28. New York Jets
The Jets overhauled their front office and coaching staff this offseason, and made a change at the quarterback position with the Aaron Rodgers era a complete flop. The Jets obviously have talent on their roster. They were unanimously considered a top-5 roster in the league last year. But at this point, there are a lot of question marks with Justin Fields at QB, a young offensive line, and a new defensive scheme. This will be an evaluation year for the Jets, and they could surprise some people.
27. Las Vegas Raiders
Nobody upgraded their offense in the 2025 offseason more than the Las Vegas Raiders, and even the upgrades they made might not be enough. The Raiders went from Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell at the quarterback position to Geno Smith. They went from Alexander Mattison at running back to Ashton Jeanty. And at this point, they haven’t granted Jakobi Meyers his trade request. Pete Carroll is taking over the operation, and he’s going to need to get the most out of a cast of characters defensively that feels like a who’s who of recent draft busts and reclamation projects.
26. Carolina Panthers
Panthers head coach Dave Canales made the wildly unpopular and difficult decision last season to bench Bryce Young for Andy Dalton, and even though that was last year, it feels like it was a lifetime ago. The Panthers brought Young back into the mix and he had a really nice stretch of games to end the 2024 season. Now, he’s got Tet McMillan to throw the ball to and hopefully an improved defense behind him. The Panthers’ defense was dead last in points allowed last year, so they obviously have to show signs of life for this team to compete in the NFC South.
25. Dallas Cowboys
The trade of Micah Parsons has cast a very dark cloud over the Dallas Cowboys’ projection for this season. I’ve been all about the Cowboys this offseason, reminding people that they’ve been pretty much guaranteed for 12 wins when Dak Prescott is healthy over the last few years. But without Parsons, the projection for this team is a little more on the “dismal” side. Prescott is going to have to absolutely crush it this season for the Cowboys to be relevant, even over the Giants, in the NFC East.