5 NFL Players That Fell Off The Face Of The Earth In 2025 And 5 Who Went On & Revived Their Careers
This article was originally published on Total Pro Sports.
Every NFL season plays out the same way… There are players who are expected to dominate that completely disappear—we are talking former Pro Bowlers who turn into afterthoughts… the big-money stars who can’t find a way to make an impact on the field. Meanwhile, players, everyone wrote off coming back from the dead, reviving their NFL careers, and showing us what they are all about.
2025 is no exception.
Let’s break down five players who completely fell off this year… and five who revived their careers when nobody saw it coming.
Which NFL players’ performances fell, and which ones revived their careers?
Fell Off: Brian Thomas WR, Jacksonville Jaguars
Brian Thomas Jr. was one of the best stories in football last year. The LSU product caught 87 passes for 1,282 yards and 10 touchdowns as a rookie, setting Jaguars franchise records across the board.
He made the Pro Bowl and looked like the real deal in every sense of the expression. People were calling him a future top-five receiver in this league… and honestly, that felt reasonable after what he showed.
Fast forward to 2025, and the sophomore slump is real.
The drops have been ugly. The body language on the sideline has been worse. You can see the frustration building every week.
What makes this even more concerning is that it has taken place despite the Jags as a team making a major step in the right direction.
Now, some of this falls on Jacksonville’s offensive inconsistency… Trevor Lawrence has had his own issues, and the whole system has felt out of sync at points. But a lot of it’s on Thomas.
He’s struggled to adjust to tighter coverage, and the confidence that made him electric as a rookie just hasn’t been there. Corners are pressing him, and he’s not winning those battles the way he did last year.
Revived: Stefon Diggs, WR, New England Patriots
On the flip side… less than a year removed from ACL surgery, Stefon Diggs is playing like vintage Stefon Diggs. Something that—based on his last couple of seasons—and his offseason antics… nobody really expected.
The Texans released him after he tore his knee up in Week 8 of last season. At 32 years old, coming off another major injury, most people figured that was it. The career was winding down.
New England took the swing anyway. They signed him to a three-year, $63.5 million deal in March… and it’s paying off in a big way.
What stands out most is the chemistry with Drake Maye. The second-year quarterback needed a veteran presence to lean on, and Diggs has become exactly that… Kind of like he was for Josh Allen when he first got to Buffalo. He’s the go-to guy on third down, winning contested catches again, and showing the young receivers how it’s done.
Fell Off: Geno Smith, QB, Las Vegas Raiders
Joining Pete Carroll in Sin City to revitalize the Raiders was supposed to be a feel-good story. Instead, it’s been an absolute nightmare.
Las Vegas traded a third-round pick to Seattle for Geno Smith, then gave him a two-year, $75 million extension… presumably, they looked at what he did with the Seahawks—the Pro Bowl season, the revitalization of his career at 32—and figured they were getting a bargain.
Unfortunately, now Geno is 35, and what they actually have is a league leader in interceptions, along with some of the worst offensive football we have seen in some time.
The tape tells you everything you need to know. His deep ball—once a real weapon in Seattle—has completely disappeared. That’s why so many of his picks have come on deep shots; the velocity just isn’t there anymore. Additionally, he’s now feuding with fans.
The Seattle revival was cool while it lasted. But this Las Vegas experiment? It may have officially ended his career as an NFL starter. That’s a rough way to go out.
Revived: George Pickens, WR, Dallas Cowboys
Talk about a change of scenery working out… A year ago, George Pickens was a headache in Pittsburgh… and becoming an afterthought in their offense.
The talent was obvious—you could see it every time he went up for a contested catch. But maturity was a different story.
The anecdotes were endless… wearing “Open F—— Always” on his eye black during games, routine fights with opposing defenders…
His continued issues with showing up on time—including to the games sometimes!
So, Pittsburgh shipped him to Dallas in May for a third-round pick… and immediately looked foolish for doing it. Pickens has looked like a top-five NFL receiver for the Cowboys and already set career highs in every major category.
He’s become exactly what Dak Prescott needed—a physical receiver who can win at all three levels, alongside CeeDee Lamb. The fit has been seamless. Pickens is getting the volume and the trust he never consistently had with Pittsburgh’s revolving door at quarterback.
Fell Off: T.J. Watt, EDGE, Pittsburgh Steelers
The guy has been the face of the Steelers’ defense for years.
A perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate and one of the most feared pass rushers in football.
Nobody wants to say T.J. Watt is declining, but the tape has been rough this year.
And here’s the kicker—Watt just signed a three-year, $123 million extension that pays him $41 million a year. More than Garrett’s deal. For less than half the production. That’s not a great look for Pittsburgh’s front office.
The explosiveness that made Watt a nightmare for tackles is fading. His get-off time has slowed, and he’s not getting to the quarterback with the same frequency that he was.
The Steelers paid him as if he were the best in the game… and right now, he’s not even close. That’s a hard reality to accept in Pittsburgh.
Revived: Christian McCaffrey, RB, San Francisco 49ers
From IR to immortal… Christian McCaffrey is quietly having another outstanding season, despite playing just four games in 2024 due to a variety of injuries.
Looking back, it is clear how badly the 49ers missed him last season.
San Francisco’s offense never found its rhythm without him. They went from Super Bowl contenders to watching the playoffs from home. People wondered if the wear and tear had finally caught up to one of the most-used backs in the league. Maybe the body just couldn’t hold up anymore.
Those people were wrong.
McCaffrey is once again running it up on opposing defenses, both in the run game and catching passes.
The guy is a yards from scrimmage monster and finding his way into the endzone for San Fran with startling frequency.
The explosiveness is back… the vision and instincts… well—they never left. The way he cuts through traffic and makes defenders miss in space—that’s prime CMC football. It’s like watching 2023 all over again.
Christian McCaffrey in 2025 isn’t just back. He might be better than ever. And at this stage of his NFL career, and getting ready to turn 30 this offseason, that’s remarkable.
Fell Off: A.J. Brown, WR, Philadelphia Eagles
When a player calls his own season “a shit show” on camera… You know things have gone completely off the rails.
A.J. Brown entered 2025 as a three-time Pro Bowler with three consecutive 1,000-yard campaigns. With his physicality and competitive nature, he was considered one of the five best receivers in football when he was at his peak, but unfortunately for the Birds, who built their passing game around him, those moments have been few and far between this year.
His targets are down, he is not getting the same separation, and the drama around him has overshadowed anything he’s done on the field.
The Eagles lost offensive coordinator Kellen Moore in the offseason, when he took the head coaching job down in New Orleans, and the whole offense has felt disjointed ever since. Brown has looked frustrated on the sidelines, had public moments of tension with coaches and teammates, and made more headlines for behavior than catches.
There have been a number of reports citing issues in practice, conversations with ownership, and the belief is that it all ties back to his embattled relationship with his quarterback, Jalen Hurts…
Which is messy to say the least.
Maybe he makes a run toward the playoffs that saves his season. But for most of 2025, one of the best receivers in football has been a shell of himself… and he knows it and said it himself.
Revived: Dak Prescott, QB, Dallas Cowboys
After spending the preceding few years firmly under the microscope, Dak Prescott missed the entire second half of 2024 with a hamstring injury.
And you know what? It might have been good for him—because the Cowboys went nowhere without him and since he has come back into action, he’s been better than ever.
Prescott has the Cowboys offense looking like one of the best units in the game. He’s completing passes at the intermediate level at an elite clip and dissecting defenses on a week-to-week basis.
If only Jerry Jones hadn’t lost his mind and dealt Micah Parsons ahead of the season, who knows, maybe this could’ve actually been Dallas’s year!
The milestones keep piling up, too. He broke Tony Romo’s all-time franchise passing yards record. He set the Cowboys record for games with three or more touchdown passes, surpassing Romo’s 40 with 41 and counting. For a franchise with as much history as Dallas, owning those records means something.
He’s the heavy favorite for Comeback Player of the Year and might even sneak into the MVP conversation… And when you watch him play right now, you understand why. This isn’t a guy who barely survived an injury. This is a guy who came back and leveled up. At 32, Dak Prescott is playing the best football of his career, and he’s made the Cowboys legitimately fun again in the NFL.
Fell Off: Tua Tagovailoa, QB, Miami Dolphins
It’s been rough this season in South Beach… and nobody has felt it more than Tua. Things have sort of been trending this way in Miami ever since they gave him that massive extension, but this season, he’s hit new levels of disappointment, and he is dangerously close to leading the league in interceptions…
Not exactly what you expect when you shell out over $200 million for a quarterback!
The Dolphins have salvaged a couple of wins down the stretch, but let’s face facts… the days of believing this iteration of Miami is a legit contender are long over.
Losing Tyreek Hill to an ACL tear certainly didn’t help, but even before that, Tua was struggling.
He’s having trouble generating velocity on deep balls, giving safeties time to undercut routes, and he just looks out of sorts running the offense as a whole.
It just feels like the defenses have adjusted to what he and the Fins want to do offensively, and Tua hasn’t been able to counter.
Revived: Daniel Jones, QB, Indianapolis Colts
Nobody—and I mean nobody—saw this coming.
A year ago, Daniel Jones was still one of the biggest punchlines in football. The Giants benched him after Week 10 with a 2- 8 record and released him outright. Cut ties completely.
Before Minnesota picked him up off the scrap heap, it looked like his career was finished at 27 years old. Another first-round bust. Another cautionary tale about reaching for a quarterback.
Then, Indianapolis called with a one-year, $14 million “prove it” deal. And to say that Daniel Jones proved it is a massive understatement.
He had the Colts flying high and looking like a legit Super Bowl contender for the first time in years and was playing seriously good football—making plays with his legs and carving up opposing defenses…
In his debut against Miami, Jones led the first team in NFL history to score on their first 10 possessions of the season. They put up 103 points in their first three games—a franchise record. This was a completely different quarterback.
It was the most stunning redemption arc in recent memory… and then it ended in the most brutal way possible.
Against Jacksonville, while playing through a broken leg, I might add, Jones dropped back to pass, released the ball, and crumpled to the ground clutching his right calf. Torn Achilles. Magical season over just like that.
The guy went from laughingstock to legitimate MVP candidate before having it all ripped away. That’s the cruelty of this game sometimes.
But Daniel Jones deserves some shine still… he reminded everyone he could play at an elite level… and that’s something nobody can take away from him. Whatever happens next, he earned that.
