Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - NFL SQUAD: Way Too Early 2025 NFL Power Rankings

Episode Date: May 8, 2025

In this week's NFL Squad, the crew reacts to the Locked On Network's latest 2025 NFL Power Rankings as put together by members of the Locked On NFL Channel. The Philadelphia Eagles come in at #1, but do the Kansas City Chiefs go to #2 after losing the Super Bowl? Our panel reacts to the Top 10, Bottom 10, and which teams in the middle of the pack could jump into the Top 10.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!UpworkVisit Upwork.com right now and post your job for free to connect with top talent and grow your business today! Skylight CalendarRight now, Skylight is offering our listeners $30 off their 15 inch Calendars by going to Skylightcal.com/NFL. Amazon Fire TV Stick 4kDid you know your Fire TV is also an Xbox? Turn any TV into your gaming and entertainment hub with Fire TV Stick 4K devices — no console required. Head to Amazon.com/firetvlockedon to get started. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription and compatible controller required.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It is way too early for NFL power rankings. We're going to dive deep into that here on today's NFL squad show. You are talking ball with the NFL squad, sponsored by game time. From the chiefs to the bills, Falcons to the 49ers, and everyone else around the NFL, it's the local experts of the Locked-on podcast network bringing you scoops, breakdowns, and the most comprehensive preview of the upcoming weekend for hard-hitting football with our harder-hitting takes. Buckle up, it's the NFL squad.

Then we have a seat for you. No hurt feelings allowed. Squad up, you're part of the NFL squad. What's happening, everyone. Welcome into another NFL squad show here on the lockdown podcast, Eric, where you know what is your team every day for all your NFL news, content coverage and more. We got you covered here with a great panel of NFL experts who always have the biggest

stories going on every single day. So special thank you to all the everydayers out there if you listen. to every single NFL show. We appreciate you. I'm Cody Roark, host of Lockdown. Broncos joined today by Landon McCool, host of Lockdown Cowboys, Ross Jackson of Lockedon Saints,

Kevin Ostriker of Lockdown Ravens, and Spencer German of Lockedon Browns. We've got pretty good representation for the AFC and the NFC here today as we dive deep into our NFL, way too early power rankings. Today's show is brought to our friends over there at the GameTime app. Download the GameTime app, create an account and use code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase.

look, it's always fun when we get together to talk about power rankings because this is one of the most controversial things that we go through in our locked on chat on Twitter or teams wherever we're at because the voting sometimes, you wonder where it's coming from. But we're going to go through the top 10 here today and maybe debate and discuss a team that shouldn't even be in the top 10. It's got me heated on today's show. We'll go through the bottom 10 and then see who from the middle can creep up or will creep down the list as well. So Ross Jackson, I mean, you've got early access to the list here as well. Let's spoil it here. Number one of the power rankings, the Philadelphia Eagles. Are we surprised?

I mean, not really. I know it hurts Landon McCool because of the division here, but rightly so. They're the champs. Yeah, the champs is a yard. That's big. And here's my thing too, okay, everyone talks about, okay, though the team who lost in the Super Bowl, they have to be the number two team. I don't necessarily subscribe to that line of thinking, you know,

Landon, let's pass it off to you. Do you agree or disagree with that? I'd strong disagree. I mean, I think we found that year after year that the team that loses the Super Bowl usually has a pretty big hangover afterwards. So I think if anything, maybe you should trend the other way with some of these, but maybe not, you know, the bottom of the list, but maybe not quite near the top. What if we were to tell you that a team who didn't advance as far as the team that made it to the Super Bowl, like Kansas City Chiefs and loss, is actually ranked higher than them in the powering is Kevin Ostracker, locked on Ravens. Your Ravens coming in at number three here, just behind the Buffalo Bills at number two in our rankings that were voted on by the Locked on Podcast Network.

Not shocking, not shocking. And I admittedly had the Ravens at two. And it's, again, a top three in the AFC between Kansas City, Buffalo and Baltimore. But I feel like people after the Super Bowl and how it wasn't just the Kansas City lost. It was how they lost. I feel like people are souring on them a little bit, Travis Kemp. Kelsey, obviously, during the end of his career, he is back. But we saw the last time this sort of thing happened to Kansas City when they played Tampa.

That was an entire offensive line reset. Obviously, it was the same type of story against Philadelphia in the Super Bowl. But I think when we talk about Baltimore and Buffalo ahead of Kansas City, I know that if Joe was here, he could have talked about it with me. And I'm curious to hear what his thoughts are on it, too. Because I think we're pretty much on the same wavelength. But Joe and I, I think both respect Kansas City to the point where, like they're the team to beat in the AFC.

You know, no Super Bowl loss is going to change my mind on that personally. And it's just going to be a matter of can Baltimore finally get over that hump? And I think that from a roster perspective, I think Baltimore's roster is better than Kansas City. And I think Buffalo's is as well. But there's always that factor of Mahomes and Kelsey and Reed. They've been there. They've done that.

They've been able to show up in those big moments, something that covering the Ravens Baltimore, unfortunately, has not been able to do and get over that hump. It seems like the book is out right now on them, which is they're a great regular season team. But once the postseason hits, in some way, shape, or form, whether it's John Harbaal, Lamar Jackson, Mark Andrews,

whoever, some way, shape, and form, they just can't live up to the billing. So on paper, I agree. I think Buffalo and Baltimore are better than Kansas City. But I think there are other factors in there as well that you have to give Kansas City credit for. Good wordplay there on using up, not living up to the billing there.

Obviously, as the bubble bills come up to Baltimore. Not intentional, but I'll take credit for it. Yeah. Bringing it there. You know, Bill's Moppy, we thank you as well. Even though there's no Joe, there's still a show. And also make sure you check out the Bill's squad show. You know, they're doing terrific work over there.

All right, Spencer, you know, hey, breaking news here. The Cleveland Browns, well, not breaking news. They're not even in the top 10 at this point. We'll get to them a little bit later. But to round out there at number four, the Detroit Lions coming in for, Kansas City coming in at number five here. Your initial thoughts here before we get into the absolute ranking that drives me mad about how this was voted on. Yeah, so I'm sort of, I guess I'm not surprised the Lions are in the top five,

but I kind of feel like the Lions are a team that's maybe poised to take a step back. I mean, they had a brilliant season last year. Vikings really banking on the J.J. McCarthy stock. I think the Bears got better this year, even though I think I've rated them pretty low in my ranking that we all had sent to us just because it's the Bears and I can't trust them. But they obviously, with the moves they made this off season, they could maybe be poised to be a bigger threat in that division. So I'm kind of I'm a bit surprised I guess they're up there the chief's coming in a five I get what all you guys are saying about You know them maybe taking a step back and and maybe not everybody buying them I agree with Kevin in that the Ravens and bills like roster wise are probably better than Kansas City But the reason like Ross said it that the the Eagles are the champs until they're not and so everyone's probably voting them number one

Which is why they came in a number one on the list for us the same thing sort of applies to me for the chiefs like I I I I I give Patrick Mahomes the Tom Brady pass at this point. Like I just assume that no matter what, he's going to be there in the ASC championship game with a chance to go to the Super Bowl every single year. And if you bet against them at your own peril. So until I'm proven otherwise, until I see a team like Baltimore or a team like the bills,

actually get it done against that team in the postseason, I'm just always going to default to they are the number one team in the AFC. So in this instance, I can't put them ahead of the Eagles because the Eagles won the Super Bowl against them. But I had to put them number two. But I do think most of this five sort of falls in line with, with the general consensus around the league, other than maybe,

I guess from my perspective, the Lions being a team that I think maybe takes a little bit of a step back. As a Broncos representative, as much as I hate to agree with you there. I mean, you're right. I mean, it is kind of like that. Every year, Tom Brady and the Patriots would be counted out. Everyone's riding them off.

And then here they come. And it's like, all right, have we learned our lesson yet? Well, Kansas City, the amount of straight appearances that they've had in the AFC championship game, I think gives credence to the fact that, hey, you still can't write them off, which is going to make our AFC West Squad show, you know, once the season gets a little closer, a little interesting there as we talk about that. But here's the pick that drives me absolutely mad. Coming in at number six here, the San Francisco 49ers, what gives them this rating?

I mean, they pretty much have had to ship off Debo Samuel. They got rid of pretty much everybody because they had to. You have a looming extension here with Brock Purdy, who is he the quarterback of the future? Like, this to me was the one ranking that I was like, San Francisco didn't even belong in the top 10 of these power rankings. It goes San Francisco at 6, Cincinnati at 7, which I don't agree with either. Also drives me. I hate that.

Which I don't agree with that. The Rams at 9, you can debate that. And then Tampa Bay at number 10 to round out the top 10. Ross Jackson, anything that stands out to you, you know, picks six through 10 here. Yeah, I think it's six and seven. Like San Francisco is set to take a step back. They might even end up shipping off, you know, Brandon Ayuk if they get the chance and everything. But if not, we get to watch for, you know, we get to watch Chris Carter on Pittsburgh on Twitter all the time.

Hosta Block on Steelers kind of ramp that up. But yeah, I just, I don't see San Francisco in this category any longer. I don't see Cincinnati in this category either. I get that Joe Burroughs, the quarterback. And look, I'm a lifelong Louisiana guy, right? Born and raised in Louisiana, I got a lot of love for Joe Burrow. It's what's around him or the lack thereof of what's around him, particularly over the defensive side. That kind of drives me a little nuts to see them ranked at number seven.

I don't think they deserve to be here. So for me, those are the two standouts because I don't think that either of those seem San Francisco or Sinci will be in this conversation come this time or rather come, let's say like December or January of next year. There's there are, you know, there's no shot. All right, Landon McCool, I mean, from six to 10, any objections, any disputes that you have here? Well, yeah, I mean, I got a lot of general just, you know, objections. And I kind of just feel like this is not a great group considering that they're ranked

six through 10. It just felt like when we were getting to this point, I was sitting there going, man, I don't really love any of these teams, like to really feel confident about putting him in here. It feels, you know, obviously the Bengals have a lot of work still to do on the defensive side of the ball. I understand that, you know, obviously Burrow and the offensive weapons, and that's going to carry them far. But we're still talking about a top 10 team. I've got major questions about what's going on on the other side of the ball.

San Francisco, I mean, they've lost, you know, a portion of their talent. Frankly, they had lost a lot of the portion of their talent the previous season. I like some of the things they did in the off season, but I don't feel like much of what they did in the draft is going to move the needle. And frankly, the middle part of their draft was a big head scratcher for me. I really don't know what they were doing. So they're kind of, I think John Lynch in general just sort of gets a pass for a lot of things that they do when sometimes, you know, it's a 50-50 split between genius and just absolutely mind-boggling. But yeah, I mean, I think my main takeaway is really just the lack of certainty. I feel about any of those teams

versus where I feel like I normally would be with the teams in the top 10 at this point. We'll round things up and go rapid fire with Spencer and German. Spencer and Kevin here, Spencer and German. There we go. My bad Kevin. There we go. We're a little flustered here.

We talked about San Francisco at 6th year, but there are a couple AFC teams as well. Like I said, it goes Cincinnati at 7. The Chargers at 8. What do you think about that? Because I don't agree with those placements either. I think if anything, Houston, the team to beat him in the playoffs should be ahead of the chargers here. But that's just my thoughts.

I think Houston took a big step back. I agree. I agree. They made some perplexing trades this all season. Obviously getting rid of Laramie Tunsell in a year where Joe Burrow, or sorry, not Joe Burrow, I'm thinking of a different Ohio State quarterback. C.J. Stroud took a step back. LSU quarterback. Thank you very much. Ohio State still tries to claim them, though, even though he never played a snap.

Not a meaningful snap anyway. But C.J. Stroud took a step back. step back and then I think they made the offense line kind of around him worse. Obviously, like, Stefan Diggs is gone from there. He was a key weapon for them until he got hurt. You know, I don't know how, I don't know when Tank Dell is going to be back for them. So there's like a lot of, probably not this year. Yeah, a lot of, there's a lot of kind of mystery there, I guess, for Houston. I, I'm still, I threw it out there, but I'm still, I'm surprised that there's no love for the commanders in this top 10. Like, like, I, yeah, I know. I know. You were saying before we started here,

that you think they're a team that's probably maybe poised to take a step back. I think they made some really good moves this offseason, though, like smart moves. They invested in the offensive line, both in trade for Tunsel and in the NFL draft. I know they got somebody. So I don't know. I'm kind of surprised that, yeah, they might take a step back, but to not even have them in the top 10, I kind of found surprising.

Well, folks, we're going to get to the bottom 10 here coming up on today's NFL squad show. You know, Ross Jackson has got some good representation. Is he excited about where the New Orleans Saints are at and are way too early power rankings. We'll break that down and much more here on today's NFL squad. Today's NFL squad show is brought to you by friends over there at the Game Time app. And look, there's nothing like the atmosphere of an NBA playoff game. The second round is ongoing.

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There's not as much to dispute here. Ross Jackson, Locked on Saints, Landon McCool, Locked on Cowboys, Kevin Ostriker, locked on a rave, Spencer, German, locked on Browns. Let's start with number 32. And Spencer, drum roll here. Spoiler alert, the Cleveland Browns were voted as the 32nd ranked team here. I want to know your thoughts on this. Do you agree or disagree with this?

Because obviously, they loaded up. I feel like they added some quality players in the NFL draft. But is this being overshadowed by the fact that they went and they spent a pick on Dylan Gabriel, who Kevin thinks going to end up being the starter? at some point this year. Or the Shadour Sanders thing. Is 32 the rightful place here for the Cleveland Browns? I didn't pick them to be 32.

I think I put them 30 on my ranking. So listen, I'm not surprised that they ended up 32. I think anytime you're choosing between the Browns and other flailing teams in the NFL at any given time, people just gravitate towards the Browns because the Browns have this negative connotation with them. We know that about this team. It's like the whole mistake on the lake thing. They always lose and they had the long playoffs route and they can never get the quarterback situation right.

And they got to Sean Watson just kind of sitting there getting paid to do nothing this year. So I get it. The balloon release. Don't forget about the balloon release. Yeah. Yeah. Johnny Mansell. Like,

the list goes on and on. There's so many examples. So I get it. I understand why that goes the consensus from, I guess, the network in terms of putting the Brown's 32nd. I mean, listen,

I think what's interesting is, do I think this team is going to win a lot of games this year? like, no, I feel like their ceiling is probably around like seven to eight if they, if everything goes right. Like Joe Flacco ends up being the starter and he balls out like he did in 20, 23 and, you know, he can maybe do something for you. Maybe the offense is kind of gets rolling and they're going back to Kevin Sifansky's sort of basic system where it's a lot of 12 personnel, a lot of running the football, a lot of outside zone. And, you know, that boat, that generally boat has voted well for them. So there's a chance they, they, you know, maybe max out what Vegas is saying they're, their win total is, I think he's at like four and a half, five and a half, some around there.

But I can't fault anybody for thinking that the Browns are going to be bad this year. Well, I do think it's interesting though, like you alluded to, Cody, they added some players this year in the draft that I think have a chance to be impactful. You know, I think the Mason Grand pick, even though there were some controversy a little bit here in Cleveland over, if they should have taken Travis Hunter, obviously. Like, he has a chance to be really impactful in year one, especially with Miles Garrett on the outside drawn a lot of attention. I like that pick.

I think the two running backs they added and Dylan Samson and Quinton Junkins. Quinton Junkins has been like my draft crush this entire time. Like I think he reminds me a lot of Kareem Hunt who played here a couple years ago. So to have a running back like that as sort of your frontline guy, I think they can maybe do some things. So I could see the Brown surprising some people and not finishing last.

For what it's worth, Ross, I had the Saints as my 32nd team. And I had the Colts. I had the Colts as 31. I just don't know if you're going into the season with the quarterbacks, situation that's Anthony Richardson, who I think the book is kind of starting to be more out on at this point. And Daniel Jones, I don't know that I trust that group to win you a lot of football games. Twitter is excited about, you know, Anthony Richardson throwing four yard out rounds.

They're like, wow, look at him. It's like, we see this every year. Let's not get into the hype there. I think, you know, he doesn't have a problem throwing the ball. It's just maintaining, you know, an accurate base, being consistent. That's what you haven't gotten from Anthony Richardson. But interesting enough, where Spencer has them there. Ross Jackson, your New Orleans Saints come in at number 30th overall. Where did you have them? Is this on par considering that they're in a rebuild? I'm shocked that they're at 30.

I thought for sure they were getting up at 32 for thinking about like where the rest of the network might rank them and stuff like that. So I approach this with a little bit of optimism for the New Orleans Saints. I think that any time that like you look at three teams, the New Orleans Saints, the Indianapolis Colts and in the New York Jets who don't really have a full on future direction. direction at quarterback, right? Like Justin Fields is there in New York. I don't mean to disrespect Justin Fields, but is he the future or is he the now, right? And it feels more like he's the now. The Saints really don't kind of know what their now is. Sometimes Derek Carr's okay. Sometimes he's not okay. Sometimes he's going to have surgery. Sometimes he's not going to have surgery. Sometimes he's angry with the organization. Sometimes he's not, you know, sometimes everything's okay with the organization.

Like you just never know. And so I think the Saints are going to be playing either a second year or rookie quarterback at least to start the season. And New Orleans hasn't done that in all really, really, really, really, really long time. I mean, it's been 50 plus years since they've had that type of a situation. And so I just don't see them necessarily being in a place where they're going to be massively competitive. And I think that they're in that conversation of teams to where the record isn't really

indicative of success. And anytime that you're in a conversation to where you say that the record is not indicative of success, you're probably a body. team and that's okay like that saints need to live here for a little while and finally take on that rebuild that they've really needed to be on since drew breeze retired years ago and certainly since Sean Peyton left years that you know one year after that so I'm not super surprised I see them this low I'm shocked that the network doesn't have them ranked lower this is kind of where I had them they're ranked at number 30 with the New York Jets at 31 fine like that's kind of the class of team

that they're around the division might make them look a little bit better but I'm not fully convinced that it will. So this is about where I think that they should be. And that's okay because this team needs to live at this spot for a second before they, you know, they're in that place of like the ebb and flow of the NFL. And that's fine.

Yeah, with the whole situation, Derek Carr, it's like an episode of Righteous gemstones right now. It's going on over there in New Orleans. We'll see how it pans out. 29th, Kevin's favorite team to win the NFC South,

the Carolina Panthers coming in right there. I know, you know, you got some good favor from the Carolina Panthers fan base. But then it goes to Tennessee. Titans who obviously land Cam Ward with the number one overall pick at 28. The Colts come in at number 27. So maybe a little bit higher kind of in the median and where people thought

they were going to be Arizona at 26, Miami at 25, which Miami's rankings a little surprising. It's ahead of Miami though, I think is very interesting. And then it goes New England Patriots and then the Raiders there. So Landon, let's go to you here. Surprisingly enough here as we look at Cleveland 32, Jets 31. Saints 30, Panthers 28, and then it goes Titans, Colts, Cardinals, Dolphins, Giants. Any dispute there on any team that's landed up there, kind of in those bottom 10?

I don't know if I would dispute, but I think it's interesting that Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals at 26, like that he is the bottom of the established quarterback list in the NFL, basically, right? Because everything beneath that is kind of a nightmare quarterback scenario, no offense to two of y'all. But it's like, it's the, you know, so Kyler Murray's really, yeah, the Kyleor Murray is like the one guy that's like, he is like established is definitely who they want as their starting quarterback. And that that is the lowest ranked guy in the team. And I also don't think that that necessarily reflects the, the talent at Arizona. I think Arizona's got a pretty decent team. So maybe, you know, I don't know how much higher I'm putting it.

I just find it's funny that, that, you know, that kind of maybe that line of demarcation between 26 and 27, maybe it's a pretty steep gap. I had the Cardinals in my own rank and I had them around 19, 20, something along those lines there. I think I had them like 16, 17, somewhere on it. Yeah, I was like 21. It gets hard when you're filling out the rankings. You're like, wait a minute, who did I put here at this spot?

Yeah, right, yeah. It plays mind games on here. You're going to go back and move everybody down to spot. I've had to do that. I've had to do that, sure. Well, I think one of the things we are going to debate discuss here in today's NFL Squatcho, we've analyzed the top 10. we've analyzed the bottom 10, but which teams that are in the middle of the pack here have a chance to jump up into the top 10 or fall into the bottom 10.

We'll debate and discuss here on today's NFL squad show, part of the lockdown podcast network, your team every day. Today's NFL squad show is brought to you by our friends over there at Upwork. And scaling your business requires the right expertise at the right time. With Upwork, you can find specialized freelancers in marketing, development, design, and more experts ready to help you take your business to the next level. Upwork gives businesses flexibility by connecting them with top freelance talent across multiple industries, including IT, AI, web development, and marketing. Whether you need extra hands for a project or a long-term partner, Upwork makes hiring simple and affordable. And finally, the right talent is important for scaling your business. If you need to help with a marketing campaign, Upwork can connect you with a freelance expert who delivered incredible results on other projects.

So visit upwork.com right now and post your job for free. That's UPWRK.com, Upwork.com to connect with top talent and grow your business today. We're jumping into the fourth quarter action of today's NFL squad show here on the Lockdown podcast. And everyone thanks our sponsor over there at Game Time once again for coming in clutch as always. As we get into the middle pack of our way too early NFL power rankings here, we've analyzed the top 10. We've analyzed the bottom 10. And I feel like there's a lot of conversation to be had as to which teams are movable into the top 10 or maybe out, you know, maybe into the bottom 10 essentially here. Let's start things off here by going through where we're at.

Obviously, Tampa Bay was the number 10 team to kind of round things off. But from 11, you got the Minnesota Vikings. 12, you got the Washington commanders. So I think most of us here except Landin and a Grants, that seems a little bit of a stretch for them. To Green Bay Packers at number 13, Peter Bukowski. I'm curious for his thoughts on that. The Broncos coming in at 14. I had them around 12 to 14.

I think it's a fair range there. The Houston Texans at 15. Cowboys coming in at 16th, Landon. We'll get your thoughts on the moment. The Bears at 17. Falcons at 18. Steelers at 19. Jaguars at 20.

Very, very interesting list here. Landon, let's start off with you here. Cowboys coming in 16th. I mean, they just acquired George Pickens via trade. So, you know, you guys and Chris Carter worked up a little bit early on. the morning, obviously on Wednesday. But your thoughts here, does this ranking, does it match up with where they've got now, like with the acquisition of George Pickens, or do you feel like they should be higher?

Yeah, I feel like, I mean, obviously, I host the Cowboys show. I feel like they should be higher. But I'm not shocked that they aren't, right? Like, I mean, I'm not shocked that they are at 16 right now because there's a lot of things that are in transition. There's just a lot to the Cowboys that still has to be kind of seen on the field, including, you know, what kind of version of pickings are we getting? But, I mean, I think just if you look at the roster, I mean,

the Cowboys have been getting killed for the last few weeks for not having a wide receiver too. I mean, they've got two deep and pass rusher. They got a franchise quarterback. They got a top five wide receiver. They've got a ton of other stuff, but they've been getting murdered, you know, and knocked out because they didn't have a wide receiver too. Well, guess what? Now they have that.

So maybe there's less excuses for why everyone thinks that they're going to be, terrible again this year. So I think that yeah, obviously that there's going to have an if they have a chance to have a healthy DAC this year, they're going to have a bounce back here. I would be shocked if they aren't a top 10 team, you know, with this roster, if everything kind of plays out. I think they were a better team than that their record showed last year. And, and then obviously when things kind of snowballed who all went downhill for them for sure. I'll be honest. I'll be honest, Landon, like the like the Chicago Bears, the Cowboys are just a team. I just don't trust. That's why that's why I ranked them a little bit lower because

Every time I think like, oh, the Cowboys have a shot this year, they're going to come for that division. It just seems like they always, they always stub their toes somewhere along the way, whether it's in the playoffs or we've won the division a couple of times. I think there's a difference between like not trusting him to win the Super Bowl, which geez, buddy, I get in line. I'm with you there. The Cowboys have consistently, they won like, what, 36 games in three seasons or something. So it's winning games has never been a problem with the Cowboys.

It's winning playoff games. That's probably, I mean, to be fair, that's probably where my mind was was like, do I really think this team has a shot to win the Super Bowl up there? If I'm doing a ranking and I'm talking about like Baltimore and the bills and the cheese, do I really think they're in that stratosphere teams? Like, do I think they're actually going to win the Super Bowl? No. So that's what that's interesting, right, is that we just talked about, or at least I talked about,

I think seven through 10 on our list, all of those teams aren't any good. So there's no reason why the Cowboys couldn't get into that group. Six through 10. Yeah, absolutely. So there's no reason the Cowboys couldn't get into that list. I mean, honestly, so we'll see. All right. So let's talk about that.

Schottenheimer, new coach. I mean, he's been on the staff, but new head coach, first time head coach. Like, I feel better right now about the Dallas Cowboys in 2020, 2026 than I do about them in 2025. You know what I mean? But that's because I haven't seen what. Yeah, it's so much unknown. The coach, you know what I mean?

I like that. Well, hey, let's debate and discuss this real quick. Because we already know, six through 10 here to recap it, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I feel like Tampa can stay in the top 10. I feel like that's probably the one out of that group. I'm not disputing.

See, I will dispute that. I think that we're not discounting enough these teams that have lost their superstar OCs and DCs, right? And I throw the lions in there as well. Like not that I would knock them out of the top 10, but I think the ranking, just putting them in at top three because of what they did last year after losing both their offensive coordinator or defense coordinator.

And then Tampa losing Liam Cohen cannot be discounted enough. Like that's a major loss for that team. And I feel like they scrambled to it. It showed you like how much that they felt like they lost it. So I would, I'm a little bit tenuous about keeping them in the top ten. I feel like we could take San Francisco, Cincinnati, the Chargers and the Rams out for those teams.

I feel like you could put Washington into the top ten. Absolutely. I think you could and you should. The Minnesota Vikings questions about, hey, we don't know what we're going to see yet with J.J. McCarthy. So that one's kind of eh. Green Bay Packers. Green Bay Packer would like to do it

depending on the health and status of Jordan Love. I think the Broncos are a team that could also move into the top 10 at some point. I wouldn't do it right now. But I think with the moves that they made to make an already good defense even better, and now you've added more pieces around Bo Nix. I think the Broncos could be a sneaky team to make it in the top 10. But Kevin, I mean, your thoughts on who should be in the top 10 at this point from the middle of the pack group that features Minnesota, Washington,

Green Bay, Denver, Houston, Dallas, and Chicago. Yeah, I mean, Washington. is the obvious choice here, but to me, I'm going to go with Minnesota, and I might be more of a JJ McCarthy believer than some others, but I think it will, it all depends on how you feel about J.J. McCarthy, because I think the pieces around him, and this is what Minnesota should have done, first of all, and this is what all teams should do with quarterbacks on rookie contracts. Get the pieces around him, go spend, and that's what Minnesota did, both to protect J.J. McCarthy on the offensive line, and on top of it, they beefed up their defensive line. I love the Donovan Jackson

pick for them. I think them beefed. up the trenches was huge. And on top of that, you already have Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. Aaron Jones is your running back. You have T.J. Hawkins in a tight end position. And that defense has some playmakers on it as well outside of who they've already added. So I think that if McCarthy can turn into, and I'm not saying it has to be Passion Malmes or Joe Bar or Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen or anything, but if he can just be a serviceable quarterback

in his first year, man, that's all he's got to be. You know, if Brock Purdy can go and do it with the roster that he had, I think that J.J. McCarthy can do it with the roster that he has. So I think Minnesota doesn't seem that could surprise people this year. He's got, I think he's got a great system. I think he's got great playmakers around him. And I feel like there's going to be a concerted effort to take all the pressure off of his shoulders because of that. And like said, they're also reinvested in trying to beef up that offensive line as well and get continuity there.

That's going to be huge. And he's got Kevin O'Connell calling his place. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's the sex factor, I think, is you trust O'Connell to. tap into whatever quarterbacks there. I mean, look what he just did with Sam Donald.

Sam Donald gets paid this offseason because of the success he had with O'Connell. I think, though, like, I think my biggest hesitation with the Vikings and the quarterback situation as it relates to JJ McCarthy is like he's not going to have a, this is basically his rookie season, and he's not going to have like a normal rookie experience. He's basically learning on the fly while also trying to come back from a torn ACL. Like, that's not necessarily easy to do. Like, I just watched, I just watched Nick Chubb try to, and again, like this. is the second time he had a serious knee injury in his knee.

But I just watched him struggle to kind of come back and be a similar player for several weeks. And the talk was, hey, if they resigned this offseason here in Cleveland, like maybe a year after, like a whole other year of just being able to train, not having to recover, but just being able to train for a season, a year removed, another year removed from the injury, he'll look a little bit better. So I don't know that, like, JJ's going to be able to, like, hand.

I'm not saying he can't, but I think I had questions about his ability to both recover from that injury and be able to play at a high level and be essentially learning the game at the NFL level at the same time. That division too is tough, man. It is. That might be the toughest division in football. Granted, we'll see based on the changes that happen to coordinators in Detroit. Obviously, that's going to, I think, be something to watch here.

Spencer, I'm going to put you on a little bit of, you know, an opportunity to irritate a fan base in your division here. The Pittsburgh Steelers coming in at 19. Is that the right spot or is that a little too low or a little too high? Where are you out with that? Considering that quarterback situation right now, it's unclear. We think it's going to be Rogers, but man, this is a very interesting offseason for Pittsburgh. Incorporate George Pickens into your response, please. I actually, I just talked about this on the recent episode of Lockdown Browns,

the idea that for once the Browns actually have, I think, a better quarterback situation right now than the Pittsburgh Steelers, which is kind of crazy to think about. But I'll tell you, like, the Steelers are a tough one to sort of pin in terms of this ranking, because yes, like right now you're looking and you're saying like, well, if they don't get Aaron Rogers, like that team's kind of a disaster. Like they're going to be a really good defense again. I'm sure Mike Tom will squeeze like eight, nine wins out of him because he always does. But like at the same time, I don't really know like where they fall then. But if you get Aaron Rogers, their ceiling could be anywhere from like, hey, we're a top 10 team to well, we're going to be, it's going to be like the New York Jets experience and he's just going to be okay.

And then maybe come on strong late, but it's too late at that point. and then maybe only win like seven games or whatever. So I think they're fascinating to me. All indications continue to be that they're anticipating at some point that Rogers is going to sign there. I know in the aftermath of the Pickens trade, there was a lot of talk about how, you know, he had already been working out with D.K. Metcalf a lot. Like they were sort of thrown with each other and Pickens wasn't a part of that. I wonder why.

And so because of that, like all signs point to he will sign there at some point. And then I think that that'll get interesting. I'm assuming we'll maybe do this exercise again leading up to the season. And it'll be interesting to see like once he's actually in tow where people across the network sort of view the Pittsburgh Steelers if they have Aaron Rogers. Because there are the opinions on Rogers are so vast. Like there's one side that's like, hey, he was looking those last like six or seven games with Jets. He was really coming on strong. And then there's the other side where it's like where it's Aaron Rogers.

He's volatile as hell. and nobody knows what's going to happen with him. So it'll be interesting to see how the network feels about it if he actually goes there. Yeah, we're excited. There's obviously going to be a lot of moving pieces as NFL training camp is coming up and make sure, hey, even though the off season is here, we have a show here for you at the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day, local experts on the biggest stories.

Plus, you get some fun exercises like the national shows here in the NFL squad show here. But what I said, that'll wrap up today's NFL squad shows. We go through our way too early power rankings as voted on by members of the Locked-on podcast network. If you have a gripe, take it up with HR. We appreciate you. We'll see you next time here for another episode. Locked-on NFL squad.