The 2025 NFL season has reached its halfway point with the arrival of Week 10.
Lamar Jackson and the Ravens are working their way out of the doldrums, while the Colts have emerged as a pleasant surprise.
Unlikely MVP candidates like Drake Maye, Baker Mayfield and Matthew Stafford have also surfaced
The 2025 NFL season has reached its halfway point with the arrival of Week 10.
The trade deadline has come and gone with a flurry of moves around the league.
As usual, the NFL season has been a roller-coaster ride. Teams that were seen as preseason Super Bowl favorites have shown both brilliance and mediocrity at various points over the first two months.
Perennial MVP candidate Lamar Jackson and the Ravens are working their way out of the doldrums, while the Colts have emerged as a pleasant surprise. Unlikely MVP candidates like Drake Maye, Baker Mayfield and Matthew Stafford have also surfaced. One thing is clear: parity within the league remains strong in 2025.
Before we turn the page to the second half of the regular season, the USA TODAY Sports staff has lined up its biggest surprises and disappointments so far this season.
NFL’s biggest surprises so far
Drake Maye’s ascension
Ayrton Ostly, NFL writer: The 2024 NFL Draft skewed historically to offense with an emphasis on quarterbacks. A record-tying six passers were taken in the first 12 picks. The rest of the class is experiencing some ups and downs in year two, while Drake Maye firmly put himself in the MVP conversation.
Maye leads the NFL in standard statistics, including completion percentage (74.1%), and ranks in the top five in passing yards (2,285) and touchdowns (17). By advanced metrics, he’s one of the best quarterbacks in the league. NFL Next Gen Stats shows Maye leads the league in completion percentage over expected (+9.6%) and total expected points added (EPA) at 73.3. All of this with a leading receiver who is 32 years old and one year removed from an ACL tear.
Sam Darnold starring with the Seahawks
Jacob Camenker, NFL writer: When Sam Darnold signed with the Seahawks, many expected him to regress after a career-best year with the Vikings. He seemingly had benefited from working with Kevin O’Connell, who is currently regarded as one of the NFL’s best quarterback gurus.
Additionally, Darnold’s warts had shown up in the Vikings’ final two games of the 2024 NFL season, both losses – including in the wild card round. He completed just 53.1% of his passes while taking 11 sacks and showcasing one of his biggest weaknesses: a tendency to hold onto the ball too long. He had the NFL’s third-highest time to throw in 2024, which many thought would be problematic behind a shaky Seahawks offensive line.
Instead, Darnold has thrived in Klint Kubiak’s offense. His time to throw is down from 3.08 seconds to 2.77, ranking 20th among 36 qualifiers, and he has shown a strong connection with Jaxon Smith-Njigba throughout the season. As a result, Seattle has a 6-2 record through nine weeks and is in the thick of the NFC West race. Darnold has garnered a bit of MVP buzz.
Darnold still needs to prove he can lead his team to postseason success to pay off the three-year, $100.5 million deal he received in full. Still, he’s off to a much better start than many anticipated and is making general manager John Schneider’s decision to trade Geno Smith look like a good one.
The Carolina Panthers, and specifically, Rico Dowdle
Jack McKessy, NFL writer: Not enough people are talking about the fact that the Carolina Panthers, coming off a 5-12 season, have already matched last year’s win total through nine weeks. Not only that, they’ve got a winning record and aren’t far removed from a playoff spot in a competitive NFC field.
Most recently, Carolina hit the road and upset the Green Bay Packers – a team that held the NFC’s best record through eight weeks – at Lambeau Field. Quarterback Bryce Young has now won four straight games, but the big story of their season on the offensive side of the ball is running back Rico Dowdle.
The Panthers’ under-the-radar free agent signee has rushed for over 100 yards in each of his three starts this season. Dowdle surpassed 180 yards in two of those games, including a 206-yard game against the Dolphins in Week 5. He’s averaging 5.6 yards per carry, and the Panthers are undefeated (5-0) when Dowdle gets at least 10 carries.
Carolina has two divisional games in the weeks ahead. The Panthers will have a chance to establish themselves as true playoff contenders against a struggling Saints team that just traded away a couple of starters and features a new starting quarterback, then a Falcons team among the worst in the league at stopping opponents on the ground.
Teams inventing new ways to lose
Nick Brinkerhoff, NFL writer: Football has been around since the 1800s, so it has seen a thing or two in the many years that followed. Somehow, someway, teams are continuing to flex their creative muscle and develop new, crushing ways to lose in 2025. Despite being only halfway through, this regular season is going to need a designated driver and possibly a doctor.
We saw the Ravens blow a 15-point lead in just four minutes to lose to the Bills in Week 1. The Colts were saved by a leverage penalty against the Broncos as time expired in Week 2. The Eagles blocked two field goals, including the Rams’ game-winning attempt, to find a victory in Week 3. The Jets blocked a field goal that same week with under two minutes left, but somehow still lost.
We saw the Cardinals’ improbable collapse against the Titans. We saw the Giants lose in Denver after they allowed the Broncos to score 33 points in the fourth quarter. We saw a pair of improbable collapses from the Bengals against the Jets and Bears. We saw plenty of players think the field was only 99 yards, dropping the ball before the goal line. And that was only the first half of the season. May chaos continue to reign supreme.
Jaxson Dart
Tom Viera, NFL writer/editor: The 25th overall pick wasn’t expected to start for the New York Giants so soon with a pair of proven veterans (Russell Wilson, Jameis Winston) ahead of him on the depth chart entering the season. However, Wilson imploded in Week 3 against the Kansas City Chiefs in prime time, and coach Brian Daboll decided it was Jaxson Dart’s time. The Giants’ rookie made his starting debut in Week 4, a 21-18 win over the Chargers.
The Ole Miss product is just 2-4 in his first six career starts, but those two wins came against the Chargers and the division rival Eagles – two playoff contenders. Dart is the only quarterback in the Super Bowl era with at least eight passing touchdowns, four rushing touchdowns, and fewer than five giveaways in his first five career starts, per NFL Research.
Dart earned NFL Offensive Rookie of the Month honors for October and is the current favorite to be named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. Dart ranked first among NFL rookies in total touchdowns (10), passing touchdowns (seven) and passer rating (90.0) in October. He is also the first Giants quarterback since at least 1950 to record a rushing touchdown in three straight games (Weeks 6-8). He is a dual-threat and capable of making improbable off-schedule plays, and thus, there finally appears to be a bright future ahead for Big Blue.
NFL’s biggest disappointments so far
The Las Vegas Raiders’ offense
Ayrton Ostly, NFL writer: Bringing in a proven Pro Bowl-caliber quarterback, the highest-paid offensive coordinator in the league and a highly-touted running back should’ve brought the Raiders’ offense some level of legitimacy.
Apparently not.
The enigmatic Atlanta Falcons
Jacob Camenker, NFL writer: Look, if we’re breaking down the biggest disappointments of the early NFL season solely based on results vs. expectations, the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals are probably near the top of the list. That said, both potential AFC North contenders have dealt with a plethora of injuries that have put them behind the 8-ball.
What’s Atlanta’s excuse?
The Falcons have been one of the NFL’s most frustratingly inconsistent teams to date. One week, they put on a defensive beatdown against the Vikings. Next, they are losing 30-0 to the Panthers. In Week 6, they earned a critical ‘Monday Night Football’ upset over the Bills. They then lost their next three games in a row, including a stunning 34-10 loss to the lowly Dolphins.
Sure, Atlanta was always going to face some bumps in the road, especially with Michael Penix Jr. in his first season as a starting quarterback. Still, the offense possesses the skill-position talent to be better – and, at the very least, much more consistent – than a unit that ranks 25th in EPA per play.
And the wild swings the Falcons have gone through as a whole smell of something rotten in Flowery Branch.
Brian Thomas Jr.
Jack McKessy, NFL writer: What is going on with the Jaguars’ second-year receiver, Brian Thomas Jr.?
Just one year removed from a breakout rookie season that included the most receiving yards (1,282) and touchdowns (10) of any first-year player, Thomas has looked like a shell of his rookie self in Year 2. Not only is he on pace for fewer than 900 yards with just one touchdown so far this season, but he is also the NFL’s leader in drops (9), per Pro Football Reference. Thomas had just six drops all of last year and is on pace for triple that in 2025.
Thomas has dealt with injuries to his shoulder and, more recently, ankle, but there’s also a perceived lack of confidence from the second-year receiver despite having every right to enter this season with plenty of it.
Everything about the Washington Commanders
Nick Brinkerhoff, NFL writer: Nobody promises more and delivers less than the nation’s capital. Maybe it shouldn’t be so shocking in a place known for disappointment, but everything has gone downhill for the Commanders since their magical postseason ride.
The preseason Super Bowl favorites – the Baltimore Ravens
Tom Viera, NFL writer/editor: The Baltimore Ravens seemed poised to unseat the Kansas City Chiefs atop the AFC in 2025, but they’ve been anything but the group many expected in the first half. Lamar Jackson entered the season as the favorite to win MVP at most sportsbooks. There was so much belief in Baltimore heading into the season that the Ravens were picked to win the Super Bowl by 80% of our experts.
It’s easy to point at injuries as the reason for their 1-5 start, but that’s just the nature of the beast. Before Jackson got hurt, the Ravens had just one victory and it was against the putrid Cleveland Browns. Baltimore allowed at least 37 points in four of its first six games. The Ravens haven’t had the easiest schedule with the Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions, Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Rams, but great teams find ways to win and compete.
They’ve climbed back to 3-5 now, after winning two straight, and Jackson is back in the lineup. Baltimore’s schedule in the second half is going to be quite forgiving, with five of its eight games against teams at or below .500. The Ravens are lucky that the Steelers, Bengals and Browns failed to pull away in the AFC North. Only one team has started 1-5 and made the playoffs since the format changed in 2020 to 14 teams. The Ravens can become the second with their gushy schedule ahead, but they’ve been the most disappointing preseason Super Bowl contender in recent memory.
