The NFL season is halfway through.
For review, here at SB Nation we’re looking around the league, highlighting the best rookies, biggest disappointments and true Super Bowl contenders.
And the biggest surprises so far.
The Cleveland Browns weren’t expected to be here.
Before the 2026 NFL regular season, We ranked all 32 teams.Rank the chances of winning the Super Bowl. The bottom tier, which we dubbed the “Tankaton Tier,” consisted of teams we expected to be in the hunt for the No. 1 pick in the 2027 NFL Draft.
It includes the Browns, who are looking at first-round picks next spring. Cleveland has a first-round pick of their own, and thanks to the Myles Garrett trade of their first-round pick from the Los Angeles Rams.
But now those choices are almost identical. Cleveland sits at 5-4 at the midway point, out of the playoffs — New England will be ranked No. 7 on the Browns by virtue of conference record — but in the mix in the playoff hunt. The Browns’ own pick is currently No. 16 in the first round of the 2027 NFL Draft, while the Rams’ pick is No. 18.
Now, some of this may be “smoke and mirrors.” Looking at how all 32 teams stack up in points expected on offense and defense, they see the Browns at the bottom of the league.
And while Cleveland beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 4, the rest of the wins came against losing teams (Tampa Bay, Carolina, Baltimore and Tennessee). This is not exactly quality work.
But it’s much better than we expected.
Things don’t look much better in New York.
Again, looking at the preseason rankings of all 32 teams, we had the second lowest ranked New York Giants “work in progress” team. But if the NFC playoffs started now, the Giants would be at home on Wild Card Weekend as the NFC East champions with a 5-2-1 record.
That’s surprising, but when you consider that New York lost quarterback Jackson Dart to injury earlier in the year and that running back Cam Skatebo was on fire — inactive for New York’s Week 9 win over the Philadelphia Eagles — we all expected the Giants to do it without two players who would be cornerstones of their offense.
Things will be more difficult for New York in the second season. The Giants have games against Jacksonville, San Francisco and Seattle in the bracket, and a Week 17 meeting with the Dallas Cowboys could decide the division.
Still, these Giants are one of the biggest surprises of the midseason in the league.
Now, you have to consider the Jacksonville Jaguars to be among the NFL’s elite teams.
Through nine weeks, the Jaguars lead the NFL in scoring, with a +108 margin. They are the only team with more than 100 points in this measure, 29 points ahead of San Francisco in second place. They also lead the NFL with a +9 turnover margin, and when you look at the EPA numbers, you can see how they’re right up there with the 49ers among the NFL’s best teams.
And a good defense got better this week with the trade of Jesse Bates III.
Are there any questions? for sure. Jacksonville has lost games to the Denver Broncos and Houston Texans — with Denver looming as a playoff opponent and the Texans hovering under .500 — and some of the wins have come against teams like Cleveland, Indianapolis and Baltimore. They caught the New England Patriots for quarterback Drake Maye during a brutal season.
But for a team we saw as “playoff caliber” before the season, Jacksonville looks pretty good.
The Minnesota Vikings have a Super Bowl caliber defense.
Unfortunately, Minnesota’s offense, especially at the quarterback position, is a big question mark.
But thanks to that defense, the Vikings have been one of the biggest surprises this season. Few analysts thought Minnesota would make the playoffs this season, save for someone closer to home. Our own James Dator has been a believer in Minnesota dating since the holidays. Writing in June The Vikings are “ready to make waves” and that “Brian Flores is a draft master with the rare ability to take mediocre talent and turn them into monsters.”
Now they just need to solve the problem.
Perhaps Kirk’s relatives are the answer.
Emmett Johnson, RB, Kansas City Chiefs
Now we can get out of the groups and take a look at two rookies who have stood out this year.
First up is Emmett Johnson of the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs added a running back from Nebraska in the fifth round of the 2026 NFL draft. But Johnson has carved out an impressive role in Kansas City’s offense, providing the Chiefs with an explosive out of the backfield and serving as a true complement to Kenneth Walker III.
Through the first half of the season, Johnson has 26 carries for 111 yards and one touchdown (averaging 4.3 yards per carry on the ground), but it’s the passing game where he’s really shined. He caught 14 passes for a whopping 237 yards and an average of 16.9 yards per reception, aided by a 73-yard touchdown against the Denver Broncos.
As the Chiefs continue to try to find explosives in the passing game, he could play an even bigger role going forward.
Zachary Whitley, S, Carolina Panthers
Zachary Whitley was also a fifth-round pick last spring, as was Emmett Johnson. The Carolina Panthers drafted him out of Penn State with the No. 151 pick.
Wheatley was a force in Carolina’s secondary, tallying 27 total tackles and matching Jordan Love’s textbook interception in Week 8:
Wheatley saw his snaps fall in last week’s game against the Denver Broncos in the first game under interim defensive coordinator Todd Walsh. So that’s a trend to watch, but even with that decrease in playing time, it’s one of the biggest surprises in the NFL this season.
