Radio Silence

Storylines heading into the 2025 NFL Season that people aren’t really talking about

Joe Burrow MVP season

The Cincinnati Bengals are absolutely gutted across the board on the defensive side of the ball. Their offensive line will continue to be a below average unit like it has been for Burrow’s entire tenure. If Tee Higgins and Jamarr Chase can both hold up for a full season there’s a fair chance Burrow transcends to a level of play the league has never seen before. Record numbers across the board. It isn’t overly hard to envision considering most Bengals games will be shootouts. It happened last year with a better defense than the team has at the moment. If the Bengals win the AFC North after the home run draft the Ravens just had then it’s nearly a lock that Burrow will take down the MVP award. Even if Cincy makes the playoffs it would require a heroic effort from the toughest QB in the league hands down.

Burrow is the Anakin Skywalker of the NFL. A football prodigy with one of the highest football IQs ever seen at the position. He’s been bruised, battered, and bullied by defensive fronts every year but he continues to get up and rise to the occasion every week. He endured punishment, reached the highest stage, and was denied an illustrious Super Bowl trophy. The competitive fire within him could almost be perceived as insanity. An obsession with success. Whenever he addressed the press last season he was sure to illustrate how the year was a complete failure considering the team didn’t win enough games to have a shot at making a postseason run. He won’t be denied this year. That’s a sure thing.

  Cincy just lost Germaine Pratt at linebacker and their secondary is reeling big time. Not a good thing when you have to play Lamar twice and are faced with a daunting schedule full of the best offenses in the league. Geno Stone needs to hold it down on the backend or else this defense is going to be one of the worst the league has ever seen. At cornerback it’s mind boggling how their incredibly cheap owner could look at the group and think it was good enough to compete for a Super Bowl. This team is certainly going to be dragged down by their defense even more than they were last year. The biggest road bump with Hendrickson’s salary before he got a pay raise was that he’s not worth the price he was demanding. He’s not a $33 million a year player. An incredible pass rusher, but a putrid run stuffer. Just look at Minnesota’s star edge Jonathan Greenard. Nearly identical when it comes to generating pressure, but far more effective at stopping the run. A top tier all around edge with the most run stuffs in the league. He makes just $19 million a year for the next three years. 

Titans Win the AFC South

Most people when looking at the Tennessee Titans see a team that is far outside the realm of contention in the AFC South. They’ve had a bad defense, no passing game, and an average rushing attack for years now. Not saying the roster still doesn’t have serious questions, but they do have a fighting chance at the very least. Cam Ward has shown promise as a passer down the field. He had an incredible deep ball accompanied by the highest average depth of target of any quarterback while he played for Miami. He doesn’t have an incredible cast of receivers, but he has enough to get the job done. A Calvin Ridley ceiling season could be something that isn’t on the radar, but is more than feasible given the situation. It’s hard to imagine Tony Pollard can handle another season of being a bell cow back. Especially after he ran out of steam to end 2024. It will be quite a sight to see if the Titans could actually pass the ball for once and put points on the board. Along with offensive improvement the defense could be a far better unit with L’Jarius Sneed finally entering the lineup. Without his play this team would be a complete write off. Sneed is a lockdown number one corner who has been desperately needed in the Music City.

Aside from Tennessee you just can’t ignore the swirling questions all around the AFC South. Can Trevor Lawrence actualize his potential and grab the division? Even with Etienne coming off an abysmal campaign and with an atrocity of a defense. The backend of Jacksonville’s defense is pitiful to put it politely. Can CJ Stroud bounce back behind a poorly constructed patchwork offensive line that just dumped their best offensive tackle this offseason? Houston doesn't even have an RB for the first 4+ weeks of the 2025 season. A completely one dimensional offense riding on the shoulders of their QB’s pinpoint accuracy. The Texans still will likely take the division down, but it won’t be an easy feat whatsoever. Then there’s the Colts who are an embarrassment. They have far more questions about the future than answers and that won’t change any time soon. It’s a toss up in the AFC South although some are buying into the idea that Trevor Lawrence finally breaks out and takes down the division with conviction. Who knows?

Dylan Sampson cements himself as the runaway RB1 in Cleveland

It’s easy to completely look past Cleveland’s backfield due to the fact that the Browns offense will be quite lackluster. Here’s why you shouldn’t. There’s a fairly good chance that Cleveland will lean on their backs when you take Joe Flacco into consideration. He now is a slightly below average QB with no real weapons even though Jerry Jeudy did have a nice season in 2024. The identity of this football team is going to be their defense and for the Browns to win they’ll have to salt away the clock. The situation with their second round pick Quinshon Judkins is puzzling to say the least. A looming domestic violence incident that’s under investigation (not criminally) has driven a wedge between the Cleveland organization and their rookie running back. The two sides are far from agreeing on a contract and as it stands right now it appears the Browns may have wasted a premium draft pick on yet another head case.

That leaves Dylan Sampson and Jerome Ford to compete for the team’s starting role. We’ve already seen what Ford has to offer. Average play, an occasional highlight or two, and nothing more. Sampson was a workhorse back at Tennessee who frequently produced explosive plays to carry the Tennessee Volunteers to the College Football playoffs. He’s a dense back despite his small stature and he shouldn’t have a hard time working his way up to being the Browns number one running back. The only reason Sampson hasn’t received more press is because the media is fixated on Shedeur Sanders and Cleveland’s wild QB carousel. It’s been decades of zero stability for the Dog Pound. They squandered a coveted franchise quarterback since they decided to give up on Baker Mayfield entirely. Many could look to capitalize on the diversion and hold Dylan Sampson as a deep stash for the least stable position in fantasy football.

Jameson Williams leading the Lions in receiving

There’s speedsters and then there’s Jamo. A player that flips a game on its head with his blazing trackstar speed. He was a highly anticipated player heading into 2024 and he shined. Surpassing 1,000 yards in 15 games played. He accomplished this feat despite being a gadget player in Ben Johnson’s offense. He was asked to make big time plays on the deep ball and make something out of nothing on reverses and trick plays. He wasn’t necessarily asked to route up defensive backs, but this offseason he has fixated on that element of his game. Lots of the Lions game script last season revolved around Amon-Ra St. Brown. Ben Johnson made him THE focal point of Detroit’s offense. He consistently moved the chains and is one of the most sure handed players in the NFL. Now that Johnson is gone both Jamo and Laporta could be due for explosive seasons now that they will be featured more in the passing game. There’s a real possibility Jameson Williams takes a huge leap and surpasses St Brown in receiving yards. 

As the 2024 season wound down Jameson’s performances ramped up. He was consistently getting 7+ targets and maximizing all of his touches. He was an electric bolt whose highlight plays looked easy. The reverse touchdown he had in the playoffs against the Commanders was one of the most effortless long touchdowns I’ve ever seen. Reversing field to jog into the endzone for a monumental score when Detroit was down by ten points. He did it all season last year. Huge conversions, long bombs, and reverses that gave the Lions a jolt when they were in desperate need. Now he has a shot to build upon that impact and become the superstar some thought he’d be coming out of Alabama. There’s a reason why Amon Ra is a -120 favorite to go under 1,100 yards despite smashing that total for three straight seasons after his rookie year. That reason is Williams.

The Vikings are the biggest threat to the Lions

It’s time to set the record straight. Although I’m not the biggest believer in JJ McCarthy the Minnesota Vikings are by far the biggest threat to the Detroit Lions. The Packers have no secondary to the point that they had to slide a fringe wide receiver to their cornerback room. Bo Melton is by no means an answer to the lack of depth Green Bay has at the position. Alongside their lack of depth at one of the most vital positions in football they also don’t have a definitive answer at quarterback and wide receiver. They have a wide receiver room full of formidable WR2’s and Jordan Love is yet to prove he is an elite gunslinger. He has all the talent in the world and can do it this year, but he needs to clean up his game. People have been overly harsh on him after his huge contract which is admittedly unfair considering he had a big time knee injury in week one of the 2024 season. He played through it in a remarkably gutsy manner, but his play took quite a hit as a consequence. He routinely faded away on throws and lofted the ball to the defense far too much. Maybe it was a product of his knee injury or maybe it was a product of poor mechanics and overconfidence. Maybe it was a culmination of both factors. Whatever it was Green Bay didn’t look right aside from the rushing attack. Then there’s Chicago.

The Bears are still looking to get their footing after Caleb Williams had a lackluster season given the incredibly lofty expectations that were set for him as a rookie. Ben Johnson assuming the role as head coach has given some the idea that maybe the Bears could weasel their way into contention. Although he could turn it around in due time, Chicago is far from being competitive in the NFC North. Their offensive line still looks rough, their running back room isn’t the strongest, and Caleb Williams is still quite raw. He hasn’t been able to pick up an NFL system quite yet and in 2025 that will likely continue. Johnson looks like he’s aged 10 years in 10 months as the Bears head coach. The young roster he is working with continually struggles to find what their identity is. Through the air and on the ground. Johnson himself said that the team has no idea what kind of gap scheme they're going to subscribe to in the rushing game. The rushing game is a pillar of Ben Johnson’s offense as well, which makes the prospect of Chicago’s success a near impossibility. The huge weaknesses of the Packers and Bears pave the way for Minnesota. 

Kevin O’Connell hand picked McCarthy because he knew how well the young quarterback could operate within the confines of a balanced system with a stout rushing attack. This offseason Minnesota invested heavily into their interior offensive line and signed Jordan Mason to form the ground game JJ needs. Off the ground game McCarthy can feast on play action with a top three receiving core in the whole league. Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and TJ Hockenson along with KOC’s playcalling might be the best situation a first year quarterback has ever had. The system he put in place last year took a fringe NFL QB in Sam Darnold and made him a potential franchise quarterback for years to come. He knows how to foster confidence in his QB’s and is a floor raiser. Having such a competent coaching staff alongside one of the best front offices in the league has made Minnesota go from a team with no hope to a consistent playoff contender for years to come. Every signing Minnesota made last offseason was worth every penny. Andrew Van Ginkel, Blake Cashman, Byron Murphy, and Jonathan Greenard all were fantastic signings that fortified the Vikings defense. Minnesota’s defense was supposed to be god awful, but these new faces along with Brian Flores calling plays made this unit far exceed their expectations. Flores masked their weak secondary with a multitude of complex blitz packages. They confused offenses, wreaked havoc, and manufactured turnovers. Minnesota's organization has been a master class on how to run an NFL franchise. Chicago and Green Bay need to take notes.