Five Things to Watch Out for This NFL Season
“Preseason for the NFL is currently underway, which makes it a perfect time to talk about the interesting things to look forward to this NFL season” (Zachary Myers).
Photo Mohamed Hassan on Pixabay
August 24, 2025
Zachary Myers, Editor
Preseason for the NFL is currently underway, which makes it a perfect time to talk about the interesting things to look forward to this NFL season. There are plenty of rookies and other players looking to make breakouts in the 2025 season but which stories will be the most watched? Here is what I think.
Browns Quarterback Competition
Usually, for a few teams, there may be some quarterback competition between two or three guys. The Browns are a team with a quarterback competition, but not just with two or three guys, but with five. Those five are Deshaun Watson, Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and rookies Dillon Gabriel and Sheduer Sanders. The Browns gave Watson a mega $230 million dollar guaranteed contract a few years ago when they traded for him from the Texans, but he has been injury prone, missing significant time with achilles injuries while also not playing anywhere close to the level he was expected to. Pickett spent last year as a backup quarterback for the Super Bowl champion Eagles after an underwhelming career with the Steelers.
Flacco, who has by far the most experience of any of these players, is most known for his time on the Ravens but for around the last decade has been a journeyman starter/backup. He even led the Browns to a Wild Card berth in 2023. Sanders and Gabriel were just drafted by the Browns in the 2025 draft, so they are the most promising quarterbacks in the competition. Gabriel is the more accomplished quarterback, winning 2024 Big 10 player of the year in college and finishing second all time in college history in passing yards. Shedeur, despite being hyped as a potential number one pick, fell all the way to the 5th round despite winning the Big 12 offensive player of the year last season with a stellar season for Colorado. To start, I believe the Browns will start Flacco due to his experience, but as the season progresses, one of the rookies will end up taking a majority of snaps.
How Aaron Rodgers does with the Steelers
Despite Aaron Rodgers’ status as one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history, he has faced massive scrutiny for his play and attitude in recent years. In 2023, he signed with the Jets but only played 4 snaps of the first year before tearing his achilles. Last season, while his on paper stats of almost 3,900 yards and 28 touchdowns look great, the Jets went 5-12 and missed the playoffs. There were also plenty of moments where Rodgers made errant throws and rash decisions late in games that cost the Jets. His attitude problems came into play this offseason where he kept listing out demands for teams that wanted to sign him. Despite toying around with them for most of the off season, he finally signed a one year contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers, conveniently after early QB drills in training camp.
The Steelers have had issues with quarterbacks ever since the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger, including Kenny Pickett being a bust, the rotation of an aging Russell Wilson and inconsistent Justin Fields last season. Despite this though, the Steelers have consistently remained in the 9-8 or 10-7 spectrum, mainly due to their defense. Theoretically with Rodgers still being decent, the Steelers should improve, but I don’t think so. The Steelers lost two important offensive pieces this offseason in wide receiver George Pickens and running back Najee Harris. While they have a decent young roster of offensive talent including Jaliyn Warren, Calvin Austin III and Roman Wilson, Aaron Rodgers’ inability to connect with young players will affect how this team will perform this season. I expect this team to finish 4-13, and Rodgers to retire after the season.
NFL rookie debuts
Like 2024, the 2025 draft class has loads of offensive and defensive talent to watch out for this upcoming season. Cam Ward is the top quarterback to watch, as he was drafted number one by the Titans after his stellar senior season at the University of Miami. Travis Hunter, being drafted at number two by the Jaguars, has been seen as a great pick due to his once in a lifetime two way play as a wide receiver and cornerback, winning last college season's Heisman Trophy for Colorado. Abdul Carter, who was drafted third by the Giants, is seen as the best defensive player in this draft due to his dual threat ability as a pass rusher and run stopper, leading to him being named the Big 10 defensive player of the year in 2024. The Raiders drafted Ashton Jeanty number six after he had one of the best college seasons in history for Boise State, rushing for over 2,600 yards and 29 touchdowns. To give 2024 first round pick Drake Maye some protection, the Patriots drafted LSU offensive lineman Will Campbell at number 4.
I believe all of these players will have great seasons and careers set up for them and all are likely candidates to win the offensive or defensive rookie of the year awards. I believe Hunter will win the offensive rookie of the year because he has shown to be a better receiver than corner, and I think the Jaguars will want to use him more on offense than defense. For defensive rookie of the year, I believe Abdul Carter will win due to his ability to stop the run and attack the pass as well as his strength, which will be tough for offensive lineman to handle
Can the Eagles repeat
One of the teams that has been picked as a Super Bowl favorite this year is the reigning champions, the Philadelphia Eagles. Last Super Bowl, they dominated the Chiefs in a 40-22 blowout with an amazing performance from Jalen Hurts and the offense, along with stellar play from their defense against the usually outstanding Chiefs offense. The great thing for the Eagles this season is that they have retained most of last season's roster. Hurts is still the man at QB, Saquon Barkley is coming off a 2,000 season at running back, and AJ Brown is still one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. Something that may harm the Eagles is that their offensive line has had some injuries in this offseason, but when healthy, they are one of the best in the league, especially when the offense decides to run the “Tush Push.”
The defense for the team is as good if not better than the offense. The defensive line is outstanding, especially the interior lineman duo of Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis. Zack Baun had a breakout season as a linebacker last season and is a great leader for the front seven. The Eagles best part of their defense might be their secondary (cornerbacks and safeties) due to how good their young players are. The cornerback duo of Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper Dejean should see massive improvement this season and Reed Blankenship is a rising star at the safety position. While I don’t believe the Eagles will repeat, they will be a strong contender in the NFC.
Who will be better: Sam Darnold or JJ McCarthy
This may not be widely followed, but I think this will be interesting to watch this season. Sam Darnold, previously one of the biggest draft busts in recent years, had one of the most unexpected great seasons ever last year for the Vikings. He threw for over 4,300 yards with 35 touchdowns and led Minnesota to a wild card berth. While he was overall good last year, he had two terrible games to end the year, one against the Lions to decide the NFC North race and another in their Wild Card game against the Rams. Under most circumstances, a team would keep Darnold for the future, but the Vikings had another QB they wanted to play: 2024 first round pick JJ McCarthy. McCarthy would have been the no doubt starter in 2024 but he suffered a season ending injury in preseason. He seems to be fully healthy this year and is poised to be the Vikings long time starter at quarterback. Darnold on the other hand signed a three year contract with the Seahawks, who released Geno Smith.
The question now is who is more likely to succeed? Darnold enters a semi decent offense of Seattle, who recently signed Cooper Kupp from the division rival Rams and who has a massively underrated receiver in Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Despite this and last season's performance, Darnold was horrible for over half a decade before this, so it is to be determined if he can keep up his performance. JJ McCarthy’s situation is much better, going into an offense with a star running back in Aaron Jones, two great wide receivers in Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison and one of the best tight ends in the NFL in TJ Hockenson. It is unknown, however, if McCarthy will succeed because he has no true NFL experience besides pre-season. I do expect him to do better than Darnold because of his situation and the fact he has shown talent in college. While I don’t expect Darnold to be as good as he was in Minnesota, I do think he will be ok in Seattle.
