The Cardinals come into the year with many key losses that are effecting everyone's mindset regarding them. Firstly, their franchise quarterback, Kyler Murray, won't be ready until maybe the second half of the season because he tore his ACL late last season. Without Murray, this offense is not going to be able to flow to its best ability and with limited weapons to operate with as well.
Along with the injury to Murray, the Cardinals also lost one of the best receivers of this generation in DeAndre Hopkins. Hopkins decided he wanted to play elsewhere and chose Tennessee to be his next location to play football. No matter what quarterback Hopkins as been with in his career, he has always made them that much better and is a huge loss for this young Cardinals team.
The Cardinals also lost their top two free agents in Zach Allen and Byron Murphy this past offseason, doing little to nothing to help improve this roster. They also recently traded their former 8th overall pick from three years ago, Isaiah Simmons for basically nothing in return (7th-round pick) to the New York Giants. It's clear that the Cardinals are in a full rebuild as they are already moving on from a guy they highly praised coming into the league just three years ago.
The Cardinals also lost arguably the anchor of their defense in JJ Watt as he decided to retire after a very successful NFL career although it lacked a ring. Watt was one of the best defensive players of this past generation, losing him even at his age is still a big loss for the Cardinals. Not only did they lose one of the best offensive talents of this previous generation, but they also lost one on defense as well.
With all of these losses, Cardinals management decided to shake things up this offseason by hiring a new head coach to represent the team. That head coach being the previous defensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles, Jonathan Gannon. Gannon replaces Kliff Kingsbury after a failed experiment of transitioning him from college football to the NFL.
So in just under two weeks, the Cardinals will most either start the season with Clayton Tune, rookie out of Houston, or Joshua Dobbs as the starting quarterback for the time being. Don't get me wrong, the Cardinals have some weapons on offense with Marquise Brown, Rondale Moore, James Conner, and even Zach Ertz at his age.
The loss for the time being in Kyler Murray is what is going to tank the Cardinals season and probably solidify them as a bottom five team in the league. Already playing in a tough division as it is, the Cardinals will most likely finish in last place with a ceiling of six to seven wins and a floor of three wins this upcoming season.
After one of the most embarrassing ways to end a playoff game, the Dallas Cowboys are looking to avenge that loss with a breakout season this year. Almost every season it seems like Cowboys fans are saying "it's our year", well is that the case this year?
I am here to tell you, it is not for the 27th year in a row. The Cowboys haven't won a super bowl since 1996 and that drought will not be ending in 2023. This team is very good on paper, but when you look at the circumstances of being in the same division as the Eagles and their recent playoff history, you will be strongly deterred.
The Cowboys certainly did upgrade this offseason. They acquired one of the best cornerbacks in the league in Stephon Gilmore who is going to pair with another top cornerback in Trevon Diggs. Many people are saying this is the best cornerback duo in the league and it is hard to disagree with them. Along with trading for Gilmore, the Cowboys also extended Diggs for another five years with the franchise. The Cowboys could very well have the best secondary in the National Football League this season.
The Cowboys did upgrade on offense as well. They traded for veteran wideout, Brandin Cooks who is being added to an already stacked receiving core led by CeeDee Lamb. Along with the Cooks acquisition, the Cowboys also parted ways with Ezekiel Elliot who had been with the team for some time and was one of the main faces of the team.
With the departure of Elliot comes a new role for Tony Pollard. Pollard has shown glimpses that he has what it takes to be the RB1 of this team after Elliot's regression started to take place. There's a reason why Pollard is being taken within the first 20-25 picks in everyone's fantasy football league. With the departure of Zeke, the Cowboys backfield is in good hands with Tony Pollard at the helm.
As for the quarterback situation, I believe that this is Dak Prescott's year to prove himself to not only the Cowboys, but the rest of the league as well. Prescott's inconsistencies and struggles in past seasons have cost him and his team a lot, being one of the main reasons why this team cannot make it over the hump in the playoffs. The offensive dynamic will change a lot this season with the departure of offensive coordinator, Kellen Moore, so will that effect Dak's overall play. On the other hand, Jerry Jones will definitely be evaluating all of his options if this season goes south and Prescott is the main one responsible once again.
This Cowboys team is good don't get me wrong, but when you are paired up in a division with the Philadelphia Eagles, it is an uphill battle from the start to finish. The Cowboys will certainly make the playoffs this season in somewhat of a weak NFC compared to the AFC. I predict that Dallas will make the top wild card spot with the Eagles repeating as division champions. Will the 27 year drought continue for the boys down in Dallas or will it finally come to an end once and for all?
It is time to talk about by far the most popular team this offseason, the New York Jets. The Jets made some pretty big moves this past offseason and for the first time in years seem like they have a roster that can take it further than the regular season.
Let's address the elephant in the room, the Jets signed Aaron Rodgers. This move was arguably the biggest move this past offseason as Rodgers will now wear a new shade of green for the first time in 18 years. The Jets were a serviceable quarterback away from potentially making the playoffs last year, but instead finished 7-10 with three different quarterbacks starting multiple games a season ago.
That was the main issue last season and the Jets did what any team that wants to win does, they addressed it by signing the four-time MVP. Everything else was clicking for the Jets last season including having one of the best defenses in the league.
With Quinnen Williams up front, CJ Mosley the captain in the middle, and Sauce Gardner leading the secondary, this Jets defense is in great hands for years to come. The defense was unbelievable last season, but the spectacular play of this unit went unnoticed because the offense was unable to support them when they needed it most.
Along with the key players I just mentioned, the Jets have one of the deepest defensive line units in the league and solidified that when they went out and gave Quinnen Williams $96 million in July. The cornerback tandem of Sauce Gardner and DJ Reed, a stacked defensive line, and honestly an underrated linebacker crew, this Jets defense is going to be in contention for the best in the league this season.
Enough talk about the defense, lets go back to the offensive side of the football. Aaron Rodgers always makes the weapons around him even better, but he's coming into a team that already has one of the best weapons in football in Garrett Wilson. Wilson is entering his second year as a pro and went for over 1100 yards a season ago with four different quarterbacks contributing to this total.
If you take into consideration these four quarterbacks, none of them will be starting for their respective teams this upcoming season. Meanwhile, Wilson will now have a four-time MVP throwing him the football on a consistent basis. If this doesn't scream that big things are coming, then I don't know what does.
The thing that hurt the Jets a lot last season was injuries. In Week 7 a season ago, the Jets lost arguably their best offensive lineman, Alijah Vera-Tucker, and number one running back, Breece Hall to season-ending injuries, totally derailing the offense for the rest of the season. Vera-Tucker's versatility on the line was unmatched and the Jets lost that just 7 weeks into the season, and Hall was just a rookie but already making a strong case for Offensive Rookie of the Year. Injuries happen all the time in sports, but these two injuries seemed to be the determining factor of the outcome of the Jets season.
With Aaron Rodgers comes new faces as well. This includes a totally revamped receiver room alongside Garrett Wilson. The Jets acquired a couple of Rodgers' old buddies in Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb, alongside Mecole Hardman, one of the fastest players in the NFL, as well. Out of the backfield, they signed four-time pro bowler, Dalvin Cook to create a scary, dynamic duo alongside Breece Hall.
The Jets are giving Rodgers whatever he needs to take this team to the promise land. It has been 13 long years since the words "the Jets have made the playoffs" has come out of anyone's mouth. It seems like we can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel with a brand new mindset surrounding this team. The Jets will be the most anticipated team to watch this upcoming season.
Just a season removed from being champions of the NFC and coming up three points shy of a title, the Eagles are right back in the mix as major contenders in the National Football League.
Obviously, the Eagles aren't far removed from a great season just a year ago, but the team has went through some major changes as a whole. Starting with the coaching staff, the Eagles lost both their top coordinators in Shane Steichen, the offensive coordinator, and Jonathan Gannon, the defensive coordinator. Steichen took the head coaching job in Indianapolis, while Gannon went his separate way to Arizona.
The Eagles ranked in the top 10 in total defense last season as well as top 3 in total offense last season. The departure of both of these coaches is a huge loss for the Eagles that has been somewhat overlooked this offseason.
A big change the Eagles made this offseason was the running back room. The Eagles let their starting running back for the last couple of years, Miles Sanders, sign with the Carolina Panthers, so they went out and traded for a new RB1 in De'Andre Swift. They also signed former Seahawk running back, Rashaad Penny, as another key piece to that running backs room this offseason.
On the other hand, the Eagles did take somewhat of a big hit on losing many key players on the defensive side of the ball. Along with two starting linebackers, the Eagles also lost CJ Gardner-Johnson and Javon Hargrave as well. Those two names were arguably some of the biggest names to sign with other teams this offseason.
Luckily for the Eagles, they had an outstanding draft class this year, drafting aspiring replacements for their veteran guys that they lost. It was almost as if they just drafted the entire Georgia Bulldogs defense after they went out and drafted three star players from that Bulldogs defensive unit a season ago. Taking Jalen Carter with the ninth overall pick was huge for them in the fact that Carter will come into this Eagles defense with a chance to make up for the loss of Hargrave at the defensive tackle position.
Besides the running back room, the offense really hasn't changed much from a season ago. The Eagles did agree to a long-term deal with Jalen Hurts for five years in the offseason, locking up arguably a top 5 quarterback in the league. Hurts showed glimpses of what he could do in the past, but last season was his breakout year and put the entire NFL on notice. Hurts is surrounded by so many great weapons including AJ Brown, Devonta Smith, and others. The Eagles have a strong case for the best offense in the league.
The Eagles are once again going to be highly regarded around the National Football League and are the definite front-runners in the NFC East once again. The only team really making as strong of a case behind them in that division is the Dallas Cowboys, but I believe the Eagles will repeat and avenge their NFC East title from a year ago.
To start off, the Panthers hired a new coach in January, Frank Reich. Reich was previously the coach of the Colts, and before that was the offensive coordinator for the Super Bowl winning Eagles back in 2017. Reich has a ton of experience on his resume and I believe he is the perfect fit for this team. Reich was also arguably the best coach on the market for the Panthers to hire and they went out and got him.
Just 3 months after hiring their new coach, the Panthers were faced with a monumental decision for the franchise, who to take with the number one overall pick in the NFL draft. With that pick they took quarterback Bryce Young out of Alabama. Since the first departure of Cam Newton, the Panthers really haven't had a stable quarterback. With the selection of Young, they expect him to be at the helm of the offense for years to come.
To help out their rookie quarterback, the Panthers went out and acquired some new weapons for their offense in the offseason. One of my favorite and underrated signings of this offseason was when the Panthers went out and signed Adam Thielen. In my opinion, Thielen is the perfect veteran wide receiver to come into a new offense and help out a rookie quarterback in his first year in the pros. Along with Thielen, the Panthers also went out and added Hayden Hurst and DJ Chark, two veterans that will be a big help to Bryce Young's transition into the NFL.
Not only did the Panthers acquire these veteran receivers but they also went out and got a new RB1. Just a year ago, the Panthers traded away their franchise running back, Christian McCaffrey to the 49ers, so this offseason they went out and acquired Miles Sanders. Sanders signed a 4-year deal with the team after spending a couple years in Philadelphia with the Eagles. With a brand new quarterback comes a brand new offseason that is going to be surrounding Bryce Young this season. The Panthers front office is doing everything they can to make their rookie quarterback feel as comfortable as possible.
As for the defense, lead by Brian Burns, the Panthers got good production out of this unit last season and added some more pieces to help them out this season as well. Acquiring veteran safety Vonn Bell was one of their biggest acquisitions of the offseason along with Shy Tuttle. The Panthers defense is solid, but it needs the offense to do its job as well if this team wants to be successful.
I really like the offseason that the Panthers had and the signs are pointing towards the fact that the Panthers will have a quick turnaround after a miserable season last year. I believe that the winner of the NFC South will be between the Panthers and the Saints. Both with new quarterbacks at the helm and had great offseason's as well. Are the Panthers here yet or will we have to wait another season to find out?
Arguably the front-runner in the NFC North, the Minnesota Vikings look to avenge their division title from a year ago with another good season this campaign. They had a disappointing playoffs, losing in the first round to the New York Giants, but the team has changed since that brutal loss in January.
When people think of the Minnesota Vikings these days, they think of their underrated quarterback, Kirk Cousins, throwing touchdowns to the best wide receiver in the league, Justin Jefferson. The Vikings offense has proved that it can be very explosive and added onto that explosiveness this offseason.
The Vikings first round draft pick this year was another wide receiver by the name of Jordan Addison out of USC. Addison had a very nice career with the Trojans in Southern California and will step into the role of WR2 or WR3 in this Vikings offense. I believe Addison could also be a sleeper pick for the offensive rookie of the year award after a receiver won it last year.
The offense did lose some weapons during the offseason as longtime Viking, Adam Thielen, signed with the Carolina Panthers, and Dalvin Cook was released by the team as well. Alexander Mattison will now step up and serve as the number one running back for the Vikings after showing lots of great potential starting some games last season in Cook's absence.
On the defensive side of things, the Vikings did also part ways with another longtime veteran of the team, Eric Kendricks. Kendricks was a well-known and respected leader on the defensive front, but the Vikings thought it was best that they move on. Most of the players that the Vikings did in fact move on from this offseason were guys that have spent a majority, if not their whole careers with the team. It's clear that the Vikings are definitely trying to shake things up to make a big push this season.
Also on the defensive side, Brian Flores was hired as the new defensive coordinator of the team after a subpar defensive season last year. The coaching staff continues to improve with this acquisition to pair with second-year coach, Kevin O'Connell. In my opinion, O'Connell showed last season that he can be recognized as one of the top coaches in this league. Let's see if he will carry that into his second term with the team.
To recap, the Vikings added some weapons, but overall did not improve to the extent where they could go farther in the NFC playoffs this season. I do believe that they will once again make the playoffs, but they could be heavily threatened this season with the Detroit Lions for that NFC North crown. I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of highlights between Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson this upcoming season.
Currently speaking on August 9th, the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros are separated by 2.5 games in the AL West standings. The Rangers have lead the division for the majority of the season with their high-powered offense and sneaky good pitching, but can the Astros make a late season push for the crown in the AL West?
Since 2017, the Texas Rangers really haven't been very competitive. The Rangers have not made the postseason since 2016 when they last won the division. The Rangers just recently moved into a new stadium in Arlington and wanted to put a good team out there so fans can show up and enjoy the new stadium and newly revamped team.
This really started last year when the Rangers made two huge acquisitions when they acquired Marcus Semien and Corey Seager in two lucrative free agent deals. With some of their homegrown talent on the offensive side, and adding new pitching such as Jacob DeGrom this previous offseason, the Rangers rebuild seems to be over and years of success are ahead of them.
The thing that is standing in their way, however, is the Houston Astros. Since 2017, the Astros have been crowned the champs of the AL West 5 times, dominating the division as of late. The Astros have established somewhat of a dynasty through these years besides all of the scandals that their previous teams have been involved with.
The Astros are an all-around excellent team with great hitting, pitching, and coaching as well with Dusty Baker at the helm. There's a reason why they have made six American League championship series's in a row and in that time have also made it to four World Series as well.
For the foreseeable future, the Astros will always remain contenders in the AL, but there is a new sheriff in town in the AL West with the emergence of the Texas Rangers. I think wherever the Astros are placed in the postseason they will thrive and ultimately I believe the Rangers will be the ones to be crowned champions of the AL West for the first time since 2016.
The average person would think that since there is the number ten in the Big Ten, there are ten teams in the conference. However, that person would be wrong because coming in 2024, the Big Ten will expand to 18 different schools in its conference.
Up until 2014, the Big Ten, still not living up to its name, had 12 schools in the conference until Maryland and Rutgers joined the Big Ten expanding the conference to 14 schools. Before the expansion, the conference was dominantly filled with teams from the midwest with the exception of Penn State.
Fast forward almost a decade and the Big Ten is on the verge of another major expansion, this time adding four schools from the Pac-12 conference. These four schools are as follows: Oregon, Washington, UCLA, and USC. Now a conference which was a decade ago purely made up of schools from the midwest has expanded to schools from both the east and west coast of the United States.
Conferences and divisions in all college and professional sports have historically followed the tradition of putting teams together that are from a certain region of the country. For example, the Southeastern Conference, also known as the SEC, only contains teams from the southeast part of the United States.
The Big Ten is setting a new precedent that this tradition does not apply anymore. They are primarily doing it for more lucrative and new TV contracts and other forms of revenue that will benefit the conference as a whole. The new schools being added the conference were arguably the faces of the Pac-12 and will bring that all over to the Big Ten.
I dislike the expansion as a whole for the Big Ten. Sure, it will bring in more money to the conference and benefit them in other ways, but having schools in the same conference from different sides of the country, and others that are not across the country but still far away from one another ruins the whole dynamic of a conference.
There's going to be a time where one of the new west coast teams has to take over a five hour flight across the country, or one of the east coast teams has to do the opposite, stay there for a night or two, play the game, and then make the journey back across the country. The definition of a true conference really just will not apply anymore come in 2024 for the Big Ten.
In the Marlins brief history, since they became a team in the early 1990s, they have only made the playoffs three times and most of their other seasons have been viewed as the laughing stock of the league. Well this season is much different than that, and although the Marlins are currently not sitting in a playoff spot, this team is special.
The Marlins needed a change after yet another down year last season, so they went out and hired Skip Schumaker to run the ball club and made arguably one of the biggest trades in franchise history when they acquired Luis Arraez from the Twins. Arraez has been the heart and soul of this team ever since Opening Day and the fish have never looked back since.
The Marlins made 4 big moves at this year's deadline that are going to help this team a ton down the stretch. Their first 2 moves were acquiring major bullpen help when they went out and acquired David Robertson and Jorge Lopez. Robertson has been in the league for a long time and has a ton of playoff experience and is still thriving at an older age.
Lopez has struggled a bit this season, but is only one year removed from being an all-star last season and now has one of the best pitching coaches in the league in his hip pocket. The bullpen has been a weak spot for the fish this season, so Kim Ng went out and addressed the issue and may have fixed the problem with these acquisitions.
Another weak spot that the Marlins addressed was the lack of power on offense. So they went out and got a guy whose hit 25 homers this season in Jake Burger, and veteran Josh Bell who is known to be a power hitter as well. They needed more bats that can easily drive in Luis Arraez when he leads off an inning with a single. Arraez has been their MVP, but he can't do it all. Burger and Bell are going to help him out a lot.
No one had any high expectations or any good expectations at all for this Marlins team, but they are putting it together well this season. Although it is a congested competition for the NL wild card, I expect and would like to see this young Marlins team back in the playoffs for the first time since 2020.
As the trade deadline officially passes, the New York Yankees were the biggest losers at this year's deadline mark. After 106 games into the season with a lackluster offense, New York makes zero trades for any offensive help while only making two minor reliever additions to the bullpen.
The Yankees were certainly very confused coming into this trade deadline. They've played some really bad baseball as of late and could've easily been sellers at the deadline but they did not sell. Although they sit last in a very tough AL East and are now only 3 games above .500, the Yanks are only 3.5 games out of the last wild card spot and are still very much in the race with 55 games left to play.
No matter how bad the bats have been as of late, this team is still very well in it and it is just baffling to me that they didn't go out and acquire some new offensive talent to help this team out. Instead they go and add to what has been their one strong suit, the bullpen.
Even if the Yankees did sell at the deadline, they still could've easily stayed in the race for that last wild card spot and embrace the let the kids play mentality. Obviously the players that are contributing to this team right now aren't getting the job done, so go out there and call up some of the kids and let them show you what they can do to help this team win some ball games.
This mentality is being embraced all over the league with teams like the Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds, and Arizona Diamondbacks just to name a few. In addition, the one thing that these teams all have in common is that they all currently occupy a playoff spot and are doing it with a subpar payroll. Nowadays it's been proven that bigger payrolls don't always mean more success, in fact its the complete opposite.
The race for the last AL wild card spot is currently very congested between I believe 4-5 legitimate teams. 3 of those teams were buyers at the deadline and very much improved their teams unlike the Yankees and the Mariners. There's only one spot really up for grabs as of now and the Yanks don't seem very motivated or good enough to contend for that spot currently.
One thing is true, the offense has been in a major slump almost this entire season and it doesn't seem like they are going to break out of it anytime soon. A fresh couple of bats to the lineup might've really helped this team out, but obviously Brian Cashman and company had other ideas.
After a surprising season in 2023, the Green Bay Packers head into the 2024 with an improved roster, looking to seize the NFC North once aga...
