Tom Brady’s NFL Power Rankings: Caleb Williams MVP Watch Has Begun; Chiefs Are Back

Tom Brady’s power rankings are back for a third season, and before he reveals his first top-10 of the new season, there are a few rules the GOAT has. One, in order to make this week’s top 10, you’ve had to have won in Week 1. Two, the power rankings are all about what you’ve done lately, not what you can be. And three, if you have any complaints, direct them to the new FOX Sports digital show “Gronk & Jules.” So, now that’s out of the way, let’s dive into Brady’s first top 10 of the 2026 NFL season. Brady’s thoughts: They had a great win against a very good Bucs team. I thought that Bucs team was going to go into Cincy and upset some people. Sorry to Ja’Marr Chase and all those fantasy owners. Trust me, you’ve got nothing to worry about. Brady’s thoughts: If you turned this one off early, you’re probably wondering why the Lions aren’t higher. But you really don’t want to see how this one went down. I think it’s very brave of these teams to go for 2 [to win the game like the Saints did]. It’s basically a 45/50% chance of making it. That’s what the stats say. Sometimes, I think you should make the other team beat you. But when you’re the road team against a good team, sometimes I don’t mind going for broke. Brady’s thoughts: How about the Jags? At No. 8, they ran it up against Cleveland. That’s what a lot of people forgot about Jacksonville last season. They won 13 games last year. Keep an eye out for this team. Liam Coen, really impressed, man. Keep it up. Brady’s thoughts: Kenneth Walker, he’s your [Super Bowl LX] MVP and the Chiefs are sitting at No. 7. Patrick Mahomes, are you kidding me? He might be able to contribute something to this offense as well. He wasn’t avoiding any contact [on Monday night]; I’m sure of that. I think, in a lot of ways, he’s back to [being] Patrick Mahomes. What do I mean by that? His leadership, discipline, tenacity — all of those things were on display. He’s going to pick up some steam. He’s missed some football, missed a lot of the offseason. But never sleep on No. 15 for the Chiefs. Why are we counting them out? Never count them out. I always felt like when you’ve got a great coach and you’ve got a great QB, and that organization has championship standards … watch out, man. Brady’s thoughts: KB and I, we were on the call in Philly, and the Eagles are knocking on the door of the top five. They knocked a little rust off, but they took care of business, starting 1-0 in the division. They know how to start fast. I like this team. They’re always going to play great defense. Once they figure out how to run the ball a little bit better, and they’ve still got Saquon [Barkley] back there and Tank Bigsby — they’re making those explosive plays. That’s the formula that set them up a few years ago, too. Brady’s thoughts: In our top five, you can shuffle a lot of teams here, but remember, when in doubt, my rankings are always the correct ones. The Bills are starting at five. That was a huge win in Houston. Houston had one of the best defenses in the league last year, and there’s going to be arguments to put Buffalo at the top of the list. But they were a dropped pick away from being off the [list] entirely. We know Josh [Allen], we know James Cook — they’re going to move the ball all year long. But those Bills fans are waiting for January at this point. Who can blame them? Brady’s thoughts: Another team with a new head coach, Jesse Minter. Lamar [Jackson] dominated in Indy. They brought in Minter for this defense, but I’ll be watching [offensive coordinator] Declan Doyle and what he does with the weapons on this offense. It looked pretty good the other night. They’ll need the depth chart to step up at receiver for a few weeks. But Baltimore fans, guess what? You should be excited. Brady’s thoughts: We now have the definitive guide on how to travel to Australia now, right? I think people talked more about that than the game this past week. Hats off to the Niners and Kyle Shanahan for tuning out a lot of the B.S., a lot of the noise and doing what they do: dominate a great Rams team Down Under. Brock [Purdy], quick word of advice: Keep throwing it to Mike Evans. He’s really good at catching the football, especially when you get close to the end zone. Brady’s thoughts: The Caleb Williams MVP watch is under way. They put 59 on Carolina in Week 1. Ben Johnson wants the highest-scoring offense ever. But how about a little defense from this team when they get back to Chicago? Or, you know what, screw it — keep scoring 59 points. I’m an offensive guy, either way works. They make it look easy — 300 yards rushing, Caleb does his thing and when guys aren’t open, he scrambles. When they get that offense rolling, it’s hard to stop. I saw it a lot last year. I know we’re going to see it a lot this year. Brady’s thoughts: I don’t care, to be the champ, you’ve gotta beat the champ. When you win the Super Bowl and the Super Bowl rematch in the first game back, I don’t care who is playing QB, you’ve got to get the top spot. The defense, they haven’t skipped a beat. And I’ve got another secret QB hack for Drew Lock: As long as Sam [Darnold’s] out, throw it anywhere on JSN’s (Jaxon Smith-Njigba) side of the field; he’s going to come down with it.