LaFleur coached Matt Ryan during his MVP/Super Bowl season, worked with Sean McVay in Washington and Los Angeles. Hackett got the best seasons out of Blake Bortles including the season they went to the AFC championship game, coached the Bills to 2nd in the league in rushing and his father used to coach in college/NFL, with his own coaching tree. They have an improved offensive line with RG Billy Turner who they signed, and drafting C Elgton Jenkins, that will help Rodgers stay healthy. Plus having an offensive scheme/real play calling so he doesn’t have to improvise and play hero ball which has gotten him hurt before, and with the defensive improvement they can easily win 10-12 games, but have to worry about the other two teams in their own division. The Bears still have a top defense, where LB Khalil Mack will actually play a full season, T Akiem Hicks, S Eddie Jackson, NT Eddie Goldman, LBs Leonard Floyd, and Roquan Smith, plus they added S Ha-Ha Clinton-Dix.
The only question will be in the new defensive coordinator’s Chuck Pagano’s scheme compared to Vic Vangio who left for Denver, if they will all gel like they have, with too much talent to not succeed. The difference between not making the playoffs and making them will be in the gradual improvement in the play of QB Mitchell Trubisky since he has so many weapons that head coach Matt Nagy will lineup for him, in WRs Allen Robinson, Anthony Miller, Taylor Gabriel, newly acquired returner/WR Cordarrelle Patterson who can line up anywhere, and TE Trey Burton and RB Tarik Cohen. Chicago can easily go 7-9 or 9-7 because of how the close games will go since they still haven’t really solved the kicking issues that plagued this team last year. I also think their trading one of the most productive RBs in the league in Jordan Howard away because he didn’t fit your scheme/wasn’t the best pass catcher will hurt them since they are relying heavily on rookie RB David Montgomery to replace him. The Vikings will definitely be better than the team that missed the playoffs last year since there defense is still dominating as its head coach Mike Zimmer’s forte with NT Linval Joseph, DE Everson Griffen, LB Anthony Barr, S Harrison Smith and CB Xavier Rhodes still there. The offense should be better since they will have had a full training camp/a full season with their offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski who they promoted mid-season after firing John DeFilippo due to different philosophies between Zimmer and him. They hope there will be balance in the offense and QB Kirk Cousins can take advantage of having one of the best trios of pass catchers in TE Kyle Rudolph and WRS Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen, plus RB Dalvin Cook if he can stay healthy. If Cook misses time they will not have RB Latavius Murray to be a reliable workhorse they are going to have to use RB Ameer Abdullah who the Lions dumped because he wasn’t reliable or couldn’t stay healthy.
They might again not be a balanced offense leading opposing defenses to know that the only game plan will be through the air. The thing they have on Chicago is they resigned kicker Dan Bailey who when he left Dallas he was the second most accurate kicker in NFL history (88.2%) which Chicago really needs that will ultimately decide the division race. The Lions still have one of the best QBs in football in Matthew Stafford who has many weapons in his stable like WRs Kenny Golladay, Marvin Jones, Danny Amendola who they signed who played in New England when head coach Matt Patricia was there, RBs Kerryon Johnson, CJ Anderson who they also signed and TE Jesse James who they signed away from Pittsburgh.
Their defense is slowly improving under Patricia as it’s his forte with the improvement of LB Jarrad Davis, the acquisitions of DE Trey Flowersand DT Damon Harrison, while having CB Darius Slay lead his corners. I don’t understand the hiring of Darrell Bevell as offensive coordinator since QB Russell Wilson and the Seahawks didn’t trust his scheme after the Super Bowl loss, but also Stafford was better under Jim Bob Cooter with him improving his completion percentage and cutting down on his turnovers. Detroit missed out on being good when Chicago and Minnesota had down years as they will again finish in last.
One way they can keep Wentz upright is they traded for a workhorse RB in Jordan Howard they can rely on to be a three-down back which they haven’t had since DeMarco Murray or LeSean McCoy, and they added a deep threat in bringing back WR DeSean Jackson to complement their already good receiving core of WRs Alshon Jeffrey, Nelson Agholor and TE Zach Ertz. They also have a top 10 offensive line which had two linemen voted to the Pro Bowl last year and they still have veterans Jason Peters, Lane Johnson and Jason Kelce to lead it. They also have a top five front-seven lead by DT Fletcher Cox plus Malik Jackson who they added and signed CB Ronald Darby to pair with CB Jalen Mills, safeties Rodney McLeod and Malcolm Jenkins. This team was close to going back to the Super Bowl Last year and Wentz can lead them there if he stays healthy as a MVP favorite with all this talent, plus he is the best QB in this division they can easily win 10 games or more. The Cowboys will be fighting for a playoff spot but if RB Ezekiel Elliott misses any games due to his holdout it will be an uphill battle for a wild card spot with six other teams vying for it.
QB Dak Prescott’s success has been tied to Elliot so far in his career and playing behind a good offensive line. It will be the first time the other teams will solely focus on his play as QB but it’s also Kellen Moore’s first time being offensive coordinator so the offense will probably not be as good since Prescott is a middle of pack QB who relies on his legs since he doesn’t have a great arm nor is he great at reading the field quickly so it will be his swim or sink season to decide if he gets that contract he wants. That is the reason they added WR Randall Cobb, RB Alfred Morris, resigned WR Tavon Austin and brought back TE Jason Witten out of retirement as reliable targets if he gets into trouble, since he can’t always hit a home run with WR Amari Cooper. Their defense will have to carry them since they have still have DE DeMarcus Lawrence, LBs Sean Lee, Jaylon Smith, LeightonVander Esch and CB Byron Jones. They will be lucky to get 8 wins this year so Jerry Jones should think about paying his best player Elliot or it will cost him the playoffs. Third place will be up for grabs between New York and Washington as both teams will be lucky to win four games but they both could get lucky and win 4-6 games. The Giants traded away WR Odell Beckham Jr, NT Damion Harrison, DE Olivier Vernon and let S Landon Collins leave but also drafted a QB despite sticking with QB Eli Manning. Some experts thought they would draft someone on defense to fix one of the holes they made by moving out veterans or even draft QB Dwayne Haskins but they “reached” by drafting QB Daniel Jones from Duke (not known for football) when some thought they could trade down and take a QB late in the 1st round or in the next round but did not. This season will be a mess with one of the worst offensive lines that will struggle to protect 38 year old Manning who can’t run at all and having one of the worst receiving corps with WR Golden Tate the only replacement but he has a four game suspension, and returning WR Sterling Shepard being a question because of his health.
They have a top 5 RB in Saquon Barkley but opposing defenses will solely focus on that making it a tough season ahead for Barkley to will his team to victory. They have a talented TE in Evan Engram but like Shepard also has injuries and also inconsistent. With how bad the offense will be outside of Barkley it will fall on the defense to keep them in games which only has LB Alec Ogletree and CB Janoris Jenkins to lead it since most of it is full of unproven players. The Redskins also have a horrible offensive line, a horrible receiving core despite having TE Jordan Reed but we all are surprised he is still playing football after all of those concussions and their QB play is going to be bad. They are relying on QB Case Keenum who was good surrounded by all the talent in Minnesota which helped him get a contract from Denver but they traded him once they got another veteran QB, plus they still have Colt McCoy on the roster and Alex Smith who don’t know if he will ever play QB again.
They have the same RB stable of Adrian Peterson and Chris Thompson which again isn’t that great either. With the bad skill players and offensive line they don’t want to ruin/injure rookie QB Dwayne Haskins but he will get his chance at some point, with how horrible the team will be in general so fans will be demanding head coach Jay Gruden to play him. The only positive thing about this team will be their defense as they signed S Landon Collins away from New York and still have LB Ryan Kerrigan and CB Josh Norman.
His defense is also good because they are led by DE Cam Jordan, CB Marshon Lattimore, LB Alex Anzalone and they brought in DT Malcom Brown and LB Kiko Alonso. Also, Brees does not have to worry about a shaky offensive line like lots of teams have to worry about for a veteran QB since their offensive line is ranked either #1 or #2 by most rating systems. Losing RB Mark Ingram would hurt any team but they replaced him with RB Latavius Murray who has been a starter on most teams but he just there to help out Kamara, plus they signed TE Jared Cookso they have a real threat there since Jimmy Graham was traded. The Saints will easily win 11 games/this division and compete for the championship. The Falcons will have to win at least 10 games just to make the wildcard as they are competing with 6 other teams with one of them being their divisional rival Carolina since the Saints are more balanced. QB Matt Ryan is always going to put up monster numbers since he has one of the best receivers in Julio Jones plus he has Calvin Ridley, Mohamed Sanu and a good RB in Devonta Freeman.
They also improved their offensive line by using their two first round picks on offensive linemen and they signed guards Jamon Brown and James Carpenter to help out Jake Matthews and Alex Mack. Despite the head coach Dan Quinn being the defensive coordinator there defense has lots of questions of where the production is going to come from besides from DE Vic Beasley. Unless Ryan and this offense score enough to compensate for the defense they might miss the playoffs even with a winning record of 9 or 10 wins. Also losing RB Tevin Coleman will come back to bite them if Freeman misses any time. The Panthers will again miss the playoffs as they don’t have any real weapons six feet or taller for QB Cam Newton to throw to besides TE Greg Olsen who has missed 16 games over the last two years. He has never been a consistent thrower and has erratic mechanics, plus he is coming off a surgery on his throwing shoulder which makes it even worse to be back to where you were before the injury. RB Christian McCaffreymight be an MVP candidate because he is going to be the offense for this team running the ball all the time or catching short passes from Newton, since the passing game is not going to win them games even with them signing veteran WR Chris Hogan.
They still have DE Gerald McCoy, NT Dontari Poe, LBs Shaq Thompson, Luke Kuechly and safety Eric Reid, plus they signed LB Bruce Irvin but their biggest weakness is their defensive backs. Losing C Matt Kalil to Houston will weaken their offensive line which is not going to help protect Newton. Unless their defense over performs to make up for the passing game it’s going to be hard to snag a wildcard spot because of how tough their schedule is. The Buccaneers finally decided that the promotion of Dirk Koetter from offensive coordinator to head coach was not a good idea as they fired him and lured Bruce Arians out of retirement because he is the QB whisperer. He helped Ben Roethlisberger, Andrew Luck and Carson Palmer/the backups in Arizona so they hope they can get the most of out of QB Jameis Winston as it his make or break year because he’s going to be a free agent this upcoming offseason. Their offensive line is below average, their running game is below average and their defense is ranked at the bottom of league as well, plus the only player who people have heard of is DE Ndamukong Suh. The only positive thing about this team is they have a top WR in Mike Evans, TEs OJ Howard and Cameron Brate plus they hope WR Chris Godwin takes that next step since there are targets for him with DeSean Jackson and Adam Humphries gone.
If Winston falters or gets hurt they would have to t9urn to QB Blaine Gabbert or Ryan Griffin so they will be lucky to get to five wins which might help them get a new QB in the draft next year.
NFC West: It is the Rams division to lose because they still have an explosive offense that will only get better because they get back WR Cooper Kupp who missed most of the year after tearing his ACL, RB Todd Gurleywho had knee -issues last year and WRs Brandin Cooks a top deep threat and Robert Woods. They also have a top 10 offensive line that will help keep QB Jared Goff upright to throw to his trio of weapons and help Gurley run effectively. When you have DT Aaron Donald, CBs Marcus Peters and Aqib Talibleading your defense, bringing back LB Dante Fowler, bringing in LB Clay Matthews and safety Eric Weddle your also have a chance to also have a top defense under Wade Phillips.
Head coach Sean McVay also is lucky to have a top kicker in Greg Zuerlein and punter Johnny Hekker that with the explosive offense/improving defense.I think the guy is smart enough to figure out what he did wrong in the Super Bowl because they have one of the best chances to win it all. They can easily win 12 games and secure the top seed in the NFC. The Seahawks will always be up for a wild card spot because they have QB Russell Wilson a top QB in this league, who can will his team to a 9-7 record with his legs and his arm. The will rely heavily on the rushing attack since they don’t have the a great receiving core with Doug Baldwin retiring, so RBs Chris Carson, and Rashaad Pennyneed to stay healthy to help out Wilson so he isn’t the leading rusher in multiple games.
Also, they will still have to rely on their offense because their defense isn’t the level of “Legion of Boom” nor has been for years outside of LB Bobby Wagner and have solid contributors from The Griffin brothers and LB KJ Wright plus they traded for DE Jadeveon Clowney. They also finally have a good kicker by signing Jason Myers away from the Jets which they haven’t had since Steven Hauschka left them for Buffalo. It is going to be hard to secure a wild card spot with six other teams fighting with them for it including their rival San Francisco as they all will be bunched between 7-9 and 9-7 this year.The 49ers are hoping this year will go better than last year since both their starting QB Jimmy Garoppolo and RB Jerick McKinnon were lost for the year due to season ending injuries so they turned to undrafted players RB Matt Breida and QB Nick Mullens plus 3rdrounder QB CJ Beathard. With Garoppolo they hope he is the missing key to this team since they already have a top 5 TE in George Kittle and top 10 front-seven in drafting Nick Bosa and trading for Dee Ford to help out DeForest Buckner.
They also signed Tevin Coleman as insurance to McKinnon and Brieda. Garoppolo will have to make magic out of his weak receiver corps that lost Pierre Garcon as the only notable receiver so Kittle will get plenty of targets. Outside of CB Richard Sherman they have one of the worst set of defensive backs in the league. They are healthier this year and the league is mostly about who has the better QB which they can say they have but with a blow average offensive line, a weak receiving corps and one of the worst rated group of DBs it’s going to be hard to secure a playoff spot in a division with two playoff caliber teams and six teams fighting for a wild card spot. They could finish 7-9 or 9-7 but it’s all on Jimmy. The Cardinals started all over after only one season of head. Coach Steve Wilks and QB Josh Rosen who was a first round pick are both gone and they installed college coach Kliff Kingsbury and drafted QB Kyler Murray 1st overall in the draft. They are also going without an offensive coordinator on top of having one of the worst offensive lines which doesn’t help a rookie QB who is not a drop back QB/under six feet tall so they are going to have to rely on RB David Johnson to be the focal point of this offense. The issue with Johnson is he hasn’t always been healthy plus their best receivers are not number ones at this stage in their respective careers for future hall of famer Larry Fitzgerald and Michael Crabtree.
They also hired Vance Joseph to help Kingsbury because of his head coaching experience but also he runs the same defense they ran under Todd Bowles when they were a top defense but it’s a work in progress. Their best defensive player CB Patrick Peterson will miss the first six games due to a suspension but at least they brought in LB Terrell Suggs in to help Chandler Jones, but Joseph/Kingsbury will still have their work cut out for them as both sides of the field are starting over so they will be lucky to win three games this year.
Their offensive line is also ranked as top three by most rankings plus they have a top front-seven because of NT Javon Hargrave, DT Cameron Heyward, DE Stephon Tuitt, LBS TJ Watt, and Bud Dupree. Plus, they still have CB Joe Haden leading the DBs. They did add WR Donte Moncrief to be their 2nd WR and have an ascending TE in Vance McDonald to help fill the void Brown left. The key is their final seven games are against teams like the Jets, Bills, Cardinals, Bengals, plus two games VS the Browns and one VS the Ravens, where they control their own destiny to win the division by winning 5 or 6 of those games to seal 10 or 11 victories and the division. The Browns are the team on the rise that everyone is picking for the division and they can win 10 games easily because of their schedule against 6 or 7 bad teams plus their divisional rival Bengals twice. They finally have a franchise QB in Baker Mayfield who is supported by having three good WRs in Jarvis Landry, Antonino Callaway and they traded for Landry’s buddy in Odell Beckham JR. You also can’t forget TE David Njoku and RB Nick Chubb as both proved they can be starters in this league plus when RB Kareem Hunt comes back from his suspension they could have two top 10 RBs.
The defense can also be scary because they have DE Myles Garrett, they signed DT Sheldon Richardson and they also acquired in the Beckham trade, DE Olivier Vernon, which makes them a top 10 front-seven. Plus, they still have CB Denzel Ward leading the DBs. The thing that might hold them back is the league has tape on Mayfield as some players deal with sophomore slumps so he is going to have to adjust, which is why they hired Freddie Kitchens because he got along with him but also was part of the success when Kitchens got promoted to offensive coordinator. Also, Kitchens might get out coached by more experienced coaches like Tomlin and John Harbaugh since before he got the OC job he was the RB coach so they might make the difference in 10 or 9 games.The Ravens got lucky when QB Joe Flacco was declining/wasn’t healthy that they had a 1st round rookie QB who took them to the playoffs last year in Lamar Jackson. When you look closely they had a good offensive line which is the same for this year but their defense was one of the best last year, which isn’t true this year because they lost four key defensive players in their front-seven. They did sign Mark Ingram to be their RB but he hasn’t been a starter in a few years plus their receiving core is ranked towards the bottom of the league because Willie Snead is the only one you have heard of.
The hope is they had a full offseason to work on their offensive game plan with new offensive coordinator Greg Roman(who worked with Colin Kaepernick) to help Harbaugh and Jackson take the next step in Jackson’s development, because they changed their offense on the fly to accommodate Jackson’s strengths. They still have a top group of DBs in CBs Brandon Carr, Jimmy Smith, and Marlon Humphreybut also signed Earl Thomas to help Tony Jefferson at safety. With the improvements to Cleveland it will be an uphill battle for a wild card spot even if Baltimore can win 9 games based on their schedule because they don’t have the best QB in the division. The Bengals now will be a last place team for a while because the Browns are no longer a bottom feeder plus they finally fired long time coach Marvin Lewis and replaced him with 36 year old Zac Taylorwho was the Rams QB coach last year signaling a rebuild/reboot. They no longer have the defense that could support QB Andy Dalton to the playoffs and their offensive line is one of the worst in the league. His only help is WR AJ Greenwho is going to miss games this year because of an injury in training so teams will double team WR Tyler Boyd.
So don’t expect much production in the receiving game and with the bad offensive line it’s going to be hard for top 10 RB Joe Mixon to succeed as teams will only game plan to stop him. Dalton is still a middle of the pack QB who is good enough when you have the offensive line, the defense and the skill players around him but he doesn’t have that so they will be lucky to win 4 games. They should look into trading him to a team that needs a veteran QB because this rebuild is going to take a while and at least two teams have young up and coming QBs who will be around for a while.
TE Rob Gronkowski retired but they won a Super Bowl without him before and they can always get six wins just from sweeping their division which has inferior teams/QBs. Their offensive skill players aren’t as dominating as other teams but they have three good RBS in James White who catches passes, Sony Michel who will be the primary runner out of the backfield, and Rex Burkhead being used all over, plus they have WR Julian Edelman hopefully for a full season. They did also bring veterans in TE Ben Watson, WR Demaryius Thomas and WR Josh Gordon got reinstated as to help get targets with Gronk gone. What also helps Brady and his offense is they have a top 5 offensive line ranked by most sites and their defensive backs are top 5 as well. They have safeties Devin McCourty, Patrick Chung, CBs Jason McCourty, Stephon Gilmore and JC Jackson. Not to mention LBs Kyle Van Noy and Donte Hightower plus they acquired DE Michael Bennett. They are too talented and led by the best QB/HC combo to not win at least 12 games but could win 14 too. The Jets by default will be the 2nd place team due to their improved talent and Miami purposely trying to lose. With the hiring of Adam Gase as head coach it will help QB Sam Darnold progress and improve since last year he was one the youngest players, so having a full offseason with Gase and his offense will make Darnold better. They also gave him a top RB who can also catch passes in Le’Veon Bell which helps a QB grow if he gets into trouble he can rely on him.
Plus they added Ty Montgomery who is a hybrid RB/WR and Jamison Crowder to help out Robby Anderson, giving Darnold good skill players. Also, by getting C Ryan Kalil out of retirement it will help this offensive line that improved with the trade of Kelechi Osemele to keep Darnold healthy. The defense also improved with them drafting DL Quinnen Williams with the 3rd pick to help out DL Leonard Williams, but signing LB CJ Mosley helps them out with veteran leadership on defense. They certainly improved in many areas but they will probably finish with 6 or 7 wins due to their schedule. The Bills will be in year two with QB Josh Allen and year three with Sean McDermott which means they have a direction for this team unlike Miami which is why they will finish in 3rdplace, but having a bad offensive line with a QB coming off his rookie year where he is trying to improve doesn’t help. Nor does having a below average receiving corps help Allen improve his passing game because he can sure run with the best of them at QB. When you sign WRs Cole Beasley, John Brown and Andre Roberts, TE Tyler Croft and RB TJ Yeldon to multi year deals you’re really reaching at the skill player barrel. It was a good move to bring in RB Frank Gore because he can help carry the load with rookie RB Devin Singletary, but also brings a veteran presence to the offensive side of the locker room that the team didn’t really have which helps Allen grow.
They still have safety Micah Hyde and LB Lorenzo Alexander leading the defense but it is still improving so they are going in the right direction under Leslie Frazier, but like the offense the whole team is still a work in progress so they might win 6 games, but 4 is more likely. The Dolphins looked like they were going to tank for the 1st pick in the draft with getting a new head coach in Brian Flores who specializes in defense after calling plays for the Patriots, and signing Ryan Fitzpatrick to start the season, plus they moved on from Ryan Tannehill by trading him to Tennessee. They changed course and traded for QB Josh Rosen who became an afterthought after Arizona drafted Murray. They have one of the worst offensive lines, a below average set of skill players despite having WR DeVante Parker, RB Kenyan Drake and have one of the worst ranked front-sevens in football. Outside of S Minkah Fitzpatrick and CB Xavien Howard on defense it’s going to be a full rebuild of the defense for Flores, so Allen is not going to get support from his defense too.
They are all over the place with questions are they tanking by being ranked at the bottom for everything and having a veteran QB placeholder to get the #1 pick, or are they rebuilding with a young QB in Allen with a new head coach and building the defense up from the bottom? They will be lucky to win 3 games this year.
The defense will again be good with a healthy DE JJ Watt and LB Whitney Mercilus leading the front-seven but is weakened by the Jadeveon Clowney trade. Their DB’s are weak outside of CB Jonathan Joseph and free agent signing CB Bradley Roby. They can win 9 or 10 games and will be enough with the Colts losing QB Andrew Luck to retirement. The Titans emerge as the 2ndplace team because of Luck but also because of their schedule that can get them 7 or 8 wins. They don’t know who their QB is because as talented as Marcus Mariota is he can’t stay healthy and they traded for QB Ryan Tannehill, who also never could stay healthy in Miami.
Also, they hired a new offensive coordinator for the 3rd straight year and he wants to play with two TEs but Delanie Walker can’t stay healthy and their best skill players are WRs Adam Humphries, rookie AJ Brown and Corey Davis, which means situations that Mariota struggles in for long periods of time. So the below average offensive line, the weak skill players, offensive scheme not suited to him, and his own health issues, it will have to be about the defense that keeps them in wild card contention. They have a top 3 group of DB’s in CBs Malcolm Butler, Logan Ryan safeties Kevin Byard, Kenny Vaccaroand they signed LB Cameron Wake to join LBs Rashaan Evans and Jayon Brown. . The Colts will still be a good team despite QB Andrew Luck’s surprising retirement because QB Jacoby Brissett was serviceable when Luck has been out and when Tom Brady was out in New England. They have one of the best offensive lines in football because they actually committed to building it the last few seasons in drafting linemen the last few seasons with high round picks to protect Luck after not doing it before, and have a starting RB in Marlon Mack which also helps a QB. Brissett also has WR TY Hilton, TE Eric Ebron, and a healthy Jack Doyle at TE, and they signed WR Devin Funchess to be their #2 WR after he was relied on to be the leading receiver in Carolina.
Their defense also has been improving over the last few seasons especially last year in the final 10 weeks when they allowed the fewest points. Defensive rookie of the year Darius Leonard leads this defense with CB Kenny Moore plus they used their 2nd round pick on DE Ben Bangou and brought in veteran DE Justin Houston to provide veteran leadership. They can win 7 or 8 games because of how talented and deep this roster despite not having Luck as QB. The Jaguars will again be a last place team despite finally moving on from QB Blake Bortles and signing QB Nick Foles, because he can only do so much with one of the worst ranked receiving corps in all of football. They hired John DeFilippo because he worked with Foles, but it’s going to be the same result as last year in Minnesota because he was fired for not wanting to run the ball despite having Cook at RB because of a bad offensive line.
Here he has a better offensive line with a good RB in Leonard Fournette and this team has no receivers which Minnesota had. Doug Marrone and Tom Coughlin want to run the ball as much as possible even with Foles so the hiring makes no sense. Despite having a great defense with CBs Jalen Ramsey, AJ Bouye and DE Calais Campbell plus 1stround pick DE Josh Allen they can have a top 10 front-seven and top 10 DB core, but that will not stop them from being inept on offense, so 3 or 4 wins is their ceiling.
The offensive line has one of the more consistent ones with two top tackles in pro-bowler Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz. They let defensive leaders Justin Houston and Eric Berry go but brought in safety Tyrann Mathieu and DE Frank Clark to help this defense take small steps to improve. With the offense scoring 30 points in most instances last year their defense doesn’t have to be as good as it used to be it just has to not be a liability. The issue might be their running game. Some are not sold on Damien Williams so they signed LeSean McCoy so teams just don’t game plan for the passing attack. They can win 11 or 12 games like New England and win this division easily. The Chargers are one of the most talented teams in all of football but play in the same division as Kansas City so they have to win the wild card with double digit wins. They still have QB Philip Rivers playing at a high level and have WRs Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Travis Benjamin, and a healthy TE Hunter Henry in the receiving corps, plus they have a C Mike Pouncey leading a reliable offensive line.
The defense could potentially have a top 10 front-seven and a top 10 core of DBs by having DEs Joey Bosa, Melvin Ingram and NT Brandon Mebane with LB Thomas Davis, CB Casey Hayward, and one of the most talented safeties in all of football in Derwin James. The issue might be not having starting RB Melvin Gordon who is holding out but he only played 12 games last year due to injuries and Austin Ekeler/Justin Jackson filled in nicely last year. They will easily win 9 games but the question will be can they get to the 10 or 11 wins to secure a wild card, so hopefully Gordon comes back mid-season to push them over the top. The Broncos are starting another new QB this time 36 year old Joe Flacco the 5th QB since Peyton Manning retired (Brock Osweiler, Paxton Lynch, Trevor Siemian and Case Keenum) and fired one defensive coordinator turned head coach for another who is 15 years older without head coaching experience in Vic Fangio. It looks like John Elway thinks they can contend with this defense that still has LBS Von Miller, Bradley Chubb, DE Derek Wolfe and CB Chris Harris. They also have a good RB tandem of Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman plus Theo Riddick with WR Emmanuel Sanders, but tandems don’t make you stand out especially if your offensive line is below average or bad. Flacco is a declining QB behind this bad offensive line and below average skill players, plus the head coach not knowing anything about offense. It’s going to be hard for this team to rely on the defense only to win games.
Their ceiling will be 7 wins maybe even 8, but they should trade Flacco to a team that needs a QB or Sanders because they really aren’t going anywhere. The Raiders again will be a last place that will be entertaining because of the personalities they have which is why they are on HBO’s Hard Knocks. They have John Gruden in year 2 of his 10 year deal as head coach who is more of a TV personality, who hired NFL Network’s Mike Mayock to be the GM. He also brought in WR Antonio Brown, OL Richie Incognito, and LB Vontaze Burfict who has issues with Brown before so it could all blow up on Gruden. They quietly did improve from last year by signing WRs Tyrell Williams, JJ Nelson, RT Trent Brown, drafting RB Josh Jacobs/DE Cellin Ferrell, and safety Lamarcus Joyner. It will help QB Derek Carr to have two WRs in Brown and Williams but he had Crabtree & Cooper before, the real hope is rookie RB Jacobs which gives him a good RB to help him out.
Carr will have to carry his team because the defense is ranked towards the bottom and have the worst front-seven and bottom tier group of DBs, but realistically they will be lucky to win 4 games, so say goodbye to the Raiders, Oakland- it’s going to be a bumpy season, but say hello to the Raiders, Las Vegas.