The 2025 NFL Draft is still months away, but these four teams are clearly not doing much this year and are looking to next April. It's pretty sad when you can clearly tell which NFL teams are just not going to be good, but if they're in a rebuild, they deserve some time. Other teams that are clearly not nearly talented enough have to endure what would likely be a brutal year.
Not having a franchise QB is the no. 1 issue that sets teams back from hitting their potential, and a shaky offensive line is also a death sentence for many other teams as well. As we slowly but surely creep toward the 2025 NFL Draft, which teams are already firmly out of it?
2025 NFL mock draft: These 4 teams are already looking to next April
New Orleans Saints
What were the New Orleans Saints trying to accomplish by signing Derek Carr in free agency last year? He might be the 18th-best QB in the NFL and is just not someone a team is going to win many games with. The Saints going 9-8 but Carr putting up deceptively good stats in 2023 kind of encapsulates the player he is today.
The Saints did not make the playoffs in 2023 and won't in 2024. They'll be sellers at the NFL trade deadline and hopefully begin to blow it up. New Orleans desperately needs some long-term cap relief, so offloading some players at the deadline for some 2025 NFL Draft capital is exactly what this franchise needs to do.
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots may have gotten their QB of the future in Drake Maye in the 2024 NFL Draft, but two huge areas of need for this offense is them finding a blue-chip left tackle and a stud WR1. The Patriots are clearly not going to be very good in 2024 and are in a rebuild. This isn't even a team that's good enough to breakout a bit.
De-facto GM Eliot Wolf and first-year head coach Jerod Mayo have a ton of work left to do, so I'd assume they'll soon get started on trying to some some stud prospects for the 2025 NFL Draft, as they will be picking near the very top yet again. Left tackle and wide receiver are their two biggest needs.
New York Giants
The New York Giants are another team that does not have a franchise QB. It's pretty simple here; the G-Men won't be good until they bring in someone they can develop into that franchise QB. Somehow, Daniel Jones is this team's starting QB heading into year six, but he's probably one of the five-worst in football.
The Giants also still need some help along their offensive line and may need even more help at wide receiver. I just do not understand what this team was trying to do this offseason. I've been critical of General Manager Joe Schoen for some time, and nothing tells me you have no idea what you're doing more than passing on three other first-round QBs in 2024 for the second-best WR in the class.
That is a masterclass on how to not build an NFL roster.
Las Vegas Raiders
Another team that just operated with no plan this offseason, the Las Vegas Raiders likely hoped (I am assuming here), that second-year QB Aidan O'Connell took a big enough leap to earn the starting job. He didn't, and the job went to Gardner Minshew. With no long-term QB plan in sight, and a first-year head coach who is only in his third year in the NFL as a coach, the Raiders need a first-round QB in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Honestly, any NFL mock draft that does not have the Raiders taking a QB is probably wrong. This franchise is a total mess, and they should already be looking to next April.