Eight Lessons We Learned During the 2025 NFL Season: Defense Reigns Supreme

After years of innovative offenses dominating, defenses got their revenge. Plus, why patience pays off for quarterbacks and more of what this season taught us.

The Seahawks dominated defensively en route to a Super Bowl LX, suggesting defenses may have gained the upper hand on offenses during the 2025 season. | Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images

It was refreshing to see the Seahawks think outside the box with all the drastic decisions they’ve made the past two seasons to help them win Super Bowl LX.

But bold moves that become successful just restart the copycat cycle in the NFL. Defense is all the rage again, but creativity is still lacking, especially after what we saw from the recent hiring cycle. 

Maybe we’ll see less trades for big-name players because the Seahawks won the Super Bowl after sending Geno Smith to Las Vegas and DK Metcalf to Pittsburgh. I wonder what those two players, and the teams that acquired them, are thinking after seeing Seattle hoist the Lombardi Trophy following the win over New England.

Perhaps the Seahawks’ moves will give the Raiders more incentive to trade edge rusher Maxx Crosby. Then again, teams might not be willing to be buyers with all the trades that backfired for the ones acquiring star players. 

Let’s get to some of these topics in what we learned during the 2025 season.  

It was all about the defense in 2025 

The teams that invested in defense over the past few years saw plenty of return this season. 

In 2023, the Seahawks used a top-five pick on All-Pro cornerback Devon Witherspoon, who recorded a sack and forced Drake Maye into a pick-six in Super Bowl LX. In that same draft, the Texans relinquished a future first-round pick to the Cardinals to select star edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. with the No. 3 pick. 

Those are just two of many examples of defensive moves paying off in 2025, but defensive free-agent signings also have worked out. For example, the Broncos added defensive tackle Zach Allen in ’23 and safety Talanoa Hufanga last offseason and both made All-Pro teams in ’25 for Denver’s stacked defense. 

As for more evidence as to why it’s wise to invest on the defensive side, the Seahawks, Texans, Broncos and Patriots were the top four teams in scoring defense, and all four advanced to the divisional round. Three of those teams made it to championship Sunday. And, of course, the Seahawks won Super Bowl LX behind a dominant defensive performance.  

Defenses have now regained the advantage over offenses after the rules were tweaked to benefit quarterbacks and encourage more points. Don’t be surprised if more teams begin to prioritize the defensive side this offseason.

Sam Darnold’s run to a Super Bowl showed why its prudent for franchises to be patient with quarterbacks. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Patience is needed for all types of QB situations 

Sam Darnold winning the Super Bowl while on his fifth team is the ultimate example of why teams need to have more patience with their promising quarterbacks regardless of the situation.

First-round picks are often asked to produce fast results, which didn’t occur for Darnold as the 2018 No. 3 pick with the Jets, who then ditched him after three seasons. But if surroundings aren’t ideal, quarterbacks should be given more time to develop while the roster improves. It’s not a coincidence that Bryce Young took a step forward in his third season now that Panthers coach Dave Canales has had two years to improve one of the worst rosters in the NFL. 

The same can be said for Caleb Williams, who was criticized for not doing what Jayden Daniels did in his rookie year in Washington. The hiring of coach Ben Johnson made a difference in Williams’s drastic development in his second season with the Bears. 

What Darnold has done can also apply to veteran quarterbacks. The Vikings are kicking themselves for not realizing that they had the option of committing to two quarterbacks at the same time. Minnesota could have re-signed Darnold and made him the starter for a season or two while 2024 first-round pick J.J. McCarthy developed and waited his turn. 

It’s strange that more teams don’t consider these kinds of options, similar to when the Chargers had Philip Rivers wait two seasons behind Drew Brees, despite Rivers being a high first-round pick. Teams expect too much, too soon for first-round selections and rarely consider what an experienced veteran could do under the right circumstances. 

The Vikings knew better than anyone else that McCarthy was still not ready to be a full-time starter and allowed Darnold to leave the building. 

Tom Brady got plenty wrong in Year 1 with the Raiders

Raiders fans probably scoffed after reading what I wrote above about veteran quarterbacks needing more attention. Yes, Las Vegas opted for experience when it traded for Smith, but this team had no business attempting the quick-fix route. 

This is why circumstances matter, and minority owner Tom Brady failed to read the room on multiple occasions during his first full season with the team. 

Brady missed the giant red flags for why Seattle fired coach Pete Carroll and was willing to trade Smith. After striking out in their pursuits of Johnson and quarterback Matthew Stafford, the Raiders settled on Carroll and Smith and endured a 3–14 season. They at least did something right by landing the No. 1 pick in April’s draft.

Now, here the Raiders are again, hoping someone with ties to the Seahawks can help them climb back to relevancy after hiring Klint Kubiak as their new head coach. Maybe this time it will be different because, technically, the Seahawks weren’t trying to get rid of their offensive coordinator.

Micah Parsons was a game-changer for the Packers following his trade from the Cowboys, but a late-season injury kept him off the field for Green Bay’s brief postseason run. | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Trading for star players wasn’t fruitful 

The Raiders weren’t the only ones who were burned for acquiring notable players via trades.  

The Commanders opened the 2025 offseason with the trade for wide receiver Deebo Samuel and followed a few weeks later by making the splash move for left tackle Laremy Tunsil. But those decisions backfired for a team that had its lack of depth exposed throughout a 4–13 season, and now Washington has to retool the roster with the depleted amount of draft picks left because of the two trades.  

The Steelers traded for Metcalf, another Seahawks outcast, and immediately handed him a four-year, $132 million contract. Metcalf only had 59 catches for 850 yards and six touchdowns in his first season in Pittsburgh and was suspended two games for a physical altercation with a Lions fan. 

To make matters worse for the Steelers, they traded away George Pickens to Dallas and saw him turn into a second-team All-Pro. Still, Pickens’s prolific numbers didn’t help the Cowboys make the postseason because their defense got drastically worse after the trade that sent Micah Parsons to the Packers.

Parsons was a difference-maker for the Packers, but he sustained a season-ending knee injury in December that derailed the team’s hope of competing for a Super Bowl. It’s not a given that the player Green Bay gave up two first-round picks for will be ready in time for the start of the 2026 season. 

The Cowboys were involved in a second trade for a star defender after landing defensive tackle Quinnen Williams from the Jets. Williams’s arrival helped Dallas’s defense improve, but this unit still lacks an impactful edge rusher and Williams is due for a new contract, which makes you wonder whether this team would have been better off just keeping Parsons.

And then there’s the Sauce Gardner trade to the Colts that was supposed to turn them into legitimate Super Bowl contenders after an 8–2 start. Gardner dealt with injuries and Indianapolis lost its final seven games to miss the postseason. 

NFL teams still don’t get it when it comes to hiring coaches

I think NFL teams missed the biggest reason why the Seahawks were so successful with the hiring of Mike Macdonald in 2024.

The Seahawks didn’t follow the trend of hiring an offensive coach or someone from Sean McVay’s coaching tree. They were the trendsetter and not the copycat. But now teams are following Seattle’s path and missing the point of thinking outside of the box for themselves.

Teams searched for the next Macdonald, with the Dolphins (Jeff Hafley), Titans (Robert Saleh) and Ravens (Jesse Minter) all hiring head coaches with defensive backgrounds. We got a pair of obvious big-name hires with John Harbaugh and the Giants, and Kevin Stefanski and the Falcons. Also, a few safe, and somewhat uninspiring, choices with Mike McCarthy going to the Steelers and Joe Brady being promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach with the Bills. 

Oh, and we even got another coach from McVay’s tree being hired, with the Cardinals hiring Mike LaFleur. 

And, to no surprise, only one minority hired from the 10 head coaching vacancies. This league favors the bold, but we still get a ton of safe and familiar decisions throughout the offseason. Sigh.

Browns continue to be a flaming mess 

The Browns also had a coaching vacancy and they had one of the strangest hiring processes in recent memory. 

Maybe forcing candidates to take written tests was Cleveland’s way of being creative, but that only made some of its top coaching options withdraw from consideration. Then there were reports of the Browns pushing their next head coach to retain defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, to the point that might have convinced Schwartz that it was his job to lose. 

Instead, Cleveland went with Todd Monken after many candidates dropped out and still managed to lose Schwartz, who recently parted with the team due to frustration from not getting the job. This is just one of many poorly handled situations by the Browns this century. 

Philip Rivers (left) was just one of the intriguing figures in a revitalized AFC South this season. | Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

AFC South race was surprisingly entertaining

The NFC West was the best division in football this season, but the AFC South wasn’t too far behind with how competitive the Jaguars, Texans and Colts got down the stretch. 

Indianapolis flamed out in the final month, but we still watched because of the unexpected return of Philip Rivers. The Colts needed a quarterback after Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson were sidelined with injuries and Rivers, after being retired for five years, nearly beat the eventual Super Bowl champions in Seattle for his comeback game in Week 15. 

The Jaguars had an exciting offense with the improvements Trevor Lawrence made under the guidance of first-year coach Liam Coen. And the Texans brushed off an 0–3 start with a dominant defense that helped them win their final nine games to close out the regular season. 

If Cam Ward can take the next steps under Saleh and new offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, there could be another competitive race for a division that has often been overlooked. 

49ers, Bills, Ravens may have missed their Super Bowl window

With the Seahawks winning the Super Bowl and the emergence of new contenders in 2025, it seems the 49ers, Bills and Ravens missed their window to win a Super Bowl in the foreseeable future. 

Those three teams have been in the mix for the better part of a decade, but kept running into the Chiefs, who won three Super Bowls and made five Super Bowl appearances in a six-year span before missing the playoffs this season. 

Without the Chiefs in the way, the Bills fell to the Broncos in a thrilling divisional matchup and the Ravens missed the postseason after rookie kicker Tyler Loop went wide right in a winner-take-all Week 18 matchup against the Steelers. San Francisco had a surprising run to the divisional round during what was supposed to be a reset year, but got crushed by Seattle in the postseason. 

The 49ers now have to deal with the Rams and Seahawks just to win the division. The Bills are no longer the top dog in the AFC East with the Patriots winning the division and advancing to another Super Bowl, something Josh Allen has still never done. Plus, Buffalo now is relying on the inexperienced Brady after the surprising firing of Sean McDermott.

The Ravens also made a drastic decision out of pressure for not getting Lamar Jackson to the Super Bowl, firing Harbaugh and hiring Minter.

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