We made it. Football is back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And with that, comes a new role for me as NFL Analyst for ALLCITY. That means you\u2019ll see me across our network of football shows throughout the year, but it also means the debut of my weekly NFL Power Rankings column in all five ALLCITY markets \u2014 CHGO<\/a>, DLLS<\/a>, DNVR<\/a>, PHLY<\/a> and PHNX<\/a>.<\/p>\n I get it. Everyone does power rankings. That\u2019s why I\u2019m not going to spend the entire column trying to justify where I have each team ranked. My goal is to simply rank each team and give you a unique, one-line piece of analysis on a specific player or trend that you probably won\u2019t get in someone else\u2019s power rankings.\u00a0<\/p>\n But quickly, if you\u2019re reading this outside Chicago, you should know that I\u2019m in my 15th season covering the Bears<\/a> and I spent five years as a high school special teams coordinator at Carmel Catholic High School, where I still help out. I love football and live and breathe it all year long. If you\u2019re a Bears, Eagles, Cardinals or Broncos fan, we\u2019ll probably get along this year. If you\u2019re a Cowboys<\/a> fan, just know that I think Matt Eberflus is a solid defensive coordinator and we\u2019ll try to get through this season together.\u00a0<\/p>\n Before we get into the power rankings, here\u2019s a quick summary on how I see things going for the Cowboys in 2025:<\/p>\n Cowboys prediction: 5-12<\/p>\n After trading Micah Parsons, the win-range is somewhere between eight and four games, in my opinion. It\u2019s just hard to find anything more than seven wins right now, and I\u2019m going to lean on the light end with a defense that is going to struggle to rush the passer. Kenny Clark will be a great fit for Eberflus\u2019 defense, but I wonder about him staying healthy for all 17 games.\u00a0<\/p>\n NFL Power Rankings<\/p>\n Philadelphia Eagles \u2013 They might have lost some key pieces on defense, but last I checked, the Eagles didn\u2019t lose Vic Fangio.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kansas City Chiefs \u2013 Rookie left tackle Josh Simmons looked dominant against Bears defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo in the preseason. The rich get richer.\u00a0<\/p>\n Buffalo Bills \u2013 Cornerback Christian Benford doesn\u2019t get enough attention, and the Bills need him to be healthy.\u00a0<\/p>\n Baltimore Ravens \u2013 Keep an eye on sixth round pick LaJohntay Wester, who could quickly become one of the more dangerous returners in the league.\u00a0<\/p>\n Detroit Lions \u2013 With three new starters on the offensive interior (including Graham Glasgow moving to center), the Lions might have actually caught a Week 1 break with the Packers trading Kenny Clark to Dallas \u2013 especially if Micah Parsons is limited.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tampa Bay Buccaneers \u2013 Emeka Egbuka\u2019s training camp was exactly how you draw it up for a first round pick.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cincinnati Bengals \u2013 Mark it down: Joe Burrow gets the Bengals back into the playoffs and wins the NFL MVP Award.\u00a0<\/p>\n Minnesota Vikings \u2013 The Vikings spent big money to beef up their trenches with Javon Hargrave, Jonathan Allen and Ryan Kelly, but all three players are 30 or older. That usually doesn\u2019t work.\u00a0<\/p>\n Los Angeles Rams \u2013 Jared Verse seems primed to enter the Defensive Player of the Year conversation, so I\u2019ll go ahead and start it.\u00a0<\/p>\n San Francisco 49ers \u2013 With Robert Saleh back and the league\u2019s easiest schedule, the 49ers appear poised for a bounce-back season.\u00a0<\/p>\n Green Bay Packers \u2013 The Packers finally have a blue chip player in Micah Parsons, but will the short-term reward outweigh the long-term risk of having over $100 million\/year tied up in two players?<\/p>\n Denver Broncos \u2013 If he can stay healthy, safety Talanoa Hufanga could be one of the biggest additions made to a defense this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Arizona Cardinals \u2013 Marvin Harrison Jr. is too talented not to break out this season, and Arizona\u2019s defense should be much better.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Los Angeles Chargers \u2013 Losing Rashawn Slater is a big deal, but the Chargers should still be able to run the ball into the playoffs.\u00a0<\/p>\n Houston Texans \u2013 Tough draw in Week 1 to go on the road to the Rams, but I think the Texans pull off the upset.\u00a0<\/p>\n Chicago Bears \u2013 Rookie tight end Colston Loveland and wide receiver Luther Burden III should flash very early with Ben Johnson coordinating this offense.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pittsburgh Steelers \u2013 Mike Tomlin hitching his wagon to Aaron Rodgers in such a crucial year remains the most bizarre decision of 2025.<\/p>\n Washington Commanders \u2013 By next Friday morning (after the Commanders visit Lambeau Field) everyone will be talking about the ways in which defenses have adjusted to Kliff Kingsbury\u2019s offense.\u00a0<\/p>\n Seattle Seahawks \u2013 Sam Darnold led the league in turnover worthy throws last year and he won\u2019t get away with as many this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n Las Vegas Raiders \u2013 Keep an eye on third-year wide receiver Tre Tucker, who offensive coordinator Chip Kelly will know how to use.<\/p>\n New England Patriots \u2013 I\u2019ll take my victory lap for undrafted wide receiver Efton Chism III now.\u00a0<\/p>\n New York Giants \u2013 We know how this story ends: Desperate coach and GM are forced to turn to a rookie quarterback too soon and everyone gets fired. (I actually think the Giants will be a tough team to beat most weeks.)\u00a0<\/p>\n Jacksonville Jaguars \u2013 This team probably won\u2019t be that good, but Travis Hunter, Trevor Lawrence and Liam Coen will at least keep them entertaining.\u00a0<\/p>\n Miami Dolphins \u2013 Two weeks after practicing against the Chicago Bears, center Aaron Brewer was still complaining about how physical the Bears were in that practice. If that\u2019s not a red flag, I don\u2019t know what is.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dallas Cowboys \u2013 I thought Jaydon Blue was one of the better running back options in this year\u2019s draft and he should get some opportunities early.\u00a0<\/p>\n Atlanta Falcons \u2013 There\u2019s a lot of faith being put in Michael Penix Jr. off a very small sample size.\u00a0<\/p>\n Carolina Panthers \u2013 With Adam Thielen out of the picture, keep an eye on sixth round pick Jimmy Horn Jr.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tennessee Titans \u2013 Another rookie wide receiver to watch: Elic Ayomanor has size and the opportunity to catch passes from Cam Ward right away.\u00a0<\/p>\n New York Jets \u2013 Justin Fields isn\u2019t catching many breaks, having to face the Steelers, Bills and Buccaneers to start the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n Indianapolis Colts \u2013 New ownership structure and only Daniel Jones to save Shane Steichen and Chris Ballard. Yikes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cleveland Browns \u2013 Someone save Kevin Stefanski from Cleveland. He can still coach.\u00a0<\/p>\n New Orleans Saints \u2013 If you\u2019re forced to watch the Saints this season, just watch left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr., who should be a cornerstone in New Orleans for a long time.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We made it. Football is back.\u00a0 And with that, comes a new role for me as NFL Analyst…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103],"class_list":["post-370853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}