We are more than halfway through the NFL season and it’s clear who is contending for a Super Bowl and who is onto 2025. We know teams like the Chiefs, Lions, Bills, Steelers, and Eagles are all competing and legitimately have a shot at the super bowl. And others team have a shot as well of course, but you get the point. But for every team like the serious contenders – there’s several teams that are not competing for a Super Bowl and are in a very difficult situation. And in today’s video we will be breaking down the 4 worst situations in football. We will break down how they got here, how they can get out of their current situation, what is realistic for them at this point in time, and how they can go from winning 5 games or less in a season – to winning double digit games and to legitimately compete for a super bowl. The teams we discuss in today’s video will NOT have an easy rebuild ahead of them and in some cases it’s going to be very very difficult to get back to the top. And there is a lot to breakdown in today’s video and without further ado – let’s begin.
And we are starting today’s video with the Cleveland Browns. The Browns are 2-8 after a 35-14 loss to the Saints in week 11 and they make today’s video for a couple of reasons. Everyone knew Deshaun Watson wasn’t the answer at the quarterback position after about the first two weeks of the year and there was already a lot of concern with Deshaun heading into the season. This team failed to score 19 points in any game with Deshaun as the starting quarterback in 2024 and he was injured in week 7 and is done for the year with a torn achilles. I know the easy thing is to bring up Deshaun’s salary hit for 2025 – which is currently slated to be $72 million and this is per Over The Cap dot com. Obviously because the Watson contract is guaranteed – all the Browns can do is push the money down the road and continue to wait for the league salary cap to go up so that the percentage of the cap hit is lower.
And with TV deals, gambling deals, and everything else – the salary cap will continue to go up – but at some point – the bill comes do. Not only is Deshaun currently scheduled to make $72.9 million next year – but the Browns also have other big cap hits like Joel Bitonio, Wyatt Teller, Jack Conklin, Calvin Tomlinson, and Grant Delpit. I didn’t include Myles Garrett and Denzel Ward within that because you guys probably already knew that and those guys are really good at what they do and you have to pay for talent. Not only that, but those two specifically are not net negatives relative to what they’re making. But Jack Conklin has played in 8 or more games just once in past 4 years and I will acknowledge – that there is a chance he plays double digit games this year – but he’s not a player you can fully rely on at this point. He’s very good when he’s out there – but unfortunately that’s half the battle with him at this point.
The Browns would save $15 million dollars by cutting him, or trading him post June 1st – but here’s where part of the problem lies for Cleveland. Whether it’s with Jack Conklin, Joel Bitonio, or Wyatt Teller – they’re old up front. All 3 of these players will be 30 or older at the start of the 2025 season and Joel will turn 34 in October of next year. Cleveland has really good players on their team – but they went all in with Deshaun expecting him to be the missing piece and obviously we know how that turned out – but with 3 offensive lineman north of 30 – and with what I would imagine is a rookie quarterback in the 2025 draft – obviously those guys aren’t going to be around when that quarterback is in year 3 or year 4 when they would have a chance of seriously competing with the said quarterback.
So I think the Browns are in a situation where they’re going to have to trade at least one if not multiple offensive lineman and take what they can get in a trade because they’re going to need to get cheaper across the board due in large part to the Deshaun contract. As of now – Joel, Wyatt, and Jack have cap hits of $14 million, $14 million, and $19 million in 2025 and the Browns are currently $11 million over the cap and again this is per over the cap dot com. They went all in for a player who didn’t work out and other parts of the roster now needs to be figured out. And with what I would imagine is a rookie head coach, and multiple new offensive lineman up front – in what is a really talented division in the AFC North – this rebuild is going to be incredibly difficult because 2025 is almost certainly going to be a wash. And I think we can comfortably say this is one of the worst situations in football.
Next up is the Carolina Panthers and there are several reasons why they’re in today’s video. Where to begin with this franchise is like throwing darts at a dart board as you can start with the owner, the poor play on the field, or the front office. But one of the biggest reasons why this rebuild is going to be interesting is because they’re going to need a new quarterback unless Bryce Young plays out of his mind over the last several weeks of the season – which I would welcome as I do wish the best for Bryce. But at this point I don’t see a reality where Bryce Young is the opening day starter for the 2025 Panthers. I would like to note – he has played a little bit better recently, but as of now it’s not enough to commit to another full season of Bryce Young. Quarterbacks are always going to be in demand and while the 2025 quarterback class is not as talented as the 2024 quarterback class – there’s going to be multiple quarterbacks selected in the first round – whether it be by the Raiders, Giants, maybe even the Saints, and maybe even the Panthers. But the Panthers are in a very tough situation because their defense right now is awful. They are dead last in points allowed per game as they are averaging 31 points allowed per game on the season and they’ve allowed 26 or more points in 7 of their 10 games this year. And whether the quarterback is Bryce Young, or Joe Burrow who is absolutely playing at an MVP level – you are not going to consistently outplay a bad defense.
They have allowed over 100 yards rushing as a defense in every game but one this year which was to the Raiders back in week 3 – who are also one of the worst teams in the league – but one of the biggest problems with the 2024 Panthers – well one of many – is they have zero pass rush. And I know the initial thought process is probably something along the lines of – “well they’re down in a lot of games so they don’t get as many opportunities to rush the quarterback as other players across the league”. And that’s technically not wrong – but unless you are a Panthers fan I would be surprised if you can name two pass rushers on this team outside of Jadeveon Clowney. Their current top 5 leaders in pressures are a 31 year old Jadeveon Clowney, interior defensive lineman A’Shawn Robinson, 2017 Dolphins first round pick Charles Harris, former undrafted free agent Deshawn Williams and tied for 5th is a 3rd year player in Jayden Peavy, and a free agent they signed this year in DJ Wonnum.
And Peevy and Wonnum each have a total of 5 pressures. DJ has only played one game and I do want to acknowledge that – but the point is – the Panthers pass rush collectively is not good. DJ had a great game against the Giants, but expecting him to put up what he did against the Giants every game is a little unrealistic. I know the easy thing to do is to dunk on the Panthers for trading a lot to go get Bryce Young – but this is a bad football team all around. They also don’t have as much cap space as you would think and a lot of that can be attributed to a $31 million dollar cap hit in 2025 from right tackle Taylor Moon – but they can free up over $13 million by releasing both Adam Thielen and Miles Sanders this offseason. They also have a first year head coach in Dave Canales and I liked the hire at the time – but this is a tough situation now because they have to replace nearly an entire defense – and obviously losing Derrick Brown hurt this team in a big way – but even if they had Derrick Brown – they weren’t going to win 11 games. But having to find a quarterback in a not great draft class, and also having to replace a near entire defense is an extremely difficult task for anybody. If there is one positive thing to say about this situation – it’s that they’re not in a division like the Raiders are where they have the Chiefs, Chargers, and hell I’ll say it – another team on the rise in the Broncos to compete with. But the Carolina Panthers more than have their work cut out for them over the next few off-seasons because this is not going to be a one year turn around.
If you enjoyed today’s article – there is an entire 19 minute breakdown below where we also discuss the Raiders and Jaguars in depth. I hope you enjoy!
