NFL Notebook: Final 2025 Season Preview

Over the past several weeks, we’ve broken down every team in the league. This post is where those previews turn into final predictions, playoff seeding and a projected Super Bowl winner.

If you notice any contradiction between the “Outlook” section that concludes each team and what’s here, it’s because final records have to balance out to .500, and I was also learning and refining my thoughts about each team. That said, the only notable difference came when the Dallas Cowboys traded Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers, which came after my Packer preview had been written. I’m not sure how different my picks would have been otherwise, but it definitely settled some things for me.

Anyway, dive in and enjoy each team’s preview, as we get set for Opening Night in Philadelphia!

AFC East: The Bills still set the tone, but can Allen do it again?
Buffalo (10-7)
NY Jets (7-10)
New England (7-10)
Miami (6-11)

AFC North: Loaded at the top, will all three contenders make the playoffs?
Baltimore (14-3)
Pittsburgh (11-6)
Cincinnati (10-7)
Cleveland (4-13)

AFC South: Kind of a pedestrian division, but Stroud’s rise and Trevor’s comeback bid are worth watching.
Houston (10-7)
Indianapolis (8-9)
Jacksonville (7-10)
Tennessee (4-13)

AFC West: The best division race of them all, I think the Chiefs finally get supplanted.
LA Chargers (11-6)
Kansas City (11-6)
Denver (11-6)
Las Vegas (7-10)

NFC East: An Eagles runaway
Philadelphia (13-4)
Washington (9-8)
Dallas (4-13)
NY Giants (4-13)

NFC North: A heavyweight fight at the top and everyone at least respectable.
Green Bay (13-4)
Detroit (12-5)
Minnesota (9-8)
Chicago (7-10)

NFC South: Not the toughest division, but a good race for first place and a home playoff game.
Atlanta (10-7)
Tampa Bay (10-7)
Carolina (4-13)
New Orleans (3-14)

NFC West: Well-balanced. No great team, but two good ones and no bad ones.
LA Rams (10-7)
San Francisco (10-7)
Seattle (9-8)
Arizona (7-10)

Projected AFC Playoff Seeding
1)Baltimore
2)LA Chargers
3)Houston
4)Buffalo
5)Kansas City
6)Pittsburgh
7)Denver

Projected NFC Playoff Seeding
1)Green Bay
2)Philadelphia
3)LA Rams
4)Atlanta
5)Detroit
6)Tampa Bay
7)San Francisco

I’m not going to overthink how the playoffs would fare this far in advance. For the sake of this post, you can just take these as my Super Bowl picks, with Baltimore and Green Bay advancing to Santa Clara next February 8. I will go on record as taking the Ravens to win it all and getting the monkey off Lamar’s back.

And that’s a wrap on the NFL preseason. TheSportsNotebook’s commentary will resume at the end of September when we wrap up Major League Baseball with award picks and then move into postseason coverage. We’ll also do NFL division reports after six weeks, when the season is one-third of the way through.

In the meantime, thanks for following along with us throughout August. We invite you to check out the nostalgia content that’s all over this site, take a look at our books, and sign up for the free Substack. And we’ll see you in a few weeks in this space!