{"id":203951,"date":"2025-07-13T13:10:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-13T13:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/203951\/"},"modified":"2025-07-13T13:10:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T13:10:13","slug":"predicting-5-nfl-breakout-teams-for-2025-including-the-raiders-and-bears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/203951\/","title":{"rendered":"Predicting 5 NFL breakout teams for 2025, including the Raiders and Bears"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Washington Commanders and Minnesota Vikings were among the breakout NFL teams in 2024, far exceeding expectations to thrive in the regular season and make the playoffs. While this year\u2019s breakout teams in the NFL might not reach the same heights, there are a few clubs worth keeping an eye on.<\/p>\n

As training camp kicks off, we\u2019re predicting five NFL teams that could have breakout seasons in 2025 and exceed expectations. While not all of them will make the playoffs, some of these clubs could wind up punching their ticket or even winning their division.<\/p>\n

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Related: 5 NFL teams likely to regress in 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Arizona Cardinals\"NFL<\/p>\n

Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Arizona Cardinals<\/a>\u2018 improvements last season under head coach Jonathan Gannon seemed to fly under the radar. In his second season, Gannon\u2019s team delivered a four-win improvement and turned its point differential around by more than 100 points (from -125 to 21). Keep in mind that Arizona accomplished this while still fielding a bottom-10 roster in the NFL. The Cardinals\u2019 front office finally provided Gannon\u2019s defense with more help, adding Josh Sweat, Dalvin Tomlinson, Calais Campbell, Walter Nolen, and Will Johnson. He now has the talent to field a league-average defense, if not better. Pair that with a Cardinals offense that finished 9th in points per drive\u00a0(2.32<\/a>) last season and you have a club capable of winning the NFC West.<\/p>\n

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Read More:\u00a0NFL power rankings 2025, evaluating all 32 teams<\/a><\/p>\n

New England Patriots\"NFL<\/p>\n

Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Great coaching, a good defense, and quality quarterback play are paramount to sustained success in the NFL. The New England Patriots<\/a> check all three boxes. The difference in the Patriots\u2019 coaching staff from last season to now is already apparent, providing this team with both the stability and effective play-calling it lacked in 2024. Mike Vrabel will also take over a Patriots defense that signed Milton Williams, Harold Landry, Robert Spillane, and Carlton Davis, giving this unit a few more high-end starters along with effective role players. Not only is New England\u2019s defense poised for a massive year-to-year turnaround, but quarterback Drake Maye can take a second-year leap with the additions of Stefon Diggs, TreVeyon Henderson, and Kyle Williams. After winning just four games a year ago, New England could double its win total in 2025.<\/p>\n

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Read More:\u00a0NFL defense rankings 2025, evaluating all 32 defenses<\/a><\/p>\n

Chicago Bears\"NFL<\/p>\n

Credit: Peter Casey-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The perennial offseason champions certainly earned that title once again this spring, hiring Ben Johnson as head coach and overhauling the offensive line. Johnson is clearly the man in charge of assembling this roster, which explains why the Chicago Bears<\/a> doubled down on improving pass protection for Caleb Williams (Joe Thuney, Drew Dalman, and Jonah Jackson) while strengthening its pass-catching corps with Luther Burden III and Colston Loveland. We\u2019re not expecting Williams to suddenly turn into an MVP-caliber quarterback, but his physical tools, combined with an outstanding supporting cast, give the Bears a real shot at a top-10 offense. If Chicago can get a healthy season from safety Jaquan Brisker and the defensive line improves, the Bears\u2019 defense could be a top-15 unit\u2014and that\u2019s enough for this team to be a playoff contender.<\/p>\n

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Also Read: Best NFL offensive lines 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Jacksonville Jaguars\"NFL<\/p>\n

Credit: Corey Perrine\/Florida Times-Union \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a> quarterback Trevor Lawrence obviously hasn\u2019t lived up to his pre-draft hype. Even if you acknowledge the ways this organization has set him up to fail, many of his recent shortcomings fall squarely on the quarterback\u2019s shoulders. It\u2019s one of the reasons why Jacksonville hired Liam Coen, but he was also brought in to overhaul this rushing attack (26th in 2024). A more effective ground game and the receiver tandem of Brian Thomas Jr. and Travis Hunter in Coen\u2019s system can at least get Lawrence back to his 2022-23 levels (91.9 QB rating<\/a>). If Hunter gets a real shot at being a two-way player and cornerback Tyson Campbell can regain his top form, then the Jaguars\u2019 defense will play at a high enough level for this team to at least make a run at the AFC South crown.<\/p>\n

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Read More:\u00a0NFL QB rankings 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Las Vegas Raiders\"NFL<\/p>\n

Credit: Candice Ward-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Picking the Las Vegas Raiders<\/a> among the breakout NFL teams in 2025 is all about their offense. The upgrade at quarterback to Geno Smith is going to be night and day in comparison to the Raiders\u2019 quarterbacks of recent years. Smith has a legitimate chance to be a top-12 quarterback this season, especially aided by Brock Bowers and Chip Kelly\u2019s rushing offense led by Ashton Jeanty. There\u2019s a ceiling for the Raiders to have a top-10 offense this season, which could be enough for a four-win improvement. If Las Vegas wants to make the playoffs, though, its secondary will need to vastly outperform expectations, or Maxx Crosby will need to play at a DPOY-caliber level all season.<\/p>\n

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Read More: Fantasy Football Rankings 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Related Headlines<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Washington Commanders and Minnesota Vikings were among the breakout NFL teams in 2024, far exceeding expectations to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203952,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2065],"tags":[390,1303,4133,797,4755,1036,11815,391,590,4753,833,2551,31718,7,1507,287,125,4423,43382,1814,2550,7062,7522,1056,1744,393,2455,2454,446,6563,7891,259,1167,249,6,1257,525,9591,531,128,596,314,7872,1485,111,275],"class_list":{"0":"post-203951","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-las-vegas-raiders","8":"tag-arizona-cardinals","9":"tag-ashton-jeanty","10":"tag-brian-thomas-jr","11":"tag-brock-bowers","12":"tag-calais-campbell","13":"tag-caleb-williams","14":"tag-carlton-davis","15":"tag-chicago-bears","16":"tag-colston-loveland","17":"tag-dalvin-tomlinson","18":"tag-drake-maye","19":"tag-drew-dalman","20":"tag-exceeding-expectations","21":"tag-football","22":"tag-geno-smith","23":"tag-harold-landry","24":"tag-jacksonville-jaguars","25":"tag-jaquan-brisker","26":"tag-joe-camporeale-imagn","27":"tag-joe-thuney","28":"tag-jonah-jackson","29":"tag-jonathan-gannon","30":"tag-josh-sweat","31":"tag-kyle-williams","32":"tag-las-vegas","33":"tag-las-vegas-raiders","34":"tag-lasvegas","35":"tag-lasvegasraiders","36":"tag-luther-burden-iii","37":"tag-maxx-crosby","38":"tag-milton-williams","39":"tag-minnesota-vikings","40":"tag-new-england","41":"tag-new-england-patriots","42":"tag-nfl","43":"tag-quarterback","44":"tag-raiders","45":"tag-robert-spillane","46":"tag-stefon-diggs","47":"tag-travis-hunter","48":"tag-treveyon-henderson","49":"tag-trevor-lawrence","50":"tag-tyson-campbell","51":"tag-walter-nolen","52":"tag-washington-commanders","53":"tag-will-johnson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}