NFL preseason winners and losers: Rookies break out, Cowboys' Jerry Jones looks silly and more

The NFL preseason is officially in the books and we are less than two weeks away from the start of the regular season.

But while there will be plenty of time to look forward and talk about what will happen for the rest of 2025, this is really the last time we have to look back on what happened during the preseason. And there was plenty that happened around the league, just as there always is around this time of year.

With that in mind, we want to take a look at a few of the winners and losers that came out of the last three weeks of NFL action.

Winner: TreVeyon Henderson

Henderson led all rookies in yards per carry during the preseason at 7.1, albeit on only five actual rush attempts. He scored on one of those runs, though, and also caught three passes. All this on just 16 offensive snaps. Oh, and he scored a touchdown on his first NFL touch, taking a kickoff 100 yards to the house. The Patriots are already talking about him like he's going to quickly take over the backfield.

Loser: Anthony Richardson

Anthony Richardson

IND • QB • #5

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Richardson was a literal loser during the preseason, coming up short in a quarterback competition against Daniel Jones. Heading into the third year of his career, it looks like his time in Indianapolis could soon be done. He'll likely get another chance elsewhere, at least as a backup, due to his athleticism, but this is obviously a pretty bad sign for his future prospects.

Winner: Jaxson Dart

Jaxson Dart

NYG • QB • #6

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Dart finished the preseason 32 of 47 for 372 yards and three scores. He wasn't intercepted and he took only two sacks. The Giants kept things simple for him and he routinely threw the ball short (14 of his 47 passes were targeted to players behind the line of scrimmage) but all you can ask of a quarterback is to do well with what you put on his plate, and Dart did exactly that.

Loser: Jerry Jones (and Cowboys fans)

The new Netflix documentary about the 1990s Cowboys only serves to shine further light on how much things have changed since the days when Dallas dominated the league. Jones is embroiled in yet another contract dispute that should have been easily handled a year ago, this time with Micah Parsons actually firing back at him in the media. The Cowboys look like a joke in this situation, largely because they are one. And you can bet your bottom dollar that we'll be right back doing the same thing next year with Tyler Smith, because Jones is constitutionally incapable of learning from his mistakes.

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Cody Benjamin

Winner: Chiefs offense

Patrick Mahomes

KC • QB • #15

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The Chiefs ran 22 plays with Patrick Mahomes on the field during the preseason, and they scored three touchdowns. They actually created some explosive gains down the field for a change, with seven of those 22 plays gaining 10-plus yards and two of them going for 20-plus. That's a far cry from where they were over the last two years. With a healthy wide receiver corps to start the season, we could see the high-flying Chiefs offense make a comeback. 

Loser: Brian Robinson Jr.

Brian Robinson Jr.

SF • RB

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Robinson essentially lost his job to seventh-round rookie Jacory (Bill) Croskey-Merritt and was traded to the 49ers, where he'll back up Christian McCaffrey. He wasn't the most efficient runner during his time in Washington but he at least got to handle a whole bunch of volume. That likely won't be happening in San Francisco. The Niners always talk about spelling McCaffrey with other backs, but they rarely actually do so. And they have a few recently-drafted runners in the stable to share work with Robinson if and when they do take CMC off the field. In a contract year, it's not the best situation for Robinson.

Winner: The remade Titans offensive line

Tennessee didn't play its starting offense for very many snaps during the preseason, but when it was out there, No. 1 overall pick Cameron Ward had plenty of time to sit in the pocket. Ward was pressured on only 19% of his dropbacks, via Tru Media, and was able to hang back and pick out receivers on crossing routes several times. If they can keep him protected during the regular season, the Titans have a chance to take a step forward offensively.

Loser: Bengals defense

Cincinnati's starting defense got lit up in each of its first two preseason games. The Bengals kept things vanilla and didn't want to show much of what they'll do under new defensive coordinator Al Golden, but it still was not encouraging to see. They're also still without the best player on their defense in Trey Hendrickson, and we don't yet know what's going to happen there. It seems on the surface like things can't be worse than last year, but you never know just how bad things can get.