2024 NFL Future Power Rankings: Projections for all 32 teams.
Every NFL team will enter the 2024 season trying to win now. But savvy franchises aren’t only focused on the short term — they also keep an eye to the future and set themselves up for long-term success. So which teams are primed to be among the league’s best over the next few years? In our annual Future Power Rankings, we focused on the next three seasons (2024 through 2026) and stacked all 32 clubs’ longer-lens expectations.
To do so, we asked our panel of experts — Dan Graziano, Louis Riddick and Aaron Schatz — to rate each team’s quarterback situation, remaining (non-QB) roster makeup, front office and coaching staff using this scale:
100: A+ (elite)
90: A (great)
80: B (very good)
70: C (average)
60: D (very bad)
50 and below: F (disastrous)
After averaging the results from the panelists, each of the four categories was weighted to create the overall score: quarterback (20%), roster (30%), front office (25%) and coaching (25%). The result is a comprehensive ranking based on how well each team is positioned for the future. Our experts then picked out reasons for optimism, reasons to worry and crucial stats/nuggets to know for every franchise.
Ryan Poles has done a masterful job managing finances in his two-plus years running the Chicago Bears. He’s massively upgraded the roster through the draft, trades and free agency, taking an older, underachieving team and turning it into a young, upwardly mobile one.
He’s done it while making few moves to comprise the team’s future.
Since deciding to bide time by trading the first overall pick in 2023, Poles has dealt for three standout veterans (DJ Moore, Montez Sweat and Keenan Allen) and negotiated a four-year extension with cornerback Jaylon Johnson. He was busy in free agency last spring, with running D’Andre Swift and safety Kevin Byard among the biggest additions.
Poles created some elbow room by making difficult decisions to release veterans Eddie Jackson and Cody Whitehair, while allowing David Montgomery to reach free agency (and sign with Detroit).
The result is the Bears currently project to have the ninth most cap space in 2025, according to the website Over the Cap.
