Making it to Super Bowl LX isn’t enough to reserve a spot in Colin Cowherd’s top 10 \u2013 the first Herd Hierarchy before Week 1 of the 2026 regular season, shared on Tuesday’s edition of “The Herd with Colin Cowherd,” revealed as much. The New England Patriots aren’t the only team missing, however: Cowherd made a point of saying that the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens were both close to making this inaugural list\u2026 but not close enough. There’s plenty of season left for the teams missing from it now to play their way into the Hierarchy. But for now, here is Cowherd’s actual top 10 before Week 1 kicks off \u2013 which includes Super Bowl LX’s champions, at least. Cowherd\u2019s thoughts:\u00a0“One of the most improved teams, and one of the teams that I thought made real moves, the Cincinnati Bengals. They\u2019ve won the division the two times they\u2019ve given Joe Burrow a top-20 defense. And by adding Dexter Lawrence, Jonathan Allen, Kyle Dugger, Cashius Howell and Boye Mafe, I think they\u2019re going to have a top-20 defense. You also look in their division: old Aaron Rodgers twice, the Browns\u2019 quarterback situation twice, I think when Burrow doesn\u2019t have to only win by track meet, is a playoff quarterback.” Cowherd\u2019s thoughts:\u00a0“Best defense in the league by a margin. Listen, they\u2019ve won 10 of their last 11 games, I\u2019m a fan of C.J. Stroud \u2014 though the last two years, too many mistakes \u2014 they return 10 of the 11 starters that made their defense and shut down the L.A. Rams. The Seahawks couldn\u2019t even do that. I like the Texans a lot: Danielle Hunter, Will Anderson Jr., Derek Stingley Jr. are about as good as anybody in the league at their positions, and I love head coach DeMeco Ryans and their GM \u2014 they just can\u2019t stay healthy at wide receiver.” Cowherd\u2019s thoughts:\u00a0“Listen: 10-1 when they won the turnover battle. And here\u2019s the good news: Caleb Williams doesn\u2019t turn the ball over. He does not throw interceptions. He didn\u2019t at USC, he doesn\u2019t in the NFL, he didn\u2019t in high school. And I think Colston Loveland, Luther Burden and Rome Odunze, as they now age, are going to become an elite, top of the league trio. Rome Odunze had a nice camp, he\u2019s finally healthy. Do I worry about a lack of a consistent pass rush? Yes, that\u2019s why I have the bears at No. 8. Cowherd\u2019s thoughts:\u00a0“I think we\u2019re overselling the fact that they trailed in a lot of games last year. Well, adding Jaylen Waddle, there\u2019s a chance that will rejuvenate the passing game a little bit. They gave up the fewest sacks, and for two years in a row have led the NFL in sacks. They have an elite coach and returned 41 of their 43 offensive touchdowns. Yes, their schedule\u2019s hard, yes, it\u2019s a great coaching division, but I think Bo Nix is \u2014 and I think a lot of people are struggling to acknowledge \u2014 pretty good! He may not be great, but he\u2019s pretty good.” Cowherd\u2019s thoughts:\u00a0“Worry about the interior O-line again, but I\u2019m going to put the Chargers in \u2014 11-6 last year, with the lowest-rated offensive line. They got an upgrade at offensive coordinator in Mike McDaniel, I think their weapons are good enough, they\u2019ve added a rookie edge rusher with their first-round pick, Omario Hampton now healthy at running back \u2014 only team in the league top-five in third down and third down defense. Now they have the perfect coordinator for Justin Herbert.” Cowherd\u2019s thoughts:\u00a0“It gets real close now. Philadelphia, Week 1, big favorites against Washington. No. 2-ranked O-line, and you know what I say about O-lines. Hard not to make the playoffs when you have\u00a0 a top-5 or -6 O-line in the league. DeVonta Smith, is he a great No. 1 receiver with A.J. Brown gone? Well, they added Dontayvion Wicks and Hollywood Brown and Makai Lemon from USC (who had a spotty camp)… they\u2019re good enough at wide receiver, great at running back, good at quarterback. Easy schedule, by NFC standards.” Cowherd\u2019s thoughts:\u00a0“I think the Lions will battle for the Super Bowl. Easiest schedule in the league, they have a new offensive coordinator that\u2019s viewed in-house as an upgrade, their skill positions \u2014 Jahmyr Gibbs, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Sam Laporta and Jameson Williams are really, really electric playmakers. That matters in the long NFL season, you can\u2019t have 13-play drives, week after week. You need some over the top home runs by Jahmyr Gibbs or Williams. Great teams get occasional easy touchdowns; not everything are perfect long drives. Cowherd\u2019s thoughts:\u00a0“I like Buffalo more than most, largest favorites to win their division. Josh Allen is 28-8 against his division \u2014 it\u2019s got a Tom Brady feel. They traded for D.J. Moore \u2014 because he\u2019s not flashy and not terribly demonstrative, people don\u2019t understand how good he is. Durable, professional, open \u2014 I love D.J. Moore, a\u00a0real serious No. 1 receiver. We gotta be honest about this: their rush defense was bad. But the last two years, they\u2019ve spent more draft picks on defensive capital than any other team. I think some of those start to pay off.” Cowherd\u2019s thoughts:\u00a0“The Rams are the most talented team in football. I put them No. 2 because I worry about being hunted, week after week after week. I also think if you look at their schedule, when you\u2019re a heavy favorite it\u2019s hard to stay motivated. They\u2019ve also got some age in a couple of spots. Will DaVante Adams stay healthy? Will Puka Nacua always be available? I love their tight ends, running back, coach and quarterback, but he\u2019s what, 38 years old? I have them at No. 2. Cowherd\u2019s thoughts:\u00a0“What I like about the Seahawks is all their best players are either all going into their athletic prime \u2014 Sam Darnold, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Devon Witherspoon \u2014 or they\u2019re in their prime. They have no egos. It\u2019s not like the other Seahawks with Pete Carroll, where Marshawn Lynch was a star and Richard Sherman was a star and Russell Wilson was and Pete Carroll was. In his own division, Mike Macdonald is the third-most talked about head coach. Sam Darnold still has that perfect chip on his shoulder. JSN doesn\u2019t get nearly the pub that he should. I think Seattle doesn\u2019t have the brand stars, so they\u2019re still sort of undervalued in the market.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Making it to Super Bowl LX isn’t enough to reserve a spot in Colin Cowherd’s top 10 \u2013 the first Herd Hierarchy before Week 1 of the 2026 regular season, shared on Tuesday’s edition of “The Herd with Colin Cowherd,” revealed as much. The New England Patriots aren’t the only team missing, however: Cowherd made<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33474"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33474\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}