NFL power rankings: How many rookie QBs push teams into top 10?

NFL power rankings entering Week 6 of the 2024 season (previous rank in parentheses):
1. Kansas City Chiefs (1): With its first double-digit win of the season Monday night, K.C. became the 10th reigning champion of the Super Bowl era (since 1966) to start 5-0 and first in five years. Now, they get a week off before their Super Bowl 54/58 rematch with San Francisco.
2. Minnesota Vikings (2): They wobbled out of London with a close-shave victory in which QB Sam Darnold looked like … Sam Darnold. RB Aaron Jones’ hip injury further hindered the offense. Good thing there’s more to this team – like a ferocious defense featuring OLB Andrew Van Ginkel, the first player in league history to record at least three sacks and multiple pick-sixes in the first five weeks of a season.
3. Baltimore Ravens (3): What do you know? They actually overcame a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit Sunday in Cincinnati. But in all seriousness, if any club is going to emerge as a dominant force in 2024, it could well be this one – the first in 18 seasons to rush for 1,000 yards through Week 5. Still, amazing as the Lamar Jackson-Derrick Henry duo is shaping up, the league’s 31st-ranked pass defense needs to shape up.
4. Detroit Lions (4): Hope you fellas got your rest during the bye. Next up? A brutal five-stretch with road games at Dallas, Minnesota, Green Bay and Houston. However it’s opponents who need a break from NFL sack leader Aidan Hutchinson, who applied 10 pressures in his last outing – most by anyone in a game this season.
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5. Atlanta Falcons (10): QB Kirk Cousins might be one questionable non-call against K.C. from being 3-0 in prime time with ATL. However barring a flex – Week 14 at Minnesota, anyone? – “Kirko Chainz” is only scheduled to play one more night game this season. Thursday, he joined Tom Brady as the only players to pass for 500 yards and at least four TDs under the network lights.
6. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6): After dealing with the wrath of Hurricane Helene, the Bucs are about to flee early to New Orleans as a storm that’s apparently far more fierce (Hurricane Milton) takes aim at Tampa. Let’s hope a good football team and its fans get a good outcome this week, despite current prognostications.
7. Washington Commanders (9): Lotta firsts here. First place. First team with 13 rushing TDs through five weeks since Gerald Ford was president. First rookie (Jayden Daniels) to start his career with 1,000 passing yards and 250 rushing yards five games in. Pretty soon, their supporters will be musing about the possibility of their first Super Bowl trip post-Joe Gibbs.
8. Houston Texans (13): Their record (4-1) is impressive. But the only division leader to be outscored by more than 10 points is probably a few breaks from being 1-4, and the injury concerns continue mounting with WR Nico Collins about to miss time with a bum hamstring.
9. Philadelphia Eagles (11): They should be rested out of the bye, WRs A.J. Brown (hamstring) and DeVonta Smith (concussion) due back Sunday. And for a team that also figuratively needs to get healthy, a date with Cleveland is made to order.
10. Green Bay Packers (12): They only have to leave Wisconsin once (for Duval County) in the next six weeks. Green and golden opportunity to cement themselves anew as bona fide Super Bowl threats.
11. Buffalo Bills (5): Two weeks ago, QB Josh Allen was just about everyone’s (very premature) MVP pick. Since then? He’s completed 42.4% of his passes, compiled a 65.0 QB rating and accounted for one TD and zero victories.
12. Arizona Cardinals (23): They’re 2-0 against NFC West foes and feature the best QB-RB rushing tandem (Kyler Murray, James Conner) west of Baltimore.
13. San Francisco 49ers (7): They’re 2-0 against AFC East competition … which is far less helpful when it’s time to invoke tiebreakers – especially given the Niners are off to an 0-2 start in their own division. A 38-game winning streak under HC Kyle Shanahan in games with a double-digit fourth-quarter lead ended Sunday.
14. Dallas Cowboys (22): Maybe they’ve found something with RB Rico Dowdle. Maybe a defense fielding so many backups found a rallying cry. Maybe we’ll know more in a week after they try to win their first home game of 2024 against a Detroit squad that lost at AT&T Stadium under dubious circumstances late last season.
15. Indianapolis Colts (15): Going back to last season in Cleveland, Joe Flacco has thrown for at least 300 yards and two TDs in five straight starts. At 39, he’s the oldest quarterback in league history with such a string of games.
16. Pittsburgh Steelers (8): Not a great sign that QB Justin Fields was hit on about a quarter of his dropbacks Sunday night despite playing a defense missing its top two pass rushers – probably further reason not to switch to QB Russell Wilson given the sad state of Pittsburgh’s O-line.
17. Denver Broncos (18): Only the Chargers are allowing fewer points per game than the 14.6 of the Broncos, who also have 19 sacks and eight takeaways.
18. Los Angeles Chargers (17): Don’t know how rejuvenated a battered group will be following its bye. We do know Denver has been a house of horrors for the Bolts, who have dropped 10 of 11 in the Mile High City.
19. Chicago Bears (21): A huge reason they’ve won a league-best eight in a row at Soldier Field? The defense has generated 18 turnovers in those games.
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20. Cincinnati Bengals (20): A highly competitive 1-4 team has basically exhausted its margin for error – but isn’t scheduled to face an opponent with a winning record until its Week 10 rematch with the Ravens.
21. New York Jets (19): Momentous few days, starting with a poor performance in Sunday’s loss to the Vikings in London leading up to HC Robert Saleh’s firing Tuesday morning. Beyond the seismic leadership change – unless you believe QB Aaron Rodgers was the leader all along – the added speculation around potentially acquiring WR Davante Adams is all fine and good, sensible even. But there’s zero reason a team with RBs Breece Hall and Braelon Allen should rank last in the league in rushing (80.4 ypg).
22. New York Giants (27): Since his disastrous Week 1 return to the lineup, QB Daniel Jones has accounted for four TDs, one turnover and a 95.8 passer rating – including Sunday’s win at Seattle, when WR Malik Nabers and RB Devin Singletary were sidelined. Maybe paying Jones $40 million per is reasonable after all.
23. Seattle Seahawks (14): A weak schedule has masked some issues here, including the NFC’s second-worst turnover differential (-3). But most concerning is an offense that’s entirely unbalanced, throwing the most passes in the league and running the ball the fewest times.
24. Los Angeles Rams (24): Think they’ve become a little too reliant on RB Kyren Williams? He has a team-high 109 offensive touches … 89 more than anyone else on the team.
25. New Orleans Saints (16): A three-game slide marked by plummeting offensive production seemed quite likely Monday night to be exacerbated by QB Derek Carr’s injury, one that apparently left him unable to effectively throw the ball. Now a league-worst 1-6 in prime-time games over the past three seasons, the Saints also suddenly don’t seem like a prime-time option for Adams, either, particularly if Carr can’t play.
26. Carolina Panthers (25): For all the focus on their quarterback issue, they’ve allowed a league-high 20 offensive touchdowns – four more than any other team.
27. Las Vegas Raiders (26): For all the focus on their quarterback issue, they’ve committed a league-high nine turnovers – which, admittedly, gets back to their quarterback issue, one that may be in flux.
28. Tennessee Titans (29): For all the focus on their quarterback issue, they’ve committed a league-high nine turnovers (in just four games) – which, admittedly, gets back to their quarterback issue, one that may be in flux depending on Will Levis’ injured shoulder.
29. Miami Dolphins (30): For all the focus on their quarterback issue, they’ve scored a league-low 60 points (after scoring 70 in one game last season) – which, admittedly, gets back to their quarterback issue, one that may be temporarily stabilizing with Tyler Huntley.
30. Jacksonville Jaguars (32): With former LSU teammate Nabers concussed, WR Brian Thomas Jr. now leads all rookies with 397 receiving yards and all AFC players (minimum 20 receptions) with 18.0 yards per catch.
31. New England Patriots (28): For all the focus on their quarterback issue … well, it’s only going to intensify for a team averaging a league-low 119.4 passing yards per game and seemingly nearing a switch to rookie first-rounder Drake Maye.
32. Cleveland Browns (31): For all the focus on their quarterback issue … well, theirs has been sacked a league-most 26 times. But Deshaun Watson almost surely isn’t going to get sacked by upper management any time soon as he’d still incur a nearly $173 million cap hit – if cut next spring.
(This story has been updated to include new information.)
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Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter, @ByNateDavis.