We’ve arrived! The 2026 season is right around the corner, as we immediately get the rematch of Super Bowl LX, with the Seahawks trying to repeat as champs and the Patriots hungry to prove they’re a long-term contender themselves. Once again, what I did here was predict all 272 regular season games (an Excel sheet is attached at the bottom), then went through the individual playoff matchups and determined who I had facing off on the game’s biggest stage come next year’s Valentine’s Day.
Along with analysis for the seven playoff teams on either side of the bracket and how I ended up with them, I’ll actually start by outlining my pick and a dark horse name I like for each of the main awards during NFL Honors. Of course, those two things are heavily connected. Before you disregard my analysis on any of these selections based on your own beliefs, please bear in mind that I was ridiculed a year ago when I projected the Bears to be the NFC’s number two seed and the Patriots to win double-digit games, while ending up with the Lions and Commanders narrowly missing out on the postseason.
This is how I believe the upcoming season is going to shake out:
Awards:
MVP – Justin Herbert
I already outlined why I believe Herbert could go supernova this season when I presented him as one of my “fantasy diamonds” (LINK !!) about a month ago, but it’s pretty easy to make a case for it. Although I disagreed with it, he already received one first-place MVP vote last season, and it’s evident to anyone who closely follows the sport how critical is to the Chargers’ overall success. 34-year-old wide receiver Keenan Allen is the only member from their skill position group they willingly decided not to bring back, while second-year running Omarion Hampton should be primed for a breakout season, thanks in part to L.A.’s excellent tackle tandem being available (at least to begin with). Above all else, it’s the arrival of Mike McDaniel, who should present cleaner looks for his quarterback off the wide zone run game he’s installing, which also fits Hampton in return, but with the fullback and tight-ends they brought in to diversify their personnel groupings, I believe we’ll also see their quarterback be unchained on these vertical shots when they condense the formation. Considering their defense may take a slight step back with a coordinator change, the Bolts will need Herbert to create explosives, and I project them as AFC West champs here. Tua Tagovailoa finished second, fourth and seventh in dropback EPA in his first three seasons under McDaniel in Miami before things fell apart this past year, and this is a vastly superior talent.
Dark horse – Tyler Shough
Although the overall quality of and the bar to clear for the NFC South crown is certainly lower than what the Chargers are facing, New Orleans has a chance to emerge from it, with a lot of weight being put on their second-year quarterback’s shoulders, who has only started nine games so far, but I locked in a longshot MVP bet on at 100-to-1 as soon as Shough’s odds were released. Even in my projections, they take home the division with a 9-8 record, but I see potential for this being a team to watch out for. The defense was already around a top-five unit by several metrics over the latter half of this past year, and now they’ve prioritized surrounding Shough with a lot more talent, particularly among the skill positions. Free agent running back Travis Etienne has gained 1400+ scrimmage yards in three of four seasons as a pro, David Edwards was a fringe Pro Bowl guard in Buffalo previously, and although he’s currently dealing with a hamstring issue, eighth overall pick Jordyn Tyson was the most talented wide receiver in the draft and had reportedly been the star of training camp. If they largely keep those guys healthy, to go with some more interesting names from the middle rounds this past April, now in year under Kellen Moore and Doug Nussmeier, the guy under center could make plenty of noise.
(Non-QB) Offensive Player of the Year – Jahmyr Gibbs
Although I project the Rams to sort of run away with the NFC’s number one seed, I really like the Lions as major bounce-back candidates and champs of the North yet again. My one hold-up when it comes to their overall success and what it means for their superstar running back was the injury to free-agent addition Cade Mays at center, since I was excited about what he’d provide for their interior O-line with a pair of young guards next to him. However, Juice Scruggs at least has starting experience as a pro, to where they’ll be comfortable with that composition. Now, you might argue that Detroit has plenty of mouths to feed in that offense, but their best version in past years has revolved around the run game setting the table, and the distribution of touches in that backfield has never been clearer. Former Chief Isiah Pacheco doesn’t nearly demand the same level of third-down and goal-line opportunities as David Montgomery, we already saw a significant uptick in Gibbs’ usage as 2025 went along, and new OC Drew Petzing quietly had one of the most well-designed ground attacks in the NFL two years with Arizona. He’s certainly proven already that he can be a workhorse-type runner between the tackles, but then his ability to de- and re-accelerate when he hits the corner is seamless, and he consistently makes the first man miss after the catch.
Dark horse – A.J. Brown
This is another name who is obviously a lot more well-known than Tyler Shough is as a wildcard MVP candidate, but I was shocked to find him at 50-to-1 in OPOY odds. Understandably, people are somewhat apprehensive about Brown right now, based on how the last year-and-a-half and his ultimate departure from Philadelphia looked like on the surface. However, even when they’d show him reading books about self-improvement on the Eagles’ sideline two years ago, he easily cracked 1000 receiving yards despite missing a month and helped them win a Super Bowl. The two years prior, he nearly hit 1500 yards and 18 combined touchdowns. You look at the way he was used, there were still opportunities for him to catch a slant or crosser, break a tackle and turn those into explosives, but we saw him become one of the pre-eminent deep threats and ball winners in the sport. Well, now he re-joins the coach who once drafted him in Tennessee (Mike Vrabel) and gets to catch passes from the reigning MVP runner-up (Drake Maye) in an offense that heavily revolved around pushing the ball down the field. He’s going from a unit that finished 15th and 23rd respectively in EPA and success rate on dropbacks to the Pats, who were first and fourth in those respective metrics, as still the clear number one target.
Defensive Player of the Year – Will Anderson Jr.
While I found it a lot easier to come up with names beyond the favorites on the offensive side of the ball, it’s hard to move off the trio of edge rushers at the top defensively, with Myles Garrett, Aidan Hutchinson and Anderson, especially with Micah Parsons bound to miss the first month of the season. I ultimately settled on Will as my choice because it feels like it’s his time, the Texans are the safest bet to rank at the very top in most meaningful defensive metrics, and for Garrett in particular, he may just not be required to contribute as much on a play-to-play basis if the Rams live up to their monstrous team ceiling. Looking at Houston’s defense, they might be even better than last year personnel-wise, with Reed Blankenship as that more well-rounded, reliable, do-it-all safety when they deploy Jalen Pitre as a big nickel, Jadeveon Clowney can be that flexible sub-package rusher who sets the table for more of their speedballs off the edges, and Kayden McDonald can help them get to more third-and-long situations, while being an excellent picker on twists and games himself. Anderson already led the NFL with 102 QB pressures last season, if you include the playoffs, and you’d expect a larger rate of those to turn into sacks going forward (12 in 2025). His ability to win around the corner or convert-to-speed and his run defense are elite, and he’s doing it for a unit that is really straightforward schematically.
Dark horse – Quinnen Williams
Rarely do we see a defensive tackle take home DPOY honors, if you ignore the dominant stretch Aaron Donald put together for five seasons (and beyond), across which he received
the trophy three times – and he’s now back with the Rams, paired with the reigning winner in Myles Garrett. To be clear, I don’t necessarily expect Quinnen to be capable of reaching those heights, where he’s posting around 20 sacks and edge rusher sack numbers, but to me this is about what he represents for a Cowboys team that I ended up with taking the number two seed in the NFC with a 12-5 record. Over the last two years, they are literally dead-last in EPA per play (-0.115), and as vulnerable as their corners have been at different points, the crux of the problem has started with their front. They’ve had major struggles holding the point of attack in the run game, slow linebacker play has continued to be an issue, and they simply haven’t created enough negative plays to put opponents behind the chains. 2025 marked Williams’ fourth straight season with 50+ pressures, and he was fourth among interior defenders in ESPN’s pass-rush win rate (14%). His ability to anchor against combination blocks or use his quickness to win his gap is highly valuable for this unit, which I expect to receive much better teaching from new DC Christian Parker on how to survive in these soft box counts.
Offensive Rookie of the Year – Jadarian Price
Looking at this past draft, the fact that a quarterback went number one overall, a running back was third, and then we saw two more wide receivers come off the board inside the top eight, the choice here would be pretty easy in many other years. However, considering the quality of teams and when we could see those rookies actually be fully healthy or earn the starting job, in Fernando Mendoza’s case, Carnell Tate may be the only name from that crop to emerge as a real candidate for this award. So instead, I went all the way to the end of the first round, when the reigning Super Bowl champs made a bit of a surprise selection with “the other” Notre Dame RB Jadarian Price. Obviously, it’s fair to question if a guy who averaged less than nine offensive touches over the past two seasons in college is ready to take the reins for this backfield and be a reliable piece in Seattle’s repeat efforts. However, assuming new OC Brian Feury retains a lot of the outside zone principles they relied on last year and that he was very familiar with from his time in San Francisco, Price’s quick burst to capture the edge, but also the vision to find lanes to cut up through and then his contact balance to slide off would-be-tackles should translate very well. Plus, while he’s been underutilized as a pass-catcher, we could see Fleury bring along more five-man-out concepts rather than locking the rookie into protection.
Dark horse – Jonah Coleman
We’ll skip all of day two from this draft and instead look at a running back who’s currently third on the Broncos depth chart but has the skill-set to become a prominent piece for a team that just was the AFC’s number one seed heading into this last postseason. Now, that possibility may just require Denver’s starter J.K. Dobbins to miss extensive time with injury. Unfortunately for him, there’s a pretty high likelihood of that being the case, since he’s combined for just 32 games played over the past four seasons combined, missing at least a month in each of them. Of course, they also selected R.J. Harvey at the end of the second round a year ago, but even when that guy was the starter for pretty much the latter half of 2025/26, they were simply lacking a consistent presence running between the tackles or him being a reliable part of six-man pass-pro. Coleman offers excellent processing skills and instinctive footwork to bleed out runs conceptually, and routinely finishes strong with yards after contact. He’s fundamentally sound with a low center of gravity to pick up blitzers, which opens up opportunities in passing situations. And he only dropped one of 89 catchable passes in his college career. So if he can establish himself as the primary option behind arguably the top offensive line in the league, Coleman could suddenly be one of the most productive backs altogether.
Defensive Rookie of the Year – Rueben Bain Jr.
I was going back and forth here between Bain and Cowboys defensive back Caleb Downs, who will be the other integral piece for what new DC Christian Parker wants that unit to look like as that nickel defender in the mold of what he was part of in Philadelphia with Cooper DeJean. However, I settled on the former, simply based on the fact that I believe he’ll have the counting stats to back up his case. A lot was made about Bain’s arms being in the 1st percentile among edge rushers coming into the draft. It definitely helps when you have granite in your hands whenever you jolt back blockers trying to set a firm edge or working power moves as a pass-rusher. I truly believe combining that with his advanced play-diagnosing skills could make him a top-tier run defender fairly early, and then his skills and activity to counter the hands of tackles will earn him wins in the secondary phase of the rush. On top of that, landing in Todd Bowles’ defensive scheme could end up really helping him, because of all the different angles he’ll allow the rookie to attack from in these mugged-up fronts, making it tougher for opponents to weaponize their length advantages or even to fully settle into matchups. Tampa Bay has been desperate for someone to truly emerge for them on the edge, and Bain could headline a young, hungry group.
Dark horse – R Mason Thomas
And I stuck with the EDGE position, since it’s typically the one taking home the honors anyway, and there’s another player I liked a lot in college, who is being undervalued by the betting markets. Just one-and-a-half weeks ago, I highlighted some clips of Thomas as one of my “standout rookies from preseason” (LINK !!). The Chiefs have been desperate for someone to give them some real juice off the edge for years, and this young man has the explosiveness and bend to win the high shoulders against tackles. At the same time, he has the lateral agility to cross-face guys who overset him. Off that, he can jab inside for a eurostep move. Yet, if opponents present their chest to him, he’ll happily dig his hands in there and ride them backwards. What I outlined in that video as an encouraging early sign is how well he showed himself in run defense, squeezing down lanes on the backside, yanking around tight-ends and helping wrap up the ball-carrier. And then he collected his first sack as a pro a few days later in the final preseason outing. While it’s more likely that he’ll be treated as mostly a designated pass-rusher, the idea of them adopting more odd fronts could set him up for some early-down snaps as an outside linebacker.
Comeback Player of the Year – Kyler Murray
As I’ve said many times before, I view this as a pretty silly award, at least for as long as they don’t definitively outline its criteria and stick with it. Patrick Mahomes, Jayden Daniels and even Daniel Jones are all coming off major injuries that will present more demanding physical challenges in order to be at the top of their game than what Kyler went through last season in Arizona, which helped brand the new “soft benching”. We have seen him perform at near-MVP levels for sporadic stretches, but certainly limitations in how he operates have always led to him crashing back to reality in the past. Now moving on to Minnesota, for as promising as some of the pieces were previously, this wide receiver trio headlined by Justin Jefferson is the best Murray has had to work with in his career, the O-line at least has a good chance at providing him healthier pockets that he won’t be as eager to escape from, and Kevin O’Connell is the exact type of play-caller who can re-invigorate what we’ve seen from him as a downfield passer, to go with maybe encouraging more middle-of-the-field throws with the way he structures his progressions.
Dark horse – Tank Dell
The other guy I wanted to mention here, other than the glaring names at quarterback, Micah Parsons and even possibly Aaron Donald coming out of retirement, is Dell, who two years ago went down with a gruesome leg injury in the Texans’ Christmas game at Kansas City. Despite only being a real piece of the rotation in ten games, he was one of C.J. Stroud’s favorite targets when they came in together as rookies in 2023, going for just over 700 yards and seven touchdowns. He nearly was up to the same yardage total when the incident occurred a year later and hasn’t gotten onto the field since. Seeing him make corners fly by on these deep outs and possibly how they could provide him more space to operate out of the slot, now with the addition of Kayshon Boutte as more of a true vertical threat outside, would be really cool.
Coach of the Year – Jesse Minter
This is another somewhat funny, because considering who have taken home the honors in years past and the names at the top of betting again this year, rarely is the best coaches get that picked, or even the ones who had to overcome most, creating advantages for their teams on a schematic or decision-based level. Instead, often times the guys who simply exceed their pre-season win total projections the most end up receiving the credit. So, considering the Ravens shockingly missed out on the playoffs, thanks to a missed field goal in week 18 at Pittsburgh from what is nowadays considered close to chip-shot range, Jesse Minter is rolling into town with a group of men still ready to compete for AFC supremacy. Having what might still be the scariest backfield duo in the league between Lamar Jackson and Derrick is a good starting point for their offense, now coordinated by Declan Doyle, who could implement a few fun wrinkles he learned from Ben Johnson previously in Chicago. Yet, considering Minter helped the Chargers finish top-seven in both EPA per play and success rate defensively without many true star players, while the Ravens finished 18th and 16th in those categories overall, thanks to a myriad of injuries on the year, but arguably more needle-movers across that unit, it perfectly sets the table for him to receive a lot of the credit if they take back the AFC North and look like a contender entering the tournament once again.
Dark horse – Sean McVay
And then, I’ll throw this one. Just a crazy theory on my part, I guess, that the guy who is pretty much universally accepted as the brightest offensive mind and head coach today, who is running the show for the prohibitive Super Bowl favorites, who I project to only lose two games during the regular season, could be a candidate to get his flowers. That’s obvious to you as well? Then I’ll just refer you to the betting odds, where at the time of me writing this, there are only five names below him when it comes to the likelihood of winning Coach of the Year. Sure, he, GM Les Snead and company have put together a superteam, with literally the two most dominant defensive players of the last decade now lining up next to each other, after having already traded a first-round pick for a Pro Bowl-level corner in Trent McDuffie (which showed up as their biggest weakness last year), paired with the league’s highest scoring offense last year, with reigning MVP Matt Stafford still under center. Having said that, if they undeniably are the most dominant team throughout the regular season, where the advantages in the Xs and Os are equally present as they are in terms of quality of players, and the voting takes place before they might meet their biggest challenges in the playoffs, why wouldn’t Sean be eligible to take home this trophy for the first time since he initially came to Los Angeles (2017).
Playoff teams:
NFC:
1. Los Angeles Rams (15-2) 
2. Dallas Cowboys (12-5) 
3. Detroit Lions (11-6) 
4. New Orleans Saints (9-8) 
5. Seattle Seahawks (11-6) 
6. Philadelpia Eagles (10-7) 
7. Minnesota Vikings (10-7) 
As I just mentioned, the Rams look like a superteam on paper. Without trying to be disrespectful to the Patriots, the NFC Championship arguably was the real Super Bowl, and if not for that wacky two-point conversion in Seattle, their third meeting taking place in Los Angeles might’ve swung things in their favor. The Seahawks just outranked their division rivals in overall DVOA, but the Rams might’ve been the more complete team, finishing first and fourth respectively on offense and defense, while the special teams were lacking. Since then, they added the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, Aaron Donald came out of retirement to win another ring with them, and they swapped out their corner tandem for last year’s Chiefs starter, without any meaningful losses.
It wasn’t necessarily my intention to land here, but for the second straight year, the team I ended up with as my number two seed in the NFC is kind of the bold call I’m going to make here. The fun part about it is that I’ve generally been a pessimist when it comes to the Cowboys, where a lot of hype around them in years past has been misplaced, in my opinion. However, over the last five years, they’ve been no worse than seventh in scoring offense with Dak Prescott available for at least half the season – and that includes 2025, when Ceedee Lamb missed a month and didn’t quite look like himself on the field. OC Klayton Adams has made them a more balanced attack, and now Christian Parker is looking to provide their defense stability, with largely quiet personnel additions to all three levels.
Part of my reasoning for the Lions being major bounce-back candidates was already included when I outlined my case for Jahmyr Gibbs winning Offensive Player of the Year honors. I’m bullish on the marriage between Dan Campbell and new OC Drew Petzing, who’s going to offer variety to their run game and call a lot of aggressive play-action shots off it. Combined with that is a defense in hope of finally at least dealing with average injury lucky, but retained coordinator Kelvin Sheppard, who did an admirable job for what he was given, and displayed the ability to construct gameplans that gave their opponents fits. And now they’re benefiting from a fourth-place schedule.
Someone has to win the South, right? It’s not surprising that I picked their division champs this year barely going above .500, when the Panthers ended up atop the table sort of by default with one win fewer last year. This time around, I have all four teams winning at least seven games and could easily see any of them emerge, but the Saints are my best bet right now. As I already hinted at, New Orleans ranked second in defensive EPA per play league-wide from week ten onwards this past season. Kaden Elliss has some big shoes to fill for Demario Davis, and Bryan Bresee tearing his ACL in training camp was unfortunate, but otherwise they’re bringing back that entire unit. Meanwhile, I highlighted Tyler Shough as a breakout candidate and MVP dark horse, thanks to all the investments around him heading into year two under Kellen Moore.
The reigning champs will have to settle for the top Wildcard seed, but still win 12 games in my projections. Understandably, a lot of the attention has gone to Seattle’s biggest challengers in the conference – the Rams – who they’ll be facing twice over the final three weeks of the regular season and possibly for a third time yet again in (late) January. Nonetheless, there’s not much to make you doubt that the Hawks can be equally potent in 2026. We already saw Ty Okada step in as a starter for more than half of last season, as we consider the loss of Coby Bryant, and having that third corner without Riq Woolen becomes less prevalent with how much they want to live in those big nickel groupings anyway. The only real questions are on offense – Can Brian Fleury give them similar play-sequencing advantages as Klint Kubiak? And is first-round Jadarian Price able to build on the success Kenneth Walker had for them down the stretch?
How high the Eagles can soar this season will be largely dependent on how well Jalen Hurts and the offense can acclimate to new play-caller Sean Mannion. He’s unproven in that role, and we haven’t yet seen their quarterback embrace going under center and targeting the middle of the field with anticipation. If that marriage works out and the O-line can provide Saquon Barkley runways similar to those when they won a Lombardi Trophy two years ago, the sky is the limit. Addition by subtraction would simplify what trading away A.J. Brown represents, but DeVonta Smith, I believe, can step in as a true WR1. Meanwhile, Vic Fangio hopes the aforementioned Riq Woolen can stabilize that second outside corner spot and Jonathan Greenard can provide similar production as Jaelen Phillips post-trade last year, since otherwise they remain fully intact.
Last but not least, I settled on the Vikings earning that final Wildcard berth over the other two teams vying for it out of the NFC North and the already injury-riddled 49ers. Let me remind you here – they already went 9-8 last year, when Carson Wentz arguably was the best among three quarterbacks to start multiple games for them. If Kyler Murray can simply offer them competence at the position, with the weaponry at his disposal and Kevin O’Connell designing opportunities for explosives through the air, Minnesota can be a scary
group to face. Defensively, they’re asking third-year man Dallas Turner to step up after trading away Jonathan Greenard, and nobody can replace the leadership Harrison Smith brought to the table, but I like the youth they added to their defensive interior, and coordinator Brian Flores has continued to prove that he can re-invent himself and stay a step ahead of the competition.
Just missed the cut: Chicago Bears (9-8), San Francisco 49ers (9-8) & Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-9)
AFC:
1. Houston Texans (13-4) 
2. New England Patriots (12-5) 
3. Los Angeles Chargers (11-6) 
4. Baltimore Ravens (11-6) 
5. Buffalo Bills (11-6) 
6. Denver Broncos (10-7) 
7. Cincinnati Bengals (9-8) 
As we switch conferences here, there’s far less of an obvious choice at the top of the standings than what the Rams represent currently, but I ended up with the Texans as the only squad to reach 13 wins on the season. There’s no reason to belabor the point of how dominant the Texans defense was last year, and there’s no real case for why they’d be any worse, other than simply pointing at the idea of more variance on that side of the ball. One major misconception I’ve heard about all offseason has been that C.J. Stroud is a bottom-tier quarterback, when his playoff showings overshadowed what was a pretty average season, and he’s certainly shown peaks way above that. Houston has invested massive resources into turning around their offensive line, and David Montgomery should be much more reliable at gaining positive yardage, converting short-yardage situations and protecting the passer.
I kind of surprised myself by having the Patriots back as the number two seed, considering I viewed them pretty much neck-and-neck with the Bills, and as everyone would be quick to point out, they will be facing a significantly tougher schedule this year compared to last. Well, guess what? – They’re a better team on paper too. For as serviceable as Stefon Diggs and Kayshon Boutte were for them, A.J. Brown and Romeo Doubs undeniably are a better WR tandem, now catching passes from the reigning MVP runner-up. The construction of their interior O-line, with Jared Wilson moving to center, makes a lot more sense. And the defense caught fire in the playoffs, with Zak Kuhr having had a full offseason as the full-time rather than interim defensive coordinator. Edge rusher Harold Landry starting the year on the PUP list is my only legitimate worry on that side.
Along with the Cowboys as the NFC’s number two seed, predicting the Chargers to take home the AFC West crown, albeit with “only” an 11-and-6 record, thanks to how the teams within it might cannibalize each other, may be my one bold call on that half of the bracket. You can scroll back to the top and read my paragraph on why I chose Justin Herbert as my Most Valuable Player, and the impact Mike McDaniel could have on the offense actually being less reliant on him being a supercomputer/escape artist, given how poor their pocket health was last season. At the end of it, I also hinted at the possibility of L.A.’s defense taking a step back with Chris O’Leary taking over coordinating duties from Jesse Minter. Yet, I’ll also point out here that among the 14 players to log at least 40% of their defensive snaps last season, Da’Shawn Hand is the only one being replaced by a rock in the middle like Dalvin Tomlinson.
All four of my division winners in the AFC ended up with at least 11 victories, and in my scenario the Ravens control their own destiny for the conference’s number one seed, as they’ll get their chances on the road at Buffalo and Houston. Outlining a path for them to bounce back, after narrowly missing out on retaining the crown in the North, is fairly simple. Lamar Jackson arguably put together his best performance of an otherwise injury-riddled season in week 18 at Pittsburgh, Derrick Henry looked like a locomotive over the final month, and they’ve raved about the layer of the offense Declan Doyle has been installing. Meanwhile, they could hit the ground running with the same defensive lingo but a more proven play-caller in Jesse Minter, while Trey Hendrickson and a healthy Nnamdi Madubuike could instantly solve their sack issues.
I ended with a trio of pretty scary Wildcard teams here. The Bills are atop that group, with the same record as the two seeds above them. They’re the safest bet out there for being a top ten offense league-wide, as they haven’t ranked outside it in any year since 2020. Having become such a dependable downhill rushing offense with James Cook toting the rock, and only asking Josh Allen to put on the cape a few times per game has brought us the version of him. With that being said, I could see Joe Brady opening things up a little more after being promoted to head coach, especially with a weapon like D.J. Moore. Defensively, what we get right away from Jim Leonard is more of an unknown, but I welcome a shift to a more aggressive mindset when it comes to stopping the run, challenging receivers on the outside, and sending pressure in various ways.
Would I be shocked to see Denver repeat atop the AFC’s standings yet again this season? – Absolutely not. When I say that “they’re bringing the band back together”, I mean that they’re bringing back every single player with more than 15% of snaps on offense/defense other than John Franklin-Meyers and Dre Greenlaw – which the latter was only there on a
very limited basis for one year. Meanwhile, they traded for Jaylen Waddle from Miami, who immediately becomes their most dynamic wide receiver on the roster, and actually beautifully fits into the role they relied upon with Marvin Mims/Troy Franklin. If Bo Nix can take a step forward, they could be even more potent when January rolls around. Yet, the uncertainty around Davis Webb calling offensive plays and Jonathan Cooper being placed on the commissioner’s exempt list gives me just enough pause to drop them down here.
And we’ll close things out with our third straight team starting with the letter “B”. After a Cinderella run to the Super Bowl and an even stronger overall season next, when they came up just short of defeating the Chiefs for AFC supremacy at Arrowhead yet again, the Bengals have now missed the playoffs entirely for three straight years. Them starting off slow and/or Joe Burrow missing time have been huge factors in their dry spell. Regardless, on the field, it’s largely been their defense holding them back. So they pulled off an unprecedented trade in their franchise’s history for All-Pro nose tackle Dexter Lawrence, surrounded by four top-50 picks on the edge, with Al Golden returning as DC. Offensively, Cincinnati has averaged 26.1 points per game with Joe Burrow starting, and their entire starting 11 on that side remains intact.
Just missed the cut: Kansas City Chiefs (9-8), Jacksonville Jaguars (9-8) & Indianapolis Colts (9-8)
Wildcard Round:
NFC:
2. Cowboys OVER 7. Vikings
3. Lions OVER 6. Eagles
5. Seahawks OVER 4. Saints
AFC:
2. Patriots OVER 7. Bengals
3. Chargers OVER 6. Broncos
4. Ravens OVER 5. Bills
Divisional Round:
NFC:
1. Rams OVER 5. Seahawks
3. Lions OVER 2. Cowboys
AFC:
1. Texans OVER 4. Ravens
2. Patriots OVER 3. Chargers
Conference Championships:
1. Rams OVER 3. Lions
1. Texans OVER 2. Patriots
Los Angeles Rams vs. Houston Texans
At the end of the road, I have the two number one seeds squaring off against each other. The Rams entered the offseason as co-favorites with Seattle and have only continued to gain more distance to the rest of the pack with all the defensive additions they’ve made, which could truly transform that unit. Houston may be a little more surprising to some people based on the state of their quarterbacks and offense overall when we last saw them, but there’s reason to believe they can be a more complementary unit to the most vicious defense in the NFL.
If this were the ultimate matchup to determine a new champion, the lines of scrimmage would, of course be the areas of focus, where L.A. is more proven as a unit offensively but
has shown cracks as you look at the individual pieces at times, while the Texans will look quite different compared to 2025. Both of them would be facing monsters on the other side, as we’d see if Stafford can keep his cool under pressure and if Stroud can avoid some of the catastrophic mistakes that haunted him in these most recent playoffs.
This would probably be my dream matchup as we enter the season, but as always, I’m happy to roll the ball out there and be surprised by what’s about to happen!
Thanks for reading, and I hope to have you along for the ride!
Halil's Real Footballtalk 