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NFL Power Rankings: Pre-training camp edition

By Lyle Graversen

Jan 31, 2014; New York, NY, USA; General view of the Vince Lombardi Trophy prior to a press conference at Rose Theater in advance of Super Bowl XLVIII. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 31, 2014; New York, NY, USA; General view of the Vince Lombardi Trophy prior to a press conference at Rose Theater in advance of Super Bowl XLVIII. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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5. New Orleans Saints

If you had told me at the start of last season that the Saints would ultimately lose in the playoffs because their offense couldn’t make enough plays as opposed to their defense being at fault, I would have laughed at you. I was wrong, Rob Ryan did a fantastic job of a adding an attacking style and some nasty attitude to that defense. The addition of Jarius Byrd should help the back end of the defense that struggled at times and trading up to get Brandin Cooks in the draft was genius. The combination of Cooks, Jimmy Graham, Marcus Colston, and the emerging Kenny Stills should give Drew Brees the weapons he needs to make this team a serious contender in 2014.

4. Green Bay Packers

The Packers had a disastrous 2014 season highlighted by the injury of all world QB Aaron Rodgers. When your worst case scenario happens and you still win the division, you have a pretty good team (and get some breaks by having the other teams in your division not step up). The fact is that the Packers gave the 49ers a run for their money in the playoffs with Rodgers still being less than 100%. Green Bay drafted a few more weapons for Rodgers to work with and the additions of Julius Peppers and first round pick HaHa Clinton-Dix should help the defense.

3. Denver Broncos

On one hand, the Broncos were absolutely man handled in the Super Bowl and Super Bowl losers have a history of dropping off the following season. On the other hand, the Broncos had arguably the best passing attack in the history of the NFL last season and there is little reason to see it regressing this season. The Broncos also opened up the check book this offseason on some big name free agents, but we’ve seen the approach of trying to buy a Super Bowl in the offseason fail miserably. While the Broncos have the big names on their roster to make them one of the clear cut Super Bowl favorites, this team seems more likely to implode than Seattle or San Francisco (especially if Peyton Manning were to miss some time).

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