NFL Power Rankings 2025: Bills and Seahawks Inch Closer to Rams

My current NFL Power Rankings for the 2025 NFL season. Bills and Seahawks Inch Closer to Rams.

I’m going to use these rankings as the order for my 2026 NFL Mock Draft during the early stages of the 2025 season. Follow @walterfootball.

NFL Power Rankings updated Dec. 2, 2025

Group A:

Los Angeles Rams (9-3) – Previously: 1.
The Rams are not going to move off the No. 1 spot. They lost to the Panthers in a pathetic display, but they outgained them in total yards and yards per play, but only lost because of three fluky turnovers by Matthew Stafford. This reminded me of the Eagles’ near loss to the Panthers late last year, which would have actually been a loss had Xavier Legette not dropped a touchdown on the final play.

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Buffalo Bills (8-4) – Previously: 3.
NRG Stadium has proven to be a house of horrors for Josh Allen. But unlike earlier in the year when he failed to come back from the loss to the Patriots, he was able to rebound with a victory, beating Pittsburgh.

Seattle Seahawks (9-3) – Previously: 5.
The Seahawks can look very good at times, but the level of competition is definitely a factor. They played only one team above Group C, which was a loss to the Group B 49ers back in Week 1 (when San Francisco was healthy enough to be in Group B.) The Seahawks have gone against four Group C teams and seven teams worse than that. They haven’t beaten anyone above 18th in these power rankings Still, they’re 8-3, and they had an impressive win at Washington and then at home versus Arizona. They hadn’t blown too many teams out, but their victory against the Redskins was great enough to elevate the team to Group A. They pissed me off by allowing a back-door touchdown to the Titans, so perhaps they don’t belong in Group A. Good teams win, great teams cover.

Philadelphia Eagles (8-4) – Previously: 2.
What a pathetic showing. The Eagles played with zero effort against the Bears, ruining things for those who picked them in the Circa Survivor. Those people should send an invoice to the Eagles, requesting some sort of payout.

Kansas City Chiefs (6-6) – Previously: 4.
The Chiefs aren’t dead yet, but it’s so difficult to justify them as a Group A team after that abysmal defensive performance. What happened? I expected much more out of Steve Spagnuolo.

Group B:

Green Bay Packers (8-3-1) – Previously: 9.
The Packers finally covered the spread when I’ve bet on them. They’ve been underwhelming for the most part, but they’ve beaten expectations against their two divisional rivals in the past two weeks. Next up is their third divisional rival.

New England Patriots (11-2) – Previously: 10.
The Patriots are for real, as evidenced by their outright win in Buffalo. They would be 12-1 right now if they didn’t blow the Pittsburgh game with all of their stupid fumbles. It’s amazing how much of a difference great coaching makes, as Mike Vrabel has made all the right moves thus far.

Unfortunately for New England, the team suffered a huge loss against the Bengals with Will Campbell getting carted off the field. They were able to beat the Giants without Campbell, but we’ll see how they do versus Buffalo and Baltimore after the bye.

Detroit Lions (7-5) – Previously: 6.
The Lions are not in good shape. They desperately need home-field advantage because Jared Goff simply can’t play in poor weather conditions, especially when going up against a team that can generate tons of pressure. Given the Lions’ 7-5 record, it’s highly unlikely that they’ll avoid playing outside come January. They may not even make it to January, given that their 7-5 record. Their pass defense has been atrocious, which begs the question, how are they going to stop the Cowboys?

Dallas Cowboys (6-5-1) – Previously: 14.
The Cowboys could be this year’s version of the 2024 Bengals – a team with a lethal offense that no one wanted to see in a playoffs, but didn’t have to because they didn’t qualify for the postseason.

Baltimore Ravens (6-6) – Previously: 8.
So much for the Ravens running the table. They had a very disappointing Thanksgiving night loss to the Bengals in which they turned the ball over five times. Lamar Jackson looked like he was going to scramble early on, but didn’t run all that much. Perhaps the mini-bye will fix things.

Houston Texans (7-5) – Previously: 15.
I’m comfortable moving the Texans up to Group B. Their offensive line is pass protecting much better now, while their defense has been more dominant after a slowish start to the season.

Group C:

Denver Broncos (10-2) – Previously: 11.
The Broncos are 10-2, but you can’t really take them seriously as a Super Bowl contender with their close wins against the Raiders, Jets, Giants, Titans, and now the Redskins. Bo Nix was awful in the Thursday night victory versus Las Vegas. He was so inept that he must have thought he was battling the ’85 Bears instead of the terrible Raiders defense. Nix came back to beat the Chiefs, but Kansas City continued to underwhelm. Nearly losing to Washington should just result in a loss.

Chicago Bears (9-3) – Previously: 13.
Congratulations to the Bears, who finally don’t have a negative point differential. They beat the no-effort Eagles, but it’s still fair to be skeptical. They’re barely positive in point differential, and they have the worst pass rush in the NFL. They needed a long kickoff to beat J.J. McCarthy, and they barely got by the Mason Rudolph-led Steelers.

San Francisco 49ers (9-4) – Previously: 12.
The 49ers have too many defensive injuries to make a deep playoff run, but perhaps they can win one postseason game if Brock Purdy and the rest of the offense remains healthy. They won by 18 points against the Browns, but couldn’t outgain Cleveland in terms of total yards or yards per play because the Browns constantly gave them short fields because of stupid mistakes.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-5) – Previously: 16.
The Buccaneers simply cannot beat top-tier competition. They’re 0-4 against Group A teams this year. The good news is that Baker Mayfield is healthy, so the Buccaneers still have a good chance to win the division.

Cincinnati Bengals (4-8) – Previously: 17.
That’s exactly why I moved the Bengals up from 26 to 17 because of Joe Burrow’s return – and the move may not have been enough. Joe Burrow had a shaky second quarter, but was otherwise superb against a strong Baltimore defense. I mentioned how the Cowboys could be this year’s version of the 2024 Bengals, but perhaps the 2025 Bengals will be this year’s version of the 2024 Bengals.

Jacksonville Jaguars (8-4) – Previously: 18.
Most of the Jaguars’ victories have come against poor competition. The win over the Chargers appears to be an exception, but we could recognize the Chargers as poor competition because of their severe blocking issues. Their big test comes against the Colts this upcoming Sunday.

Indianapolis Colts (8-4) – Previously: 7.
I’m moving the Colts down to Group C because Daniel Jones is playing with a fractured fibula. He didn’t look nearly as good against the Texans, and he couldn’t run at all.

San Angeles Chargers (8-4) – Previously: 19.
The Chargers beat the Raiders by 17, but we still don’t know if their issues are fixed because games against the Raiders barely count as wins in the standings.

Pittsburgh Steelers (6-6) – Previously: 20.
The Steelers retained sole possession of first place in the division, but they lost it immediately with their defeat against the Bills. The announcers stated that the Steelers weren’t getting anything from their receivers downfield. If only they had someone like George Pickens who could help them in that regard.

Arizona Cardinals (3-9) – Previously: 21.
The Cardinals are seven plays away from being 9-2, which is crazy but true. What else is crazy but true is that Jacoby Brissett is better than Kyler Murray. It’s quite the coincidence that Trey McBride can finally score touchdowns and Marvin Harrison can finally stop sucking now that Brissett is under center. Brissett took a step backward against the Seahawks, but that was the first time he went against a top-10 defense since taking over for Murray. Brissett went on to set the NFL single-game completions record against the 49ers and nearly led the team to victory against the Jaguars and Buccaneers.

Group D:

Carolina Panthers (7-6) – Previously: 22.
Somehow, some way, the Panthers are 7-6. If they make the playoffs, they could end up being the worst team to ever make the playoffs in NFL history. They have a negative point differential and were extremely lucky to win many of their games this season.

Atlanta Falcons (4-8) – Previously: 23.
The Falcons have a Group B roster – now downgraded with Michael Penix Jr. being injured – but a Group F head coach. Raheem Morris is the worst head coach in the NFL. Do you think the Falcons could have used some rest following their 11-hour flight home from Germany when the Panthers were mounting a comeback against them? Why didn’t Morris take the bye after playing in Europe? And it was no surprise that they suffered a letdown after beating the Saints.

Atlanta had a chance to sneak into the playoffs by running the table, but that’s no longer a possibility. What a huge disappointment.

Cleveland Browns (3-9) – Previously: 24.
It’s hard to believe that the Browns lost with the great Shedeur Sanders, but they gave away the game with special teams gaffes and a Harold Fannin fumble.

New York Giants (2-11) – Previously: 25.
The Giants would have played closer to the Patriots if it weren’t for all the special teams gaffes they had. It didn’t help that Mike Kafka made a million coaching mistakes throughout the evening.

Miami Dolphins (5-7) – Previously: 27.
The Dolphins were outgained by the Redskins in total yards and yards per play. They were about even with the Saints in yardage. I’ve moved the Dolphins to Group D because they have

Group F:

Minnesota Vikings (4-8) – Previously: 26.
I heard the opinion that the Vikings couldn’t possibly be worse with Max Brosmer than they were with J.J. McCarthy. So much for that. McCarthy could at least score some points. Brosmer threw four interceptions and scored no points.

Washington Redskins (3-9) – Previously: 29.
The Redskins outgained the Dolphins in total yards and yards per play, but lost because of multiple turnovers. They were the true winners in Spain, however, because they improved their draft positioning. They then gave their three serious fans an exciting game, but lost to the Broncos in the end to once again preserve their draft positioning.

New York Jets (3-9) – Previously: 30.
New York’s 3-9 record is especially remarkable because it’s gone against Group C-F teams in nine of its 12 games. The only teams they’ve battled all year that are above average are the Bills, Patriots, and the Ravens. All three of those games were decided by double digits.

New Orleans Saints (2-10) – Previously: 28.
Tyler Shough was dreadful in the first half against Miami’s awful defense. He put together some late touchdown drives, but it’s hard to take that seriously. I have the Saints replacing Shough in my 2026 NFL Mock Draft .

Las Vegas Raiders (2-10) – Previously: 31.
The Raiders inched closer to being able to select a quarterback near the top of the 2026 NFL Draft. Of course, ESPN DEI hire Mina Kimes will argue against this because she insists that Geno Smith is a top-10 NFL quarterback.

Tennessee Titans (1-11) – Previously: 32.
The Titans are now 7-25 against the spread since Week 1 of last year. They covered three in a row before the Jacksonville game, but two of those came because of Chimere Dike punt return touchdowns. Dike gave money back to the Titans bears with a lost fumble on a kickoff. Meanwhile, Cam Ward didn’t scramble at all until garbage time, which doesn’t make any sense. Did Ward forget once again that he can run?

2025 NFL MVP Projection:

1. Drake Maye, QB, Patriots
2. Matthew Stafford, QB, Rams
3. Josh Allen, QB, Bills
4. Jaxson Smith-Njigba, WR, Seahawks
5. Jalen Hurts, QB, Eagles

Go to 2026 NFL Mock Draft