For those of you who are new here, we do a "Hierarchy/Obituary" post every week during the season, in which we kill off teams that have reached the point where they have almost no chance to make the playoffs. We then write their obituary and never speak of them in the Hierarchy again. 

Anyway, it's my hackneyed sell-out spin on the more traditional "power rankings." Got it? Cool. Let's do a post-draft edition.

16) Cardinals (3-14 in 2025): The Cardinals pretty clearly had the worst roster in the NFC prior to the draft, nowhere even remotely close to playoff contention, much less Super Bowl contention, and they selected running back Jeremiyah Love with the third overall pick.

I could maybe see a team that is relatively close to contention deciding that an extremely talented player like Love could push them over the top. I'd get that. But the Cardinals have no quarterback, a bad offensive line, and holes galore on defense. To select a player at the position with the shortest shelf life in the NFL is just... 🤯. A lot of bad franchises just stay endlessly bad, and this is the type of move that will continue to keep the Cardinals at the bottom of the NFC West.

And frankly it really it sucks for Love, whose talents are going to be wasted and largely ignored out in the desert playing for a franchise that really isn't worth anyone's attention.

To make matters worse, it was widely expected in NFL circles that the Cardinals were going to try to trade back up into Round 1 for QB Ty Simpson, who was instead shockingly selected by a divisional rival in the Rams at 13th overall. The Cardinals then had to pivot, and settle for Carson Beck with the first pick in the third round.

What a disastrous draft for a team with a top-3 pick.

15) Panthers (8-9 in 2025): Teams that won their divisions last season, ranked by the unlikelihood that they'll repeat:

1. Panthers
2. Steelers
3. Bears
4. Patriots
5. Broncos
6. Jaguars
7. Eagles
8. Seahawks

14) Saints (6-11 in 2025): The Saints started 2-10 last year, but they finished by winning four of their last five games and Tyler Shough played well.

They're not ready yet. One more year. But they're trending in the right direction.

13) Giants (4-13 in 2025): In Week 17 last season the then 2-13 Giants played the 2-13 Raiders in a game that was likely to decide who would get the No. 1 overall pick. The Giants tried to win, while the Raiders were very clearly in tank mode, even going as far as to (smartly) deactivate Maxx Crosby and Brock Bowers.

The Giants blew out the Raiders, and then proceeded to also beat the Cowboys Week 18. Congrats, guys. You went from a shot at the No. 1 overall pick to pick No. 5.

In an alternate universe, the Giants lose to Raiders, secure the No. 1 overall pick, and they would have no shortage of teams bidding to trade up for Fernando Mendoza. The Raiders, Jets, and Cardinals would have all made strong plays for that pick. And then other teams like the Browns, Dolphins, and Rams probably would have thrown their hat in the ring, too. The Giants probably could have accumulated a treasure trove of picks in 2026, 2027, and 2028, and not had to have traded their best player (Dexter Lawrence) to do it.

Speaking of Lawrence, the Giants had the second-worst run defense in the NFL last season, and they traded their best run defender. Though they were right to trade him for the 10th overall pick given his age and where the Giants are within the Super Bowl contender hierarchy, they are a worse team after letting him go. I bumped them down three spots from our post-free agency version.

12) Commanders (5-12 in 2025): If Arvell Reese is just going to be an off-ball linebacker (we'll see in time if he is an effective pass rusher), then I think the Commanders got a better player at 7 in Sonny Styles than the Giants did in Reese at pick 5.

11) Falcons (8-9 in 2025): During the 2025 draft, the Falcons made one of the most asinine "all in" types of trades in recent memory, despite not having anything close to a Super Bowl-contending roster.

They traded their second-round pick (46th overall), their first-round pick in 2026, and a seventh-round pick in 2025 to the Rams for the 26th overall pick, and a third-round comp pick (101st overall) in 2025. The 26th overall pick became James Pearce.

Let's calculate the value of all the traded picks, via the draft value chart:

If we're ignoring that some people significantly discount the value of future picks (which is dumb, in my opinion), the Falcons would be behind by 795 draft points, or the equivalent of the 21st overall pick. In other words, they paid a tax of a first-round pick to move up.

So, was Pearce worth it? Well, he did have 10.5 sacks as a rookie, so that's pretty good! But he's also in big trouble this offseason and will very likely be suspended by the NFL, at a minimum.

10) Cowboys (7-9-1 in 2025): It used to be that every year around this time the Cowboys would get hyped up as Super Bowl contenders. But we haven't really seen that in a while. They have become a below average team, and worse... boring off the field.

Well, they were widely praised for their draft (I agree that they did well), and despite two consecutive losing seasons, the hype is back.

9) Vikings (9-8 in 2025): The Vikings signed Jauan Jennings on Thursday. When you combine him with Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, Minnesota now probably has the best wide receiver trio in the NFL.

Unfortunately, their quarterbacks are Kyler Murray, J.J. McCarthy, and Carson Wentz.

8) Bears (11-6 in 2025): My favorite matches of prospect to team in the first round of the draft:

1. Caleb Downs 11th overall to the Cowboys
2. Reuben Bain 15th overall to the Bucs
3. Dillon Thieneman 25th overall to the Bears
4. Keldric Faulk 31st overall to the Titans

I think Thieneman has some Defensive Rookie of the Year potential on that team.

7) Buccaneers (8-9 in 2025): The Bucs lost two faces of the franchise this offseason, when WR Mike Evans left in free agency and LB Lavonte David retired.

And yet, they still pretty clearly have the best roster in the NFC South.

Also, as noted above, they also got a steal at 15 in the draft when Reuben Bain was still available.

6) 49ers (12-5 in 2025): The 49ers reached for all but one of their draft picks, at least compared with where the draft experts had players rated. Here were each of their nine picks, and where Daniel Jeremiah, Mel Kiper, and Dane Brugler all had them ranked:

And so, John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan got asked why they reach so much in drafts: 

Man, as a reporter I respect the hell out of that question, lol. That's a bomb. And it's fair. It's pretty funny that the Niners' beat has the NFL's biggest homer and also its biggest agitator.

Anyway, the Niners reach every year, and holy crap, their last three drafts (2023, 2024, 2025) are brutal.

The Niners' best players are Trent Williams (38 in July), George Kittle (33 in October), Christian McCaffrey (30 in June), Fred Warner (30 in November), and Nick Bosa (29 in October). They're likely to have some lean years ahead because those guys aren't going to play at a high level forever, and they simply have not restocked the pantry with good young players ready to take the reins from the old guys.

5) Packers (9-7-1 in 2025): The Packers' roster is filled with a whole lot of good young players. But, as a reminder, this team hired Jonathan Gannon to be their defensive coordinator this offseason.

Side note: Gannon is being praised in Green Bay for "not having a defensive scheme." Of course, he didn't have a defensive scheme in the Super Bowl either.

4) Lions (9-8 in 2025): In 2023, the Lions had a monster draft, when they selected RB Jahmyr Gibbs, LB Jack Campbell, TE Sam LaPorta, and S Brian Branch. Since then... yuck.

3) Eagles (11-6 in 2025): By my count, the Eagles have 12 players currently on their roster who have made at least one All-Pro team, plus another five players who have been named to at least one Pro Bowl (three of the five were named to multiple Pro Bowls).

Disclaimer: One of the All-Pros is A.J. Brown, who will be gone soon. One is J.T. Gray, a special teamer. One is Jake Elliott; and one is Brandon Graham, who is still on the roster on a technicality (June 1 release).

But the point still stands that they have a very good roster... again.

The roster is so good that there were really only two, maybe three positions they could have drafted in the first round in which that player would be expected to start immediately. That would would be wide receiver and safety, and maybe guard.

As usual, Jalen Hurts should have all the tools at his disposal to succeed, which he seems to do in even years.

2) Rams (12-5 in 2025): Back in March, the Rams traded four picks to the Chiefs for CB Trent McDuffie: 

1. 29th overall pick in the 2026 draft
2. Fifth-round pick, 2026
3. Sixth-round pick, 2026
4. Third-round pick, 2027

I kinda hated that deal for the Rams at the time, but now seeing how bad this draft was that move has grown on me.

With their other first-round pick, 13th overall, the Rams selected QB Ty Simpson. They have since been crushed for that pick, (a) because they are Super Bowl contenders right now and Simpson isn't likely to help them win a Super Bowl in 2026; and (b) many felt Simpson was a reach that high in the draft.

I'll just say this. I'm sure that when NFC contenders saw who the Rams picked, they were relieved that it wasn't a player who can help them right now.

1) Seahawks (14-3 🏆 in 2025): Above we noted the insanity of the Cardinals' selection of a running back with a top 3 pick. The Seahawks also drafted a running back in the first round, and it was actually Jeremiyah Love's teammate at Notre Dame, Jadarian Price. I can respect that, for the following reasons:

1. The Seahawks are trying to repeat as Super Bowl champions.
2. Price will probably start for them, since Kenneth Walker left in free agency.
3. There was a massive drop-off in talent from Price to whoever the RB3 was in this draft.

 So, sure, go ahead and take the running back if he can help you win right now while you have a championship roster.

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