| Rnk | LY* | Team | Record+ | Comments |
| 1. | 1. | Seattle Seahawks | 12-4 | Decision to throw on 2nd and goal from the 1 with 20 seconds left in the Super Bowl remains a head scratcher. |
| 2. | 3. | New England Patriots | 12-4 | Federal judge overturning Brady's suspension should have them firing on all cylinders to start the season. |
| 3. | 2. | Green Bay Packers | 12-4 | Have talent to overcome loss of Nelson. |
| 4. | 7. | Indianapolis Colts | 11-5 | Luck overcomes a myriad of problems. |
| 5. | 5. | Denver Broncos | 12-4 | Will Manning hold up physically? Can he and Kubiak co-exist? |
| 6. | 4. | Dallas Cowboys | 12-4 | Belief that running game driven by dominant offensive line and not individual talent of Murray will be tested. |
| 7. | 11. | Arizona Cardinals | 11-5 | Keeping Palmer healthy the obvious key to their season. |
| 8. | 10. | Baltimore Ravens | 10-6 | Lack of explosiveness at offensive skill positions offset by deep talented offensive line, defense. |
| 9. | 6. | Pittsburgh Steelers | 11-5 | Must be carried by Roethlisberger, Brown until Bell, Bryant return. Offense will likely have to carry defense all season. |
| 10. | 9. | Cincinnati Bengals | 10-5-1 | Still haven't won a playoff game with Lewis at the helm. |
| 11. | 12. | Philadelphia Eagles | 10-6 | Can Bradford stay healthy? |
| 12. | 8. | Detriot Lions | 11-5 | Overcoming loss of Suh will not be easy. |
| 13. | 19. | Miami Dolphins | 8-8 | Have talent especially on defense to take the next step. Philbin could be first coach to go if there are any on the field hiccups. |
| 14. | 15. | Buffalo Bills | 9-7 | Would be legitimate Super Bowl contenders with better QBs than Taylor, Manuel. |
| 15. | 20. | Minnesota Vikings | 7-9 | Return of Purple Jesus can only help Bridgewater. |
| 16. | 16. | San Diego Chargers | 9-7 | Extending Rivers solidifies their short term future. |
| 17. | 13. | Houston Texans | 9-7 | Foster's early return would be a godsend. |
| 18. | 14. | Kansas City Chiefs | 9-7 | Can't envision them ever getting over the hump with Smith. |
| 19. | 17. | Carolina Panthers | 7-8-1 | Loss of Benjamin a huge blow to Newton, the offense. |
| 20. | 23. | New York Giants | 6-10 | Sort of a poor man's Steelers. Need Eli and the offensive weapons to carry them. Offensive line and especially defense without Pierre-Paul a shambles. |
| 21. | 21. | New Orleans Saints | 7-9 | Lack game breaking weapons on offense, talent of any kind on defense. |
| 22. | 25. | St. Louis Rams | 6-10 | Defensive front 4 is dominant. Rest of the team, not so much. |
| 23. | 26. | New York Jets | 4-12 | Adding top corners to last year's defense makes them scary good. Prospect of Fitzgerald/Geno at QB is just scary. |
| 24. | 18. | San Francisco 49ers | 8-8 | Talent exodus makes Tomsula's job replacing Harbaugh daunting. |
| 25. | 24. | Atlanta Falcons | 6-10 | Wasting Ryan. |
| 26. | 27. | Chicago Bears | 5-11 | New offensive emphasis under Fox is protecting the ball. Is that possible with Cutler? |
| 27. | 30. | Jacksonville Jaguars | 3-13 | All comes down to whether Bortles can take a step forward with a season under his belt. |
| 28. | 28. | Oakland Raiders | 3-13 | Hard to get too excited after uninspiring hire of Del Rio as head coach. |
| 29. | 32. | Tennessee Titans | 2-14 | Mariota likely to need some time to make a difference. |
| 30. | 31. | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 2-14 | Winston gives them hope for the future as long as he says out of trouble off the field. |
| 31. | 29. | Washington Redskins | 4-12 | A dumpster fire led by clueless Snyder, Gruden the younger. Have officially given up on RGIII. Cousins has thrown more career interceptions than TD passes so turning to him is obviously no sure thing. |
| 32. | 22. | Cleveland Browns | 7-9 | Last year's early season optimism is long gone. |
*Last year's final regular season ranking
+Last year's final regular season record