ESPN Rankings 2025

[Dec54]

ESPN Rankings for 2025 have the Patriots at 21. Thoughts?

 

[farn]

Makes sense. I can see 2/3 of teams beating NE.

 

[Dec54]

Makes sense. I can see 2/3 of teams beating NE.

I thought 21 was about right.

 

[sb1]

Sounds spot on. They haven't proven anything yet to make the case they should be higher.

 

[Brotherblues]

They can say 21. They can say 30.

By midseason they'll be singing a different tune.

 

[Dec54]

They can say 21. They can say 30.

By midseason they'll be singing a different tune.

For the good I hope

 

[XLIX]

ESPN Rankings for 2025 have the Patriots at 21. Thoughts?

There are few things more worthless than NFL rankings.

 

[lancerman]

21 is fine. We were a bottom 3 team last year. Saying we are the lower end of middle of the pack with all the improvements is reasonable. Until they prove something on the field, it wouldn't make a whole ton of sense to assume they'll be in the top half of the league and a playoff level threat.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

21 still seems high for their talent level. They have one pro bowl caliber player in Gonzalez right now. No one else on their team has ever been at at level or if they were they either aren't anymore (Landry, Diggs) or it's in a stupid STs position that really doesn't count for purposes of ranking your high end talent. I place more emphasis on the top of the roster than the bottom and however far you want to go through the 53 man roster... if you want to say top 5, top 10, top 15, top 20, top 25, etc. there's probably no team in the NFL worse off than us IMO. Our high end talent is still flat our pathetic and if it's not worst in the league it's not far off.

That said, QB play means more than any other spot and I think Maye is closer to the middle of the pack than other similarly garbage rosters. I think we have a good coaching staff. And our schedule is easy. So I expect to be closer to the middle of the pack record wise, maybe even better than this #21 ranking. But it will be fool's gold because this roster still sucks and is absolutely miles and miles away from being good enough to do anything real in the playoffs.

 

[upstater1]

21 still seems high for their talent level. They have one pro bowl caliber player in Gonzalez right now. No one else on their team has ever been at at level or if they were they either aren't anymore (Landry, Diggs) or it's in a stupid STs position that really doesn't count for purposes of ranking your high end talent. I place more emphasis on the top of the roster than the bottom and however far you want to go through the 53 man roster... if you want to say top 5, top 10, top 15, top 20, top 25, etc. there's probably no team in the NFL worse off than us IMO. Our high end talent is still flat our pathetic and if it's not worst in the league it's not far off.

That said, QB play means more than any other spot and I think Maye is closer to the middle of the pack than other similarly garbage rosters. I think we have a good coaching staff. And our schedule is easy. So I expect to be closer to the middle of the pack record wise, maybe even better than this #21 ranking. But it will be fool's gold because this roster still sucks and is absolutely miles and miles away from being good enough to do anything real in the playoffs.

I do understand what you're saying but there are a few more players who have received some recognition in the past or are at least considered at that level, like Onwenu (2nd Team All-NFL by the writers), and Davis and Williams who are on the fringes. Spillane actually finished 5th in Pro Bowl voting just one spot behind the four LB selected.

Obviously Barmore and Keion White have not made it at that level, but have the ability to do it.

Hunter Henry is one of only 2 TEs over the last decade plus to have that many passes caught/yards in a season and NOT make the Pro Bowl.

 

[Steve102]

I hate ESPN but that's probably not wrong. Thanks for sharing the rank so I don't have to click it.

 

[maust]

I hate ESPN but that's probably not wrong. Thanks for sharing the rank so I don't have to click it.

Ditto with the BSPN feeling. Heading into camp it's hard to argue with any power ranking that puts New England anywhere between 18-25

 

[Drunken Cicerone]

Same rankings last year

Teams ranked #3, #8 and #9 didn’t make the playoffs

Teams ranked #16, #20, #21, #28 and #30 all did

Take it with a grain of salt

 

[n1997y]

Same rankings last year

Teams ranked #3, #8 and #9 didn’t make the playoffs

Teams ranked #16, #20, #21, #28 and #30 all did

Take it with a grain of salt

Where did you find last year’s comparable rankings, please?

I’m curious how they had the Commanders ranked last year? They’d drafted second overall, one pick ahead of the Patriots at third overall, so they’d had a terrible record the year before. Now they were ranked #7 in these rankings. Thats quite a turnaround, did the preseason rankings last year show any hint of it coming?

 

[Huckleberry1]

Reasonable take, especially given that they haven’t earned it on the field yet.

 

[Drunken Cicerone]

Where did you find last year’s comparable rankings, please?

I’m curious how they had the Commanders ranked last year? They’d drafted second overall, one pick ahead of the Patriots at third overall, so they’d had a terrible record the year before. Now they were ranked #7 in these rankings. Thats quite a turnaround, did the preseason rankings last year show any hint of it coming?

Just looked up ESPN 2024 post season rankings, first week of August last year. commanders were #28

 

[n1997y]

Just looked up ESPN 2024 post season rankings, first week of August last year. commanders were #28

And they were playoff bound. Puts those preseason rankings into perspective.

Now that has me wondering who was the lowest preseason ranked team to make the playoffs? There’s not a lot of room below #28 so the Commanders must be one of the leaders on that…

 

[JoeSixPat]

ESPN Rankings for 2025 have the Patriots at 21. Thoughts?

Outrage that they aren't #1 but in fairness, I've been told I'm a bit of a homer.

 

[maust]

And they were playoff bound. Puts those preseason rankings into perspective.

Now that has me wondering who was the lowest preseason ranked team to make the playoffs? There’s not a lot of room below #28 so the Commanders must be one of the leaders on that…

Couldn't easily find the preseason ranking but in '01 after Week 2 the Pats were at 31 (out of a then 31) and IIRC they made the playoffs in a pretty big way