North:
QB Aaron Rodgers was contemplating retirement if he wasn’t traded or was able
to give his input on drafting/moves for the Packers,
but guess what he is still here and he can only take this team as far as the
talent around him.
They had to resign RB Aaron Jones because he takes pressure
of Rodgers and the passing game by being a top RB, but they lost a key
offensive lineman in Corey Linley which weakens the offensive line as they have
some holes to fill. Rogers still has other weapons in wide receivers Devante Adams, Devin Funchess and even got back WR Randall Cobb to appease him, but
again the defense isn’t special enough to help him win another super bowl but
this division is theirs to lose. The Vikings
are always that team has a gluttony of “B & “C” players which means good to
solid players but not great players as they found a star in WR Justin Jefferson
to replace Stefon Diggs last year, still have WR Adam Thielen and RB Dalvin Cook all top skill players.
Their defense which is HC Mike Zimmer’s specialty
and they added veterans CB Patrick Peterson and S Xavier Woods to add to their
core of S Harrison Smith, linebackers Anthony Barr, Eric Kendricks, and DT Sheldon Richardson. The thing that always will hold this team back is their
offensive game plan, do they run the ball too much or not enough with Cook
despite having good receivers, which falls on QB Kirk Cousins who might be on
his way out as they drafted a QB in the third round in Kellen Mound. They also
have a bad offensive line even with their first round pick being a top
offensive lineman in Christian Darrisaw, as this might hold them back from the
playoffs but are a wild card contender. The Bears
still have a good defense because of the core of LB Khalil Mack, DT Akeim Hicks,
LBS Robert Quinn, Roquan Smith, safeties Eddie Jackson, Desmond Trufant, but
they have been wasting their prime all of these years with a subpar offense/QB
enter Andy Dalton or Justin Fields. Dalton is the type of QB that if you got a
good defense and they do, a run game which they do in RBs David Montgomery,
Tarik Cohen, Damien Williams, have good receivers which they do in Allen Robinson, Marquis Goodwin, TEs Cole Kmet, Jimmy Graham, Jesse James and have a
good offensive line to keep him upright. Well the issue is they have one of the
worst offensive lines and even with a few draft picks it will not make that
much of difference, which will be good for rookie Fields as he is a dual threat
QB so he can run away from pressure unlike Dalton. They are not a playoff team
but are going in the right direction as I see Dalton starting until he takes
too many hits or if the team is losing too much at the start of the season as
Nagy/Pace’s job are safe for now. The Lions
fired their head coach, general manager and traded their starting QB which
means they are starting over again as they hired former Dolphins interim HC Dan Campbell as the coach on a six year deal and got QB Jared Goff in the Matthew
Stafford trade. They have a top 10 offensive line which only got better as they
drafted the best one in Penei Sewell, but the question will be can Goff be good
with McVay in his ear or is this the QB that we saw in his rookie year. They
also lost their two best WRs in Kenny Galloday and Marvin Jones and their
starting kicker Matt Prater, so that doesn’t bode well for Goff so they will
have to rely on RBs De’Andre Swift and Jamaal Williams. Their defense is where
most of their draft picks went to. They are in it for the long run with
Campbell but last place will be their home for a very long time.
East:
The Washington
football team surprised everyone by winning their division even with a
losing record because of how bad every other team was, but also because of
their defense led by HC Ron Rivera. Their defense will again carry them this
season as it is led by defensive ends Chase Young, Montez Sweat, LB Jon Bostic,
CB William Jackson and S Landon Collins. They went through multiple QBs in Alex
Smith, Kyle Allen, Taylor Heinicke, as they had to rely on their defense and
improving offensive line.
They drafted an OT in the second round and signed
Charles Leno from the Bears this offseason. They even added to their skill
players in WRs Adam Humphries and Curtis Samuel to help Terry McLaurin. The
major difference will be with their signing of QB Ryan Fitzpatrick who might
bring stability but also a rollercoaster of a ride for the season. They are the
team to beat in this division. The Cowboys
were without QB Dak Prescott, Dalton,
and key offensive linemen all due to injury
for most of the season last year causing their offense to look horrendous. With
Prescott and those key offensive linemen back their offense should be on track. They went all in on defense in the draft with their taking LB Micah Parsons for
example to help fellow linebackers Jaylon Smith and Leighton, Vander Esch, and
defensive ends DeMarcus Lawrence and Randy Gregory. They probably have the best
WR core in the NFL in Amari Cooper, CeeDee Lamb and Michael Gallup, but the
thing that will hold them back from making the playoffs will be the health of
Prescott’s ankle, their offensive line, their defense and how good RB Ezekiel Elliott who has been in decline for the past few years. The Giants were without RB Saquon Barkley for pretty much the whole
season and with a bad offensive line, the opposing defenses knew they were
looking to pass which didn’t make QB Daniel Jones’ sophomore year any easier. The
other issue last year was that Jones never had his top three wide receivers
Darius Slayton, Golden Tate and Sterling Sheppard, TE Evan Engram and Barkley
on a consistent basis last year to see how good he can be, so it will help that
they brought in Kenny Golladay who is a real #1 WR and John Ross. It will again
be on the defense to try to carry this team which is led by DT Leonard Williams,
safeties Jabrill Peppers, Logan Ryan and DE Dexter Lawrence. The New York
faithful need to give Jones more time with HC Joe Judge since he now has
improved/healthy weapons, but can’t fault him for having the worst ranked
offensive line and didn’t use their top picks to fix that hole as they drafted
another WR instead. The Eagles were a
disaster last year with QB Carson Wentz and HC Doug Peterson but even with both
of them gone. They will be a mess again this time with QB Jaylen Hurts and HC
Nick Sirianni who most people never heard of. The team has talent on both sides
of the ball as their offensive line is always ranked well and gets most of the
injured players back from injury to help C Jason Kelce.
South:
The reigning Super bowl champion Buccaneers
pretty much have the same team as last year with QB Tom Brady, wide receivers
Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Antonio Brown, tight ends OJ Howard, Cameron Brate, Rob Gronkowski and running backs Ronald Jones Jr., and Leonard Fourtnette on offense.
West:
The Rams are going all in with after trading
away QB Jared Goff for QB Matthew Stafford thinking that is the hole they have
and the rest of the team is great, which is a huge gamble in the best division
in all of football. They still boast a top 10 offensive line led by T Andrew Whitworth, a good core of wide receivers Cooper Kupp, Robert Woods, TE Tyler Higbee, and a good defense led by DT Aaron Donald, LB Leonard Floyd, and CB
Jalen Ramsey.
The issue will be the RB position as they lost their starting RB
Cam Akers to a season ending injury in training camp. Maybe they sign Todd
Gurley because that might make the difference between wildcard and division. The
Seahawks added TE Gerald Everett,
resigned RB Chris Carson, and drafted a speedy WR D’Wayne Eskridge to pair with
DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett, which all helps out QB Russell Wilson who has
now a middle of the pack offensive line after it being bottom tier. The defense
isn’t on the level of their “Legion of Boom” but still has a top LB in Bobby Wagner, safety Jamal Adams, and DE Carlos Dunlap of the
veterans you know. It will be between them and the Rams on who wins this
division and who gets the first wild card spot. The 49ers get back QB Jimmy Garoppolo from injury but also traded up for Trey Lance so the question will be
who finishes the season as the starter going for a wild card berth. They
already have a top 10 offensive line but added C Alex Mack in free agency and
drafted a guard in the second round to make it even better. The defense is
still led by defensive ends Nick Bosa, Dee Ford and safety Jimmie Ward, plus
still have kicker Robbie Gould making them a solid team top to bottom.
The
thing that might hold them back is of course Garoppolo’s health, Lance’s
readiness, and the RB position as Raheem Mostert missed most of last year due
to injury. The Cardinals are the best
4th place team in all of football that if they were in another
division they might be a playoff team because of how good QB Kyler Murray keeps
getting.
They gave him DeAndre Hopkins last year, this year they added WR AJ Green and RB James Conner to an already good offensive line, which means the
question will fall again on the defense. They added DE JJ Watt and CB Malcolm Butler to help out LB Chandler Jones and S Budda Baker hoping that makes up for
the loss of CB Patrick Peterson. This
could be their division in a few years. North:
The Ravens added to their receiving
core of WR Marquise Brown and TE Mark Andrews by drafting two wide receivers in
the draft, signed WR Sammy Watkins, plus have a solid running attack with RB JK Dobbins. They also brought in two offensive linemen in Alejandro Villanueva and
Kevin Zeitler to solidify an already top tier offensive line. They still have a
great defense with DT Calais Campbell, DE Derek Wolfe, linebackers Justin Houston, Pernell McPhee, and cornerbacks Marcus Peters, Jimmy Smith and Marlon Humphrey.
East:
The Bills won their division and made
it to the AFC championship game-their first division title in years as this
will be their division for years to come if QB Josh Allen keeps playing the way
he has been. After adding WR Stefon Diggs last year they added WR Emmanuel Sanders this offseason to help out WR Cole Beasley, but the question will be
who gives them production from the RB spot as both Zach Moss and Devin Singletary struggled, so they brought in Matt Brieda to help.
South: The Colts
are one of the best well run franchises in all of football top to bottom. It starts
with GM Chris Ballard building his team through the draft to have a top
offensive line and a great defense to support QB Andrew Luck before he retired
a few seasons ago, so the team is well built. Last year they used Phillip
Rivers who is close to 40 and they made the playoffs, so this year they traded
for QB Carson Wentz hoping that HC Frank Reich can right the ship for him as
they worked together in Philly before. The thinking is that the QB is the final
step to winning a Super Bowl which could be possible besides them having a lock
on the division. They have a top three offensive line even with Anthony
Castonzo retiring because they added Eric Fisher to pair with G Quenton Nelson and C Ryan Kelly, plus have a solid run game with Jonathan Taylor,
Jordan Wilkins and Marlon Mack. It will also be WR Michael Pittman’s second
year where he will improve on his rookie to pair with TY Hilton and Zach Pascal.
West:
The Chiefs almost won another Super Bowl
last year but QB Patrick Mahomes was running for his life the whole game as he
was without two key offensive linemen. Well they released Eric Fisher and
Mitchell Schwartz, but Joe Thuney, Kyle Long, Orlando Brown are in and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif is back from working the front lines during Covid19 making them
a top 10 offensive line.
