Sportsnaut
The National Football League rosters more than 1,600 players every season, with many of them providing depth or serving in rotational roles for the 32 teams. With 704 starting spots across the league, the talent and performance gap between players varies widely. For the worst starters in the NFL, they must perform well for their team while dealing with the added pressure of knowing they could be replaced if they struggle.
Let’s dive into our list of the worst NFL starters entering the 2025 season. For the sake of this exercise, we’re excluding rookies who haven’t yet had a chance to prove themselves.
You could make a case for either the Cleveland Browns‘ Joe Flacco or the New York Giants‘ Russell Wilson. Since Wilson was the better performer last season over a larger sample size, Flacco is the pick. The 40-year-old quarterback started six games last season, posting a 2-5 record with one of the lowest On-Target Rates (73.6 percent) among qualified quarterbacks. While he’s returning to head coach Kevin Stefanski’s system, where he went 4-1 as a starter in 2023, Flacco also recorded a 3.9 percent interception rate that season.
For context, Mac Jones’ league-worst interception rate among qualified starters in 2023 was 3.5 percent. Flacco will also have worse pass protection in Cleveland than he did last year with the Indianapolis Colts. His propensity for turnover-worthy plays and his abysmal performance when pressured (34.5 QB rating, 41st in the NFL) position him as the worst starting quarterback in the NFL this season.
Related: NFL QB Rankings 2025
Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys continue to treat the running back position with little regard. A year ago, they tried to make things work with Ezekiel Elliott, but he averaged just 3.1 yards per carry before being replaced by Rico Dowdle. Now, Dowdle is gone and Dallas is trotting out Miles Sanders and Javonte Williams. Neither should be a starter in the NFL.
After his 2022 Pro Bowl season running behind the Philadelphia Eagles offensive line, Sanders averaged just 3.5 yards per carry on 184 attempts across 27 games with the Carolina Panthers. His 1.5 yards after contact per attempt (YAC/att) would have been the lowest among qualified running backs last season if he had enough carries to qualify.
As for Williams, he hasn’t been the same since suffering a catastrophic knee injury (torn ACL, LCL, and posterolateral corner) in 2022. Over the last two seasons, he has averaged just 3.6 yards per carry, including a below-average 1.8 YAC/att last season, paired with the eighth-worst yards before contact per attempt (1.9).
Related: Best NFL Running Backs 2025
Putting Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Jakobi Meyers among the worst NFL starters in 2025 is entirely based on comparing him to non-rookie No. 1 wideouts. He ranked 51st in target separation, 53rd in route win rate (43.3 percent), 45th in yards per...
