NFL Preseason Rankings - 2024

After working through all roster changes and injuries for all 32 teams and making adjustments from last season's final rankings, I've come up with my rankings for every NFL team for the season that starts tomorrow. The Jets are making the biggest jump, mostly due to gaining a competent quarterback after Aaron Rodgers missed basically the entire year in 2023, and Minnesota took the biggest fall after losing Kirk Cousins, then losing the QB they drafted to replace him. Here are my full preseason rankings:

				Actual		Proj
Rank	LW	Team	Rating	W	L	W	L	Seed
1	3	Kansas City	-10.86			13	4	A1
2	2	San Francisco	-10.76			12	5	N1
3	1	Baltimore	-9.65			12	5	A2
4	5	Buffalo	-6.491			10	7	A3
5	7	Green Bay	-4.997			11	6	N2
6	9	LA Rams	-3.919			10	7	N5
7	15	Houston	-3.879			10	7	A4
8	14	Cincinnati	-2.776			10	7	A5
9	4	Dallas	-2.379			10	7	N3
10	6	Detroit	-1.727			9	8
11	27	NY Jets	-1.635			9	8	A6
12	13	Cleveland	-1.363			9	8	A7
13	19	Chicago	-1.156			9	8	N6
14	8	Miami	-0.435			8	9
15	17	Pittsburgh	-0.186			8	9
16	28	Arizona	0.2757			8	9
17	12	Jacksonville	0.7121			8	9
18	23	Indianapolis	0.8373			8	9
19	21	Philadelphia	0.848			9	8	N7
20	11	New Orleans	0.9806			9	8	N4
21	10	Tampa Bay	1.1329			9	8
22	20	LA Chargers	1.358			8	9
23	25	Tennessee	1.8417			8	9
24	22	Seattle	3.3773			7	10
25	18	Las Vegas	3.8555			7	10
26	29	New England	4.1389			6	11
27	26	Atlanta	4.412			8	9
28	24	Denver	5.4777			6	11
29	16	Minnesota	6.9231			5	12
30	30	NY Giants	9.3838			6	11
31	31	Carolina	10.002			5	12
32	32	Washington	13.713			4	13

Playoff Picks

Wild Card

(2) Ravens over (7) Browns

(3) Bills over (6) Jets

(4) Texans over (5) Bengals

(2) Packers over (7) Eagles

(3) Cowboys over (6) Beras

(5) Rams over (4) Saints

Divisional

(1) Chiefs over (4) Texans

(2) Ravens over (3) Bills

(1) 49ers over (5) Rams

(2) Packers over (3) Cowboys

Conference

(1) Chiefs over (2) Ravens

(1) 49ers over (2) Packers

Super Bowl

(1) Chiefs over (1) 49ers

Top 100 NFL Running Backs - #1: Jim Brown

Jim Brown

Teams

Cleveland Browns (1957-1965)

Playoffs

Appearances - 4 (1957,1958,1964,1965)

Conf Champ Games - 4 (1957,1958,1964,1965)

Champ Games - 3 (1957,1964,1965)

Championships - 1 (1964)

Awards and Honors

Rookie of the Year - 1957

MVP - 4 (1957,1958,1963,1965)

All-Pro First Team - 8 (1957,1958,1959,1960,1961,1963,1964,1965)

Pro Bowl - 9 (1957,1958,1959,1960,1961,1962,1963,1964,1965)

Hall of Fame - 1971

All-Time Ranks

Rushing Yards per Game - #1

Rushing Touchdowns - #6

Yards per Rush - #8

Total Touchdowns - #10

Rushing Yards - #11

Scrimmage Yards - #28

Yards per Touch - #90

League Leads

Rushing Yards (#1-1957,1958,1959,1960,1961,1963,1964,1965, #4-1962)

Rushing Touchdowns (#1-1957,1958,1959,1963,1965, #3-1960,1961,1962,1964)

Yards per Rush (#1-1963,1964, #2-1960,1965, #4-1957,1958, #8-1959, #9-1962, #10-1961)

Rushing Yards per Game (#1-1957,1958,1959,1960,1961,1963,1964,1965, #4-1962)

Total Touchdowns (#1-1958,1959,1963, #2-1957,1962,1965, #6-1960, #8-1961, #10-1964)

Scrimmage Yards (#1-1958,1959,1961,1963,1964,1965, #2-1960,1962, #4-1957)

Yards per Touch (#2-1963, #5-1960, #6-1965, #7-1962,1964, #8-1958)

Jim Brown ran for 986 yards and 13 touchdowns in 8 games as a senior at Syracuse, which got him 5th place in the Heisman voting, and the #6 pick in the 1957 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns.

As a rookie, Brown led the NFL in rushing yards with 942 and rushing touchdowns with 9, and set a new record for most yards in a game, with 237. That record stood for 14 years, and it was still the rookie record for 40 years. At the end of the season, he was voted both Rookie of the Year and MVP. He took Cleveland to the championship game that year, but his 69 yards and a touchdown weren't enough to overcome a powerful Lions team.

The next year, he destroyed the old record for rushing yards in a season, finishing with 1527 to break Steve Van Buren's old record of 1146. He also scored 17 touchdowns that year and had 1665 yards from scrimmage, both also tops in the league. He ended the season with his second straight MVP award.

Brown continued to dominate the next year, winning his third straight rushing title with 1329 yards, and again leading the league in touchdowns and scrimmage yards, but he ended up as the MVP runner-up instead of winning it like the previous 2 seasons.

Brown led the league in rushing yards in each of the next 2 seasons as well, giving him 5 in a row to start his career. In addition, he finished with 1867 scrimmage yards in 1961, becoming the first player ever to reach 1800, but Cleveland missed the playoffs for the third year in a row.

1962 was the aberration in Brown's career. He finished with only 996 rushing yards, failing to win the rushing title for the first and only time, but he still managed to pick up 13 touchdowns and make his 6th straight Pro Bowl.

He was back in top form for 1963, when he set new records for rushing yards and scrimmage yards in a season, with 1863 and 2131, respectively. He also led the league in rushing touchdowns and total touchdowns again, averaged 6.4 yards per carry, the first time he topped the league in that category, won another MVP, and finished with an average of 133.1 yards per game, which has only been surpassed by OJ Simpson in his 2000 yard season.

He won his 7th rushing title in 1964 with 1446 yards, and again had the best average per carry and the most scrimmage yards in the league. He finally led the Browns back to the playoffs, and he picked up 151 yards in the championship game as the Browns dominated the Colts 27-0 to earn Brown his first championship.

Brown began acting before the 1964 season, and continued after the championship run. He came back to win an 8th rushing title in 1965, with another 1544 yards, plus 17 touchdowns, his 5th time leading the league. He also led the league in scrimmage yards for the 6th time, and won his 4th MVP. He took Cleveland back to the championship game, but they fell to the Packers 23-12.

Brown missed training camp in 1966 due to filming a movie, and when he was threatened with a fine for missing camp, he decided to retire to focus on acting. He was still only 30 years old, and was by far the best player in the league, but he was able to retire without ever having missed a game due to injury for another lucrative career.

When he retired, Brown was the all-time leader in rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, total touchdowns, scrimmage yards, and yards in a season. Those records have all since been broken, but many stood for decades before falling. He led the league in rushing yards in 8 of his 9 seasons, and is the only player to average over 100 rushing yards per game over his entire career. He is the greatest running back to ever play the game.

Top 100 NFL Running Backs - #2: Barry Sanders

Barry Sanders

Teams

Detroit Lions (1989-1998)

Playoffs

Appearances - 5 (1991,1993,1994,1995,1997)

Conf Champ Games - 1 (1991)

Super Bowls - 0

Championships - 0

Awards and Honors

Offensive Rookie of the Year - 1989

Offensive Player of the Year - 2 (1994,1997)

MVP - 1 (1997)

All-Pro First Team - 6 (1989,1990,1991,1994,1995,1997)

All-Pro Second Team - 3 (1992,1993,1998)

Pro Bowl - 9 (1989,1990,1991,1992,1993,1994,1995,1996,1997,1998)

Hall of Fame - 2004

All-Time Ranks

Rushing Yards per Game - #2

Rushing Yards - #4

Scrimmage Yards - #7

Rushing Touchdowns - #10

Yards per Rush - #10

Total Touchdowns - #19

League Leads

Rushing Yards (#1-1990,1994,1996,1997, #2-1989,1991,1995, #4-1992,1998, #5-1993)

Rushing Touchdowns (#1-1991, #2-1989, #3-1990,1997, #4-1995, #5-1992, #6-1996, #8-1994)

Yards per Rush (#1-1994, #2-1996,1997, #3-1990,1995, #4-1989, #7-1993,1998, #8-1991)

Rushing Yards per Game (#1-1991,1994,1996,1997, #2-1989,1990,1993,1995, #4-1992,1998)

Total Touchdowns (#1-1990,1991, #3-1997, #5-1989, #9-1996)

Scrimmage Yards (#1-1994,1997, #2-1990,1991,1995, #3-1989,1996, #5-1998, #6-1992, #10-1993)

Yards per Touch (#4-1997, #5-1990, #7-1994, #8-1989)

After rushing for 2628 yards and 37 touchdowns as a junior at Oklahoma and running away with the Heisman Trophy, Barry Sanders was drafted #3 overall in the 1989 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions.

Sanders was great right from the start in the NFL. As a rookie, he rushed for 1470 yards and 14 touchdowns, finishing just 10 yards short of the rushing title. He was named the Offensive Rookie of the Year, and gained an impressive 5.3 yards per carry on the season.

In his second season, he won his first rushing title, leading the league with 1304 yards, and finishing #1 with 16 total touchdowns on the season. Despite finishing with a losing record once again, he was named to the All-Pro First Team for the second consecutive year.

In 1991, he led the league with 16 rushing touchdowns and 17 total touchdowns, and gained 1548 yards on the ground, the best of his career to that point. He led the Lions to their first playoff berth in nearly a decade, and their first playoff win in 34 years, but they fell one game short of the Super Bowl, losing to Dallas in the NFC Championship Game.

By his standards, the 1992 season was a down year for Sanders, with only 1352 rushing yards. He was looking good in 1993, with 1115 yards through 11 games when he went down with a torn MCL, which ended his season early, and was the only major injury of his career. He did return for their playoff game, where he had 169 yards, but the Lions lost to the Packers 28-24.

He won his second rushing title in 1994, finishing with 1883 yards, and he led the league with 2166 yards from scrimmage and 5.7 yards per carry. His performance that year earned him the Offensive Player of the Year award. He also set a record that year for most yards in a game without a touchdown when he gained 237 yards against Tampa Bay without reaching the end zone.

After gaining "only" 1500 yards in 1995, he won his third rushing title in 1996, when he finished with 1553. The Lions missed the playoffs that year, after having made the postseason in each of the previous 3 years, each time without winning a playoff game.

He had his best season in 1997, rushing for 2053 yards, becoming just the third player ever to reach 2000. He also led the league with 2358 scrimmage yards, and was named Offensive Player of the Year for the second time, and league MVP for the first time. The Lions returned to the playoffs, but again fell in the Wild Card round.

In 1998, Sanders gained another 1491 yards, giving him 10 straight seasons of at least 1000 yards to start his career, and putting him at #2 in the all-time list for rushing yards, but prior to the next season, Sanders abruptly decided to retire from football, despite being fully healthy and still one of the top backs in the league.

Sanders holds many NFL records. He has the most seasons with at least 1500 yards, with 5, and the most consecutive games reaching 100 yards, with 14. He also has the most 150-yard games in history, and is the only player ever with two 80-yard touchdowns in the same game. He led the league in rushing 4 times, and is in the top 10 in rushing yards, scrimmage yards, rushing touchdowns, total touchdowns, and yards per carry. Even though he won only 1 playoff game in his career, there is no doubt that he was one of the greatest to ever play the game.