The NFL draft is almost upon us, meaning the league’s worst teams from a season ago will be injected with hopes of massive improvement after drafting at the top of the board. Unfortunately, every team can’t be good, and Week One hopes will turn to massive frustrations for some fans and organizations.
Here are three disappointing teams from the 2024 season that we’re expecting to be even worse in 2025, for one reason or another.
Cleveland Browns
This one is pretty self-explanatory, it’s the Cleveland Browns. Even if the Browns weren’t the most cursed franchise in the history of the NFL, there’s also no reason on paper for Cleveland to be better next season. Quarterback Deshaun Watson is expected to miss most, if not all, of the season with an Achilles injury, and even if he was healthy, Watson was one of the worst quarterbacks in the league last season.
The Browns have the second pick in the NFL draft, but this is considered an especially weak class at the quarterback position. If that weren’t enough, the Browns’ defense regressed in a major way last season. The Browns responded by giving star pass rusher a six-year deal worth $205 million.
The Browns are a dysfunctional franchise, and it doesn’t look like the dysfunction is coming to a close anytime soon.
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers weren’t miserable last season, but they weren’t especially good either. The Steelers seemed to be locked in a cycle of perpetual mediocrity under head coach Mike Tomlin, and for one reason or another the team refuses to move on from Tomlin as the guy at the helm.
The Steelers and Tomlin ar running it back again, only now they have no idea who next season’s quarterback will be. The leading candidate at the moment? None other than Aaron Rodgers, who is coming off the worst season of his career. If the Steelers don’t sign Rodgers they’re expected to bring back Russell Wilson, who completely fell apart in the back half of the season.
Our prediction? A 7-10 record that will finally force Tomlin out of the Steel City.
New York Jets
It’s hard to imagine the Jets can do worse than the 5-12 record they turned in behind an aging Aaron Rodgers last season. However, the Jets managed to give the keys to an even less reliable quarterback in Justin Fields. Even popular sports podcaster Ryen Russillo was puzzled by the move.
“Somehow, Fields becomes even better because of the way the season ended when he wasn’t even playing,” Russillo said on his show, The Ryen Russillo Podcast.
“There’s a lot of record stuff with quarterbacks that we should always be fighting against. And even though there are moments I think with Pittsburgh, where I go, ‘Oooh, maybe there’s something there those first couple of weeks.
“‘Like, hey, that was a pretty good throw.’ There’s are a lot of numbers that, if you really want to dig into his EPA and his value on dropbacks and stuff, it’s abysmal.
“Some of those numbers paint a picture that even if I didn’t love Fields, I’m like, ‘Wow, I didn’t realize it was that bad.’ And he gets a deal with the Jets. Now, granted, the money here is two years, $40 million, and $30 million is guaranteed. The $20 million average annual salary puts him at 21st at the position. Like, $20 million now a year for a quarterback is just weird anyway if he’s not on the rookie deal.”
Some teams are just stuck in the mud, and these three aren’t showing any signs of being able to claw their way out of it.
