With just one month to go before the NFL regular season, fans and media outlets are starting to finalize their power rankings for the start of the season in hopes of looking like the smartest people in the room by year's end. It's a fool's errand, but it's still fun.
On Thursday, ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio released his full preseason power rankings of all 32 teams. Coming in first are, to little surprise, the reigning and defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks. Right after them are the Los Angeles Rams, who have emerged as one of the betting favorites to win it all.
Here is PFT's ranking of the 10 best teams heading into the season:
- Seattle Seahawks
- Los Angeles Rams
- Houston Texans
- Denver Broncos
- Buffalo Bills
- Chicago Bears
- New England Patriots
- Philadelphia Eagles
- Jacksonville Jaguars
- Baltimore Ravens
Questions and Curiosities
The Houston Texans being given the No. 3 spot was certainly a choice. Despite having one of the best defenses in the league last year, the team couldn't even win their own division last year. That defense was of no help in the AFC Divisional Round as five turnovers on offense undid all of the good work they did on defense.
Having them ahead of the Broncos, Bills and even the Patriots - who beat them with nearly an identical team to the one being fielded this year - is certainly going to have some fans confused.
The Chicago Bears being sixth on the list also caused some confusion, especially since eight teams had more wins than they did last season.
© Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images.
That being said, there is a very good chance that all 10 of those teams will be in the playoffs this year. The only ones that seem iffy right now are probably the Ravens, who have a new head coach for the first time in 18 years. Everyone else on the list should be contend for anything from the top seed at best to a wild card at worst.
What is your top-10 ranking?
