NFL Power Rankings
Post-Super Bowl Power Ranking
The Eagles Captured The Lombardi by ironing Off Their Playoff Run With Two Dominating Performances First In The NFC Championship Round Against The Commanders and Then Topping Off The Super Bowl. The Eagles pulled off the Highest-rated off-season signing by snatching Saquon Barkley from The Giants. Still, Under Radar Signings Like Offensive Lineman Mekhi Becton And Linebacker Zach Baun Not to Mention The Draft Made Stellar Impact On The Super Bowl Run. Head Coach Nick Siriani Faced Questions About His Credibility As A Chpoonship Level Head Coach and he Answered Those Questions. Now With All The Cigars Smoked, Bears Guzzled, and Viral Quotes Shared And Placed On Murals, It’s Time We Confront The Position That All Teams Stand Post post-Super Bowl. I’ll Power Rank These Teams Based On Some Combination Of Draft Order, ESPN’s FPI, And My Deduction Of Where I Believe They Rank Amongst Each Other From Best To Worse.
1)Philadelphia Eagles—The Eagles Didn’t Jump Off The Page As Contenders To Start This Year Amongst The Elite Contenders In Football Or The NFC And Throughout The Year Philly Usually Fitted Below The Rams and Vikings In The Conference and The Mix With Tampa Bay, The Commanders, Packers And Rams. The Eagles' Success Centered On The Team Mining
Gold In The Offseason With Major Contributions from Cheap Contracts Like Zach Baun At Linebacker and Mekhi Becton At Guard. In Philly Fielded The Best Offensive Line in Football. The Roster Could Fall Victim To Poachers As Becton, Baun, and Edge Rusher Josh Sweat All Earned Massive Pay Increases This Offseason But The Bulk Of Philly’s Contributors on The Defensive Side Of The Ball Play On Rookie Deals. The Eagles Should Remain Strong No Matter What Number Of Free Agents The Team Loses And Should Enter The Following As Ironclad Contenders.
2)Detroit Lions--
The Lions Found Themselves Unceremoniously Bounced From the NFC Playoffs In The Division Round, Finishing One and Done As The Number One Seed In The Conference. Bad Games Happen In Football But Dont Get It Twisted Detroit Remains The Top Threat To The Conference In Football. Jared Goff Had An MVP-type season and with Josh Allen Out Of The Way Winning The MVP this Year Goff Looks Next In Line Based On His Recent Trajectory. The Lions Quarterback Will Face His First Season Without OC Ben Johnson And Maybe He’s Hit A Plateau On His Ability As Quarterback Over These past Few Season Or Maybe He’s Got A lot Another Level To Tap Into.
3)Baltimore Ravens—
Lamar Jackson Failed To Answer The Call In The Playoffs Falls Short As The Ravens Found Themselves Ousted In The Divisional Round. Some Can Argue He Didn’t Lose The Game For The Ravens And He Put The Team In a Position To Win Or Tie In The End Before Mark Andrews Dropped The Ball. Lamar Doesn’t Hold The Responsibility Of Catching The Ball But He’s The Team’s Best Player And That Also Comes With The Added Responsibility Of Leadership. Lamar’s Not Revered In The Leadership Scope Of Quarterbacking Instead He’s More Laid Back and Cavalier and If He Needs To Step Up In Any Area, Vocality And Demonstratization Serves As Places He Could Step Up.
Speaking Off Mark Andrews Could Become A Cap Casualty As The Ravens Look To Explore Ways To Open Up Their Offense And Their Books To Save $17 Million On The Books. Andrews Proved He’s Baltimore’s Best Pass Catcher The Ravens In Recent Year But The Ravens Number Two Tight End Isaiah Likely Has Stepped Forward To Challenge That Role As Well As Wide Receiver Zay Flowers.
4)Buffalo Bills--
The Bills Made The Made Conference Championship Bucking A
TREND of Three Straight Seasons Of Divisional Round Knockouts However They Dropped The Conference Title To Chiefs Continuing A Trend Of Losing To The Chiefs. Buffalo Now Find Themselves Wedge Into Quasi Contender Space As The Chiefs Appear On A Down Turn However Other Team In The AFC Like Houston, Denver Maybe Even The Chargers Could Rise To Displace Both Buffalo And Kansas City Amongst The Top Of The Conference. The Bills Roster Possesses A lot Of Quality Players But Very Few Difference Makers Buffalo Needs To Go “All In” As Their Championship Window Creeps Towards A Possibly Close. Both The Offense And Defense Ranked In The Top Ten According To ESPN FPI and The Bills Could Expect A Leap From Their Young Wide Receivers But “Leaps” Don’t Count As Currency In Football. Projection On Young Players Should Come Labeled As “Volatile” and “Corruptible” As Their Bound To Still Meet Growing Pains As Their Careers Progress.
6)Kansas City Chiefs—
The Chiefs Will Still Employ The Best Quarterback In Football Next Season But Patrick Mahomes Supporting Cast Almost Across The Board Could Look Different. The Chiefs' Staple Of Wide Receivers Including A lot Of “Garage Sale” Cast Offs—Sorry D Hop—Who Could Not Add Value Or No Longer Fit With The Team Direction Their Incumbent Team Looked To Travel. Juju Smith-Schuster, Hopkins Marquise Brown All Came To Kansas City Off Of Following shortcomings with The Patriots, titans, and Cardinals Respectively But None Showed Up Spectacularly For the Chiefs. The Chiefs Need To Address Their Top Target Market. Travis Kelce Retirement Looms As He Faces A Decision Come This March and Even He Returns He’s Sure To Show He’s Lost A Step Or Two Enter Age 38 Season. The Chiefs’s Rival The Ravens has a Tight End who Might Come Available. Rookie Receiver Xavier Worthy Showed Capability But He’s Never Played The Role Of A Number One Receiver Not Even At Texas.
7)Tampa Bay Buccaneers—The Bucs Needed A Late Season Run along With A Collapse From The Falcons To Win The NFC South For The Fourth Straight Season. The Bucs Preceded To Go “One And Done” If The Playoffs Losing By Three to The Commanders In The Wildcard Round. The Bucs Trump Teams Like The Commanders And Packers Because Tampa Has A More Proven Projectable Production As A Team. Retaining Chris Godwin Will Go a long way In Keeping The Bucs In Form. Godwin Has Struggled With Injury Throughout His Career But He’s Still Young And Produced At A High Level When Healthy This Season. Time Hasn’t Caught Up To Mike Evans Yet But His Streak Of 1000 Yard Seasons Continue To Bend Closer To An End Point. Rookie Running back Bucky Irving Proved He’s One Of The Most Dynamic Threats At The Position. Todd Bowles’s Defense remains unremarkable, The Team Lacks A Difference Maker Along The Defensive Line.
8)Washington Commanders— The Commanders Shock The World Football Tour Didn’t End With Simply An 11 Win Season Or An Upset In Bid In The Wildcard Round Instead Washington Jayden Daniels Hot Hand To The NFC Championship Round. Exceeding Expectations Comes At A Price, Higher Expectations The Following Year. The Commanders Should Expect An Uptick In Strength Of Schedule Next Season Coming Off Of The Weakest Opponent Rating By NFELO and Second Lowest Win Percentage By Opponents(.436). The Commanders Need To Upgrade Their Playmaking On The Outside. Runningback Brian Robinson Will Enter A Contract Season As The Team’s Bell Cow Back But He’s Yet To Play Convincing Consistency To Hold That Role Beyond This Season and The Commander Should Look To Add Another Back To Create a Staple Of Backs Rather Than Relying On Just One Bruising In Between The Tackles Style Running Back.
9)Houston Texans—
The Texans Didn’t Make That Proverbial Leap In Year Two With CJ Stroud As The Quarterback At Quarterback And Stroud Spent Most Of The Year Treading Water And Taking Ridicule For A Perceived Regression. Where The Disconnect Happened For Stroud And The Texans Took Place Remains A Sore Point Maybe The Lack Of Development From The Receiving Group Behind Nico Collins, The Atrocious Offensive Line, and The Sometimes Less Than Stellar Run Game. At The End Of The Season, The Texans Parted Ways With Once Promising Offensive Coordinator Bobby Slowik. Amongst The 14 Playoff Teams, The Texans Had The worst offense During The Regular Season scoring Just 36.8% Of Their Drive and 1.83 points per Drive. The Offense Needs to Work in a lot Of Spots. Fixing The Offensive Line Won’t Happen Over Night, The Bengals But Houston Could Patch A Few Positions The Defense Remains Promising And Young With Both The Pass Rush And Secondary Fitted With Young And Productive Talents.
10)Green Bay Packers—Matt Lafleur’s Packer Have A Very Young And Pliable Offensive Skill Position Players With A Variety Of Wide Receivers and Tight Ends Who Compliment Each Other Well In Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks, Romeo Doubs And Tight Ends Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave. Jordan Love Didn’t Take The Leap Last Year With His Passing Numbers Dropping From A Year Ago And His Passer Rating Still Below 100. With A Steadier Running Game With Josh Jacobs The Packers Didn’t Rely On Love’s Arm But The Offensive Line Protected The Pass Far Greater Than They Pave Lanes For Jacobs As A Rusher. Jacobs Produced One Of The Best Seasons Of His Career For His First Rushing in Green Bay But The Packers Will Live Or Die on Love Starting To Rise As A Passer. Defensively The Packers passed strong Against The Pass With a Sub 90 Passer Rating and Registered 17 interceptions The Pass Rush Generated 45 Sacks but Not One Pass Rusher eclipsed better Than Eight Sacks Instead The Packers Worked Almost Like A Swarm And while this Meant Some Decent Sack Numbers Consistently Getting after Quarterback Require A Massive Difference Maker Along The Pass Rush.
11)Cincinnati Bengals—
The Bengals Couldn’t Slip Into the Playoffs After A Slow Start To The Season Held Cincy Back and Some Late Collapses In Games The Team led Slowed Down The team’s Recovery. Joe Burrow led the Bengals To One Of The Best Passing Offensive Showings Of The Season as He Posted 4918 Passing Yards, a 70.6% Completion Percentage, A 6.7% CPOE and 43 Touchdowns, 0.20 EPa Per Dropback MvP Numbers Really If Not For The 9-8 Record. The Bengals’s Offensive Line Remains Irredeemable Ranking Nearly Dead Last In Run Block and Pass Block Efficiencies Despite The Bengals Investing Loads Of Cash And Draft Picks Into The Offensive Line. The Bengals Probably Won’t Spend Big On The Offensive
Line This Offseason Depending On How Much Money The Team Shells Out On Their Wide Receivers Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins. Keeping Both Seems More And More Unlikely, As Chase’s Market Could Sore Into Quarterback Status($40 Million Plus), and Higgins Could Push Into the No.1 Receiver Level (30 Million Dollar Plus). If Tee Leaves The Offense Should Look For Some Stabilizers At Running Back and Tight End. Chase Gets The Extension In His Last Year Of A Rookie Cap Figure and Tee Gets Tagged and Traded Or Just Walks Most Likely. The Defense Also Needs A Revamp and Mich As The Bengals Would Hate To Lose A Guy Like Trey Hendrickson A Defensive Player Of The Year Candidate His 20 Million Dollar Could Get Broken Into Chunks And Invested Across The Rest Of The Defense.
12)Denver Broncos—
In His Second Season Leading The Team Sean Payton led the Broncos Back To The Playoffs With A Rookie First Round Quarterback Bo Nix. Nix's draft Projection Indicated That The Former Oregon Product Would Play The “System” quarterback-type role and Nix More Than Exceeded Any Expectation Set By Anybody Outside Of Himself and The Broncos Organization In His Unconventional “Rookie” Year. I Say Unconventional Because He’s About To Turn 25 Years Old This Year Just Two Years Younger Than Jalen Hurts With Four Years Less Pro Experience. Nix Could Add More Range To His Game Or He Could Prove He’s The Player Advertise In The NFL A Lack Of Growth Indicates A Lack Of Potential. The Broncos Offensive Line Finished among the Best In The League And The Unit Should Remain Strong But Denver’s Skill Position Need An Upgrade. Wide Receiver Cortland Sutton Has Built Off Of A Series of Strong Seasons With A 1000 Yard Year But He’s the Top Option In This Offense But Not In The League, The Broncos Need A Superior Force. Running back Javonte Williams and Jahlil McLaughlin Have Serviceable Qualities But Lack Real Next-level, Spectacular Capabilities. If Denver’s 16th Rank Offense Wants To Propel Into The Top Ten And Challenge The Bills, Ravens, and Chiefs They Have To Add Weapons To Open Up The Offense Further. Behind Sutton’s 1081 Receiving Yarfs The Next Broncos Barely Passd 500 Receiving Yards. Denver’s Defense Ranked Third According To ESPN FPI Iconized By Defensive Player Of The Year Patrick Surtain The Second But The True Value Of This Defense Came Through The Pass Rush. The Broncos Completely Crushed The League With 63 Sacks And 191 Pressures Generated. Defenses In Football Haven’t Traveled From Year To Year As The Entire Top Ten Defenses Except Buffalo From 2023 Dropped Out Of The Top Ten Entirely In 2024. The Broncos Don’t Project To Lose Any Crucial Pieces Along The Defensive Line But Defense tends to Regress After Making Large Leaps Forward.
13)Minnesota Vikings—
The Finish To The Season For The Vikings Make Minnesota A Tough Team To Project. The Vikings Wrapped Up The Season With a Top Two Defense Generating 180 Total Pressures And Solid against The Pass With an 82.4 Passer Rating Allowed. The Concerns On The Vikings’ Defense Don’t Jump Off The Board But Brian Flores Relied Heavily On The Blitz Which Back Fired In The Final Game Of The Season and Against Matthew Stafford In The Playoffs Who Pick The Vikings Blitz Apart. The Vikings Defense Boost Jonathan Greenard Who Finished Top Ten In Pass Rush Win Rate. The Vikings Still Need A Transformative Force Along The Defensive Line As No Vikings Pass Rusher Outside Of Patrick Jones Saw A Double Team Rate Higher Than 40% And He Finished The season With Seven Sacks and A 50.7 Pass Rush Grade. The Vikings Have The Option To bring Back Sam Darnold And Return A Continuity To The Offense But The Move Would Cost The Vikings Most Of Their capacity and Potentially Hamper The Teams Ability To Improve Either The Offensive Or Defensive Line and The Running Back Position. Of course, Whoever Drops Back For The Vikings Will Have One Of The League’s Best Skill Position Groups In Football With Justin Jefferson Jordan Addison and Tj Hockenson Minnesota Could Rise Even Further If They Elected To Add To This Group Through The Draft. The Offense Could Use An Exhilarator and A Speed Threat Who Can Pop The Top Off Of Defenses And Open Up More Room Underneath.
14)Los Angeles Rams—
For The Second Straight Season The Rams Pulled Off The season Around Emerging From A 1-4 Record To Make The Playoffs For An NFL Second Season After Falling Three Games Or More Below .500. This Time The Rams Won The Division and A Playoff Game and Game Just One Drive Short Of Defeating The Eagles In The Divisional Round. A Few Seasons Ago The Rams “All In”, and “Fuck Those Picks” Mantra Seemed To Backfire After The Super Bowl As The Team Found Themselves Left With A Roster Dwindled Of Talent Will Little to Nothing But Day 2 And 3 Picks To Build A Roster Around An Aging Matthew Stafford, An Aging Aaron Darnold, and An Aging Cooper Kupp. The Rams Looked Destine To Sift The Bottom Of The League and Maybe Football Until They Rebuilt Instead The Rams Netted Multiple Stars and Serviceable Players With Those Picks and Surfaced Back Amongst The League’s Best Sooner Than Any Prediction Could Project But The Team Faces A New Series Of Turnovers. To End The Season The Rams Jumped Into The Top Ten Of Passing offense But Could The Rams Move On From Their Top Marks MAn In Stafford? The Rams Have Fielded Trade Rumors About Stafford From Mid Season and Official Reports Have Surfaced That His Agent Has Started To Field Interest. Cooper Kupp Also Found His Name On The Trade Market. Could The Rams Look To add A Younger Talent like Darnold or Fields If Stafford’s Moved? The Defensive Line Looked Strong All Season and Projects To Grow With Jared Verse, Braden Fiske, And Kobie Turner All Under Rookie Deals and Playing Phenomenally. The Back End Of The Defense Could Look To Develop Or Improve with Added Talent Through Free Agency.
15) San Fransisco 49ers—The Niners Had A Disappointing Follow-Up Run To Their Super Bowl Appearance Suffering Through A Disjointed And Injury-Riddled Season Before Landing At 6-11. However, You Still Have To Like The Niners’s Talent Pool and How That Pool Set Things Going Forward. The Niners Have Nearly Exhausted All Of Brock Purdy’s “Cheap Years” With Just One Year Left On His Deal. Purdy Hasn’t Reached The “Elite” Level Status Yet But You Could Argue He’s Better Than Several Highly Paid Quarterbacks—you know The Ones. While Not Expected To Reset The Quarterback Market Purdy’s Cap Hit won't Exceed A Rookie Figure Until 2026 and The Niners Could Flex His Figures Of His Contract To Give The Team Some Flexibility In The Immediate. The Emergence Of Juan Jennings Has Also Open Up Room For The Team To Trade Wide-Back Deebo Samuel And Potentially Tight End George Kittle Who
Could See An Extension In The Final Year of His Contract But The Niners Could Explore Cheaper Options Through The Draft At The Position With The Cap And Contracts ballooning With Every New Market Level Deal.
16)Los Angeles Chargers—Jim Harbaugh's First Season With The Chargers Will Go Into The Books As A Success For The Most Part. The Chargers Increased Their Win Total and Made The Playoffs Before Completely Imploding In The Wild Card Round. Justin Herbert Bounced From An Injury Plague Season The Year Before To Post His Best Quality Season, The Highest Passer Rating Of His Career, and The Lowest Interception Numbers In Football. Herbert’s Success Rate(44.4), EPA per dropback (0.16), and Yards Per Game(227.6) Indicated A Down Year On Other Levels. The Chargers Will Face A Tougher Schedule Next Season And Harbaugh’s Pedigree As A Coach Will Get Tested Further At Least With The Chargers. LA’s Offense Desperately Needs To Upgrade The Artillery Because Rookie Ladd McConkey Can’t Continue To Move Forward As The Team’s Number One Option On The Outside. Quentin Johnston Showed Flashes In Some Games Before Disappearing In Other Games And He’s Proven He’s Too Unreliable To Project As A number One Option. The Chargers Have The Cap To Invest In The Receiver Position If They Choose. The Defense Could Look Different As LA Will Move On from Long Time Pass Rusher Joey Bosa and The Team’s Other Edge Khalil Mack Enters Free Agent Comes In Off Of A Career Resurgence But He’s Surging Further Into the 30s. I’m Tempted To Drop The Chargers Lower Because A Regression Seems Inevitable But For Now Optimism Springs Free From California.
17)Miami Dolphins—
The Dolphins and Tua Bounced Back from A 2-6 Tough Start That Included Concussions and Other Injuries That Sat Tua For All But 11 To Almost Make The Playoffs Before Bailing Out After Tua Suffered Another Injury To Close The Season Without A Playoff Berth And Finishing 8-9. The Dolphins Struggled With Injuries Nearly All Season From The
defensive Line Losing Jaelen Phillips and Never Getting The Return Of Bradly Chubb From
Last Year, To Devon Achane, Jaylin Waddle. Tua Still Manage To Put Up Solid Numbers Like Completing Better Than 70% Of His Passes But The Dolphins Offense Still Came Up Short Of What A Dolphins Offense Under Mike McDaniels Has Looked Like In Recent Years. Health Remains The Dominant Factor In The Fall From Contention and Getting All Their Pieces Back Including Tyreek Hill Who Requested A Trade This Offseason Will Prove Crucial To The Recovery.
The Dolphins Will Enter The Offseason Expected To Lose Offensive Tackle Terron Armstead To Retirement and Possibly Safety Jevon Holland To Free Agency Two Positions They Can Cover In The Draft.
18) Seattle Seahawks—The Seahawks Came One Awkward Tie Breaker Scenario Away From Winning The NFC West Instead Whom “Controlled Their Destiny” In The Division Multiple times During The Season Won 10 Games But Crashed Out Of Playoff Contention In Mike McDonald’s First Season. Generally, The Seahawks Played Inconsistent. The Offense Relied Heavily On The Passing Attack As Geno Smith Finished Top Five in Passing Attempts And Passes Completed, Clipped 70.4 Completion Percentage, and Passed For 4320 Passing Yards But Played Inconsistently As A Reflection Of His 93.0 Passer Rating and A 0.075 EPA Per Play. Some People Argued That Seattle’s Offense Put Too Much Pressure On Smith By Neglecting The Run Game (33.7%, 29th in designed rush rate) But Out Of This We Got A BreakOut Season From Wide Receiver Jaxson Smith-Jigba. JSN led The Team In Both EPA Per Target and EpA Per Catch and Second In Catch Rate Over Expectations. He’s Emerge As A True Compliment and Contender To DK Metcalf At Number One Receiver. The Seahawks Have A Talented Running Back In Kenneth Walker But He’s Oft Injured And Trapped Behind A Perilous Offensive Line that Finished 21st And 28th In pass Block and Runs Block Win Rate Respectively. The Defense Fell Below Expectation Following A Strong Start To The Season The Seahawks Defense Came Around The Middle Of The Pack In Rating the Seahawks Picked 45 Sacks But Only Interior Defender Leonard Williams Hit Double Figure Numbers.
19)Atlanta Falcons--The Falcons Have Some Of The Most Enviable Offensive Talent In Football and You Should Expect Such After Investing Four Straight Top Ten Picks On That Side Of The Ball. However, Talent Correlates To Success If Structure And Scheme Haven't Settled under The Talent As Raheem Morris’s First Season At Atlanta Helm Ends With a 9-8 Record. After Kirk Cousins’s Hot Start Cools Off The Falcons “Prematurely” Install “Rookie” Micheal Penix Jr. AS the Starter To Close The Season. Penix Ends The season 1-2 With Both Losses Coming In Overtime But Completing Under 60% Of His Passes, A -5.1 CPOE, and A 48.2% success rate But I do think The Falcons Learned Anything They Didnt Know Ahead Of The Season. They Have A Lead Back In Bijan Robinson and Run The Ball Better With Penix Under Center But Overall Finished With A Negative EPA Per Rush. The Falcons Didnt Get Many Answers About Tight End Kyle Pitts Who Remains an Enigma After His Sucessful Rookie and Enters The Final Year Of His Rookie Contract With A Decision Looming. The Falcons Have A Number One In Drake London Who Also Enters Extension Territory And He’s A Top ten Contract at The Position. Atlanta’s Pass Rush Improved From The Year Before and While Making Any Movement Away From The Bottom Stands As Improvement The Falcons Generated 131 Pressures, Not The Highest Mark In the Game But A Solid Improvement But The Passing Defense Allowed A Passer Rating Over 100(100.2) And A Completion Percentage Just Shy Of 70%(69.9)Morris Entered Atlanta With A Pedigree On The Defensive End Of Football.
20)Chicago Bears—The Bears Looked Like A Playoff Team Before The Commanders' Hail Mary Sunk A Sure Fifth Win And The Commanders Season. The Bears Would Nab Their Fifth Win In Early January After Losing 10 Straight Games And Ending The Season 5-12. The Bears' Offense Swung Off The Road As The Team Lost “Identity” Under Shane Waldron. The Team Wanted To Run But failed the Talent Because D’andre Swift Doesn’t Have Three Capabilities, They could play From The Pocket Because Of Caleb Williams's Affinity For Improvisation Which Betray Williams
AT times. Williams's Passing Game Proved Unreliable And The Bears Shuffled Through Coaches As A Result Of The Team Adjusting To Williams. Bringing In Brian Johnson Means The Bears Expect Caleb Williams To Build Off Of His Rookie Stats 62.7% Completion Percentage, 3541 Passing Yards, 20 Touchdowns, And 6 Interceptions under Johnson’s Guidance. The Defense Also Fell Off After That Faithful Hail Mary, The Bears Drop From A Formidable Top Five Unit To Settling At 15 Based On ESPN’s FPi Metric. Even After Making The Move For Montez Sweat Last Season and Racking Up 40 Sacks The Defensive Front Still Needs Improvement. The Bears Have The Takent And Cap Space But These Next Two Season Could Mean Make Or Break For Williams As Johnson Didnt draft Him and If He Struggles To Adapt To Johnson’s System Or The Other Way Around Williams Could Find himself Amongst A Lengthy List Of First Round Quarterbacks Not To Receive A Second Contract With The Team That Drafted Them.
21)Arizona Cardinals—
In The Wild Wild West Of The NFC West, The Cardinals Also Held a Poll Position In The Division In The Playoff Race Before Capitulating Near the End Of The Season. The Cardinals Stands As Another Team That Never Established An Identity As An Offense And Lacked Talent On Defense. The Cardinals Possessed A Pretty Prolific Rushing Attack With The Combination Of Kyler Murray and James Connor Producing Ample Explosive Plays But Lacking Overall Efficiency. From Down To Down Consistency The Cardinal Produced A 42% Success Rate and -0.023 EPA Per Rush. Without Kyler Murray’s Exaggerated—Because Of His Explosive Scrambling Ability— 7.3 Rush Yard Figure The Cardinals Don’t Possess A Run Game As Impactful As The Eagles Or Ravens. Murray’s Found His Name In Trade Rumors Because, From Year To Year, No One Can Detail If He’s Improve As A Quarterback. He’s Certainly A Talent But He’s Registered A Passer Rating Above 100 Just Once, made The Playoffs Once, Never Thrown For More Than 25 Touchdown, and never Thrown For Over 4000 Yards But He’s Also Close To Completing 70% Of His Passes For The Season, 51.7% Success Rate This Past Season, and A Career High In QBr This Past Season. The Cardinals Expected The Passing Offense To Step Forward With The Addition Of Marvin Harrison Jr But He Played Inconsistently And The Tight End Trey McBride Proved The Lone Bright Spot. The Cardinals' Defense Made Some Strides In The Second Half Of The But Overall The Team lacks talent. First-round pick Darius Robinson Missed Eleven Games and Looks Like A "Bust" Right Out Of The Gate But Somehow The Cardinals Just Missed The Bottom Of The League In Pressures, Coming In Sixth worst in Football. The Cardinals’s Passing Defense Came Away With a 1.7 Interception Rate, Nearly A 70% Completion Rate, A 95.1 Passer Rating, and a 49.7% Dropback Success Rate. With A Defensive Head Coach In Jonathan Gannon And Some Cap Space The Cardinals could draw Some Of The League’s Top Free Agents On The Defensive Side Of The Ball But Three Years Into Kyler Murray’s Big Contract Do The Cardinals Have An Answer At The Position?
22)Indianapolis Colts—Speaking Of Not Having Answers At Quarterback The Colts Got To Watch More Of Anthony Richardson Under Center But Got Left With More Questions Than Answers About The Former Fourth Picks Ability. Shane Steichen Took Over The Colts Helmed As This Quarterback Whisperer Type Thanks To His Work With Justin Herbert And Jalen Hurts But He’s Not Had The Time To Tinker Much With Richardson’s Raw Material. In Eleven Games Richardson Completed Just 47.4% Of His Passes, generated A 61.6 Passer Rating and a 36% Success Rate. Richardson Flexed His Arm Talent and Averaged 14.4 Yards Per Completion. He's Far From A Finished Product and His Consistency As A Passer Waivers. Richardson Generated 499 Rushing Yards, Six Touchdowns, and A 58.1% Success Rate. Richardson won’t have Too Many Excuses To Buttress His Performances Because The Colts Have Some Of The Best Skill Position Players In Football With Micheal Pittman, Alec Pierce, Josh Downs and Running Back Jonathan Taylor, most Of The League Could Succeed Offensively Playing With That Group. The Colts' Defense Struggled Most Of The Season Only 36 Sacks However The Team Produced Four players who Registered 100 Tackles Or More On The Season and that’s Because Passer Completed Nearly 70% Of Their Passes Against The Colts Coverage Unit Opening The Door For Many Tackles. The Colts Still Dont Have An Elite Pass Rusher With Keith Paye Leading A Unit That Only Produced 36 With Eight Sacks.
23)Dallas Cowboys—
The Cowboys Never Really Took and Never Really Recovered Even After Dak Prescott Made The Customary Slogan Pitch Of The Season “Jump Off If You Want” After The Boys Fell To 1-2 Before Finishing 7-10. After Making Dak Prescott The Highest Paid Player In Football The Star Quarterback who Has Yet To Answer Critics Concerns Over His Playoff Success Never Got The Chance To Make Good On His Words As A Hamstring Injury derailed His Season. Injuries More Than Anything Derailed This Cowboys Season As Key Players Micah Parsons, Trevon Diggs, Demarvin Overshown, Daron Bland And Others Missed Considerable Time. Mike McCarthy’s Final Season With The Cowboys Somehow Ended With 7 Wins And Now Brian Schottenheimer Takes Over As A First-Time Coach Thrown Into The Dallas Theatre. The Media Has to Scrutinize The Hiring Of Schottenheimer And Tearing Him Limb From Limb If Even The Slightest Coaching “Gaff” Occurs. The Cowboys Lost Former Leading sack-getters Micah Parson And Demarcus Lawrence For Stretches Of The Season(Lawrence For All But Four Games) But Dallas Manage To Produce Tons Of Pressure On Defense With 180 Total Pressures and Lead The League With a 30.1 % Pressure Rate And 52 Total Sacks. Parsons Extension Talks Start This Offseason But The Cowboys Still Hold One Of The League’s Premier Pass Rusher Under Contract Until At least Next Season. The Cowboys Could Move Up And Maybe Trump Arizona, Chicago, And Indy When Healthy But How The Franchises Off-season Shakes Out Could Change Everything.
24)Jacksonville Jaguars—Doug Pederson Quietly Kept His Job Through To The End Of The Season Before The Jags Finished 4-13 And The Franchise Showed Pederson The Door. The Jags Played Pretty Atrocious Across The Board The Defense Gave Up The second-highest passer Rating To Opposing Quarterbacks and The Pass Rush Flashed In Moments Before Settling Into The Third-worst Worse Pressure Rate In Football. Former Number One Overall Pick Travon Walker Produced 10.5 Sacks a Career Best But Five Of Those Sacks Came In Two Games and He Still Hasn’t Developed Into a Consistent Threat For Opposing Quarterbacks. The Jags Offense Struggled Most Of The Year As Trevor Lawrence Continues To Dawn The “Generational” Talent Slogan Without Actually Playing Anywhere Near That Capacity. Lawrence's Season Ended With An injury In 10 Games But He Completed Just 60.6% Of His Passes, 11 Touchdowns, and An 85.2 Passer Rating. Had Lawrence Played Up To Last Season 4000 Yard Out Put That Still Featured Struggles Like An 88.5 Passer Rating He’d He’d Have A More Credible Argument As A “Franchise” Quarterback But His Regression Continues To Baffle Critics and Stifle The Jags' Hopes Of Ascension. The Lone Bright Spot For The Jags Brian Thomas’s Jr The Wide Receiver Proved He’s Their Future On The Outside.
25) Cleveland Browns—Despite The Losing Record and The Upheaval That surrounds The Franchise The Browns Still Have A lot Of Talent On The Roster. Myles Garrett Still Calls Cleveland Home(For Now) But The Cleveland Defense Still Has Talent In The Form Of Denzel Ward And The Rest Of the Brown's Secondary But They Need To Add Another Rusher. The Browns Only Picked Up Two Picks(Interceptions) But Held the Passer To a 61.9% Completion Percentage. The Cap For The Browns Leaves the Team With little Flexibility And The Sun Soon Sets On The Deshaun Watson Era. The Browns Found A Diamond In The Rough In Receiver jErry Jeudy This Last Season But Kevin Stefanski Will Need More On Offense With The Browns Looking To Get Under The Salary Cap.
26)Carolina Panthers—
In Dave Canales’s First Season As Head Coach, The Panthers Benched Former Number One Overall Bryce Young For A Portion Of The Season Only For Young To Retake The Lead And Play On Level That Didn’t Emit Promise But Competent. Young Completed 60% Of His Passes And Threw For 2403 Passing Yard And An 82.2 Passer Rating But Closed The Season With Three Games Straight With A Passer Rating Over 100, 71.0% Completion Percentage and 0.166 EpA Per Play. Now The Panthers Need To Improve The Pass Catchers Around Young. Drops, Inconsistent Route Running, And A Lack Of Dimensionality All Plagued The Panthers Offense And Kept The Panthers and Young From Putting Together A Complete Picture Of The Offense. The Panthers However Established Chubba Hubbard As The Team’s Franchise Back as Hubbard Picked Up 1195 Rushing Games In Just 15 Games. The Panthers Defense Ranked As One Of The Worse In Football Lowest Passer Rating Allowed And Not Much On the Pressure Front. Usually Bad Teams Like The Panthers Often Find Themselves At The Front Of the Line With Cap Space For Top Players But Many Good Teams Also Have Cap Space To Grab Talent away From The Bottom Teams. Carolina Needs An Infusion Of Pass Catchers Relying On The Brilliant But Aging Skills Of Adam Theilen to Help Reveal The True Nature Of Bryce Young.
27)New York Jets—Jets Fabs Had To Wait An entire season To Watch Aaron Rodgers Suit Up For Gang Green Only To Watch The Veteran Quarterback Play Little Better Than Zach Wilson. Rodgers Produce A Highlight Play Here Or There But Overall The Jets Regressed All Around Him And The Addition OF Davante Adams Did Little To Settle The Turnstile In New York. The Jets Mustered 7 Wins With Virtually No Run And A Once Vaunted Defense Rated On Name Sake More Than Play On The Field. Robert Salah Got Fired, The Jets Big Swing On Hasson Riddick Didn’t Pan Out and Now The Team Has Decision To Make With Most Likely Letting Go Of Davante Adams. The Jets Find Themselves At Another Rebuild But Not For A Lack Of Trying.
28)New York Giants—
The Teams At The Bottom Of The League Share A Host Of The Same Problems So I’ll Have To Judge These Team Based On What Talent They Possess. The Giants Need Some Kind Of Answer At Quarterback Daniel Jones Flames Out Of New York, I Never Understood The Tommy Devito Phenomena And That Looks Done Drew Lock Prove In Few Snaps To end The Season That He’s Bridge Quarterback Worthy For The Teams Next Signal Caller. Rookie Wide Receiver Malik Nabers Earned A 1000 Yard receiving season, And Excited and Frustrated Fans With His Inconsistency He missed A Couple of Games Due To Injury But He Looks The Part Of The Number One Receiver The G Sought After Since Odell Exited. The Giants Need To Flesh Out The Skill Positions Beneath Nabers as Darius Slayton(If Retained) And Wan’Dale Robinson Have Skill Sets But Don’t Pose a Threat. The Team Got Unexpected Value From Running Back Tyrone Tracy But They Need A Difference Maker Somewhere Along The Offense Outside Of Nabers. The Defense Starting With the Defensive Front Of Brian Burns, Dexter Lawrence, and Kayvon Thibodeaux Excelled Playing With Each other Picking 45 Sacks and a 21% Pressure Rate But The Secondary Generated A 103.1 Passer Rating Third worst in Football, and A Nearly 70% Completion Percentage. The Giants Have Two Strong Positional Strengths Along with A Solid Not Elite Offensive Line. New York Retained Both Head Coach Brian Daboll and GM The Team Has A Lot Address In The Secondary Through The Draft and Free Agency.
29)Las Vegas Raiders—
The Raiders Could’ve Themselves Higher On This Ranking With The Highest Ranked Defense(19th) Of This Entire Bottom Quadrant And The Best Pass Catcher In Brock Bowers(Not Malik Nabers) But The Franchise Needs A Quarterback. Even If The Team Makes The Wrong Decision At Signal Caller The Position Needs Some Kind Of Life Some Kind Of Reason To Draw Interest. A First Round Pick, A Reclamation Project, Or A Pass Prime Vet, Someone who Inspires Reason To watch. The Raider Stand As 1 Of 3 Team That Have Two 1000 Yard Pass Catchers From Last Season But The Team Needs To Add Talent To The Running Game. The Raiders Defense Surrendered A Sub 100 Passer Rating But Both Starting Safeties Will Hit Free Agency This Offseason With Marcus Epps and Trevor Mohreig.
30)Tennessee Titans—
The Titans Got The Lucky Bounce Of The Balls and Grabbed The Number One Pick Away From A lot Of Teams In Better Positions. The NFL doesn’t Use Ping Pong Balls But The Patriots Picking Up a Fourth Win Put The Titans In The Drivers’s Seat Of The 2025 Draft. Examining The Titans Reveals A Quagmire The Titans Surrendered The Second Fewest Passing Yards Per Game In Football Behind The Eagles And Their 95 Passer Rating Surrendered Represents A Solid Number But Tennessee Also Had The Second Lowest Pressure Rate In Football, The three three-highest touchdown Percentage and Deflected The Least Passes In Football. How Did Tennessee Play The Pass Good And Bad simultaneously, The Titans Had One Of The Worse Special Teams In Football Constantly Surrendering Favorable Field Position To Opposing Teams Opening The Way For Shorter Drives. The Titan's Passing Offense Didn’t Help As Quarterback Will Levis Who Entered The League With An Already Over Top Persona Thanks To His Arm Strength and His Mayonnaise Antics That Exploded Over Social Media. This Past Season Levis Earned Another Level Of Social Media Fame Thanks To His “Outrageous” and Meme Worthy Turnovers. The Titans Still Have Levis Under Contract and Will Look to Bring In Some Competition At The Position To Square Up With Levis. The Titans Have Options With The Number One Pick Whether a Pass Rush Quarterback Or A Trade Back For More Options.
31)New England Patriots—The First Man To Succeed Bill Belichick As Head Coach Of The Patriots fell 23 Seasons Short Of Matching Bill’s Tenure With The Team as Jerod Mayo Got Fired One Season Into His Stint As Patriots Head Coach After A 4-13 Season. That Fourth Win Cut Deep As The Patriots Beating The Bills To End The Season Vaulted The Team Out Of The Number One Spot In The Draft And Into Fourth. This Patriots Team Didn’t Feature Much Success This Season The Passing Defense The Patriots Dodged The 100 Passer Rating Mark But Not By Enough Of A Margin To slip By A Top Seven Worse Mark In Football. The Defense Also Had One Of The Worse Turnover Percentage, Red zone Scoring Percentages and gave Up 131 Rushing Yards Per Game. The Bright Spot Christian Gonzales Made His First All-Pro Team. The Patriots Quarterback Drake Maye Showed Some Flashes As A Passer And Completed 66% Of His Passes But He Played Inconsistently And Turned The Ball Over A Little Too Often. His 2275 Passing Yards Remains A Solid Number For Rookie In 23 Starts but He’s Got More To Unlock. The Patriots Have The Cap Space To Improve The Weapons Around Maye But New England Has A Long Ways To Go Before The team Returns To Their Place As The Free Agent Destination.
32) New Orleans Saints— Yes The Saints At The Bottom. If You Stuck Around After Week Two Of The NFL Season Then You know That After A Hot start To the Season, The Saints Fell From Their Explosive Offense And Into One Of the Worse Teams In Football. Injuries Striped The Saints’ Offense Down From Derek Carr Dropping Bombs To Chris Olave And Rashid Shaheed To Spencer Rattler And Jake Haener Struggling In A Pro Offense and Completing Passes To Marques Valdes-Scantling And Rookie AT Perry. Olave Looked Like A Star When Healthy But Concussions Sideline Him For The Second Half Of The Season and Injury remains a prominent theme In Olave’s Career. The Saints Have Another Horrendous Cap Situation To Work Through And While The Team Has Talent The Team Should Look To Blow This Thing Up And Start From Scratch. After The League Announced An Added $23 Million In Cap Increase The Saints Still Come In around $51 Million Over The Cap.
