The Chiefs are an easy choice for the best NFL organization over the last five years. Ranking 2 through 32 wasn't nearly as easy.
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
(First of two parts.)
The best NFL organizations are the ones with the best records, no?
Certainly, that’s one way to rank the NFL organizations. Just line them up from best record to last and you will have, from top to bottom, the best to the worst.
But one year of success does not make an organization great, nor does one off year make an organization bad.
So we sought to rank the 32 NFL organizations over the five-year period ending with the 2023 season. Even still, the best five-year records do not give a complete picture.
Included in our rankings are each organization’s five-year record, their number of division titles and playoff appearances, along with Super Bowl wins and losses.
Also included are the franchise valuations as estimated by Forbes in 2023. The franchise valuations are not a measure of on-field performance but rather a product of the franchise’s market, stadium situation and revenues generated outside of the shared revenues within the league.
It stands to reason that the best owners inevitably lead the best organizations. But that’s not always true. A good owner can make one bad decision on a hire that can set his or her organization backwards. And the opposite can be true, also. A bad owner can stumble on some good luck to set off a few good years.
With each ranking, we also have an arrow pointing up, down or level. Arrow up means the organization is crawling out of some bad times. Arrow down means its good times in the five-year period might be ending.
In this post, we list our top 16 NFL organizations. Monday we’ll post 17 through 32.
1. Kansas City Chiefs
Forbes valuation: $4.3 billion
Ownership/management: Clark Hunt, son of founding owner Lamar Hunt, is the chairman and CEO.
5-year record: 63-20
Division titles: 5
Playoff appearances: 5
Super Bowls won: 3
Super Bowls lost: 1
Arrow: Level.
Analysis: Hunt, 59, is the rare second-generation owner who upholds the tradition and respect of his father, Lamar Hunt, one of the most important figures in NFL history. Hunt took over when his dad died in 2006, so he gets the credit for forming the indomitable Andy Reid-Patrick Mahomes partnership.
2. Green Bay Packers
Forbes valuation: $4.6 billion
Ownership/management: Community-owned and managed by a board of directors headed by CEO and president Mark Murphy.
5-year record: 56-27
Division titles: 3
Playoff appearances: 4
Super Bowl wins: 0
Super Bowl losses: 0
Arrow: Level.
Analysis: The only community-owned professional sports franchise in the United States has been preserved by the NFL to assure the Packers are able to compete and flourish in the smallest sports market in North America. The secret to their success has been a run of top-flight talent experts beginning with Ron Wolf in the 1990s, followed by Ted Thompson and now Brian Gutekunst.
3. San Francisco 49ers
Forbes valuation: $6.0 billion
Ownership/management: Jed York, son of majority owner Denise DeBartolo York, is co-chairman and CEO.
5-year record: 54-29
Division titles: 2
Playoff appearances: 4
Super Bowl wins: 0
Super Bowl losses: 2
Arrow: Even.
Analysis: York is another second-generation owner who’s acquitted himself well. His pairing of GM John Lynch with coach Kyle Shanahan has restored hope to a franchise that hasn’t won a Super Bowl since the 1994 season.
4. Philadelphia Eagles
Forbes valuation: $5.8 billion
Ownership/management: Owner and CEO is Jeffrey Lurie.
5-year record: 47-35-1
Division titles: 2
Playoff appearances: 4
Super Bowl wins: 0
Super Bowl losses: 1
Arrow: Down.
Analysis: The down arrow is a warning sign that the Eagles could be in for a fall if the coaching changes made by Nick Sirianni don’t reverse a late-season slide. But the Eagles are not shy about making changes, and generally make good ones.
5. Baltimore Ravens
Forbes valuation: $4.63 billion
Ownership/management: Owner is Steve Bisciotti.
5-year record: 56-27
Division titles: 1
Playoff appearances: 4
Super Bowl wins: 0
Super Bowl losses: 0
Arrow: Level.
Analysis: The Ravens made a seamless transition at GM from Ozzie Newsome to Eric DeCosta and haven’t missed a beat. This is probably as high as they go unless/until Lamar Jackson takes them to a Super Bowl title.
6. Pittsburgh Steelers
Forbes valuation: $4.63 billion
Ownership/management: Art Rooney II is 30 percent owner and president.
5-year record: 48-34-1
Division titles: 1
Playoff appearances: 3
Super Bowl wins: 0
Super Bowl losses: 0
Arrow: Down.
Analysis: Consistency alone keeps the Steelers in elite company. Their last Super Bowl win, though, was in 2008, Mike Tomlin’s second season. Tomlin’s now the longest-tenured active coach, entering his 18th year, and is struggling to replace franchise QB Ben Roethlisberger.
7. Los Angeles Rams
Forbes valuation: $6.9 billion
Ownership/management: Stan Kroenke is owner, chairman and CEO.
5-year record: 46-37
Division titles: 1
Playoff appearances: 3
Super Bowl wins: 1
Super Bowl losses: 0
Arrow: Up.
Analysis: Kroenke ordered his people to go all-in to reach the Super Bowl in 2021 when his privately-financed, $5 billion SoFi Stadium hosted the NFL title game. After one off year to recalibrate their salary structure, the Rams are back as contenders.
8. Buffalo Bills
Forbes valuation: $3.7 billion
Ownership/management: Owners are Terry and Kim Pegula; Terry is president.
5-year record: 58-24
Division titles: 4
Playoff appearances: 5
Super Bowl wins: 0
Super Bowl losses: 0
Arrow: Even.
Analysis: The team is hanging on as an annual Super Bowl contender while a New Highmark Stadium rises across the street from existing Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, NY. The $1.7 billion open-air stadium includes $850 million in public funding, which set an NFL record that soon was surpassed in Tennessee.
9. Dallas Cowboys
Forbes valuation: $9.0 billion
Ownership/management: Jerry Jones is owner, president and general manager.
5-year record: 50-33
Division titles: 2
Playoff appearances: 3
Super Bowl wins: 0
Super Bowl losses: 0
Arrow: Up.
Analysis: Yes, Jerry’s Team hasn’t appeared in a Super Bowl since the 1995 season. But that drought hasn’t kept his franchise valuation from skyrocketing to the top of the league.
10. New England Patriots
Forbes valuation: $7.0 billion
Ownership/management: Owner, chairman and CEO is Robert Kraft.
5-year record: 41-42
Division titles: 1
Playoff appearances: 2
Super Bowl wins: 0
Super Bowl losses: 0
Arrow: Down.
Analysis: Kraft enjoyed a 20-year run with Bill Belichick and Tom Brady winning six Super Bowls together. But the last five years have been painfully average. We’ll see how long it takes for Kraft to rebuild his organization to its once-lofty status.
11. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Forbes valuation: $4.2 valuation
Ownership/management: The Glazer family are owners. Sons Bryan, Joel and Edward Glazer are chairmen.
5-year record: 48-35
Division titles: 3
Playoff appearances: 4
Super Bowl wins: 1
Super Bowl losses: 0
Arrow: Down.
Analysis: The Bucs were gifted Tom Brady in 2020 and he delivered a Super Bowl. In his absence, they’ve been saved by playing in the league’s worst division. They’ve been able to host first-round playoff games three years in a row, which is better than most.
12. Seattle Seahawks
Forbes valuation: $5.0 billion
Ownership/management: Owned by the Paul Allen Estate, of which the sister of the former Microsoft co-founder, Jody Allen, serves as executor and chair of the Seahawks.
5-year record: 48-35
Division titles: 1
Playoff appearances: 3
Super Bowl wins: 0
Super Bowl losses: 0
Arrow: Down.
Analysis: The organization reached a crossroads with the end of the Pete Carroll era. The team’s future is in the hands of GM John Schneider and new coach Mike Macdonald. The Seahawks are often cited as the next NFL team up for sale.
13. Minnesota Vikings
Forbes valuation: $4.65 billion
Ownership/management: Zygi Wilf is owner and chairman.
5-year record: 45-38
Division titles: 1
Playoff appearances: 2
Super Bowl wins: 0
Super Bowl losses: 0
Arrow: Down.
Analysis: The greatest achievement in 20 years of the Wilf ownership was construction of U.S. Bank Stadium. Completed in 2016 at a reported cost of $1.06 billion, the fixed-roof stadium is architecturally creative and considered one of the league’s finest. The team, meanwhile, could be facing a downturn if it fails to re-sign quarterback Kirk Cousins.
14. Cincinnati Bengals
Forbes valuation: $3.5 billion
Ownership/management: Mike Brown is the owner and president.
5-year record: 37-44-1
Division titles: 2
Playoff appearances: 2
Super Bowl wins: 0
Super Bowl losses: 1
Arrow: Up.
Analysis: Often derided as the cheapest organization in the NFL, critics contend that the arrival of quarterback Joe Burrow in 2021 made everyone in the organization a lot smarter. The truth is, the Bengals historically have had a masterful eye for offensive talent and may be the most under-rated organization in the NFL.
15. Miami Dolphins
Forbes valuation: $5.7 billion
Ownership/management: Stephen Ross is chairman and managing general partner.
5-year record: 44-39
Division titles: 0
Playoff appearances: 2
Super Bowls won: 0
Super Bowls lost: 0
Arrow: Even.
Analysis: Ross has made many missteps as owner. At the centerpiece of former coach Brian Flores’ ongoing discrimination suit, Ross was suspended by the NFL for tampering with Tom Brady and then-New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton and the Dolphins were docked high draft choices in 2023 and 2024. They win in spite of him.
16. Detroit Lions
Forbes valuation: $3.6 billion
Ownership/management: Sheila Ford Hamp succeeded her mother as principal owner in 2020.
5-year record: 32-49-2
Division titles: 1
Playoff appearances: 1
Super Bowl wins: 0
Super Bowl losses: 0
Arrow: Up.
Analysis: One of two pre-expansion NFL franchises never to appear in a Super Bowl, the Lions seemingly have turned the corner under the football regime of GM Brad Holmes and coach Dan Campbell.
(Next: The NFL organizations ranked 17 through 32.)