{"id":740825,"date":"2026-02-09T18:15:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T18:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/740825\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T18:15:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T18:15:15","slug":"where-do-the-rams-rank-in-early-2026-nfl-power-rankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/740825\/","title":{"rendered":"Where do the Rams rank in early 2026 NFL power rankings?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Rams<\/a> were one of the final four teams in the NFL this season, making it all the way to the NFC Championship Game after beating the Carolina Panthers<\/a> and Chicago Bears<\/a> in the postseason. For the second year in a row, the Rams lost to the eventual Super Bowl champions<\/a> in the playoffs, falling to the Seattle Seahawks<\/a> in the conference title game.<\/p>\n

With everyone\u2019s attention turned to 2026, where do the Rams rank among the best teams in football for next season? It\u2019s obviously very early, and things will change dramatically in free agency and the draft, but the Rams are set to contend again next year.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s where analysts have the Rams in their early 2026 power rankings.<\/p>\n

ESPN<\/p>\n

Rams\u2019 ranking: No. 3<\/a><\/p>\n

ESPN only ranked two teams ahead of the Rams, and they’re the same two teams that played in this year’s Super Bowl: the Seahawks (1) and Patriots (2). Had the Rams not muffed a punt against Seattle, or had they scored a touchdown in the red zone late in the fourth, we might be talking about them as Super Bowl champions right now.<\/p>\n

The Rams’ special teams unit played a major part in four losses. In their\u00a0playoff loss<\/a>\u00a0to Seattle, wide receiver\u00a0Xavier Smith<\/a>\u00a0muffed two punts, including one the Seahawks recovered before scoring a touchdown on the next play. Coach Sean McVay tried to fix the issues at midseason when he moved on from kicker\u00a0Joshua Karty<\/a>\u00a0and long-snapper\u00a0Alex Ward<\/a>. He later\u00a0fired<\/a>\u00a0special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn after Los Angeles’\u00a0Week 16 loss<\/a>\u00a0to the Seahawks. The first item will be deciding on a special teams coordinator, whether that means keeping Ben Kotwica or starting fresh at the position.\u00a0— Sarah Barshop<\/p>\n

FOX Sports<\/p>\n

Rams\u2019 ranking: No. 2<\/a><\/p>\n

Surprisingly, it’s not the Seahawks who are the only team ranked ahead of the Rams. It’s the Broncos<\/a>, who lost to the Patriots in the AFC title game when Bo Nix was sidelined by an ankle injury. The Seahawks are third and the Patriots are fourth, with Los Angeles ranking second behind the Broncos.<\/p>\n

They are loaded for one final run at a ring with QB Matthew Stafford, if they can convince him to return. They were the NFC\u2019s second-best team this year, but stuck in the wrong division. With two first-round picks and plenty of cap space, they have the ammunition to close any gap.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Sporting News<\/p>\n

Rams\u2019 ranking: No. 2<\/a><\/p>\n

The Rams are second in Sporting News’ early rankings, one spot behind the world-champion Seahawks. Both teams are set up well in 2026 with the majority of their core still intact, so we could be in for another epic NFC West race next season.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Rams<\/a>\u00a0should be right in the mix to win the NFC and push the Seahawks and 49ers for the best record in the West with MVP Matthew Stafford returning to lead Sean McVay’s most prolific offense yet and the young defense still growing.<\/p>\n

Power rankings may not mean much right now, given all the changes that are still to come across the NFL, but it does show how highly the Rams are viewed heading into what could be Matthew Stafford’s last ride.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: 2026 NFL power rankings: LA Rams near the top<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Rams were one of the final four teams in the NFL this season, making it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":740826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079],"tags":[220,61013,925,232,260,391,7,25087,1014,58,2444,2611,32,871,6,208,424,261,5693,11498],"class_list":["post-740825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-rams","tag-49ers","tag-alex-ward","tag-bo-nix","tag-broncos","tag-carolina-panthers","tag-chicago-bears","tag-football","tag-joshua-karty","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-losangeles","tag-losangelesrams","tag-matthew-stafford","tag-nfc-championship-game","tag-nfl","tag-patriots","tag-rams","tag-seattle-seahawks","tag-super-bowl-champions","tag-xavier-smith"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=740825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/740826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=740825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=740825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=740825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}