BY J.A. SCHWARTZ
The 106th NFL season kicks off on Thursday when the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles host their long time NFC East rivals the Dallas Cowboys in a nationally televised contest. Philadelphia, led by head coach Nick Sirianni, will seek to achieve something the Eagles franchise hasn’t done in nearly 80 years: win back to back championships. Philadelphia won back-to-back titles in 1948 and 1949, but hasn’t done so since the Super Bowl era began after the 1966 season. Sirianni, who is 48-20 (a .706 winning percentage, the best in the game among active coaches) in his four full seasons with the club, has partnered with Jalen Hurts to lead the Eagles to the Super Bowl in two of the past three years. Philadelphia’s rabid fan base will expect nothing short of a repeat. Who can stop them?
Sports Books have made the Eagles the slight betting favorite to win Super Bowl LX in February 2026, but Baltimore, Buffalo, Kansas City and Detroit are all within shouting distance of Philadelphia atop the odds rankings as the season draws near. Those five favorites have a singular trait in common: they’ve all featured the same starting quarterback in each of the past four seasons, and barring injury, will have those same signal callers under center as the 2025 season kicks off. Only two other teams can make that claim-the Chargers with Justin Herbert, and the Bengals with Joe Burrow-and it would be reasonable to suggest that both franchises will have playoff aspirations in 2025.
Stability at the most important position in the sport is obviously important, and teams usually go out of their way to invest their resources intentionally in that direction. Coming into the 2025 season, the top 16 salaries in the sport by average annual value all belong to quarterbacks, followed by TJ Watt, Ja’Marr Chase and Myles Garrett. Franchises are also acutely aware that it is nearly impossible to find a long-term solution to the quarterback position unless you invest a first or second round pick to secure a prospect. Of the 32 QB’s projected to start 2025 as their team’s starter, 29 were picked in the first two rounds. Only Dak Prescott (fourth round), Russell Wilson (third round), and Brock Purdy (seventh round) figure to begin the season as starters among those quarterbacks drafted after the first two rounds.
New England fans are now leaping out of their chairs to argue on behalf of perhaps the greatest quarterback of all time, Tom Brady, winner of a record seven Super Bowls, who was drafted in the sixth round. San Francisco partisans are equally incensed that no mention has been made of Joe Montana, winner of four titles as a third round pick. Indeed, Brady and Montana are the exceptions that prove the rule, though the 49ers are hoping that they’ve struck gold again with another late round find in Purdy.
Purdy was chosen last in the 2022 NFL Draft (a slot known colloquially as “Mr. Irrelevant”), after 261 other players heard their names called. Forty months later, Purdy would lay that moniker to rest permanently, becoming the highest paid player from that draft after signing a five year, $265 million contract this offseason that made him the fifth highest earner by total contract value in the entire sport. The 49er franchise, led by General Manager John Lynch and Head Coach Kyle Shanahan, have put their faith in the lightly regarded Iowa State product, and their fortunes will rise or fall depending on the health and performance of the new face of football in the Bay Area.
With a newly signed five-year, $265 million contract extension under his belt, Brock Purdy hopes to deliver San Francisco its first Super Bowl title in thirty years in 2025.
A berth in Super Bowl LX is the only item on the agenda of most NFL franchises. Coming into the 2025 season, Philadelphia returns arguably one of the most talented skill position group in the league with Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley (third in MVP voting, winner of AP Offensive Player of the Year Award), A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert, and the club fully expects to factor into the playoff picture again this season.
Which NFC teams might reasonably expect to challenge the Eagles for the Conference Championship in 2025?
Washington, whose moribund franchise was transformed by rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, figures to build upon their success in 2024. The 12 wins Daniels achieved in 2024 were the most by the team since the 1991 Redskins, who went 14-2 en route to a Super Bowl victory. The team added Deebo Samuel to give Daniels more downfield weapons, and signed holdout Terry McLaurin to a three-year $96 million contract on the eve of the season to ensure Daniels will have a myriad of downfield assets to target as he enters the second year of his career as a Commander.
Dallas, 7-10 a year ago, saw their season go off the rails when Dak Prescott tore his hamstring in a loss to Atlanta in their eighth game, ending his campaign. Owner Jerry Jones made a bold move to trade for George Pickens, giving Prescott another dynamic receiver to team up with CeeDee Lamb. A Cowboys offseason is never complete without a prolonged contract squabble with a star player, and this year, it is defensive stanout Micah Parsons who is at odds with Jones about a contract extension. Their chances at a playoff berth might well hinge on the outcome of those negotiations.
Tampa Bay has helped turn Baker Mayfield into a consistently above average quarterback, something the Browns were never able to accomplish. In his two seasons with the Buccaneers, Mayfield has gone 19-15, leading the team to the playoffs after each season, completing 67.9% of his passes for a rating of 100.7, both career best marks. With primary targets Mike Evans and Chris Godwin healthy heading into 2025, Tampa should once again be the class of a very weak NFC South, and thus have a clear path to another playoff berth. The club has made the playoffs each of the past five seasons, a franchise record Mayfield will hope to extend in 2025.
The NFC North was football’s best division last season, and their 45 combined wins paced the league. The division’s .662 regular season win percentage also set an NFL record, and three of the four teams (Detroit, Minnesota and Green Bay) advanced to the playoffs. In non-divisional games, the Bears, Lions, Packers and Vikings were a collective 29-4, though each of their members ironically lost their first playoff game to non-division opponents.
Detroit will seek to advance to the postseason for the third consecutive season for the first time since the 1952-1954 Lions turned the trick. Head coach Dan Campbell has completely transformed the franchise, leading the team to a 27-7 record over the past two seasons, earning the NFC North crown in both years. The 2024 Lions offense led football with 564 points, and quarterback Jared Goff will have primary weapons Jahmyr Gibbs, David Montgomery, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Matt LaPorta back to push the team one step closer to their first ever Super Bowl berth in 2025. They’ll have to do so without their top two coordinators, as Offensive Coordinator Ben Johnson took the head coaching job with division rival Chicago, and Defensive Coordinator Aaron Glenn will helm the Jets in 2025.
Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson’s ability to bounce back from a season ending fractured tibia and fibula injury to his left leg could be key to the Lions hopes of repeating their 2024 success and finally achieving their Super Bowl aspirations.
Minnesota head coach Kevin O’Connell watched Kirk Cousins leave the Vikings after six seasons following the 2023 campaign, and the organization chose J.J. McCarthy with the tenth overall selection in the 2024 draft, signaling that the Michigan product, who led the Wolverines to the National Championship, would be the next in line to lead the club. Those plans quickly changed when McCarthy suffered a season-ending knee injury during his first preseason game, thrusting journeyman Sam Darnold into a pivotal role as their starting quarterback. Darnold was the third overall pick by the Jets in the 2018 draft, but he had gone 21-35 as a starter in the league, bouncing from New York to Carolina and even San Francisco before signing with Minnesota as a free agent prior to the 2024 season. O’Connell coaxed the best performance of Darnold’s career out of his talented right arm, setting career highs in completion percentage, TD’s, wins and passer rating as the Vikings went 14-3. It certainly helped for Darnold to have ultra-talented Justin Jefferson (and Jordan Addison) to throw to, a luxury he’ll have to live without after signing a three-year, $100 million deal to play in Seattle. The Vikings and O’Connell will need McCarthy to stay healthy and live up to the standard Darnold set in 2024 if they want to keep pace with the rest of the division.
The Packers are led by Head Coach Matt LaFleur, who leads active NFL coaches in winning percentage among those who have coached 100 games or more. LaFleur has guided his charges to the playoffs in five of his six seasons, and Green Bay fans expect another postseason berth in 2025. Jordan Love enters his third full season as a starter with an 18-15 overall record, with 60 touchdowns, 25 interceptions and a passer rating of 95.1, but he had surgery to correct a ligament injury in his left thumb August 12th, and will need to prove healthy to start the season opener in a few weeks. Love’s downfield targets will include first round pick Matthew Golden out of Texas, who ran a 4.29 40 yard dash at the combine, best of any receiver in this year’s draft.
San Francisco is coming off an injury riddled season that saw several key contributors miss large swaths of the season. Christian McCaffrey played in four games, and Brandon Aiyuk made it through six. Trent Williams missed the final six games, and Javon Hargrave played in only three games all season. This offseason, Lynch traded Deebo Samuel to Washington and watched Dre Greenlaw depart via free agency, so the 2025 49ers are one of a number of teams hoping that their upcoming season will be more successful than the one that concluded in February. If Head Coach Kyle Shanahan is to finally win his first Super Bowl in 2025, he’ll need his stars to stay healthy, and for Brock Purdy to justify the huge contract extension the team awarded him to become the face of the franchise moving forward.
The Los Angeles Rams won the NFC West last year, making the playoffs for the sixth time in the eight years Head Coach Sean McVay has been at the helm. They watched fan favorite Cooper Kupp defect to the rival Seahawks, but replaced him by signing Davante Adams to pair with Puka Nacua, who led the team with 79 catches in 2024. McVay will continue to rely upon 37-year old Matthew Stafford to guide the offense, and hope that a defense bolstered by 2024 draftees Braden Fiske and Jared Verse, both of Florida State, can continue to pressure opposing quarterbacks (13 combined sacks in 2024).
There are a handful of NFC teams who could potentially enter the postseason conversation if certain variables align:
The Atlanta Falcons could challenge Tampa Bay for the NFC South title if Michael Penix, who started three games for the club in 2024 after being a surprise first round pick (eighth overall), matures rapidly, and feature back Bijan Robinson builds upon his breakout season (14 TD’s).
The Chicago Bears could prove dangerous behind second year starter Caleb Williams if new Head Coach Ben Johnson brings his offensive wizardry with him from Detroit and the offensive line provides Williams with enough time to find talented Rome Odunze (ninth overall pick in 2024 draft) downfield.
The Seattle Seahawks enter the 2024 season with a new quarterback (Sam Darnold), featured wideout (Cooper Kupp), and edge rusher (DeMarcus Lawrence), giving second year Head Coach Mike MacDonald a lot of new talent to integrate onto a roster that missed the playoffs last year despite finishing 10-7.
The Arizona Cardinals, led by Kyler Murray, have made the playoffs just once in his six seasons in the league. Murray signed a five year-$230 deal in 2022 that pays him like one of the top quarterbacks in the league, and if he can click with ultra-talented second year receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., he may finally give Arizona fans the kind of transcendent performance that qualifies the franchise for a shot at its first Super Bowl victory.
At the end of the day, the Eagles remain the class of the NFC, but there are several contenders who will make a repeat conference championship a very difficult task for Nick Sirianni and his legion of Philadelphia supporters.
Predictions:
NFC East: Philadelphia
NFC South: Tampa Bay
NFC North: Detroit
NFC West: San Francisco
Wild Cards: Green Bay, Washington, Dallas
NFC Champion: Detroit
SUPER BOWL CHAMPION: Baltimore
