6. Green Bay Packers
There were a lot more departures in Green Bay this offseason than anyone should be overly comfortable with, but the fact that the Packers emphasize long-term player development means there will be young guys ready to take the place of those key veterans.
And there are a lot of them: Elgton Jenkins, Romeo Doubs, Dontayvion Wicks, Rashan Gary, Quay Walker, just to name a few. There's also now the question mark around Josh Jacobs and his off-field situation.
Add in the murky timeline for Micah Parsons, and you have a formula for the Packers to fall down this list at a rapid pace. But this team is well-coached under Matt LaFleur, and we've seen them weather a lot of injury storms in recent years. The Packers are always a better sum of their parts than they're even given credit, and they will be ready to compete for a division title again this season.
5. Detroit Lions
If there is one team in the NFC that I'm nearly certain is going to bounce back in 2026, it's got to be the Detroit Lions. You simply don't see teams with an offensive core this talented get held back multiple years in a row.
The Lions' regression in 2025 was completely unexpected, but not entirely out of the question because of the losses of both Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn in the same offseason. NFL teams wanted a piece of Detroit's success, and they took two guys who just so happened to be more integral to their success than maybe even Dan Campbell realized.
Campbell's decision to replace Ben Johnson with John Morton was clearly ill-advised, and the Lions have now moved on to Drew Petzing. The offense should return to its dominating ways, and it will be nearly impossible for this team to win less than 10 games this season.
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