Pro Football Weekly's NFL power rankings: Patriots start season on top
Pro Football Weekly's Power Rankings are updated every Tuesday during the NFL's regular season and rank teams based on their talent and performance to date. Rankings will change each week because of personnel changes, injuries and performance, and a team's ranking in any given week has no impact on where they might rank in weeks to come. Rankings will fluctuate a great deal more the first few weeks of the season as teams seek their levels and schedules balance out. These are PFW's Power Rankings entering Week 1 of the 2019 season.
1. New England Patriots
Seemingly even less annual hand-wringing over their imminent fall this year than usual.
2. Kansas City Chiefs
If "Shady" is still the real McCoy, Andy Reid will rediscover him in this offense.
3. Philadelphia Eagles
NFL's best roster still needs a healthy Carson Wentz for a full season.
4. New Orleans Saints
Drew Brees gets benefit of the doubt after rough Dec./Jan. with support that may be stronger.
5. Chicago Bears
All the kicker paralysis by analysis was because there aren't a lot of other issues.
6. Los Angeles Chargers
Red flags in form of James/Okung injuries, Gordon holdout a bit disconcerting.
7. Los Angeles Rams
Did NFL figure out McVay offense? Probably not. But Gurley's knee, O-line turnover new questions.
8. Houston Texans
Tunsil isn't cure-all and Houston's future resources thin but strong favorite in suddenly turbulent South.
9. Seattle Seahawks
Hard not to admire the shrewd offseason plan to quickly overhaul defensive front.
10. Cleveland Browns
Would be higher based on talent alone, but let's see what Freddie Kitchens can do.
11. Dallas Cowboys
Like the Texans, Dallas much better on paper if Zeke's back, but at what cost?
12. Minnesota Vikings
How fast can new O-line jell? Asking for friends concerned with Kirk Cousins' safety.
13. Pittsburgh Steelers
Our biggest internal divide: Ranking the Steelers after their internal divides.
14. Green Bay Packers
Will the real Aaron Rodgers please stand up? If so, they're contenders again.
15. Atlanta Falcons
If young stars return to full health, they're dangerous. If not, DQ's job security will be.
16. Indianapolis Colts
After Frank Reich watched Nick Foles work miracles, can Jacoby Brissett?
17. Baltimore Ravens
Defense likely to take a step back, making Lamar's step forward the key.
18. Carolina Panthers
With Cam's uncertain health, very difficult team to get a bead on.
19. Jacksonville Jaguars
If division suddenly up for grabs, have talented Jaguars matured enough to seize it?
20. Tennessee Titans
Marcus Mariota is the least desirable quarterback in a division with two new ones.
21. Denver Broncos
We have zero doubts about what Vic will do on 'D' but seriously doubt Joe Flacco is offense's answer.
22. San Francisco 49ers
Exciting upgrades up front on 'D' but not enough to mask secondary deficiencies.
23. New York Jets
In a different division, we'd be more bullish but still expect a big jump from Darnold.
24. Buffalo Bills
We like Buffalo's roster better than Gang Green's but much prefer Darnold to Allen.
25. New York Giants
If Eli surprises, Big Blue likely will too, but we're on Daniel Jones watch.
26. Detroit Lions
They spent a ton and Stafford should steady, but the division is simply loaded.
27. Oakland Raiders
More talented? No question. Can Gruden harness it? We're not seeing it.
28. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Big-strike offense with poor O-line and reckless QB ... and that's the good unit.
29. Cincinnati Bengals
After 16 years of Lewis, will they have same patience as Taylor inherits a rebuild?
30. Washington
With an awful QB incubator, they might be doing Haskins a favor starting Case.
31. Arizona Cardinals
They'll be fun to watch but this looked like NFL's worst roster in preseason until ...
32. Miami Dolphins
Fitting that they're the NFL's most obvious tank job yet, right?