2018-2019 NFL Preview:
NFC North: The
Packers will again be on top of this
division with a healthy Aaron Rodgers.
When you have a top 5 QB it hides the deficiencies
your team may have like a weak offensive line or a bad defense. Letting go of
Rodger’s favorite WR Jordy Nelson is a head scratcher but it kind of gets
canceled out by adding All-Pro TE Jimmy Graham, who is probably the best TE
they ever had, even better than Jermichael Finley. They helped out LB Clay Matthews by giving him help on defense in All-Pro DE Muhammad Wilkerson.
Rodgers, Graham, WR Randal Cobb and their stable of RBS will help them have an
elite offense to win this division. The Vikings
still have the most talented overall roster but they have a new QB, new
offensive coordinator, and they promoted their TE coach to become Co-Offensive
Line coach after the death of Tony Soprano.
Their starting RB Dalvin Cook is coming off a torn ACL so they will be
easing him in as they have a new offense system. Even if they upgraded at QB in
Kirk Cousins it will take time for the whole offense to get a feel for the
system and the new QB. But they have talented WRs Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs
plus TE Kyle Rudolph which is probably the best set of skill players Cousins
has ever had. They even added DT Sheldon Richardson a Pro Bowler to the 5 Pro
Bowler players they already have on defense.
They definitely will make the
playoffs but it will not be as easy as it was last year when Rodgers was
injured. The Lions will always be a
competitive team since they have one of the best QBs in Matthew Stafford and a
talented offense with WRs Golden Tate and Marvin Jones Jr. They even added RB
LeGarrette Blount to their stable of RBs so they have a lead back and can let RB Theo Riddick do his pass catching game.
Even with an improved offense they will
always blow it in the end since they are a cursed franchise with no Super Bowl
appearances. They even had 9-7 record last year didn’t have to deal with the
Packers and still did not make the playoffs, but they will be hovering around
.500 with a 3rd place finish. They have the Bears who will be a last place team again even with the new
offensive head coach. Chicago should only be worried about overall improvement
from the offense and QB Mitchell Trubisky in year two, not their record. They
improved with their skill players so RBs Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen don’t
have to do it all themselves.
They added WRs Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel
and TE Trey Burton. They had too many
games of him barely throwing the ball and games with 1 TD being cancelled out
by an interception. New coach Matt Nagy hopefully can come up with a better
playbook to help grow Trubisky, so he can take advantage of his new weapons and
give him more confidence in throwing the ball/taking chances. There is nothing
to lose. Their strength again will be this defense led by LB Leonard Floyd and
DE Akeim Hicks which will be improved by the addition of rookie LB Roquan Smithplus they traded for LB Khalil Mack so he will make them way better on defense
since he’s one of the two best defensive players in the league. This move will
help them this year but its more about next year and beyond. The defense now
does not have to hold the offense to less than 20 if the offense makes
improvements under Nagy.
NFC East:
It will be the Eagles division again
this year since most of the team has come back and will get a full season from
RB Jay Ajayi/a healthy season from LT Jason Peters, and QB Carson Wentz who both
missed most of the season.
They can start Super Bowl MVP QB Nick Foles till
Wentz is fully healthy and still be good a top team. They have the best
offensive line, a good stable for RBs that only get better with RB Darren Sproles back and healthy with their good receiving core of Alshon Jeffery,
Nelson Agholor and Mike Wallace as their #3 receiver replacing Torrey Smith.
They also still have one of the best defenses in football lead by S Malcom Jenkins, CB Jalen Mills and DT Fletcher Cox. They even added DEs Michael Bennett and Haloti Ngata to their line that still has DE Chris Long. Super Bowl
repeat or bust for this team and they are one of the few defending champions
who actually have a real shot since they still have the same team and a
weakened conference with only three or four real threats. The Giants will surprise some teams this year
since they have got a new head coach in Pat Shumar, they drafted RB Saquon Barkley who can be their best RB since Tiki Barber and improved their offense
line with LT Nate Solder. They won 11 games two years ago with mostly the same
core but last year had injuries to most of their WRs like Odell Beckham Jr,
their offensive line did not protect QB Eli Manning and they gave up on their
head coach.
Having a new environment under Shumar, an improved offensive line,
healthy WRs in OBJ, Sterling Shepardand TE Evan Engram who broke many Giants
rookie record/NFL records last year in year two he will help Manning succeed this
year unlike last year. The other reason is they have some amazing players on
defense in SS Landon Collins, CB Janoris Jenkins, CB Eli Apple, LB Olivier Vernon, LB Alex Ogletree and NT Damon Harrison. They will be fighting with the Cowboys for 2nd place and
wildcard with other 2nd place teams like Minnesota, Carolina and
Atlanta. Dallas still has a top
offensive line, a top 5 RB and a good QB to guide them to being a good offense
but the question is will they be a playoff team with five other good but not
great teams fighting for wild card spots. The defense will be a huge question
and is QB Dak Prescott capable of leading a team to the playoffs even if he has
RB Ezekiel Elliot. The real issue is can he as QB win you games or not.
They
also only had one WR last year of impact in Dez Byrant but they let him go so
who will be that go to guy for Prescott now that TE Jason Witten is also gone
after retiring? Will it be former Jaguar Allen Hurns or former Rams Tavon Austin who is more of RB then a WR. The defense will be what holds them back
from being a playoff team. Washington
no longer has QB Kirk Cousins enter in Alex Smith who is better at making
decisions and doesn’t turn the ball over as much. Their best offensive player
never can stay healthy with concussions and other major injuries. This means
you cannot rely on TE Jordan Reed so this team should be a run first team. They
have four good running backs with Chris Thompson the pass catcher, Fat Rob Kelley and Samaje Perine both looking good last year and they signed future Hall
of Famer Adrian Peterson. They will be a last team for awhile since their team
isn’t that talented, their defense isn’t that great outside of CB Josh Norman
who talks more than makes big plays.
This is a make or break year for head
coach Jay Gruden but I doubt they will be better than a 3 win team as they got
Alex Smith to manage the team as he is towards the back end of his career, and
no real promising future for this team as the other three teams have franchise
QBs or RBs. Don’t feel sad for Gruden he will probably end up coaching for his
brother Jon in Las Vegas next season.
NFC West:
The Rams will rule over this division
for awhile as the Cardinals and Seahawks are on the decline and the 49ers
aren’t there just yet. Another year of QB Jared Goff, RB Todd Gurley and WR
Copper Kupp under head coach Sean McVay can only getting scarier for defenses
since they also added Brandin Cooks, a great WR.
They also added 3 All-Pro
players to help DT Aaron Donald by adding NT Ndamukong Suh, CB Marcus Peters and CB Aqib Talib to Wade Phillips’ defense. Plus, they have one of the best
kickers in the league in Greg Zuerlein aka Legatron which makes them complete
on all sides of the ball and are the only real threat to stopping the Eagles
from going back to the Super Bowl. The 49ers
will be the 2nd best team in this division after going 5-0 once they
put in QB Jimmy Garoppolo as the starter last year. In a full season a QB with his talents can
elevate a team to a better record despite the team around him since he won all
of their games last year.
They have a pair of good WRs in Pierre Garcon and
Marquis Goodwin, RB Alfred Morris will be the lead back and they have kicker
Robbie Gould. The only thing that will
hold them back will be how good their defense can be and if CB Richard Shermanhas anything left after rupturing his Achilles last season. The Seahawks will again miss the playoffs
this year and their fans should know this now instead of towards the end of the
season. QB Russell Wilson is a great QB but only he can do so much if his
offensive line is still bad and has no run game.
He only has one reliable
weapon in WR Doug Baldwin after losing TE Jimmy Graham in free agency which
means double teams galore for Baldwin. They are no longer the legion of boom with
Sherman, Michael Bennett, Kam Chancellor and Jeremy Lane gone with only BC Byron Maxell and LB Bobby Wagner left. They can be competitive because of Wilson but
that’s it. The Cardinals are in that
in between period of they can be competitive with their veteran QB Sam Bradford
or they can turn the keys over their first round draft pick QB Josh Rosen and
start over with their new head coach Steve Wilks, which is a full rebuild. They
always will have a talented team since they have good players on both side of
the ball like WR Larry Fitzgerald, RB David Johnson who is hoping to prove he
is healthy after missing the season on offense, and on defense CB Patrick Peterson and DE Chandler Jones.
Even if they don’t go all in on a rebuild they
will be a last place for awhile as they will still have an uphill battle in
this division as all three teams ahead of them have franchise QBs already in
place.
NFC South:
This will be another three team race since they all have great QBs in Drew Brees, Matt Ryan and Cam Newton. The Saints have the best QB, pair of RBs and
WRS than the other teams when you have future Hall of Famer Drew Brees, Alvin Kamara coming off his impressive rookie year and Mark Ingram who can be a lead
RB on any team (yes he is suspended for the first four games) and Michael Thomas, Ted Ginn Jr and Cameron Meredith who will have a real QB throwing it to
him.
Plus, they have the best coach in the division in Sean Payton with good
defensive players in DE Cameron Jordan, LB Manti Te’o and CB Marshon Lattimore.
The Falcons will still be a wildcard
contender but outside of WR Julio Jones who else is head and shoulders above anyone
on the Saints? Ryan is a good QB but most people like me think he is middle of
the pack that only got paid since he has been consistent and they had no better
options.
They have talented RBS in Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman but not
better then Ingram and Kamara and they have a good young core on defense led by
DE Vic Beasley and CB Desmond Trufant. But it is very hard to get back to the
Super Bowl ask the Bills they went 3 times and never won so when you’re there
you need to win and they did not. They will be fighting with 5 other teams
including the Panthers for a wild
card spot so it will not be an easy road this year for Atlanta. Carolina still
has Newton, RB Christian McCaffrey coming off a good rookie year, WR Devin Funchess and TE Greg Olsen hopefully healthy for a full year. They even added WR Torrey Smith who is coming off Super Bowl championship and RB CJ Anderson to
the offense.
Their defense is still anchored by LB Luke Kuechly but the
question is can he stay healthy and they will be without their other LB Thomas Davis for six games after he got suspended. DE Julius Peppers is going to the
Hall of Fame but is 38 and doesn’t play every down which is why they got Pro
Bowler DT Dontari Poe. Their defense is old and injury prone compared to the
young defenses of Atlanta and New Orleans which means again it will be on Newton
to lead this team if they want to make the playoffs, With Norm Turner an
offensive whiz, Newton and his offense will be better this year. You never know
the Falcons always blow it somehow so maybe Carolina can take that wild card
spot from them. The Buccaneers will
continue to be a last place team since they had the 4th best QB
& coach in this division but what makes matters worse is QB Jameis Winston will be suspended for 3 games for his latest run in with the law. They will
definitely go 0-3 during that stretch and will be lucky to win 5 games total
most likely 3 based on their schedule with the shape their team is in. It is
one thing if you have a talented player on defense or an offensive lineman who
has run-ins with the law, but not your franchise QB as he is supposed to be a
leader and he can’t lead if he is suspended which shows no maturity. They are
men and are supposed to be led by another man and I am unsure if his team
actually can follow him and consider him a leader. The idea of hiring Dirk
Koetter to be the head coach so you did not lose him to another team and firing
Lovie Smith has not worked out, since Winston hasn’t even with his talents
grown every year as a QB which is what you wanted from Koetter rather than
Smith who is all about defense. He might
be fired or left in this mess of a team in last place for the next few years
even if they have talented skill players in WRs Mike Evans, DeSean Jackson, and
TEs OJ Howard, Cameron Brate.
QB Ryan Fitzpartrick isn’t a great alternative to
Winston even if the defense has talented players to keep you in game like DT
Gerald McCoy, LB Lavonte David, CB Brent Grimes and they traded for DE Jason Pierre-Paul. This season will be a mess even if Winston was not suspended since
he hasn’t developed the way he should have.
AFC North:
This will be another easy year for the Steelers
as the rest of the division is no threat to them. When you have the best
combination of a QB, RB and WR in the whole league you’re going to score a lot
and win many games. Ben Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown are the
best you get for top offenses, and they even have JuJu Smith-Schuster who was
great last year try stopping them.
Their defense is not as good as the past
defenses of those Super Bowl teams but have some good players on it though in
CB Joe Haden and DE Cameron Heyward. Their defense will be the thing that holds
them back from winning in the playoffs even if they have a playoff bye, as they
lost to the Jaguars last year. It will be a tossup on who finishes 2nd
since both teams have veteran QBS and veteran coaches. The Ravens did win 9 games last year but missed out on the playoffs,
and QB Joe Flacco only had WR Mike Wallace to throw to.
They improved their
receiving core by getting Willie Snead, Michael Crabtree and John Brown, which
will help the run game since RB Alex Collins was great last year but teams knew
they were going to him as much as possible. They also have a similar defense to
Pittsburgh but they no longer have Hall of Famers like their Super Bowl team
did but they still have LBs Terrell Suggs, CJ Mosley and FS Eric Weddle to
scare other teams. Baltimore will be again fighting with Cincinnati for 2nd
place and a wild card spot. The Bengals
will again be competitive based on having QB Andy Dalton throwing to WR AJ Green, TE Tyler Eifert who they hope is healthy, and RB Joe Mixon in year two.
They
still have some good players like DT Geno Atkins and DE Carlos Dunlap on their
defensive line, but like the two teams ahead of them it will be based on their
QB play and offense that will lead them to the playoffs. One thing you can say
the Browns did make improvements to
their team by adding QB Tyrod Taylor to start the year and drafting their
future QB in Baker Mayfield which has been their biggest issue. They also added
WR Jarvis Landry and RB Carlos Hyde giving them more skill players so WR Josh Gordon doesn’t have to do it by himself. Todd Haley is to be their offensive
coordinator.
They have a good young defensive core with DE Myles Garrett and SS Jabrill Peppers, plus they drafted CB Denzel Ward not to mention adding veteran
LB Jaime Collins. These improvements at QB, WR, RB and adding to their defense
makes them better but they still are going to be a last place team till Big
Ben, Flacco and Dalton are no longer in this division. They are going in the
right direction but maybe 5 wins is attainable this year if they spilt with
Baltimore and Cincinnati.
AFC East:
The Patriots again will get a first round bye and be in the Super Bowl again as
it does not matter that they lost last year in the Super Bowl or that they lost some key players
in the off-season. As long as you have QB Tom Brady and head Coach Bill
Bellicheck you can’t tell me any other team in the AFC is going to challenge
for the Super Bowl since the conference is weaker than the NFC.
WRs Brandin
Cooks traded, Danny Amenolda left in free agency, and Julian Edelmen who missed
all of last year will miss the first four games to a suspension (who they
clearly did not need as you see how far they went). RB Dion Lewis and CB
Malcolm Butler left for the Titans. Like last year even without key players on
offense they still won games plus they get back a healthy WR Chris Hogan, added WR Cordarrelle Patterson and RB Jeremy Hill. Those additions plus
having TE Rob Gronkowski, RBs James White and Rex Burkhead, things for Brady
will not be a problem with all of these weapons. Since Bellicheck’s strength is
defense they handle the loss of Butler since they have S Devin McCourty, LBs
Kyle Van Noy and Dont’a Hightower on defense still. They will keep having lots
of win since they are going to sweep at least two of their division rivals who
will go with rookies at some point this year at QB. The team that will finish 2nd
and could split the series with New England is Miami since they already have a
veteran QB in Ryan Tannehill, but he is coming off a torn ACL so expectations
should be minimal. The Dolphins will be competitive since they have WRs DeVanteParker, Kenny Stills and added Danny Amendola, plus have RBs Kenyan Drake with
veteran Frank Gore. Tannehhill is fortunate to come back to good skill players
unlike other teams where it’s all on the QB.
They also still have a good enough
defense thanks to LB Kiko Alonso and DE Cameron Wake but they lost NT Ndamukong
Suh, but if anything happens to Tannehill, they can have another doomed season
since Brock Osweiler is one of the options to fill in. The Bills and Jets are in the
same position in drafting a QB in this year’s draft and when or not will they
play their rookie QB. The difference is the Jets resigned QB Josh McCown and
brought in QB Teddy Bridgewater(traded to New Orleans) while Buffalo brought in
QB AJ McCarron(traded to Raiders) but have QB Nate Peterman, Mr. 5 interceptions
in one-half-guy. So the Jets can afford to sit QB Sam Darnold since they have 2
veteran options at QB while Buffalo’s QB situation is not looking so good so
they could play Josh Allen sooner than later. But both teams have good skill
players that could make it easier on the rookie QBS. The Jets have four good
WRs in Robby Anderson, Jermaine Kearse, Quincy Enunwa and brought in Terrelle Pryor. Plus they added RB Isaiah Crowell to add to having
Bilal Powell.
The Bills still have RB LeSean McCoy, WR Kelvin Benjamin, and TE
Charles Clay but also added RB Chris Ivory to the mix. These two teams will be
fighting for last place but Buffalo has some better players on defense in SS Micah Hyde, CB Vontae Davis, LB Lorenzo Alexander and DT Kyle Williams compared
to the Jets who have no Pro-Bowl or All-Pro players on defense this year.
Allen
will start more games than Darnold since the Bills will need help at QB more
than the Jets do, leaving the Bills to finish in last place.
AFC West:
The Chargers will win the division
this year based on having a complete team that has a good QB, RB, WRs and a
great defense. QB Phillip Rivers is still a top 10 QB and is battle tested in a
division of non battle tested QBs.
He has a good group of receivers like Keenan Allen, Travis Benjamin and Tyrell Williams plus they have a top 10 RB in Melvin Gordon/added Mike Pouncey to protect Rivers. Their great defense is led by DE Melvin Ingram, CB Casey Hayward and DE Joey Bosa. San Diego has a tendency to
not show up in the 2nd half but this team is different since they
have a different head coach from when they kept blowing games to miss the
playoffs or in the actual playoffs. With Rivers leading them they can win this
division since Kansas City traded away QB Alex Smith in order to start QB
Patrick Mahomes. This will be his first year starting games for the Chiefs so there will be growing pains
for him and head Coach Andy Reid. I am not counting them out of the playoffs
this year they will definitely compete for a wild card spot based on the
strength of their defense and skill players. Any time you have RB Kareem Hunt,
TE Travis Kelce and WRs Tyreek Hill and Sammy Watkins who they added this
offseason you can set your QB up for success.
Their defense is still led by S
Eric Berry and LB Justin Houston so they will compete for the division but end
up with a wild card spot. The Broncos still have a great defense and good skill
players but again they are going to waste another year because of their QB
play. QB Case Keenum is better than Brock Osweiler, Trevor Siemian and Paxton
Lynch but he only looked good because the Vikings had a great defense,
offensive line and skill players that made him look good. He is a backup for a
reason well he was the 3rd sting QB so the Broncos are fooled by his
one good year and will miss the playoffs again. WRs Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders plus RB Devontae Booker that will help Keenum again on offense but
will it be enough points when the defense is trying to hold teams to under 20
for Keenum.
LBs Von Miller, Brandon Marshall, rookie Bradley Chubb, CBs Bradley Roby, Chris Harris, and DE Derek Wolfe again wills this team to victory
because of how good this defensive unit is. The Raiders have the most talented QB in his prime in the division who
has unfortunately been hurt or had Jack Del Rio as his head coach whose
specialty is defense. Enter Jon Gruden who is back coaching after all the
rumors of which team would convince him to leave the MNF booth and is back with
the Raiders. He is a QB guru who will help QB Derek Carr but the rest of the
team is not so easy to fix.
The defense is a mess they were the 10th
worst defense in total yards given up last year. For the skill players they let
WR Michael Crabtree walk and think by getting an older WR in Jordy Nelson is
the way to replace him which means its all on WR Amari Cooper. Plus RB Marshawn Lynch is another
year older with more mileage then most RBs plus signed an injury/been suspended
for drugs RB in Doug Martin, which means they have no lead RB. Good luck to
Gruden to fix this mess while they finish in last place.
AFC South:
The Texans will be fighting with the Colts for first place since both teams
now have their franchise QBs back in Andrew Luck and Deshaun Watson. The way
Watson played for Houston last year before tearing his ACL was nuts especially
since WR DeAndre Hopkins actually had a competent QB throwing it to him. He
also will still have Will Fuller to throw passes too and RB Lamar Miller as
protection.
His defense is still great with DE JJ Watt hopefully back and
healthy with LBs Jadeveon Clowney, Whitney Mercilus, CB Jonathan Joseph and
they added the safety “Honey Badger” Tyrann Mathieu to their defense making it
even better. Indianapolis might have Luck back but their offense line, defense
and running game is not on the same level as Houston. Yes Luck can mask the deficiencies
of a team like he did the three times he took his team to the playoffs but he
has not thrown a pass in a real game since 2016. So he has to play at an elite
level for this team to win the division or make a wild card spot, meaning this
division is again up for grabs.
They lost RB Frank Gore but only added another
TE in Eric Ebron not much help for WR TY Hilton who will still get double
teamed since everyone knows Luck will be looking to pass to him. Looks like the
ageless wonder K Adam Vinatieri will have to kick a lot more field goals this
year. The Jaguars surprised everyone
last year by making the playoffs, won their division and beat the Steelers in
the playoffs before losing to the Patriots in the AFC Championship game. Like
last year it will all be about their incredible defense and just running RB
Leonard Fournette like ever play since you do not want QB Blake Bortles throwing
it a lot plus he lost his two best WRs in Allen Hurns and Allen Robison this
offseason making it harder on him.
Their defense is again led by CBs Jalen Ramsey, AJ Bouye SS Barry Church, DE Calais Campbell and DT Malik Jackson. It
will be the will of this defense and Fournette that will help them compete for
a wild card spot since Luck and Watson are back making it harder to win this
division. It was the year for the Titans to win the division with Luck out for the whole year and Watson missing most of
it plus Bortles being the other starting QB. QB Marcus Mariota was the best QB
in the division and they still did not make the playoffs and that was with
DeMarco Murray on the team.
This team will be competitive with RBS Derek Henry
and Dion Lewis plus their great TE Delanie Walker but don’t have any real
weapons at WR which is what you need when you have a franchise QB. Their
defense is improving around safety Kevin Byard and LB Brian Orakpo by adding CB Malcom Butler another former Patriot to add to already having CB Logan Ryan.
They will always be in the division race if Luck and Watson are slow out of
game/not fully healthy and because they have Mariota which Jacksonville doesn’t
have which means any team can win this division.
