The five most intriguing NFL offseason situations

By Andy Davies

The NFL offseason is a long affair for all fans. Everyone wants the season back and have to endure a challenging seven months without games, eight if your team misses out on the playoffs.

Thankfully, for the fanbases and the NFL media, the offseason is filled with plenty of stories that keep everyone invested and make those brutal seven months feel like two.

With Free Agency, the art of the franchise tag, the NFL draft and the modern day phenomenon of the social media team schedule releases, the league is really a 365 day a year business.

Here are the five most intriguing offseason situations in the NFL.

Will the Chicago Bears make a statement and protect their QB?

The Bears’ biggest positional need is clear and day for anyone who watched the NFL, the offensive line. Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams, taken first overall in 2024, was sacked 68 times in his rookie campaign.

This ranked clear of any other player in the league, with second place C.J. Stroud 16 sacks behind him. Only two players in NFL history have been sacked more times in a single season than Williams, those being David Carr (76) in 2002 and Randall Cunningham (72) in 1986. This represents a real problem position for the team and new head coach Ben Johnson.

The Bears got lucky to get Williams in the first place, only being able to get him due to the Carolina Panthers’ misfortunes. They must not waste this golden opportunity that they have been presented.

Williams is far from the problem in Chicago, and they must be careful not to waste his huge potential. According to Overthecap.com, the Bears have the third highest cap space ($79,458,403). Along with the tenth overall pick in this year’s draft, they have a real chance to get the protection they need for their QB1.

Several mock drafts have Texas offensive tackle Kelvin Banks Jr going to them and this would be a statement of intent from the franchise. As good as the Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase connection has been for the Cincinnati Bengals, some feel that they could have still had success with Tee Higgins as the WR1 and drafting offensive tackle Penei Sewell over Chase in 2021.

Some teams like to adopt the “best players available” method over the positional needs. Should someone like Travis Hunter fall, or the likes of Ashton Jeaty are still available, General Manager Ryan Poles may feel that they can still find a good offensive lineman in the later rounds. However, he publicly stated that they plan to “push hard on the interior offensive line”, giving indication that this is what the team will do in April’s NFL Draft.

Do the Cincinnati Bengals go all in?

Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow had an MVP campaign. Sadly for Burrow, the defense had far from a stellar year and they finished 9-8, missing out on the playoffs.

Passing for a league leading 4,918 yards and 43 touchdowns, as well as nine interceptions, there is not much more Burrow could have done. Winning the Comeback Player of the Year award and being an MVP nominee, this was an outstanding campaign for the 2020 first overall pick. Chase was the main beneficiary, leading the league in receiving yards (1,708) and receiving touchdowns (17).

However, the defense allowed the eighth most points , were ranked 21^st against the pass and 19^th against the run. The firing of Lou Anarumo, who had a big part in the success of the 2021 and 2022 seasons, shows the front office mean business. They will have bigger fish to fry, with the futures of defensive end Trey Hendrickson and wide receivers Chase and Higgins uncertain. Burrow has come out publicly and said he wants them all to get paid, but the nature of the league means this may not happen despite the increase in the salary cap.

There are ways around this, as was seen with the Los Angeles Rams in what ended up being a successful quest for a Lombardi Trophy. The Bengals could easily franchise tag Higgins again, but their WR2 may not be so compliant. There is a chance that the Bengals keep all three, but they would need to do some jigging around financially and this could have long term affects.

Would the Bengals fans mind if they won a Super Bowl in the next two seasons? Absolutely not. With Burrow in the prime of his career, the Bengals must go all in.

The NFL future of Aaron Rodgers

The New York Jets Aaron Rodgers experiment is one that failed miserably. After a season ending injury after just four offensive snaps in 2023, Rodgers and the team struggled in 2024.

New Jets head coach Aaron Glenn and the front office have decided to move on from Rodgers and this now leads to the question of where he lands in the offseason.

There is every chance that Rodgers retires after what has been a stellar career, but he could also be on the move in 2025. During their Week 18 win over the Miami Dolphins, he was pictured saying “This is my last game”. There is uncertainty over whether he meant as a Jet or in the NFL.

The Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants are being pictured as the two best landing spots for Rodgers in 2025. With the former, they represent the epitome of a stable franchise, having not had a losing season since 2003.

Despite this, they have not won a playoff game since the 2016 season and they have been a victim of mediocre quarterback play since the regression of Ben Roethlisberger. “Duck” Hodges flattered to deceive, Mason Rudolph had his moments, Russell Wilson and Justin Fields both had relative success, but none have taken the league’s breath away.

Sure, Rodgers is no different to Wilson with father time firmly at play. However, for the four-time MVP, this represents the best landing spot for him.

With the New York Giants, a franchise on the other end of the franchise stability Richter scale, this would ensure Rodgers is the main man once again. Brian Daboll has been seen as a “quarterback whisperer”, guiding Drew Lock to his best career game statistically and overseeing Tommy DeVito’s brief period of NFL excellence.

Being the head coach for Daniel Jones’ one good season as an NFL quarterback and the offensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills and current reigning MVP Josh Allen, is it safe to say Daboll knows his way around quarterbacks. He has just yet to have a functional one as a head coach.

Whether it is the Giants, Steelers, retirement or another NFL team, the future of Rodgers is one that is sure to grab plenty of headlines during the 2025 offseason.

What do the Cleveland Browns do at QB?

The Cleveland Browns have arguably been the most unsuccessful US sports franchise over the past 50 years. After some hope with Baker Mayfield under centre, this hope was picked up and thrown in the bin after the Deshaun Watson trade, one that many are calling the worst in NFL history.

Whether it has been the off the field controversy, the loss of form or injuries, the latter that has seen him already ruled out of the 2025 season, Watson’s time in Cleveland has been a major disappointment.

Before his 2021 absence, Watson threw for 4,823 passing yards (first in the league), 33 touchdowns and seven interceptions. This was his last season with the Houston Texans. Since then, he has thrown for 3,365 yards, 19 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 19 games.

Neither him nor anyone else in the Browns’ quarterback room inspire a team who is moving forward in the right direction. Their poor 2024 season means that they have the second overall pick in April’s NFL Draft. Do they take a quarterback that pick? Do they go and get someone in Free Agency? Or do they give Dorian Thompson-Robinson a chance?

DTR had had some chances in the NFL but has yet to really show that he can be a QB1 somewhere. In Free Agency, the standout option is Sam Darnold, who had a brilliant comeback season with the Minnesota Vikings. Other than him, there is a lack of good options. Whether this is Zach Wilson, Trey Lance, Jacoby Brissett, Lock or Taylor Heinicke, they represent nothing more than a bridge quarterback.

The only other option is quarterback, and with Cam Ward projected to go number one and Shedeur Sanders openly stating he only played with the Browns in Madden, this is a guy that would clearly want to go to the team.

They may feel this is too good an opportunity to turn down, one worth taking a punt on.

Where does Myles Garrett play in 2025?

Speaking of the Browns, their star man Myles Garrett handed in a trade request during Super Bowl week.

General manager Andrew Berry came out and said that they have zero interest in trading Garrett. However, you only get one career and he is not getting any younger. A player with his talent should not be in that conversation of greatest players not to win a Super Bowl. There are no signs of the Browns being competitive any time soon and he will want to be at the very minimum, part of a contender.

There have been two teams linked, in the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders. With the former having just won a Super Bowl and the latter trading for wide receiver Deebo Samuel in the past 24 hours, these are two teams that he would be severely tempted by. With around $52 million in cap space, the Detroit Lions are another team that would get Garrett’s attention.

With a chance to play alongside Aidan Hutchinson on the defensive line, this would be a scary prospect given they went 15-2 last season without Hutchinson for half the season.

Garrett seems to have a lot of love for the Browns, but all good things come to an end at some point and this feels like the time for him to go and get that ring.

ANDY IS A SPORTS JOURNALISM GRADUATE WITH OVER FOUR YEARS EXPERIENCE OF NFL WRITING AND PODCASTING. ANDY HAS BEEN TO EVERY NFL STADIUM AND IS THE HOST OF THE ACROSS THE POD PODCAST. HE HAS PRESS PASS EXPERIENCE AT THE LONDON GAMES AND MANY OTHER NFL BASED EVENTS SUCH AS THE SUPER BOWL, HAVING INTERVIEWED THE LIKES OF AARON RODGERS, JASON BELL, OSI UMENYIORA, PATRICK MAHOMES, TRAVIS KELCE, DERRICK HENRY, SAQUON BARKLEY AND JALEN HURTS.