Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - 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)

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 to another NFL Squad Show here on the Lockdown Podcast. Now you know it 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 work host of lockdown Broncos joined today by landing host of Lockdown Cowboys, Ross Jackson of Lockdown Saints, Kevin Ostreicher of Lockdown Ravens, and Spencer German of Lockdown 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 you by our friends over there at the Game Time app. Download the Game Time app, create an account and use code LOCKDOWNNFL 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 go through the top 10 here today and, uh, maybe debate and discuss a team that shouldn't even be in the top 10. It's got me heated on today's show. I'm going to 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 on 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 rightfully so. They're the champs. Yeah. Your chances are you aren't, you know what I mean? That's big. You know, and here's my thing too. Okay. Everyone talks about, okay, the team who lost in the Superbowl, they have to be the number two team. I don't necessarily subscribe to that line of thinking, you know, Landon, let's pass 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 turn 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 Superbowl, like Kansas City Chiefs and loss is actually ranked higher than them in the powering is Kevin Ostreicher, Lockdown 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 Lockdown Podcast Network. Not shocking, not shocking. And I admittedly had the Ravens at two. And it's again, a top three, but in the AFC between Kansas City, Buffalo and

Baltimore, but I feel like people after the Superbowl 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 Kelsey, obviously, nearing 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 you 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 think both respect Kansas City to the point where like, they're the team to beat in the AFC. 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 Reid. 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 post season hits in some way, shape or form, whether it's John Harbaugh, Lamar Jackson, Mark Andrews, whoever, some way, shape or 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 bills come up, not intentional, but I'll take credit for it. You know, Bill's Mafia, we thank you as well. Even though there's no Joe, there's still a show. And also make sure you check out the squad show. You know, they're doing terrific work over there. All right, Spencer, you know, a breaking news here. The Cleveland Browns. Well, not breaking news. They're not even in the top 10 at this point. Will 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 I 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 that division. So I'm kind of I'm a bit surprised I guess they're up there the chiefs coming in at five I get what all you guys are saying about you know, them maybe taking a step back 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,

the Eagles are the champs until they're not. And so everyone's probably voting them number one, which is why they came in at number one on the list for us. The same thing sort of applies to me for the chiefs. Like 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 AFC championship game with a chance to go to the Super Bowl every single year. And if you bet against him 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 Superbowl against them. But I had to put them number two. But I do think most of this top five sort of falls in line 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 writing 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. We're just gonna make our AFC West squad show.

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, 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 he is is he the quarterback of the future? Like this to me was the one ranking that I was like, San Francisco doesn't even belong in the top 10 of these power rankings. Go San Francisco at six, Cincinnati at seven, which I don't agree with either. Also, the Chargers at eight, which I don't agree with that. The Rams at nine, 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 with picks six through 10 here? Yeah, I think it's six and seven like San Francisco set to take a step back. They might even end up shipping off, Brandon Iuk if they get the chance and everything. But if not, we get to watch Chris Carter on Pittsburgh on Twitter all the time, host of Lockdons 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 Burrows, 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 teams, San Francisco or Sensi, will be in this conversation come this time or rather come, let's say, like December or January of next year. There's no shot. All right, Landon McCool, I mean, from to ten any objections any any disputes that you have here? I am and 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 ten. 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 gonna 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 that a lot of the 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 gonna 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. Uh, but yeah, I mean, I think my main takeaway is really just the, the lack of, 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. Where are the things up and go rapid fire with Spencer and German Spencer and Kevin here Spencer and German. There we go. My bad. There we go. We're a little flustered here. Um, go out here. We talked about San Francisco at six here, but there are a couple AFC teams as well. Like I said, they got, it goes Cincinnati at seven, the chargers at eight. What do you think about that? Cause I don't agree with those placements either. I think if anything, Houston, the team to beat him in the playoff should be ahead of the Chargers here, but that's that's just my thoughts.

Now, I think the Hughes, I think he's a big step. I agree. I agree. Yeah, like they made some perplexing trades this all season. Obviously getting rid of Larry Tunsel in a year where Joe Burrow or sorry, not Joe Burrow. I'm thinking of a different Ohio State quarterback, CJ Stroud. Sort of 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 for a meaningful snap anyway. But CJ Stroud took a step

back and then I think they made the offensive line kind of around him worse. Obviously like Stefan Diggs has gone from there. He was a key weapon for them until he got hurt. I don't know when Tank Dell is going gonna be back for them. So there's like a lot of- Probably not this year. Yeah, there's a lot of kind of mystery there, I guess for Houston. I threw it out there,

but I'm surprised that there's no love for the commanders in this top 10. Completely agree. Yeah, I know what you were saying before we started here that you think they're gonna 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 for tonsil and in In in the the NFL draft they got no they got somebody so I don't know

I'm kind of surprised that I yeah, they might take a step back But to not even have them in the top ten I kind of surprised that I, 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's got some good representation. Is he excited about where the new Orleans saints are at in our way too early power rankers? We'll break that down a much more here on today's NFL squad. Today's NFL squad. Today's brought to you by friends

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feel like there's not as much to dispute here. Ross Jackson locked on Saints landing cool locked on cow. Kevin Ostreicher locked on a Raven Spencer German locked on Browns. Let's start with number 32 and Spencer drum roll here. Spoiler alert to 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 load it 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 can end up being the starter at some point this year or the Shadour

Sanders thing like is 32 the rightful place here for the Cleveland Browns. I didn't pick them to be 32. I think I think I put them 30 on my ranking. So I listen I'm not surprised that they ended up 32. I think anytime you're choosing- on my ranking so I listen I I I'm not surprised that they ended up thirty two- I think anytime you're choosing between

the Browns and other you know flailing teams in the NFL at any given time people just gravitate towards the Browns because the Browns have this negative connotation with that we know that about this team it's like the whole mistake on

the lake thing and- they always lose and they had the long playoff drought and they can never get the quarterback situation right and they got the 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 Johnny man's So I get it I understand why that that because the consensus from I guess the the network in terms of putting the Browns 32nd what I mean listen,, I think what's interesting is, do I think this team is gonna win a lot of games this year?

Like no, I feel like their ceiling is probably around like seven to eight. If everything goes right, like Joe Flacco ends up being the starter and he balls out like he did in 2023 and he can maybe do something for you. Maybe the offense is kind of gets rolling and they're going back to Kevin Stefanski'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 their their win total is which I think is that like four and a half five and a half Some around there. Um, but I can't fault anybody for thinking that the Browns are gonna 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. I think the Mason grand pick, even though there was 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 drawing a lot of attention. I like that pick. I think the two running backs they added, and Dylan Sampson and Quinn Sean Junkins. Quinn Sean Junkins has been my draft crush this entire time. 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 surprise and some people 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 quarterback 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's excited about Anthony Richardson throwing four yard out rounds. They're like, wow, look at him throw. It's like, we see this every year. Let's not get into the hype there. I think he doesn't have a problem throwing the ball. It's just maintaining 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 you've been, you know, during a rebuild? I'm shocked that they're at 30. I thought for sure they were getting up at 32 for, you know, thinking about like where the rest of the network might rank them and stuff like that. So I, I, I approach this with a little bit of optimism for the New Orleans Saints. I think that anytime that like you look at three teams, the New Orleans Saints, the Indianapolis Colts, and then the New York Jets who don't really have a full-on future 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 is 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 a really, 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, 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 any time that you're in a conversation to where you say that the record is not indicative of success, you're probably a bottom team. And that's OK, 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 Brees retired years ago. And certainly since Sean Payton

left years, you know, one year after that. So I'm not super surprised to 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. What'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, uh, you know, you've got, 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 the meeting and where people thought they were going to be Arizona at 26 Miami at 25 which Miami's like 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 uh

Landon let's 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 the two of y'all. But it's like, so Kyler Murray's really, the Kyler Murray's

like the one guy that's 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 necessarily reflects the talent at Arizona. I think Arizona's got a pretty decent team. So maybe, I don't know how much higher I'm putting it, but I just find it's funny that that kind of maybe that line of demarcation between 26 and 27 maybe is a pretty steep gap. I had the Cardinals in my own ranking. I had them around 1920 something along those lines there. I think I had them like 16, 17 somewhere.

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 got to go back and move everybody down. 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 and discuss here on today's NFL Squad Show, 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?

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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. I feel like there's a lot of conversation we 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 Landon and a grants, that seems a little bit of a stretch for them. The 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 that in a 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 had a you guys and Chris Carter worked up a little bit early on in 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 it's 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 what kind of version of pickings are we getting. But I think just if you look at the roster, the Cowboys have been getting killed for the last few weeks for not having a wide receiver too. They've got too deep a pass rusher, they got a franchise quarterback, they got a top five wide receiver, they've got too 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 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 the record showed last year

Uh, and and then obviously when things kind of snowballed it all went downhill for them for sure I'll be honest. I'll be honest landing like the like the chicago bears the cowboys are just team I just don't trust that 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 whether we've won the division a couple times. I think there's a difference between like not trusting them 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 Superbowl? No. So that's why that's what that's what'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. Yeah. So I, there's no reason the Cowboys couldn't get into that list. I mean, honestly, so we'll see. Yeah. All right. So let's talk about that. Schottenheimer new coach. Yeah, I mean, he's been on the staff, but new head coach first time head coach like 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, so much. Coach, you know

what I mean? I like that. Well, hey, let's debate and discuss this real quick. Cause 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 that ranking, just putting them in at top three because of what they did last year after losing both their offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, and then Tampa losing Liam Cohen

cannot be discounted enough. That's a major loss for that team, and I feel like they scrambled. It showed you how much that they felt like they lost it. So I'm a little bit tenuous about keeping them in the top 10. I feel like we could take San Francisco, Cincinnati, the Chargers, and the Rams out. Four of those teams, I feel like you could put Washington into the top 10. Absolutely. I think you could and you should the Minnesota Vikings questions about, you know, Hey, we don't know what we're going to see yet with JJ McCarthy. So that one's kind of, or green Bay Packers, 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 it already good defense even better, and now you've added more pieces around bone X, 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. Kevin Svoboda Yeah, I mean, I think Washington is the obvious choice here, but to me, I'm going to go with Minnesota and I'm, I might be more of a JJ McCarthy believer than some others, but I think it will, it all, it all depends on how you feel about JJ 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 Ricky 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 beefing up the trenches was huge. And on top of that, you already have Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, Aaron Jones as your running back. You have T.J. Hawkins 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 he has to be Patrick Holmes or Joe Borough or Lomar Jackson or Josh Allen or anything, but if he can just be a serviceable quarterback in his- CJ Stroud, man. Exactly. That's all he's gotta be. You know, if Brock Purdy can go and do it

with the roster that he had, I think that JJ McCarthy can do it with the roster that he has. So I think Minnesota is a team that could surprise people this year. 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 look, and like I 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 plays. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's the X factor, I think, is you trust O'Connell to tap into whatever quarterback's there. I mean, look what he just did with Sam Donald. Sam Donald gets paid this off season 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 JG McCarthy is like he's not gonna have, this is basically his rookie season and he's not gonna 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 like I just watched him struggle to kind of come back and be a similar player for several weeks and the talk was hey They resigned this offseason here in Cleveland like maybe a year after like a whole another year of just being able to train Not having to recover but just being able to train for a season a a year removed, another year removed from the injury, he'll look a little bit better. So I don't know that like JJ is going to be able to like hand. I I'm not saying he can't, but I think I have 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. Yeah. Might be the toughest division in football. Granted, we'll see based on the changes that happened to coordinators in Detroit. Obviously that's going to be something to watch here. Spencer, I'm going to put you on a little bit of 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 off season for Pittsburgh. Incorporate George Pickens into your response, please. I actually, uh, I, I just talked about this on a recent episode of, of locked on 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 Rodgers, 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. Yeah, he always does. Yeah. At the same time, I don't really know where they fall then. But if you get Aaron Rodgers, their ceiling could be anywhere from like, hey, we're a top 10 team to, well, 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 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 DK 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 I 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 in tow Where people across the network sort of view the Pittsburgh Steelers if they have Aaron Rodgers because there are the opinions on Rodgers are so vast like there's one side that's like hey he was looking those last like six or seven games with the Jets he was really coming on strong and then there's the other side where it's like where it's Aaron Rodgers 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, everyday local experts on the biggest stories, plus you get some fun exercises like the national shows here and the NFL squad show here.

But what that 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.