NFL Power Rankings: Preseason edition

With preseason football in full swing and training camps drawing towards their conclusions, we thought it would be a good time to take a look where every team in the league stacks up.

The Panthers could turn things around if Dave Canales is as good as advertised. Even if he is the next Sean McVay, Carolina may still struggle if Bryce Young doesn’t drastically improve.

There are a few teams in the mix for this spot, the Pats, the Giants, and the Titans all have good claims to it, but the Commanders have dug a deep hole of mediocrity (at best) in recent years, and it can be difficult to climb out of those. It’s also a preference-based ranking, as we preferred Drake Maye to Jayden Daniels in the draft.

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The Pats are reportedly looking to start Jacoby Brissett early in the 2024 season, per Bleacher Report, with Drake Maye expected to take over at some point during the season. They understand they’re in a rebuilding phase and are operating like it.

As Jeremy Cluff writes for Arizona Central, “The Giants appear to be sticking with Daniel Jones at QB. We could discover fast if that is the right decision.” There isn’t too much else to say.

We like the hiring of Brian Callahan in Nashville, but there are so many issues that need resolving. Finding out if Will Levis is a long-term option at quarterback being the most pressing one.

The Athletic has the Broncos naked 31 in their recent power rankings, so perhaps we’ve overestimated them. We just feel a Sean Payton-coached team has a floor higher than others on this list, even last year an 8-9 finish wasn’t terrible in the context.

Gardner Minshew or Aidan O’Connell: those are the realistic starting QB options in Vegas in 2024. Neither have looked terrible during their time in the league, but can we expect them to lead a team to the playoffs? Not really.

As Bleacher Report writes, “Could the Saints win an NFC South that may be the worst division in the league? Yes. Are they good enough to make any sort of noise in the postseason? Probably not.” Honestly, we couldn’t have put it better ourselves.

We thought long and hard about where to put the Cardinals, and ultimately ended up putting them several spots lower than we anticipated. A full season of Kyler Murray could see them competing for a wildcard spot.

We have, admittedly, been influenced by other publications with this ranking, as we would ideally have the Vikings a few spots higher. Any team with Justin Jefferson should be looking to finish around .500 at least, and Kevin O’Connell has shown he can get his players playing for him over the past two seasons.

Maybe we are overestimating Mike Macdonald’s impact in Seattle, as we could see the Seahawks being a surprise playoff team. 

The Bears have loaded up of offense over the past two seasons and now have found what looks to be their franchise QB. If Williams hits the ground running, and everyone else plays to their talent level, this could be a fun team to watch in 2024.

The Jags went from leading the AFC to missing the playoffs last season, leading Doug Pederson to say, “We have to have that confidence and that swagger that you're going to get the job done on game day.” Two attributes the Jaguars have never had in abundance.

We are by no means Colts fans, but we desperately want the Colts’ selection of Anthony Richardson to work out, as they will become the most exciting team in football almost overnight. Stay healthy out there, Anthony.

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With Jim Harbaugh at the helm, the Chargers can expect a high floor in year one, as the former Michigan coach will presumably get his team playing fundamentally sound football from day one. There is a way to go before they are back competing in the AFC, but they will be back at some point.

As Jeremy Fowler wrote for ESPN, “Cousins might have flirted with the MVP had he stayed healthy for 17 games [in 2024]. He was pacing for 5,000 yards and 38 touchdowns before going down midseason with an Achilles tear.” The Falcons should have a good offense this season and could well push for the playoffs.

We are sticking with our policy of putting the Jets in the middle of the pack, as we have no idea what they are going to do in 2024. They could go 15-2 or 2-15 with midseason firings aplenty. Aaron Rodgers could be the MVP or a VP candidate, there’s just too much variance to have any confidence at this stage.

The Bucs and Falcons will rival each other in the NFC South, with 10 wins possibly being enough to secure the division. The Bucs were better than expected last year, with Baker Mayfield playing some good football, there is a chance they regress, with little expectations of making it further than the divisional round.

The Steelers, predictably, have an over/under of 8.5 wins in 2024, per RealGM. That’s the team they have become in the past few seasons, a hard-nosed, battling roster that won’t win, or lose, too many games but isn’t challenging for a Super Bowl.

The Browns look like a real contender in the AFC on paper, until you remember Deshaun Watson is still their QB. Watson’s days of being thought of amongst the best QBs in the league look to be done, and that lowers the ceiling on an otherwise exceptional roster.

The Rams shocked many in 2023, including us, winning 10 games and making the playoffs. They lost Aaron Donald to retirement in the offseason, which will be nearly impossible to replace. Offensively, they will be amongst the hardest teams to stop in the league, however.

As Bleacher Report writes, the Cowboys were reportedly “all in” on the 2024 offseason, instead, “The Cowboys essentially did nothing. They were whisper-quiet in free agency, with the biggest signing being the return of Ezekiel Elliott as a replacement for the departed Tony Pollard.” Ceedee Lamb and Dak Prescott remain unsigned to extensions, too.

Can the Dolphins beat the best teams in the league? It’s a question they will have to answer in 2024 as so far the answer has been a resounding “no”. Is there a more fun team to watch in football? Probably not, but that only gets you so far.

It will only take a win or two for the Eagles to catapult back into the top five on this list, but enough questions are remaining that we will be cautious for now. Is Nick Sirianni good? Does Jalen Hurts like Sirianni? Can they effectively replace Jason Kelce? Etc, etc.

Carmen Vitali of Fox Sports recently wrote, “The last 10 games of the season, he [Jordan Love] threw for 18 touchdowns against just one interception.” Those are MVP numbers.

There is no reason to doubt the Texans ahead of the 2024 season, as they have loaded up by trading for Stefon Diggs and signing Danielle Hunter and Joe Mixon to add established talent to a roster full of up-and-comers.

This could be a make-or-break year in Cincinnati, with multiple star players possibly on the move in the offseason. If they start badly, this could fall apart quickly, and we could see the Bengals slip into the teens on our rankings.

Per FTNFantasy, the Bills finished third in total DVOA in 2023, despite what many thought was a down year, Buffalo was still amongst the best teams in football. For us, we have them in our top five mostly down to Josh Allen’s ability to win games almost by himself, which, given the weapons around him this season, he may need to.

The Lions will be looking to go one better than their 2023 season and make the Super Bowl for the first time in history. Their team is stacked, their coaches are great, and the vibes are high, we don’t see any reason why they won’t be amongst the best teams in the league.

We only have the Niner at three, as it is incredibly rare for losing Super Bowl teams to return to the big game. Talent and coaching-wise, there is no reason why San Francisco can’t be amongst the best teams in the league again, it’s just really difficult to get to Super Bowls consistently.

Even as we write this, we get the feeling we may be underestimating the loss of Mike Macdonald on the Ravens’ D. Talent-wise, they are a good but not great group, even with Kyle Hamilton patrolling basically the entire field by himself with Macdonald’s coaching taking them to new heights in 2023.

Yes, we know we just wrote about how difficult it is to consistently reach Super Bowls, but the Chiefs are an anomaly and will continue to be so until Patrick Mahomes calls it quits. Expect to see the Chiefs at number throughout the season unless there is an injury epidemic.

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