2022-2023 NFL Preview:

 

North: This is the Packers division to lose as they still have the best QB in Aaron Rogers, best head coach in Matt Lafleur and best RB in Aaron Jones (plus AJ Dillon). The issue will be can Rodgers lead a team with inexperienced weapons or past their prime weapons (Sammy Watkins/Randall Cobb) with Davante Adams’ departure and an unhealthy offensive line as he ages? They still have a good enough defense to keep the game close in CB Jaire Alexander and S Adrian Amos leading the secondary, plus they also drafted two top defensive players in the 1^st round. 

The Vikings have a chance to win this division because they moved on from defensive minded head coach in Mike Zimmer for an offensive minded guy in Kevin O’Connell (former QB & former offensive coordinator) as they have a talented set of skill players in wide receivers Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen, KJ Osborn, RB Dalvin Cook and TE Irv Smith. If QB Kirk Cousins doesn’t get covid19 again they might not lose crucial games at the end of season, but if he cannot click with the new head coach and with these weapons his time might be done there. They went all in on defense in the draft as they drafted two defensive players in the first round to help their core of S Harrison Smith, CB Patrick Peterson, LBs Za’Darius Smith, Jordan Hicks, Danielle Hunter and Eric Kendricks. 

The Lions may not finish in last place this year as they were competitive in every game last year under head coach Dan Campbell and they have one of the best offensive lines in all football after drafting that position high the last few seasons. They also drafted Aidan Hutchinson one of the top defensive players in the draft and a few more talented players to help out DT Michael Brockers and CB Jeff Okudah as this unit keeps improving every year. They even added a talented WR in DJ Chark and top WR in the 1^st round to help out WR Amon-Ra St Brown, TE TJ Hockenson and RB D’Andre Swift. The only thing they are missing is a franchise QB but you can do worse than Jared Goff a professional. 

The Bears finally moved on from Ryan Pace/Matt Nagy but replaced them with a defensive minded head coach in Matt Eberflus(league is going with offensive guys)/former scout/player personnel guy with the Chiefs in Ryan Poles, but you cannot blame them for not doing much as they weren’t left with much talent or cap space. They still have one of the worst offensive lines in football as they did draft four offensive linemen hoping one will stick but went mostly in on defense in the draft and waited to draft a WR in 3^rd round is who older then the QB Justin Fields. Fields again will have to run for his life/give ball to RB David Montgomery plus they have no one good to throw the ball to other than Darnell Mooney as WR Allen Robinson left; all they did was get depth but not #1 talent in Byron Pringle, N’Keal Harry and Equanimeous St Brown to name some. Their defense lost Khalil Mack for less then what they gave up for him and LB Roqaun Smith wants out as he, Eddie Jackson and Robert Quinn are the only good players left.

East: The Eagles have the best offensive line, an improving young QB in Jalen Hurts and they traded for a top WR in AJ Brown which pushes Devonta Smith to #2. Not to mention a good RB in Miles Sanders, TE Dallas Goedert, and a supporting receiver in Zach Pascual to set up for a good offensive threat. Their defense still has DTs Fletcher Cox, Javon Hargrave, CBs Darius Slay, James Bradberry, signed LB Hasson Reddick and drafted two defense stars from college. 

The Cowboys lost Connor Williams, Amari Cooper, Cedrick Wilson, Randy Gregory, Greg Zuerlein and Blake Jarwin. They also have concerns on the offensive line with Tyron Smith’s injury and their lead WR Michael Gallup coming off an ACL injury plus RB Ezekiel Elliott’s decline the past few seasons. They still have a top offensive line because of Smith and Zack Martin, a pro in QB Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and Dalton Schultz as weapons but not much after those two. Their defense still has LBs Micah Parsons, Anthony Barr, Leighton Vander Esch, CB Trevon Diggs and DE Demarcus Lawrence, plus they drafted nine players hoping it makes up for their losses but it will come down to coaching from Mike McCarthy as some think DC Dan Quinn should be coach. This division has two bad teams in New York and Washington so Dallas and Philadelphia should only have to worry about each other.

The Commanders took one step forward two seasons ago making the playoffs but then finished with essentially the same record, but the others team were better which made them miss the playoffs which will happen this year as QB Carson Wentz is on his third team in three seasons. If he wasn’t the answer in Indianapolis he certainly isn’t going to turn it around with a lesser team with middle of the pack offensive line; a draft where all the experts said they reached on every pick they made, their best defensive player (maybe best player) will miss a chunk of the season in Chase Young after tearing his ACL last year, and their skill players like TE Logan Thomas and RBs Antonio Gibson, JD McKissic don’t stay healthy. Only upgrade Wentz gets is WRs Terry McLaurin is a true deep threat and Curtis Samuel is a nice #2 WR. 

The Giants have a new head coach in Brian Daboll/new GM Joe Schoen from Buffalo and drafted eleven players with hopes of those picks fixing the holes the team has at defense and offensive line, like their first two picks Kayvon Thibodeaux and Evan Neal. They still have a talented group of skill players in RB Saquon Barkley, WRs Kenny Golladay, Darius Slayton, Sterling Shepard and last year’s 1^st round pick Kadarius Toney but guess what they all never stay healthy. They still do not have a TE after losing Evan Engram, they made some improvements with the offensive line but it is still a work in progress like the defense outside of Leonard Williams. The biggest issue is they still do not have a franchise QB because of how bad Daniel Jones has been, hopefully Daboll fixes him or tells the GM to move on and maybe even let Tyrod Taylor play most games this season.

South: The Buccaneers are the most talented team in this division despite losing Rob Gronkowski, Antonio Brown, Ronald Jones, OJ Howard, Jason Pierre Paul, Ndamukong Suh, Jordan Whitehead, Alex Cappa and Ali Marpet. They drafted a top OL and traded for Shaq Mason to offset losses on the line, added Julio Jones, Kyle Rudolph, Russell Gage, and drafted a RB with their 3^rd round pick to help the offense. They still have a top defense that has DE Akiem Hicks, NT Vita Vea, LBs Devin White, Lavonte David, Shaquil Barrett, S Logan Ryan, Antoine Winfield and CB Carlton Davis, not to mention their new head coach is Todd Bowles who was coaching their defense. The only thing that will matter is QB Tom Brady who was rumored to have retired or wanting to go to Miami instead if he still has it at age 45 to keep slinging it to Chris Godwin, Mike Evans, Cameron Brate and Leonard Fournette. 

The Saints are now entering another offseason without an offensive legend Drew Brees before and now head coach Sean Payton who retired as he handed the reins over to DC Dennis Allen who coached them before when Payton was suspended for bountygate. The issue with this team is the teams below them are bad and the team ahead of them will only be good for a few seasons that they can’t fully rebuild so they have to be competitive as they added WR Jarvis Landry, 1^st round pick WR Chris Olave to help Michael Thomas, brought back RB Mark Ingram to help Alvin Kamara, added S Tyrann Mathieu, Marcus Maye to their defense to help out DEs Cameron Jordan, Marcus Davenport, and CB Marshon Lattimore. The real question will be can QB Jameis Winston stay healthy and be good enough with all of these weapons in spite of a bottom tier offensive line? 

The Panthers have had QBs Cam Newton, Teddy Bridgewater, PJ Walker, Sam Darnold, Newton again and traded for Baker Mayfield after drafting a QB in the 3^rd round the past few seasons. HC Matt Rhule is on the hot seat since he was supposedly a hot commodity from college and it hasn’t worked out well since he is supposed to be an offensive guy but with all of these QBs it isn’t a good sign. This team doesn’t have a TE, RB Christian McCaffrey never stays healthy and DJ Moore/Robbie Anderson aren’t #1 WRs either, plus the offensive line is one of the bottom tier ones which has to also be on the GM as well. Outside of LB Shaq Thompson and CB Jaycee Horn there isn’t much on defense either. 

The Falcons finally said goodbye to franchise stalwart QB Matt Ryan by trading him to Indianapolis (are eating a record-setting amount of dead money on the salary cap to do so ($40.5 million), signed Marcus Mariota as a bridge QB and drafted a QB in the 3^rd round to move forward. They also drafted a talented WR with their 1^st pick in Drake London to be their next Julio Jones to help TE Kyle Pitts, a RB to help out Cordelle Patterson, and three defensive players to help build this defense up again. It will be on HC Arthur Smith to oversee this rebuild correctly by fixing this offensive line before they find their franchise QB since they got the TE, hopefully their #1 WR, a RB and when Calvin Ridley comes back from his one year suspension for gambling a #2 WR, and an improving defense to go with a top kicker Younghoe Koo but it is last place for awhile in Atlanta.  

West: The Rams might actually be one of those teams who can repeat winning the Super Bowl besides winning this division and conference as they pretty much have the same team intact: QB Matthew Stafford, RB Cam Akers healthy for a full season, WR Cooper Kupp, a top 10 offensive line, Aaron Donald/Leonard Floyd in their linebacking core, Jalen Ramsey at CB and Sean McVay at head coach. They did lose Odell Beckham Jr. but replaced him with Allen Robinson, lost Von Miller but added one of the best linebackers in all of football in Bobby Wagner, they still have Van Jefferson, Tyler Higbee as weapons. Stafford still has room for improvement in year two as he led the league in interceptions last year so that will need to be cut down, and they drafted eight players which has been their key to success in having organizational depth.

 The Cardinals will again compete for the playoffs because of QB Kyler Murray(he is staying long term five year extension), but the question will be can he stay healthy and lead his team past the 1^st round/play and be better without DeAndre Hopkins who is suspended for the 1^st six games? They did add Marquis Brown to help fill that hole but once Hopkins comes back the skill players on this team will be top 5 with those two, plus AJ Green, TE Zach Ertz, RB James Conner and rookie TE Trey McBride. They still have JJ Watt and Budda Baker leading this defense but lost Chandler Jones, so hopefully their draft picks pick up the slack- plus they still have pro kicker Matt Prater. 

The 49ers have a great team and system thanks to head coach Kyle Shanahan but they are bailing on Jimmy Garoppolo who hasn’t been traded yet which is isn’t smart. They are handing the keys over to Trey Lance who they traded a lot of draft capital for but he doesn’t have many snaps at QB in both college and pros so it will be a transitional season. On offense they still have WR Deebo Samuel, WR Brandon Aiyuk, TE George Kittle, FB Kyle Juszcyzk, RB Elijah Mitchell, a top 15 offensive line led by Trent Williams and kicker Robbie Gould. They also have a great defense led by Nick Bosa, Jimmie Ward and Fred Warner, plus drafted a top defensive player in the 3^rd round. 

The Seahawks traded away their franchise stalwart QB Russell Wilson to Denver and got QB Drew Lock and TE Noah Fant back. They are in full rebuild mode since they didn’t trade for a veteran QB as they are sticking with Lock and Geno Smith, but are using those draft picks wisely as they drafted a RB in 3^rd round to replace Chris Carson who retired and drafted a few offensive linemen to hopefully fix the worst offensive line. They still got WRs Tyler Lockett who could be traded, Marquise Goodwin and DK Metcalf who signed an extension, and still have Jamal Adams/Quandre Diggs as veterans on defense but they could be traded too. For it to be a real rebuild they should continue to fix the offensive line, fix their defense to be the legion of boom again (drafted four players this year), so when they get their franchise QB he has protection/a defense and Pete Carroll who is 70 retires. 

North: The Bengals will be one of the few teams who lose in the Super Bowl to make the playoffs the following season as they still have QB Joe Burrow, a stable of wide receivers Ja'marr Chase, Tyler Boyd, Tee Higgins, RB Joe Mixon, added TE Hayden Hurst and have kicker Evan McPherson. The knock on this team was their offensive line/they couldn’t protect Burrow well they added Alex Cappa, Ted Karras and La'el Collins through free agency and have previously drafted linemen as well to go from one of the worst to one of the best offensive lines out there. They even drafted three defensive players with their first three picks to help out Trey Hendrickson, Vonn Bell and Sam Hubbard. 

The Ravens still have QB Lamar Jackson, HC John Harbaugh, TE Mark Andrews and the best kicker in Justin Tucker,  plus they should be luckier when it comes to health as they had a cluster of injuries at positions like CB and RB to name some last year. They added to their defense by signing Marcus Williams, Michael Pierce, Kyle Fuller to help Calais Campbell, Marlon Humphrey, Marcus Peters, Justin Houston, and had eleven draft picks where five of them were on defense. They signed one offensive lineman, used their 1^st round pick on C Tyler Linderbaum, and Ronnie Staley is back from injury which will help keep Jackson healthy and have time to throw to his weapons. Which will be the biggest issue outside of Andrews, who is Jackson throwing to with Marquise Brown traded away as Rashod Bateman isn’t a #1 and RB JK Dobbins was injured last year. 

The Steelers said goodbye to QB Ben Roethlisberger who has retired and found his replacement hopefully in KennyPickett plus drafted three skills players with one being a potential Antonio Brown in the making(they have a knack for drafting/developing great WRs) in George Pickens. They added Myles Jack, Levi Wallace and drafted a DE to help this great defense led by TJ Watt, Cameron Hayward, Devin Bush, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Terrell Edmunds, which is coached by one of the best in Mike Tomlin plus Brian Flores is helping out. One of the two issues is for right now who is throwing the ball to Chase Claypool, Diontae Johnson, TE Pat Freiermuth, RB Najee Harris and Pickens, is it Mitchell Trubisky a bridge QB, backup Mason Rudolph, or rookie Pickett, plus they have a bottom tier offensive line. 

The Browns on paper have one of the most talented rosters with two RBs in Nick Chubb/Kareem Hunt, two TEs in Harrison Bryant/David Njoku, WR Amari Cooper, and when healthy a top five offensive line. They also have a good defense led by Myles Garrett, Jadeveon Clowney, Denzel Ward and drafted four defensive players in the draft with their first two picks being on defense. The biggest issue was what they would do with QB Baker Mayfield, well they traded him away and traded for Deshaun Watson by giving up four 1^st round picks and some third/fourth rounds picks, but he is going to be suspended for 11 games now so it will be on Jacoby Brissett, Josh Dobbs or Josh Rosen to hold the down the fort till he comes back.

East: The Bills can be a one man wrecking crew because of Josh Allen’s arm and legs as the team realized they need to help him out more so in the draft so they got a CB Kaiir Elam to fix that hole, drafted James Cook to help out the hole at RB, drafted a few LBs to help out the defense, and signed Da'Quan Jones and Von Miller too. Tremaine Edmunds, Ed Oliver, Matt Milano, Tre'Davious White, Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer will appreciate the help on defense. His weapons will still be TE Dawson Knox, WR Stefon Diggs, Gabe Davis, added Jameson Crower and drafted a WR for him as well. 

The Dolphins decided to spend money to help out QB Tua Tagovailoa as they hired an offensive minded HC in Mike McDaniel, traded for Tyreek Hill, signed Cedrick Wilson, drafted another WR to pair with TE Mike Gesicki and Jalen Waddle. They signed Connor Williams/Terron Armstead to help improve the offensive line but it is still a work in progress and picked up Chase Edmonds, Sony Michel and Raheem Mostert at RB. On defense they added Melvin Ingram to help Xavien Howard and Byron Jones, but it is also still a work in progress. 

The Patriots now have seen Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman and this offseason see Josh McDaniels leave to coach in Vegas, but now have Joe Judge/Matt Patricia coaching QB Mac Jones on offense. This is going to be the biggest issue in Jones’ development in year two but at least they still have a top ten offensive line. They have nice depth at RB in Damien Harris, Ty Montgomery, Rhamondre Stevenson, TEs Hunter Henry/Jonnu Smith and at WR Jakobi Meyers, Kendrick Bourne, Nelson Agholor, and traded for DeVante Parker, but all of this is nice depth nothing top tier. On defense which is Bill Belichick’s forte they still have Devin McCourty, Jalen Mills, Adrian Phillips, Jabrill Peppers and Matthew Judon. You know the saying quality over quantity, well New England had ten picks and all the experts think they reached on most of them and drafted a QB to be a backup. 

The Jets are still going to be bad because no matter how good QB Zach Wilson can be he wasn’t healthy last year is already hurt this season. When he comes back he will have a top 15 offensive line to protect him even with Mekhi Becton missing the year because they signed Duane Brown to fill that hole. In the draft they got him a talented WR, a RB and TE to give him weapons and drafted two of the best defensive players in the draft like Sauce Gardner at CB. They also signed an offensive lineman/drafted one to help protect him as well, and added Jordan Whitehead/DJ Reed to their defense which helps Lamarcus Joyner, CJ Mosley, Car lLawson, Quinnen Williams and Solomon Thomas. On offense his weapons will be TEs Tyler Conklin/CJ Uzomah, WRs Corey Davis, Elijah Moore and got kicker Greg Zuerlein too.

South: The Colts are now just trying anything at QB after Andrew Luck’s retirement, Phillip Rivers and Carson Wentz now trading for Matt Ryan who can succeed when he has things around him. This team has a top RB in Jonathan Taylor, a top ten offensive line, an ok set of skill players like Michael Pittman, Parris Campbell, Mo Alie Cox and two early draft picks but nothing special. They still have a good defense led by Shaquille Leonard, DeForest Buckner, Kenny Moore, they added Stephon Gilmore and traded for Yannick Ngakoue to fortify it.  

The Titans are the pure example of average but with 17 games they can’t be .500 anymore as they have a competent QB in Ryan Tannehill, but the main attraction is still Derrick Henry. They traded away their #1 WR in AJ Brown so they had to take one in the 1^st round in Treylon Burks, but that’s a lot of pressure for him right away as adding Robert Woods coming of an ACL tear doesn’t scream explosive skill players even with adding Austin Hooper at TE. They have a bottom tier offensive line and middling defense with only Bud Dupree, Harold Landry and Kevin Byard as the only big names. The most intriguing thing is how long they will stay with Tannehill now that they drafted a potential starting QB in Malik Willis in the 3^rd round. 

The Jaguars will be better because Doug Peterson got the most out of Nick Foles/Carson Wentz so he knows offense which is a good sign for year two of QB Trevor Lawrence. They added TE Evan Engram, WRs Christian Kirk, Zay Jones to Marvin Jones and are getting Travis Etienne/James Robinson back from injures at RB. They did draft three defensive players with their first four picks but five overall on defense and signed a few defensive veterans to help out Josh Allen and Shaquill Griffin, but is still a work in progress. Their biggest weakness is the offensive line by drafting a center and signed Brandon Scherff to help but again a work in progress. 

The Texans have decided last year’s 3^rd round pick QB Davis Mills is their franchise QB after trading away Deshaun Watson for lots of draft picks by using on two defensive players, an offensive lineman and WR in the early rounds. Lovie Smith was officially given the head coach title as his specialty is defense so you knew they were going to go heavy on defense in the draft with five this year, and they will always work hard no matter what plus you know the special teams will be solid too. In spite of having Justin Britt and Laremy Tunsil they have a bottom tier offensive line, no big time defensive player yet, have no TE threat and their other skill players like Brandin Cooks who has had so many concussions we all wonder why he hasn’t retired, and are going with a 4th round pick at RB in Dameon Pierce.

West: The Chiefs are still the class of the conference but specifically this division since they still have QB Patrick Mahomes and HC Andy Reid calling plays, plus they have the best TE in Travis Kelce. Despite trading WR Tyreek Hill they turned that into many draft picks which were used on quality defense players with their 1^st two picks/eight total and drafted a WR in the second round. They still have a top 10 offensive line, RB Clyde Edwards Helaire, WR Mecole Hardman and added two quality receivers in Juju Smith Schuster and Marquez Valdes Scantling. On defense they still have Chris Jones, Frank Clark, Willie Gay and Carlos Dunlap to go along with those draft picks. 

The Broncos did it again (Peyton Manning) but this time they didn’t get an aging/injured QB as QB Russell Wilson is still young enough/not injured often to complement an already good team that has good players on both sides of the ball. They have two good RBs in Melvin Gordon/Javonte Williams, a stable of WRs in Jerry Jeudy, Courtland Sutton, KJ Hamler, and have two young TE’s one from this year’s draft/another young TE plus a middle tier offensive line. On defense they still have Bradley Chubb, Ronald Darby, Kareem Jackson, Pat Surtain and added Randy Gregory, not to mention their draft picks especially four of five of their first picks. Question will be can first year HC Nathaniel Hackett put all of these pieces together or not? 

The Chargers were the best team to not make the playoffs last season due to having QB Justin Herbert leading the charge with a good set of skill players in RB Austin Ekeler, WRs Keenan Allen, Mike Williams and TE Gerald Everett. They continue to set Herbert up for success as they keep improving his offensive line last year by drafting two more offensive linemen to keep them as a top 12 offensive line and really went on it on defense too. They acquired JC Jackson, Kyle Van Noy, Khalil Mack, Austin Johnson, Sebastian Joseph Day and drafted four more defensive players to help out Joey Bosa, Derwin James and Astane Samuel. 

We need to give so much credit to QB Derek Carr for overcoming teammates getting arrested, his head coach having a scandal and still being a top 10 QB in a new city for the past seasons after being in Oakland by taking his team to the playoffs. The Raiders rewarded him with a three year extension and his former college WR in Davante Adams to pair with Hunter Renfrow, TE Darren Waller and RB Josh Jacobs, plus hired an offensive minded HC in Josh McDaniels. Their biggest issues are still having one of the worst offensive lines and having a below average defense even with signing Chandler Jones to help out Maxx Crosby but give them credit for drafting two offensive and defensive linemen.