The 2025 NFL Draft is still a while away, but let’s try to project some teams that could use the draft to make a big push for 2025. Don’t be surprised to see some lesser-heralded teams make strides in 2024. In today’s microwave NFL, success seems to be demanded faster than ever before in this league.
And some franchises have been able to find success quickly. Others have had to rebuild the hard way, but look at the Houston Texans, for example. They went 10-7 in the first year of the DeMeco Ryans/CJ Stroud era, and now in year two, they’re suddenly a Super Bowl-caliber team.
On the other hand, you have a team like the Detroit Lions. They are in the fourth year of the Brad Holmes/Jared Goff/Dan Campbell era and are now firmly in the Super Bowl bubble. Now that we are moving toward the 2024 NFL season, these teams could make enough progress this season to go all-in on the 2025 NFL Draft next April.
If you do a little research, you’ll find that a lot of former and current players and coaches have said pretty great things about what the Denver Broncos have done this offseason with Bo Nix and Sean Payton. This duo could make a lot of noise in 2024, and with Denver really improving their defensive line as well, this team could take off in 2024.
Somehow, with a defense in the bottom seven and a quarterback in the bottom 10, they won eight games in 2023. It was a brutal first six weeks, with the Broncos starting 1-5, but they finished 7-4 in 2023. Denver has an improved roster, a more efficient quarterback who fits the offense better than Russell Wilson, and a head coach in Sean Payton who has never won fewer than seven games in his coaching career.
It shouldn’t be impossible for Denver to win eight games again, or even nine or ten, and with the 2025 NFL Draft in mind, they could use this opportunity to bet everything on their young quarterback with a rookie contract.
I’ve been pretty excited about the Arizona Cardinals all offseason. I predicted they would win eight games in 2024, which would double their 2023 win total. The Cards don’t have a coaching problem, but rather a talent problem on the roster. Second-year GM Monti Ossenfort has done a great job of adding more talent to the roster so far, but it’s clear he’ll need one more offseason to get the Cards into a playoff position.
Not only will they be a fun, lively team in 2024, but they could then make some big moves to break through in the 2025 NFL Draft. Don’t count this team out from being a long-term mainstay at the top of the NFC.
I’m not exactly excited about the Los Angeles Chargers for the 2024 NFL season, but new head coach Jim Harbaugh and his staff are probably good enough to lead this team to seven or eight wins. They have a franchise QB in Justin Herbert and some solid players on the offensive line.
They also have some notable young talent on defense, but overall the roster still needs some improvement. Having won at every head coaching stint of his career, Harbaugh is surely confident he can do the same in LA with the Chargers. With GM Joe Hortiz coming from a successful Baltimore Ravens front office, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Chargers use the 2025 NFL Draft as a big step in the right direction.
I don’t think this team is close to making the playoffs in 2024, but strong free agency and the NFL Draft from LA next offseason could put them in great position to make a real splash in the AFC in 2025 and beyond.
