NFL 2018-2019 Season Preview:

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 3^rd 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 2^nd place and wildcard with other 2^nd 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 2^nd 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 4^th 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 2^nd 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 2^nd 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 2^nd 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 2^nd 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 3^rd 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 10^th 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.