I bet you could accurately predict 6 of the 8 division winners today. I would also bet that if you made a list of 6 teams that could win the super bowl the winner would be on your list. I suggest this is true of most capped leagues. Which illustrates the point that the cap isn't leveling the playing field very much. The NFL is different since teams can get immediate help from the draft. So there's more hope for a team like Miami to make the playoffs but they're still unlikely to win the super bowl. I don't think you could predict 6/8 division winners today. I don't think what you're saying is correct either. I think baseball (non-cap sport you're comparing NFL, NBA, and NHL against) playoffs are just a crapshoot. Also can you imagine if the NBA didn't have a cap? LeBron would form an allstar team with all his buddies and win the league every year. Or maybe getting rid of Max salaries would limit him somewhat. The NFL is pretty predictable.... https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2015/07/31/how-accurate-are-nfl-preseason-forecasts/dMGQZkmZf6YbiJYeBwGGbI/story.html Not sure you can make those predictions TODAY, but after the draft...in the preseason...yeah, you probably could.