2025 NFL Playoffs

The 2025 NFL Playoffs Could be Without Some of the League’s Biggest Stars

By | | Best NFL, Featured, NFL

With some of the league’s top superstars and their teams struggling to gain ground in the playoff race, the NFL could be without some of its top stars come playoff time.

2025 NFL Playoffs Could Be Without NFL’s Biggest Stars

The NFL playoffs this season could look quite different from those in years past. In the last few years, teams like the Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens, and Buffalo Bills have been virtual locks for the playoffs, primarily due to their superstar talent. Players like Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and others like Travis Kelce make up some of the biggest names in the NFL; however, with a month left to go in the regular season, there’s a chance those names could be sitting on the couch come January.

Win-or-go-home matchups between Jackson and Mahomes, Mahomes and Allen, or Allen and Jackson in January could very well not be a reality for the NFL and its fans this season. The fanfare element of a popular player like Kelce and the “Swifties” could be a lost cause for the NFL this year, for a league that’s always finding edges or opportunities to enhance viewership of the product. Just last season, the AFC Championship game between Mahomes and Allen was the most-watched AFC Championship game on record.

The stars of the NFC do bring talent, but maybe not the name brand that the top players in the AFC bring.

NFL playoff picture after week 13

Ravens and Chiefs are trying to stay afloat in the AFC playoff race

The Ravens and Chiefs are both 6-6 on the season and are both far from a lock to make the playoffs, even though the Ravens have a tiny lead in their division right now. Baltimore started the season 1-5 and had to claw their way back to even their record to try to save their season. Kansas City has been one of the league’s most inconsistent teams this season, trading wins and losses every other week. Their inconsistency has led to them being on the outside looking in.

Both the Chiefs and Ravens need to run the table left to secure a playoff spot, something neither team has shown they are capable of achieving in 2025.

The Bills are in good shape to make the playoffs, so at least Allen could be there, but if Buffalo doesn’t have a strong finish to their season, things could get tricky for them as well.

New Blood in the postseason could be here to stay

The Patriots and Broncos hold the top seeds in the AFC, and both teams feature young quarterbacks in Drake Maye and Bo Nix. Maye is firmly in the MVP conversation, and Nix is helping lead his team to a second consecutive playoff berth. Both teams are among the best in the entire NFL and wouldn’t be surprising if one of these fresh faces represented the AFC in the Super Bowl.

NFC has big-time talent despite lesser-known names

The NFC playoff picture features some of the marquee franchises in NFL history, including the Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, and San Francisco 49ers. Dallas is on the outside looking in, but a run to end the regular season could find them in the playoffs and would undoubtedly make them must-see TV as “America’s Team”. However, outside of a couple of players in the NFC, there isn’t much of a superstar name punch, even though the talent is there.

The NFC does offer names like Matthew Stafford and Jalen Hurts. Stafford won a Super Bowl in LA in 2021 and is currently in the mix to win his first MVP. Hurts is a reigning champion and Super Bowl MVP. Quarterbacks Jordan Love and Brock Purdy are talented, and lesser-known Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield are former first-round picks with talent, even though they aren’t of the caliber of the AFC quarterbacks.

The NFL playoffs will be exciting regardless, but some fans may feel that the league’s biggest names are missing, which could detract from the luster.

Main Image: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

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