NFL NationOct 14, 2025, 06:45 AM ETCloseNFL Nation is made up of 32 team-specific reporters who cover the NFL year-round across ESPN.com, ESPN television shows, ESPN Radio, ESPN+ and social media platforms. It was established ahead of the 2013 season.
play1:36Schefter: NFL trades will happen this weekAdam Schefter details to Pat McAfee the buyers and sellers in the NFL trade market.
play1:35Does the road to the Super Bowl go through the Chiefs?Adam Schefter, Damien Woody and Tedy Bruschi discuss the Chiefs’ chances of returning to another Super Bowl.
play1:09McAfee: This is the best Aaron Rodgers has looked in yearsPat McAfee is very impressed by what he has seen from Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers offense this season.
play1:22Why Stephen A. puts Dolphins’ woes on McDaniel, not TuaStephen A. Smith explains why Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel needs to be fired after Tua Tagovailoa expressed his frustrations.
Schefter: NFL trades will happen this weekAdam Schefter details to Pat McAfee the buyers and sellers in the NFL trade market.
Does the road to the Super Bowl go through the Chiefs?Adam Schefter, Damien Woody and Tedy Bruschi discuss the Chiefs’ chances of returning to another Super Bowl.
Adam Schefter, Damien Woody and Tedy Bruschi discuss the Chiefs’ chances of returning to another Super Bowl.
McAfee: This is the best Aaron Rodgers has looked in yearsPat McAfee is very impressed by what he has seen from Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers offense this season.
Pat McAfee is very impressed by what he has seen from Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers offense this season.
Why Stephen A. puts Dolphins’ woes on McDaniel, not TuaStephen A. Smith explains why Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel needs to be fired after Tua Tagovailoa expressed his frustrations.
Stephen A. Smith explains why Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel needs to be fired after Tua Tagovailoa expressed his frustrations.
Welcome to Week 7 of the 2025 NFL season. The Jets are still winless after losing to the Broncos in London. The Chiefs bounced back with a win over the Lions. And the Buccaneers are shockingly at the top of the NFC race.
How do all of these teams fit in our updated Power Rankings? We restacked the NFL heading into Week 7, which includes byes for Buffalo and Baltimore. In addition to the 1-32 rankings, our NFL Nation reporters picked one lesson that we’ve learned from each team this season. Which teams and players are underperforming? What has surprisingly worked out for teams through six weeks?
Let’s get into it with our No. 1 team, which saw a change from last week. Our power panel of more than 80 writers, editors and TV personalities evaluated how NFL teams stack up against one another, ranking them from 1 to 32.
A broken leg ended Hutchinson’s 2024 season early, but he picked up where he left off as one of the league’s elite pass rushers. He set a single-season team record by producing at least 1.0 sacks in five consecutive games, in addition to another franchise mark of four straight games with a forced fumble. His 24 pressures is also the most in the NFL, as he’s moving fluidly after a tough rehabilitation process. — Eric Woodyard
Adam Schefter details to Pat McAfee the buyers and sellers in the NFL trade market.
The Packers are the only team in the NFL that has held a double-digit lead in every game this season. But in the past three games, those leads were not safe. They blew a 10-0 advantage in a 13-10 loss to the Browns. They were up 13-0 against the Cowboys but came away with a 40-40 tie. And in the latest game, they saw a 14-point second-half lead cut to six points against the Bengals. They’ve established a dangerous way to live. — Rob Demovsky
Lesson learned: The Rams need to figure out their kicking issues if they want to be Super Bowl contenders.
Defensive tackle Byron Murphy II is showing why. The No. 16 selection in 2024 was plenty disruptive as a rookie but not productive, finishing with half a sack and two tackles for loss in 14 games. But he’s making a massive second-year jump. Along with seven pressures, Murphy had two sacks Sunday to give him a team-high 4.5 through six games. Defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence also said Murphy is “hands down” the team’s best run defender. — Brady Henderson
Does the road to the Super Bowl go through the Chiefs?
McAfee: This is the best Aaron Rodgers has looked in years
The Jaguars are 13th in the NFL in quarterback pressures (73) but have managed just eight sacks — the third-lowest total in the league. Josh Hines-Allen has managed just half a sack; Travon Walker has two; and Dawuane Smoot has one. That’s the production of the team’s top three edge rushers six games into the season, which equals defensive tackle Arik Armstead’s season total on his own. — Mike DiRocco
In his third season, Robinson has emerged as one of the league’s elite offensive weapons. On Monday night, he might have made himself an MVP candidate with 238 yards from scrimmage, including an 81-yard touchdown against the Bills. Robinson leads the NFL with 164.4 yards from scrimmage per game. He’s only the second player ever to have 450 rushing yards and 300 receiving yards through five games. The other was Thurman Thomas in 1991. — Marc Raimondi
A year ago, the Bears weren’t equipped to pull off consecutive come-from-behind wins the way they did to beat the Raiders and Commanders. Chicago’s identical 25-24 victories in Week 4 and Week 6 came down to special teams plays in the game’s final moments, with Josh Blackwell blocking a field goal against the Raiders and Jake Moody booting a 38-yard game winner against the Commanders — the day he was elevated from the practice squad.
Entering Week 6, the Bears had lost 28 straight games when trailing by eight or more points in the fourth quarter. On Monday night, Chicago flipped the script on the idea that it couldn’t end up on the winning end of tight games. “I feel like we’re trending up,” safety Jaquan Brisker said. “In the past, we might have gave up, but guys stayed true. Guys never gave up.” — Courtney Cronin
The Cowboys have given up 21 pass plays of 20-plus yards and 24 runs of 10-plus yards this season. They have been lit up by quarterbacks Russell Wilson, Caleb Williams and Bryce Young. They don’t affect the quarterback (11 sacks). They can’t take the ball away enough (four turnovers). They can’t stop teams on third down with teams converting 53% of the time. The Cowboys are last in yards (411.7) and passing yards (269.5); they are 31st in points per game (30.7). — Todd Archer
Arizona lost its first three games on walk-off field goals, becoming the first team since the 1970 merger to do so, per ESPN Research. The Cardinals’ efforts to come back Sunday in Indianapolis stalled at the 9-yard line with under a minute left in the fourth quarter. Arizona can’t close out games when it’s ahead or when it’s trailing. And while it has been a costly pain point this season, it has also been a point of emphasis as something to improve. — Josh Weinfuss
It has been only three starts, but Dart has shown signs of being a franchise quarterback. That was especially apparent as he led the Giants to upset wins over the Chargers and Eagles. Three quarterbacks have rushed for at least 50 yards in their first three starts — Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts and now Dart. Perhaps more importantly, Dart and rookie running back Cam Skattebo have injected life into the Giants. “Their energy is contagious,” cornerback Cor’Dale Flott said. — Jordan Raanan
When Carroll took the job, he was determined to turn the Raiders into immediate playoff contenders. However, that process might take longer than expected. The Raiders have a new quarterback (Geno Smith) and offensive coordinator (Chip Kelly) and are reliant on young players at key positions. And with general manager John Spytek a believer in building through the draft, Las Vegas will not turn things around overnight. — Ryan McFadden
Tight end Taysom Hill gave the Saints a boost by scoring from the 1-yard line against the Patriots, but the past two weeks have been a collection of field goals by New Orleans, which attempted 10 (making eight) versus just two touchdowns. Failing to get in the end zone will continue to lose the Saints games, and drives have stalled for a variety of reasons: turnovers, penalties and sacks being some of them. — Katherine Terrell
Cleveland is fielding one of the NFL’s youngest rosters with 14 rookies in an attempt to rebuild its foundation, a move that general manager Andrew Berry called a “strategic pivot” during the offseason. Between their youth and no clear answer at quarterback, the Browns have had a frustrating start that has been highlighted by the league’s lowest-scoring offense (13.67 points per game) and the third-worst point differential (minus-.64). — Daniel Oyefusi
Why Stephen A. puts Dolphins’ woes on McDaniel, not Tua
The Bucs lost three games last season without Mike Evans and Chris Godwin Jr., and yet the past two weeks, Baker Mayfield and this defense have pulled off back-to-back victories without both receivers. In fact, Mayfield delivered this past Sunday’s win with just one healthy starting skill player by the game’s end in tight end Cade Otton. The Bucs were down to the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth wide receivers — two of whom scored their first NFL touchdowns. And the defense might be short at corner again, but its depth and its ability to get takeaways have catapulted Tampa Bay to the top of the NFC. — Jenna Laine
Coming into the season, the hype for the Bills was high, with reigning MVP Josh Allen set for another big year. But if anything has been clear for this team through six games, it’s that there are some major questions still to be answered to truly have a run at a Super Bowl title. Is the defense talented enough to put together a complete game? Is there enough talent at wide receiver to give Allen targets downfield? The limitations of this team have been clear, even in the wins, and there is work to be done. — Alaina Getzenberg