It's definitely not hard to list the very best and very worst teams in the NFL for this coming season, but the order is where things can get foggy. It's pretty clear that the Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks, and Denver Broncos, for example, are three of the best teams in the league right now.
The same could be said for the Arizona Cardinals, Cleveland Browns, and Miami Dolphins as some of the worst teams in the league. With that said, a given NFL season can definitely bring some unexpected results, so we should be bracing for some fireworks and things that we just do not expect.
Let's get into predicting the 10 worst teams in the NFL when the season ends. For this exercise, we won't put them in a specific order, but will merely list them out and offer our arguments for each.
Predicting the 10 worst teams in the NFL when the 2026 season ends
Arizona Cardinals
Let's get the obvious out of the way. Not only do the Arizona Cardinals have a bottom-5 roster, bottom-5 quarterback room, and first-year coaching staff, but the team is also buried in the best division in football.
The Cardinals could legitimately become the first winless team in the 17-game era, and it's simply a reality that this team has to work through during the 2026 season. This could end with the Cardinals having the first overall pick in the 2027 NFL Draft, which would potentially land them Arch Manning, and I suppose that is always something worth hoping for.
Carolina Panthers
The Carolina Panthers went 8-9 during the 2025 season, sharing that same record with the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The NFC South was a bad, bad division, but the Panthers somehow managed to come out as the division winners.
My thing here, though, is that the Panthers don't overwhelm you on either side of the ball and appear to have a very limited quarterback in Bryce Young.
Some may be thinking that another sizeable step forward is in the picture, but I am in the camp of the 2025 season being Young's ceiling. He obviously has major size concerns, which I do believe are always valid, and he's still largely been a bottom-7 quarterback his entire career.
I would sell your Panthers stock before 2026 begins.
New York Giants
The New York Giants made a rock-solid move this offseason to hire John Harbaugh as the next head coach, but, like the Panthers, the Giants may not do anything particularly well, and there also isn't a guarantee that Harbaugh is the right coach for this team.
I personally believe that the Giants will take a notable step forward, but also that this team is still a year away. Getting into the 2027 offseason and making more aggressive roster moves could be the more realistic plan.
Whatever Harbaugh has done in his head coaching career that has allowed him to sustain this success could also take a year to fully settle in for the Giants franchise.
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