The 2025 NFL preseason takeaways is drawing to a close, and soon, the proper stuff will get underway. With the regular season opener at Lincoln Financial Field between the champion Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys beginning to loom, excitement has begun to reach a fever pitch. However, when one looks at the latest online gambling sites, it’s a surprise name that is at the top of the Super Bowl odds lists.
Despite not reaching the Big Game since inexplicably losing four in a row in the 1990s, it’s the Buffalo Bills that the popular Bovada online gambling site has priced as the +600 favorite to emerge with the Lombardi this season. Following Josh Allen’s MVP-winning season last time out, there’s real optimism around Highmark Stadium that 2025 could finally be the year. However, after being downed by Patrick Mahomes and his Kansas City Chiefs in four of the last five postseasons – including last year’s AFC Championship game – it remains to be seen whether the Bills Mafia can finally end their championship drought.
Winners
Jaxon Dart
Hope can arrive suddenly in the NFL—and at MetLife Stadium, it’s wearing No. 5. By every metric, Jaxon Dart’s first preseason with the Giants has been electrifying. The rookie was supposed to sit and learn behind new additions Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston, but instead, he has accelerated the franchise’s long-suffering search for an heir under center.
The numbers ring out with authority: 26 completions on 35 attempts, 291 yards, two touchdowns through the air and another on the ground throughout two games against the Bills and the Jets—figures that leap off the page for any quarterback, let alone a first-round rookie plucked 25th overall.
JAXSON DART’S 1ST NFL TD IS A DART!
— Bovada (@BovadaOfficial) August 9, 2025
But strip away the numbers, and the vivid impression lingers. Against the Jets, this was a quarterback in total command—completing 14 of 16 throws, orchestrating two touchdown drives with poise that belied his tender years. He capped one with a rushing score, showing quickness both in footwork and mind. And against the Bills, his 154 yards and precision spirals sliced up a defense accustomed to physicality.
Perhaps most telling? Dart finished each contest not breathless and overwhelmed, but self-critical—a mark, perhaps, of the greats. Head coach Brian Daboll has urged patience, but the rookie’s serene confidence and rapid acclimation have injected a shot of adrenaline into a fanbase starved for optimism.
Shedeur Sanders
Every so often, a name jumps up from the late rounds and demands respect. For Cleveland, that name is Shedeur Sanders. The fifth-rounder shouldn’t have slid as far as he did at the recent draft, and perhaps couldn’t have picked a worse quarterback room to end up in. He was never supposed to threaten the established order of Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett – the two QBs supposed to be battling it out for a starting berth.
But following an injury crisis, the fourth listed quarterback on the depth chart was sprung into action against the Panthers, and Sanders hit the ground running. He tossed two touchdowns against Carolina, showing a grasp of pocket nuance rarely seen in rookies. Even so, and following a disappointing debut from fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel, Sanders remains fourth on the depth chart. But one has to wonder how long that will last should the Browns flounder in the opening weeks of the season.
Mitchell Tinsley
Undrafted free agents are perennial longshots, their names barely whispered outside film rooms. Yet Cincinnati’s Mitchell Tinsley has announced himself in ringing tones. Week 2 against Washington, he snagged five catches for 73 yards—two of them in the end zone, outbattling defenders on contested balls and playing like a man determined to be more than just a camp body.
Tinsley’s acrobatics and drive have shifted perceptions within Cincinnati’s hierarchy. While star targets Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins dominate headlines, Tinsley’s compelling preseason has made him impossible to ignore. Play like this can earn more than a practice squad slot; it can rewrite a career. For Tinsley, the league has taken note.
Losers
Justin Fields
There are no soft landings in the NFL’s quarterback cauldron, especially not in the Jets’ glare. After the Rodgers era fizzled, Justin Fields arrived to real expectations but found rough water in August. The 70 percent completion rate looks tidy until you add context: five sacks on 38 dropbacks, four fumbles, and too many snaps where his feet and eyes were out of sync. The first of our NFL Preseason Takeaways here is that sacks were a shared problem. Protection rotated all month and the pocket was rarely clean, yet Fields also held the ball, drifted into pressure, and let strip attempts find the ball on his hip.
It was not all chaos. You still saw the explosive traits that made him a first-rounder: a layered throw on a deep curl against two-high, a scramble that turned third and long into a fresh set of downs, a tight-window RPO slant with timing. The second of our NFL Preseason Takeaways is about fit. When the staff leaned into play action, sprint outs, and quick rhythm from bunch sets, he looked comfortable. When asked to live in five-step, static pockets, the processing slowed. Expect the early script to feature moving pockets, half-field reads, and a designed QB run or two to settle him.
Ball security is the non-negotiable. Coaching can fix carriage, mesh points, and slide decisions, but Fields must protect the rock in traffic and hit the checkdown when the shot is not there. If the line stabilizes and the play caller builds to his strengths, the flashes can become drives. If not, the preseason tape will read like a warning label: talent undeniable, margins unforgiving.
Cincinnati Bengals Defense
Last year, the Cincinnati Bengals’ defense was an absolute disaster, conceding a whopping 434 points and costing Joe Burrow and his cohorts on an electrifying offense their place in the postseason for the second straight year. If August is any guide, the unit still has plenty of work to do. The preseason opened disastrously—the Eagles’ second-stringers piecing together a 75-yard march that culminated in the end zone, exposing Cincy’s starters. Week 2 brought no relief, as missed assignments and a lack of bite painted a concerning picture.
It isn’t merely big plays given up—it’s the erosion of identity that’s troubling. Defensive coordinator Al Golden faces little time to rally the group before games matter for real. And to make matters even worse, the NFL sack leader last season, Trey Hendrickson, remains in the midst of a bitter holdout that could see him sit out the final year of his contract. Unless attitudes and execution shift, the Bengals’ vaunted ambitions could quickly fail, just as they did 12 months ago.
