NFL Power Rankings, Week 5: Biggest risers and fallers after Week 4

28. Arizona Cardinals (1-3)

I still believe the Arizona Cardinals are going to be a lot better than some think in 2024, but Week 4 was not their week by any means.  This team got their rear end handed to them on a platter by the Washington Commanders, who may be a lot better than all of us think.  

The Cardinals issue is not coaching or anything like that; it’s the roster talent.  GM Monti Ossenfort took over a very poor roster and still has some work to do.  They have a very strong coaching staff and underrated QB in the building, so they’re almost there.

Given that the NFC West outside of the Seattle Seahawks is kind of struggling this year, the Cardinals may be able to hang around.  To me, they’ll end up with eight wins and end up putting themselves back on the map in he 2025 NFL Season.

The Cardinals probably weren’t ready to compete this year.

27. Cleveland Browns (1-3)

Folks, it may be time to officially sound the panic alarm in Cleveland.  The team drops to 1-3 on the season after a brutal loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, who are by no means a good football team at all.  The Browns don’t have a defense problem and don’t have a roster talent problem, but their QB, Deshaun Watson, is continually losing them games and at best not doing enough for them to win.

This is definitely going down as the worst trade in NFL history, and the Browns must consider benching Watson at this point.  They are too talented to not be a viable team in the NFL, but here we are.  Contractually, they are stuck with Watson for another couple of seasons, and they kind of did that to themselves with the fully guaranteed contract he got when he was traded from the Houston Texans to the Browns.