NFL Power Rankings 2017: Examining Pecking Order After Week 3 of Preseason

In most cases, the NFL preseason doesn't provide the best idea of where to correct initial power rankings ahead of a season.

After all, outside of Week 3, most teams aren't giving the starters significant snaps. And when they are, the coaches are keeping it vanilla with the schemes and play calls in an effort to not tip their hands to regular-season opponents. 

There are rare exceptions that can reshape the order, though. Injuries are the primary occurrence, with Ryan Tannehill of the Miami Dolphins going down for the year an obvious talking point.  

With the third week of the preseason out of the way, let's rearrange the rankings to reflect some of the notable changes.  

2017 NFL Power Rankings

Rank	Team
1	New England Patriots
2	Atlanta Falcons
3	Oakland Raiders
4	Pittsburgh Steelers
5	Dallas Cowboys
6	Seattle Seahawks
7	Green Bay Packers
8	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
9	Tennessee Titans
10	Kansas City Chiefs
11	New York Giants
12	Philadelphia Eagles
13	Detroit Lions
14	Cincinnati Bengals
15	Denver Broncos
16	Washington Redskins
17	Baltimore Ravens
18	Miami Dolphins
19	Indianapolis Colts
20	Los Angeles Chargers
21	Carolina Panthers
22	Arizona Cardinals
23	Houston Texans
24	Minnesota Vikings
25	New Orleans Saints
26	Chicago Bears
27	Jacksonville Jaguars
28	Los Angeles Rams
29	Buffalo Bills
30	San Francisco 49ers
31	New York Jets
32	Cleveland Browns

Notable Teams 

New England Patriots 

It takes a lot for a team to be immune to one of these major preseason hiccups mentioned above.  

For example, a team like the New England Patriots with a coach like Bill Belichick.

By now, fans know the Patriots remain in the headlines for all the wrong reasons after losing star wideout Julian Edelman to a torn ACL.

Tom Brady and crew just lost a wideout who reeled in 98 of a whopping 158 targets a year ago for 1,106 yards and three touchdowns. It's a loss that sounds like it would cripple most offenses—but this isn't most offenses. 

Brady doesn't sound concerned, though, based on a conversation with the Boston Globe's Rachel G. Bowers: "The production has to come from a different place. I know Jules usually gets a lot of looks. Makes a lot of catches for us. It has to be distributed somewhere else. Injuries are tough. It’s part of the game and we just have to try and overcome it.”

It doesn't sound like a guy too worried about the development, right? And why not? Brady still gets to spam the ball to a wideout corps featuring Brandin Cooks, Chris Hogan, Danny Amendola and Malcolm Mitchell. He still has Rob Gronkowski and Dwayne Allen. Don't forget a handful of talented backs like Rex Burkhead, James White and Dion Lewis. 

So no, the Patriots aren't going anywhere in rankings because of losing one guy.  

Arizona Cardinals 

David Goldman/Associated Press

For those who don't want to hear about teams always in the spotlight, now would be a good time to start paying closer attention to the Arizona Cardinals.

The Cardinals enter 2017 off a seven-win campaign, one that showed a star running back like David Johnson trying to do everything by himself and a window seemingly firmly slammed shut on the career of Carson Palmer. 

But the Cardinals had a quality offseason, drafting rookie linebacker Haason Reddick and rookie safety Budda Baker, adding to an already-potent defense featuring names like Chandler Jones, Karlos Dansby, Patrick Peterson and Tyrann Mathieu. 

And while preseason doesn't say much overall, it does offer up quite a bit of a revelation when Palmer is slinging passes on a rope like this: 

Palmer simply looked like he didn't have any gas in his arm a year ago, something we had heard head coach Bruce Arians talk about this offseason on the Rich Eisen Show. 

But a defensive-minded team with Palmer back to form is dangerous even if they fall behind the Seattle Seahawks when it comes to attention out of the NFC West. Johnson ran for 1,239 yards and 16 touchdowns a year ago despite Palmer's struggles and Larry Fitzgerald is back in the fold to tandem with John Brown and others. 

The mixture of youth, an MVP candidate in the backfield and a reawoken quarterback two years removed from throwing 35 touchdowns against 11 interceptions has the Cardinals looking like a threat again. 

Miami Dolphins  

Let's loop back to those Dolphins.

Miami looked like a strong team even before Tannehill went down, with Jay Ajayi in the backfield and a trio of Kenny Stills-Jarvis Landry-DeVante Parker at least offering upside. The defense took steps in the right direction as well, adding rookie end Charles Harris and rookie 'backer Raekwon McMillan. 

Now, though, the task of leading the offense falls to footballer-turned-broadcaster-turned-footballer again Jay Cutler. 

Cutler is, on its face, the right man for the job based on what the Dolphins had available to them. And supporters will beat this drum right away—Cutler's best year came under Adam Gase in Chicago. 

The connections look good, too: 

But the limiting factor here might be time. Cutler faces the task of picking up a new offense on the fly while trying to get timing down with his cast of weapons. Easier said than done, especially given the allotted time and the fact Cutler gets risky with the ball often. Keep in mind, too, he hasn't played a full 16-game season since 2008. 

Cutler and the Dolphins are a marriage capable of working, especially in an AFC East where the only competition worth speaking about is New England. But this is a prove-it ordeal, as a team bringing in a free agent at the most important position of all needs to show it before it is believable. 

On paper, Miami looks solid. But teams ahead of them are known commodities, so the post-Tannehill dip makes sense until the games start mattering. 

Stats courtesy of NFL.com.