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NFL Power Rankings 2016: Where Each Team Stands as Season Approaches
- Updated: August 5, 2016
The long wait is almost over. The Green Bay Packers and Indianapolis Colts kick off the preseason with the Hall of Fame Game Sunday night to begin a stretch of six straight months of NFL action before a champion is crowned in Houston next February.
Three tiers of teams head into the campaign: the likely contenders, the muddled middle and the long shots. What’s intriguing about this season is the lack of a clear-cut favorite, at least for now, and the increased size of the middle of the pack outside of the top seven or eight teams.
So let’s check out an initial set of power rankings before the preseason gets underway. That’s followed by a closer look at the top squads as the new season inches closer.
Preseason Power Rankings
Breaking Down Top Teams
1. Denver Broncos
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The reigning champion Broncos deserve the top spot until their play during the regular season proves otherwise. The only exception would be if the quarterback play is atrocious during the exhibition slate, but it’s important to remember the bar is low.
Peyton Manning’s retirement and Brock Osweiler’s exit in free agency made a lot of headlines. Yet it’s not like they lit the NFL on fire last season. They combined for a 76.3 passer rating, which ranked 31st in the league, ahead of only the then-St. Louis Rams.
While that’s bad no matter how you slice it, the numbers are even worse when you consider they had wide receivers such as Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders at their disposal. So it shouldn’t take much for the QB triumvirate of Mark Sanchez, Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch to meet that low standard.
One thing is for sure: The outlook hasn’t changed for Broncos general manager John Elway, who discussed his view of the offseason during an appearance on the NFL Network, per NFL.com:
We’re chasing another championship is what we’re doing. We not going to try to ‘defend’ it. I think you go through an off-season, we won the world championship last year, I’m very proud of that. We lost some good football players, we picked up some good football players. The great thing about training camp is we get to go figure out where we are … we feel good about …
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