Colin Cowherd Reveals Patriots’ Surprising Spot In Early 2026 Power Rankings
The NFL season just ended, but it’s never too early to start looking ahead to next season.
It’s a tough exercise at this point, as rosters will change considerably over the next few months due to the NFL Draft and free agency. However, Colin Cowherd took a stab at it on Wednesday’s episode of “The Herd,” revealing his top 10 teams for 2026.
Somewhat surprisingly, he had the New England Patriots at No. 8, ahead of the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills. He has them as the fourth-best team in the AFC behind the Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers and Jacksonville Jaguars.
That’s an interesting take considering the Patriots just beat the Chargers and Broncos in the playoffs. However, the rest of his analysis makes sense.
“I like New England, but Drake Maye was sacked 68 times this year. The O-line doesn’t need a tweak: it mostly, outside of guards, needs an overhaul,” Cowherd said. “They also played an incredibly weak schedule. Next year, I think it’s a top-six most difficult schedule.”
“They will be a very good team. I don’t think in the AFC, they’ll represent the conference in the Super Bowl,” Cowherd added.
That’s a fair assessment given that New England benefitted from a historically easy schedule this year and massively exceeded expectations. The Patriots’ offense was exposed by good defenses in the postseason, and some regression is to be expected after going 14-3 this year.
Reaching the Super Bowl is hard. While New England is a good bet to make the postseason again, getting back to the Super Bowl won’t be easy for a team that still has some holes to fill.