24. New Orleans Saints
There were few teams in the NFL that finished out last season as strong as the New Orleans Saints, and there are plenty of reasons to believe they can go take the NFC South this coming season. Tyler Shough’s development will be big, but the Saints already had a solid infrastructure roster-wise, and they just added Travis Etienne, David Edwards, and Kaden Elliss. If they can get another playmaker and some pieces for the secondary in the draft, they’ll be one of the sleeper teams in the NFC.
23. Kansas City Chiefs
It’s funny how badly I struggled to put the Kansas City Chiefs this low, but also how it felt like I placed them way too high at the same time. You can be as optimistic as you want to be, but the reality is that Patrick Mahomes’s injury is a problem, and so is the Chiefs’ offensive line. They also lost almost their entire starting secondary and other key defenders on the front seven. And the cherry on top of it all is Rashee Rice with his off-field issues. But they signed Kenneth Walker!
22. Washington Commanders
Injuries plagued the Washington Commanders during the 2025 season, but they’ve got a shot to bounce back in 2026. And they are clearly believing the bounce-back is coming. The Commanders spent a ton of money revamping the defense, especially off the edges where they were arguably weakest (on paper, at least) going into last season. Odafe Oweh and K’Lavon Chaisson are two former first-round picks who have been late bloomers, and they’re going to a really favorable scheme to give Dan Quinn some weapons. The sleeper pickup for this team? Leo Chenal at the linebacker position.
21. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
No matter what way you try to slice it, there are just some bad vibes around the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this offseason. This team obviously had an epic collapse at the end of last season, but now they’ve lost a franchise legend in Mike Evans, who bolted for the San Francisco 49ers. Maybe he jumped ship just in time, because if the Bucs regress again in 2026, we could be looking at a total reset for the team at coach and quarterback. That feels so weird to say, considering Baker Mayfield was playing at an MVP level early last season.