Every NFL Team's Biggest Surprise After 3 Weeks

September is almost certainly the most surprising month on the annual NFL calendar. 

While the league is always full of shocking developments, the new regular season brings about the most change—regardless of whether you've been paying attention throughout the offseason. 

With that in mind, we bring you 32 September surprises for 32 teams.

AFC East

AP Photo/ Jeffrey T. Barnes

Dalton Kincaid

Buffalo Bills: The rise of tight end Dalton Kincaid

It's not as though we shouldn't have expected the 2023 first-round pick to continue to trend upward in his third season, but few likely imagined he'd have more targets, receptions, yards and touchdowns than Khalil Shakir as we approach the end of September. 

Miami Dolphins: Just how fast they've crashed and burned

There is still plenty of expensive talent on this roster, but here they are at 0-3 with five turnovers, zero defensive takeaways, the worst scoring defense in the NFL and a formerly lauded head coach who appears to be on the verge of getting fired. 

New England Patriots: Rhamondre Stevenson's struggles

The well-paid veteran running back was essentially benched after fumbling twice in Week 3, and he could be losing favor to TreVeyon Henderson and/or Antonio Gibson. He's yet to score or rush for 60 yards in a game this season, although he has been a much bigger factor in the passing game.

New York Jets: Olumuyiwa Fashanu's struggles

The second-year No. 11 overall pick is incredibly physically gifted, but it hasn't gone well at all thus far in 2025. Fashanu has surrendered a tied-for-league-high 14 hurries and has been penalized three times, per Pro Football Focus. 

AFC North

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Carson Schwesinger

Baltimore Ravens: Derrick Henry's three fumbles 

It's as many as the star running back had in 2023 and 2024 combined, and two have played a major role in the fourth quarter of the team's two one-score losses thus far. Is this the first sign that he's losing it? At least he's averaging 5.9 yards per carry. 

Cincinnati Bengals: Chase Brown's horrendous start

The third-year back was expected by many to continue building off a breakout sophomore campaign, but Brown ranks dead last among 45 qualified rushers with a 2.0 yards-per-attempt average in three brutal performances. Of course, a struggling line hasn't helped, as Brown is also averaging a putrid 0.8 yards before contact per rush. 

Cleveland Browns: Linebacker Carson Schwesinger

There was always a chance the 2025 No. 33 overall pick would become awesome, but it's happening faster than many would have imagined. Schwesinger played a huge role in Cleveland's remarkable Week 3 comeback victory over Green Bay, and he's on track for a 130-tackle season. 

Pittsburgh Steelers: Nearly perfect in the red zone

Pittsburgh has converted seven of its eight red-zone opportunities into touchdowns—an 87.5 percent clip that ranks first in the AFC. That's a huge improvement over their rate of 48.2 percent last year, which ranked 29th in football. It's a small sample but still quite encouraging considering preseason concerns regarding this patchwork offense.

AFC South

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C.J. Gardner-Johnson

Houston Texans: The abrupt conclusion of the C.J. Gardner-Johnson era

You may have expected a C.J. Stroud mention here, but I'm really not that surprised by his slow start considering 2024 struggles and the fact he's getting acclimated to a revamped offensive line (that may not actually be better). Instead, Gardner-Johnson's sudden September release looks like a significant red flag regarding the state of the organization in general. 

Indianapolis Colts: Daniel Jones

Plain and simple. Jones, who stands as the NFL's third-highest-rated passer for the 3-0 Colts, may be the surprise of the league at this juncture. Looks as though Brian Daboll's trash is Shane Steichen's treasure. I guess we should keep in mind that the 28-year-old was a No. 6 overall draft pick. 

Jacksonville Jaguars: The defense is a takeaway machine

Incredibly, the Jags have as many takeaways in three games this season as they had in all of 2024 (nine). What's wild is the personnel hasn't changed dramatically, so new defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile deserves a ton of credit. 

Tennessee Titans: All the penalties 

The Titans were always expected to struggle this year, and Cam Ward's issues are not surprising considering his clear limitations. But head coach Brian Callahan made it a point this offseason to cut down on penalties. Instead, the Titans have taken an AFC-high 261 penalty yards thus far. 

AFC West

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Tyquan Thornton

Denver Broncos: Late-game lapses

That's two of 'em in three outings thus far, for a team coached by a Super Bowl champion that exhibited plenty of discipline in similar situations last year. The defense has been more vulnerable to giving up big plays than expected, and the offense has scored just three fourth-quarter points in back-to-back losses. 

Kansas City Chiefs: Tyquan Thornton

While the former practice squad member did inspire some confidence in his first offseason with the team, few imagined that Thornton would be tied for the team lead with 171 receiving yards entering Week 4. The 25-year-old has now scored in back-to-back weeks, doubling his career touchdown catch total. 

Las Vegas Raiders: The offensive line has been a mess

There was a chance the Raiders' line was finally going to become an asset considering the promise that we saw from rookies Jackson Powers-Johnson and DJ Glaze in support of stalwart left tackle Kolton Miller in 2024. Dylan Parham also broke out at left guard. But those guys have all struggled mightily (when on the field) and it's showing both on the ground and through the air for the league's seventh-lowest-scoring offense.

Los Angeles Chargers: 3-0

I mean, they haven't started that way since Justin Herbert was 4 years old! And they've done so despite losing key cogs Rashawn Slater, Khalil Mack and Najee Harris. All three wins have come within the division, and two have come outside of their home stadium. It's damn impressive.

NFC East

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Jordan Davis

Dallas Cowboys: Big passing plays allowed on defense

By no means was this pass D expected to improve without Micah Parsons wreaking havoc in the front seven, but Dallas has surrendered a ridiculous 12 25-plus-yard passing plays in the last two weeks alone. That's 6.0 per game, compared to 1.9 in 2024. Trevon Diggs and Kaiir Elam have both been disappointing in the secondary. 

New York Giants: How quickly they went from Russell Wilson to Jaxson Dart

Don't get me wrong: Wilson has been atrocious. He's got the third-highest bad throw rate in football and he's committed six turnover-worthy plays. But the Giants gave up 40 points in Dallas, so it's hard to pin that L on him. This is simply a quick hook, given Wilson's NFL resume and Dart's lack thereof. 

Philadelphia Eagles: Jordan Davis

And not just his headline-generating game-clinching play Sunday against the Rams. It wasn't a given that the defensive tackle's fifth-year option would be exercised this offseason, but that is now looking like a genius move considering the huge impact Davis has made thus far in a breakout campaign. 

Washington Commanders: The drift away from Jacory Croskey-Merritt

JCM put together a promising initial NFL offseason and looked to be a major player in the Washington backfield when he rushed for 82 yards on 10 carries in the season opener. An injury to veteran Austin Ekeler should have led to even more work for the rookie, but instead he's had just 13 touches the last two weeks. 

NFC North

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Caleb Williams

Chicago Bears: Caleb Williams getting the ball down field successfully 

Only Lamar Jackson and Matthew Stafford have generated more first downs by way of throws that have traveled 15-plus yards (Williams has 10). The sophomore No. 1 overall pick also ranks seventh among qualifiers with 4.4 completed air yards per attempt, which is way up from a mark of 3.0 in 2024. Figured the Ben Johnson offense would help him in Year 2, but a magnificent Week 3 performance indicates that's happeninging surprisingly quickly considering his rookie struggles and big changes all around him. 

Detroit Lions: Terrion Arnold's sophomore slump?

OK, maybe it's too early to use that phrase. Still, the 2024 first-round corner has surrendered 11.0 yards per target (up from 7.3 last year), and he took a brutal pass interference penalty in a big spot against the Ravens. 

Green Bay Packers: Problems with the running game

Veteran back Josh Jacobs is averaging just 3.1 yards per carry, which is way down from 4.4 in 2024. He couldn't move in Cleveland, which prevented the Packers from pulling away in a game they ended up losing. A lot of that falls on a struggling offensive line, although injuries are a factor there too. 

Minnesota Vikings: Cornerback Isaiah Rodgers

There was some sleeper hype surrounding Rodgers as an under-the-radar offseason pickup entering this campaign, but he's clearly blown that out of the water. And it's not just that unforgettable Week 3 performance in which he forced two fumbles, intercepted a pass and scored twice. Opposing quarterbacks have a mere 29.2 passer rating when throwing into the 27-year-old's coverage thus far. 

NFC South

AP Photo/Danny Karnik

Emeka Egbuka

Atlanta Falcons: Struggles from Michael Penix Jr. 

Even if you didn't expect him to become a star overnight, you have to be quite surprised at just how much Penix has struggled within a stacked Falcons offense in the first three weeks. The league's fourth-lowest-rated qualified passer has thrown just one touchdown pass and has the NFL's highest bad-throw rate (25.3 percent) by a significant margin. 

Carolina Panthers: Cornerback Mike Jackson

Jaycee Horn naturally gets more of the attention in the Carolina secondary, but it's Jackson who has exploded in his second season with the team. The 28-year-old essentially buried the Falcons with a nice pick and return Sunday, and he's surrendered a passer rating of just 40.7 on throws into his coverage. Jackson is a big reason why the Panthers pass defense has the lowest opposing passer rating in football thus far. 

New Orleans Saints: That the crash has little to do with Spencer Rattler

If I told you in August that the Saints would start 0-3, you'd probably assume a lot of that would have to do with the quarterback situation. But instead, awful defense and special teams, oodles of penalties, and poor line play explain most of it. Meanwhile, Rattler has the league's seventh-lowest bad throw rate and has committed just one turnover in three games. He's not the problem. 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Emeka Egbuka and Sterling Shepard have been the team's two most productive receivers

Chris Godwin's absence is obviously a factor here, but Egbuka and Shepard were even outproducing Mike Evans before the veteran went down with a hamstring injury in Week 3. Egbuka—a first-round pick in April—has three touchdowns in three NFL games. These two could make it easier for the Bucs to weather the storm without Evans and Godwin. 

NFC West

AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson

Tory Horton

Arizona Cardinals: Marvin Harrison Jr.'s slow start

The 2024 first-round pick was expected to become the clear-cut centerpiece of this offense. The Cards are a couple more points in San Francisco short of being undefeated, but Harrison has caught just 10 passes on a mere 17 targets and has one touchdown thus far. 

Los Angeles Rams: Terrance Ferguson a nonfactor

If you fancy yourself a contender and you use a second-round pick on a tight end, one would think you'd be prepared to use him fairly quickly. Instead, Ferguson played just four offensive snaps in the first two weeks of the season before being a healthy scratch in Week 3. I get wanting to give a guy time, and that there are several veteran tight ends on the roster, but you'd think they'd have thrown more at Ferguson by now. 

San Francisco 49ers: Linebacker Dee Winters

Among 49ers defenders, Fred Warner gets most of the credit for the fact the team is somehow 3-0 despite a never-ending onslaught of injuries. But don't overlook Winters, a sixth-round pick from 2023 who flashed just enough as a sophomore for the team to move on from Dre Greenlaw. Winters and Warner both rank among the league's top 10 qualified linebackers at PFF this season. 

Seattle Seahawks: Receiver Tory Horton

The rookie fifth-round pick scored on a 95-yard punt return and caught a touchdown pass Sunday against the Saints, and he scored a tone-setting opening-drive touchdown in a Week 2 victory over the Steelers. That's three big scores on 11 NFL touches for the 23rd receiver taken in April's draft.