NFL Power Rankings - Time to take stock

In just under three months, Summer will be behind us, Fall be here, and we will be getting ready to sit and watch an almost unhealthy amount of NFL football. For now, we will keep ourselves occupied by power ranking all 32 teams in the NFL...

We were suspicious of Bryce Young before the draft last year, and so far, he’s done little to convince us we were wrong. While it’s too early to call him a bust, if he doesn’t perform this season, it’ll be difficult to turn his career around.

The Giants traded for Brian Burns and drafted Malik Nabers making their offseason one of the better ones in football. Unfortunately, they still have Daniel Jones at quarterback, who, Pro Football Focus noted, “struggled last season before tearing his ACL.”

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We like Bo Nix as a prospect, but it’s hard not to see his selection at 12 overall as a reach by Denver. As Eric Edholm writes for NFL media, “the Broncos were hamstrung, both financially and in terms of draft capital,” which forced their hand into selecting a young QB. It could work, but we’re not optimistic, especially in year one.

The Commanders hired Dan Quinn as their head coach in the offseason and added Kliff Kingsbury to run their offense. Quinn is a great defensive mind, but mostly struggled in his last head coaching role. Kingsbury is a wild card at OC, but it should at least be fun to watch.

Eric Edholm ranked the Titans at 30 which is a little low compared to some teams around them. Brian Callahan is a bold head coaching hire, but the loss of Derrick Henry will be hard to recover from. Will Levis needs to improve a lot before they hand him the keys to the franchise.

As NFL Spinzone writes, “The Pats have one of the worst offensive lines in the AFC, and their talent at receiver and tight end is sorely lacking.” Which makes us think we have them a little high, we just believe in Drake Maye as a prospect.

The Saints will have a good defense and a mediocre offense that leads them to a close-to .500 record. There’s very little to get excited about on the Saints roster, Chris Olave aside.

By a process of elimination, the Cardinals are somehow our 25th-ranked team – the addition of Marvin Harrison Jr. should help get the offense firing, while Jonathan Gannon has few excuses not to have a good defense given the investment on that side of the ball.

Brock Bowers could become an elite NFL tight end, but was he really the missing piece on this Raiders roster? PFF ranked Aidan O’Connell as the 28th QB in the NFL out of 38 qualifying players. If he doesn’t show some improvement in year two, the Raiders could find themselves in a tricky spot.

The Falcons have a better roster than this ranking suggests, but the Kirk Cousins/Michael Penix Jr. dynamic makes us feel that there’s something strange going on in Atlanta. Maybe everything calms down by September, in which case they will probably win the NFC South.

Both ESPN and NFL Media have the Bucs ranked inside the top 20, which seems too high for us. We know they won a playoff game last season, but it was against the mid-collapse Eagles, so we need to take it with a grain of salt. Baker Mayfield played well last season but will need to improve again if the Bucs want to retain their NFC South crown.

Eric Edholm for NFL Media ranks the Steelers 13th, which is giving Russell Wilson far too much credit at this stage of his career. Pittsburgh took some low-risk swings at QB this year and added talent to their offensive line, but just because the Wilson and Justin Fields acquisitions were smart, doesn’t mean they’ll be good players.

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We’re not sure it’s possible to overstate how significant the loss of Aaron Donald is going to be to the Rams. He’s probably the greatest defensive tackle of all time and was playing like it until he retired. Offensively, they will be good, but this defense could take some time to adjust.

If Anthony Richardson can stay healthy, the Colts look like one of the more exciting teams to watch in 2024. Stephen Holder for ESPN notes of Laitu Latu, “He has the potential to become an elite edge rusher with his unique traits and repertoire of moves,” which will immediately bolster their defense.

We’re excited to see Trevor Lawrence throwing to Brian Thomas Jr., but we’re not so excited to see another season of Press Taylor calling plays. The Jags have too good a roster to not be in the playoffs year after year, making this an important season for this coaching staff.

The Vikings recently locked up Justin Jefferson to a four-year, $140 million contract extension, per Adam Schefter for ESPN, making their offense look formidable on paper. J.J. McCarthy doesn’t fill us with confidence but has their ever been a better landing spot for a rookie?

We have the Jets exactly in the middle of the pack for a reason. That reason is, we have absolutely no idea what to expect so hedged our bets… Aaron Rodgers could be great in an offense filled with talent, or he could struggle, and the whole thing falls flat. Any guesses?

The Bears’ offense is loaded, which, as Eric Edholm writes, means, “new coordinator Shane Waldron will have no excuses not to be somewhere on the upper end of the league's spectrum”. It’s always difficult to project rookie QBs, but Caleb Williams should hit the ground running.

Justin Herbert will continue to be many in football media’s favorite QB, despite the lack of playoff success thus far. Jim Harbaugh may need some time to get the Chargers into the elite but don’t be surprised if they’re very good in year one.

NFL Media and ESPN have Seattle ranked in the 20s, while PFF ranks their roster strength 17th in the league. We don’t understand the dislike for a team with a vet QB, some solid wide receivers, and one of the best defensive minds in football as head coach.

The Browns could have one of the best defenses in football in 2024, and they could even win 10-12 games because of it. Unfortunately, they still have Deshaun Watson under center, who is a shadow of his former self. They won in spite of their QB play last year and may have to again.

Dallas will be competing for the NFC East crown once again, and once again we can’t see them going deep in the playoffs. Jerry Jones’ philosophy of “if it’s broke, don’t fix it” boggles our minds.

It wouldn’t be unreasonable to have the Packers higher on this list, we just want to see Jordan Love do it again before we anoint him as the next-great Green Bay QB (for the record, we think he will be.) Eric Edholm does point out for NFL Media that their left tackle situation isn’t ideal with David Bakhtiari exiting the building.

The Bills still have Josh Allen, and they still have Sean McDermott, but they did lose their top two receivers from last season, putting huge pressure on second-year TE Dalton Kincaid and rookie WR Keon Coleman. How those two handle the pressure will go a long way to deciding how their season goes.

Pete Prisco puts it succinctly for CBS Sports, “As long as Joe Burrow is back healthy, they will push to win the AFC North.” It is almost as simple as that for the Bengals. However, they will be desperate to make a run this year given some of the ongoing contract situations.

The Dolphins added very little in the offseason but lost Andrew Van Ginkel, Christian Wilkins, and Emmanuel Ogbah. Jaelen Phillips and Bradley Chubb will also presumably miss time. The Dolphins have got worse in the offseason, not better, which is worrisome.

We debated between the Eagles and Texans for this spot, but while the Texans are on the up, the Eagles have the weight of expectation on their shoulders. The pressure has never been higher on Nick Sirianni in what could be a make-or-break season for him.

Joe Mixon, Stefon Diggs, and Danielle Hunter headlined an excellent series of offseason additions for the Texans, who have sensed their Super Bowl window is open and are doing everything they can to make it count.

Eric Woodyard for ESPN writes the Lions’ additions to their secondary could be a “major upgrade”. If that rings true, it would be transformative, given how often their defense let down their high-flying offense.

CBS Sports, ESPN, and NFL Media all have the Niners at number two in recent power rankings, and we understand why, we could also see this being a down year for San Fran after another crushing Super Bowl loss. A down year for this roster could still be 11+ wins, mind.

Lamar Jackson is coming off another MVP season and will now have Derrick Henry lining up next to him in the backfield. This could be a classic thunder and lightning duo, and we really aren’t sure how opposing defenses will cope.

It’s been an offseason of distractions for the Chiefs, with multiple players making headlines for reasons outside of football. Still, when you have Patrick Mahomes, it doesn’t really matter, so we’re going to join CBS Sports, ESPN, NFL Media, and any other football-related publication by putting the Chiefs at number one. Is the three-peat coming?

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