The NFL season is right around the corner, just weeks away from the start of the regular season. Preseason has already kicked off, and fans have been able to see the beginning of what their team looks like. The NFC reigns supreme coming into the year, with the reigning Super Bowl champions being from the NFC in the Los Angeles Rams.
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However, this year they're going to be plenty of contenders coming from the NFC. From the champions Los Angeles Rams to the second-pick Detroit Lions, and every team in between, these are how the NFC teams ranked at the beginning of the season.
16 Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks are bound to be one of the worst NFL teams this year, largely due to the uncertainty at the quarterback position. The Seahawks will start Drew Lock or Geno Smith after trading Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos this off-season. The Seahawks look to be in a complete rebuild mode, and surely this year will be one of their worst seasons in recent memory.
Luckily, first-round pick Charles Cross has looked great in the preseason, and if Seattle can get the number one pick or close to it, they can be in place for a possible franchise quarterback next season.
15 Atlanta Falcons
Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n""> Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
The Atlanta Falcons will likely be worse than they were last season. The Falcons finished last season with a 7-10 record, but have now traded quarterback Matt Ryan to the Indianapolis Colts. The Falcons are rolling with Marcus Mariota as the quarterback at the moment, with Desmond Ridder as the backup.
The Falcons will also be without wide receiver Calvin Ridley, who has been suspended the entire season for gambling. It seems as though the Falcons are embracing the rebuild and this year it will be about their young stars developing such as first-round pick Drake London. Expect the Falcons to be drafting very early in next year's draft.
14 Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears have one of the worst rosters on paper in the league. The receiving corps is not nearly what it was last season with the exodus of Allen Robinson, the team's leading receiver the last few years. The Bears have done a poor job building an offensive line or weapons for young quarterback Justin Fields.
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Fields is going to have to pull off a miracle to make the Bears anywhere near competitive this season. The Bears don't have the worst defense, as they did very well against the pass last season, but the offense just does not offer enough for this team to be competitive.
13 New York Giants
It seems as though this is going to be the last season that the New York Giants have with Daniel Jones before they begin to either draft or look for a replacement and free agency. This will likely be the last year he is undoubtedly the starter. Until the end of this era, they would likely not be contenders.
The Giants have notoriously been unlucky with injuries over the last few seasons, it looks like this year will be the same with first-round pick Kayvon Thibodeaux going to miss the first couple weeks of the season with an injury that he sustained in the preseason. The Giants did have one of the best drafts this year and have building blocks for the future to play with this year.
12 Washington Commanders
The Washington Commanders had a quarterback carousel last season, and have now landed on Carson Wentz to be their signal collar this year. Wentz has the potential to be an excellent quarterback in the league, but it has not seen that out of him since 2017.
The Commanders were able to win seven games with inconsistency at quarterback, so if Wentz can improve the team by just a couple of wins, they could start making some strides for playoff contention. However, unless Washington makes a huge improvement, they still look like the third or fourth-best team in their division.
11 Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are building a culture within the organization. However, the Lions haven't seen that culture turns into wins just yet. The Lions selected edge rusher, Aidan Hutchinson, from the University of Michigan with the second overall pick, and already in preseason he has looked impressive.
The Lions certainly came out of the draft looking like one of the winners, but with a defense that allowed the second most points in the NFL last season, they still have a lot of work to do in order to become contenders for the playoffs. The Lions are still a couple of years away from completing this rebuild, but they are making improvements year by year.
10 Carolina Panthers
The Carolina Panthers have made a lot of moves in the off-season, most notably the recent acquisition of quarterback Baker Mayfield from the Cleveland Browns. Mayfield is now a Panther starter, with rookie quarterback Matt Corral going out, the Panthers are now left with Mayfield or Darnold at quarterback.
That isn't the quarterback competition that most teams would want, but it is enough to still be competitive. That may actually be the worst scenario for the fans since it will leave the Panthers likely not in a position to get one of the top quarterbacks, but also not making the playoffs. If the offensive line can make a drastic improvement, Carolina could have playoff hopes.
9 Minnesota Vikings
Much of the Minnesota Vikings' questions rely on quarterback Kirk Cousins. The Vikings have won the best-receiving cores with Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen, combined with one of the best running backs in the league in Dalvin Cook. The offensive line is still a question, but a lot relies on how consistent can Cousins be, and if he can, he'll go up to another level to take them to Super Bowl contender ship.
That probably isn't likely under Cousins, and the defense is going to have to pull a ton of weight for that to be the case. Right now the defense, specifically the secondary just isn't in a place to do that, and they still could contend for the playoffs but outside of that is unlikely.
8 Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals are very similar to what they are last year. They look like a boom-or-bust team, and the Cardinals were just that last season when they were the final team to lose a game, but then just barely reached the playoffs. Consistency is going to be the Cardinals' biggest area of improvement.
The Cardinals require wide receiver Marquis Brown but lost the likes of Christian Kirk and Chandler Jones. The contract saga with Kyler Murray is now over, and they can focus on building this team around the young quarterback. The Cardinals can easily miss the playoffs or be Super Bowl contenders.
7 New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints have made some improvements, most notably with the signing Tyrann Mathieu. The Saints will also get star wide receiver Michael Thomas back, who missed all of last season. The receiving core has improved tremendously from last season, with the signing of Jarvis Landry and drafting Chris Olave in the first round.
It seemed as though New Orleans were in the conversations to get to DeShaun Watson, before ultimately signing Jameis Winston to another contract. A lot will ride on Winston's abilities, as he can be extremely up and down. If running back Alvin Kamara faces a suspension, look for the Saints to have a similar year to last year, but if everything goes the Saints' way, they could look at a playoff spot this year.
6 Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys have disappointed fans for many years when it comes to post-season time. The Cowboys once again made the playoffs last season, winning the NFC East in the process, just to lose in the wild-card round to the San Francisco 49ers. The Cowboys are still arguably the favorite in the NFC East, with the Philadelphia Eagles, but the Cowboys did lose both Amari Cooper and Randy Gregory to free agency.
Dallas possesses one of the best offensive lines in the league and lead the NFL in yards per game last season. The defense has the most takeaways in the NFL and if that occurs again, the Cowboys should once again be a playoff team.
5 Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles had an incredible off-season. The Eagles acquired AJ Brown, as well as Hassan Reddick and Jordan Davis. Philadelphia will have DeVonta Smith into his second season, and Jalen Hurts is always improving. The Eagles had the best run game in all of the NFL last season, and they should be around the same this season.
However, with AJ Brown in the mix, the Eagles may not have to rely so heavily on the run and could be a bit more dynamic in the passing game. This Philadelphia Eagles team should be an improvement, and they should be the favorites or at least in the fight for the NFC East against the Dallas Cowboys.
4 San Francisco 49ers
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The 49ers were one of the biggest surprises of last season. San Francisco went from a wild card team to the NFC Championship, just losing to the eventual Super Bowl champions Los Angeles Rams. Now, the 49ers look like a very different team by sitting Jimmy Garoppolo, hoping to trade the quarterback soon, and going with the young and exciting Trey Lance.
Lance offers a lot of what Garoppolo can't do, Lance has one of the biggest and strongest arms and has a ton of running ability. However, not much is known about what Lance can do in a full season, and there will likely be growing pains this year. However, if Lance showcases his full potential, the 49ers can be a very dangerous team.
3 Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers have the back-to-back MVP-winning quarterback Aaron Rodgers. With Rodgers, that's enough to be a competitive team in the NFL alone. The Packers were upset by the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC divisional round, spoiling yet another year that felt like the Packers were Super Bowl contenders.
This year, Green Bay comes in with the departure of Davante Adams, who they traded to the Las Vegas Raiders. Have the Packers done enough in the draft to address the loss? Time will tell but with Rodgers as the signal caller, it's too difficult to count Green Bay out.
2 Los Angeles Rams
The reigning defending Super Bowl champions Los Angeles Rams have to be considered one of the top teams for the Super Bowl. There's not much that the Rams are missing outside possibly another edge rusher due to losing Von Miller.
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However, most of their core is still intact with quarterback Matthew Stafford and wide receivers Cooper Kupp, with the addition of Allen Robinson. The Rams also added Bobby Wagner in the offseason as well. It is always an extremely tall task to be able to repeat, but the Rams look like a team that has a great shot to do it.
1 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have arguably the most complete roster in the NFL. Tampa Bay front office was sweating just months ago when Tom Brady announced his retirement, but with Brady back, the Buccaneers are once again a favorite for the Super Bowl.
The Buccaneers have one of the best front sevens in all the NFL, and with Tom Brady paired with the likes of Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, they can easily compete against any team in the NFL. This might be Brady's last season in the NFL and his determination to end it with a Super Bowl victory will be massive.
