The first 2020 NFL Power Rankings.
It is hard to believe that we are here, the first NFL Power Rankings of the 2020 NFL season.
Tonight there is an actual NFL game with real stakes and real implications, and aside from most stadiums being empty for a few weeks, this should look and feel almost identical to a regular NFL season.
That isn’t to say that there won’t be some bumps along the way, I mean the NFL has a huge turnover rate and the league simultaneously adapted a limited offseason and no preseason games.
This is going to be a tough transition to any team that needed to add players in free agency this year and don’t even start talking about rookies.
With that in mind, let’s go through these power rankings and see the best and worst that the NFL is going to have to offer this season.
32. Jacksonville Jaguars
-At this point, people are trying to find a win on the schedule for the Jaguars and it really doesn’t help when you try to make the case for a team that is casting off their best players as quickly as possible.
Sorry Trevor Lawrence, you deserved better.
31. New York Jets
-From a team that is trying to tank, to a team that can’t seem to help it, the New York Jets may be the NFL franchise who is in the worst situation when everything is said and done.
The hopes are that Mekhi Becton can make the leap from Louisville to the NFL and anchor the left side of the line, but other than that the Jets have very little at the premium positions. Quarterback, cornerback, EDGE, and offensive tackle all have to be addressed after the season and in all likelihood, head coach will be on that list as well.
30. Carolina Panthers
-The Carolina Panthers are stuck between a rebuild and trying to compete, but I’m honestly not sold on them at all. The offensive line is a mess, and they are trusting Teddy Bridgewater to be their quarterback this season, but it has been years since he was viewed as a starter and he was only “alright” last year in a very QB friendly New Orleans offense.
Defensively they have invested a lot, but I don’t know if they really have any playmakers past the first level of that defense that I would be afraid of.
29. New York Giants
-Daniel Jones hasn’t done anything to earn a reputation as an average or better starter in the NFL, but the Giants have done a great job putting him in a position to succeed.
Golden Tate, Darius Slayton, Sterling Shepard, Evan Engram, and Saquon Barkley is an outstanding group of weapons and the offensive line should be better this year even without Nate Solder who opted out for the season.
The big problem is that I think the Giants defense has three players who would start on teams around the NFL, but other than that it looks like a nightmare.
28. Miami Dolphins
-I have an irrational love for the volatility that Ryan Fitzpatrick brings to a football team. It is like watching an amateur stuntman jumping out of windows onto a crash pad, and every time he jumps you hold your breath because every now and then he misses the mark completely.
That is a long way to say that I don’t think the Dolphins will be good, but I do think they will be very interesting and well-coached. Their ceiling is capped until Tua Tagovailoa can get on the field, but think they are night and day different from the team with no hope last year.
27. Washington
-Let’s completely ignore the offense for today and focus on what might be the best defensive line in the NFL by the end of the season. Ryan Kerrigan is going to be a Hall of Famer or a Hall of Fame snub who was held back by a lack of team success and he needs to be mentioned all by himself here.
After that you have the person that is being hyped up to be the third Bosa brother in Chase Young, flanked by three first round picks in Da’ron Payne, Jonathan Allen and Montez Sweat.
That unit alone should keep Washington’s head above water until they can make some more big moves in the offseason.
26. Cincinnati Bengals
-Everything in my body says that the Bengals should be higher than this, except for this insane offseason/preseason. The talent is there on both sides of the ball at every premium position other than offensive tackle, and even that spot might be alright if Jonah Williams is 100% healthy and ready to go.
This could be the team that makes the biggest jump in these rankings between now and the end of the year.
25. Las Vegas Raiders
-Jon Gruden has the talent on this team to be good, but not great. The receiving talent is sneakily good, and if he would just let Josh Jacobs be a part of that passing game, they could be even better. However, the quarterback position is a real concern (obviously) and I also have very little confidence in that defense outside of Maxx Crosby.
With a solid offensive line and talent outside, I think the offense ultimately lands somewhere between average and above average, but that is going to be the strength of that team and I don’t think that is enough to drag them much higher than 6-10.
24. Atlanta Falcons
-This is such a frustrating team, why won’t you just be good at football again Falcons! On paper, you have a top-10 offense in the NFL and the only thing holding you back from being higher than that is the lack of a counter punch to Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley.
Defensively, there has to be a way to get Grady Jarrett, Dante Fowler, Takk McKinley, and Marlon Davidson on the field together in an effective way and Dan Quinn should be spending all night making sure that he finds the perfect way to use them together. There is no reason this team should be in the bottom half of these rankings based on their talent.
23. Chicago Bears
-Why am I so high on the Bears? Everyone thinks they are going to be a bottom-5 team this year with whatever is going to shake out in their quarterback room, so why are they almost out of the bottom-10?
If I had to pick some reasons, I would say that I really like that defense and I am optimistic that Allen Robinson, Anthony Miller and some tight ends might be able to make that offense work a little bit better? The more I talk the more I regret this, but that is an update for next week.
22. Detroit Lions
-The Lions are an easy team to bounce back and forth on in these rankings. On one hand, offense rules the NFL and Matt Stafford, Kenny Golladay, Marvin Jones, Danny Amendola, T.J. Hockenson, and a trio of nice running backs are a great way to start an argument on why they should be higher.
However, the defense looks like someone copying Bill Belichick’s answers to a test but then realizing that they have a different version of the exam. They bring former Patriots over and they just don’t work out as well, and they are making a huge transition in their secondary, so they are going to have to win some shootouts.
21. L.A. Chargers
-Everyone is WAY too high on a team that has a quarterback competition between Tyrod Taylor and Justin Herbert and who still has one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL. Without Derwin James, the middle of that defense loses some of its luster and the back end is going to have to be carried by two 31-year-old cornerbacks. No one seems to bring up any of these points in their rankings, so I will.
20. Denver Broncos
-The Broncos have lose Chris Harris, Derek Wolfe, Todd Davis, and now Von Miller, and they are also not sure that Bradley Chubb is 100% healthy to start the season. That is a nightmare scenario when you have to play the Chiefs twice a year and you have to start against a Tennessee Titans offense that was the most efficient team in the NFL last year.
Their skill position players and upside at quarterback earn them a top-20 spot on the opening power rankings, but we are about to learn a lot about how much Drew Lock can carry a team.
19. Arizona Cardinals
-Should the Cardinals be higher? I don’t know that Kliff Kingsbury and Kyler Murray are going to be quite as effective in year two because now the league has had plenty of time to adapt to what they want to do on offense. Then again, how can you fade an offense that added Deandre Hopkins?
Defensively, I really like Chandler Jones and Patrick Peterson, but Father Time waits for no man and we are getting to the point where that might start to play a factor on that unit.
18. New England Patriots
-A healthy Cam Newton is a bad, bad man, but I haven’t seen him since he lost to the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl. Expecting Bill Belichick to revive him is a huge leap of faith, but never say never with this team.
You know the story on the Patriots and this is a team that is going to be led by the defense despite an entire offseason talking about the quarterback.
17. L.A. Rams
-Can Sean McVay adapt to Jared Goff being bad at football? He has done it before, so I tend to think that he can and now that the Rams don’t have to give touches to Todd Gurley they might be a better offense.
I think the season will be decided by whether or not that offense can put pressure on opponents and make them pass. If the Rams can get on top of teams and let Aaron Donald make life miserable for opposing quarterbacks while Jalen Ramsey capitalizes on that chaos, then this team could be a playoff team.
In fact, if they can get that done they have a good chance recreating their Super Bowl run because that was essentially the blueprint that season.
16. Indianapolis Colts
-Are the Colts good? No, right?
I mean, sure they have some great players like Quenton Nelson, Darius Leonard and Deforest Buckner, but I just keep finding myself asking, “So?” How often do guards and inside linebackers really change games and drive teams to win divisions?
These power rankings are based a lot around how good teams are at the most important places like head coach, quarterback, offensive tackle, EDGE, and cornerback. Well, they get good grades at head coach, but:
-The quarterback is learning a new system and coming off of his worst season.
-Their left tackle thought about retiring well into the offseason.
-Justin Houston is carrying the water for their EDGEs and he isn’t getting any younger.
-Cornerback is a mess other than Kenny Moore and he was banged up in training camp.
That isn’t a recipe for success, so how good can the elite players and position with little value really help? We are going to find out I guess.
15. Green Bay Packers
-Aaron Rodgers has to be furious as the Packers go into another season with just one weapon in the passing game. Still, they are high on these power rankings because they have talent at the premium positions.
The biggest concern has to be Matt LaFleur and his clear love for a strong running game over a strong passing game, and that conflict has to come to a head eventually. However, until then the pass rush is just too good to make me worry about the defense and Aaron Rodgers has shown he will do everything he can to pull this offense out of mediocrity despite the front office’s best efforts.
14. Houston Texans
-The Texans are so interesting because they could be great. Honestly, there is an idea floating around that a new OC combined with no WR1 for the defense to focus on, could allow Deshaun Watson to make a presnap read and trust it instead of trying to take as many risks.
However, there is another scenario where Watson has lost his security blanket and now he will have no one to throw it to when he is panicking in the backfield. Then that leads to more sacks, more hits, a much worse offense, and more pressure on a bad defense.
I tend to think that the second option is the most likely, but Watson has earned the benefit of the doubt even if Bill O’Brien hasn’t.
13. Cleveland Browns
-How can I put a team that has so many weapons on both sides of the ball, any lower than this in these power rankings? It seems like the Browns did exactly what they were supposed to this offseason by bolstering the offensive tackle position and now it is all on Baker Mayfield to thrive.
The linebackers on the team aren’t anything to be excited about and neither are the safeties, but those positions don’t make a defense. What makes a defense is EDGE and CB, and they have plenty of talent there.
Now, can they beat the Steelers and Ravens? That is where the question gets tougher.
12. Buffalo Bills
-Josh Allen isn’t great, but he is a dual-threat player who has home-run threats on offense that can score at any time. As much as I don’t like the idea of a Josh Allen-led team being this high, they have done everything they could to make sure that they limit the damage that he could do to them.
Defensively, the BIlls are going to be a great unit again from coaching to players and as boring as they may be, it is going to be brutal trying to beat this team without star players on offense that you can get the ball to.
11. Minnesota Vikings
-One day, we will get to see Yannick Ngakoue and Danielle Hunter on the field at the same time and there will be visible tears in the eyes of the offensive coordinator who has to try to call plays against that. Even without Hunter for a little while, the Vikings are going to be a team defined by the run game and an explosive defense.
Kirk Cousins is a top-12 QB in the NFL and even if he is just Alex Smith in purple, that should be enough to take advantage of defenses focused on stopping Dalvin Cook. They are a very good team, but the question is still, how far can they go?
10. Seattle Seahawks
-Russell Wilson is a great quarterback and that alone should drive the Seahawks to the top-10 in most power rankings. The combination of D.K. Metcalf in year 2 and Tyler Lockett, could be very scary in 2020, but the excitement for the offense stops there.
Defensively the Seahawks invested in trying to fix their EDGE problem this offseason and also added Jamal Adams who should help with their pass rush as well.
Still, if they are going to rise higher in these power rankings they are going to have to give Wilson more freedom or some other players have to emerge as game-changers. Otherwise, they are going to be a team dragged to the playoffs by their quarterback only to lose in the first round.
9. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
-The Bucs are going to start the season strong, but I would assume that a reckoning is coming in about a month and a half. Mike Evans is already dealing with hamstring injuries again in camp and this team needs every possible weapon if they are going to drag what is left of Tom Brady to a record above .500.
Defensively they are loaded with talent in the front-seven and they are going to be a difficult team to run the ball against. I think we need to spend more time talking about how they are going to struggle with their defensive backs, but if the Bucs can force people into 3rd and long’s, then the Bucs can pin their ears back and help lighten the load on those DBs with a good pass rush.
8. Philadelphia Eagles
-I may have the Eagles higher in my power rankings than most, but that is because I think we are forgetting how many games they get this season where they don’t even need to be good to win. Washington and the New York Giants aren’t going to put up much of a struggle, and they also get to play the Bengals.
The talent on that roster is good enough to win those games on autopilot now that they finally have some receiving talent, and stop me if you have heard this before but they are going to be great in the trenches again this season. I don’t think they will be flashy, but I think they have the right coaching staff, quarterback, and defense to win 10 games in the NFL this season.
7. Pittsburgh Steelers
-The defense was great last year, but that doesn’t always translate year to year. However, the Steelers end up 7th in the power rankings because even a minor upgrade at quarterback should push them into the playoffs this season.
With all these pieces on defense to be above average at worst, they just need someone back there who can get the ball to guys like James Washington and Juju Smith-Schuster and put pressure on the opposing offense to score more than 14 points to win a game.
I don’t know if I love the upside of the Steelers, but I love their floor and they are going to be hard to push down these power rankings unless the defense is disappointing.
6. Dallas Cowboys
-The Cowboys have shifted from a team dominated by the “feed Zeke” mentality to a team that now can force defenses to treat him as an afterthought. With two 1,000 yard receivers in Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup, CeeDee Lamb is in a prime position to be a guy who thrives on the disrespect that rookie wide receivers get.
This may feel like a high spot in the power rankings at first glance, but don’t sleep on them to end up as the NFC’s highest rated team in these power rankings if they can find a way to use their weapons correctly.
5. Tennessee Titans
-The Tennessee Titans made it to the AFC Championship Game last year despite:
-A historically bad season from kickers.
-Taylor Lewan being suspended for 4 games.
-Malcolm Butler, Cameron Wake, Adoree Jackson, and Jayon Brown all missing multiple games or going on I.R.
-Derrick Henry having a hamstring injury and missing a game.
-Starting Marcus Mariota over Ryan Tannehill for 6 games.
And people have the nerve to talk about them like they are guaranteed to regress in 2020? The Tennessee Titans deserve the 5th spot in these power rankings and people need to understand how much closer they are to the Chiefs and Ravens than they are to the Colts and Texans.
These power rankings weigh QB, EDGE, CB, OT, and head coach heavily and last year the Titans had the most efficient QB, they added Jadeveon Clowney, they have one of the best trio of CBs in the NFL, have Taylor Lewan, and Mike Vrabel seems to be one of the most relatable coaches in the NFL.
That is why they are here, and they are going to have to lose to move down in these power rankings because we didn’t even talk about the upside of A.J. Brown, Jonnu Smith, Rashaan Evans, Harold Landry, Jeffery Simmons, and the list goes on.
4. San Francisco 49ers
-It is time to go with the power rankings consensus here with these next four. It isn’t very exciting, but how can you argue with any of these teams.
The 49ers have the best defensive line of this elite tier, but that just isn’t enough to get them any higher when you look at the collective talents of each group. Still, that doesn’t mean that the 49ers aren’t poised for a repeat trip to the Super Bowl.
With elite pass-rushing talent and great coaches on both sides of the ball, this team will go as far as Jimmy G can take them and maybe that is further than we think considering he was just a few plays away from a ring last year.
3. New Orleans Saints
-The 49ers dominated the defensive line conversation, but the Saints dominated the offensive line conversation as well as this tier’s best QB/WR tandem.
The offense is set up by good scheme and good QB play, but don’t underestimate the weapons that they have on that roster in Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara, both of which are threats to take over any game they want.
On top of all that talent, there is a desperation to this team that became clear when they tried to sign Jadeveon Clowney by hook or by crook. Nothing is scarier than an animal backed into a corner and the Saints know that they are watching their championship window close in front of them.
That makes them very dangerous.
2. Baltimore Ravens
-Lamar Jackson was a cheat code last year until the Tennessee Titans decided to take the game out of the console and snap it in half. After getting better this offseason it is hard to knock them down at all, but full discloser they were never close to getting the top spot in these power rankings.
2019 Lamar Jackson is by far the most dangerous player in the NFL with the ball in his hands, and that is why he was the MVP of the league. However, for all the talk about Tannehill being the AFC quarterback to regress, we need to take a long hard look at just how sustainable Jackson’s season was.
1. Kansas City Chiefs
-And the first power rankings crown of the season goes to the Kansas City Chiefs and that should be no surprise at all.
What can you say about the Chiefs that hasn’t already been said? They have the best quarterback in the NFL and they have a team full of electric weapons like Tyreek Hill, Mecole Hardman, Clyde Edward-Helaire, and Travis Kelce.
Defensively they have splash players like Chirs Jones and Tyrann Mathieu, but no one really even knows that because you only spend your time doing two things when you watch the Chiefs play football. Either you are watching Mahomes set the new standard for elite quarterback play in the NFL, or you are wishing that the defense would hurry up and get off the field so that you could watch Mahomes again.