NFL: Teams That Must Improve Before Week 1

Last Updated on agosto 13, 2026 9:29 pm by Erwin Noguera

Cutdown day is August 30. The NFL regular season opens September 9. That leaves roughly three weeks for a specific group of teams to solve problems that will otherwise define their seasons.

Some of these are injuries. Some are unresolved competitions. One team has watched both of its biggest offseason moves get compromised before a game has counted.

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Here are the teams with the most urgent work left.

Águilas de Filadelfia

No team’s offseason has unravelled faster.

Philadelphia traded A.J. Brown to New England; defensible on cap and roster-construction grounds, indefensible in terms of 2026 output. The plan was for rookie first-rounder Makai Lemon to absorb some of that role, and he has been dealing with hamstring issues.

Then the other move went wrong. The Eagles acquired Jonathan Greenard from Minnesota specifically to fix a pass rush that needed help. Greenard is now out with a pectoral strain, and the club has said it will be “another couple of weeks at least” before he resumes football activity. That timeline puts him at or past the season opener.

The knock-on effect is significant. The edge competition between Jalyx Hunt and Nolan Smith Jr. was for the spot opposite Greenard. With Greenard unavailable, both men are now needed rather than competing, and Philadelphia’s defensive front looks considerably thinner than the one they built in March.

What must improve: Greenard’s health and someone establishing themselves as a genuine receiving threat. At +1600, they are still priced as a contender. The roster currently does not look like one.

Jefes de Kansas City

The most talented roster on this list with the most difficult problems to solve.

Patrick Mahomes tore his ACL in Week 15 and has been cleared to practise. Cleared to practise and cleared to be Patrick Mahomes are different things; reporting suggests he may not be fully himself until later in the season. Andy Reid brought rookies and quarterbacks in early specifically to build that runway.

The receiver situation is worse. Rashee Rice underwent knee surgery in June while serving a probation violation in jail. That is a sentence no organisation wants written about its top pass catcher, and it leaves Kansas City short at a position where they were already thin.

What must improve: Mahomes’s mobility, which is the single most important variable in the AFC. Watch how he moves in the remaining preseason games rather than what the stat line says. The Chiefs sit around 13th in most power rankings, which looks absurd for a Mahomes team and entirely reasonable for one whose quarterback is nine months removed from a knee reconstruction.

Osos de Chicago

Two problems, both on the offensive side, both affecting the same player.

Caleb Williams’ blind side is unresolved. Ozzy Trapilo, who was supposed to settle it, will not be ready for the season after patellar tendon surgery. That leaves Braxton Jones, who allowed 14 quarterback pressures and two sacks in just four starts before his own injury last season, and Jedrick Wills Jr., who has played 13 games across three seasons and sat out all of 2025. Theo Benedet is the long shot.

Now the receiver room has taken a hit too. Luther Burden III is expected to miss around a month with a groin injury, with the club hoping he returns for the opener against Carolina.

Chicago is widely expected to take a real step in year two under Ben Johnson. That does not happen if the quarterback is running for his life and missing a weapon.

What must improve: the left tackle position, urgently. Do not be surprised if the Bears add a veteran before Week 1.

Halcones Marinos de Seattle

The defending champions have one hole and have not filled it.

Kenneth Walker III is gone. Zach Charbonnet is recovering from a torn ACL. That leaves rookie Jadarian Price, Notre Dame’s second-choice back last season, carrying a significant load for a team trying to repeat.

Seattle is not a team that panics, and the roster that won Super Bowl LX is largely intact. But repeating in the modern NFL is close to impossible even without a question mark at a position the offence leans on heavily.

They open the season at home against New England on September 9 in a Super Bowl rematch. There is no soft landing.

What must improve: Price needs to look capable in the remaining preseason games, or Seattle needs to find a veteran. At +1100, the market still respects them. The backfield is the reason they are fourth rather than first.

Empacadores de Green Bay

A defence missing its centrepiece and a backfield with two separate problems.

Micah Parsons tore his ACL and will not return until at least mid-October. That removes Green Bay’s best defensive player for the first six weeks of the season, which is a substantial portion of the year to survive without him.

Josh Jacobs has been out at least a week with a groin injury, on top of the domestic violence investigation hanging over him. The Packers have been giving extended reps to MarShawn Lloyd, who has been one of the standouts of their camp after returning to full health, which is genuinely encouraging and also a sign of how uncertain the situation is.

What must improve: somebody has to replace Parsons’s production for six weeks. Green Bay dropped from 14th to 16th in power rankings after his injury, and the market has not fully adjusted at +1800.

Vaqueros de Dallas

One position decides this season.

Dallas has the potential to field one of the best offences in the NFL if the pass protection improves. If it does not, they have an expensive skill group and nowhere to throw from. The Cowboys have not had good left tackle play since Tyron Smith left after 2023.

Tyler Guyton, the 2024 first-round pick, has struggled as a run blocker and given up too many pressures. Brian Schottenheimer publicly put him on notice, with 2024 seventh-rounder Nate Thomas pushing for the job after improving in year two.

The detail that should worry Dallas most: Tyler Smith is still being asked whether he would move to left tackle if things get dire. Organisations do not ask that question when they are confident.

What must improve: Guyton, or Dallas needs a different answer. Everything about this offence runs through protection.

The Ones Trending the Right Way

Worth noting the teams solving problems rather than accumulating them.

Minnesota has named Kyler Murray the Week 1 starter over J.J. McCarthy, ending the most closely watched quarterback competition in football. Whatever you think of the choice, the Vikings now have three weeks to build an offence around a settled starter rather than splitting reps.

Los Giants have had genuinely good news. Malik Nabers practised for the first time since his torn ACL and appears on track for Week 1. For a team relying on a young offence under John Harbaugh, getting their best receiver back changes the outlook considerably.

What to Watch in the Next Three Weeks

Preseason Week 3, August 20-22. This is where starters typically see their most extended action of the summer. It is the last meaningful evaluation before cuts.

Cutdown day, August 30. Rosters go to 53. Every unresolved competition on this list gets decided, and the waiver wire briefly fills with players who could fix somebody’s problem.

The veteran market. Stefon Diggs, Deebo Samuel, Jadeveon Clowney, and Joey Bosa remain unsigned. Chicago needs a tackle. Kansas City needs a receiver. Philadelphia needs both. Injuries during the final preseason weeks tend to move that market quickly.

Three weeks. Six teams with real work to do, and only one of them (Seattle) is currently priced as a genuine contender.