{"id":12530,"date":"2020-07-26T16:56:14","date_gmt":"2020-07-26T16:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/?p=12530"},"modified":"2020-07-26T16:56:16","modified_gmt":"2020-07-26T16:56:16","slug":"nfl-2020-preseason-power-rankings-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/nfl\/nfl-2020-preseason-power-rankings-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL 2020 PRESEASON POWER RANKINGS PART 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>BY ADAM GREENE<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They\u2019re arbitrary. They\u2019re objectively meaningless, but they\u2019re a fun way to gauge out how teams stack up on a week-to-week basis. As NFL teams plan to open their training camps and hold what will surely be a very weird and historic season amid the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, the rest of us have to do our part. Even if it\u2019s just numbering teams in order of awesomeness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A little preface before we get to the rankings. This is based on each team\u2019s current roster and coaching staffs, but also on their performances last season. Those have to be factored in. So while I might have picked a team to finish higher or lower in my previews, the Power Rankings have nothing to do with that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As always, as the season progresses, teams will move up and down based on the actual results on the field, or what I like to refer to as \u201cthe scientific part of the process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So let\u2019s do some rankings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1. Kansas City Chiefs (last season: 12-4, Super Bowl Champion, AFC Champion)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Chiefs open the season the same place they closed it last year. I\u2019m a firm believer in Ric Flair\u2019s old adage, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/yjW9UXoKU2s?t=42\">To be the man, you gotta beat the man<\/a>.\u201d Kansas City lost nothing significant from the roster that hoisted the Super Bowl Trophy last season and, if anything, cleared up any confusion by signing their two best players to long term contracts and getting all those possible distractions out of the way. They are far and away the favorites <a href=\"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/sportsbook\/futures-and-props\/nfl-futures\">to win the AFC as well as Super Bowl LV for a reason<\/a>. In video game terms, the Chiefs are the NFL\u2019s 2020-21 Final Boss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2. San Francisco 49ers (last season, 13-3, NFC Champion)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While I don\u2019t think they\u2019ll stay near the top of these rankings once October hits, it would be unfair to put them anywhere else. Sure, they blew a double-digit lead to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, but so did every other team in the postseason. The free agency hits the 49ers took they should be able to weather. It\u2019s the injury to Deebo Samuel and the discontent of their Super Bowl run running back Raheem Mostert that might be the problem. Along with head coach Kyle Shanahan\u2019s inability to trust quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo when it counts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>3. Houston Texans (last season: 10-6)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s where I do my first bit of editorializing in the list. The Texans too will not remain here as the season progresses, but this ranking is a reflection of the talent still on this roster (in spite of Bill O\u2019Brien\u2019s best efforts) and specifically Deshaun Watson, who I believe is the third best quarterback in the NFL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>4. Seattle Seahawks (last season: 11-5)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Who do I rank above Watson? Well, funny you should ask. No. 1 is obviously Patrick Mahomes and no one can put forth a realistic argument against it. That No. 2 guy, he quarterbacks the No. 4 team, Russell Wilson. The Seahawks will go as far as Wilson can take them and, like the Texans, that\u2019s pretty far. And on the right day and in the right conditions, it could be to another Super Bowl Championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>To be continued in Part 2<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Follow our <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/betonline_ag\">BetOnline Twitter account<\/a> for the latest sports news and betting odds, and stay tuned on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/betonline_ag\/\">Instagram feed<\/a> for more good information too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BY ADAM GREENE They\u2019re arbitrary. They\u2019re objectively meaningless, but they\u2019re a fun way to gauge out how teams stack up&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":12535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[129],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12530"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12536,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12530\/revisions\/12536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}