NFL preview: 50 things to know 50 days before 2025 season kicks off

USA Today

16-07-2025

Lest you're under the impression that we're in the throes of summer … well, you're not wrong. It's hot, hopefully relaxing and most veteran players haven't even reported to NFL training camps yet.
And yet pro football is going to be here – in a meaningful way – before you know it. Only 50 days henceforth, the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles will host the Dallas Cowboys (on September 4) to kick off the 2025 regular season.
But before we get there, we thought a bit of a football primer might be helpful just in case you've been focused on baseball, basketball, soccer, the beach and/or piña coladas.
Here are 50 things to know 50 days ahead of the league's upcoming season:
1. The Los Angeles Chargers' veterans report to training camp today, making the Bolts the first team to have their full team in the building. The Detroit Lions will be completely in the fold by Saturday. The rest of the league's teams will fully post by next week. The Chargers and Lions have early report dates because they will meet in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, on July 31.
2. Could Detroit and the Bolts be providing the earliest of Super Bowl 60 previews? Even though both clubs reached the playoffs last season, let's just say it's highly doubtful. The franchises have combined for zero Lombardi Trophies and one Super Bowl berth in their lengthy histories – the Lions just one of four teams never to play on Super Sunday, and the only one in the league that's gone zero-for-59 on that front since the beginning of the Super Bowl era in 1966.
3. Still … the San Francisco 49ers advanced to Super Bowl 47 at the end of the 2012 campaign, which was their second under head coach Jim Harbaugh, who now enters Year 2 with the Chargers. Meanwhile, the Lions, who had never won the NFC North prior to 2023, are in the midst of their best stretch in the Super Bowl era – winning the division the past two seasons and racking up a club record 15 regular-season victories in 2024. However they must overcome the loss of coordinators Ben Johnson (Chicago Bears) and Aaron Glenn (New York Jets), who both took head coaching jobs in the offseason, plus the departure of several other assistants from HC Dan Campbell's staff.
4. The number of Hall of Fame inductees this year, Canton's smallest class since 2005. CB Eric Allen, DE Jared Allen, WR Sterling Sharpe and TE Antonio Gates, who played his entire 16-year career with the Chargers. Gates' 116 career touchdown catches are the most by any tight end in NFL history.
5. The number of teams that hit the road for training camp, which used to be the norm in the days when team bonding and conditioning were – often of necessity – more highly prioritized by coaches. The Cowboys, Buffalo Bills, Indianapolis Colts, Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers are the only clubs that will actually do some version of football camping in 2025.
6. Can you name the only team to never reach a conference championship game? Probably no surprise, but the answer is the Houston Texans, the league's youngest franchise (2002 was their first year). Yet maybe you didn't appreciate that the Texans have reached the divisional round in three of the previous six seasons and each of the last two. If QB C.J. Stroud and Co. can manage an incremental improvement – and from the cozy confines of the AFC South, which they've won the past two years – maybe they'll finally find themselves on the Super Bowl's doorstep.
7. The number of international games the NFL will stage in 2025 – a record for one season – including Spain and Ireland for the first time.8. And the league will again waste no time stamping passports, the Chiefs and Chargers set to meet in São Paulo, Brazil, on September 5, 24 hours after the Eagles and Cowboys start the season.
9. The number of total losses (against one win) the Cincinnati Bengals have in their first two games since drafting QB Joe Burrow in 2020. Just another reason they might want to figure out a new contract for disgruntled DE Trey Hendrickson, the NFL's sack leader in 2024.
10. Did we forget about the Eagles? Oops. So they'll try to become the 10th team in the Super Bowl era to win consecutive Lombardi Trophies on the heels of decisively snapping the Chiefs' three-peat bid in Super Bowl 59.
11. Oddly enough, Philadelphia might have more trouble keeping its NFC East crown than the league throne. Since the Eagles ruled the division from 2001 to '04, no team has won it in consecutive years – the longest such stretch for any division (MLB, NBA and NHL included), according to ESPN.
12. The recently assigned jersey number of Cleveland Browns rookie Shedeur Sanders – the University of Colorado just retired his No. 2 – perhaps the most highly scrutinized fifth-round draft pick and/or fourth-string (or fifth, if you count injured Deshaun Watson) quarterback in NFL annals.
13. The Miami Dolphins haven't won a playoff game since the 2000 season, the league's longest active streak and one seemingly hurtling toward a full quarter-century.
14. The number of consecutive seasons that the New York Jets have failed to qualify for the playoffs, the longest active drought among NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL teams.
15. The number of teams that will feature some kind of new uniform during the 2025 season, whether it's a recently revealed throwback or alternate or ones (AFC East, NFC West) participating in Nike's upcoming 'Rivalries' reveal.
16. In case you missed it, Bengals WR Ja'Marr Chase became the highest-paid non-quarterback in league history (in terms of average annual contractual value) when he signed a four-year, $161 extension in March.
17. Chase overtook Browns DE Myles Garrett, who became the first non-QB to average $40 million per season when Cleveland pulled some Obi-Wan Kenobi stuff on him. 'You don't want to be traded. You'd rather take our money than pursue a championship.' Really good stormtrooper that Myles.
18. But expect both Chase and Garrett to be surpassed again before the season starts. Steelers OLB T.J. Watt and Cowboys DE Micah Parsons seem to be in something of a stare-down with their teams – and maybe each other – as they await their next payday, which will almost certainly come in slightly ahead of Chase's $40.25 million per.
19. Lions DE Aidan Hutchinson might also enter into that discussion. Although unlike Parsons and Watt, Hutchinson has two years left on his pact … and a slight burden of proof required as he continues what seems to be a remarkable comeback after breaking his tibia and fibula last October.
20. Speaking of $40 million, there's a player carrying that cap number in 2025 even though his team hopes he won't have to play a down. That would be Atlanta Falcons backup QB Kirk Cousins, who almost certainly won't be traded unless another club runs headlong into an abject disaster behind center … and is willing to pay handsomely for Cousins, in terms of draft compensation, given Atlanta has already guaranteed him $100 million (including his $27.5 million base salary for the 2025 season) and would need a justifiable reason to divest itself from a guy who is almost undoubtedly the league's best Plan B QB.
21. Speaking of cap hits, Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson and Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes – they've combined four of the league's last seven MVP awards and you could argue that both should actually have three apiece – are each scheduled to have one north of $74 million in 2026. While other players have more urgent contract situations, you can bet Baltimore and Kansas City will address their stars' deals, quite likely sooner rather than later. And good chance both are eventually averaging more than $60 million annually, which is the fiscal plateau set by Dallas QB Dak Prescott last year.
22. Five rookie head coaches will be patrolling the sidelines in 2025: Glenn, Johnson, the Jaguars' Liam Coen, Cowboys' Brian Schottenheimer and Saints' Kellen Moore.
23. The number of NBA legend Michael Jordan, whose sneaker line has Prescott as perhaps its most high-profile NFL endorser. After missing more than half of last season with a serious hamstring injury, Prescott is ready to go for camp. The Cowboys have made the playoffs in five of the seven seasons in which he's started at least 12 times.
24. The number of different joint practice sessions that will occur this summer, valuable periods for players – particular veterans who prefer to avoid exhibition contests but want to work against opponents in controlled environments – at a time when the preseason schedule has dwindled to three games for most teams.
25. Of the league's 32 teams, 29 will participate in at least one joint practice – the Bengals, Chiefs and New Orleans Saints the only holdouts.
26. The Dolphins will conduct joint practices with three other clubs (Bears, Jags, Lions), most in the league this summer.
27. Let's talk rookies. None is generating a greater sense of anticipation than WR/CB Travis Hunter, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner whom the Jaguars traded up to get at the No. 2 spot. He averaged nearly 112 snaps per game while playing offense and defense during his two seasons at Colorado and once had 149 against Stanford in a single game. No NFL player has played as many as 120 snaps in a game since at least 2012, but Jacksonville is currently open to allowing Hunter to play both ways … if not recording triple-digit snaps with any kind of regularity, if at all.
28. Las Vegas Raiders rookie RB Ashton Jeanty also enters the league with outsized expectations after rushing for 2,601 yards last season with Boise State – 28 shy of breaking Barry Sanders' single-season NCAA record. And it's not unprecedented for a first-year NFL player to top the rushing charts, Ezekiel Elliott (2016) and Kareem Hunt (2017) the most recent to turn that trick.
29. The Washington Commanders are something of a chic Super Bowl pick after reaching the NFC title game in 2024 behind Offensive Rookie of the Year Jayden Daniels. But no quarterback has followed up an OROY showing with a Super Bowl berth the following season since Ben Roethlisberger in 2005.
30. Two rookie teammates to monitor this summer are Atlanta's Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr. Both were taken in the first round of the draft and each will be asked to rush enemy quarterbacks. Maybe one can produce the Falcons' first double-digit sack season since 2016.
31. New Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers needs six TD passes to pass former teammate Brett Favre (508) for the fourth most in NFL history. If Rodgers can somehow fire off 37, he'd wrest third place from Peyton Manning (539).
32. And if Rodgers can defeat his original team, the Green Bay Packers, on the 'Sunday Night Football' stage October 26 at Acrisure Stadium, he'll join Favre, Manning, Tom Brady and Drew Brees as the only quarterbacks in league history to beat all 32 NFL teams.
33. Got the first pick of your upcoming fantasy draft and wondering whom you should take? Past performance does not guarantee future returns, but here's a vote for Chase. He won the receiving triple crown last year (127 catches, 1,708 yards, 17 TDs) and had a comfortable cushion in each category. And don't forget the Bengals stink in September and can't play defense, especially if Hendrickson holds out – so they should be chucking the rock early and often.
34. And if you're considering Philly's Saquon Barkley, who's coming off arguably the best season ever by a running back … then maybe think twice. (Statistical) history rarely repeats itself, and no player has led the league in yards from scrimmage in consecutive years since Tiki Barker in 2004 and '05. No one has paced the NFL in touches in back-to-back seasons since LaDainian Tomlinson in 2001 and '02. And given Barkley's injury history? Just sayin', buyer beware.
35. But if you're hellbent on taking a running back, Atlanta' Bijan Robinson might be the guy. He's coming off a promising sophomore campaign, when he totaled 1,887 yards and 15 touchdowns.
36. You might have guessed RB James Cook led the Bills with 1,267 yards from scrimmage in 2024. You might not know that WR Khalil Shakir was second with 825. The perennial AFC East champs might be wise to figure out a new deal for Cook lest he decide to withhold his services at some point.
37. Dying to see Cook play in front of Bills Mafia at Highmark Stadium? Then you better make it happen this year given the team is scheduled to move into its new venue for the 2026 season.
38. Only two teams finished the 2024 regular season without any players tallying 1,000 yards from scrimmage. Not surprisingly, one was the New England Patriots. Perhaps surprisingly, the other was the Chiefs. Second-year Pats QB Drake Maye isn't the only one who could use a little more support.
39. The last time the Tampa Bay Buccaneers failed to win the NFC South was 2020, when Brady led them to victory in Super Bowl 55 as a wild-card entry.
40. But since the start of the 2022 season, the Bucs average margin over the division's second-place finisher is one game. That's why the recent knee operation on All-Pro LT Tristan Wirfs, arguably Tampa's best player, is such a big deal and major concern. QB Baker Mayfield will face four players in the first seven weeks who collected double-digit sacks in 2024 – and that list doesn't include Hutchinson, 49ers DE Nick Bosa or anyone from the Eagles.
41. And what an additional bummer for Wirfs, who would have been a favorite to win the league's inaugural Protector of the Year award in 2025, which will honor the NFL's best offensive lineman.
42. After allowing the second-most passing yards in the league in 2024 – and most among playoff clubs – the Ravens signed Pro Bowl CB Jaire Alexander and selected highly regarded S Malaki Starks in the first round of the draft. Teaming them with Pro Bowl DBs Kyle Hamilton and Marlon Humphrey should make this a far more formidable secondary – and maybe the one that gets last season's AFC North champs back to the Super Bowl for the first time in 13 years.
43. Only one team has two players who rushed for at least 1,000 yards in 2024 on its roster. That would be the Carolina Panthers, who signed Rico Dowdle from Dallas in free agency and will pair him with incumbent RB1 Chuba Hubbard.
44. It's worth wondering if new New York Giants QB1 Russell Wilson starts more games in 2025 for the G-Men … or another team. With a $2 million base salary for the season, Wilson will be quite easy to trade – especially if a partner emerges when and if the Giants decide it's time to hand the keys to rookie Jaxson Dart, which feels fairly inevitable.
45. Which division will be the most competitive? Maybe none feels more wide open than the NFC West, and Vegas seems to support that. Per BetMGM, the Seattle Seahawks are a +500 bet to win it, currently the site's shortest odds of any projected last-place club.
46. Looking for a breakout defensive star in 2025? Keep an eye on Packers LB Edgerrin Cooper, who only started four times as a rookie in 2024, but was one of the better players at his position by season's end.
47. Looking for a breakout offensive star in 2025? We have yet to see Minnesota Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy take a regular-season snap after a preseason knee injury scuttled his rookie campaign in 2024. But given the meteoric rise Sam Darnold just enjoyed in Minnesota under HC Kevin O'Connell and the supporting cast the Vikes have put around McCarthy, he's got everything he needs to thrive two years after leading the University of Michigan to a national title.
48. Most compelling quarterback competition? If you'd rather look away from what's happening in Indianapolis between Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones, then turn your eyes to New Orleans, where Spencer Rattler and rookie Tyler Shough are likely to vie for the Saints job under the watchful eyes of Moore, a former QB himself. With Derek Carr gone, expectations in the Big Easy are as low as anywhere – exactly the kind of environment that can sprout a surprise.
49. If an AFC team wins the upcoming Super Bowl, each conference will have 28 Lombardi Trophies to its credit since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger.
50. So – again – just 50 days until the first ball that counts is kicked off at Lincoln Financial Field … and 207 until Super Bowl 60 commences in Santa Clara, California. Let's enjoy the ride!
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