NFL Power Rankings: Jets in Top Five After Free Agency With Aaron Rodgers Coming Soon

Looking at the moves every team has made so far this offseason to size up where all 32 rank.

The first wave of free agency is over. And, while some teams end up dominating the second wave to a real advantage, we’re now starting to gauge intention and see what teams really think of themselves and their prospects for 2023.

That’s why a ranking of power is not just helpful, but necessary. How else are we going to fight about what Aaron Rodgers truly means to the Jets (a lot!) and how indifferent the Chiefs have to be in free agency before we don’t consider them the best team in football (pretty indifferent!)?

1

Kansas City Chiefs

Through Patrick Mahomes’s athletic prime, the Chiefs will be the obvious favorite to win the Super Bowl every year. Losing JuJu Smith-Schuster doesn’t change that. In fact, as the Chiefs find new ways to fold Skyy Moore into this offense, I think they will be better and more efficient offensively in 2023 than they were a year ago. 

2

San Francisco 49ers

I am still quite bullish on what Trey Lance can do and I’m even more bullish on a defensive line that now includes Javon Hargrave, Arik Armstead and Nick Bosa. The 49ers could very well scythe their way through an NFC field that isn’t going to have the offensive line depth to keep up with them. Only Philadelphia, which boasts one of the greatest right tackles of all time, and had an offensive coordinator adept at taking good pass rushers out of games, could handle them last year. 

3

Cincinnati Bengals

Adding Orlando Brown Jr. to this offensive line is scary. This is, for so many reasons, a vintage Marvin Lewis–type move to solidify the team for a stretch run. Assuming the Bengals can find a way to pacify the grossly underpaid Tee Higgins and get everyone emotionally headed in the right direction, we could be looking at a legitimate Super Bowl run in Cincinnati before the band gets way too expensive to keep together. 

4

Philadelphia Eagles

As cool as it is that the Eagles kept a lot of their best players somehow, their best players were Fletcher Cox (32), Brandon Graham (turning 35 in a few weeks) Jason Kelce (35) and Darius Slay (32). They also lost both their offensive and defensive coordinators. This is my way of rationalizing a small drop despite an active offseason thus far. 

5

New York Jets

I’m going to get skewered for this, but I’ll stand by it. In August 2020, I didn’t think the Buccaneers would be that much better with Tom Brady. We learn from our mistakes. Aaron Rodgers, whenever he arrives, is going to come in motivated and legacy-minded. I think he’ll be a consummate pro and teammate to end his career on a high note. Helping in that regard will be the presence of Allen Lazard, who was one of my favorite signings of the offseason. 

6

Buffalo Bills

I’m going to get skewered for this, too. But it seems like the Bills’ window with that current roster may have passed them by a bit. This doesn’t mean Buffalo is going to be bad, but it is going to continue putting a great deal of stress on Josh Allen offensively and risk what happened toward the end of last season. We’re trying to measure how much better a team got over the course of an offseason coupled with how it was trending at season’s end, and the Bills added Deonte Harty and Connor McGovern. Buffalo went on a spree of restructures to get itself under the cap this winter, so perhaps it has something else in mind that could inspire some confidence. 

7

Miami Dolphins

Trading for Jalen Ramsey and bringing in Vic Fangio is about the surest possible way a team can make its defense better. This is the most obvious upgrade I can remember. While the Dolphins have only four draft picks, and none in the top 50, they did the most damage they could given the circumstances (a forfeited first-round pick for tampering, if you’ll remember). 

8

Jacksonville Jaguars

While the Jaguars made most of their efforts to keep their own this offseason, it’s hard to imagine them coming out of the gates stagnant this year. The appeal of this team was its youth and relative inexperience in 2022. Travon Walker and Devin Lloyd should both take some major steps toward stardom. That helps. 

9

Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys’ defense got markedly better. Their offense lost Kellen Moore and a powerful change-of-pace running back in Ezekiel Elliott. While I would say that still makes their offseason changes a net positive, the NFC East is not what it was the last couple of years. It will take more than the Cowboys’ unspectacular greatness (can we make that a thing?) to get them to a Super Bowl. Right now, I don’t see them in that upper rung of contenders. 

10

Detroit Lions

While I was disappointed the Lions lowballed Jamaal Williams, being able to hold on to Ben Johnson was the most important part of their offseason. Detroit added some serious glue to its secondary with the Chauncey Gardner-Johnson signing and brought in David Montgomery to cover the supplementary running back position. The Lions have been “on the rise” for two years now. It’s time to see what Dan Campbell can do when he starts the race at the front of the pack.

11

Los Angeles Chargers

The Chargers were quiet in the opening of free agency, as we predicted, content with the upgrades they made a season ago (and the addition of veteran linebacker Eric Kendricks). While I think letting Austin Ekeler go would be a massive mistake, the addition of an offensive coordinator like Kellen Moore could balance it out.

12

New York Giants

If Darren Waller can stay healthy, the Giants may have found themselves an elite, budget-friendly pass catcher who can immediately improve Daniel Jones’s life. I like this receiving corps better than most. While it lacks a true star, having a quarterback who can move the pocket and manipulate defenses, plus a complementary running game, takes away the necessity of a transformative-type receiver. 

13

Minnesota Vikings

The Marcus Davenport signing was a smart one-year gamble on a talented player who will almost certainly log double-digit sacks in an improved defense under the watch of Brian Flores. The Vikings did a nice job patching up their secondary and adding some blocking specialists and other depth signings. The question becomes what they will look like once their luck differential evens out and we erase the gaudy win total from a year before. 

14

New England Patriots

I don’t think we can understate what having OC Bill O’Brien back will mean for this franchise. The Patriots’ offense was in tatters a year ago and can return to some of its trademark efficiency. Mike Gesicki will hopefully provide the kind of juice Bill Belichick was hoping for when he went after Jonnu Smith in free agency two years ago. 

15

Green Bay Packers

If the glimpses of Jordan Love we saw at the end of last year were for real—if he runs the offense as called and has mastered his progressions—we could be in for a treat in the NFC North. Don’t forget how good this roster was a year ago before Aaron Rodgers’s broken thumb and lack of chemistry with his new wideouts sunk a promising season. Keisean Nixon returning is also a scary prospect for special teams coordinators everywhere. 

16

Baltimore Ravens

There isn’t much happening in Baltimore right now, and, as we noted in our winners and losers column Friday, it doesn’t have a ton of draft capital to make up for it. So, here we are. Even if the Ravens get Lamar Jackson to come back under some kind of reworked contract that satisfies all parties, they will have to depend on free agency’s second wave to significantly upgrade their roster. While this does seem to fit into Baltimore’s ethos a bit—not foolishly overpaying and bringing in quality veteran talent—it needs to get resolution on the quarterback front. 

17

Cleveland Browns

As we predicted before free agency, the Browns went big-game hunting at the defensive line position as a favor to Myles Garrett. While I thought Sheldon Rankins would have been a nice, cost-controlled piece there, they went for a bigger swing: Dalvin Tomlinson. There’s little doubt the Browns are going to be a tough football team in 2023, assuming their offensive line and running backs can hold up. Ogbonnia Okoronkwo will break out in this scheme, and Juan Thornhill should help Band-Aid a secondary that needed more at the safety spot. 

18

Pittsburgh Steelers

Patrick Peterson is Mike Tomlin’s kind of player, but he is just a headline-grabbing name from a really sound free-agency period in Pittsburgh. Isaac Seumalo and Elandon Roberts will help the Steelers get better at what they do best: being a versatile, heady football team that hopes to dominate opponents up front on both sides of the ball. 

19

Seattle Seahawks

Dre’Mont Jones was a surprising and uncharacteristic foray into free agency for the Seahawks, and it makes you wonder what Pete Carroll has in store for him. Julian Love, Devin Bush Jr. and Jarran Reed are all solid role players who should plug in and provide capable snaps right away. 

20

Los Angeles Rams

While I enjoy watching Aaron Donald smash people and Matthew Stafford playing catch with Cooper Kupp, and I don’t underestimate Sean McVay’s ability to corral a new brain trust of coaches after losing some valued assistants this offseason, the Rams seem incapable of making the kind of move that makes us confident they can emerge from the NFL’s middle class without flawlessly healthy seasons from all of their cornerstone stars. 

21

Las Vegas Raiders

Jimmy Garoppolo turns this team into a legitimate playoff contender. My prediction is that Davante Adams will have a season similar to that of his final year in Green Bay, where the volume of receptions is higher, but perhaps the touchdown total is lower. Either way, this keeps the chains moving for Las Vegas, and as long as Garoppolo can last 17 games, we should be looking at a solid No. 7 seed. 

22

Atlanta Falcons

I thought the Falcons did a good enough job convincing us that a plan built around Desmond Ridder and Taylor Heinicke isn’t as unappetizing as it looks on paper. Mostly, it was the faith they put in the well-regarded defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen, giving him David Onyemata and Jessie Bates as anchors to buoy a team that will try to control the ball on the ground and supplement with a physical defense. 

23

Chicago Bears

I don’t think a single team improved as much as the Bears did over the course of free agency—starting with a trade that solidified their confidence in Justin Fields (and earned him a legitimate No. 1 wide receiver) and ending with a selectively smart free-agency spending binge that handed the offense a few new sledgehammers in the backfield. I think Chicago can make a run to avoid last place in the NFC North. If I were the Vikings, for example, I’d be very concerned. 

24

Tennessee Titans

Arden Key and Andre Dillard showed what new GM Ran Carthon is hoping to accomplish. The Titans are adding value players with high upside at a nonegregious price tag. I wonder whether Carthon, a former NFL player who was privy to the secret sauce in San Francisco, will be more aligned with Mike Vrabel, another former player, as to how they want to build long term. 

25

Carolina Panthers

The Panthers have had a fine offseason thus far, with the additions of Adam Thielen and Miles Sanders, which should add some more defined threats (and experience) to an offense that was absolutely gutted over the past two years. Shy Tuttle and Vonn Bell were brought in to give star defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero (perhaps their biggest get of the offseason) some pieces to work with. 

26

Washington Commanders

As we said in our winners and losers column, a sale of the Commanders would change everything. Literally, everything. Just like the Mets became an overnight power player when Steve Cohen bought the team in late 2020, so could a legitimately nontoxic franchise with competitive facilities and a nonominous presence at the top. But, at the moment, a Jacoby Brissett– (or Sam Howell–) led Commanders look to be vying for the same last-place spot they occupied in a very good NFC East a year ago. 

27

New Orleans Saints

The Saints upgraded from Andy Dalton to … a guy who is a lot more expensive than Andy Dalton! Derek Carr will find more success in an offense that is naturally tailored to his strengths, but this team was clawing to maintain equilibrium before getting poached in free agency. This roster is talented, but old in critical spots. A lot of reasons why they could be great—Alvin Kamara; Michael Thomas freeing defenders from Chris Olave; Cam Jordan and Demario Davis having top-five years at their positions in their age-34 seasons—are also reasons to be comfortably suspicious. 

28

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Baker Mayfield is in; Tom Brady is out. The NFL universe can be a strange place, sometimes. There is little room for GM Jason Licht to wiggle right now after losing the greatest player in NFL history. The big question is how long he’ll try to hold on to the ancillary pieces of his Super Bowl roster. The re-signing of Lavonte David shows a desire from Todd Bowles to try to scrap his way to an NFC South title, which I don’t think is out of the question, despite the ranking here. 

29

Indianapolis Colts

The Colts got the most critical part of their offseason right: hiring Shane Steichen. After that, it’s been up to interpretation. They’ve made some targeted gambles on the defensive line and brought in their likely bridge quarterback in Gardner Minshew, who played for Steichen in Philadelphia and logged some quality snaps. This upcoming draft is going to have to be something of a masterpiece for GM Chris Ballard, though. 

30

Denver Broncos

People may disagree, but this felt like a bit of a lipstick-on-a-pig offseason for the Broncos. I have no problem at all with how they spent their money. Guard Ben Powers is 26 and played every snap in an incredibly demanding Ravens offense last year. Tackle Mike McGlinchey is 28. Edge rusher Zach Allen is 25 and could finally help the Broncos with their push to generate some consistent outside pressure. But were they really spend-a-ton-of-money-to-get-back-in-this-thing close last year? We’re about to find out. 

31

Houston Texans

So far the Texans have been henpecking around the old and injury-prone market, but I do see some upside: Sheldon Rankins and Jimmie Ward could be part of a serious defensive turnaround this year, and they will be a valued presence for the massive infusion of young talent Houston will be bringing in via the draft (six picks in the top 110). 

32

Arizona Cardinals

Kyler Murray isn’t starting the season, J.J. Watt is gone and DeAndre Hopkins could end up being shipped out in a draft-day deal à la Hollywood Brown and A.J. Brown a year ago. This division belongs to the 49ers right now, and the Seahawks aren’t regressing any time soon. The Cardinals would not have gotten rid of a coach and general manager in the early stages of a long-term extension if they didn’t know how bad a shape they were in.