Pro Football Focus Names Kansas Football's Biggest Strength and Weakness

Lance Leipold and the Kansas Jayhawks have renewed expectations despite finishing a lackluster 5-7 last season.

Star quarterback Jalon Daniels is back in Lawrence for another year and will look to lead a new-look roster to bowl eligibility and potentially more in 2025.

Opinions on KU remain divided nationwide, but Pro Football Focus has released its preview of the Jayhawks ahead of the upcoming season. Their metrics place Kansas’ win total at 7.2 with the No. 62 strength of schedule in the country.

In the premium article written by Max Chadwick and Dalton Wasserman, they also pinpointed the biggest strength and weakness of the 2025 Kansas squad.

Biggest Strength: ‘A quarterback with a lot of potential’

While the offense loses the school’s all-time leading rusher in Devin Neal and its top three wideouts, there is still reason for optimism for the Jayhawks.

PFF noted that despite an up-and-down year, Daniels ranked among the best big-play quarterbacks in the nation.

“Jalon Daniels was a bit of a rollercoaster in 2024, but the highs were very high,” Chadwick and Wasserman wrote. “His 7.1% big-time throw rate tied with Jaxson Dart a 2025 first-round draft pick, for the second-best clip in the Power Four. His 27 forced missed tackles on the ground were the fourth most among Big 12 signal-callers.”

Daniels can be very dangerous both with his legs and arm. A conference-high 12 interceptions and a 57.0% completion rate damaged his reputation, but he is practically unstoppable at his best.

Biggest Weakness: ‘A bad defense that may have gotten worse’

The offense is not PFF’s concern. Instead, it is the defense under the new defensive coordinator, DK McDonald.

They highlighted the losses KU suffered to graduation in the offseason as one of the reasons why.

“Kansas’ defense held the team back from making a bowl game in 2024, and it doesn’t look like the Jayhawks improved much on that side of the ball. In fact, they may have taken a step backward after losing their three best defenders: cornerbacks Cobee Bryant and Mello Dotson and linebacker JB Brown.”

Transfers like defensive back DJ Graham II (Utah State), linebacker Bangally Kamara (South Carolina), and Justice Finkley (Texas) should be the stars of the defense next to All-Big 12 defensive end Dean Miller. But it is true that the Jayhawks are replacing a lot of production on that side of the ball.

KU will need several newcomers to rise to the occasion and play key roles in keeping opponents off the scoreboard.