3 NFL teams that can be next year’s Patriots and go from worst to first

As the saying goes, the NFL is a copycat league.

If an offensive system works for one team, other teams are going to copy it. If an assistant coach pans out as a great head coach, other teams will try and duplicate that hiring model. All with the goal of reaching the league’s mountaintop: The Super Bowl.

The New England Patriots are 60 minutes away from that mountaintop, with backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham and the Denver Broncos standing in their way. Even if Drake Maye and company fall short this weekend, their turnaround will be a model that other underwhelming teams will look to next year, as they went from last place in the AFC East, to the brink of the Super Bowl.

With that in mind, here are three teams that could complete a similar turnaround from last place this season, to something bigger in 2026.

Tennessee Titans

If there is a team that could follow New England’s path, the Titans might be the most likely candidate.

It starts with the quarterback. New England entered this season with Maye, the third-overall selection in the 2024 NFL Draft who showed flashes during his rookie campaign. But Maye exploded this year, becoming an MVP candidate, one of the league’s more efficient passers, and a true threat in the downfield passing game.

In Cam Ward, the Titans are hoping for a similar second-year leap.

But beyond Maye, the Patriots had something else going for them heading into 2025, which was an incredible amount of cap space. New England had money to spend, and they spent it, bringing in players like Milton Williams, Carlton Davis, Robert Spillane, Stefon Diggs, and more, to revamp a roster that needed help on both sides of the ball.

According to Over the Cap, the Titans have over $80 million in effective cap space, the most in the NFL for 2026.

The head coach component is a final step the Titans need to conquer. Mike Vrabel looks to be the perfect coach right now for the Patriots, and his first season in Foxborough.

As for the Titans, is Robert Saleh that head coach? Now the question might shift to whether the Titans can find their version of Josh McDaniels.

New Orleans Saints

There are, for sure, some differences between the New England Patriots heading into 2025, and the New Orleans Saints heading into 2026.

One is the head coach component. The Patriots rolled into 2025 with Vrabel, an experienced coach for sure, but one starting on his first year in Foxborough without a uniform and pads on.

In Kellen Moore, the Saints have a rising second-year coach, and one rooted on the offensive side of the football not Vrabel’s defensive background.

Then there are the financials. While the Saints are working their way out from the dire financial position they faced just a few seasons ago, they are still over the cap heading into next season. New Orleans can get cap compliant rather easily — as outlined in this piece just three moves (a Chase Young restructure, a Juwan Johnson restructure, and a Chris Olave extension) — would get them under the cap before they do anything else.

But there is a difference between being cap compliant, and having the kind of financial freedom the Patriots had just one year ago.

Still, there is one thing the current Saints and last year’s Patriots have in common.

The hope at quarterback.

Tyler Shough took over midway through the 2025 season from Spencer Rattler, and has shown more than enough to hold the job heading into next year. And with the Saints slipping down the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft order thanks to a strong finish to the season, they are out of the range of Fernando Mendoza anyway. That likely means rolling into 2026 with Shough and building around him in the draft, and with what they can accomplish in free agency.

New York Giants

In New York, we might have a winner.

The financial piece is a question: At the time of publication, the Giants are just under the salary cap, with a little under $2 million in cap space according to Over the Cap. (Over the Cap also indicates that they are actually, well, over the cap when it comes to effective cap space, but either way the Joe Schoen and the Giants have financial work to do).

But the other pieces are in place.

It starts with John Harbaugh, an experienced head coach who became one of the more enticing candidates this hiring cycle when his time with the Baltimore Ravens came to an end. Harbaugh’s tenure in Baltimore includes several division titles as well as a Super Bowl, so his experience helps shore up that piece of the puzzle, and you can draw some comparisons to Vrabel in New England.

Then there is the quarterback. Like the Patriots last year, the Giants have hope in rising second-year quarterback Jaxson Dart. He does need to take better care of himself on the field, and limit his exposure to unnecessary hits. In fact, this might be where Harbaugh’s experience comes in first, given his time with Lamar Jackson, another quarterback that needed to limit his exposure to unnecessary hits.

But the pieces, and parallels, are there.

Add in a fourth-place schedule and some questions around the rest of the NFC East, and you might have the strongest candidate on this list.