Now that the preseason is over, it’s time to look at who we at GiveMeSport believe are the big names to look out for in the NFL and who we think are the top ten teams as things stand.

When the final whistle went at Acrisure Stadium this past weekend and the Pittsburgh Steelers emerged victorious over the Detroit Lions, it signalled the end of the preseason, meaning that the next time we see an NFL ball in motion, it will be for real when the Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams and Buffalo Bills kick off the season at SoFi Stadium next Thursday.

As the NFL preseason went on there were plenty of changes on plenty of rosters around the whole league, players got injured, suspended, or traded, some players looked better than we though, whilst others might have left us a little bit disappointed.

All of those moves help the team take shape and give us a better idea of what they’re going to look like heading into the 2022 NFL season. 

Back in May, we did a similar list, in which we grouped the teams together on who we thought were going to be competitors and who would be left fighting for the #1 draft pick, but now we want to take a more traditional approach, and after a lot of consideration, simplify it with our top-ten teams and reasons why.

So without further ado, here is the first edition of our power rankings for the season:

10 - Pittsburgh Steelers

We’ll start off with perhaps the biggest shock, and whilst the offensive line does need a lot of work, the play in preseason from Mitch Trubisky and Kenny Pickett in managing to hold it together gives us the feeling that they might be able to overcome it. That's before you add an incredible wide receiver group containing the likes of Diontae Johnson, Chase Claypool and the emerging George Pickens.

Combine that with a defence that has led the league in sacks for each of the past five seasons, and if they can keep them in enough games, they might just pull off a few surprises this season. 

9 - Cincinnati Bengals 

Whilst they do return a lot of the players from last year that got them to the Super Bowl, and have made some key additions, mainly to the offensive line, we just get the sense that lightning isn’t going to strike twice. They got a lot of luck last year when it came to their schedule (having finished 4th in the AFC North in 2020) and playing in a division that had a lot of problems.

We expect them to still be a very good team, but things are going to be a lot tougher for them this season with the AFC North getting stronger and having to play a 1st place schedule to boot. 

8 - Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys are a team who have made steady progress under Mike McCarthy as he gets to make the team his own, and with playmakers on both sides of the ball, they can easily be top ten in a lot of categories both on offence and defence.

Penalties have to be kept to a minimum, and signs in preseason haven’t exactly been promising on that front, but when the regular season starts, hopefully they’ll have had enough time to work out those kinks.

7 - Indianapolis Colts

A team that we’ve said before on this website that could be a case of ‘third time lucky’ when it comes to finding their quarterback with Matt Ryan now set to be the leader of the offence, they have all the pieces to make themselves a legitimate contender, and hopefully the experience of someone like Ryan, who has been to a Super Bowl before might take them over the edge

6 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Arguably the team that we took the most time thinking about, and really it all came down to one man, and we’re going to assume you know who that man is. 

A LOT of this is resting on Tom Brady being able to use every bit of his experience to guide the team through a season that looks like it could turn disastrous at the drop of a hat given the pieces that they both lost in the offseason and kept losing in the preseason.

But after what he did last season, leading the league in touchdowns and passing yards, it’s hard to think he’ll have a major drop-off to where he is basically an average quarterback, and so we think they’ll still be competitors deep into the season. 

5 - Los Angeles Chargers

Similar to the Indianapolis Colts, this is a team that has all the pieces you could possibly ask for to make a run at a Super Bowl title. They came close to making the playoffs last season, but with the addition of like Khalil Mack on defence to match the already talented Justin Herbert, Austin Ekeler and Keenan Allen on the other side, if they can stay healthy, they can give anyone in the league a run for their money. 

4 - Green Bay Packers

They finally made the additions that they needed to in the first round of the draft by getting some players on defence, and addressed Rodgers need for a promising wide receiver in the second round with the pickup of Drake London. 

There’s no way to think that special teams can screw up again like they did in the playoffs last season, and if Rodgers can play to his MVP calibre self, this might be the year they finally make that leap to the big game they’ve been waiting since 2010 for. 

3 - Los Angeles Rams

When you win the Super Bowl, you already start in a very high place, and there’s nothing to really think that they won’t be able to be contenders by the time the season is over.

Yes, they have lost a couple of pieces that helped them down the stretch like Von Miller and Odell Beckham Jr, but this is still a team that is stacked throughout and will cause anybody trouble on their day, especially with the likes of Bobby Wagner being added to their already impressive defence. 

2 - Kansas City Chiefs

Similar to the Rams, they come in with a lot of credibility after last season, and indeed the last few seasons after being in a position to host the conference championship for four consecutive years, a sign of setting them up in the regular season and being clinical in the postseason.

Whilst Tyreek Hill will be a miss, the skill of Patrick Mahomes should be enough to elevate the rest of the receiving group to be a legitimate threat in the NFL and we shouldn’t really see them skip a beat on that front. Also, watch out for that defence, because George Karlaftis in our opinion has the potential to be scary good and take that unit to the next level

1 - Buffalo Bills

Whilst a lot of teams listed are pretty capable all over the field, there is arguably no team more complete than the Bills who were already stacked all over the field, but with the addition of Von Miller, someone who has been there and done it twice in his career, expect him to make those key plays to make up the fine margins that cost them at times last season.