Five teams poised to take major leap in 2025: Panthers, Patriots could surprise; 49ers due for comeback year

The 2024 NFL season has officially come to a close, with the Philadelphia Eagles emerging as world champions and ending the Kansas City Chiefs’ chances at a three-peat. This NFL season was full of surprises, including the Washington Commanders making a shocking playoff run to reach the conference championship game for the first time since 1991. 

The Minnesota Vikings also had a surprising season, finishing with a 14-3 record and playoff berth behind the arm of Sam Darnold. They didn’t win a playoff game, but Minnesota was one of the biggest surprises in the league. 

Which team can be this year’s Commanders or Vikings? Let’s take an early look at five teams poised to make a leap in 2025, and this includes a team that made the playoffs last season. 

The Chargers were one of the biggest surprises in the NFL last season, emerging as a playoff team in Jim Harbaugh’s first season at the helm. Harbaugh used the tried-and-true formula of a strong run game and good defense to win football games, as the Chargers upped their win total from five wins to 11 in Year 1 with Harbaugh.

What does Harbaugh have in store for Year 2? The Chargers will have $63.4 million in available cap space to improve the roster, mainly on the interior of the offensive line and at tight end. Los Angeles could also use some more depth on the defensive line, along with another wideout for Justin Herbert. 

This should be a playoff team in 2025, and could win a playoff game with the right offseason moves.

The Seahawks made an immediate improvement under Mike Macdonald in his first season, even if the win total only jumped from nine to 10. Seattle still missed the playoffs in a loaded NFC, but the defense underwent an immediate turnaround. Seattle jumped from 29th in points allowed per possession to fifth, showcasing how good of a defensive coach McDonald is.

The offense needs to be figured out, starting with the future of Geno Smith. Is it time for the Seahawks to groom the next franchise quarterback and give him a year to develop under Smith? Seattle brought in Klint Kubiak as offensive coordinator and play-caller in place of Ryan Grubb, so the offense should be more balanced along with an improved run game. 

The offensive line needs to improve across the board, which would also help Smith avoid the mistakes he makes seemingly every game. The cap situation also needs to be figured out, as Seattle is $13.5 million over the cap heading into the offseason. 

The talent is there to make the playoffs in 2025. Seattle should be one of the seven playoff teams in the NFC. 

Hard to write off an organization that’s been to two Super Bowls in the last six seasons, even if the 2024 season was a dumpster fire. Running back Christian McCaffrey missed a significant portion of the season and wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk tore his ACL in Week 7. Linebacker Dre Greenlaw missed 15 games, safety Talanoa Hufanga missed 10, left tackle Trent Williams missed seven and pass rusher Nick Bosa missed three. 

Even with the injuries, the 49ers defense allowed 25.7 points per game after allowing just 18.4 from 2021 to 2023. A change was made at defensive coordinator, as Robert Saleh returns and replaces Nick Sorensen. The 49ers defense should be immediately improved under Saleh. 

Of course, the Brock Purdy extension looms as he’s looking for a bounce-back season. Wide receiver Deebo Samuel may be on the move, but the 49ers have shown they can respond after a poor season by returning to the playoffs and playing deep into January. 

There are some significant questions on this roster, but San Francisco seems poised for a bounce-back year in 2025. 

The Panthers were a bad football team last season, but the final record is deceiving. Carolina was highly competitive in the second half of last season, going 4-5 in its final nine games. The key piece in all this was Bryce Young, who had 20 touchdowns to eight turnovers after he returned from his benching in Week 2 — including 10 total touchdowns to zero turnovers in the final three games. 

The Panthers may have something in Young after all, as he’s starting to play at the level of a No. 1 overall pick. Carolina averaged 23.1 points per game in Young’s final 10 starts, compared to just 12.3 in his first 18. Significant progress has been made on that side of the ball.

Carolina’s defense was the worst in the NFL last season in points and yards allowed per possession, and needs a full-scale rebuild. The Panthers only have $20.9 million in salary cap space, but the front office can get creative with one-year deals. Young also needs another playmaking wideout as well.

The NFC South is not a good division, so there’s room for the Panthers to up that win total by a few games in 2025. 

The Patriots were one of the worst teams in the NFL last season, which led to the dismissal of Jerod Mayo as head coach after just one season. This turned out to be the right move for New England, as the Patriots landed Mike Vrabel to be their head coach and immediately have their franchise in the next stage of their rebuild. 

New England likely won’t be an AFC East contender in 2025, but the Patriots will be competitive and disciplined under Vrabel. They’ll certainly win more than three games with a significantly improved roster and $120 million in salary cap space heading into free agency. Having the No. 4 overall pick certainly helps, too. 

The biggest thing going for the Patriots? Drake Maye has the makings of a franchise quarterback and played well in spite of the lack of talent surrounding him last season. The offense will be better by default with Josh McDaniels back as the play-caller. 

Don’t be surprised if New England doubles its win total (at least) next year.