The NFL schedule hits one of its only lulls as the wait until training camp begins. The 2026 NFL Draft is in the rear view (read our full team grades here), and with it a chance to look at how all 32 teams changed with their incoming rookies. Naturally everyone got better, that’s just the nature of the beast — but some teams did a lot more work patching their holes than others, including several teams who still have an eye on the future, rather than worrying about competing now.
We divided the league up into four distinct tiers based on where we think they’ll end up.
Tanking for No. 1, or bust
We start at the bottom with three teams that clearly have no plan to be competitive this season, with 2027 already on the horizon. The shared DNA here is that all three teams are searching for franchise quarterbacks, and we’re going into one of the most stacked QB classes in recent memory. They will be duking it out to see who’s worst in order to control their draft destiny and make their pick between Arch Manning, Dante Moore, and Julian Sayin — who are presumably the best three QBs coming out.
Chance of making the playoffs
Like any good bell curve, this is our bulge. All these teams made significant enough improvement through the draft and free agency that they very well could make the playoffs, but there are also good enough reasons to doubt that they’re ready to take the next step. This can be due to some major holes that haven’t been patched, or simply a factor of being locked in a division with teams that are further along in the process. None of these teams making the postseason would be a surprise, nor would it shock us if they’re drafting Top 5.
20. Washington Commanders
These are the teams we’ve identified as either division winners or highly-rated Wild Card teams. You can see where the split comes in for some of the iffier divisions like the NFC South, which has the Panthers in this tier — but the Buccaneers right behind them. There is an outside chance one of these teams goes on a Cinderella run to the Super Bowl, but it’s highly-unlikely based on other teams higher on this list.
Finally, we reach the seven teams that legitimately feel like they could make it all the way to the Super Bowl in February. These were dominant teams from a year ago who got better this offseason, or are healing from key injuries and now return in 2026 to make a statement. Any combination of these teams in the Super Bowl wouldn’t be surprising to us, and it’s more than likely one of them will end up hoisting the Lombardi Trophy in the end.
