NFL 2021 Power Rankings W/ Grades (Week One)

RK 25

Cincinnati Bengals

Any interest in this team from fans was lost with the season-ending injury of Joe Burrow last season which ultimately helped this team dramatically by giving them the 5th pick and landing Ja’Marr Chase. Based on Burrows’s performance last year given the help around him, I feel reassured he is the guy to carry this franchise to success. There are many reasons for optimism in Cincinnati but there are also a considerable amount of question marks surrounding the future outlook of this team. Zach Taylor is my primary concern as I’m pretty doubtful he’s the long-term answer at head coach and the overall culture seems to have been affected by Taylor in a negative way doesn’t seem to have changed. It seems as though the players struggle to respect him based on the rumored complaints from the locker room in addition to Carlos Dunlap demanding a trade due to not being used properly. I really dislike that Taylor and the coaching staff emphasized getting the ball out quicker to joe burrow after willingly neglecting the help of pass protection in the draft and free agency. There are a lot of nice pieces to be excited about on both offense and defense but with the inexperience, spots of weakness, and mediocre coaching, I don’t see the Bengals being very threatening this year.

RK 26

Las Vegas Raiders

I don’t think I could’ve pictured a more raiders-like end to a season than the one we saw with them last year. After an exciting 6-3 start to the 2020 season, beating teams like the saints and chiefs the raiders looked like a lock to make the playoffs. But in a raider-like fashion, this team spiraled quickly, lost the locker room, and finished the year with a record of 8-8 missing the playoffs. One move John Gruden made at the end of 2020 that perfectly attests to his stubbornness was firing his defensive coordinator Paul Guenther. I don’t think this wasn’t necessarily the right move but to do it before the season ended as if he was the main reason their defense was so bad is just a bad way to run the team. While Gus Bradley is probably the better option, it is no one’s fault but John Gruden’s for why this defense is essentially talentless for NFL standards. You can make a long list of all the drastic mistakes this front office has made under the control of John Gruden, While Gruden can undoubtedly coach his players up and call a good offense, he has only hurt this team ultimately as the team’s GM. As someone who was lower on Las Vegas last season, they did really surprise me with their performance throughout the year, especially on offense, but unfortunately, it’s likely to see some heavy regression in Las Vegas for 2021.

RK 27

New York Jets

The Jets were a laughing stock in 2020, there is really no other way to put it and it was topped off with a coincidental win that lost them generational prospect, Trevor Lawrence. However, they may as well had the number one overall with getting Zach Wilson who’s as good as any other number one draft pick from the past few drafts. They also landed one of the most advantageous coaches available with Robert Saleh who was easily the best option available for the Jets in particular. While Saleh not only brings a legitimate chance to build one of the best cultures the Jets have ever had and coach up an elite defense, he also managed to bring over Mike Lefleur from San Fransico to take the hands of the offensive playcalling. Though they weren’t slam dunk free agent signings, WR Corey Davis and EDGE Carl Lawson were very nice additions to the team who’ll bring a significant impact to two very important position groups. In addition to those new players, New York grabbed a handful of other quality players through the draft and free agency. Considering just how terrible this team was a year ago, I am rather impressed with the current shape this roster is in, and with the combo of Zach Wilson and Robert Saleh, I’d be very optimistic for the future as a Jets fan.

RK 28Atlanta Falcons

Following the overdue firing of Head Coach Dan Quin, the Falcons organization find itself in an odd situation. Similar to a few other teams, Atlanta basically hit the reset button with their franchise in 2021 and completely cleaned house but what makes the Falcons rebuild more unique and complicated than others is the QB situation with Matt Ryan. It is a bit predicamental to have a QB like Matt Ryan with the contract he has in the midst of beginning a rebuild. This is due to the position and trajectory of Ryans’ career, being he is now thirty-six years old and while he isn’t a shell of himself, his arm talent has regressed a notch and he simply isn’t as sharp as he was a few seasons ago. At this point in his career, he would be the ideal veteran QB to pay a team-friendly contract and have stepped in and run an offense that already is established with talent followed by a good defense, just like Philp Rivers did with the Colts. The problem here is they restructured his contract to be here long term meaning they won’t have the freedom of cap space to attract free agents beyond this season and the spots of weakness on this offense combined with their poor defense seriously limits the opportunity for growth with this team. Matt Ryan and Arthur Smith will undoubtedly have a degree of success, but to what extent is it worth comprising the future of the position. There are enough pieces in place to keep this team from being awful but without a long-term answer at QB, Atlanta’s future isn’t too great, even among the bad tier of teams.

RK 29

Jacsonville Jaguars

Among the bottom tier of NFL teams this season, the Jaguars very well be the most exciting and promising. Many passionate football fans including myself are intrigued to see how this new regime will pan out and the jags fan base seems to be very optimistic. There are very few reasons to be concerned about the QB situation in Jacksonville as they have just about the highest upside you could have at the position with Trevor Lawrence in addition to having the best backup option in the league with Gardner Minshew. The big question with this team is how Urban Myers’s coaching ability is going to translate to the NFL as the franchise is in desperate need of a high-end coach to bring a legitimate culture change to its locker room. The pieces are set for Myer to have a shot at succeeded and the difference between this team’s ceiling and the floor is massive as they have a lot of untapped potential. I have already started to form concerns with the direction the team is headed based on how Myer and Trent Baalke managed their first offseason by making a considerable amount of overpays especially with giving Cam Robinson the franchise tag. The biggest question to be answered however is how well he’ll use and develop his players as well as if he’ll make a significant culture change. Even if everything goes well for the jags and Urban Myer proves to be fit for the pros, it likely will be a year or two before this team is seriously competitive.

RK 30

Philidelphia Eagles

The Eagles are a team I would’ve never anticipated ranking this low so soon after being a truly elite team and that is mostly due to the massive amount of misfortune this team has suffered the past few years. Some of that misfortune has actually come directly from the league itself; Philidelphia has ranked 31st or 32nd in rest differential every year since 2016. Rest differential is the amount of difference in days of rest between a team and its opponent across a season and for whatever reason, the NFL has had it out for the eagles by consistently putting them at a mathematical disadvantage with their schedule. This explains why they have had such miserable luck with injuries over the past year and it is only fair to assume that the team’s health won’t be too much better in 2021 after ranking dead last again. On top of that, something unexplainable to everyone outside the Eagles organization took place between Doug Pederson, Carson Wentz, and the front office which was resolved in a complete change in their coaching staff as well as their QB. Outside of one of the worst QB-coach duos in the league and great misfortune, Philidelphia does have a very talented roster on both sides of the ball and is a unique team that may have some surprising performances.

RK 31

Detroit Lions

Although the Lions won’t be very competitive this season, there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic as a lions fan as I believe they are just now starting to head in the right direction after firing Matt Patricia. The firing of Patricia was long overdue and he honestly never should’ve gotten the job, to begin with. Given he was a defensive coach coming from New England, you would’ve expected his group of DBs with great upside to at least play serviceable, and to also not have the worst tackling grades in the league, but this all somehow came true. Hiring Dan Cambell given the circumstances the franchise is in was a great move. One thing we are hopeful about with Campbell is that he will make roles on both offense and defense conducive to each of his players and it was obvious the amount of effort he got from his TEs coaching in New Orleans. If there were any team where it made sense to hire a coach, not in charge of playcalling, it is the lions as this culture was simply spiraling fast and they needed a competent leader to halt the disaster from getting any worse. It was only fair for the Lions to give Stafford the respect he deserved by trading him to a ready-to-win franchise and Campbell is the perfect guy to establish a new culture to build from.

RK 32

Houston Texans

There aren’t any words besides chaos and dysfunction to describe what has taken place in the Texans organization over the past two years. On the bright side for Texans fans, things can only really improve from here on out given that just about every step has been taken to reset the direction of this franchise towards some state of stability. To be clear, this entire post will be written with the expectation of Deshaun Watson not playing a single snap for the Texans in 2021; this makes projecting their season far less complicated and is also the more likely scenario according to Vegas odds. Given they won’t have Watson to rely on, this makes the Texans by and large the worst team heading into the 2021 season and for many reasons beyond having to start Tyrod Taylor. Not only is there a blatantly broken culture for Dave Culley and Nick Caserio to attempt to fix but the team is depleted of promising young talent. Houston likely will also have two of the worst coordinators in the league given they weren’t even able to attract a better play caller than Tim Kelly who’ll be returning as the O-Coordinator. The odds that Lovey Smith will be able to get a group of low-level veterans and some late-round draft picks to over-achieve and even play with intensity is slim to none. With an underwhelming head coach taking over, a talentless roster, and the absence of Watson, it’d be a shock if the 2021 Texans weren’t one of the worst teams we’ve seen in the past 10 years.