The Chicago Bears currently lead the NFC North with a 10-4 record, thanks to timely big-time throws by their quarterback, an opportunistic defense, but most importantly, a smashmouth run game orchestrated by Ben Johnson. I want to illustrate how they’ve found this much success on the ground, thanks to all the different layers and great attention to detail.
We’re three quarters through the 2025 NFL season and it’s time for one more look at all 32 teams. As always, please bear in mind that these are power *rankings* rather than standings. So you may see one team be listed above another with a better record or even one they’ve already lost to head-to-head at some point – the objective is to weigh them against the rest of the league at large, and how many opponents I’d favor them over. Especially, as playoff seedings are starting to materialize, we’re somewhat looking ahead at who can go the distance, even though this is more meant to be a snapshot of this moment.
I took injuries into account and weighed current form more heavily, while compared to earlier in the season, we have a pretty good picture of what teams are in all three facets of the game. Although you’ll find a variety of statistics and advanced metrics to support my arguments, they’re all primarily grounded in having watched every single matchup up to this opponent, either on the broadcast, the All-22, or both.
Let’s get to the full rankings:
On the eve of Thanksgiving, I wanted to get out this video on four things I’m thankful for being able to watch around the league, on a weekly basis – including both players and coaches, two on offense and defense each.
Now with every NFL team having played double-digit games, I thought it was time to reflect on the current state of the league when it comes to quarterback play, by ranking and bucketing all 32 starters, as I ultimately settled on eight different categories.
For this exercise, I chose the players who have been fixtures in the lineup for multiple contests and largely are expected to be in those roles for the rest of the season. That means you won’t see names like Joe Burrow, Mac Jones, Kyler Murray and Spencer Rattler, who other than Burrow of course, would probably all end up around the top of the “starters with defined limitations” tier.
This is how I have everyone stacked up:
Buffalo came into the 2025 season as Super Bowl favorites. After ten weeks, they sit at 6-3 with the league’s reigning MVP and some big wins on their resume, but they’ve also shown a major weakness when it comes to defending the run. I want to break down some of their structural issues, personnel deficiencies and how opponents have challenged them so far.
With the NFL having adopted an 18-week format, this marks the exact midpoint of this season, and it’s time to hand out awards. I will go through each of them, presenting my top three candidates, before I finish up with my All-Pro teams.
Compared to my full-season predictions back in late August, there are no projections to these nominations, but rather just how I would vote for each award if the season ended today. So you will see some players show up, who won’t actually win any of these awards or be named All-Pro most likely because they’re currently injured and will miss the rest of the year in some cases.
Let’s get into them:
After brainstorming a few different ideas about videos I could work on, I decided to sort of combine them into a collection of the coolest things I saw across the NFL this past week – whether that’s the performance of an individual player, a unit or some schematic detail.
Despite multiple highly talented quarterbacks either being on bye or currently injured, we got to witness excellent play at the position in several games. I went back to watch all of them and now want to highlight my personal top five, by breaking down their top plays!
We’re four weeks into the NFL season, and as always, this is the point at which I first try to reflect on what we’ve seen and actually try to put all 32 teams in order. Please bear in mind that these are power *rankings* rather than standings. So you may see one team be listed above another with a (slightly) better record or even one they’ve already lost to head-to-head at some point – the objective is to weigh them against the rest of the league at large, and how many opponents I’d favor them over.
This is meant to be a snapshot of how I view each of these teams as of right now, taking injuries into account, although as objective as one tries to be when putting these together, there may be some projection of certain areas improving or declining with time. I will use a variety of statistics and advanced metrics to support my arguments, but they’re all grounded in having watched all 64 games so far on the broadcast and/or All-22 – yes, even some of the atrocious AFC South matchups in the early going.
Overall, I wouldn’t say there’s one dominant group in the league right now, and there are a bunch of teams in the middle of course, where I expect plenty of movement over the next three plus months still, while the bottom-eight teams feel pretty distant to the rest of the competition.
Let’s get into the list:
Usually, at this point of the calendar, I publish my current list of the top five college players. Yet, with how fluctuant that can be based on the ups and downs of the season, the fact that I can’t watch every single game – like I do for the NFL – and my heavy focus on their journey to the pros, I decided to write about something more draft-centric.
I also thought about simply doing a top five by position, but with how I structure my schedule, I typically haven’t more than 15 names for each of those. So instead, I opted for a different approach, as I’ll outline my ten biggest risers a month into the college football season (five on offense and defense each). Please bear in mind that this won’t be complete list, and feel free to put some more names in the comments.
Therefore, you won’t see stalwarts like LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier or Ohio State safety Caleb Downs listed, who I already viewed as top-five prospects coming into the year. Rather, I will outline ten players who have stood out to me, watching the games, and either have really gotten onto my radar or have already moved up my rankings, based on scouting them during the summer. Some of them may have transferred or earned a starting role, now having the opportunity to prove themselves (against a higher level of competition).
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