Buying or Selling Struggling NFL Teams Most Likely to Turn Season Around

With Week 6 of the 2025 NFL season now complete, 12 teams are stuck below .500 and becoming increasingly desperate to turn things around.

While certain clubs such as the New York Jets—the league's lone winless franchise—and the five teams that mustered a single win in six tries don't have much of a shot at righting the ship and making the playoffs this year, the rest still have varying chances of clawing their way back into the mix and punching a postseason ticket.

With that in mind, let's take a look at the six franchises with two wins to their name and buy or sell their odds of salvaging the 2025 campaign.

Dallas Cowboys (2-3-1): Buying

AP Photo/Brian Westerholt

The Dallas Cowboys may be off to an unfortunate start, but they still have plenty of reason to believe they can reach the playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons following a one-year hiatus.

The offense has been strong, an unsurprising result given the health of star quarterback Dak Prescott and the organization's decision to promote former offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer to head coach. The team is averaging a league-high 387.5 yards and ranks No. 3 with 29.7 points per game.

The defense has been this group's Achilles heel, however. Dallas ranks dead-last in yards conceded, giving up a concerning 411.7 per game to the opposition, while the abysmal Baltimore Ravens are the only defense giving up more points than the 30.7 the Cowboys have allowed in 2025.

The departure of superstar linebacker Micah Parsons has clearly hurt this unit, but Dallas' leadership believes this roster still has all the pieces in place to improve.

During a recent interview on 105.3 the Fan, Cowboys COO/co-owner Stephen Jones said:

"This just comes down to execution. We've got to continue to be more consistent, and we can certainly do it. I think this is a work in progress, obviously we've got a lot of work to do on the defensive side of the ball."

Although Jones may believe there is enough in-house talent to turn things around, taking advantage of the trade deadline to add another piece or two could massively benefit the Cowboys.

If Dallas can acquire at least one solid safety on the trade market to shore up the secondary, this team will have little issue getting back on track and may even challenge for the NFC East title.

Houston Texans (2-3): Buying

AP Photo/Nick Wass

After a brutal start to the season, the Houston Texans are finally starting to show signs of life. The team shook off a disappointing 0-3 start to win back-to-back games and now has a chance to get back to .500 with a Monday Night Football victory in Week 7.

As ugly as Houston's record was during September, it's worth noting that all three of the defeats the team suffered were by one score or less. Two of those losses came against the Los Angeles Rams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a pair of veteran-laden foes that have been fixtures in the playoffs in recent seasons. The other was against an upstart Jacksonville Jaguars squad that has also felled the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers this year.

Houston proved it wouldn't give up on its quest to make a third consecutive postseason berth with a statement 26-0 win over the lowly Tennessee Titans. The club punctuated that with a massive, 44-10 blowout victory against the Baltimore Ravens the following week.

The Texans took the momentum from those huge victories into a timely bye week, one that will allow them to get healthy and iron out the few remaining issues—such as an inconsistent ground game—to come out better than ever in the back two-thirds of the campaign.

With a battle-tested quarterback in C.J. Stroud—a player who has guided his side to playoff wins in each of his first two seasons—and strong coaching staff led by DeMeco Ryans, the Texans will be just fine.

Expect them to pull even with the Indianapolis Colts later in the year and be well-positioned to defend their AFC South crown ahead of the postseason.

Cincinnati Bengals (2-4): Selling

AP Photo/Matt Ludtke

The Cincinnati Bengals had high hopes of shaking off the disappointment of missing the playoffs in 2024 and making a real run in 2025. That was until Joe Burrow went down in the second game with a turf toe injury that required surgery and will keep him sidelined until early December.

Without Burrow on the field, the Bengals have been left treading water while trying to stay positioned to go on a run upon their signal-caller's return.

So far that hasn't happened, as the team lost three consecutive games with Jake Browning at the helm and became desperate enough to convince the rival Cleveland Browns to give up Joe Flacco—a puzzling move that Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin couldn't believe the Browns made.

Flacco wasn't the answer for Cincinnati in his debut. While the 40-year-old veteran did show an immediate rapport with Ja'Marr Chase and completed 29 of 45 throws for 219 yards and a pair of scores, he wasn't able to spark the offense enough to overcome a tough Green Bay Packers foe.

Although the Bengals might steal a victory here and there over the next month with winnable games against the New York Jets, Chicago Bears and two meetings with the Steelers on tap, it's hard to see this Flacco-led unit doing enough to keep Cincy in the playoff hunt.

Unless Burrow miraculously recovers and returns to full strength well ahead of schedule, it's time to write the Bengals off as a serious playoff contender.

Las Vegas Raiders (2-4): Selling

AP Photo/Rick Scuteri

The Las Vegas Raiders went into 2025 with high hopes of contending following a lost 2024 season. The team hired a 74-year-old head coach in Pete Carroll and traded for a 35-year-old quarterback in Geno Smith, signaling an intention to compete rather than rebuild.

Unfortunately for the Raiders, this all-in approach hasn't worked out. While Vegas snuck a win over the New England Patriots in the opener and managed to get off a four-game schneid with a narrow victory against the Tennessee Titans—a result that led to the dismissal of head coach Brian Callahan—this team hasn't been good enough to be considered a viable playoff contender.

Carroll recently expressed frustration about how his return to the sidelines has gone. After being blown out by a 40-6 margin against the Indianapolis Colts, the usually-chipper head coach admitted "I'm processing it poorly to tell you the truth", noting that he expected to consistently win right away.

With a tough stretch that includes dates with the Kansas City Chiefs, Jacksonville Jaguars, Denver Broncos and Dallas Cowboys over the next month, Carroll will have to start searching for some moral victories.

The team will be lucky to win a game during that span, as the thin Raiders simply aren't equipped to get through this season with a winning record and won't be a serious contender for at least another year.

Arizona Cardinals (2-4): Buying

AP Photo/Rick Scuteri

The Cardinals' 2025 season began with immense promise—and a pair of victories—but has since turned sour with four straight losses. It's certainly time to panic in the desert, but there's still a chance this squad can straighten out and get back into contention.

Arizona notably became the first team in NFL history to lose three consecutive games on last-second field goals, doing so in each of their losses between Weeks 3 and 5. The club then fell by a 31-27 margin in Week 6 after allowing the Indianapolis Colts to rally in the fourth quarter.

While the Cardinals haven't found a way to close out tight games, that luck could change in the coming weeks. They notably lacked quarterback Kyler Murray for Sunday's defeat—he was sidelined with a foot injury—and lost star receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. to a concussion in the second quarter. Having that battery together for four quarters could have swung what became a four-point loss this past weekend.

Arizona's defense should also continue to shoulder a major load following a down day. The Cardinals allowed an average of just 19.2 points over the first six games before the Colts hung a season-high 31 on them. If this unit can regularly keep foes under 20 points, it won't be long before Arizona gets back to tallying up "W"'s on a consistent basis.

While the Cardinals may not be a legitimate Super Bowl contender without a major shakeup, they are still a far better team than their record indicates. Expect a regression towards the mean in the coming weeks as this squad inches back to .500 and then climbs above later in the year.

New York Giants (2-4): Selling

AP Photo/Adam Hunger

With Jaxson Dart and Cam Skattebo leading the way, there's finally reason for New York Giants fans to be excited about their team again.

The dynamic rookie duo has exploded onto the scene in recent weeks, with Dart winning two of his first three starts and Skattebo emerging as one of the NFL's most exciting running backs.

While the rapid development of Dart and immense production of Skattebo may help beleaguered head coach Brian Daboll keep his job, it's going to be an uphill battle to get the G-Men back in the playoffs for just the second time since 2016 and first since 2022.

Unfortunately for Big Blue, the coaching staff waited until it fell into an 0-3 hole before deciding to bench Russell Wilson and unleash Dart.

The QB change immediately resulted in an upset over the Los Angeles Chargers and sparked a surprise victory over the Philadelphia Eagles last week, but a double-digit defeat to the lowly New Orleans Saints sandwiched between these results shows there is still a lot of work to be done in the Big Apple.

As great as the vibes are in New York right now, things are going to turn a lot tougher for this young offense in the coming weeks—starting with a trip to face the vaunted Denver Broncos defense in Week 7.

Denver limited the New York Jets to a meager 82 yards on Sunday and piled up a whopping nine sacks in the process. Dart may fare slightly better than Justin Fields did, but it's hard to envision the G-Men escaping Mile High with a win.

The reeling Philadelphia Eagles will be out for revenge in Week 8 too. If the heavily-favored defending Super Bowl champions achieve that result, the Giants will be looking at a 2-6 record that would have them well out of contention for a wild-card spot at the midpoint of the campaign.

This up-and-coming roster has plenty of potential and could be a contender for years to come, but these plucky Giants won't make any real noise in 2025.