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 sell-out spin on the more traditional "power rankings." Got it? Cool. It's Week 1, so let's get this journey started.

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... 🤯. 

And then to compound their absurd use of resources, these morons gave Love 14 (!) touches in their first preseason game, and he suffered a high ankle sprain.

A lot of bad franchises just stay endlessly bad, and the Cardinals are very much a horrendous franchise. And 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.

15) Commanders (5-12 in 2025): The Commanders are already done. Starting LT Laremy Tunsil tore his triceps and will be out for a big chunk of the regular season, if not the entire season.

As noted in our Commanders dumpster fire article this offseason, Washington has a fragile quarterback, questionable skill position players, a bad defense, and just two good players along their offensive line. With Tunsil out, they're down to one good offensive lineman.

It's remarkable how bad this roster is, considering that they were in the NFC Championship game less than 20 months ago.

14) Falcons (8-9 in 2025): If I asked you who you thought the oldest team in the NFC is, who would you think? I thought it was going to be the Rams, what with many of their best players deep into their 30's, like Matthew Stafford, Aaron Donald, Tyler Higbee, Davante Adams, etc.

But nope! To my surprise, it's the Falcons, who employ 17 players who are at least 29 years of age.

This franchise has been painfully mediocre, stuck in purgatory for the last eight season, with no end in sight.

They spent major draft resources on fixing their pass rush with the selections of Jalon Walker and James Pearce in the first round of the 2025 draft. Walker suffered a torn ACL in training camp, and Pearce was suspended for eight games, stemming from serious domestic violence charges. 

13) Panthers (8-9 in 2025): The Panthers won the NFC South in 2025 with an 8-9 record and a -69 point differential. They were already an obvious candidate to go from first to worst, and they'll be missing a whole bunch of important players to begin the season.

• EDGE Nic Scourton: Scourton suffered a torn ACL during training camp, and was placed on IR. His season is over. Scourton had a very encouraging rookie season, with 47 tackles, 5 sacks, and a forced fumble. He's still only 21 years old, and was projected to start on the edge opposite former Eagle Jaelan Phillips.

• OT Ikem Ekwonu: Ekwonu is the Panthers' starting LT. He suffered a ruptured patellar tendon in the Panthers' loss to the Rams in the wildcard round of the playoffs last season. He will almost certainly miss a substantial part of the 2026 regular season. The Panthers signed Rasheed Walker this offseason to prepare for the loss of Ekwonu.

• OT Taylor Moton: Moton was diagnosed with blood clots in his lung in June, and was placed on the NFI list. He is expected to miss time during the regular season. The Panthers drafted Monroe Freeling in the first round of the 2026 draft.

• DT Tershawn Wharton: Wharton had neck surgery in May and began camp on the PUP list. Wharton signed a big deal with the Panthers in 2025 after a good 2024 season with the Chiefs. He'll begin the season on the PUP list.

• WR Chris Brazzell: Brazzell is a third-round rookie who was expected to compete for a meaningful role in the Panthers' offense this season. He suffered a torn LCL, and was placed on IR. His season is over.

That's a lot to overcome.

12) Giants (4-13 in 2025): In each of the last three seasons, the Giants have had a 2-8 record after their first 10 games. Over the last 10 years we have pretty routinely killed this team off in our Hierarchy series before Thanksgiving.

Well, this season, the Giants' first two games are at home against the Cowboys, and then on the road against the Rams.

The Giants are 2-16 against the Cowboys since 2017, and the Rams, are, you know, the Rams.

If they lose both of those games... same trash Giants.

BUT, if they can just win one of them... then their next four opponents are the Titans, Cardinals, Commanders, and Saints. Combined 2025 record: 17-51.

There's been a lot of talk about how the Giants are going to be notably better this season under John Harbaugh. Let's see it.

11) Saints (6-11 in 2025): The 2025 Saints started 2-10 and played in relative obscurity. But I kinda like Tyler Shough, who became the starter roughly midway through the season and had a 5-4 record.

He's big, he has a good arm, can run around a little. There's a lot to like. This Saints team isn't a legitimate contender, but they do feel like a team heading in the right direction.

10) Vikings (9-8 in 2025): The Vikings have a good defense led by a great coordinator, and awesome wide receivers. 

But it's hard for me to get past the obvious here, which is that their quarterbacks are Kyler Murray, Carson Wentz, and J.J. McCarthy. I've seen enough of all three to know that they ain't it.

9) Packers (9-7-1 in 2025): The Packers want to run the ball. They were the fifth-most run-heavy team in 2025, and the third-most run-heavy team in 2024. Running the ball is going to be harder with Josh Jacobs on the "Commissioner's Exempt List," following a physical altercation with his girlfriend.

Jacobs averaged 4.0 yards per carry in 2025, so it's not as if he was "2024 Saquon Barkley." But, he has scored 30 TDs over the last two seasons, and the Packers don't have much behind him.

Also, Micah Parsons is starting the season on the PUP list, meaning he'll miss at least the first four games of the season.

The Packers have been eking their way into the playoffs as the seven seed each of the last three seasons. I think they're out this year.

8) Cowboys (7-9-1 in 2025): The great Mike Sando of The Athletic polled six NFL executives, and posted their rankings of the 16 NFC teams. I was stunned to see that one exec had the Cowboys ranked second, and all but one had them in the top five.

I understand that their offense was outstanding in 2025, and should be explosive again in 2026. But, maaaan, there are major holes on this team. The offensive tackles stink. No pass rush from the edge. The corners got absolutely roasted last season. Their dumpster fire article was pretty easy to write this year, which is never a good sign.

As always, whenever the Cowboys look even a little bit like a semi-competent team they get way overhyped, and I guess that somehow even extends to executives around the league.

7) Bears (11-6 in 2025): Here's what we wrote about the Bears in a post-free agency edition of our Hierarchy: 

The 2025 Bears were a major success, playing relevant football in January for the first time in a long time, and winning their first playoff game since the 2010 season.

Along the way, they were an extremely entertaining team to watch, as almost half of their games ended in wild fashion, with Chicago usually coming out on top.

They remind me of the 2024 Commanders, who also won an unsustainable number of tight games decided by a crazy play or two, somehow getting to the NFC Championship Game before obvious regression (and then some) caught up with them in 2025.

The Bears are as clear a regression candidate as there is in the NFL this season.

I guess others have said the same, because Ben Johnson has heard it, lol:

When I first saw that quote I thought it was one of the most surprising, self-aware takes from a head coach I'd ever seen. But, it wasn't. It's just a motivating tactic for his players. But I respect his extreme deadpan delivery.

6) Buccaneers (8-9 in 2025): I'm kind of torn on how I feel about the following video of Baker Mayfield, when he said he felt disrespected and undervalued by the contract extension offers the Bucs were offering, and that after he has a great season in 2026 his current asking price would only go up.

That is a wild presser. If that happened in Philly... holy crap.

On the one hand, the front office / player vibes are in the toilet in Tampa. On the other hand, Mayfield is highly motivated and supremely confident, even if somewhat delusional. They might be dangerous this year, and as usual they're the favorites in the awful NFC South.

5) 49ers (12-5 in 2025): Christian McCaffrey has topped 400 touches in a season three times.

In 2019, McCaffrey had 403 touches. The following season, ankle and shoulder injuries caused him to miss all but three games and his team went 5-11.

In 2023, McCaffrey had 417 touches. The following season, he dealt with calf, Achilles, and PCL injuries and missed all but four games and his team went 6-11.

In 2025, McCaffrey had 450 (!) touches. The following season, we'll see. But certainly, the Niners are going to run their offense through McCaffrey once again, and if he can't stay healthy what is that offense going to look like?

4) Lions (9-8 in 2025): The Lions have the easiest schedule in the NFL, based on Vegas forecasted win totals (via Sharp Football analysis).

They finished last in the NFC North in 2025 with a 9-8 record. (They'd have won the NFC South with that record, lol.)

But because they finished last, they got a last place schedule. They'll of course play the teams in their own division twice each, but they also get to play the entirety of the AFC East and the putrid NFC South. Their three floating opponents who also finished last in their respective divisions in 2025 are the Cardinals, Titans, and Giants.

This is still an explosive team and they have an easy path to the playoffs. They are going to have a good record this season.

3) Eagles (11-6 in 2025): After having watched the Eagles practice all summer, I get asked quite a bit what I think of the team, in sort of a big picture way. And, well, they're going to be a good team again.

They have a high floor because the defense is going to be awesome. I'd be pretty stunned if they didn't win double digit games again.

The offense? I have no idea. There may not be a wider range of outcomes for one side of the ball in the NFL than this offensive group. We saw in 2024 how good they can be, and then in 2025 how bad they can be. I really don't know. 🤷‍♂️

2) Rams (12-5 in 2025): The season hasn't even begun yet and I think people are already tired of hearing about how loaded the Rams are. But, you know, they are pretty loaded.

1) Seahawks (14-3 🏆 in 2025): Since the Seahawks won the Super Bowl last year, they get to stay in the No. 1 spot at least until some real games are played, even if the Rams probably have the better roster.

Here is how Super Bowl winners have fared in their follow-up seasons in the last 10 years:

As you can see, only two teams failed to get back to the playoffs the following season, and only the 2022 Rams had a losing record. Only the 2023 Chiefs repeated as champions. My #analysis: Super Bowl champions are still usually really good the next season, but it's very hard to repeat. 

Follow Jimmy & PhillyVoice on Twitter: @JimmyKempski | thePhillyVoice

Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports

Add Jimmy's RSS feed to your feed reader