The best part of doing power rankings this early in the offseason, of course, is that the league year doesn’t turn over until March 18. So, no free agency yet, and no draft picks, which gives us, at best, a 50% understanding of how each team will look in 2020. Throw in new coaching staffs and front offices for a handful of teams, and things can get very interesting very quickly.
Still, there are fundamental, franchise-altering questions that should be asked this early, and some teams won’t be as different when the first kickoff happens in September. So, with the Chiefs installed as the 2019 NFL champions and everybody else looking up to dethrone them, here are our way-too-early power rankings for the 2020 season.
32. Cincinnati Bengals
Current cap space: $44,701,400
Primary free agents: WR A.J Green, TE Tyler Eifert, CB Darqueze Dennard.
The Bengals’ decision to move on from Andy Dalton is the right one; throughout his nine-year career, Dalton put the franchise in the limbo of having a quarterback good enough to keep, but never spectacular enough to make things happen in the postseason. Cincinnati will likely go with LSU’s Joe Burrow as Dalton’s replacement, and while that gives the team a ton more quarterback upside, there’s still a lot for the Bengals to do before they’re out of the cellar.
Only the Raiders and Dolphins ranked worse in Football Outsiders’ opponent-adjusted defensive efficiency metrics, and there were far too many examples of players in the wrong places under defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, who kept his job. On offense, head coach Zac Taylor and offensive coordinator Brian Callahan need to put some zip in an offense that ranked 29th in FO’s metrics and has very few current stars outside of running back Joe Mixon and receiver Tyler Boyd. Burrow or not, this is going to be a big rebuild.