Board 8 > Board 8 National Football League League (B8NFLL) Season 16: The Offseason

(+) Yeah! (+)

AFC Seeding

Playoff Teams
1. Portland Express
2. Baltimore Ravens
3. Miami Dolphins
4. Jacksonville Jaguars
5. Columbus Pioneers
6. Denver Broncos

Playoff Contenders
7. New York Jets
8. Oakland Raiders
9. Cincinnati Bengals
10. Buffalo Bills
11. Indianapolis Colts
12. Kansas City Chiefs
13. New England Patriots
14. Pittsburgh Steelers

Better Luck Next Season
15. Mexico City Browns
16. Tennessee Titans

Dark Horse: Columbus Pioneers
Dark, Dark Horse: Indianapolis Colts

NFC West

1. St. Louis Rams
2. Toronto Wildcats
3. San Francisco 49ers
4. Seattle Seahawks

One could argue that the Rams and their suffocating D and balanced offense were the best team in the league last season. Sometimes, being the best team doesn't mean you have the best record, and the Rams ultimately had to settle for a wild card where they lost. They return 10 of their 11 defensive starters, and seven of their starters are 28 or younger. This defense should stay elite for many seasons. The offense though has some areas of concern. The big one is their rushing game. Now that Romance Taylor retired and they let Giovanni Bernard walk, former 1st round pick Mike Davis is atop the depth chart. All three lost a chunk of time last season due to injury, but Davis was lost for the season after six games and one start. He performed as one would expect out of a rookie HB, so there's really not a lot to go off of here. Still, historically speaking, it takes several seasons for a HB to really get things going, so the running game might not be much of factor this season. QB Ryan Tannehill is one of the best, but the OL needs to do much better at protecting him, and new #2 WR Tyler Lockett must show that his revitalization in Miami last season was more indicative of who is going to be moving forward than his distrastrous stint with the Giants. The defense and perennial QB of the Year candidate Tannehill should be good enough to ensure a playoff berth or at least a non-losing season, but if they want to finally reach the Super Bowl, the OL and HB will need to step up in a big way.

The Wildcats could be considered a much poorer man's Rams. Their strengths and weaknesses are quite similar but are simply not as good as the Rams in pretty much every area. They've hovered around .500 and been a playoff contender until the final week or two for what seems to be several seasons as of late. That's largely been due to an ascending defense and the combo of QB Aaron Murray, WR Gonzie Massey and TE Dane Guthrie. Defense as a whole has been on the rise in recent seasons that rankings might not hold as much meaning as they did in the past, so even if they finish let's say league average, I still believe that the defense will be a strength for them this season. The issues are on offense. Murray just completed his first full season, but if he misses time, their QB situation is probably the worst in the league. HB Dalvin Cook had a 3.2 YPC in 16 games and 6 starts as a rookie. He was easily the worst of the 1st round rookie HBs last season. This team has been seeking a long-term solution at the position since Laurence Maroney retired. The OL continues to be a work-in-progress, but they brought in a new starter and also draft one in the first round. Perhaps there will be some improvement there. While they did lose one of their best defensive players for half the season, the offense came away injury-free. As long as depth isn't forced into starting roles, the Wildcats should remain a playoff contender.

The 49ers were one of the more surprising #1 seeds in our history. At first glance, the defense might not strike fear into anyone's hearts, but it is what drove them to the conference championship round last season. I would expect them to continue building on it this season. The offense has major question marks. After a solid outing in his debut starting season, QB Mitchell Trubisky is currently backing up Christian Hackenberg and his career 12 passing attempts. Regardless of who's throwing the ball, the WR corps is absymal. Patterson, the #1 after the underrated Lance Leggett's retirement, had probably the worst year by a starting WR that I've ever seen. Despite being the full-time starter all season, he had 25 rec for 147 yards. That's a 5.8 YPC. I don't know if I have ever seen anyone dip below 7 before. He certainly can't replicate that again, but it does give me great concern if he can hack it as a starting WR, at least in San Fran. WR Brandin Cooks has a sub 10 YPC in four of the past five seasons, including his half-season tryout last year when he had 17 rec for 142 yards. Inexplicably, that netted him a new 4 year contract that will hamstring that made it financially irresponsible to target a starting-caliber WR in the offseason. Cooks lost his starting job in the preseason, so go figure. The OL is one of the best in the league, and maybe Rawls can continue to improve his efficiency to keep in line with his production. However, the dark cloud looming over the passing offense is enough to give me flashbacks of the S14 Patriots. I would temper my expectations of them this season.

The Seahawks are on paper the second-best team in the division. QB Kirk Cousins was once again injured, and they started a rookie HB in Aaron Jones, so the offense as a whole stepped back, but it did showcase a lot of promising players. The defense was one of the league's worst in S14, and they went hard after free agents on that side of the ball in the subsequent offseason. While they weren't a good defense, they did show improvement. They added three more starters this offseason, and they did go 8-8 last season, so if the defense continues to make strides, and they get better health and growth on the offense, they could parlay that into a playoff berth or even a division crown. They are just one of several teams that I frequently expect good things out of only to look like a fool in the end, so I will ultimately need to see it to believe it.

NFC East

1. Dallas Cowboys
2. New York Giants
3. Washington
4. Philadelphia Eagles

Last year was definitely a down year for the NFC East, and you have to wonder if the NFC West will once again be the conference's best. It all starts with the Cowboys who easily own the league's longest division streak at nine seasons. With one of their best defenders retiring after last season (FS Keenan Clayton), you have to worry a bit about the secondary. The front seven should continue to dominate, and while there are some very talented WRs and TEs in the division, there's a lot of suspect and unproven signal callers throwing to them to where the secondary might be just fine. The offense saw a comeback and MVP-caliber season out of QB Cam Newton. Most of the offense returns, but they will see a new HB in the former Jag Devonta Freeman. In his one season as the full-time starter, he had a 4.2 YPC and caught over 50 passes. While former HB Darius Walker did have a hall of fame career, Freeman might have more potential and a better skillset than him. The OL does have two new starters at the ends, but the powerful interior is still intact. The Cowboys might be the most vulernable it has ever been in this run of unprecedented dominance, but they should still be the favorite as they seek their 10th straight division title and attempt to make their 8th Super Bowl in that span.

The Giants have done a very good job at roster building and player development the past two seasons, and they even started each season 2-0 before things just unraveled. Shaking things up, the Giants are going in a new direction at QB as they try to revitalize the offense with a scrambling QB in Ryan Perrilloux. Unfortunately, he's going to be out for half the season, so they also signed Jake Locker as an injury fill-in. Locker was actually a bit underrated in Cincinnati. He was asked to do too much, which caused him to have high INT figures, but he has 60+% completion in every season, and his passer rating improved every season from 71.5 as a rookie to 78.0 last season, albeit in fewer starts as he began as a backup. It will be intriguing to see how things shake out QB-wise because if Locker continues to trend upward, he may not relinquish his starting job and get the long-term role. Talent, depth, and injuries plague the rest of the offense, so both the QBs aren't in the best position and the margin for error is pretty thin, but I think the offense can turn things around. The defense is very talented and individuals have had some great seasons, but the defense as a whole tumbled down the rankings last season. I expect them to rebound this season with better health, depth, and developing players. I kind of like the Giants this season, or at the very least, I find them interesting.

It wasn't a shock that Washington stumbled last season given the house of cards roster construction. When injuries struck, they were doomed. In anticipation of running into those issues again, I built my draft strategy around that, making sure to leave some holes for free agency, which ultimately netted them former Rams starter MLB Manti Te'o. He becomes the best MLB for them since Brian Urlacher retired an eternity ago. More importantly, this was the final piece of the defensive puzzle for them. I'm not saying this is going to be a great defense, at least immediately, but they finally have a to build around with five former 1st round picks and its oldest starters just 30. HB Ezekiel Elliot is on the verge of stardom, and their WR pair of Julio Jones and Selwyn Lymon are the best in the league. The OL was looking a bit thin, but they have spent their past two 1sts there, as well as other Day 1 or 2 draft picks, so the group is looking much healthier. The biggest question mark is at QB, where Brady Quinn's successor was going to be one of three unknowns, including two players with 0 pass attempts in their career. Of course the 5th round rookie won the job. His ratings actually look decent, so I'm intrigued by what I believe to be our first Day 3 rookie starter at the position can do in a rather good support system. The offensive ceiling may be lower as a result, but I think Washington can start to resemble the teams that had prior to S15.

The Eagles started out like 6-0 last season before finishing 10-6 and into a wild card spot where they were one-and-done in the playoffs. The preseason was especially brutal for them as they originally hoped to get back to their early season form from last season. Future hall of fame WR Ted Ginn, budding superstar RT Donovan Smith, and longtime rock LT Sam Baker will all lose basically the first half of the season. This offense struggled with consistency last season, so being without three of its best players is absolutely crushing. The first eight weeks doesn't look too difficult, but four of their six division games are before their Week 9 bye, including both of their Cowboy tilts. They absolutely can't go winless, and 1-3 might ultimately hurt them come playoff tiebreaker time. While the LBs and secondary are great, the DL is still very much a work in progress. Luckily for them, their first half schedule includes some games against teams trying to establish a running game and/or rebuilding their offensive line (Seahawks/Lions/Wildcats). There's plenty of glass half full and half empty arguments to be made for this team, but I fear that a largely favorable second half schedule might be too late for them if they don't start off the season well.

NFC North

1. Minnesota Vikings
2. Green Bay Packers
3. Chicago Bears
4. Detroit Lions

The Vikings have won two of the last three Super Bowls, but, and I know that I've said this for other teams as well, they are looking to be a little vulnerable. They lost three major players to retirement (WR Cameron Colvin, FS Ko Simpson, and CB Devin Hester), and while their replacements could ultimately fill the void, it would be prudent to expect some dropoff in the passing offense and defense before also considering that QB Josh Portis has posted two straight sub-70 passer rating campaigns. Losing this top target can't be good for his efficiency. Luckily, the Vikings have a great HB and an excellent OL blocking for everyone. The front seven is also very stout, though its starting to get up there in years. It also helps that the NFC North isn't a particularly daunting division. The Vikings should still be the favorites, but I wouldn't go around betting your life savings that they will repeat as division champs.

Last season was one that the Packers would like to forget. QB Tyrod Taylor had easily his worst season as a passer since S9, the HB room was injured and ignored to the point of mid-70s Tavian Radetsky starting 8 games with a 3.3 YPC. The defense was solid if unspectacular, and the team was just uninspiring as a whole. They lost five starters to retirement but they bounced back with a fantastic draft in my eyes, and they filled out the rest of the team with some quality veteran depth. The Packers actually have a history in the Tangicide era of bouncing back from a bad or mediocre season with a NFC North-winning season. There's plenty of reason for optimism, including thinking that #4 overall pick HB Austin Ekeler could be one of the rare impact rookie HBs due to the team's history with its running game and OL play. Even if that doesn't end up being the case, the defense performing closer to what it normally does should at least put the team in play for a wild card, especially with an easy schedule.

I'm always leery about giving the Bears reason for optimism because when have I ever been right, but I think that they can get out of the basement, even with their best player, SS Derek Linde, out for most of the season. They have a pretty complete offensive skill position group now that they added TE Rob Gronkowski to the fold. The state of the OL could easily derail it, but I think that they will be alright on offense. Now that may mean finishing in the upper teens or so, but you really just want to avoid being really ineffective and also turning the ball over a bunch, and I think that they have the players to do just that. While a more skilled group than the offense, I'm a little skeptical about the defense in light of Linde's injury, but looking at the schedule, there's only a few teams that could end up with elite offenses, so they might be adequate as a whole. It really depends on how this front seven holds up given several starters have recent injury histories. There are a lot of games against scrambling QBs. While it would be unrealistic to expect them to be in playoff contention, I do expect to see improvement in this team both on the field and in the win column.

The Lions are rebuilding on offense, and they might soon have to go back to the drawing board at QB. HB Ameer Abdullah had one of the least impactful 1000 yard rushing seasons you will see, and now Alex Collins gets his chance at being the bell cow. They have a trio of seemingly solid WRs, but none of them appear to be true #1s. The Lions lost Gs Justin Smiley and Jonathan Clinkscale to retirement after they had been with the team since the very beginning. They signed Sebastian Vollmer in free agency and promoted former 2nd round pick Joshua Garnett to fill those roles. This hasn't been a great OL since the Peyton Manning era, and incumbent starters in C Greg Eslinger and RT Germayle Franklin might retire after the season. That might be a blessing in disguise as it will allow them to infuse that unit with more new blood, but I guess that's irrelevant for the practice of this exercise. The defense is what has allowed them to most consecutive non-losing seasons, but they were dealt a huge blow in the preseason. MLB Bryan Vinson will be gone for a quarter of the season and rising star MLB Jerry Mayes is done for the season. That means this 3-4 D is now without two starters, let alone two of their best. They could sign one of the best available and play someone out of position or sign two lesser MLBs but avoid having to play an OLB there. Either way, it's not an ideal situation, and without Vinson and Mayes, the defense has a disruptive playmaking issue. The team has a pretty low floor given all the issues around the team, so I'm playing it safe and putting them last knowing that their defensive ceiling, depending on how they address the MLB situation, is high enough to get them to around .500.

NFC South

1. Atlanta Falcons
2. San Juan Orcas
3. Carolina Panthers
4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

For a team that went 5-11 last season, did not have most of its draft picks, and lost several key players to retirement, I'm really liking the potential of this Falcons team. The lack of draft picks was a blessing in disguise as they had tons of cap space to grab high-impact players in free agency. Chief among them was OT Tony Ugoh who is the best OT that they've had since Jonathan Ogden and Chris Samuels were both bookends. Ugoh's last three seasons saw him with 200+ blocks and just 10 sacks allowed. They also nabbed SS S'ua Cravens to replaced the Hall of Famer Lewis Baker. While he is no Baker, He is strong against the pass and run and will help out former #2 overall pick CB Xavier Rhodes. While is overall rating might not look it, FB Toby Hubbard is a massive improvement over Leslie Evans as Hubbard was the top run-blocking FB on the market. The question now is if this team mixed with youth and veteran starters all over can congeal into a rock solid team over the course of the season. There's also the question of if this team with depth issues and history of injuries amongst the starters can withstand a full season, but that's not as compelling. I do realize that they couldn't hold up for a whole season last year, but for the most part, this has been a very competitive team after the past 5-10 seasons. They are clearly much better than 5-11, and I think they can reclaim the division.

The Orcas had possibly the largest designed player turnover season last year, and it delivered with their first NFC South title and playoff victory. Now they had to change their offensive identity again after hall of famers QB Chris Leak and HB LaMarcus Coker retired. Replacements QB Marcus Mariota and HB Knowshon Moreno are no Leak and Coker, but they have shown to be very effective in their own right. Unfortunately Moreno is now out for a third of the season, and while the Orcas went big on signing Mariota, this is the first time he has been the full-time starter, so there's quite the risk factor. He is in a good situation with the OL and WR/TE corps, but he will need to make an immediate impact in Moreno's absence. The defense though has a chance of becoming among the league's elite. It was already great last season, but what caused them to go 9-7 instead of a better record like their stats indicated was the poor health of the secondary exposing their lack of depth. They went out and signed one of the top-rated CBs we've ever seen on the market in former Pro Bowler Ross Cockrell. Now this defense is complete and stacked. Only two starters are in their 30s, so this defense might be here to stay. If the defense does end up as one of the league's best, it could more than make up for what may be a regression on offense and propel them to consecutive division titles, but they should at least be one of the wild card favorites.

Both the Panthers and Bucs are undergoing rebuilds, but the Panthers are closer to getting back into playoff contention. While QBs in the Madden-generated draft era have left a lot to be desired, it would be very hard for rookie QB Lamar Jackson to not be a noticeable improvement over what they had last season. HB LeSean McCoy missed half of last season due to injury, but his rushing efficiency was on par to his first season with the club, and he cut his fumbles down. He may not be an elite HB, but he should continue to be an asset for this offense. The OL is in good shape too. The WR/TE groups are among the league's worst, so that probably limits Jackson's ceiling, as a rookie anyway. The offensive ceiling is not particularly high for this team, but they shouldn't be the embarrassment that they were last season. I don't know what to quite expect from the defense. They were adequate last season, but will they be any better this season? With DT Callahan Bright gone, they lack disruption on the DL but might still be effective against the run. The heart of the defense is in the 30-something trio at LB in Justin Houston, Reggie Outlaw, and Sean Spence. They aren't outstanding run defenders or pass rushers, but they all showed some disruptive prowess. The secondary sees two new starters. SS Skip McGrath's skillset does not indicate he is great in pass defense, but it does appear that he's a great run-defender, which will be critical in their divisional games against three offenses trying to establish a long-term identity with young QBs. The team is clearly not a playoff team, but when you go 3-13, you just want to see improvement, and the schedule is easy enough before the bye to where they have a great chance at equaling their win total by the time they reach Week 10.

The Bucs, to put it simply, still have a long road ahead of them. The interior OL, DL, and secondary is still in flux with young players trying to establish themselves as long-term solutions and veterans trying to keep units from falling apart. Former #1 overall pick QB Trevor Largent was one of the league's worst QBs in the second half of last season and lost his job for the time being after the preseason. That's what you like to see. They do have some great, young building blocks that have already or shown signs of establishing themselves in WRs Jarvis Landry, DE Leonard Williams, OLB Bradley Chubb, and MLB Alec Ogletree, but unlike the rest of the league, their veteran presence is kind of disappointing outside of a few standouts. #2 overall pick HB Alvin Kamara will be backing up stud Matt Forte in what will likely be the latter's final season as a Buc. There's just not a lot to specifically talk about the Bucs because it just seems like the most fluid roster situation in the league. Like the Panthers, they are still another season away from being playoff contenders, but they actually might need two.

NFC Seeding

Playoff Teams
1. St. Louis Rams
2. Dallas Cowboys
3. Minnesota Vikings
4. Atlanta Falcons
5. San Juan Orcas
6. New York Giants

Playoff Contenders
7. Toronto Wildcats
8. Washington
9. Green Bay Packers
10. San Francisco 49ers
11. Seattle Seahawks
12. Philadelphia Eagles
13. Chicago Bears
14. Detroit Lions

Better Luck Next Season
15. Carolina Panthers
16. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Dark Horse: New York Giants
Dark, Dark Horse: Washington

To Do:
- Make new topic and decide on a starting date

I really need to do that

KCF0107 posted...

I really need to do that

Then do it lol you can do it!

New Topic
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/79918584