NFL Power Rankings, Week 16: Biggest risers and fallers after wild Week 15
20. San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers just couldn’t stay healthy enough this season to hang in there in the NFC West. One more loss will give the 49ers their first losing season in how long at this point?
It’s abnormal these days, for certain.
But this is what injuries do to teams. The 49ers just couldn’t overcome everything that hit them on both sides of the ball this season, including losing Brandon Aiyuk for the entire 2024 season as well as Christian McCaffrey for most of the year.
It’s going to be intriguing to see how San Francisco bounces back in the 2025 offseason. They are en route to a top-15 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft but they’re going to have plenty of holes to address and plenty of future situations to address as well. GM John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan are going to have to take a long look in the mirror because this 49ers team has not drafted exceptionally well – especially defensively – in recent years.
They are in line for some pretty substantial changes.
19. Miami Dolphins
There are a lot of factors that cause a team to miss out on going to the playoffs over the course of a full season. For the Miami Dolphins, you can point back to an early injury this season to quarterback Tua Tagovailoa as well as the general health of key players on their defense.
You can also point to Houston Texans cornerback Derek Stingley Jr.
After watching the Miami Dolphins take on the Houston Texans on Sunday, I have determined that Derek Stingley Jr. has some of the best and most underrated hands in the league. Not once but twice Tua Tagovailoa tried to test Stingley’s coverage on Sunday and he was picked off, including an interception late in the fourth quarter with a chance to climb right back in it.
For the majority of Sunday’s game, Tyreek Hill was a non-factor. You have to point to the coverage of Stingley who has emerged as one of the top cornerbacks in the game over the last couple of years. He’s a stud.
The Dolphins don’t really care about Stingley, other than the fact that he basically just ruined their hopes of coming back and making the playoffs this year. The Dolphins have absolutely no margin for error the rest of the way and will need some additional help if they are going to scrape and claw their way back into the postseason.