Silver linings for 2025's bad teams
The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL
The Athletic
4.6 • 3.3K Ratings
🗓️ 1 January 2026
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Look, not everyone can win the Super Bowl. Or make the playoffs. Or win at least five games. But even if you're a fan of one of those bad teams, there's probably something positive you can take forward with you into 2026. Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen find those silver linings for the worst teams in the league on this episode of The Athletic Football Show.
Rundown (timestamps are approximate)
3:34 Las Vegas Raiders
9:18 New York Giants
17:25 New York Jets
30:00 Tennessee Titans
36:00 Arizona Cardinals
43:13 Cleveland Browns
54:44 Washingon Commanders
1:01:44 New Orleans Saints
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Host: Robert Mays
Co-Host: Derrik Klassen
Executive Producer: Michael Beller
Video Producer: Katy Duffy
Audio Producer: Michael Beller
Social Producer: Scott Krinch
Follow Robert on Bluesky: @robertmays.bsky.social
Follow Derrik on Bluesky: @qbklass.bsky.social
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Follow Derrik on X: @QBKlass
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Athletic Football Show. |
| 0:05.4 | I'm Robert Mays. |
| 0:06.7 | Today, it's the silver linings for the worst teams in the NFL this season. |
| 0:11.9 | Yesterday, we talked about kind of the outlook and did a wrap up on the teams that fell short |
| 0:18.2 | of the playoffs but are not necessarily at the top of the draft. |
| 0:21.3 | This year we're going to hit the other bucket of teams that we're going to stop talking about |
| 0:25.5 | as we get into the postseason. |
| 0:27.1 | So we talked about me and Derek the top eight teams in this year's draft. |
| 0:31.0 | Just look at the draft order. |
| 0:32.1 | Those are the teams we dug into. |
| 0:33.8 | Talked about what the silver lining for them from this year is and then dug into it a little bit what the next phase, |
| 0:41.6 | including this offseason, should probably start with with a lot of these teams. |
| 0:45.7 | So really enjoyed this discussion with Derek. |
| 0:47.8 | Let's get to it right now. |
| 0:53.8 | On yesterday's show, we kind of put a period at the end of the sentence for all the teams that were hoping to be good that fell a little bit short and wrapped up what their seasons felt like. |
| 1:04.8 | Today, we are hitting the other bucket of teams that is not going to be playing in the 2025, 26 postseason, and that is the worst |
| 1:12.4 | teams in the league. We're going to be hitting the top eight teams based on current |
| 1:16.6 | draft position today and just try to find something worth rooting your hopes and dreams in if you |
| 1:24.4 | are a fan of this team. One, at least one, silver lining for all eight of these |
| 1:29.2 | teams. We did this last year. I liked it as an exercise. I feel like it's worth doing again. Just a little |
| 1:35.1 | parting gift for fans of teams that had to watch what they did all season. I'm itching to get to |
| 1:42.0 | the ones that are not quarterback related because obviously some of |
... |
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