ESPN INSIDER piece... (We'd be #1 with Jimmy Graham đ
1) Seattle
2) Green Bay
3) San Francisco
For this year's edition of the NFL Future Power Rankings, Insider's annual examination of the franchises best positioned to succeed going forward, we had our panel of NFL experts -- John Clayton, Mel Kiper, Louis Riddick and Mike Sando -- project how teams would fare over the course of the next three seasons: 2014, 2015 and 2016.
The analysts rated every team in five categories -- Roster (excluding quarterback), QB, Draft, Front Office and Coaching -- and the results were then averaged and weighted to create our final 1-32 Future Power Ranking. For more detail on the categories and weighting, please refer to the chart at right.
The team checking in at the No. 1 spot wasn't a surprise, but there were several fascinating results, from a pair of veteran-laden teams earning spots in the top five to emerging powers in the NFC East and North climbing the rankings and a team with the second-best QB situation (according to our panel) sliding all the way to No. 20.
Worth noting: Our panel scored teams quite a bit higher overall this year than it did the past season, which caused the numbers to look a little inflated year to year and caused some very close scores among the teams in the middle of the pack.
Let's take a look at how the 32 NFL teams stack up in terms of how they'll fare over the next three seasons, through Insider's NFL Future Power Rankings. (Read through the file 1-32, or jump to your favorite team using the quick links below.)
Ted Thompson sits on his hands per former GM: "because theyâve had 25 fricking years of great quarterbacks. Of course it works. Try it without a special quarterback."