With the 2026 NFL season set to kick off in three days, it’s time to put a bow on the offseason and sort the league one last time before the games count. The picture is already stirring up thoughts about another wild Super Bowl run after 2025 delivered an unlikely matchup between two teams that hadn’t even reached the playoffs the year before. Seattle and New England are first up to start 2026, and from there the league starts moving fast again.
These final rankings are built around what teams are likely to do this season, not what they’ve done in the rearview mirror. And at the bottom, the outlook is bleak.
The Cleveland Browns come in at No. 32, and optimism is hard to manufacture here. They do have some young talent sprinkled around the roster, but the quarterback situation is a major problem, described as one of the worst the league has seen in years.
The sense is that 2026 is already headed nowhere, which makes the Browns’ best hope a top pick in the 2027 NFL Draft that can be used on a potential franchise QB. That, more than anything else, is the path out.
Right above them at No. 31 are the Arizona Cardinals, who also enter the season with a shaky quarterback room. Unlike Cleveland, there is at least some intriguing offensive talent on hand, but the roster still looks thin overall.
The bigger issue is that the Cardinals don’t have a clear answer at quarterback, and they’re stuck in what’s described as the best division in football. That combination leaves them with little chance of doing much more than scraping together a few wins this year.
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