HollyWood’s NFL Power Rankings: Week 1

Image: William Purnell/USA TODAY Sports

With the NFL season fast approaching everyone has an opinion on where each team in the league is. Not everyone is going to feel the same about certain teams, however, everyone can agree, that ranking teams is fun. Since the start of this year’s college football season, I have taken over doing BSP’s Top 25, and I’ll be doing the same this year for our NFL Power Rankings. With the Chiefs-Ravens opener fast approaching, here is where I have every team ranked to start the season.

Week 1 Rankings

1. 49ers
2. Chiefs
3. Ravens
4. Lions
5. Bengals
6. Eagles
7. Bills
8. Dolphins
9. Packers
10. Texans
11. Jets
12. Browns
13. Rams
14. Cowboys
15. Bears
16. Jaguars
17. Colts
18. Buccaneers
19. Falcons
20. Steelers
21. Seahawks
22. Chargers
23. Vikings
24. Saints
25. Titans
26. Cardinals
27. Broncos
28. Giants
29. Commanders
30. Raiders
31. Panthers
32. Patriots

With no games having been played yet, this ranking is based on who I think the best teams are heading into the season on paper. A lot can change between week one and week two.

Teams that SHOULD improve

There are teams I have high hopes for who made it higher on this list. For example, the Bears have added a lot of pieces including a very talented rookie quarterback.  I expect them to be competitive. The addition of Kirk Cousins in Atlanta should earn them a couple of extra wins this season. The Rams and the Browns have tons of talent if they can stay healthy. The Colts will also surprise many people, they won’t set the world on fire but people will be on notice come season’s end. While Shane Steichen’s squad is still probably a year out from any sort of playoff run, I expect them to at least be competing for a postseason berth near the end of the year.

The Contenders

Outside of the Bills losing a ton of their core talent, I don’t see the contenders being all too different than last year. The Chiefs and 49ers will rule their respective conferences. The Chiefs will face pressure from the Ravens and Bengals no doubt. The 49ers will face pressure from the Eagles and Lions, but they should hang on with no problem.

As crazy as it sounds, the Chiefs are the more questionable team out of the top 2. Not that it has been a problem for Mahomes before, but this AFC Conference is stacked compared to the NFC. It’s entirely fair to say their road to the Super Bowl is tougher than the 49ers. Either way, time will tell whether either of these top dogs slip up.

The Bottom Feeders

There’s an argument to be made that every team has talent one way or another. Some just more than others. There are multiple teams this year that while talented, probably won’t accomplish much because of how talented the rest of the league is. The Broncos and the Cardinals are both teams that won’t necessarily be playoff contenders but have the talent to at least make the season fun. Mind you, both of them are still rebuilding as well.

The bottom three teams need a lot of help and I expect them atop the draft board come April. All 3 are in heavy rebuilding and have a lot of questions facing the most important positions in football. They’ll show very slight promise, but don’t expect much if you a fan of these teams.

How does everyone fare in Week 1?

Every team will be on this weekend so next week’s rankings are sure to look different than this week’s. Besides, a few of the top teams tend to start a little slow which changes the rankings a ton as the season gets rolling.

Be sure to check BSP every Wednesday at 3PMEST for our latest edition of HollyWood’s NFL Power Rankings. Also, if you enjoyed these rankings, check out my NCAA Top 25 which releases every Thursday at 3PMEST!