The Los Angeles Rams added the reigning Defensive Player of the Year and still came up a spot short. On the latest PFSN Hot List, Ian Cummings ranked the five best rosters in the NFL on paper, and the defending champion Seattle Seahawks claimed No. 1, edging a Rams team that spent the offseason pushing every chip to the center of the table.
Seahawks’ Continuity Holds Off the Rams’ Star Power
Seattle’s case is roster math more than anything flashy. The Seahawks returned 95% of their offensive snaps and 79% of their defensive snaps, and all five offensive line starters are back from the group that won Super Bowl LX. Sam Darnold gets Jaxon Smith-Njigba alongside Cooper Kupp and Rashid Shaheed, with AJ Barner emerging at tight end. Up front on defense, Byron Murphy II anchors an interior next to Leonard Williams, with DeMarcus Lawrence and Derick Hall coming off the edge.
“For the Seahawks, it’s pretty simple,” Cummings said. “They won the Super Bowl last year, and they barely experienced any turnover in the 2026 offseason.”
The Rams sit a hair behind, and it isn’t about talent. Los Angeles posted a league-best 92.3 team offense impact grade, per PFSN’s metrics, and brought back 97.3% of its receiving and rushing production around MVP Matthew Stafford. Then the front office traded Jared Verse and a haul of picks for Myles Garrett, slotting a generational rusher next to Byron Young, Braden Fiske and Kobie Turner. The hold-up is the offensive line.
“The only question mark for the Rams right now is the offensive line,” Cummings said. “Alaric Jackson is currently dealing with some legal trouble, and Warren McClendon, who took over for Rob [Havenstein] down the stretch last year, is relatively unproven.”
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That uncertainty is the entire margin between these two division rivals. If Los Angeles settles its line, the order flips. For now, the championship roster with five returning starters up front wins the projection.
How the Patriots, Broncos and Texans Round Out the Top Five
New England lands at No. 3 on the strength of a busy offseason. The Patriots traded for A.J. Brown to give Drake Maye a true No. 1, then rebuilt a line that Seattle exposed in the Super Bowl. Cummings ranked that group first on his most-improved offensive lines list, pairing it with an offense that graded second in the league at 86.6 by PFSN’s measure.
Denver checks in at No. 4 behind the league’s best defense, which posted a 90.1 team defense impact grade and led the NFL with 68 sacks, 11 more than any other team. The Broncos traded for Jaylen Waddle to pair with Courtland Sutton, betting that better health for Bo Nix and a real second receiver push them over the top.
Houston rounds out the five. The Texans’ defense graded second in the league at 89.4, and the front office finally addressed the offensive line, adding three new starters in front of C.J. Stroud. The question remains whether Stroud bounces back, but the supporting cast is the best he’s had.
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The takeaway is that the NFC West houses the two best rosters in football, and they meet twice. Cummings isn’t backing off his top pick. “I think the Seattle Seahawks are gonna prove once again that their roster, their coaching combined, are elite and very, very difficult to match,” he said. Los Angeles will get two cracks at proving him wrong.
