NFL Power Rankings, Week 1: Dolphins hurt by trade talk, Bears look foolish

The Miami Dolphins claim they’re all-in on Tua Tagovailoa but recent trade talk suggests otherwise, which hurts them in the 2021 NFL Power Rankings

Regular season NFL football is finally here.

This weekend brought us the final round of preseason games as now every NFL team will get a week off before starting the regular season.

It was the first time we saw teams play just three preseason games so it was weird to see so many starters play in the final week, but it was fun. We also saw some unfortunate injury news as J.K. Dobbins was lost for the season.

Roster talk also dominated as teams started to work to get their rosters down to 53. That included the Eagles landing Gardner Minshew in a trade with the Jaguars, who elected to move on from their former starter.

Speaking of quarterback moves, Deshaun Watson trade rumors started again and this time it centered all around the Miami Dolphins. They can downplay it all they want, but this seems like a slap to Tua Tagovailoa.

Let’s see how that news and all the games from this weekend shake up our 2021 NFL Power Rankings.

2021 NFL Power Rankings entering Week 1 of the season.

After winning their first two preseason games, the Houston Texans dropped their finale 23-16 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was an ugly first half where they went into the break trailing 16-2 and while they did outscore Tampa in the second half, it was never really pretty.

After Tyrod Taylor went to the bench, Davis Mills came in and was off with his passes all night. He finished with 106 yards while completing just 10-of-27 passes with two touchdowns and three picks. He also lost a fumble on the night.

Houston has had a horrific offseason thanks in large part to the dark cloud hanging over the head of Deshaun Watson. However, even before Watson’s off-field accusations, the former first-round pick was already asking to be sent away. And now that the regular season is approaching, rumors have picked back up suggesting he could be on the move — although it makes very little sense for any team to trade for him now rather than to wait for the legal issues to be figured out.

Knowing Watson is their past, Houston hoped to see enough from Mills to feel confident that he could be the guy in the future. It might be too early to say that won’t happen but he also hasn’t done enough to persuade the team that they shouldn’t be scouting quarterbacks during the season.