The NFL season begins on Thursday as the Dallas Cowboys visit their rivals and the reigning Super Bowl champions, the Philadelphia Eagles. Of course, much to the shock and dismay of Cowboys fans (and perhaps a large portion of the rest of football fans), they'll take the field without Micah Parsons — and somehow with Kenny Clark as a key part of the shocking trade with the Green Bay Packers.
It's rare that we see something as world-shifting in the NFL as the Parsons trade this close to the start of the regular season. But the Cowboys lost their one true game-changer on defense, while the already near-contending Packers turned their weakness, a shallow pass rush, into one of the best pass-rush duos in the league. That's the type of move that shakes up any NFL Power Rankings we had before them.
And that's what happened. I had been working on the NFL Power Rankings entering Week 1, after all of the offseason moves in free agency, the draft, and with trades, for some time trying to refine the right order for all 32 teams. Then I had to go back to the drawing board after the Parsons trade.
So, where do the Packers now end up? How far should we be dropping the Cowboys? Before we get into the season (and before the chaotic nature of football makes this all look entirely stupid), let's rank all 32 NFL teams and divide them into tiers.
Even 'there's always next year' might be a stretch
32. New Orleans Saints
Man, starting Spencer Rattler at quarterback is never a place you want to be, especially after the Saints just drafted Tyler Shough in the second round. That's just the start of the issues for a New Orleans team that seems lacking in the trenches and is in dire need of a complete tear-down and rebuild.
31. Indianapolis Colts
The fact that Daniel Jones beat out Anthony Richardson says more about the latter than Mr. Dimes. In either case, though, it's hard to have any semblance of confidence in the Colts given their quarterback issues and the fact that this defense only looks marginally improved. This could go south fast in Indianapolis this season.
30. Cleveland Browns
After an offseason QB battle was settled quite uninterestingly — namely, without Shedeur Sanders being meaningfully involved at the top of the depth chart — the Browns just feel like they're punting on the season. Joe Flacco may help water find its level offensively, but the ceiling is so low it's hard to imagine this team making any real meaningful noise.