It sometimes feels impossible to sort through all of the top-notch players in the NFL, but that has not stopped us from churning out a ton of different versions of NFL power rankings this offseason. With the middle of June already approaching, the offseason is going to fly by the rest of the way.
We're all surely eager for football to start, but that's turned up about 10x for the players. We recently decided to power-rank each team in the AFC using their best player, and we've done the same with the NFC here.
Trying to juggle 2025 production and the player's total body of work, we've ranked all 16 NFC teams. All in all, the rankings did not vary that much from our normal power rankings.
NFL Power Rankings, 2026: Ranking the NFC based on each team's best player
16. Washington Commanders - Laremy Tunsil, LT
Let's kick things off with Laremy Tunsil at No. 16. Obviously, Tunsil is not a bad player, and that's an important distinction to make with these power rankings. He might be the 'worst' of the best, though. The five-time Pro Bowler has played for three different teams and has been a top left tackle for much of his career.
Tunsil does have an unfortunate history of penalties, and he's missed games in every season but two. He's played 10 years in the NFL and has started all 139 regular season games that he's appeared in. Tunsil is only set to be in his age-32 season in 2026, so he's still quite young by tackle standards as well.
There is reason to believe that he has another 3-5 years of high-end success. The Washington Commanders are a better team with Tunsil in the picture, but with an overall lack of elite, top-end talent, Tunsil is the one who stands out as their best player.
15. Carolina Panthers - Tetairoa McMillan, WR
Tetairoa McMillan was the Offensive Rookie of the Year in the 2025 season, proving that the Carolina Panthers made the right move to draft him last year. McMillan hauled in 70 passes for 1,014 yards and 7 touchdowns, playing and starting in all 17 games. He has the body type to be a legitimate, high-end WR1 for years to come, and if quarterback Bryce Young can take another step forward in 2026, McMillan is going to also enjoy a more prolific season.
Given how strong this first year was from the young wide receiver, we could easily be talking about his being a top-10 player at the position when 2026 gets going.
14. New Orleans Saints - Travis Etienne, RB
Signing over from the Jacksonville Jaguars in free agency, Travis Etienne feels like the New Orleans Saints best player. Etienne actually missed his entire rookie season, so while his NFL career looks like it's been four seasons, it's actually been five. Etienne has missed just two games in the past four seasons, amassing 5,136 scrimmage yards during this time.
He's a rock-solid runner with pass-catching ability, and that's the type of weapon that the Saints offense was missing. Their other running back of note, Alvin Kamara, is obviously declining, so the team went out and spent big-time bucks to land Etienne. He'll supercharge this Saints offense in 2026.
13. Philadelphia Eagles - Lane Johnson, RT
Lane Johnson played in just 10 games in the regular season for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2025. Johnson has unfortunately struggled with injuries for much of his career, but he surely stayed on the field long enough to cement a Hall of Fame career as one of the best right tackles in NFL history. Johnson is getting up there in age, and he's not the player he once was, so many have wondered if we could be watching Johnson entering the final year of an insanely successful NFL career.
He's 13th in our rankings after not playing a ton in 2025.
12. New York Giants - Brian Burns, EDGE
In 2025 for the New York Giants, Brian Burns earned Pro Bowl and second-team All-Pro honors. He finished with 16.5 sacks, 22 tackles for loss, and 31 quarterback hits, which were all career-high numbers. Burns is a bit of an interesting player, as he was playing elite football this past season, but he's not necessarily someone you immediately think of when talking about the best pass-rushers in the NFL.
Burns now has 71 career sacks through seven seasons in the NFL and is only entering his age-28 campaign. This is one heck of a player.
11. Green Bay Packers - Micah Parsons, EDGE
Micah Parsons tore his ACL for the Green Bay Packers in 2025, so he was not able to finish the season. Speaking of awesome pass-rushers. Parsons came over in a trade with the Dallas Cowboys in a move that not many of us saw coming. Parsons is a five-time Pro Bowler and did manage to make the first-team All-Pro squad despite playing in 14 games.
He has 65 sacks through five seasons and is very much on a future Hall of Fame pace if he can keep this up throughout the rest of his 20s. That may seem a bit aggressive, but he's accomplished just about everything possible, individually, thus far.
10. Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Tristan Wirfs, LT
Tristan Wirfs is one of the best, most athletic linemen in the NFL and comes in at No. 10 in our power rankings. Wirfs has been with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers since being drafted back in 2020 and has five Pro Bowls and two All-Pros to his credit.
He won the Super Bowl as a rookie and has played both left and right tackle. Only turning 27 years old earlier this year, Wirfs is truly right in the middle of his prime and could sustain this level of success for another 5-7 seasons. The Bucs have also sported one of the more stable offensive lines in recent years, and Wirfs is largely the main factor in that being the case.
9. Dallas Cowboys - George Pickens, WR
George Pickens earned Pro Bowl and second-team All-Pro honors in the 2025 NFL Season, his first with the Cowboys. Pickens finished with 93 receptions for 1,429 yards and 9 touchdowns in the most productive season of his career. Only set to play in his age-25 season, Pickens is currently on the franchise tag, and there does not seem to be any sort of guarantee that he'll remain with Dallas beyond the 2026 season.
But regardless of that, Pickens is a specimen of a player - he boasts other-worldly athleticism and is able to win as a vertical threat down the field and even as a short-yardage, route-running technician. The duo of Pickens and CeeDee Lamb is the best in the league.
8. Minnesota Vikings - Justin Jefferson, WR
Justin Jefferson did not have the best season by his standards in 2025, but he was also dealing with bottom-3 quarterback play. With it being likely that Kyler Murray takes over the starting job, Jefferson could see his production tick back up to what it was earlier in his career.
Jefferson is a generational talent at the position, and it's not a stretch for him to hit 10,000 career receiving yards in 2026 if he can become a quick study with Murray. He's only set to play in his age-27 season as well.
7. Arizona Cardinals - Trey McBride, TE
The two-time Pro Bowler and one-time All-Pro comes in at No. 7 in our power rankings. Trey McBride is an awesome player who has not only eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark in the last two seasons, but he's been a top-3 tight end in the league for years now.
He probably cemented himself as the best this past season, and the one downside here is that he's on the Arizona Cardinals, so he may not get as much attention as he likely deserves, but he's a high-end player at an extremely important position.
6. Chicago Bears - Joe Thuney, OG
Joe Thuney and the Chicago Bears come in at No. 6 in our power rankings. Thuney is one of the best guards in the NFL, and despite being on the wrong side of 30, he won the NFL's first Protector of the Year award, which is given to the best offensive lineman in the league.
Playing for the New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs, and now the Bears, Thuney has enjoyed top-notch success wherever he's gone, and specifically in Chicago, it could not be more clear that Thuney was a missing link to what turned into an elite offensive line.
It's unclear when Thuney would begin to decline, but even if that does begin in 2026, he's clearly done enough to end up in the Hall of Fame when it's all said and done.
5. San Francisco 49ers - Christian McCaffrey, RB
Christian McCaffrey just eats up yards, and he did that for the San Francisco 49ers in the 2025 season. McCaffrey finished with 2,126 scrimmage yards on 413 touches. He actually ended up with 102 receptions and 924 receiving yards, which might be more impressive than finishing with 1,202 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns.
McCaffrey was a Pro Bowler, a first-team All-Pro, fourth in MVP voting, second in Offensive Player of the Year voting, and also won the Comeback Player of the Year award. Hall of Fame appears to be on the table, but it might take another year or two of what we just saw for that deal to be sealed.
4. Detroit Lions - Penei Sewell, LT
In each of the last three seasons for the Detroit Lions, Penei Sewell has earned Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro honors. Now heading back over to left tackle, Sewell is not even 26 years old yet despite already entering year six in the NFL.
Sewell might be the most obvious younger player on this list who could end up in the Hall of Fame one day. At best, he's the best lineman in the NFL, period, and at worst, he's top-5. There aren't many players in the NFL who bring such a strong level of consistent play to the table, but Sewell does just that.
3. Atlanta Falcons - Bijan Robinson, RB
We're now getting into the best of the best. Bijan Robinson and the Atlanta Falcons land at No. 3 in our power rankings. Robinson had the best season of his career in 2025, racking up 2,298 scrimmage yards, which led the NFL, and also earning Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro honors.
Robinson, for the second year in a row, easily eclipsed the 1,400-yard rushing mark, but added 820 receiving yards this year, which is a drastic improvement from the 431 yards he had in 2024. Robinson has not missed a game and has started in every game but one.
He's added 34 touchdowns in his three seasons and should be a player the Falcons lock up with a long-term extension very soon.
2. Seattle Seahawks - Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR
Jaxon Smith-Njigba arrived on the scene in 2025, making the Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro teams, and also adding the Offensive Player of the Year award to his mantle, too. The Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl this year, and Smith-Njigba was the center of much of that.
He led the NFL with 1,793 receiving yards, amassing that total on 119 receptions, and also adding 10 touchdowns. He actually led the NFL with 14.5 yards per touch, so he was a consistently explosive player in 2025, doing this at just 23 years old.
JSN, as he is sometimes called, has appeared in all 17 games in each of his seasons in the NFL and appears to be only getting better. However, he can't quite get to that top spot in our power rankings, and there is no shock who appears there.
1. Los Angeles Rams - Myles Garrett, DE
Myles Garrett could retire tomorrow and be in the Hall of Fame. He's a seven-time Pro Bowler, five-time All-Pro, two-time Defensive Player of the Year, and now owns the single-season sack record. He notched 23 sacks in 2025, and also was able to add 60 total tackles, 33 tackles for loss, and 39 quarterback hits.
Thanks to Zach Allen of the Denver Broncos, Garrett was not able to lead in quarterback hits, but did lead in sacks and tackles for loss. Through nine years in the NFL, Garrett has hit the double-digit sack mark eight times, also amassing 149 tackles for loss and 239 quarterback hits as well.
Garrett gets to the quarterback better than most of this current generation, can play the run well, and is going to help propel the Los Angeles Rams to a potential Super Bowl title this year.