It's not hard to see which divisions are stronger and which are weaker. For the loaded divisions, like the NFC West, for example, we saw three of four teams win at least 12 games during the 2025 season, but in a division like the NFC South, the Carolina Panthers won that title with a losing record.
Heading into the summer here in the 2026 offseason, much of the divisional talent is pretty much sorted out, and I am not sure there will be many major surprises in this regard when the regular season begins, but just as I say that, it's possible that I end up being totally wrong, as 2025 brought some major shock.
Let's continue our NFL power rankings with a fresh ranking. We're going to rank all eight divisions based on sheer starting quarterback talent as the regular season approaches.
Power-ranking all eight divisions based on quarterback talent for the 2026 NFL Season
8. NFC South (Bryce Young, Baker Mayfield, Tua Tagovailoa*, Tyler Shough)
I would guess, personally, that Tua Tagovailoa is the likely starter for the Atlanta Falcons in 2026. The best quarterback in this divison is Baker Mayfield, who is, solidly, the 15th-best in the NFL on most weeks.
Bryce Young has been rather underwhelming, and we still do not know if he's the long-term answer, and Tyler Shough is largely unproven, but could shed that label with a large breakout campaign in 2026.
Tagovailoa is who he is at this point - he's average, for the most part, but could thrive in a loaded Falcons offense. All in all, the quarterback talent in the NFC South is the worst in the NFL among the eight divisions, and it's not a shock that they are dead last in our power rankings.
We could see another single-digit win team capture the NFC South title in 2026.
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