NFL

Prisco’s Power Rankings for Week 1, plus picking division winners and Trent Williams holdout appears over

by
SaC Bot
September 3, 2024

USATSI

Welcome to the Tuesday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!

In just over 48 hours, the Ravens and Chiefs will be kicking off the 2024 NFL season with a game in Kansas City, but before that happens, we have about 276 more predictions to get through, so we better get started.

For today, not only do we have the return of Pete Prisco’s Power Rankings, but we also have some divisional predictions and my Week 1 picks. Now that you know what you’re in for, let’s get to the rundown.

Actually, before we get to the rundown, here’s a quick reminder to anyone who missed Monday’s newsletter. For our Labor Day edition that came out yesterday, I predicted the final record for all 32 teams, and you can check that out by clicking here. All right, now let’s really get to the rundown.

As always, here’s your daily reminder to tell all your friends and neighbors to sign up for the newsletter. To get them signed up, all you have to do is click here.

1. Prisco’s Power Rankings are back

After spending the past four months at a hair restoration clinic in Aruba, Pete Prisco is finally back to give us his Power Rankings. The last time we heard from Uncle Pete came all the way back in May when he ranked each team shortly after the NFL Draft.

Since then, Pete has been busy trying to figure out where each team needs to be ranked to start the 2024 season. In news that won’t surprise anyone, the team that won it all last year is on top of Prisco’s rankings (the Chiefs). On the other hand, in news that might surprise you, the team that the Chiefs played in the Super Bowl (San Francisco) is not the highest-ranked team in the NFC.

Here’s a look at Prisco’s top five teams heading into Week 1:

Chiefs
Packers
49ers
Bills
Bengals

I’m not going to spoil the rest of the Power Rankings here, but I am going to give you a few nuggets. Here’s what has changed since Prisco’s last Power Rankings:

The biggest jump between the draft and now went to the Washington Commanders, who moved up five spots. Prisco moved Washington up from 31st overall in May to 26th overall now. The Commanders and Packers were the only two teams that moved up at least four spots (Green Bay jumped from sixth to second).
The New York Jets made the biggest jump in the AFC, but it was only two spots. With Aaron Rodgers now healthy, Prisco decided to move them up two spots from 11th overall to ninth.
The biggest tumble went to the Las Vegas Raiders, who dropped a total of seven spots. The Raiders were 24th in May, but they tumbled all the way down to 31st. Apparently, Prisco is NOT sold on Gardner Minshew as the starter.
Now, let’s talk about the worst team in the NFL. The Panthers closed the 2023 season at the bottom of the rankings and that’s where they’ll be opening the 2024 season.

If you want to know where your favorite team ended up in Prisco’s Week 1 Power Rankings, be sure to click here. If you want to argue with Prisco over his rankings, you can do that on Twitter by clicking here. I argue with him all the time about everything.

2. 49ers drama appears to be over: Trent Williams finally returning to team

In a span of just five days, the 49ers have managed to put all of their offseason contract drama behind them. Less than a week after getting a deal done with Brandon Aiyuk, the 49ers are now on the verge of getting a new deal done with Trent Williams.

Here’s what you need to know:

Williams is headed to San Francisco. After skipping all of training camp, Williams finally jumped on a flight to the Bay Area on Monday night. CBS Sports lead NFL insider Jonathan Jones reported that Williams is making the trip because he’s expected to finalize a new deal with the 49ers.
49ers have been in a difficult situation with Williams. There’s a reason the Williams contract drama has been dragging out for so long, and that’s because it’s not an easy situation. The All-Pro left tackle still has THREE years left on his current deal, so the 49ers have been hesitant to give him a new one. Williams’ salary for the 2024 season is currently scheduled to be just $20.05 million, which doesn’t rank in the top five for offensive tackles. Since he’s arguably the top left tackle in the NFL, Williams wants to be paid like the top left tackle, and it seems that 49ers are going to grant his wish. The 49ers really had no choice here because they simply couldn’t afford to go into the season without Williams.
How much Williams might make. As we said, the deal isn’t quite done yet, but there are some benchmarks Williams will probably shoot for. The three highest-paid offensive linemen right now are Tristan Wirfs ($28.125 million per year), Penei Sewell ($28 million per year) and Christian Darrisaw ($26 million per year). At 36 years old, it’s pretty clear that Williams just wants to make sure he can cash in one more time while he still has the leverage and skill to do so.

The 49ers also got another dose of good news on Tuesday with return of Christian McCaffrey. After missing most of training camp camp with a calf strain, McCaffrey is expected to return to practice today.

With McCaffrey and Williams in the fold, the 49ers will now begin preparations for their regular-season opener, which will take place on Monday night against the Jets.

In other 49ers news, Ricky Pearsall won’t be playing until October at the earliest. The 49ers placed the rookie receiver on the reserve/non-football injury, which means the first-round pick will have to sit out at least the first four games of the season. Pearsall was released from the hospital on Sunday, less than 24 hours after being shot during an attempted robbery on Saturday in San Francisco.

3. Picking a winner in every NFL division

USATSI

When it comes to the NFL, it’s hard to get anyone to agree on anything, and Tyler Sullivan found that out the hard way this week when he asked eight of our writers to pick the winner of each division. Of the NFL’s eight divisions, our writers only unanimously agreed on the winner in two divisions: the AFC West and AFC South.

Every other division is a crapshoot in our eyes.

Here’s a look at each division, along with how many first-place votes each team in the division received. (Next to each team’s name, you can see their odds for winning the division and how many first-place votes they received from each writer.)

AFC EAST
Bills (+195): Four votes
Jets (+160): Two votes
Dolphins (+210): Two votes

AFC NORTH
Ravens (+145): Five votes
Bengals (+165): Three votes

AFC SOUTH
Texans (+100): Eight votes

AFC WEST
Chiefs (-270): Eight votes

NFC EAST
Eagles (-140): Five votes
Cowboys (+175): Three votes

NFC NORTH
Lions (+125): Four votes
Packers (+210): Four votes

NFC SOUTH
Falcons (+145): Seven votes
Buccaneers (+290): One vote (The lone Bucs vote came from Bryan DeArdo)

NFC WEST
49ers (-190): Seven votes
Rams (+330): One vote (The lone Rams vote CAME FROM ME)

If you want to read our explanation for each of our votes, then you’re definitely going to want to click here.

4. Breech’s Week 1 NFL picks

It’s my favorite day of the week. Not only is it Taco Tuesday, but it’s also the day where I unveil my weekly picks. If this is your first season with us, here’s how the formula works around here: I stay up until an insane hour every Monday night so that my picks are ready to roll every Tuesday morning. The newsletter will feature three of my picks, and then if you feel like reading the rest of them, you can click through here and check them out.

With that in mind, here are three of my main picks for the week, starting with the NFL opener on Thursday:

Baltimore (+3) at Kansas City: I hate picking against the Chiefs, because they almost always make me look stupid whenever I do it, but I’m going to do it here. The Ravens are going to be out for revenge and if there’s one instance where the Chiefs are actually beatable, it’s in this exact situation: The Chiefs are just 5-5 in home prime-time games against non-divisional opponents since Patrick Mahomes’ first full year as their starter in 2018. PICK: Ravens 23-20 over Chiefs
Packers vs. Eagles (-1.5) in Brazil: The Eagles offense almost feels like it’s too loaded to fail. If the Packers want to stop the Eagles passing attack, then Saquon Barkley will have a huge day. On the other hand, if the Packers want to bottle up Barkley, then A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith could both go off. After experiencing a total collapse to end the 2023 season, I feel like the Eagles need to win in Week 1 more than almost any other team in the NFL, so I’m going to take them. PICK: Eagles 27-24 over Packers.
Titans at Bears (-4.5): Over the past 21 years, there have been 15 quarterbacks taken with the top pick in the NFL Draft and those quarterbacks have combined to go 0-14-1 in their debut game. That makes me feel like I should pick against Caleb Williams, but I think the Bears rookie bucks history by leading Chicago to a win. PICK: Bears 19-16 over Eagles

Once again, to check out the rest of my picks for Week 1, be sure to click here.

5. CBS Sports 2024 Preseason All-NFL Team: Chiefs land three players on the offensive side of the ball

After voting on division winners today, we also had a group of our NFL writers vote on an All-Preseason Team (As you can probably tell at this point, we love voting on things). This is basically a list of players who we expect to be great this year. This is a popular thing to do in college — you always read about preseason all-conference teams — so we thought we’d use that idea for the NFL.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the offense for our 2024 Preseason All-NFL Team:

QB: Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs
RB: Christian McCaffrey, 49ers
WR: Ceedee Lamb, Cowboys
WR: Tyreek Hill, Dolphins
WR: Justin Jefferson, Vikings
TE: Sam LaPorta, Lions
OT: Trent Williams, 49ers
OT: Penei Sewell, Lions
OG: Joe Thuney, Chiefs
OG: Tyler Smith, Cowboys
C: Creed Humphrey, Chiefs

As you can tell, the Chiefs are obviously loaded: They have three players on the first-team offense and that happened even though Travis Kelce got snubbed at tight end.

If you want to see the defensive side of the ball for our preseason All-NFL team, plus the special teams representatives, then be sure to click here.

6. Extra points: Browns stadium gets a new name

It was a busy 24 hours in the NFL, and since it’s nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you.

Browns stadium gets a new name. The Browns’ stadium will no longer be called Cleveland Browns Stadium. The team announced a deal with Huntington National Bank on Tuesday. The deal is for 20 years and for the duration of the deal, the Browns will play at “Huntington Bank Field.”
Ja’Marr Chase sits out Monday practice. Although Chase attended practice on Monday, he didn’t participate, which is basically what he’s done since the start of training camp. If the Bengals don’t get a deal done soon with Chase, there’s a chance that he could miss the team’s opener on Sunday against the Patriots.
Russell Wilson voted Steelers captain. The Steelers’ new quarterback has already earned some respect in the locker room, and we know that because Wilson has been voted a team captain. Wilson is the sole representative for the offense, while defensive lineman Cameron Heyward, pass rusher T.J. Watt and safety Miles Killebrew round out the captains.
Trey Lance loses Cowboys’ backup job to Cooper Rush. The Cowboys gave Lance every chance to earn the backup job behind Dak Prescott, but he wasn’t able to get the job done. Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy revealed on Monday that Rush had won the battle for the No. 2 job. Lance still has a roster spot in Dallas, but his future is now once again up in the air. It’s seeming less and less likely that the former No. 3 overall pick will ever be a starter again in the NFL.