Ty's 2026 NFL Preview: "Once in a Lifetime" Division

Welcome to the final day of my preseason NFL countdown. These are the four teams that I think are the best going into the season. These are the true title contenders.

At number 4 I have the Baltimore Ravens. This feels like it is it for this team. This is the season they either announce themselves as a true threat, or if they're just paper champions. They moved on from John Harbaugh and brought in Jesse Minter. He is like a younger Harbaugh, and he even coached with his brother for a good long time. Minter looks ready and I'm excited to see how he performs as a head coach. Lamar Jackson is the best modern day QB in my opinion. He can do it all and he has the hardware to prove it. He just needs to do it in the playoffs now. He has shown what he is capable of in the regular season, now that needs to shift to the important time of year. I fully believe he can do that. Derrick Henry is awesome. He is still highly productive and a load to tackle. He has made the best run game in the NFL that much better. He is such a great compliment to Jackson in the backfield and he continues to be a great player. Zay Flowers has shown some nice flashes. He has very good hands and he is fast. Rashod Bateman hasn't fully popped off just yet. He needs to show something this year or they may move on from him. Jakobi Meyers made a good choice in coming here, but he needs to show that he is more than just a guy who has one or two good games a year. Mark Andrews has had some issues with dropping the ball, but he is still pretty darn good and Lamar Jackson trusts him. The Ravens need better wideouts, but Jackson can mask some of those problems. The o line is right up there with the Lions. They're mean and nasty and very good. The defense has always been the calling card here, but they need to be better this year. I like that they are bringing in Calais Campbell. He can still produce. Roquan Smith is such a steady hand at linebacker. He is a tackling machine. Kyle Hamilton is a ball hawking safety that loves to hit and Marlon Humphrey is a very solid cover guy. They need to play a bit better to be super dominant, and with Minter at the helm I think they can take it up a notch. The Ravens will be very good during the regular season, but they need to win when it matters. I think they can do that this year and I fully believe they can make a push to the Super Bowl.

At number 3 I have the Buffalo Bills. They're very similar to the Ravens. They have a new coach and they have a roster that is on its last legs as a super competitive team. Josh Allen is great. He is a true franchise QB. He makes some wild plays that still surprise me. He is very, very good. I feel like James Cook is one of the more underrated running backs in the league. He is so quiet about what he does, but what he does is rush for 1,000 yards a season, a handful of TDs and has decent hands out of the backfield. Khalil Shakir announced himself as a solid number 1 wideout on this team. He is already good and he should only improve from here. DJ Moore came over from Chicago, and he is a nice, shifty slow receiver for this team. Keon Coleman needs to show some improvement this year. Dalton Kincaid is a very good tight end and the o line is pretty darn good. This defense is ferocious. Ed Oliver is still a very productive d lineman. Greg Rousseau is great off the edge. Bradley Chubb is still a very productive linebacker. CJ Gardener Johnson and Damar Hamlin are very solid secondary players. The Bills have a great QB and a very good defense. They also have one of the best home field advantages in all of football. They should make a deep playoff run, and maybe they can finally break through and find themselves representing the AFC in the Super Bowl.

At number 2 I have the reigning champs, the Seattle Seahawks. They didn't have to change too much this offseason to still be a true title threat in the NFC. Sam Darnold has proven himself to be one of the best game managers in all of football. He showed that he can make plays when he needs to, and he has shed the bust label he may have gotten a few seasons back. Kenneth Walker is gone, and that will hurt. Zach Charbonnet is still nursing his injury and will miss some time to start the year. Jadarian Price will start out the year as the feature back, and I'm curious to see how he performs. Jaxson Smith-Njigba is great. He is steadily climbing the ranks as one of the best wideouts in the game. He is awesome. Cooper Kupp proved he still has something left in the tank last year. Rashid Shaheed might be the fastest player in the NFL, and he had a chance to make some humongous plays in the Super Bowl last year. AJ Barner is proving to be a solid tight end. The o line is great. They open up plenty of running lanes and can pass block very well. This defense is amazing. Leonard Williams and Demarcus Lawrence are menacing coming off the edge. Ernest Jones IV is a very good linebacker. This secondary is one of the best in the league. Devon Witherspoon is one of the best cover guys in the league. Nick Emmanwori is a great nickel corner. And they are taking a chance on Trevon Diggs, who is an interception machine at times. The Seahawks have all the ability to repeat as champs. They have all the players in the right spot and they have a great coaching staff. They also have the best home field advantage in all of football. The Seahawks are going to be very good for a decent amount of time.

And at number 1 I have the Los Angeles Rams. They have it all. Truly. They have a great offense, a defense that is about to get way better and the best coach in football. Sean McVay is truly a football genius. Matthew Stafford is coming off an MVP season and he just continues to put up very good numbers. Kyren Williams and Blake Corum are going to make for a very formidable 1-2 punch in the backfield. Davante Adams is a touchdown machine. He is always open in the end zone. Puka Nacua has some off field stuff he needs to deal with, but when he is on the field he is productive as hell. Cody Parkinson is a capable tight end and this o line is very, very good. This defense is on the precipice of bringing back Aaron Donald, and they traded for Myles Garrett this offseason. Garrett is the best edge rusher, by a million miles, in all of football and he will actually be playing important football later this season. I cannot wait to see how he performs this year. I'm almost certain that Donald will sign soon, and when he does, he and Garrett will be as dominant a d line duo as we have seen in a long, long time. Kam Kinchens is a very good safety. Trent McDuffie is right up there with some of the better secondary players in football. Omar Speights makes tons of tackles and Byron Young is good at tackling and covering backs out of the backfield. This team is loaded from top to bottom and they are, as they should be, the heavy favorites going into this season. If they don't make the Super Bowl I'd say it will be a wasted season.

That's it. That is my preseason countdown for the 2026 season. Come back tomorrow for my playoff and award predictions. 

Ty

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

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