NFL Tier List After Two Weeks S-B
So, I’ve been trying to write and release this tier list for the last three weeks, but I’ve written and re-written so much that I never am able to get it out in time. I’m setting more restrictions for myself to make sure I get it finished, and we’re visiting each team and where they sit in my eyes after two weeks.
S Tier
High S Tier
Buffalo Bills
The Bills are the best team in football right now. Their offense is seemingly unstoppable as a passing unit and their rushing game, while having a more than capable back in Devin Singletary, is still going by almost untouched. Defensively the Bills have taken a huge step up this season with the acquisition of Von Miller already proving to show strong returns in both the pass rush and run defense. Two weeks of dismantling their opponent and the Bills stay atop of the league.
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Mid S Tier
Kansas City Chiefs
Mahomes stays a cheat code, Steve Spagnola stays a quiet defensive maestro, and the Chiefs stay above the rest of the AFC West. The Los Angeles Chargers gave the Chiefs offensive line everything they could handle, but it wasn’t enough. The Chiefs stayed strong defensively and Mahomes made enough happen to pull out a win against one of the better teams in the NFL. What can slow down these September Chiefs?
Philadelphia Eagles
My Eagles are flying high. Going into this season, to say that two straight wins against the Lions and Vikings are high quality wins might’ve seemed like a hot take, but after two weeks the Lions and the Vikings might actually be the favorites for their division. Philly’s offense is running on all cylinders with Jalen Hurts stepping up to answer the questions about his passing ability. After a shaky week one against the Lions in the rushing defense, the defense came out and shut down Dalvin Cook and the Vikings run attack. Darius Slay might have his best season of his career and the addition of CCGJ as well as the promotion of Marcus Epps has paid real dividends in only two games so far.
A Tier
High A Tier
Los Angeles Chargers
The Chargers have been in two straight down to the wire games and have shown that they belong at the adult table without question. J.C. Jackson was straight up bad in the Chiefs game, but it’s his first game back from injury so you can’t expect that to be his new normal, but we should expect it to take time before he’s back to something close to his normal self. Regardless of that, the rest of the off-season acquisitions have shown to be the missing ingredients Brandon Staley needed to fulfill his defensive vision. Khalil Mack’s demise was prematurely proclaimed, Kyle Van Noy has been a welcome addition to the middle pass coverage, and while Sebastian Joseph-Day hasn’t been dominant out of the gate, they’re not looking to him to be a pass rusher, he just needs to soak up blockers and let the LBs go to work in the gaps.
Miami Dolphins
The Dolphins have been trying to get people to pay attention to them all off-season — and I don’t mean that in a negative way. I had reservations about the Dolphins for a few reasons, first the O-Line was largely unproven outside of Terron Armstead, second with the departure of Brian Flores I worried about if that defense could replicate what they showed the last two years, and finally while I would call myself a Tua apologist before the season, I was worried about his ability to get the ball down the field to match the speed of Tyreke Hill and Jaylen Waddle. So far, the O-Line has been bad outside of Armstead and Connor Williams, the secondary has been not great across the board, and Tua has been more than good enough to get the ball into the hands of the playmakers. The questions about the O-Line and the defense have so far been proven to be not as important as the explosiveness of the offense. This team is primed to pop-off at any moment offensively and with the dual threat of insane speed, they’re going to continue to get these looks deep or they’re going to start dominating the run game with the extra space given if the defenses start backing up.
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Mid A Tier
Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens lost a game I think most Ravens fans would classify as unlosable going into the fourth quarter. Still, they’ve showed themselves to be one of the strongest teams in the league. They’ve got major question marks around their ability to rush the passer and defend in space, but Lamar Jackson is playing at such a high level that is hasn’t mattered too much. Obviously, the loss to Miami is a knock against them, but they put themselves in position to win against a good team. This is a team that has a QB that elevates them above their flaws and a coach that knows it. They will go as far as Lamar takes them.
Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings had a great win in week one and then took a sizeable step backwards with their simplification of the offensive concepts that led them to a week one win. Jefferson wasn’t being moved around the line of scrimmage pre-snap to force advantageous matchups and O’Connell didn’t even attempt to establish a run game against the Eagles. However, while I question the decision to force the ball in the direction of Darius Slay, the proof of high-level offensive concepts and execution shown in week one isn’t something that will quickly be forgotten. I trust that this offense will figure out how to create opportunities that isn’t just throwing to Justin Jefferson. Defensively they’re still finding their footing, but it’s looking better than I imagined with the loss of Mike Zimmer.
B Tier
High B Tier
Detroit Lions
The Lions are the real deal. The offensive line is truly dominant as a five-man rush blocking crew. Deandre Swift and Jamal Williams are thriving as they’ve been given time to both wait for gaps to open and have large gaps to hit and burst through to the second defensive level. Jared Goff isn’t being asked to be a game winning QB, just get the ball to Amon-Ra St. Brown when he gets behind the secondary and let Brown do the rest. It’s been an effective strategy and teams aren’t even loading the box against the Lions yet. When that starts to occur and Jameson Williams gets back on the field, this Lion offense could end up being a new age version of the Gary Kubiak Texans. Jared Goff can easily play at the level of a prime Matt Schaub and while I would say it’s too early to proclaim the Sun God and Swift as players on the same level as Andre Johnson and Arian Foster, I think it’s also fair to say that we’ve seen enough to say that the ceiling is extremely high for those two players. The defense needs Jeff Okudah to keep up his strong play, and the defensive line has to keep up the pressure to make up for a so-so combo of linebacking and safety positional groups.
Cincinnati Bengals
It’s rough, it’s tough, it’s fucking ugly. It’s not been a good start for the team that came up in second place last year. The Bengals offensive line has somehow taken a step backwards after improving the talent at three positions. While La’el Collins has been fine as a run blocker on the edge, he’s essentially been a turnstile in pass protection with PFF giving him a 43.3 Pass Blocking Grade. Jonah Williams has looked like he may not belong in the league as a starter. We’re in year number four for Williams and through two games he’s been graded as the 57th best tackle out of 66 tackles graded. Joe Mixon cannot get anything going on rushes to the left side of the field. Rushing to the left he is getting 1.6 yards per attempt rushing to the left side of the line. Meanwhile he’s averaging a clean 4 yards per attempt to the right side. Collins has been Joe Mixon’s best friend, but not doing Joe Burrow many favors in the pass protection. Joe Mixon is facing 8 players in the box at least 20% of the time, but they’ve got to do a better job on the left side of the field to create good rushing opportunities. Defensively the Bengals have been a good to great team actually, especially the secondary, but the same pass rush that was the foundation of a super bowl caliber team hasn’t shown itself so far. Once the trenches figure their shit out I believe in the Bengals to rise back up to top of A Tier or S Tier, but until that happens this is going to be a rough stretch of football for the Bengals.
Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders might be the unluckiest team in the league and a lot of people are jumping off the ship, but I am going to hold my stock. I think there’s a good amount of Josh McDaniels getting too cute offensively while also too quickly looking to pump the breaks. This isn’t the same dominant defense you’d expect to accompany a McDaniels offense so there may need to be an adjustment to remember that they need to stay aggressive on offense. Feed Josh Jacobs the ball more in the red zone, he makes the best out of shitty situations at the line of scrimmage, which with a bad offensive line, the Raiders are seeing a lot of. The secondary has been much better than expected, we’ll see how long that holds to see if it’s actually who they are or if it’s an early season outlier. The pass rush is going to be dominant, and good luck rushing the edge on Maxx Crosby and Chandler Jones, but the interior is going to be a big question mark for this team and any team that has a good TE is going to have free chunk yardage available all game long.
Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals!?! Above the Packers, Rams, Bucs, and the undefeated New York Giants?!? Yes. I know they looked outclassed for most of the Chiefs game, but they played better than I think most people realize. The Chiefs are a team of a higher class than the Cardinals but aren’t at least 30 other teams in the league also outclassed? I know this sounds apologetic, but I think it’s fair to say that much like Ravens, this team has a QB that can elevate them above their systemic flaws in both their roster construction and leadership. Kyler has been jaw dropping good at times in two games. It’s truly Kyler and Zach Ertz against the world for large portions of these games. While that sounds dire, they also just got a huge win and if they can float to or around .500 by the time Deandre Hopkins returns from suspension in week seven, this team has a road map to the playoffs in a weakened NFC. Isiah Simmons is actually having his potential realized in real time as you watch the Cardinals games. Vance Joseph is using him everywhere and it’s exciting to watch. Cardinals are a team that could next week shoot down to C Tier, but right now, I think this team is a playoff contender.
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Mid B Tier
Green Bay Packers
The Packers have once again beat the shit out of the Chicago Bears. They let up way too many rushing yards, but Justin Fields also only had 7 total completions. SEVEN! Quay Walker, while he did get absolutely sauced by Justin Jefferson in week one for a TD, has been an instant top end linebacker starter. Sammy Watkins showed signs of life and they should get Bakhtiari back at least sometime soon which is going to be a huge boost to an O-Line that’s close to being good. If Watkins can stay healthy then they’ve got a shot at having a Chiefs-like offense with a balanced distribution of targets. The defensive line is going to have to step up and play up to their talent level though, as all of the great teams will punish you for not being able to stop the run outside of maybe the Bills because the Bills pass so efficiently. Packers needs to play some real opponents and prove they can run an offense without DeVante Adams. I have faith but it’s a prove it situation for a team that made major changes this off-season.
Los Angeles Rams
So, I’ve had the Rams and the Packers next to each other on the tier list every week. They’re teams that I can’t find a reason to separate. I’m scared of equally on any given week, but I also see real flaws that teams have already been able to take advantage of. They both benefitted from an easier week two than a week one, but the Rams game was nearly an ugly loss and an exercising of demons from a franchise that’s in the midst of a rebuild. Aaron Donald is still Aaron Donald and much akin to Khalil Mack, the demise of Jalen Ramsey has been prematurely declared. Jalen Ramsey is still not a dude that you want to test when the game is on the line. Stafford needs to get healthy; Cam Akers is kind of out of the doghouse but not fully. Allen Robinson does actually exist in a Rams jersey, and they need to make another aggressive Rams trade to get a defining lineman for their O-Line. The Rams might truly have a bottom five in the league offensive line group. Stafford is already hurt, and he’s bound to get more hurt with the pressure and hits he’s going to take all season.
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Low B Tier
New York Giants
The Brian Dabol Era is officially a vibe. The Giants are finally playing up to their expected talent on both sides of the ball — at least most of the talent. Defensively the Giants are playing great coverage and the D-Line is starting to finally show why so many of them were high round draft picks and that’s without Kayvon Thibodeaux who’s still working his way back from an injury in the pre-season. Daniel Jones has been serviceable; Sterling Shepard is finally getting thrown the ball after years of standing on the field wide open begging for the ball. Saquon exploded game one and had a quiet game two against a Panthers defense that has actually shown itself to be stouter than people imagined coming into the year. Regardless of a slower game two, the offensive line is coming together in New York and Barkley is about to eat on every team with a D-Line or Linebacker problem. We’ll see if they can keep winning 50/50 games or not, but the Giants are a fun 2–0.
Washington Commanders
The Ron Rivera Commanders are the perfect cousin of the Giants. Their defensive line finally is doing things you’d expect them to do, the offensive line has taken a step back towards what is more likely their standard rather than an outlier great season last year. But they’ve got a healthy receiving group and Carson Wentz is allowed to just air it out. So far, it’s worked out enough that if this team starts to figure itself out fully on defense, this could be an annoying wild card team in the NFC. Need to see a lot more from them, but as of right now, the Commies look like they can compete in just about any shoot out offensively.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Bucs are 2–0 but both wins felt like a loss. The two most unimpressive wins in the league right now belong to a Bucs team that can’t pass block, can’t run block, and only seem to stop the pass due to bad QB play instead of good defensive execution. Tom Brady has been good but shaky-good at best. The WRs are all hurt or throwing hands with DBs to get suspended. The loss of Gronk as a blocker is being felt already by both Brady and Fournette. Time will tell if the Bucs can get any of their lineman back or if the receivers can stay on the field. I will say flatly, I do not trust this team against a genuinely good football team. We’ll see it in these next two weeks as they play the Packers and Chiefs in back-to-back weeks.
This has been Tier’s S-B. C-F will be in a second piece as this is getting too long and I’m hungry. Should post that tomorrow with the remaining teams in the league. Thanks for reading.