Much like this year’s draft, the current landscape for power rankings provides a handful of very high-end teams up front and, from about team No. 15 to 30 or so, an idea that any of them could end up anywhere based on a few flips of a coin. While I think this season has the possibility of changing that—namely if some players such as Bryce Young, Drake Maye, Caleb Williams, Bo Nix and Michael Penix Jr. take a pronounced step forward and usher in a new golden age of quarterbacking that would make about half the league blessedly relevant—there’s still a long way to go and plenty of room for good old fashioned organizational incompetence to creep in.
With that in mind, we’ll try to split hairs at the bottom of the post and justify rankings that, I’m sure, will be unsatisfactory to some. Hope is a powerful drug this time of year and everyone is higher than William Shattner.
1. Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles had a difficult post–Super Bowl free agency in that they had to pay a premium for an off-ball linebacker whom they got for next to nothing a year ago, give their running back a raise and, again, replace an offensive coordinator. But it’s in these moments that Howie Roseman often shows us where the NFL is headed next. The Eagles seemingly never have their backs against the wall.
2. Buffalo Bills
Getting Ty Johnson back, adding Nick Bosa and getting aggressive in adding critical depth on the defensive line and secondary made for a strong Buffalo offseason—one that opens up multiple pathways for the team in the upcoming draft. I would count Buffalo among the most complete teams in the NFL right now.
3. Detroit Lions
The Lions prodded both the high and low ends of the cornerback market this offseason after seeing what could happen when it all breaks down at the end of the season. While I wouldn’t be surprised if Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes don’t have one more big move in the tank, this offseason was enough to hold the fort and remain a major threat in 2025.
4. Kansas City Chiefs
I’ve been quietly talking myself into free-agent guard Jaylon Moore all offseason, at least to the point where it allows the Chiefs to seriously woo me by taking North Dakota State’s Grey Zabel at the back end of the first round and end all my nonsense talk about a gap in the dynasty (it doesn’t take a lot to make me happy). In all seriousness, I think Moore could end up being one of the biggest fliers taken during free agency.
5. Baltimore Ravens
This has been a solid offseason for Baltimore. Free agency isn’t the kind of place you want to be left searching for top-end starters, but a top-end third-string wide receiver like DeAndre Hopkins and a top-end win-with backup QB like Cooper Rush are important finds.
6. Minnesota Vikings
Is it weird that I am not ready to give up on Aaron Rodgers to Minnesota just yet? I think this is still a double-digit win team with J.J. McCarthy, especially with the upgrades on the defensive and offensive interior. But I also think there is a higher ceiling and that Rodgers would be far more efficient in this offense than he was in Florham Park a year ago.
7. Green Bay Packers
It was interesting to hear Matt LaFleur talk about what the defense’s plan going into 2024 was … and what it ended up being. More chaos creation and stability in the defensive interior seems to be on the docket after Green Bay found itself either priced out or uninterested in the available options this spring. I liked the Aaron Banks signing more than most, and think he’s well-suited for Josh Jacobs and a possible change in primary running play type. Green Bay ran in the gap between the center and where Banks is playing more than all but two teams in the NFL last season.
8. Washington Commanders
Is there anything Jayden Daniels doesn’t do well? As we sift through the remnants of last season, it appears he was even sacked better than any quarterback in the NFL.
9. Los Angeles Chargers
Though losing Poona Ford will hurt more than I think we imagine at the moment, the Chargers’ continued search for physicality at all corners of the roster led to an offseason I really liked. Even players like Benjamin St-Juste, who hasn’t had many elite coverage moments but has had a lot of good pass-rushing moments, run-stopping moments and breakups where he can be more disruptive at the point of contact, could wind up being a diamond in the rough for this group.
10. Cincinnati Bengals
With the Trey Hendrickson standoff looming, Cincinnati’s offseason can still go in so many directions. I understand Hendrickson’s frustration, but the Bengals struck gold betting on his upside as a one-year wonder with the New Orleans Saints during a year when the edge rusher market dipped. I’m curious whether, after the big receiver contracts, Cincinnati is interested in trying another low-cost hit instead of getting squeezed at the bargaining table again.
11. Dallas Cowboys
I know this isn’t a popular opinion and it wasn’t necessarily something I wrote with any degree of joy. It’s important to criticize this team because of the decisions being made by ownership. However, the talent here is good enough to survive on fumes and being a No. 6 seed out of the punchless NFC isn’t exactly a tough task when one has a top-10 quarterback and an elite pass rusher along with a top-five wide receiver. This is especially true if Dallas adds another difference-maker in the draft.
12. Los Angeles Rams
This team was a few plays away from beating the Eagles in a snowy playoff game on the road. With the NFC still open for another year or so, it’s hard not to be at least intrigued to see the result of a Davante Adams–Cooper Kupp swap, which may allow Sean McVay to be less married to his previous way of life and provide Matt Stafford with openings that don’t require as much time to develop off the line.
13. Denver Broncos
Give me Omarion Hampton, Tyler Warren or Colston Loveland in Sean Payton’s offense and let the Bo Nix hype train get out of control. Payton has always thought differently when it comes to the draft, certainly as the selection of Nix shows. Now we get to see him put his stamp on the playmaker position he’s been talking about all offseason.
14. Houston Texans
Houston is going to have to replace both Stefon Diggs and Laremy Tunsil in some way this offseason—with more than just Cam Robinson and Justin Watson—but with the materialization of someone like Derek Stingley Jr. on the high end, as well as a major number of drafted contributors, the whole thing feels more like a well calculated risk than some kind of teardown. Still, in free agency I thought the team did well to scoop up some veterans who can at least hold the fort.
15. Seattle Seahawks
After seeing what the Vikings did a year ago with a handful of pieces we didn’t necessarily celebrate, I’m open to imagining Seattle pulling a similar magical makeover of its defense with the addition of a handful of veterans like DeMarcus Lawrence. While many are projecting wideout or offensive line in the draft, I wonder whether Seattle will complete a serious defensive upgrade with the addition of one of the class’s hard-to-pin-down but possibly fortuitous edge class.
16. San Francisco 49ers
I wouldn’t downplay the addition of Demarcus Robinson in San Francisco. I know some folks in Los Angeles who loved him and thought he was one of their most underrated players over the past few seasons. Like McVay, Kyle Shanahan is retooling the wide receiver room stylistically and I’m curious to see where it’s headed. With another power blocking tight end in the mix via the Luke Farrell signing—the 49ers did not cheap out here, especially for TE2 money—I think we may be seeing a critical evolution of this offense on the horizon.
17. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Buccaneers signed a handful of one-year deals this offseason for new arrivals but are forecasting where—I think—they’ll attack the draft as well. Edge pressure can go from a relative weakness to a strength, especially if the low-risk signing of Haason Reddick materializes like I imagine it could. I see no reason to move off the Buccaneers as division champions yet again in 2025.
18. Chicago Bears
With the offensive line makeover complete, now the attention turns to Ben Johnson, who is sitting in a comfortable seat at pick No. 10, where a majority of the draft’s offensive playmakers will fall directly into his lap. With Chicago having spent a lot of draft capital and in free agency during the Matt Eberflus era, Johnson is taking a red pen to the offense and has a chance to cement his vision in a few weeks.
19. Las Vegas Raiders
I think Las Vegas is positioned to be one of my leading worst-to-first candidates (a yearly feature where I project which bottom dwelling teams will contend for playoff spots). Injecting Pete Carroll, Geno Smith and Chip Kelly into the division will have some pretty fascinating consequences for Chiefs, Broncos and Chargers teams used to running over Las Vegas.
20. Pittsburgh Steelers
This might feel harsh for a team that we reliably know is going to win nine games next season, but Pittsburgh does not have Aaron Rodgers yet. And without Rodgers they’ll find themselves in a throwdown for the services of Kirk Cousins. And without Cousins they’d have … Shedeur Sanders to pair with Mason Rudolph? While Rodgers to Pittsburgh is likely, it’s impossible to know what the 41-year-old quarterback is truly thinking. And Pittsburgh putting itself in that position is worthy of a slap on the wrist.
21. New England Patriots
Going from the worst offensive line in the NFL to having at least one pretty reliable side of the offensive line, the Patriots filled massive needs and spent lavishly, but on either dependable or high-upside prospects like Milton Williams. Harold Landry III and Williams will help New England fortify a middling run defense from a year ago, and Drake Maye will have at least a little bit of breathing room, allowing him time and space to develop.
22. Atlanta Falcons
Many will say that this season hinges on what kind of step forward Michael Penix Jr. can make. I am taking another route: This season hinges on GM Terry Fontenot, who must supply Raheem Morris with defensive pieces to turn Atlanta from a middling defense into one that finds its teeth under new coordinator Jeff Ulbrich.
23. Jacksonville Jaguars
It was a big offseason of change but I think this was the most significant nugget: The Jaguars identified a source of Trevor Lawrence’s discomfort which previously allowed him to step up in the pocket as confidently. Erasing that via free agency and continuing to buttress the interior of the offensive line could finally turn this team into the kind of perennial contender we imagine them capable of being.
24. Arizona Cardinals
Let’s see this Cardinals team bolster its defensive interior via the draft and complete an offseason that at least makes me think Arizona could make a surprise run at the NFC West. I’m not putting anyone there on the chopping block even though it is Jonathan Gannon’s third season. He’s improved each of his first two years but now needs to create a team that is Kyler Murray–proof and relevant when the run game gets shut down and pulls the plug on the rest of the offense.
25. Miami Dolphins
The retirement of Terron Armstead doesn’t leave the Dolphins flatfooted, as the team was operating under the assumption that he wouldn’t come back. But it does place another spotlight on the drafting ability of GM Chris Grier, who comes into a pivotal season with the following as his draft legacy at the game’s second-most important position (the offensive line):
Laremy Tunsil (now on the Commanders), Isaac Asiata (no longer in the NFL), Michael Deiter (now on the Commanders), Austin Jackson, Robert Hunt (now on the Panthers), Solomon Kindley (no longer in the NFL), Liam Eichenberg, Larnel Coleman (no longer in the NFL), Ryan Hayes and Patrick Paul.
26. New York Jets
I thought Aaron Glenn had the line of the offseason, suggesting that the Jets are now moving in silence. While he has the benefit of doing this, as Woody Johnson is no longer intent on steamrolling the coaching staff and turning the roster into the NFL version of Damn Yankees (aka a bad supergroup), it’s a wise move to take the opportunity and run with it. The rebrand has offered the Jets a chance to come out of this draft with another top offensive tackle prospect and a line that can make Justin Fields effective regardless of where he is in his development.
27. Indianapolis Colts
To me, splitting reps between Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson is either the rocket fuel on Richardson’s career or the ejector seat, guaranteeing him a first-class ticket to another QB guru who would try to develop the former first-round pick. All along, Indianapolis’s message has been that Richardson needs repetitions. Pulling those back forces him to treat the precious few he does get like they are critical—something he may not have been doing prior.
28. New York Giants
Count me marginally in on the Giants this year, though my question is an open-ended one: How many wins would this team have to log with Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston to sell the fan base on status quo at the head coach position? It’s an honest question and one that should be treated with some nuance, especially with a potentially more robust QB class incoming in 2026 (and Brian Daboll’s work in developing a we-don’t-remember-how-raw Josh Allen being a major draw to New York in the first place).
29. Carolina Panthers
In looking at some recent NFL futures odds, I saw Bryce Young’s touchdown over/under at 18.5 for the coming season. And, what a difference a few weeks makes, where we’ve collectively gone from believing that Mike McDaniel should rescue him from the jaws of David Tepper, to remaining in awe of what Dave Canales and Brad Idzik have achieved against all odds in Carolina and believing that this number is not only attainable but low. This, without any non-organic, splash improvements to the receiving corps.
30. New Orleans Saints
In going over the coaching carousel recently, Kellen Moore’s decision to leave Philadelphia and take a job with the embattled Saints remains one of the biggest curiosities. The Saints were active enough in free agency to dispel the notion that the team is immediately doomed from a cap perspective, but I am wondering whether the appointment of Moore came with carte blanche to draft his own quarterback and that the freedom there was part of the attraction. New Orleans, it would seem, is not only the betting favorite to land Shedeur Sanders but at an interesting crossroad in this year’s draft where the talent cutoff begins (meaning that the Saints, at No. 9, could get a player just as good at No. 40 with their second-round pick). Do they, like the Falcons, view this as an opportune time to eschew a player they are not in love with to secure QB1 of the future?
31. Cleveland Browns
If Cleveland’s plan is to draft Abdul Cater, pair him with Myles Garrett and trade for Kirk Cousins, pairing Cousins with Kevin Stefanski, I would put the Browns up for nomination as having one of the best offseasons in totality. While I’m admittedly bullish on Cousins, I think he immediately turns the Browns into a nine- or 10-win team which, in the AFC North, could be enough to survive a muddy division. While I imagine the analytically inclined Browns are interested in a two-way player (Travis Hunter), Carter provides a similar boon in that he elevates Garrett and changes the scope of the defense.
32. Tennessee Titans
It’s a difficult position to be in, punishing the Steelers for not yet having Rodgers but praising the Titans for—we believe—having Cam Ward sooner rather than later. My response is that Ward is in Tennessee’s control while Rodgers remains an enigma. Right now, Will Levis is the only capable starter on the roster but the Titans are deliberately falling in love with Ward and behaving in a way that would lead us to believe they’re zeroing in on a rookie starter in 2025. Because there was no offseason tailwind that came with a coaching change and free agency was a little bit of a breathe-in-the-paper-bag experience in Nashville after spending top dollar on Dan Moore, the Titans could use a bit of genuine excitement.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as NFL Post-Free Agency Power Rankings: Bills Challenge Eagles for Most Complete Team.
