NFL power rankings entering Week 10 of the 2024 season (previous rank in parentheses):
1. Kansas City Chiefs (1): One hallmark of a championship organization? A willingness to take risks and leverage opportunities that maintain a focus on excellence. HC Andy Reid and GM Brett Veach have been as busy as any front office in recent weeks ahead of Tuesday’s 4 p.m. ET trade deadline – swinging deals for WR DeAndre Hopkins (2 TD catches in Monday night’s win) and LB Joshua Uche. And how about the returns they’ve already realized by re-signing RB Kareem Hunt, who scored the game-winning TD in overtime Monday, given the infamous end of his initial tenure in K.C. What does it all mean? The reigning champs remain on track to battle for the league’s first-ever Super Bowl three-peat, are still the NFL’s lone undefeated team and first with a 14-game winning streak (including playoffs) in nine years – that heater also establishing a franchise record. And they’re still not firing on all cylinders.
2. Detroit Lions (2): There’s no replacing injured DE Aidan Hutchinson. But the NFC’s leaders did about as well as could be expected in seeking a temporary fill-in, executing a long-anticipated swap with Cleveland for Za’Darius Smith on Tuesday morning. Nice boost for a unit that’s only managed 12½ sacks aside from Hutchinson’s production. Yet maybe it won’t even matter much given how well this multi-faceted offense is clicking. QB Jared Goff and WR Amon-Ra St. Brown haven’t had a missed connection since Week 3, hooking up on 30 consecutive targets – tied for the longest streak for any wideout since 2016.
3. Baltimore Ravens (3): QB2 Josh Johnson had just as big a role in mop-up duty during a 31-point walkover against Denver as WR Diontae Johnson, acquired last week for some crab cakes before getting 17 snaps and zero targets Sunday. Diontae Johnson might serve as little more than a hood ornament on this offense – if one that other AFC contenders won’t have access to. Whatever dividends he pays, the real question now is whether this defense has enough juice … or if that’s irrelevant given Lamar Jackson and Co. are good for 30+ points weekly.
4. Buffalo Bills (4): WR Amari Cooper only has five grabs in the three weeks since he was obtained, missing Sunday’s game with a wrist injury. And that’s causing absolutely no stress for a herd stampeding toward a fifth straight AFC East crown yet will invariably need Cooper to come up big in mid to late January. Also, after Sunday, you can bet Buffalo has no interest in trading its previously struggling kicker. Probably.
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6. Minnesota Vikings (5): This is no inconsequential bridge season with QB Sam Darnold. Management has sent a very clear signal it’s committed to winning now after importing LT Cam Robinson and RB Cam Akers to patch some holes. And getting T.J. Hockenson back into the lineup Sunday night is akin to making a major move … which Minnesota did for the Pro Bowl tight end two years ago.
11. Arizona Cardinals (14): The NFC West leaders had 16 defenders generate at least one pressure in Sunday’s win, according to Next Gen Stats. So what’d they do Monday? Acquire OLB Baron Browning to add depth to this budding defense, which faces the pass-heavy Jets and Seahawks next.
17. Los Angeles Chargers (18): As well as they’re generally playing – albeit against a fairly soft schedule – it’s probably premature for this ascending program to delve into the trade market. But at least the NFL thinks enough of the Bolts to trade them into Week 11’s Sunday night slot.
18. Cincinnati Bengals (21): As well as they’re generally playing – albeit against a fairly soft schedule – it might be even more remarkable that this rebounding program actually waded into the trade market, if only to do a low-level deal for ex-Chicago RB Khalil Herbert. Maybe now we know why the NFL thinks enough of the Stripes to trade them into Week 11’s Sunday night slot.
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26. Dallas Cowboys (17): Just when you think they’ve hit rock bottom, turns out they’re only changing drill bits. Three of the next four games are against NFC East foes, and the other is a Monday night home game against the Lone Star State’s best team, the Texans, that you just know owner Jerry Jones doesn’t want to concede. Yet it seems quite possible QB Dak Prescott’s hamstring injury will force him to miss all of those dates. At least QB2 Cooper Rush will have … newly acquired WR Jonathan Mingo to throw to? Um, yeah …
27. New England Patriots (26): Valiant effort by rookie QB Drake Maye and Co. in Sunday’s overtime loss in Nashville. But it feels like the Pats are starting to chart a course – perhaps including a stop atop the 2025 draft – and that it might be short-sighted to strip this team of any low-level assets that might otherwise contribute to Maye’s development down the stretch.
31. New Orleans Saints (29): On the heels of a league-worst seven-game skid, their longest since 1999, they traded in HC Dennis Allen on Monday. Hard to say what they hope to reap from such a move at this juncture.
32. Las Vegas Raiders (31): On the heels of an AFC-worst five-game skid, their longest since coming to Las Vegas, they traded in OC Luke Getsy and others on Sunday night. Hard to say what they hope to reap from such a move at this juncture … especially when Norv Turner, two decades from being this club’s head coach, is the fallback.
(This story has been updated to include new information.)
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