The 2025 NFL season begins tomorrow night, so it's time to lay out our predictions on who will be good, who will be bad, who will win the Super Bowl, and which individual players will shine.
Let's start with playoff seeding.
NFC playoff seeds
1) Eagles: The Birds have a hard schedule in 2025, but as Walter White would say, "They are the danger... They are the ones who knock. "
2) Buccaneers: The Bucs have no glaring weaknesses, and they play in an atrocious division.
3) Vikings: Putting the Vikings here requires a big bet on J.J. McCarthy, and I don't feel great about that, but the Vikings have outstanding skill position players, a good offensive line, and a pressure defense that creates turnovers.
4) Cardinals: The first 11 games of their schedule are crazy easy, and I don't love the Rams, Seahawks, or 49ers. The Cardinals win the NFC West on a tiebreaker at like 9-8.
5) Lions: The Eagles found out the hard way what it's like replacing both coordinators in one offseason in 2023, and the Lions may as well. They're not going 14-3 again, but they'll be in the tourney.
6) Packers: The defense will be improved with Micah Parsons on board, but Jordan Love has decision-making issues that will lose them games.
7) Rams: The Rams are being overrated because they gave the Eagles a scare in the divisional round of the playoffs. They had a negative point differential last season, and Matthew Stafford has a bad back. They'll sneak in with nine wins because the rest of the conference is bad.
AFC playoff seeds
1) Bills: Buffalo should go 6-0 against the three other garbage teams in their division, which is a huge advantage over the Ravens and Chiefs, who play in harder divisions.
2) Ravens: Another year, another really good Ravens team. Can they finally do something in the playoffs under Lamar?
3) Chiefs: I imagine a bunch of people will be picking the Broncos or Chargers to win the AFC West this year because it's boring picking the Chiefs. I can't get there.
4) Texans: The Texans' combination of their pass rush and secondary should be a nightmare for opposing quarterbacks. If C.J. Stroud can have a bounce-back season, they could be Super Bowl contenders.
5) Bengals: The Bengals are going to score a lot of points. They're also going to give up a lot of points.
6) Broncos: Denver's defense should be good, and Bo Nix looked like a legitimate NFL starter as a rookie last year.
7) Chargers: Wake me up when Justin Herbert wins a playoff game.
NFL Playoffs
In the AFC, the Bills choke away the 1 seed, the Chiefs once again end the Ravens' season, and NFL fans are annoyed that they have to watch yet another Chiefs Super Bowl after they handle their business against a hot Bengals team.
The Eagles Tush Push their way past the Packers in the divisional, and Amon-Ra St. Brown finds out what would have happened in the NFC Championship Game last year if the Lions hadn't choked in the divisional round against the Commanders. The Eagles then comfortably beat the Chiefs in Super Bowl LX, though it's not the laugher it was in Super Bowl LIX.
2026 draft order
1) Saints: Years of stretching the cap to the extreme just to be mediocre finally caught up with them.
2) Raiders: The Raiders play in the toughest division in the NFL. They're going to lose a lot of games, but quarterback hipsters will continue to insist Geno Smith is good.
3) Panthers: Their offense is improving but they're going to give up a ton of points.
4) Cowboys: Dak is a borderline top 10 quarterback and the Cowboys have some good receivers, but they won't be able to run it, stop the run, or get after opposing quarterbacks.
5) Colts: I mean, their quarterback is Daniel Jones.
The individual awards
• MVP: Joe Burrow, Bengals: As noted above, the Bengals are going to score a lot of points, and give up a lot of points. Burrow should put up huge numbers while trying to win shootouts every week.
• Offensive Player of the Year: Justin Jefferson, Vikings: Jefferson is going to get like 15-20 targets per game the first three games with Jordan Addison out, which will kickstart a monster season.
• Defensive Player of the Year: Myles Garrett, Browns: I watched this dude wreck practices against the best offensive line in the NFL for two straight days this summer. He's the best defender in the NFL, and I don't think it's close.
• Protector of the Year: Penei Sewell, Lions: People will continue to be swayed by Sewell's highlight reel run blocks, and fail to realize that Lane Johnson's ability to wipe out elite pass rushers one-on-one on an island every week is the harder and far more valuable skill.
• Offensive Rookie of the Year: Ashton Jeanty, Raiders: The Raiders are going to be bad, but Jeanty is going to get a ton of carries.
• Defensive Rookie of the Year: Jihaad Campbell, Eagles: Campbell is going to fly around and make plays all over the field.
• Comeback Player of the Year: Aidan Hutchinson, Lions: Hutchinson was on his way to an elite season before a fractured tibia and fibula ended his season. He's going to have a big 2025 season.
• Breakout Player of the Year: Rashee Rice, Chiefs: Rice is going to dominate targets once he gets back from suspension.
• Coach of the Year: Mike Vrabel, Patriots: Voting for this award has very little to do with who the actual best coach is. It's more about which team improved the most from the previous year to the current year. Vrabel has as good a chance as any, since the Patriots went 4-13 last year, they have a promising quarterback in Drake Maye, and two of the teams in their division suck.
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