The NFL has a way of annually affording hope to its most downtrodden franchises.
In 2023, the Houston Texans became the league’s latest shining example of how quickly a turnaround can materialize, as a team that went 3-13-1 the previous year rose all the way to the top of the AFC South. Thanks to the Texans’ ascent, the NFL has now had at least one team complete a worst-to-first transformation within its division in 19 of the past 21 years (the league underwent realignment in 2002 to create eight sets of four).
Naturally, all of last season’s divisional cellar-dwellers will look to become the next team to keep the trend going. While some teams look to have the ingredients to make a run, others could have difficulty catching up with established contenders. With that in mind, we ranked all eight of the last-place finishers from 2023 based on the likelihood they can go from worst to first within their
