17 names who WILL be making headlines and shake up the NFL this season – Owners, quarterbacks, rookies and Kirk Cousins?
The 2025 NFL season is underway and 32 teams will spend six months battling it out for Super Bowl glory.
With the world’s greatest football players on the field, the talkSPORT US Sports team have attempted to narrow down their highlight picks for the season.
From rookies with superstar potential to hot trade candidates to teams who may already have next year’s draft in mind.
In a league never short on drama, familiar favourites will be back, new stars will emerge and you can expect the unexpected, but here are some of the names we expect to dominate the headlines in what may be the most explosive NFL season yet.
The obvious candidates
Lets get this out of the way early, Patrick Mahomes is the face of the NFL and the NFL – despite a plethora of superstars is a better place when Mahomes is having fun.
Andy Reid is the offensive guru, Xavier Worthy is in year two – although he could be facing a lengthy layoff after being injured by a Travis Kelce aiming to be Travis Kelce again. BUT Hollywood Brown is fit and Rashee Rice will be back in Week 7 after suspension.
Yep, the Kansas City Chiefs might just be the real Kansas City Chiefs again.
After defeat in Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, a reboot is underway in KC and the plan is to turn back the clock to an all action offense that thrills those at Arrowhead.
With Mrs Kelce (to be) likely in attendance for the majority of the games, we are predicting even more eyes on Arrowhead despite suggestions the Chiefs could leave their iconic home. Paul Prenderville
The owner and the part owner
The 2025 NFL season began with the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, but all eyes will be on its opponent the Dallas Cowboys. Why will a team that won half as many games as its NFC East rival be the talk of the town?
Enter Jerry Jones. The oil mogul is the reason NFL franchise values are rising exponentially and The Boys have led the list for 19 straight seasons. Jones loves to have people talking, even if they are calling him an idiot. Trading Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers is a risky move if you want to win games. If you want to dominate headlines through the 2027 draft, two first-round picks and a gaping hole in the roster is a good place to start.
If anybody in the owner’s enclosure can compete with Jones for headlines, its Tom Brady. The GOAT has been extremely visible in the Las Vegas Raiders offseason as the franchise moves forward with Geno Smith and Pete Carroll. Take seven Super Bowl rings, a dysfunctional franchise and sprinkle in some controversy over conflicts of interest and his enters the Fox booth for Year 2 and you have a recipe for speculation. Brady is the best ever on the field, off it he is a minnow swimming with sharks. Sink or swim, it will make a splash. Jamie Gordon
Time for one last dance
Father Time remains undefeated and these future Hall of Famers are in the twilight of their careers.
Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has committed to at least one more season in Kansas City in the hopes of reaching the promised land once again before surely heading for Hollywood. Four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers has swapped Gang Green for black and gold to try and help end Mike Tomlin’s embarrassing Pittsburgh playoff drought.
The problem? Only one of these all-timers stand a chance of lifting the Lombardi.
Kelce, buoyed by a recent engagement with Taylor Swift, saw a sharp statistical decline in 2024, but at 35 is still among the upper echelon of NFL tight ends.
The same can’t be said for A-Rod, who is coming off a failed two-year stint with the New York Jets, has looked every bit his 41 years in training camp and doesn’t even crack the league’s top 20 quarterbacks.
The Chiefs, as ever, as among the Super Bowl favorites, while getting to the divisional round would represent a major success for the Steelers.
But whatever happens in terms of team success, there’s a very real chance this could be the last dance for both Kelce and Rodgers in the NFL.
Just don’t be surprised if Kelce rides off into the sunset with Tay Tay and a fourth Super Bowl ring while a banged up Rodgers hobbles back into his hobbit cave never to be seen again. Joshua Rogers
The real MVP
Lamar Jackson has to win a Super Bowl before he leaves the NFL.
Now is the time.
He’s a two-time MVP in the regular season, almost won that award last year, and is the greatest dual-threat quarterback in league history.
But Jackson’s 3-5 playoff record keeps dragging him down, and he can’t enter the rare air of Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes without a defining trophy.
Baltimore’s defense is good enough, Action Jackson has Derrick Henry in his backfield, and the Ravens have one of the best head coaches in the league in John Harbaugh.
All Jackson has to do is be himself to shake up the NFL in 2025. The most-talented QB on the planet can change the league and inspire future generations of young athletes by winning Super Bowl LX. Brian T. Smith
The most famous third string QB in the league….but for how long?
No fifth-round draft pick has had as much attention as the Cleveland Browns Shedeur Sanders.
After a stunning slide in April’s draft, you’d be forgiven for thinking the noise around the former Colorado star once the fallout would be over.
Instead we’ve witnessed an incredible and intriguing quarterback competition take place in Cleveland, a battle that veteran Joe Flacco leads after being chased by the likes of Sanders, fellow rookie Dillion Gabriel and a now traded Kenny Pickett across the summer.
Now the dust has settled – kind of – as Sanders is firmly the QB3 at the franchise but the questions won’t stop for head coach Kevin Stefanski. The Browns first six games are rough, they could be 0-6, and calls to drop Flacco will emerge and play his rookies won’t east the pressure Stefanski, who could be coaching for his future. Mo Ahmed
Rookies who could change their franchise
Abdul Carter may well be the missing piece of the puzzle that the New York Giants have long been searching for that will transform DC Shane Bowen’s defense. According to reports from training camp, the third overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft looks every bit of the next generational talent at linebacker, though drawing comparisons to all-time great Lawrence Taylor may be just a bit too premature.
Ashton Jeanty was primed to be one of the picks of the rookie crop with the running back out of Boise State the early favorite to be named the NFL Rookie of the Year. With a new-look offense led by the addition of veteran quarterback Geno Smith, Jeanty is hoping to bring power and explosiveness to Pete Carroll’s run game. With very little talent in the RB room alongside him, the rookie is likely to shoulder the majority of the run-game load and there is no-doubt that he will maximize his opportunities.
Travis Hunter – Ah, the ‘will he, won’t he’ play on both sides of the ball is well underway, but with football back at least we’ll have our answers. The former Colorado Buffaloes two-way star set college football ablaze, but now with a mediocre Jacksonville Jaguars side, the expectations are high on him to change the fortunes of the franchise. Listed as WR1, and backup CB, it remains to be seen just how many reps he will get on either side, but one thing can be expected – Hunter will be box-office entertainment, and that will likely transform the Jags franchise as we know it, though maybe more off the field than on it. Kerrie Jacobs-Bryant
Waiting for a trade call
Kirk Cousins is in limbo as he begins the season as the backup in Atlanta.
The Falcons bet big on ‘Kirko Chainz’ back in 2024, by handing him a four-year, $180 million contract. But one month later, they used their first-round pick to draft Michael Penix Jr.
Cousins was not informed of that decision until Atlanta were on the clock, and the veteran later admitted to feeling ‘mislead’ by the organization — as Netflix’s Quarterback series attests.
Things soon went from bad to worse, and after struggling through the 2024 season, the four-time Pro Bowler was benched come December — a decision that all but ended the Falcons’ Cousins era after just 15 weeks.
Now 37, the signal caller might well have been waiting all summer for a trade call that is yet to come, as he won’t want to be sat on the bench for what could be one of his last NFL seasons.
Plenty of teams already have questions at quarterback, and if someone goes down injured early, ‘Captain Kirk’ is highly likely to be the man to swoop in and – maybe – save the day — wherever that might be. But his mega contract, and $27.5m base salary, could complicate any potential deal. Oliver Browning
Fighting for the No 1 pick
The season hasn’t even started, yet the race is on between the Cleveland Browns and New Orleans Saints for the number one overall pick. Will it be Arch Manning? Caleb Downs? Garrett Nussmeier? While we don’t know who will hear their name called first, we have a pretty good idea of who will be the ones choosing.
A 40-year-old Joe Flacco behind center for the Browns, and an erratic Spencer Rattler for the Saints doesn’t inspire too much confidence in either team as the season kicks off. It’s hard to declare a season over before it even begins, but it looks pretty bleak for these two franchises.
Could there be a surprise team that falls flat on its face and swoops in for the first overall pick? The New York Jets, Tennessee Titans (again), New York Giants, Carolina Panthers and Indianapolis Colts aren’t exactly world beaters. Maybe a catastrophic injury to an upper-echelon team sees its fortune and future change for good.
While we don’t know who will be on the clock come May, the Browns and Saints are the safest bets. Jack Savage
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