Our picks and predictions for the 2026 NFL season
Joe Rivera, Chris Bumbaca and Adam Kaufman break down their predictions for the 2026 NFL season on the latest episode of the Sports Seriously NFL Vodcast.
NFL power rankings entering Week 1 of the 2026 season (previous rank in parentheses):
1. Los Angeles Rams (1): Can you name their No. 3 wideout? Perhaps the only apparent Achilles of this star-studded lineup is the seeming lack of quality and experience that resides directly behind the big names on the depth chart.
2. Seattle Seahawks (2): We know the reigning champs can play suffocating defense. But Wednesday night will provide early insight to the trajectory of an offense now run by rookie coordinator Brian Fleury and featuring first-round RB Jadarian Price and WR Rashid Shaheed, a mid-season acquisition in 2025. It could be a far more explosive unit.
3. Denver Broncos (3): Is a team that was arguably − inarguably? − the AFC’s best in 2025 getting enough Super Bowl love in 2026? Almost certainly not, though that might have something to do with Denver’s brutal first-half schedule, which includes the entire NFC West and two other division winners from last season.
4. Buffalo Bills (4): The feel-good vibes in Western New York are hard to ignore, even amid all the changes for what’s become a perennial AFC power … and, perhaps for the first time in more than three decades, the AFC’s preeminent force.
5. Chicago Bears (5): “I want to have the highest-scoring offense ever, which happens to be the 2013 Denver Broncos,” HC Ben Johnson told The Athletic last month. That Peyton Manning-led Denver squad scored 37.9 points per game, roughly 50% more than the 2025 Bears, before it managed eight in a humiliating Super Bowl 48 loss. Eye on the ball coach, maybe not the record book?
6. New England Patriots (11): If not for the distraction invited by 2025 Coach of the Year Mike Vrabel, you’d have to say the Pats had a very productive offseason − culminating with CB Christian Gonzalez’s now-completed extension.
7. San Francisco 49ers (7): Are there electrical substations in Melbourne? The Niners seem likely to have nearly all of their injured stars − and plenty of in-country rest − as they prepare to kick off the season in Australia. But will it all be enough against the mighty Rams, who have won four of five against San Francisco?
8. Cincinnati Bengals (8): A defense that quietly stabilized after Thanksgiving last year might now be good enough to actually win this team a few games while permitting QB Joe Burrow to routinely operate underneath center.
9. Dallas Cowboys (9): Taken the Super Bowl Kool-Aid here? Not mad at you. But LG Tyler Smith’s thumb surgery is the latest question about an offensive line that coach Brian Schottenheimer needs − and expects − dominance from if this club is to finally fulfill its always-outsized expectations.
10. Houston Texans (6): A defense that ceded more than 300 yards just six times last year might need to be even better until QB C.J. Stroud and an offense already coping with significant injuries can find its footing. But that could be a tall order given some of the high-powered attacks the Texans will face in the next two months.
11. Detroit Lions (10): If you subscribe to the theory that good teams are strong up the middle … then this one could be in trouble with C Cade Mays and starting safeties Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph all at least a month away from playing. At least the Lions can lean on RB Jahmyr Gibbs, though there’s zero safety net behind a bona fide star who’s played fewer than 60% of this offense’s snaps through the first three seasons of his career.
12. Baltimore Ravens (13): Pro Bowl DL Nnamdi Madubuike isn’t quite Aaron Donald − who is? − yet his pending return to active duty might be the most crucial personnel development of Baltimore’s offseason.
13. Kansas City Chiefs (12): While focus is justifiably trained on the Super Bowl MVP backfield of QB Patrick Mahomes and RB Kenneth Walker III, plenty should be devoted to a revamped defense − the secondary especially − that was quietly one of the league’s stingiest in K.C.’s lost 2025 campaign.
14. Jacksonville Jaguars (15): While the Jags didn’t draft Travis Hunter second overall last year thinking he’d be their WR4, if he’s able to function as their top corner, the investment into him will be worth it.
15. Los Angeles Chargers (16): A team that lost its top offensive tackles early in the 2025 season begins 2026 with an entirely new trio of starters between OTs Joe Alt and Rashawn Slater − one further altered by the season-ending injury to free agent addition Tyler Biadasz.
16. Green Bay Packers (14): Their two best players in 2025? Almost inarguably OLB Micah Parsons and RB Josh Jacobs. When will either of them be on the field in 2026? Anyone’s guess − but October could be lethal to the Pack if the duo remains absent.
17. Philadelphia Eagles (19): We know WR A.J. Brown is gone. What a new-look, Jalen Hurts-led offense − one that’s largely been under wraps publicly all summer − will look like on game day is one of the league’s more compelling mysteries entering the season.
18. Minnesota Vikings (17): Few teams ran the ball more efficiently last season (4.5 yards per attempt), yet few were less committed to the ground (24.1 rushes per game) than the Vikes. So what does new QB1 Kyler Murray mean on that front given his multi-dimensional abilities, yet proclivity to get injured?
19. New Orleans Saints (20): The engine of this playoff dark horse? How about an offensive line with three home-grown first-rounders and an expensive free-agent acquisition (G David Edwards) … unless it’s a defense that surrendered just 262 yards per game over its final eight outings last season.
20. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (22): A legitimate postseason contender, albeit in a weak division? Or a maxed-out team held together by baling wire that will further disintegrate in 2027?
21. Pittsburgh Steelers (21): Another squad facing so many questions in 2027, particularly on the offensive side, probably should think long and hard before dumping more money into this defense (read: CB Joey Porter Jr.).
22. Indianapolis Colts (29): Seemingly healthy at long last, a team that’s poured so much of its resources into QB Daniel Jones, WR Alec Pierce and CB Sauce Gardner is compelled to prove it’s closer to the version that began 2025 with an 8-2 record … not the one which lost its final seven games.
23. New York Giants (23): Amid injuries and ongoing turnover at the position, including the recent release of Darius Slayton, rookie WR Malachi Fields quietly projects as one of Big Blue’s most important players entering the opener.
24. Carolina Panthers (24): Looking for a major regression candidate? How about a division champion that finished in a three-way tie with an 8-9 record last year with six of those victories coming by exactly three points.
25. Washington Commanders (18): First-time NFL coordinators on both sides of the ball, wholesale personnel changes on defense and major questions on the offensive line after LT Laremy Tunsil tore his triceps last month? Does any team enter Week 1 with more uncertainty than this one?
26. Atlanta Falcons (25): How best to sum up the state of affairs here − aside from the QB uncertainty? None of the Falcons’ past three first-round picks (QB Michael Penix Jr. and OLBs James Pearce Jr. and Jalon Walker) will be on the field for the foreseeable future.
27. New York Jets (30): They appear to have a nice nucleus of young players awaiting a QB to lead it for the long term − which is sure to give Week 1 opponent Robert Saleh flashbacks as he prepares the Titans to face his former team.
28. Tennessee Titans (26): They’re counting on a young offense led by second-year QB Cam Ward to take a major step. They’re counting on a defense infused with expensive free agent upgrades to take a major step. And they’re counting heavily on Saleh to make it all work. Yet the preseason suggested they shouldn’t necessarily count on instant results in 2026.
29. Las Vegas Raiders (28): Rookie Fernando Mendoza will become the first quarterback drafted No. 1 overall to start a season on the bench since Baker Mayfield in 2018. Maybe the Silver and Black would think differently if Mendoza had the benefit of facing Vegas’ defense …
30. Cleveland Browns (27): Maybe the best way to get into position for a premium quarterback in the 2027 draft is to trade DE Myles Garrett … and start QB Deshaun Watson behind an offensive line that only retained one (spot) starter from 2026. Genius.
31. Arizona Cardinals (31): They could be a fun team to watch. Bummer their rookies got so beaten up in preseason and may need time to collectively get meaningful snaps, even amid a youth movement.
32. Miami Dolphins (32): How bad is a team with nearly $182 million in dead money on its salary cap? The Fins claimed seven players after the roster cutdown, which is highly indicative of how they feel about their talent quotient.
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