NFL Positional Rankings: Hutchinson, Daniels Among Most to Gain in 2025

It’s time for everyone’s favorite NFL offseason content carousel, this time focusing on positional rankings for the coming season.

Life is all about balance—ebbs and flows, cons and pros, pros and joes, and plenty more antithetical rhyming flows.

So for every player in a position of power entering the 2025 NFL season, there has to be another facing a great deal of risk.

Which players have the most to gain, and which have the most to lose? Here are my nominees and rankings for every position ahead of the new NFL calendar.

2025 NFL positional rankings: Most to gain

#10: Jaxson Dart (QB, NFL Draft)

Dart was largely viewed as a second-day prospect when the college football season came to a close. He’s now projected to be a first-round pick and has been placed as high as third to the New York Giants in various NFL mock drafts.

Dart likely won’t be a day-one starter, but eight solid games, regardless of his team’s record, would shine hope on his future potential and make him a lock to be a year-two starter. That’s significant since many believed that Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders were the only NFL-level quarterbacks in this year’s NFL Draft. 

#9: Justin Jefferson (WR, Minnesota Vikings)

Another Offensive Player of the Year-level season would firmly put Jefferson in the conversation for best receiver in NFL history. He already has 495 receptions, 7,432 yards and 40 touchdowns in five seasons (including seven missed games in 2023) while receiving passes from Kirk Cousins, Sean Mannion, Josh Dobbs, Nick Mullens, Jaren Hall, and Sam Darnold.

Should J.J. McCarthy prove to be a promising young QB in the mold of nearly all of his draftmates, Jefferson’s future outlook will get even brighter. But if McCarthy ends up underwhelming and Jefferson still delivers, it will once again add credence to his case as the potential B.O.A.T. (best of all time, not greatest of all time).

#8: Jalen Carter (DT, Philadelphia Eagles)

Carter is firmly a top-three defensive tackle in the league, and at 23 years old, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect a leap in his third professional season. That would mean overtaking the great Chris Jones and filling the gap left by Aaron Donald.

Carter just won a Super Bowl and will be coming up on a contract extension in the coming summers. He completely took over games late in the year, and it’s now time for him to pursue some individual hardware.

#7: Micah Parsons (DE, Dallas Cowboys)

Speaking of NFC East defensive linemen, the pressure is on Parsons to produce in the final year of his rookie deal and after his former teammate, DeMarcus Lawrence, said he’d win more games if he wasn’t so worried about his social media. Parsons has also been scrutinized for his comments on his podcast, while the Cowboys just had a losing record for the first time since 2020.

Parsons has not had a season with fewer than 12 sacks but is going to face stiff competition next year from his division’s quarterbacks and offensive lines. He also doesn’t have anywhere near the same help as Carter.

#6: Ashton Jeanty (RB, NFL Draft)

The Las Vegas Raiders, Chicago Bears, and Dallas Cowboys have also been floated as potential landing spots in the draft for the Heisman runner-up. He would have the chance to transform all three of those franchises, along with most that have a realistic chance to take him.

NFL positional rankings can be tough, but this one is easy. Jeanty had one of the five most impressive running back seasons in NCAA history last year and is the perfect candidate to carry the torch of the running back renaissance started by Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry, Josh Jacobs, and others.

#5: Justin Herbert (QB, Los Angeles Chargers)

The general expectation is that the coming season will be the Kansas City Chiefs’ worst during the Patrick Mahomes era. That means the roadblock that existed to make the playoffs, the lack of possibility of winning the AFC West title, is no more.

Herbert is coming off another solid season but once again did not deliver in the playoffs, throwing one touchdown and four interceptions in a 32-12 loss. He’ll have another offseason with Jim Harbaugh and an easier path through the division, both of which are reasons he needs to deliver.

#4: Caleb Williams (QB, Chicago Bears)

A refurbished offensive line, an offensive guru for their head coach, and the possibility of landing Jeanty in the draft are all reasons to cautiously expect a breakout year from Williams. Keep in mind, many believed he was the next Mahomes and would be a top-three quarterback in the world in short order.

As disappointing as last year was for Williams (28th in QBR) and the Bears (5-12), he had the fifth-most passing yards in a single season for a Bears QB, 20 touchdowns, and six interceptions. A strong year would wipe away the jokes from a rookie campaign marred by coaching mishaps and a dysfunctional organization. 

#3: Aidan Hutchinson (DE, Detroit Lions)

Picture a world in which Hutchinson returns to the field and the Lions make, much less win, the Super Bowl. How would he not get the lion’s share of the credit (pun intended) after his team collapsed in the playoffs while he was injured?

Hutchinson racked up 7.5 sacks and a forced fumble in just five games before he broke his leg. The Lions are fifth in Super Bowl odds and second among NFC teams, and if he gets them over the hump without a superstar quarterback and after losing both coordinators, his status will vault into a new stratosphere.  

#2: Jayden Daniels (QB, Washington Commanders)

If Daniels is the next Lamar Jackson, then he’s going to win a unanimous MVP this year… right? Even if he fails to hit those extraordinary heights, another playoff appearance and strong statistical season would confirm his status as a potential, if not bonafide top-five quarterback in the NFL. 

The Commanders are trying to win now based on their trade acquisitions of Marshon Lattimore, Deebo Samuel, and Laremy Tunsil. Daniels worked wonders with a team mostly bereft of talent as a rookie and got significantly better as the year progressed, and further improvement is not out of the question.

#1: Lamar Jackson (QB, Baltimore Ravens)

Jackson tops our NFL rankings and is going to be at the top of this list until he wins a Super Bowl. As a two-time MVP and three-time first-team All-Pro coming off of one of the most exceptional quarterback seasons in league history, all that’s left for him to accomplish is to bring the Lombardi Trophy back to its 2001 and 2013 timeshare in Baltimore. 

The Ravens have a strong defense every year and just added DeAndre Hopkins to an offense that already included Derrick Henry, Zay Flowers, Mark Andrews, and Isaiah Likely. The Chiefs appear to be in regression, and it’s tough to believe the door will swing open wider than it currently is in the AFC.