The NFL season has hit the halfway level.
As a manner of taking inventory, right here at SB Nation we’re trying across the league, highlighting the very best rookies, the largest disappointments, and the true Tremendous Bowl contenders.
In addition to the largest surprises thus far.
The Cleveland Browns weren’t anticipated to be right here.
Forward of the 2026 NFL common season, we stacked all 32 groups in tiers, ranked by their probabilities of successful the Tremendous Bowl. The underside tier, which we dubbed the “Tankathon Tier,” consisted of the groups we anticipated to be within the hunt for the No. 1 choose within the 2027 NFL Draft.
That included the Browns, who’re taking a look at a pair of first-round picks subsequent spring. Cleveland has their very own first-round choice, and so they have a first-round choose from the Los Angeles Rams due to the Myles Garrett commerce.
However proper now these picks are virtually similar. Cleveland sits at 5-4 on the halfway level, simply exterior of the playoffs — New England can be in because the No. 7 staff over the Browns attributable to a convention report tiebreaker — but firmly within the mixture of the playoff hunt. The Browns’ personal choose in a hypothetical 2027 NFL Draft first spherical for the time being is No. 16, with the Rams’ choose clocking in at No. 18.
Now, a few of this may be “smoke and mirrors.” Taking a look at how all 32 groups stack up via the prism of Offensive and Defensive Anticipated Factors Added, you see the Browns close to the underside of the league:
And whereas Cleveland beat the Pittsburgh Steelers again in Week 4, the remainder of their wins have come in opposition to groups with dropping data (Tampa Bay, Carolina, Baltimore, and Tennessee). This isn’t precisely a high quality resume.
However it’s so significantly better than we anticipated it to be.
It isn’t like issues have been anticipated to be significantly better in New York.
Once more, trying again at our preseason rating of all 32 groups, we had the New York Giants within the second-lowest tier, the “Works in Progress” group. But when the NFC playoffs started proper now, the Giants can be at residence throughout Wild Card Weekend because the winners of the NFC East, due to their 5-2-1 report.
That’s stunning sufficient, however when you think about that New York misplaced beginning quarterback Jaxson Dart early within the yr attributable to an harm, and operating again Cam Skattebo has been iced out — he was inactive for New York’s Week 9 win over the Philadelphia Eagles — the Giants are doing this with out two gamers all of us anticipated to be cornerstones of their offense.
Issues will get harder for New York over the second half of the season. The Giants have video games in opposition to Jacksonville, San Francisco, and Seattle on the docket, and the Week 17 assembly with the Dallas Cowboys may determine the division.
Nonetheless, these Giants are one of many greatest surprises within the league on the halfway level.
Proper now, you would need to think about the Jacksonville Jaguars to be among the many NFL’s elite groups.
By 9 weeks, the Jaguars lead the NFL in level differential, with a margin of +108. They’re the one staff above 100 factors on this metric, and they’re 29 factors away from second-place San Francisco. In addition they leads the NFL with a turnover margin of +9, and looking out on the EPA numbers, you may see how they’re on par with the 49ers among the many NFL’s finest groups.
And an excellent protection bought higher this week with the commerce for Jessie Bates III.
Are there questions? Positive. Jacksonville misplaced video games to the Denver Broncos and the Houston Texans — with Denver looming as a possible playoff opponent and the Texans languishing under .500 — and a few of these blowout wins have come in opposition to groups like Cleveland, Indianapolis, and Baltimore. In addition they caught the New England Patriots throughout a brutal streak for quarterback Drake Maye.
However for a staff we considered as “Playoff Caliber” forward of the season, Jacksonville appears so, so significantly better than that.
The Minnesota Vikings have a Tremendous Bowl caliber protection.
Sadly, the Minnesota offense, notably on the quarterback place, is an enormous query mark.
However due to that protection, the Vikings are one of many greatest surprises this season. Few analysts thought that Minnesota would make a playoff push this season, save for one near residence. Our personal James Dator was a believer in Minnesota relationship again to the offseason, writing in June that the Vikings have been “poised to make waves,” and that “Brian Flores is a schematic genius who possesses the uncommon capability to take mediocre expertise and switch them into monsters.”
Now they only must kind out the offense.
Maybe Kirk Cousins is the reply.
Emmett Johnson, RB, Kansas Metropolis Chiefs
We will now transfer away from groups, and check out two rookies which have stood out this yr.
First up is Emmett Johnson of the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs. The Chiefs added the operating again out of Nebraska within the fifth spherical of the 2026 NFL Draft. However Johnson has carved out an interesting position within the Kansas Metropolis offense, giving the Chiefs an explosive piece out of the backfield and serving as a real complement to Kenneth Walker III.
By the primary half of the season, Johnson has 26 carries for 111 yards and a landing (averaging 4.3 yards per keep on the bottom) however the place he has actually shined is within the passing recreation. He has caught 14 passes for a whopping 237 yards and a landing, a mean of 16.9 yards per reception, bolstered by his 73-yard landing in opposition to the Denver Broncos.
Because the Chiefs proceed to attempt to discover explosive performs within the passing recreation, he may carve out a fair larger position going ahead.
Zakee Wheatley, S, Carolina Panthers
Zakee Wheatley, like Emmett Johnson, was additionally a fifth-round choose final spring. The Carolina Panthers picked him at No. 151, drafting him out of Penn State.
Wheatley has been a drive in the back of Carolina’s secondary, racing up 27 complete tackles and a compelled fumble together with a textbook interception of Jordan Love in Week 8:
Wheatley did see his snaps tick down final week in opposition to the Denver Broncos, within the first recreation beneath interim defensive coordinator Todd Walsh. So that may be a development value monitoring, however even with that discount in taking part in time, he has been one of many massive surprises within the NFL this season.
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