The margin between finishing in third place and finishing in first place, hosting a playoff game in the NFL is pretty thin in some instances. In others, the chasm is Grand Canyon-like. There are plenty of third place teams from the 2024 season that will be vying for supremacy in their respective conferences, and there will be others drifting into anonymity, or somply using the 2025 season to figure out which players and coaches will be part of what they're building going forward.
As we continue to take a look ahead at the 2025 season, we look back at third-place teams from the 2024 season and how they stack up against each other after what transpired this offseason.
Our latest NFL Power Rankings will rank each third-place team worst to best for the coming season.
NFL Power Rankings: Ranking every 3rd place team for 2025
8. Carolina Panthers
There's plenty to like about the Carolina Panthers this coming season, especially if Bryce Young continues to progress like we saw after he came back from being benched last season. The addition of Tetairoa McMillan at receiver and the expected progression of Xavier Legette could give this Panthers team a fascinating offensive core.
With that in mind, the Panthers might have the worst defense on paper in the entire NFL. The Raiders might be their stiffest competition, but the Panthers don't have anyone the caliber of Maxx Crosby. They need young players to emerge on that side of the ball.
7. New York Jets
I almost put the Jets last on this list, but the reason they got the nod over the Panthers is because they have a more established core of players defensively. The floor is potentially high enough on defense for the Jets for this team to be something of a problem, and they have more proven guys offensively like Garrett Wilson.
The big wild card for the Jets this year is obviously Justin Fields, and I don't hate that risk-reward proposition for them. The Jets might have a ceiling at about 7 or 8 wins, but you never know if your dart throw at QB is going to hit.