Rank ‘Em: Who Has the Deepest Roster Entering 2025?

A team’s backups don’t have to be as good as the starts. That’s literally the point. In an ideal world, most of them don’t play at all, or at least play sparsely.

But you still would like them to be good!

Take the Cowboys. In 2015, Tony Romo got hurt. Only the backups were Matt Cassel, Kellen Moore and Brandon Weeden, and the end result was a 4-12 record and Dez Bryant’s worst ever season. A year later, Romo got hurt again, but the Cowboys — after being burned in 2015 and trying to finagle Paxton Lynch in the first round of that year’s draft — had snagged a fourth-round rookie named Dak Prescott who guided the team to a 13-3 record and a 1 seed in the NFC (they lost their first playoff game, but c’mon, it’s the Cowboys, that’s obligatory).

So today’s rankings imagine the worst happens. Through some maniacal twist of fate, every team loses its starters. The No. 1 quarterback, No. 1 running back, Nos. 1 and 2 wide receiver and No. 1 tight end are just Thanos-snapped out of existence. But hey, the season’s gonna go on, right? We saw during the pandemic that there ain’t nothing that will make the NFL cancel games if they can plow forward.

It’s our backup rankings. I used our NFL Depth Charts to identify every team’s Next Men Up in that situation to rank them 1-32 on how they’d shape up if all the starters disappeared. (The exact player named the starter vs. the backup in some situations might be up for debate — take the Cleveland quarterbacks, for example — but the relative quality of the players generally is not.)

First, let’s look at the individual units that are still at least borderline respectable NFL-quality groups. Then, I’ll rank all 32 teams 1-32 by their backups. Let’s go.

NFL Backup Rankings

Who Can Still Put Up an NFL-Caliber Unit?

This is obviously very subjective, but the following units would still be perfectly defensible as the unit a team could roll out for a season and no one would really think twice it was that out of line. (Note that this isn’t always a compliment — when a team can’t find an elite No. 1, they throw a bunch of 2’s and 3’s at the job. You’d like to be deep top to bottom, but you’d still like strength at the top.):

Quarterback

Atlanta Falcons: Kirk Cousins, Easton Stick
Indianapolis Colts: Daniel Jones, Riley Leonard
New York Giants: Jameis Winston, Jaxson Dart

Running Back

Atlanta Falcons: Tyler Allgeier, Jase McClellan, Carlos Washington Jr.
Baltimore Ravens: Justice Hill, Keaton Mitchell, Rasheen Ali
Buffalo Bills: Ray Davis, Ty Johnson, Darrynton Evans
Cleveland Browns: Jerome Ford, Dylan Sampson, Pierre Strong Jr.
Detroit Lions: David Montgomery, Craig Reynolds, Sione Vakiste
Jacksonville Jaguars: Tank Bigsby, Bhayshul Tuten, Keilan Robinson
Minnesota Vikings: Jordan Mason, Ty Chandler, Zavier Scott
New England Patriots: Rhamondre Stevenson, Antonio Gibson, Trayveon Williams
New York Giants: Cam Skattebo, Devin Singletary, Eric Gray
New York Jets: Braelon Allen, Isaiah Davis, Kene Nwangwu
Pittsburgh Steelers: Jaylen Warren, Kenneth Gainwell, Cordarrelle Patterson
Washington Commanders: Austin Ekeler, Chris Rodriguez Jr., Jacory Croskey-Merritt

Wide Receiver

Green Bay Packers: Romeo Doubs, Savion Williams, Dontayvion Wicks, Christian Watson
Houston Texans: Christian Kirk, Jaylin Noel, John Metchie III, Tank Dell
Kansas City Chiefs: Marquise Brown, Jalen Royals, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Justyn Ross
New England Patriots: Stefon Diggs, Mack Hollins, Kayshon Boutte, Kendrick Bourne
San Francisco 49ers: Brandon Aiyuk, Demarcus Robinson, Jacob Cowing, Jordan Watkins
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Emeka Egbuka, Jalen McMillan, Trey Palmer, Sterling Shepard

Tight End

Baltimore Ravens: Isaiah Likely, Charlie Kolar
Chicago Bears: Cole Kmet, Durham Smythe
New Orleans Saints: Juwan Johnson, Taysom Hill

Team Backup Rankings 1-32

Now, let’s look 1-32.

1. Baltimore Ravens

QB: Cooper Rush, Devin Leary
RB: Justice Hill, Keaton Mitchell, Rasheen Ali
WR: DeAndre Hopkins, Tylan Wallace, Devontez Walker, LaJohntay Wester
TE: Isaiah Likely, Charlie Kolar

“Cooper Rush and Justice Hill” very obviously isn’t “Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry,” but we’ve seen both be productive over small stretches. Isaiah Likely might be a top-10 tight end in a Mark Andrewsless world, and of course DeAndre Hopkins is a future Hall of Famer. If Keaton Mitchell can look like his pre-ACL self, this might be a better offense than the Saints have right now in the real world.

2. Green Bay Packers

QB: Malik Willis, Sean Clifford
RB: MarShawn Lloyd, Emanuel Wilson, Chris Brooks
WR: Romeo Doubs, Savion Williams, Dontayvion Wicks, Christian Watson
TE: Luke Musgrave, Ben Sims

Malik Willis surprised everyone in his relief role last year. MarShawn Lloyd was a must-ballyhooed rookie handcuff. Luke Musgrave was ahead of Tucker Kraft in most people’s rankings this time last year. But this is really about the wide receivers, where all four of these guys (“when healthy,” in Watson’s case) could make a case to start for a handful of teams around the league right now.

3. Atlanta Falcons

QB: Kirk Cousins, Easton Stick
RB: Tyler Allgeier, Jase McClellan, Carlos Washington Jr.
WR: Ray-Ray McCloud III, KhaDarel Hodge, Casey Washington, Chris Blair
TE: Charlie Woerner, Teagan Quitoriano

This team has a quarterback who was a starter as recently as the middle of last year (and could be again this year if a trade forms) and a running back who has ever had under 600 yards in a season. The pass-catchers aren’t any great shakes, but hey, Ray-Ray McCloud III just had his best season. Just hand the ball off a lot and hope McCloud can do it again.

4. Detroit Lions

QB: Hendon Hooker, Kyle Allen
RB: David Montgomery, Craig Reynolds, Sione Vaki
WR: Isaac TeSlaa, Tim Patrick, Kalif Raymond, Dominic Lovett
TE: Brock Wright, Shane Zylstra

Absolutely no one would bat an eye if an NFL team rolled into a season with that running back room. And if the Lions were right about their perceived overdraft of TeSlaa, the receiver room isn’t half bad, either. (We won’t say a lot about the quarterbacks here.)

5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

QB: Kyle Trask, Michael Pratt
RB: Rachaad White, Sean Tucker, D.J. Williams
WR: Emeka Egbuka, Jalen McMillan, Trey Palmer, Sterling Shepard
TE: Payne Durham, Ko Kieft

This might be the best overall RB/WR grouping in the exercise, but of course it’s held back by the quarterback position, where Kyle Trask is four years into his career and has 4 completions on 11 attempts in that time. Add in a bucket of “not much” at tight end, and this is as stars-and-scrubs as this exercise can get.

6. Buffalo Bills

QB: Mitchell Trubisky, Mike White
RB: Ray Davis, Ty Johnson, Darrynton Evans
WR: Keon Coleman, Elijah Moore, Curtis Samuel, Kaden Prather
TE: Dawson Knox, Jackson Hawes

There’s no real shame here. You’d like better at quarterback, but you could buy any lower-tier team going into a season with that group of skill players.

7. Kansas City Chiefs

QB: Gardner Minshew, Bailey Zappe
RB: Kareem Hunt, Elijah Mitchell, Brashard Smith
WR: Marquise Brown, Jalen Royals, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Justyn Ross
TE: Noah Gray, Jared Wiley

Going from Patrick Mahomes to pretty much anyone is a big step down, but the Chiefs’ new starter (Gardner Minshew) has started 22 games the last two years and made a Pro Bowl in 2023 (which, I mean, it was very dubious, but it’s a true statement), and the new No. 2 (Bailey Zappe) started 8 games in two years with the Patriots. Meanwhile, Kareem Hunt is on his last legs but was the RB1 for much of last year, Marquise Brown could be a top-two receiver on a lot of teams, and Noah Gray set career highs across the board a year ago.

8. Los Angeles Chargers

QB: Taylor Heinicke, Trey Lance
RB: Najee Harris, Hassan Haskins, Kimani Vidal
WR: Quentin Johnston, Mike Williams, Derius Davis, KeAndre Lambert-Smith
TE: Tyler Conklin, Oronde Gadsden

Najee Harris has four straight seasons of 1,000-plus rushing yards and has never missed a game. Sure, he’s unexciting, but you could do way worse. Quentin Johnston was a first-round pick not long ago and scored a bunch of touchdowns last year. Mike Williams is entering the year after the year after his torn ACL, so maybe there’s juice left. And Tyler Conklin is always your favorite analyst’s favorite super-deep TE sleeper. Taylor Heinicke and Trey Lance have enough juice to make that work.

9. New England Patriots

QB: Joshua Dobbs, Ben Wooldridge
RB: Rhamondre Stevenson, Antonio Gibson, Trayveon Williams
WR: Stefon Diggs, Mack Hollins, Kayshon Boutte, Kendrick Bourne
TE: Austin Hooper, Jaheim Bell

This is more or less the backfield the Patriots rolled out last year, and it was fine. Bad enough to want to upgrade, but good enough that you don’t have to. Stefon Diggs is a huge question mark returning from injury, but of course if we knew he was healthy he would be one of the team’s top two. Dobbs’ Passtronaut stretch was more meme than productive, but hey, it wasn’t a disaster.

10. New York Giants

QB: Jameis Winston, Jaxson Dart
RB: Cam Skattebo, Devin Singletary, Eric Gray
WR: Wan’Dale Robinson, Zach Pascal, Jalin Hyatt, Ihmir Smith-Marsette
TE: Daniel Bellinger, Chris Manhertz

The Winston/Dart duo is (or at least should be) the best QB duo in this exercise. Devin Singletary was always good, never great until last year, when he was well and truly bad, but Cam Skattebo could step into the productive role. Wan’Dale Robinson has been the least efficient receiver we’ve ever seen, but hey, lotta receptions.

11. Chicago Bears

QB: Tyson Bagent, Case Keenum
RB: Roschon Johnson, Kyle Monangai, Travis Homer
WR: Luther Burden III, Olamide Zaccheaus, Devin Duvernay, Tyler Scott
TE: Cole Kmet, Durham Smythe

I’m still firmly in the camp of “Roschon Johnson could be a productive starter if he got a shot,” Cole Kmet is a perfectly fine tight end, and Luther Burden III is an exciting rookie. But oh, the quarterbacks.

12. San Francisco 49ers

QB: Mac Jones, Kurtis Rourke
RB: Isaac Guerendo, Jordan James, Patrick Taylor Jr.
WR: Brandon Aiyuk, Demarcus Robinson, Jacob Cowing, Jordan Watkins
TE: Luke Farrell, Ross Dwelley

This exercise does not murder the coaches along with the starters, so the backfield would still have Kyle Shanahan creating opportunities out of the backfield. That and the eventual health of Brandon Aiyuk are what we like here.

13. Carolina Panthers

QB: Andy Dalton, Jack Plummer
RB: Rico Dowdle, Trevor Etienne, Raheem Blackshear
WR: Xavier Legette, Jalen Coker, David Moore, Jimmy Horn Jr.
TE: Ja’Tavion Sanders, Mitchell Evans

This team has Andy Dalton, who has been the best backup quarterback in the league for a generation; Rico Dowdle, fresh off a 1,000-yard receiver; and two second-year post-hype options in Xavier Legette and Ja’Tavion Sanders. Utterly unexciting, but fine.

14. Washington Commanders

QB: Marcus Mariota, Josh Johnson
RB: Austin Ekeler, Chris Rodriguez Jr., Jacory Croskey-Merritt
WR: Noah Brown, Luke McCaffrey, K.J. Osborn, Jaylin Lane
TE: John Bates, Ben Sinnott

Would I be excited about a 30-year-old running back heading up my backfield who is not named Derrick Henry? No, but I could do way worse. Marcus Mariota has been a fine backup since he stopped being a starter. Ben Sinnott still has upside.

15. Pittsburgh Steelers

QB: Mason Rudolph, Will Howard
RB: Jaylen Warren, Kenneth Gainwell, Cordarrelle Patterson
WR: Robert Woods, Roman Wilson, Scotty Miller, Ben Skowronek
TE: Darnell Washington, JJ Galbreath

I wrote this a few days ago and had the Steelers a fair chunk lower than this, but then Aaron Rodgers finally signed, and even if you don’t want him as your starter, Mason Rudolph is at least a competent backup. Add in a genuinely decent backfield, and we’ll happily ignore the mess at pass catcher.

16. Tennessee Titans

QB: Will Levis, Brandon Allen
RB: Tyjae Spears, Julius Chestnut, Kalel Mullings
WR: Van Jefferson, Elic Ayomanor, Chimere Dike, Xavier Restrepo
TE: Josh Whyle, Gunnar Helm

The good news: The Titans have a first-round receiver! The bad news: It’s Treylon Burks, and he’s not even a top-four receiver on the depth chart without Calvin Ridley and Tyler Lockett included. But hey, Tyjae Spears might actually be the team’s RB1 by the end of this season, and Elic Ayomanor, Chimere Dike and Gunnar Helm are all interesting rookies.

17. Denver Broncos

QB: Jarrett Stidham, Sam Ehlinger
RB: Audric Estime, Jaleel McLaughlin, Tyler Badie
WR: Devaughn Vele, Pat Bryant, Troy Franklin, Trent Sherfield Sr.
TE: Adam Trautman, Nate Adkins

Estime, McLaughlin, Vele, Bryant and Franklin have all gotten at least some buzz at some point over the last couple years. And hey, Jarrett Stidham keeps replacing guys late in the season, might as well do it early this time.

18. Houston Texans

QB: Davis Mills, Graham Mertz
RB: Woody Marks, Dare Ogunbowale, Dameon Pierce
WR: Christian Kirk, Jaylin Noel, John Metchie III, Tank Dell
TE: Brevin Jordan, Cade Stover

Woody Marks is a popular rookie sleeper given Joe Mixon’s age, while Jaylin Noel gets to stick with his college teammate Jayden Higgins. Christian Kirk is no longer at his peak, but if he’s healthy he’s perfectly fine.

19. Indianapolis Colts

QB: Daniel Jones, Riley Leonard
RB: Khalil Herbert, DJ Giddens, Tyler Goodson
WR: Alec Pierce, Adonai Mitchell, Ashton Dulin, Anthony Gould
TE: Mo Alie-Cox, Drew Ogletree

The Daniel Jones–Khalil Herbert–Alec Pierce–Mo Alie-Cox group is “eh, fine,” though there’s no one to write home about after that. (Call the receivers the A-Team, though.)

20. New Orleans Saints

QB: Spencer Rattler, Jake Haener
RB: Devin Neal, Kendre Miller, Clyde Edwards-Helaire
WR: Rashid Shaheed, Bub Means, Cedrick Wilson Jr., Kevin Austin Jr.
TE: Juwan Johnson, Taysom Hill

The rare team carried by its tight ends (at least once Taysom Hill is healthy). Add in Rashid Shaheed (again, when healthy) and some interesting-if-unproven running backs, and we can overlook this quarterback room.

21. Cleveland Browns

QB: Joe Flacco, Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel
RB: Jerome Ford, Dylan Sampson, Pierre Strong Jr.
WR: Jamari Thrash, Michael Woods II, David Bell, DeAndre Carter
TE: Harold Fannin Jr., Blake Whiteheart

We have Kenny Pickett penciled in as the QB1 in Cleveland, but if you think it’s someone else, it changes nothing here. The Jerome Ford/Dylan Sampson duo is genuinely interesting, and Harold Fannin Jr. is a nice sleeper tight end. Please ignore the receivers.

22. New York Jets

QB: Tyrod Taylor, Adrian Martinez
RB: Braelon Allen, Isaiah Davis, Kene Nwangwu
WR: Allen Lazard, Arian Smith, Tyler Johnson, Malachi Corley
TE: Jeremy Ruckert, Stone Smartt

This is mostly about the running backs, where Braelon Allen and Isaiah Davis showed enough last year to horn in on Breece Hall’s role as the bell cow. And Tyrod Taylor continues his run as a high-floor backup.

23. Jacksonville Jaguars

QB: Nick Mullens, John Wolford
RB: Tank Bigsby, Bhayshul Tuten, LeQuint Allen Jr.
WR: Dyami Brown, Parker Washington, Austin Trammell, Joshua Cephus
TE: Johnny Mundt, Hunter Long

The actual Jaguars are going to be portrayed as “Brian Thomas Jr., Travis Hunter and the pips,” but at least this backfield is still interesting even without all the starters.

24. Seattle Seahawks

QB: Drew Lock, Jalen Milroe
RB: Zach Charbonnet, Damien Martinez, Kenny McIntosh
WR: Tory Horton, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Jake Bobo, Ricky White III
TE: AJ Barner, Elijah Arroyo

Zach Charbonnet carries the group here, though at least you can imagine upside for Jalen Milroe (and of course Drew Lock had that one crazy game against the Colts last year).

25. Minnesota Vikings

QB: Sam Howell, Brett Rypien
RB: Jordan Mason, Ty Chandler, Zavier Scott
WR: Jalen Nailor, Tai Felton, Rondale Moore, Tim Jones
TE: Josh Oliver, Gavin Bartholomew

Jordan Mason is interesting! Sam Howell is not very good but put up fantasy numbers when he starts! That’s about it, but it’s a nice start.

26. Miami Dolphins

QB: Zach Wilson, Quinn Ewers
RB: Jaylen Wright, Alexander Mattison, Ollie Gordon II
WR: Malik Washington, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, Erik Ezukanma, Tahj Washington
TE: Pharaoh Brown, Julian Hill

Jaylen Wright and Alexander Mattison would be an acceptable 1-2 punch at running back, and hey, maybe there’s still something in the Zach Wilson reservoir. And can Nick Westbrook-Ikhine do that whole touchdown thing again?

27. Los Angeles Rams

QB: Jimmy Garoppolo, Stetson Bennett
RB: Blake Corum, Jarquez Hunter, Ronnie Rivers
WR: Tutu Atwell, Jordan Whittington, Xavier Smith, Konata Mumpfield
TE: Terrance Ferguson, Colby Parkinson

There are plenty of people excited about Terrance Ferguson, and both Blake Corum and Jarquez Hunter have gotten some nice handcuff buzz. That’s about it.

28. Arizona Cardinals

QB: Jacoby Brissett, Clayton Tune
RB: Trey Benson, Emari Demercado, DeeJay Dallas
WR: Zay Jones, Simi Fehoko, Greg Dortch, Xavier Weaver
TE: Tip Reiman, Elijah Higgins

Trey Benson still has some of that shine on him, if less now. And the bloom kind of came off the “Jacoby Brissett is a ‘backup QB for hire’” rose after he flamed out in New England last year. Those are the high marks here.

29. Las Vegas Raiders

QB: Aidan O’Connell, Cam Miller
RB: Raheem Mostert, Sincere McCormick, Zamir White
WR: Tre Tucker, Collin Johnson, Tommy Mellott, Dont’e Thornton Jr.
TE: Michael Mayer, Ian Thomas

Maybe Raheem Mostert has a last gasp in him. Maybe Zamir White can be who he was at the end of 2023 and not who he was otherwise. Maybe Michael Mayer can fulfill his second-round draft potential. But it’s hard to get excited here.

30. Dallas Cowboys

QB: Joe Milton III, Will Grier
RB: Jaydon Blue, Miles Sanders, Phil Mafah
WR: Jalen Tolbert, Jonathan Mingo, Jalen Brooks, KaVontae Turpin
TE: Luke Schoonmaker, Brevyn Spann-Ford

There’s potential here, especially in the backfield, where Jaydon Blue and Phil Mafah are both interesting Day 3 rookies and Miles Sanders at least was good at some point. But it’s all potential, nothing real.

31. Cincinnati Bengals

QB: Jake Browning, Logan Woodside
RB: Zack Moss, Tahj Brooks, Samaje Perine
WR: Andrei Iosivas, Jermaine Burton, Charlie Jones, Kendric Pryor
TE: Drew Sample, Erick All Jr.

If you believe that Jake Browning’s performance down the stretch in 2023 was because he’s actually a good QB, then this is an underrank. If you think he was good then because he had Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins to throw to, then this is about right.

32. Philadelphia Eagles

QB: Tanner McKee, Kyle McCord
RB: A.J. Dillon, Will Shipley, Avery Williams
WR: Jahan Dotson, Terrace Marshall, Ainias Smith, Johnny Wilson
TE: Grant Calcaterra, Kylen Granson

Who would be the face of this group? Tanner McKee, with one start in two years? A.J. Dillon, who didn’t play last year and hasn’t been good since 2021? Jahan Dotson, who the team gave up a third-round pick for and subsequently gave 33 targets?

Clearly, the Eagles are good. Clearly, the Eagles have a set of superstars as starters. But that comes at a cost, and in the cast of Philadelphia, it’s “Man, if we have some bad injury luck, we are in real trouble.” Because this group of backups? It’s bad.