The Detroit Lions may be ready to bounce back in the 2026 season, as some poor injury luck and a very deep NFC North handed them a last-place finish in 2025 despite a 9-8 record that was just a few ticks shy of making the postseason. As such, Detroit gets the benefit of an easier schedule this year.
This should be enough for Pro Football Focus to put the Lions in the top spot of their exercise ranking all eight cellar-dwellers by their likelihood of winning the division, no? Not exactly! PFF has Dan Campbell's squad ranking second, trailing Tyler Shough and the New Orleans Saints.
Going of recent history, and the 53-man rosters both teams are sporting at this point in time, even the benefit of playing in a much easier division should not put the Saints above a Lions team that is still positioning themselves to be one of the better teams in the NFL if everything goes as planned.
Lions ranked below Saints in "worst to first" PFF projection
The only argument that makes a lick of sense for putting New Orleans over Detroit is that the NFC South is much easier than the NFC North. Even when taking that into account, one would think that a team that ranked third in the eyes of Pro Football Focus would come in higher than one that may or may not have their long-term quarterback.
Even as the offense starts to lose some of its heavy hitters now that running back David Montgomery and left tackle Taylor Decker are gone, quarterback Jared Goff remains an effective distributor to all levels, and running back Jahmyr Gibbs is making the jump from great to elite. That alone should put them over the Saints.
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The defense remains a bit of a question mark, as they are now entering what seems like the fourth straight season of having subpar pass rushing talent outside of Aidan Hutchinson and questions in their cornerback room. This is not a perfect team, but when compared to the Saints, there isn't really a comparison to be had.
The Saints have questions at quarterback, a defense that is lacking in blue-chip talent, and a head coach in Kellen Moore who still needs to prove himself. Even a very optimistic New Orleans fan would find it very difficult to put their chances of hosting a home playoff game above those of Detroit.
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