Nick Wright's 2026 NFL Predictions: Chiefs ARE BACK, Ravens 1 SEED, Eagles to SUPER BOWL?

**Nick Wright** (0:03)
All right, welcome in What's Wright? with Nick Wright episode 498 As we finish up our week of NFL picks, NFL predictions, our week of shows that get us all our preseason takes locked in. On the TV show, we call it First Things First Predictions Week. These are for, you know, we have a document, we track them at the end of the year, we do a full accounting of wins and losses, two years, three years ago, we won a lot, two years ago, we won, or we lost tiny. Last year, we got, as my buddy Nacho would say, crumostified. Last year, we just got wambuzled. Last year, the, you guys had bullied me out of putting so much stake in the Jags, they end up winning 13 games.
You didn't bully me out of putting so much stake in the Chiefs, they won six.
I believed in the Bucs, they fell apart. It was, last year was a bloodbath. It's just no way around it. We put a ton of stock in the Steelers falling apart. They won the division. Last year was travesty, but it is what it is. We rebound, we move forward. Demonsay, good to see you. How are you?

**Demonsay** (1:16)
Good to see you, pops. Ready to win some bets. I'm good. How you doing?

**Nick Wright** (1:21)
Yes. Here's the deal. By the way, this episode of What's Wright? with Nick Wright is presented to you by Boost Mobile. A reminder, everyone, like, rate, subscribe, and review to the show. As we are right on the cusp of a quarter of a million on YouTube, so if you could help us there, that'd be great. Also, iTunes, Spotify. I don't have the exact numbers, but I think they're good.
Before we get to our actual picks, we did the over-unders over the course of the week. I do want to do one Ravens topic because when we did the AFC win totals, I said I have the Ravens having the number one seed in the AFC. So let's discuss it. Go ahead.

**Demonsay** (2:00)
Yeah. On Tuesday, it sounds like you said that you liked my Ravens a lot.
As you said, going to the number one seed. First of all, welcome to the Fox, but I just want to ask, what brings you here?

**Nick Wright** (2:12)
Well, a lot of things.
I do think they needed to make a change at head coach. So I think that is a positive change. I think that Jesse Minter, listen, he's a first time head coach, but I think historically, the floor for the awesome young defensive coordinator is actually pretty high as a first time head coach. I don't know if the ceiling is as high as awesome young offensive coordinator, kind of quarterback whisperer type, but I'm not saying he's going to have a Mike McDonald level impact on Seattle, but I think he'll be very good. And I think the Ravens were, you know, John Harbaugh's message had grown stale. So that part, I have, I've retired from doubting Derek Henry. I just expect, okay, he'll just be great again. So I think that's good. Lamar, kind of a triple chip on his shoulder.
You know, all of these quarterback rankings have been disrespecting him. And he hasn't gotten his new contract. And he had his first ever bad year last year. Unless he's just truly, you know, on the down slope, I think he bounces back. I, I don't love the teams in their division that much. I don't love Cincinnati as much as other people do. I'm probably further down on Pittsburgh than most. And the Browns are the Browns. So, all of those things, you know, go in their favor. I did like the Trey Hendrickson edition. I still think there's an outside chance they still end up trading for Max Crosby or make a mid-season edition. I think the defense will be much better than it was last year. And Lamar, over the last four years, three years, four years, has been the most reliable regular season player in the league.
Well, Josh maybe has been a little more reliable. I don't know, but Lamar has been consistently excellent last year, not withstanding. So for all those reasons, I just really like the Ravens in the regular season, which I know brings you to a follow-up question.

**Demonsay** (4:27)
So you don't believe in us and contenders in the postseason. You think there will still be limitations, but just as far as the regular season.

**Nick Wright** (4:36)
Listen, getting the number one seed is super helpful, and then you have one less playoff game. Now they've had it twice, and I haven't been able to cash in with a Super Bowl berth with it since Lamar has been there.