8. Jacksonville Jaguars (13-4 in 2025)
If there is any team you should look at for a slight regression this year, it's the Jacksonville Jaguars. To the Jags credit, this team burst onto the scene in the 2024 season, winning 13 games and the AFC South title in an immediate franchise turnaround.
Head coach Liam Coen clearly knows what he's doing, but that also doesn't mean the same thing will happen in 2026. I am 100 percent a believer that losing Travis Etienne and Devin Lloyd is going to hurt this team, as the running back room is a bit of an unknown right now, and even then, the roster isn't that great.
This regime is only in year two together and is clearly still working on trying to reverse the mistakes of the previous era, so this roster was never going to be in tip-top shape before year two even technically begins.
The Jaguars need another offseason of bringing in the necessary talent, and if that happens, that's when I think we can begin looking at this team as a juggernaut. With how well-coachd they are, though, the Jaguars should still be able to hit double-digit wins for the second seasin in a row.
7. New England Patriots (14-3 in 2025)
The New England Patriots revamped the top of the wide receiver room this offseason, adding AJ Brown in a trade and signing Romeo Doubs in free agency. The Pats should be just as good this year as they were in 2025, right? Well, I'm not so sure, as the Patriots took advantage of a wildly easy schedule last year, and their slate in 2026 is actually going to be one of the toughest in the league, according to opponent winning percentage from 2025.
This could lead to a slight win regression, perhaps landing the Patriots somewhere around 11 wins, which is still good!
But that historically easy schedule is very much a valid talking point. The Patriots can always make me eat my words though and continue being a juggernaut in 2026, but winning 14 games in this league does also mean the margin for error was incredibly small, so sustaining that much winning year-over-year is also just not a common thing that happens.
The Patriots come in at No. 7 in our power rankings and aren't even a lock to win the AFC East this year with how stable a team Buffalo has been...
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