But It’s Far From The worst as Far as teams Welcoming A New Quarterback Go. The Titans Have Invested A lot Into The Offensive Line, Drafting Two Peter Skoronski and JC Latham In The First, with Skoronski Ranking in the Top 20 At Guard. The Titans Also Signed Dan Moore Jr at Tackle and Kevin Zeitler At Guard, Also A top 20 Player At The Position, Giving The Titans A Solid Inside Group With The Tackle, Latham, and Moore, the veteran fit as Wildcards. Moore, Who Signed a 4-year contract with the Tennessee Titans worth $82.0 million with $50.0 million guaranteed, And Played Over 1100 Snaps For The Steelers Last Season. Early Reviews On The Offensive Line Have Come Back Generally Positive, With One Writer For The Athletic Claiming The Line Looked “… sound fundamentally and schematically.”
Tony Pollard Proved He Could Play The Role Of Lead Back, Racking Up 1079 Rushing Yards, 4.2 Yards A Carry A Year After Coming Over From The Cowboys. Calvin Ridley Player With Some Porous Quarterbacking Last Season, Which Resulted In Some Weak Stretches Of Games In A Season, During Which He Only Surpassed 80 Yards Four Times And Still Surpassed 1000 Receiving Yards. He’s Never Demonstrated Number One Receiver Chops, But He’s A Solid 1 Level Receiver. Further Down The Depth Chart, Ridley does not exist as a Far Outside Threat. Tyler Boyd Played Better As a Three In Cincinnati Than A Two In Tennessee, and Now The Titans Will Roll with Former Seahawks Tyler Lockett, who Played A Full Season For Seattle and Picked Up 600 Receiving Yards On 49 Catches. Rookie Tight End Chig Okonkwo Showed Some promise, 2.62 yards per route run, But The Lineup Lacks A True Different Maker Or A Player who wrecks up A Defensive Game Plan. The Titans' Defense Doesn’t Provide Much In Terms Of Talent To Fawn Over. L’jarius Sneed Signed With the Titans ahead of 2024 after a Good Season With The Chiefs, only to Play In Six Games And Not Make much Of An Impact. If He Can Return To His 2023 Form With The Chiefs. Amani Hooker Played Solid As A Safety, But The Titans Will Need More Than him To Put Forth A Respectable Secondary. Last Season, The Titans Had The Lowest Pressure Rate Of Any Team In Football, Before Cutting The Team’s Leading Sack Getter, Harold Landry. With Arden Key and Sebastian Joseph-Day(Who I’m
surprise Still Plays Football) So I Don’t Expect Tennessee’s Place As One Of The Weakest Pressure Units In Football to Shift. This Will Serve As A Test Run Season For The Titans. Even With A promising Offensive Line, The Defense Looks Downright Worrisome, and While The Skill Players Look Better Than some Other Teams, Even Higher Than This Tier, Cam Ward Would Have To Play At A Near Andrew Luck Level To Put the Titans Anywhere In The Scope Of The Playoffs.
New England Patriots—The First Season Of The Post Tom Brady Era Had A Few Patriots Fans Fool—Myself Included—And I’m Not Talking That One Cam Newton Season But The Mac Jones Era. The Patriots Got Back To the Playoffs, Jones Made The Pro Bowl, And The Greatest Coach of all Time remained at His Helm, Stalking The Sidelines. Through A Series Of Poor Personnel decisions, Both With Players and Coaching, the Patriots Have Won Just 8 of 34 Games Over The Past Two seasons. Worse yet, One Of Those Wins Cost The Patriots The Number One Pick In 2025—Can’t Win For Losing—A Key Piece That Could’ve Set The Patriots Rebuilding On Overdrive, instead the Patriots Settle for The Fourth Pick. The Patriots' Second Attempt At Naturing Another Franchise Quarterback Started With Promise—The Last One Started With Promise—And while Drake wasn’t First Year Mac Jones, he looked “Good Enough” Taking Over For the Final 13 Games Of The Season. Maye threw a Touchdown In Every Game, And Nearly A Pick Too, Before Finishing With 15 Touchdowns, completed 66.6% Of His Passes, and Dazzled With His Athleticism, Scrambling For 31.3 rushing yards On Average, Ending The Season With over 400 Yards Rushed. Maye Impressed Media and Coaches Enough To Stand As One Of The Most Anticipated Players For 2025-26. Unlike Jones, Maye Will Have The Offensive Coordinator Behind Jones’s Great Rookie Season For Maye’s Second Season, As Long Time Patriots’ Offensive Coordinator Josh McDaniels Returns To The Franchise after A Failed Stint With The Raiders. Mike Vrabel Will Bring a Stronger Presence As A Head Coach than first-year head Coach Jerod Mayo From A Season Ago. Unfortunately Coaching Won’t Fix The Talent Void, Maye Didn’t Perform Well When avoiding Pressure But His Offensive Line Should Improve From A Bottom Tier Unit To a Less Than Bottom Tier Unit With The Addition Of Fourth Overall Pick Will Campbell At Left Tackle, Veteran Morgan Moses at Right Tackle But Overall The Group Still Has A Ways To Go. At The Skill Positions, the Patriots Have Made Some Questionable Decisions, Most Prominently letting homegrown receiver Jakobi Meyers Walk In Free Agency and signing damaged goods Juju Smith-Schuster Only To Have Jakobi Become A Number One Receiver In Oakland and Juju To Fall Off After One Season. Both Calvin Ridley in 2024 and Chris Godwin in 2025 Have Spurned The Patriots In Free Agency, Exemplifying New England’s Struggles To Lure In top free-agent receivers. The Patriots Nabbed Stefon Diggs In Hopes He Returns To Top Receiver Form Coming Off A Knee Injury. The Draft Has Proven Just As Unforgiving To The Patriots With Receivers. Late Round Picks Like Kayshon Boutte and Demario Douglas Have Turned Out Serviceable But Limited. Other Picks Like Jaylyn Polk And Javon Baker Sit At the Edge Of The Roster After Disappointing Rookie Seasons. The Patriots NOw Have a Bad But Not So Threatening receiving Group. The Patriots Added Kyle Williams As Another mid-round pick, and We Will Wait To witness what, if anything, Williams Can Bring To The Roster. Other Weapons Include Tight Ends Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper, Both Past Their Prime, But Deliver As Serviceable Play As Any Former Top Ten Tight Ends. The Patriots Need To Get Younger At The Tight End Position At Some point. At running back, the Patriots Presumably Had Something With Rhamondre Stevenson, But He’s Struggled With Injury And Hasn’t Lived Up to The Hype Of The Deal He Signed A Season Ago. So the Patriots drafted Ohio State Running Back Treyveon Henderson To Add More prolificness to The Back Field For Josh McDaniels’s Offense. Last Season, the Patriots Finished Last In sacks total, Which Isn’t Easy With The Falcons and Panthers All Swimming In a Pool Of Pass Rush Futility. Did the Patriots Add Enough Pieces To Shift That direction? Harold Landry Racked Up 9 Sacks But Only 30 pressure Last Season, leading PFF To Rank Him 196th of 210 Pass Rushers. Landry And Guys Like Keion white, A Top 20 Pass Rusher By PFF, Can All Presumably Hit Another Gear Next Season, and The Addition Of Milton Williams to Tag Along with Christian Barmore Has Limitless potential, But Suspicions Remain High About This Group. Milton Has A Strong Track Record As A Pass Rusher And Can complement Barmore As A Run Stuffer. This Defense Has Loads Of Upside, A Top Ten Defense If All The Pieces Meet expectations. The Secondary Looks Excellent With Cornerbacks Christian Gonzales, an All-Pro Last Season, And Carlton Davis, The Free Agency Addition. Both Have A High Pedigree, But Davis’s Health Will Prove Something To Watch. Last Season, the Patriots forced the Quarterback Into A sub-100 100 Rating at 96.9, but that Number Still Represented The seventh-worst result In Football Last Season. The Patriots Have Loads Of Upside On Defense With Some Of The Added Pieces, But The Offense Still Has Ways To Go With Drake Maye Still Developing, acclimating to A new playbook, and the Offensive Line Still Coming Along. The Skill Position Players Have A Ways To Go Even With a Proven Force Like Stefon Diggs On The Roster, And That Works Because The Patriots Don’t Have To Jump Leaps and Bounds This Season and Another Season In The Top Five Or Top Seven Draft Wont Hurt The Organization Going Forward.
