Ranking all 32 NFL teams as we head into Week 4 of the 2024 NFL season.
Welcome to our first NFL power rankings of the 2024 season. Unfortunately, I have been traveling a lot lately, and it has forced the power rankings to fall to the wayside for the early part of the season. That gets corrected today as our Week 4 power rankings make their debut.
The league features five undefeated teams through the first three weeks of the year: the Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs, Minnesota Vikings, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Seattle Seahawks. There are three teams who have yet to win a game: the Cincinnati Bengals, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Tennessee Titans. Everyone else in the league is jumble of 2-1 and 1-2 teams. Who will rise to the top as we continue deeper into the season?
1. Buffalo Bills (3-0) – The Bills are simply dominating teams right now, despite all the speculation that Josh Allen would regress without any big-name wide receivers on the roster. Instead, they look like the team to beat in the AFC right now. As much as it pains me to put an AFC East rival at the top of the rankings, this feels like where they should be right now.
2. Kansas City Chiefs (3-0) – If anyone can unseat the Bills at the top of the rankings, it should be Kansas City. The reigning two-time Super Bowl champions are in the mix for an unprecedented third-straight title and, if they can battle through some injuries that are starting to pop up, they will be battling for that history-making Lombardi Trophy at the end of the year.
3. Seattle Seahawks (3-0) – The Seahawks should be taking a step back this year as they adjust to a new head coach for the first time in 14 years. Instead, Mike Macdonald has them looking like the class of the NFC and holding on to a two-game lead in the NFC West.
4. Minnesota Vikings (3-0) – The Vikings’ defense is getting after opposing quarterbacks, and quarterback Sam Darnold is playing lights-out football right now. Will that last all season? Minnesota is at least giving themselves an early lead in the NFC North.
5. Detroit Lions (2-1) – That Vikings NFC North lead is one game over the Lions who are looking to build off last year’s NFC Championship game run. Dan Campbell is going to have the Lions fighting all season.
6. New Orleans Saints (2-1) – If Derek Carr is coming back down to Earth, this might be a little high for the Saints, but if Sunday was a one-off poor performance, the Saints might have a special year in front of them.
7. Pittsburgh Steelers (3-0) – Mike Tomlin does not have bad seasons, but I just cannot trust the Steelers yet. Will Justin Fields hold on to the starting position long term? What will happen with Russell Wilson?
8. Houston Texans (2-1) – The C.J. Stroud love is coming back down some as the second-year quarterback is starting to look like a second-year quarterback. Who would have guessed anointing a quarterback as the next great thing after their rookie year could backfire? He is a good quarterback, but he is not ready to carry the team if running back Joe Mixon is not on the field.
9. Washington Commanders (2-1) – While Stroud is coming back down, the bubble around rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels is growing. Will it pop? Probably at some point, but for now, the Commanders are riding a hot hand and leading the NFC East.
10. San Francisco 49ers (1-2) – The 49ers being this high in the rankings may be more of remembering who they were last year than a reflection of who they might be this year. This team has not been playing well, but missing players like Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, and Deebo Samuel might be why. They have to step up quickly if they are going to climb back into contention in the NFC West and to hold a top ten position in these rankings.
11. Green Bay Packers (2-1) – This is another case where I just may not trust what has happened already. Malik Willis has been playing well in Jordan Love’s absence as the starting quarterback for the Packers. If he can keep that up until Love returns, this team may fly up the rankings.
12. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-1) – The Buccaneers should be a really good team, but they should not have looked like that against Denver.
13. Philadelphia Eagles (2-1) – They can straighten things out, but the Eagles have been playing concerning football full of mistakes and miscues. If they clean up the mistakes, they will head up the rankings.
14. Baltimore Ravens (1-2) – This team is confusing. They look good early in games, then collapse late. They seemed to remember they added Derrick Henry to the roster, so that might have them figuring out some things, but they also head into a primetime game against the Buffalo Bills in Week 4, which, given the last two weeks have featured the Bills trashing teams in primetime, could be a tough matchup.
15. Arizona Cardinals (1-2) – This team is headed in the right direction. They may not be a title contender, but they may be in the NFC playoff picture this year.
16. New York Jets (2-1) – I know the analysts love the Jets and Aaron Rodgers. He has played well, but until proven otherwise, this is still the Jets.
17. Los Angeles Chargers (2-1) – I have no idea where this team should rank. Sometimes they look like an elite team in the AFC and other times, they look like they have no idea what they are doing. Quarterback Justin Herbert’s injury could crash them down the rankings if it is a longterm thing.
18. Dallas Cowboys (1-2) – This is another team that could be anywhere on the rankings. They might start climbing the rankings if they figure out a run game. If they do not, who knows where they will land.
19. Miami Dolphins (1-2) – Ugly. That is the best way to describe the last two weeks for the Dolphins. This team has not led for a single second this season – their win over Jacksonville in Week 1 came with time expired on a field goal attempt. They have three more games without quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and if they play like they did on Sunday over that span, this team will be out of any playoff picture before they get their Pro Bowl passer back.
20. Los Angeles Rams (1-2) – Injuries are doing everything they can to slow down the Rams. Will they continue to fight through adversity or will something eventually overwhelm them?
21. Atlanta Falcons (1-2) – Another team being crushed by injuries right now. They could move up or down this list fairly easily over the next few weeks.
22. Indianapolis Colts (1-2) – Consistency is the name of the game here, and right now, the Colts are not consistent.
23. Cleveland Browns (1-2) – Deshaun Watson has not been good. That is probably all that needs to be said about the Browns.
24. Las Vegas Raiders (1-2) – Gardner Mishew has not been good. That is probably all that needs to be said about the Raiders.
25. Chicago Bears (1-2) – Do you think the Bears miss Justin Fields? Chicago was not
26. Cincinnati Bengals (0-3) – The Bengals are playing pass-first, pass-often, pass-only football right now. It is not working for them.
27. Denver Broncos (1-2) – The Broncos should be a bad team, but they did not look like it against the Buccaneers. Could this be a signal that they are better than expected and that the Sean Payton, Bo Nix combination might work?
28. New York Giants (1-2) – The Giants have clearly scored with the selection of Malik Nabers with the sixth overall pick. If New York gets their running game started and Daniel Jones continues to feed Nabers, they could surprise some in the
29. New England Patriots (1-2) – The Patriots need to move on to Drake Maye to get him experience. They need to stay with Jacoby Brissett so Maye does not get killed behind a bad offensive line. It is not a good situation in New England.
30. Carolina Panthers (1-2) – What a change a quarterback swap can make. It might not be sustainable, but the Panthers under Andy Dalton were a much different team.
31. Jacksonville Jaguars (0-3) – Doug Pederson’s job is on the line already this year. Trevor Lawrence has not looked good and the Jaguars do not look like they have any direction right now.
32. Tennessee Titans (0-3) – Do you think the Titans miss Mike Vrabel and Ryan Tannehill?
