4. New England Patriots
After swinging a major trade for Brown, the Patriots became the latest AFC team to make a notable trade this offseason. This trade was long thought of as guaranteed, as the two teams were waiting for that June 1st date to come.
Brown joins another big-bodied receiver, Romeo Doubs, as new additions in the room. Drake Maye, the team’s superstar quarterback, finished second in MVP voting.
With the receiver room now significantly improved, the Pats could end up being even more efficient throwing the ball in 2026, which feels impossible given how good that unit was in 2025.
The defense was solid despite not featuring a ton of high-end players. The one thing that could go against this team is how much tougher the schedule gets.
Winning 14 games in a season is insanely hard, but some have predicted a slight regression given the increased schedule difficulty. This team did make it to the Super Bowl, though, which is something 30 other teams could not say last year.
3. Seattle Seahawks
The defending Super Bowl champions fall to No. 3 in our power rankings. The big loss was Walker signing with the Chiefs. The Seattle Seahawks also lost former offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak to the Raiders head coaching job.
Riq Woolen, one of their now-former cornerbacks, departed in free agency for the Eagles, so the talent level did decrease a bit. Couple that with a new coach calling plays, and it’s not hard to see the Seahawks winning a little bit less in 2026.
However, the defense is returning many of the same faces, and has an elite mind calling the shots in Mike Macdonald. There is only so much regression the Seahawks can have in 2026 given how solid everything still is.
It’s clear, though, that a rival NFC West team did make enough moves to thrust ahead of them.
Add us as a preferred source on Google