Patriots NFL Power Rankings roundup: Where New England sits ahead of 2025 season
The New England Patriots will kick off their first season under new head coach Mike Vrabel on Sunday when the Las Vegas Raiders come to Foxboro for a Week 1 clash. A new era of football in New England is ushering in some high hopes for the team among fans, but national pundits aren't as high on the Patriots pulling off a dramatic turnaround in 2025.
Vrabel and company have been hard at work revamping the Patriots roster since he took over for Jerod Mayo. The Patriots signed a number of key free agents in the offseason and also said goodbye to many of the team's leaders under past regimes. Of the six new captains named Monday, five of them have never held the honor for the Patriots.
While Vrabel brings stability to the sideline, a successful season will ultimately come down to Drake Maye's development and whether or not the Patriots can beat bad football teams -- or if they remain a bad football team themselves. Vrabel said he wants to build a squad that takes advantage of bad football with an emphasis on effort and finishing plays.
But will that amount to a lot of wins in Year 1 of Vrabel's tenure? The Power Rankers around the NFL aren't convinced.
Here's a quick roundup of where New England sits in a number of NFL Power Rankings ahead of the 2025 season. While ESPN sees the Patriots as a sleeper in the AFC, other publications aren't so sure, ranking New England mostly in the bottom third of the league.
ESPN: 16th
AFC sleeper alert! The Patriots are much better in nearly all areas compared with last season. After finishing with the fewest sacks in the NFL last season (28), the defense improved by signing DT Milton Williams, edge Harold Landry III, LB Robert Spillane and CB Carlton Davis III. Second-year QB Drake Maye will have wide receiver Stefon Diggs and rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson as options. And Mike Vrabel replaced Jerod Mayo as head coach.
Pro Football Talk: 20th
Every team changes from Week 1 to Week 18. The Patriots are the most likely to get much, much better by January.
The MMQB: 21st
A pivotal season starts with Mike Vrabel instilling more confidence in the Patriots than at any point during the waning Belichick era or the short-lived Jerod Mayo era. Vrabel's ultimate challenge will be keeping it that way. After taking the gap year à la Sean Payton and building a groundswell for his return, the pressure is on him to rack up at least seven or eight wins with an ascending star quarterback in Drake Maye.
NFL.com: 22nd
My summer-months optimism has cooled a tiny bit amid some signals that this remains an incomplete situation. I'm still pushing my chips in on Mike Vrabel and Drake Maye, New England's two best assets right now, and the schedule looks quite favorable in a few respects. Yet the roster churn has continued into the preseason, carrying over from a busy summer of refurbishing. My read on the situation, after the Patriots let another veteran go in Jabrill Peppers, is that they're still a few steps away from where Vrabel wants to be. He's clearly not afraid to move on from players who might be able to play but are deemed poor fits in the system. There's optimism, and I think the rookie class will help immensely, but I am hedging just a bit on predicting a full-on breakout in 2025.
The Ringer: 22nd
If you buy what the Patriots fans in your life are selling, the head coaching change from Jerod Mayo to Mike Vrabel alone ought to be good for a few wins in 2025. But this was a team that had plenty of issues beyond coaching last year, particularly with a lack of talent around quarterback Drake Maye on offense. But now that New England has added compelling rookies like tackle Will Campbell and running back TreVeyon Henderson to Maye, maybe there is a case that New England could be the second-best team in the AFC East.
That might be a relatively low bar to clear, but Maye's play down the stretch last season gave me a ton of optimism. The defensive front may still be an issue this year, but the rest of the roster is just good enough to compete right away.
The Athletic: 23rd
Rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson had a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown on his first NFL touch, and the Patriots apparently had seen enough because he only got five preseason carries. Henderson will start the season behind Rhamondre Stevenson on the depth chart, but that might not last long. New England already figures to have six new offensive starters, most notably Stefon Diggs.
Sporting News: 23rd
The Patriots are feeling good about Drake Maye and all the improvement made around him, first and foremost brining back Josh McDaniels as coordinator. You can also bet Mike Vrabel gets the most out of the deense, but overall talent says this team is about a year away from true playoff contention.
CBS Sports: 24th
They are on the climb. They just might be a year away. Mike Vrabel will have them playing a tough, feisty brand of football this season that will keep them in games.
Bleacher Report: 24th
New England head coach Mike Vrabel has wasted no time putting his stamp on the Patriots.
They were one of the most active teams in free agency, spending big money on the likes of defensive tackle Milton Williams and linebacker Robert Spillane.
The offensive line was overhauled with a pair of new starters at tackle in Will Campbell and Morgan Moses. Passing-game weapons were added in an effort to help young quarterback Drake Maye take a step forward in Year 2.
The changes carried over into training camp. Multiple defensive starters from a year ago were either relegated to the second team or released outright.
Sunday's season opener against a similarly changed Las Vegas Raiders team may be one of the best matchups of Week 1.