There are eight teams left in the 2026 NFL playoffs. Why we’ve never called this the Elite Eight I’m not sure. Because the talent pool is certainly elite.
There are 26 All-Pro players on the remaining postseason
teams. 26 All-Pros, out of 62 winners. That’s nearly 50% of the field. Talent matters.
Of those 26, as I mentioned before, the NFC is pretty loaded. But the Seattle Seahawks hold their own. In fact, two teams stand out in this regard.
2025 All-Pro Players By Team
Denver Broncos – 6 (Garrett Bolles, Quinn Meinerz, Zach Allen, Patrick Surtain II, Talanoa Hufanga, Devon Key) | Two offensive linemen, and a brutalizing defense.
Seattle Seahawks – 5 (Devon Witherspoon, Leonard Williams, Ernest Jones IV, Michael Dickson, Jaxon Smith-Njigba)| You know them well, and there could have been more.
San Francisco 49ers – 3 (Christian McCaffrey, Kyle Juszczyk, Trent Williams) | ok.
Chicago Bears – 3 (Kevin Byard, Darnell Wright, Joe Thuney) | This is interesting. Don’t write them off against the Rams?
Houston Texans – 3 (Will Anderson, Danielle Hunter, Derek Stingley Jr)| It’s dumb when 80% of their defense is essentially three players, but they’re all here, so…
New England Patriots – 2 (Drake Maye, Marcus Jones)| Second-year QB as an All Pro. Who will start the ‘Better than Brady’ conversation?
Buffalo Bills – 2 (James Cook, Ray Davis) | And it doesn’t even include Josh Allen.
Los Angeles Rams – 2 (Matthew Stafford, Puka Nacua)| Congratulations.
This is why we got such a fantastic weekend of Wild Card games, and the top two teams on this list didn’t even play yet!
We’re coming out with our Field Gulls prediction on the remainder of the playoffs later this week. Seattle has what I believe is the most reliable set of tools to make the run all the way to the Super Bowl, as I’ll claim when the piece comes out. Not only is the team extremely prepared and coached up under Mike Macdonald, but they’ve got elite talent at all three phases of the game. They’ve got the defense everyone knows, an offense that’s unquestionably better than outcasts like the Philadelphia Eagles, and a Pro Bowl punter – while the best kick returner in the postseason isn’t even on this list.
The talent discrepancy showed itself in a massive yard and time of possession differential in Week 18 against the San Francisco 49ers, even if it didn’t result in greater point disparity. It’s reasonable (and exciting) to expect as much or more of the same on Saturday.
That’s right, Kyle Shanahan. Saturday.
