Ty's 2026 NFL Preview: "Road to Nowhere" Division

Hello all. As promised last week, the next two weeks will be dedicated to football. For the next eight days I'm going to rank the NFL teams from 32-1. These are my own personal rankings and how I see the teams before they play a real game. I'll do four teams a day, giving you a little brief on why I have them ranked where I do. On day nine I will do a NFL postseason preview and prediction, as well as award predictions. On the tenth day I'll do my college football preview and prediction. Buckle up football fans, the season is upon us. Starting out today, I'll do teams 32, 31, 30 and 29.

Coming in dead last I have the Arizona Cardinals. This seems to always happen to the Cardinals. They have a few seasons where they're in the playoffs, or at least in the hunt, and then they fall flat on their faces. They're flat on their faces right now. Kyler Murray is gone, and now they have Jacoby Brissett. Brissett is a solid QB, but he also wants a new contract and the Cardinals are hesitant to give him one. He may play great to get a contract elsewhere, but he could struggle as well with little to no weapons to throw and hand off too. I do think Jeremiyah Love has all the tools to be awesome. But, he is already hurt and it looks like the Cardinals may overuse him way too early in his career. I'm also not a fan of drafting a running back so high in the draft. I fully believed Marvin Harrison Jr was a can't miss prospect. He has had a rough go to start his career, but he did look a little better in the Cardinals first preseason game this year. Outside MHJ, they have also rans and guys I've never heard of at wideout. Trey McBride is a very, very good option at tight end. The offensive line is horrendous. They are going to struggle mightily trying to protect Brissett and open up running holes for the running backs. The defense is full of young or unproven talent. Will Johnson is a lockdown corner and Budda Baker is a hard hitting safety. But the d line is not great and the linebackers have a ton to prove. The Cardinals are going to have a rough go of it this season. It wouldn't shock me if they only win three or four games, at most. Hell, they could be a two win team when you really boil it all down.

At 31 I have the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins finally got off of Tua's contract and concussion issues and added the best QB in free agency in Malik Willis. As a Packers fan I'm going to miss him a ton. He looks like he has figured it out. But Willis, much like Brissett, doesn't have a ton of exciting options. De'Von Achane has all the skill to be a dominant back, but he is looking like he will almost always get hurt. Caleb Douglas seems like their best option as the number 1 wideout, but I know little to nothing about him. And they don't have many better options at receiver. The O line is on the same level with the Cardinals. Every highlight video I see of Willis, he is always on the move due to poor protection. The defense is not great either. They have gotten rid of anyone that was any good for them in the recent past. I adore Josh Uche and Kenneth Grant, but Uche is a traveled vet at this point, and Grant didn't jump off the screen last year. I have never heard of one player in their secondary. I could say the same for their linebacking unit. Mike McDaniel was let go, and this team looks like they're going into full rebuild mode right now. I like the Willis transaction, but he needs a ton of help. The Dolphins will be right there with the Cardinals, seeing who will get the first pick in next year's draft. They will be lucky to win four games all year.

At 30 I have the Cleveland Browns. It must be so harrowing to be the QB for this team. It's a two man race between Deshaun Watson and Shadeur Sanders right now. They both looked off in their last preseason game. I don't know who they will go with, but it is not going to be great. I believe Sanders is more talented, but Watson has had some success in the NFL. Either way, it will be a struggle. Quinshon Judkins is the starter at running back now, but this is a rotating thing for this team. Judkins is fast, but gets hurt too often. Dylan Sampson has a ton to prove. So does Rahiem Sanders. Jerry Jeudy is a legit number 1 wideout, but I bet he wishes he was still in Denver. Denzel Boston is a solid slot receiver, but he doesn't have the luxury of having stars all around him anymore to take the pressure off. They let David Njoku walk for some reason. And the O line has not been addressed and is still a massive problem. The defense has a few dudes, but not enough to be truly competitive. Mason Graham is solid, but he has to make a leap. Denzel Ward and Grant Delpit are legit solid secondary players. Jared Verse is a very good edge rusher. But then it is a bunch of dudes I've never heard of again. The Browns are stuck in the mud. I don't know what they have to do to get out of it, but they are going to be pretty bad once again, and that is going to frustrate that fanbase. Maybe they just need to hand the keys to Shaduer Sanders and see what they have in him, but they seem so reluctant to do that for whatever reason.

My final team for the day, at number 29 I have the New York Jets. The Jets are a very, very bad football team. I loved the coach they brought in last season, but man did they still look like an awful football team. Geno Smith is the new starter at QB. I like Geno Smith. He has had a fine career. But when you have to reach for him as your starter you must have much bigger issues. Breece Hall is a legit number 1 running back. He is a solid runner and can catch the ball out of the backfield with the best of them. Garrett Wilson is a legit number 1 receiver in the NFL. But the O line is dreadful, the other options on the outside are not great and they need much better talent. I think they did the right thing when they drafted tight end Kenyon Saadiq. He looks to be very good and big and fast. But this team has a ton of improvement they need to show to be considered, at the very least, an annoying team to play. The defense is very bad. They have let anyone they have had of any talent walk out of the door. Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams are gone. They brought in Minkah Fitzpatrick, who may have a little left in the tank. But he is also often traveled at this point.  The rest of the defense has a ton to prove, and they're going to have massive growing pains. The Jets are as down as the Browns. They seem to have no idea what they're trying to build and they are going to go out and win four games and probably trade any good player they have for future draft picks.

That's it for today. Come back tomorrow for the next four teams. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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