It's no secret that turnarounds in the NFL happen quickly and the field of playoff teams often looks almost nothing like the previous year's. So with the knowledge that there are at least a handful of new playoff teams every year, Colin Cowherd is picking five that he thinks will be new to the postseason this January.
On Tuesday's edition of The Herd, Cowherd and John Middlekauff each gave their picks for five new playoff teams for the coming year. Middlekauff picked the Kansas City Chiefs, New Orleans Saints, Dallas Cowboys, Cincinnati Bengals and Indianapolis Colts to get through.
Cowherd went in a slightly different direction. While he joined Middlekauff in selecting the Chiefs and Saints, Cowherd added the Detroit Lions, New York Giants and Baltimore Ravens to his list instead of the Cowboys, Bengals and Colts.
Reasoning?
Cowherd's first pick was the Chiefs, who he believes have made enough big additions to drastically improve off last year's struggles
For the Lions, Cowherd argued that they have the easiest schedule in the NFL and pointed out how much that benefitted the New England Patriots last year.
For the Giants, Cowherd believes that the Giants have made enough changes and have enough continuity to be just good enough to break through.
Cowherd likes the Saints because he believes QB Tyler Shough has shown flashes that he can be a good starter early on.
As for the Ravens, he also believes that the first half of their schedule is easy enough that they can bank some wins early. He also pointed out that the Ravens haven't missed the playoffs in back-to-back years since Lamar Jackson joined the team.
© Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images.
There are other candidates that could be in line for a playoff berth too. Six teams that finished with at least eight wins missed the playoffs last year. Any of those teams can make the postseason if they wind up being just one or two wins better in 2026.
Who do you think missed the playoffs last year that will get back into it this year?
