A 2025 New Year's Resolution for the Worst NFL Teams

As the calendar flips from 2024 to 2025, the dominant NFL storyline is the upcoming postseason, but quite a few teams are already looking past the playoffs and toward free agency and the draft.

It's been a long season for a handful of teams: Four teams have three wins entering the final week of the 2024 regular season, and a total of 10 teams have five wins or fewer. Here, we're providing resolutions for six of the NFL teams with four losses or fewer with the exception of the Carolina Panthers and Chicago Bears, as both teams have shown at least some improvement with a young QB as the season progressed.

Although most of these teams will feel pessimistic entering the offseason, a few can take solace in the fact that three teams with rookie starting quarterbacks - Michael Penix Jr. and the Atlanta Falcons, Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos, and Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders - are still in playoff contention with just one game remaining.

With that being said, only two college quarterbacks are projected to be worthy high draft picks in 2025, and the only coveted QB set for free agency is Sam Darnold of the Minnesota Vikings.

So, ahead of what’s set to be a chaotic offseason with plenty of coaching changes, let’s figure out New Year’s resolutions for the NFL teams that need them most.

New England Patriots: Draft Travis Hunter and spend to protect Drake Maye

The New England Patriots are set to have more cap space than any other NFL team heading into 2025, with $132.2 million available to spend. They’re also on course to have the first-overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

The Pats need a go-to receiver for Drake Maye, and Colorado Buffaloes CB/WR Travis Hunter can be that guy. The 2024 Heisman Trophy winner was just that for the Buffs, and New England can use him as a defensive back when needed.

In a draft without a surefire superstar on the offensive line, it makes sense for the Pats to go for a skill position player, especially one as versatile and dominant as Hunter.

Because the team has one of the best young CBs in the league in Christian Gonzalez and a solid No. 2 CB in Marcus Jones under contract for 2025, New England won’t need the two-way superstar to carry as heavy a load on both sides of the ball as he did in his final collegiate season.

Instead, Hunter can focus on running routes, catching passes and finding the end zone at the professional level.

Then, with the team’s huge amount of cap space, GM Eliot Wolf can target quality free agents to get the most out of Maye and Hunter, such as WR Tee Higgins, OT Cam Robinson, OT Jedrick Wills, OT Alaric Jackson or RB Aaron Jones.

Tennessee Titans: Find a QB and (probably) a new coaching staff

The Tennessee Titans have regressed from their 6-11 record in 2023 to being 3-13 with a game to go in 2024.

Entering the final week of the regular season, the Titans are set for the second-overall pick behind the Patriots, who do not need a quarterback. That means, barring a trade, Tennessee should have its pick between former Miami Hurricanes QB Cam Ward and former Colorado Buffaloes QB Shedeur Sanders.

This is a team that could use a player under center who has improved consistently throughout his career so far, meaning that Ward seems like the smart play.

He’d have a veteran WR in Calvin Ridley to target from day one. And with $62 million in projected cap space, the franchise has plenty of flexibility to fortify the offensive line, skill positions and defense.

Regardless of who the new QB is, he’ll probably playing under a coach who is new to the organization. The Titans hired Brian Callahan to get the most out of QB Will Levis after Callahan had helped develop Joe Burrow into an elite NFL QB with the Cincinnati Bengals, but it hasn’t happened the same way in Nashville.

Perhaps Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson could be persuaded by the possibility of coaching a talent like Ward or Sanders, but it would take some convincing by the Titans front office and ownership.

Cleveland Browns: Find an identity

Where to begin with this team?

One thing that’s for certain is that Deshaun Watson’s contract is and will be an albatross for this team for years to come, despite the front office’s efforts to restructure it.

Eight of this team’s 10 highest-paid players are 28 or older and they all – aside from Watson and TE David Njoku – are either defensive players or offensive linemen. That’s a good place to start for rebuilding this team in the long term.

Building a team like what Jim Harbaugh has done with the Michigan Wolverines and Los Angeles Chargers – a group that plays strong defense and can run the ball efficiently – should be the offseason focus.

With a ground-and-pound style, the team can make its substandard QB room less relevant from game to game.

Las Vegas Raiders & New York Giants: Draft or sign (and protect) a QB

We’re going two-for-one here, because the Las Vegas Raiders and New York Giants are in pretty similar situations.

Both teams have awful offenses with no cause for optimism at QB. Given that, as things stand, neither team will have a top-three Draft pick, these franchises might have to get creative when it comes to finding a competent signal caller.

Darnold could be an option for one of these teams, as could Pittsburgh Steelers backup QB Justin Fields.

One thing that will make life easier for each team's 2025 QB is that both teams selected offensive weapons in last year’s draft with the Raiders getting TE Brock Bowers and the Giants getting WR Malik Nabers. Both players reached 1,000 receiving yards in their respective rookie years.

The Raiders, though, have the luxury of a decent offensive line. The Giants are one of four teams that allow pressure on more than 25 percent of QB dropbacks, meaning New York has a lot more to do when it comes to setting up a new QB for success.

This year should be all about that: Finding a QB and setting him up for success.

Jacksonville Jaguars: Get more out of Trevor Lawrence

Trevor Lawrence, the first-overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft who was once touted as a generational talent, has not really improved at all in his four NFL seasons.

His best season as a professional was his second season in 2022, and he is still surrounded by much of the same offensive supporting cast – Christian Kirk, Travis Etienne, Evan Engram, and Tank Bigsby – with the addition of 2024 first-round pick WR Brian Thomas Jr.

It’s not a question of pass protection, either, as the Jaguars have the lowest pressure percentage in the NFL at 14.6 percent.

Play calling, though, seems to have been a consistent issue in Jacksonville. One metric that indicates issues in that department is the difference between the Jags’ QBs’ average intended air yards per pass attempt (8.3) when compared to average completed air yards per attempt (5.7).

That’s a 2.6-yard difference when many of the league’s best teams – such as the Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles and Detroit Lions – and have less than a 1.5-yard difference between the two stats. That suggests a major disconnect between Lawrence, the skill position players and offensive coordinator Press Taylor.

This is a franchise that needs creativity when it comes to playcalling, and as with the Titans, the Detroit Lions OC Ben Johnson would be an ideal candidate in Florida.

New York Jets: Move on from Aaron Rodgers

The New York Jets have wasted two years of their young players’ respective careers on Aaron Rodgers.

The front office basically ruled 2023 as a wash as soon as the QB suffered his season-ending Achilles injury on the fourth play of the regular season, and even with him on the field for every game in 2024, things haven’t gone much better.

Not only are the Jets 4-12 heading into 2025, but Rodgers has one of the 10 highest bad throw percentages in the NFL per Pro-Football-Reference, higher than that of Mac Jones, Cooper Rush, Daniel Jones and rookies Bo Nix and Jayden Daniels.

Whether they decide to draft a QB or go after a free agent, it’s time for the Jets to look toward the future under center.

Get ready for another losing season – at least without the burden of high expectations – and embrace the rebuild in 2025.

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