The 2021 NFL Draft is in the past and teams are now making their preparations for the preseason and regular season. Several teams made big moves before and during the draft while some just brought back key pieces or made small additions. Here are the power rankings from ESPN:
- Kansas City Chiefs: The Chiefs are not a big surprise here. The team won the Super Bowl two years ago and made it to the Super Bowl last year. The team began by making changes to the offensive line and later addressed everything through the draft and the trade for left tackle Orlando Brown Jr.
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers: The Buccaneers are the current Super Bowl Champions and what’s interesting is that the team managed to keep all of its pieces. Super Bowl teams usually lose a couple of key pieces but the Buccaneers have pretty much brought back everybody and added more pieces to the draft.
- Buffalo Bills
- Los Angeles Rams
- Green Bay Packers: The Packers made it pretty far last year and Rodgers was part of the success. Green Bay is ranked fifth and the team is expected to be in the run again this season. The big question now is the situation with Rodgers, who reports say wants out.
- Baltimore Ravens
Cleveland Browns: The Browns are in the top ten and it is not difficult to see why. The team was already loaded with talent last year and the draft brought even more. Let’s not forget that the team recently signed Clowney, who missed part of last year with an injury. When healthy, he can dominate and playing with Garrett will likely make the defense very strong this season.- Seattle Seahawks
- San Francisco 49ers
- Tennessee Titans
- Arizona Cardinals: The Cardinals look quite strong after their big signings earlier this year. The team has improved its defense by signing Watt. But the offense also got some help, with the signing of A.J. Green. The former Bengals WR has missed some time with injuries in recent years but he has been one of the top receivers when healthy. It is unclear if Fitzgerald will return to the team so this is also a nice replacement if he decides to retire or come back with another team.
- Indianapolis Colts
- Minnesota Vikings
- Miami Dolphins
- Pittsburgh Steelers
- Dallas Cowboys: The Cowboys were expected to draft Surtain to address the issues at CB and the defense. But Surtain was drafted a couple of picks before, sparking a trade between division rivals Eagles and Cowboys. The Cowboys now have Parsons, which is a nice move since Lee has retired. But questions remain for the defense, which struggled last year.
- Los Angeles Chargers
- New Orleans Saints
- New England Patriots: The Patriots roster is loaded with talent after numerous signings earlier this year. The team even drafted QB Mac Jones, who reports say might compete for the starting spot.
- Washington Football Team
- Atlanta Falcons
- Las Vegas Raiders
- New York Giants
- Chicago Bears: The Bears have Fields as their new QB. Chicago was expected to take a QB and they did just that. The selection required a trade to move up but analysts have said great things about the move since QB was a position that the team needed.
- Carolina Panthers
- Denver Broncos
Philadelphia Eagles: The Eagles remain very low on the list despite addressing some of the issues from last year. The team drafted Smith and recently signed Kerrigan to improve the defense. The Eagles are surrounded by questions since Hurts only started a few games and most of the big names such as Jackson and Jeffery are now gone.- New York Jets
- Cincinnati Bengals
- Jacksonville Jaguars
- Detroit Lions
- Houston Texans
Cleveland Browns: The Browns are in the top ten and it is not difficult to see why. The team was already loaded with talent last year and the draft brought even more. Let’s not forget that the team recently signed Clowney, who missed part of last year with an injury. When healthy, he can dominate and playing with Garrett will likely make the defense very strong this season.
Philadelphia Eagles: The Eagles remain very low on the list despite addressing some of the issues from last year. The team drafted Smith and recently signed Kerrigan to improve the defense. The Eagles are surrounded by questions since Hurts only started a few games and most of the big names such as Jackson and Jeffery are now gone.
