The 2021 NFL season is starting to pick up and we’re finally starting to get a clear picture of which teams are about that action and which teams are not. We can talk another day about the teams that are actually for real. This is about the teams that are not. As we do each week, let’s take a look at which teams are stinking up the joint and rank them accordingly.
Welcome to the NFL Powerless Rankings.
Miami is a really sad case this season. They had some legitimate expectations with Tua coming into his second year, and the defense was supposed to be better than this with the pieces they had on the roster.
Now they find themselves at 1-4, with a ton of questions about what their future looks like. Tua’s injury history is sadly going to start becoming a point of conversation in that organization. Jacoby Brissett has tried his best, but everyone knows he isn’t the answer for the future of this squad. And as the Bolts have found success with Justin Herbert, who was drafted after Tua, pressure is mounting on the Miami front office to make a move for a quarterback who is going to grow.
I almost feel bad for putting the Giants on this list, because they are just going through it right now when it comes to injuries. You thought that they were going to start building some momentum after that win in NOLA, but with Saquon Barkley and Daniel Jones both going down against Dallas yesterday, I could see this team sliding even further down this list.
If Joe Judge can find a way to get out of the bottom 5 in the next few weeks — especially with the injuries he now has to deal with — I’ll gain a lot of respect for him.
The Lions are a team that just doesn’t have the talent to be good. I have to give their head coach Dan Campbell his credit. They have been competitive in every game they’ve played this season, and they are a couple of field goals away from at least having two wins.
But “almost” doesn’t cut it, especially when it’s every week. They lost on another last-second field goal against Minnesota this past Sunday.
While they are still winless and this likely won’t be their last appearance on this list, you gotta commend them for at least having a head coach that has the respect of his locker room even though they are trash. It could be worse — they could be the Jaguars (keep going!).
Even though the Jets do have a win, they find themselves second on the powerless rankings because they lost to Atlanta in London.
Anytime you lose to Atlanta you’re going to lose ground on this list because now I question if you have any self-respect.
You know how bad the Jets are, I don’t have to keep emphasizing how bad their offense is but this is what happens when you have a team in transition with a first-year coach and quarterback.
Jacksonville has had a heck of a week, to say the least, and they ended it by getting smacked up by the Titans, 37-19. I don’t know if the Urban Meyer debacle in Jacksonville has anything to do with them getting beat down, because they are a really bad team regardless of their drama. However there is still something to be said about Meyer’s situation hitting the fan, only for the team to go out and lose almost three scores.
This season is all about Trevor Lawrence, and more importantly, keeping Trevor Lawrence healthy. I doubt that we’ll see Meyer for an extended period in Jacksonville. So this is all about making sure that the centerpiece of their franchise is still standing upright by the end of the year.