NFL Power Rankings: Stacking all 32 teams and picking 32 milestones for this season — SkimNews
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- Los Angeles Rams claimed the No. 1 spot in ESPN's 2026 NFL Power Rankings, up from No. 2 post-draft, with Matthew Stafford needing three touchdown passes to surpass Philip Rivers for sixth on the all-time career list (Rivers finished with 425).
- Seattle Seahawks slid to No. 2 from their post-draft No. 1 ranking, with Jaxon Smith-Njigba positioned to become just the fourth player — alongside Brandon Marshall, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Michael Thomas — to record 100-plus receptions in three of his first four NFL seasons.
- Josh Allen trails Patrick Mahomes by 3,782 combined passing and rushing yards for the most by a quarterback in his first nine seasons (Mahomes holds 38,604), a gap Allen's per-season averages of 590.1 rushing and 3,762.8 passing yards could close by season's end.
- Derrick Henry sits 10th on the NFL's career rushing list and needs 995 yards to pass Eric Dickerson, Jerome Bettis, LaDainian Tomlinson, and Curtis Martin, moving to No. 6 by roughly the Nov. 29 game at the Texans based on his 85.1 yards-per-game average.
- Kyle Shanahan has coached the 49ers for 141 regular-season games, 11 short of Bill Walsh's franchise record of 152, a mark he could tie at home in Week 12 against the Vikings while also moving to second in franchise wins.
- Micah Parsons is expected to begin the year on the physically unable to perform list recovering from a torn ACL with a potential Week 6 return, leaving him 13 games to reach 12 sacks and become the first player since Reggie White (1982) to hit that mark in each of his first six seasons.
Why it matters: The Rams' top billing signals ESPN sees Stafford's late-career surge — already a 10th member of the 60,000-yard club — and the roster around him as the best Super Bowl LXI bet, while Allen, Henry, and Kelce headline active stars chasing career milestones that will shape Hall of Fame résumés. Parsons' ACL recovery is the single most consequential timeline in the rankings: a Week 6 return in Green Bay's already top-10 defense could swing NFC seeding, and the 12-sack chase gives the Packers a measurable benchmark for his health.
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