Dallas Cowboys
2016 Record: 13-3 (1st in NFC East)
Head Coach: Jason Garrett (7th season)
Notable Additions: CB Nolan Carroll, DT Stephen Paea, T Byron Bell
Notable Departures: QB Tony Romo (retired), T Doug Free (retired), CB Brandon Carr
-The on-field impact of Ezkiel Elliott's impending 6-game suspension for alleged domestic abuse is being completely overblown. The Cowboys are among the handful of teams in the league that could lose the reigning league leader in rushing yards and not suffer a notable drop-off in their ability to run the ball effectively. This rare luxury of having essentially having an exceptional, plug-and-play rushing attack can be attributed to their stellar offensive line. Even with the loss of starting right tackle Doug Free to retirement, this unit anchored by perennial All-Pros Tyron Smith, Travis Fredrick and Zach Martin should continue to open up massive rushing lanes 15-20 times per game, and single-handily pave the way for multiple 100+ yard rushing performances over the course of he season. Clearly they would prefer to have Elliott out there, but Darren McFadden, who ran for over 1,000 yards in 2015, and Alfred Morris should have no issue keeping the Cowboys among the top 10 in the league in rushing while he's out of the lineup.
-This story has gotten lost in the shuffle thanks to Elliott's off-the-field issues and level-headed discussions about Dak Prescott's potential moving forward dominating the offseason chatter out of Dallas, but good ol' Jerry Jones quietly let 4 key contributors from their secondary walk in free agency. Starters Barry Church, Morris Claiborne and Brandon Carr along with backup safety J.J. Wilcox all left America's Team after collectively posting career-best seasons as pass-defenders in 2016. With those 4 out of the equation, this surprising strength from 2016 that kept this otherwise suspect defense afloat has suddenly turned into a huge question mark. Outside of lone returning starter Byron Jones, who has cemented himself as one of the best young defensive backs in the league over the past 2 seasons, the rest of their secondary looks pretty god damn shaky. Anthony Brown is a 2nd-year corner coming off a so-so rookie year, Nolan Carroll was absolutely awful with the Eagles last season, slot corner Orlando Scandrick hasn't looked the same since he tore his Achilles in 2015 and the limited starting experience of strong safety Jeff Heath makes him a true wild card. Even with a magician like Rod Marinelli overseeing the defense, I expect this secondary to be much worse in 2017.
-Dak Prescott was by far one of the biggest storylines of the 2016 NFL season. The 4th-round pick seized the opportunity to be the Cowboys starting quarterback once the now-retired Tony Romo hurt his back for the 12,000th time last preseason and went onto help them clinch home-field advantage throughout the playoffs for the 1st time since 2007 with a remarkable 13-win season. With the attention-grabbing success of Prescott's rookie campaign in the rearview mirror, it's now time to find out whether or not he's going to be the real deal in the pros. While Prescott's play a year ago didn't really sell me on his potential to be an upper-echelon quarterback in this league, I'm also not foolish enough to write him off as the next RG3 or Vince Young-esque single season success story yet. He displayed solid decisionmaking (he only threw 4 INT's on 459 pass attempts), accuracy (67.8 CMP%) and athleticism as a rookie, but his primary utilization as a ball-control quarterback and lack of big throws made in key situations raises questions about his ability to go out and take over a game like the best QB's in the league do on a regular basis. 2017 will start to reveal who Prescott really is and by extension, prove whether this new-look Cowboys team are going to be a perennial powerhouse or if 2016 was simply a case of a young signalcaller stringing together 1 glorious season of fluky success.
Bottom Line:
With their off-the-field issues, young quarterback who has yet to prove he can win games by himself and major losses to a defense that wasn't all that great to begin with, I believe the Cowboys are in-line to have the biggest regression from 2016 to 2017 in the NFL.
-The on-field impact of Ezkiel Elliott's impending 6-game suspension for alleged domestic abuse is being completely overblown. The Cowboys are among the handful of teams in the league that could lose the reigning league leader in rushing yards and not suffer a notable drop-off in their ability to run the ball effectively. This rare luxury of having essentially having an exceptional, plug-and-play rushing attack can be attributed to their stellar offensive line. Even with the loss of starting right tackle Doug Free to retirement, this unit anchored by perennial All-Pros Tyron Smith, Travis Fredrick and Zach Martin should continue to open up massive rushing lanes 15-20 times per game, and single-handily pave the way for multiple 100+ yard rushing performances over the course of he season. Clearly they would prefer to have Elliott out there, but Darren McFadden, who ran for over 1,000 yards in 2015, and Alfred Morris should have no issue keeping the Cowboys among the top 10 in the league in rushing while he's out of the lineup.
-This story has gotten lost in the shuffle thanks to Elliott's off-the-field issues and level-headed discussions about Dak Prescott's potential moving forward dominating the offseason chatter out of Dallas, but good ol' Jerry Jones quietly let 4 key contributors from their secondary walk in free agency. Starters Barry Church, Morris Claiborne and Brandon Carr along with backup safety J.J. Wilcox all left America's Team after collectively posting career-best seasons as pass-defenders in 2016. With those 4 out of the equation, this surprising strength from 2016 that kept this otherwise suspect defense afloat has suddenly turned into a huge question mark. Outside of lone returning starter Byron Jones, who has cemented himself as one of the best young defensive backs in the league over the past 2 seasons, the rest of their secondary looks pretty god damn shaky. Anthony Brown is a 2nd-year corner coming off a so-so rookie year, Nolan Carroll was absolutely awful with the Eagles last season, slot corner Orlando Scandrick hasn't looked the same since he tore his Achilles in 2015 and the limited starting experience of strong safety Jeff Heath makes him a true wild card. Even with a magician like Rod Marinelli overseeing the defense, I expect this secondary to be much worse in 2017.
-Dak Prescott was by far one of the biggest storylines of the 2016 NFL season. The 4th-round pick seized the opportunity to be the Cowboys starting quarterback once the now-retired Tony Romo hurt his back for the 12,000th time last preseason and went onto help them clinch home-field advantage throughout the playoffs for the 1st time since 2007 with a remarkable 13-win season. With the attention-grabbing success of Prescott's rookie campaign in the rearview mirror, it's now time to find out whether or not he's going to be the real deal in the pros. While Prescott's play a year ago didn't really sell me on his potential to be an upper-echelon quarterback in this league, I'm also not foolish enough to write him off as the next RG3 or Vince Young-esque single season success story yet. He displayed solid decisionmaking (he only threw 4 INT's on 459 pass attempts), accuracy (67.8 CMP%) and athleticism as a rookie, but his primary utilization as a ball-control quarterback and lack of big throws made in key situations raises questions about his ability to go out and take over a game like the best QB's in the league do on a regular basis. 2017 will start to reveal who Prescott really is and by extension, prove whether this new-look Cowboys team are going to be a perennial powerhouse or if 2016 was simply a case of a young signalcaller stringing together 1 glorious season of fluky success.
Bottom Line:
With their off-the-field issues, young quarterback who has yet to prove he can win games by himself and major losses to a defense that wasn't all that great to begin with, I believe the Cowboys are in-line to have the biggest regression from 2016 to 2017 in the NFL.
New York Giants
2016 Record: 11-5 (2nd in NFC East)
Head Coach: Ben McAdoo (2nd season)
Notable Additions: WR Brandon Marshall, G D.J. Fluker, QB Geno Smith
Notable Departures: DT Jonathan Hankins, WR Victor Cruz, RB Rashad Jennings
-For as much shit as he gets from fans across the country, the numbers show that Eli Manning can be highly productive when he has the right pieces around him. Despite narrowly clearing 4,000 yards (4,027), completing a respectable 63% of his passes and leading his team to an 11-win season, 2016 wasn't the 2x Super Bowl champion's finest hour as a quarterback. Manning clearly threw some of his ugly, backbreaking INT's along the way, but the unreliability of the guys around star wideout Odell Beckham Jr. last season hurt their effectiveness in the redzone (they only scored a TD on 51.1% of their redzone possessions, which ranked 22nd in the NFL) and pretty much derailed any shot they had of going on another one of their signature postseason runs. General manager Jerry Reese used what little resources he had at his disposal this season to try and correct this receiver depth problem by signing 6x Pro Bowl wideout Brandon Marshall to an affordable 2-year contract ($11 mil, $5 mil guaranteed) and using his 1st-round pick to select tight end Evan Engram. While both of them have red flags (Marshall just turned 33 and has racked up his fair share of injuries over the years while Engram needs to fine-tune his route-running skills before he can succeed in the pros) that could prevent from being productive this season, they both possess the top-notch athleticism and mismatch potential you want in a secondary receiving option. The addition of Marshall and Engram alongside promising 2nd-year WR Sterling Shepard should give Manning the additional weapons he needs to thrive and subsequently lowers the odds of them getting burnt by the poor complementary receiver play that sunk them a year ago.
-The Giants had the 29th-ranked rushing offense in the NFL last season and as of right now, there's no indication that they'll be any better in 2017. Projected starter Paul Perkins, who showed some flashes of potential in limited action last year, has not inspired a lot of confidence with a weak training camp and horrible preseason thus far. The depth chart behind Perkins is equally scary. Orleans Darkwa has been pretty ineffective during his handful of career starts, Shaun Draughn is a below-average journeyman back that is turning 30 in December, Shane Vereen is pretty much useless outside of the passing game and rookie Wayne Gallman is a complete mystery that more than likely isn't going to make an impact this season. Making this sketchy running back situation worse is their horrific offensive line, which is shockingly projected to retain all 5 of their primary starters from 2016 (right tackle Marshall Newhouse, who started 6 games in relief of Bobby Hart in 2016, is the only guy not returning). Outside of center Weston Richburg and guard Justin Pugh, the personnel they have up front (John Jerry, Ereck Flowers, Hart) are among the sorriest clowns at their respective positions in the entire league. This Giants offense is going to need to establish agreater sense of balance if they want to be taken seriously as contenders and unless 1 or more of these backs can deify the odds by emerging as a reliable option or the addition of guard/tackle D.J Fluker-who isn't even projected to start as of right now- can turn this offensive line into a competent group on a whim, that goal is going to be tough to achieve.
-With their offense entering a semi-shocking state of unreliability for much of last season, it was the defense that ended up carrying the Giants to the playoffs a year ago. The stellar play from their trio of big-money free agent acquisitions (defensive end Oliver Vernon, defensive tackle Damon Harrison, cornerback Janoris Jenkins) and a breakout campaign from safety Landon Collins helped the Giants go from to near the bottom of the league in scoring defense (27.6 points allowed per game, 30th in the league) to the top of the heap in 2016 (17.8 points allowed per game, 2nd best in the league behind the Patriots). Even with the addition of some more receiving weapons in the offseason, I expect their defense to once again run the show in 2017. Most of their top contributors (Jason Pierre-Paul, Collins, the aforementioned trio of 2016 free agent pickups) are still under 30 and they replaced the only notable starter they lost from a year ago (defensive tackle Jonathan Hankins) with another potential run-stuffing behemoth in rookie Dalvin Tomlinson. If Steve Spagnuolo can get better play out of their linebacking corps and Jenkins doesn't go back to the erraticism he displayed while he was with the Rams, they should be in contention to be top overall defense in the league this season.
Bottom Line:
As long as their defense can retain their elite form from a year ago and they don't blow close games, the Giants should be able to contend in the NFC.
-For as much shit as he gets from fans across the country, the numbers show that Eli Manning can be highly productive when he has the right pieces around him. Despite narrowly clearing 4,000 yards (4,027), completing a respectable 63% of his passes and leading his team to an 11-win season, 2016 wasn't the 2x Super Bowl champion's finest hour as a quarterback. Manning clearly threw some of his ugly, backbreaking INT's along the way, but the unreliability of the guys around star wideout Odell Beckham Jr. last season hurt their effectiveness in the redzone (they only scored a TD on 51.1% of their redzone possessions, which ranked 22nd in the NFL) and pretty much derailed any shot they had of going on another one of their signature postseason runs. General manager Jerry Reese used what little resources he had at his disposal this season to try and correct this receiver depth problem by signing 6x Pro Bowl wideout Brandon Marshall to an affordable 2-year contract ($11 mil, $5 mil guaranteed) and using his 1st-round pick to select tight end Evan Engram. While both of them have red flags (Marshall just turned 33 and has racked up his fair share of injuries over the years while Engram needs to fine-tune his route-running skills before he can succeed in the pros) that could prevent from being productive this season, they both possess the top-notch athleticism and mismatch potential you want in a secondary receiving option. The addition of Marshall and Engram alongside promising 2nd-year WR Sterling Shepard should give Manning the additional weapons he needs to thrive and subsequently lowers the odds of them getting burnt by the poor complementary receiver play that sunk them a year ago.
-The Giants had the 29th-ranked rushing offense in the NFL last season and as of right now, there's no indication that they'll be any better in 2017. Projected starter Paul Perkins, who showed some flashes of potential in limited action last year, has not inspired a lot of confidence with a weak training camp and horrible preseason thus far. The depth chart behind Perkins is equally scary. Orleans Darkwa has been pretty ineffective during his handful of career starts, Shaun Draughn is a below-average journeyman back that is turning 30 in December, Shane Vereen is pretty much useless outside of the passing game and rookie Wayne Gallman is a complete mystery that more than likely isn't going to make an impact this season. Making this sketchy running back situation worse is their horrific offensive line, which is shockingly projected to retain all 5 of their primary starters from 2016 (right tackle Marshall Newhouse, who started 6 games in relief of Bobby Hart in 2016, is the only guy not returning). Outside of center Weston Richburg and guard Justin Pugh, the personnel they have up front (John Jerry, Ereck Flowers, Hart) are among the sorriest clowns at their respective positions in the entire league. This Giants offense is going to need to establish agreater sense of balance if they want to be taken seriously as contenders and unless 1 or more of these backs can deify the odds by emerging as a reliable option or the addition of guard/tackle D.J Fluker-who isn't even projected to start as of right now- can turn this offensive line into a competent group on a whim, that goal is going to be tough to achieve.
-With their offense entering a semi-shocking state of unreliability for much of last season, it was the defense that ended up carrying the Giants to the playoffs a year ago. The stellar play from their trio of big-money free agent acquisitions (defensive end Oliver Vernon, defensive tackle Damon Harrison, cornerback Janoris Jenkins) and a breakout campaign from safety Landon Collins helped the Giants go from to near the bottom of the league in scoring defense (27.6 points allowed per game, 30th in the league) to the top of the heap in 2016 (17.8 points allowed per game, 2nd best in the league behind the Patriots). Even with the addition of some more receiving weapons in the offseason, I expect their defense to once again run the show in 2017. Most of their top contributors (Jason Pierre-Paul, Collins, the aforementioned trio of 2016 free agent pickups) are still under 30 and they replaced the only notable starter they lost from a year ago (defensive tackle Jonathan Hankins) with another potential run-stuffing behemoth in rookie Dalvin Tomlinson. If Steve Spagnuolo can get better play out of their linebacking corps and Jenkins doesn't go back to the erraticism he displayed while he was with the Rams, they should be in contention to be top overall defense in the league this season.
Bottom Line:
As long as their defense can retain their elite form from a year ago and they don't blow close games, the Giants should be able to contend in the NFC.
Philadelphia Eagles
2016 Record: 7-9 (4th in NFC East)
Head Coach: Doug Pederson (2nd season)
Notable Additions: WR Alshon Jeffrey, RB LeGarrette Blount, CB Ronald Darby
Notable Departures: WR Jordan Matthews, DT Bennie Logan, OLB Connor Barwin
-Unlike most of the young quarterbacks in the league, I feel really good about Carson Wentz this year. The 24-year old was thrust into the starting role just 8 days before the season started last year when the team unexpectedly dealt projected starter Sam Bradford to the Vikings and despite the flashes of horrific play he experienced at various points of the season, he looked pretty decent on the whole. Having an offseason where he knows he's going to be the starter and was able to spend a significant amount of time developing a rapport with his receivers should be very beneficial to Wentz's confidence as well as his development as a passer. Plus general manager Howie Roseman went out and got him the weapons he lacked a year ago by signing Alshon Jeffrey and Torrey Smith in free agency. Jeffrey is a big, versatile top wideout with an absurd catch radius that has established himself as a top-10 wideout in the league when he's healthy while Smith is a home-run hitter that has proven to be lethal when paired with a big-armed quarterback. Wentz is in a pretty ideal situation right now and as long as he can limit his amount of misguided, forced throws, he should be able to make a notable leap forward in his sophomore season.
-Even with a strong offensive line in front of him and not even a semblance of competition for the starting running back job, this should be the season where the LeGarrette Blount hype train goes up in a sea of appropriately underwhelming flames. His tenure in New England was defined by a barrage of 2-3 yard runs that were offset by a dozen or so long run a season that padded the shit out of his stats and allowed insane conversations like "Is Blount better than Marshawn Lynch?" to become a thing that existed outside of a delusional Patriots fans symposium (I'd like to think that the people that made the argument for Blount over Lynch have all given money to a Nigeran prince at some point of their lives). Now that he's out of the Belichick/Brady voodoo overachiever zone, the volume of his game-breaking runs will cease to a halt and he'll go back to being the whiny, mediocre fuckboy he was when he played with the Buccaneers and Steelers. I'll be surprised if the 30 going on 31-year old back even sniffs 800 yards and 5 TD's this season.
-Going into training camp, I was baffled by the Eagles decision to not aggressively address their corner problem in the offseason. Despite their reported interest, they lacked the cap space to woo the high-profile free agents (Stephon Gilmore, A.J. Bouye, Brandon Carr) that were available at the position and they surprisingly passed on the plethora of buzzed-about corners (Marlon Humphrey, Adoree' Jackson, Tre'Davious White) that were on the board at #14 in favor of adding to their embarrassment of riches at edge-rusher by selecting Derek Barnett. They deserve some praise for landing a potential stud in Sidney Jones in the 2nd round, but the torn Achilles he suffered at his pro day in March will likely keep him out for the duration of the season. Then the Bills, who decided to go into full-blown tank mode after the 1st week of training camp, descended from the heavens to help them potentially solve their lack of a top corner problem for the 2017 season by trading them Ronald Darby in exchange for underachieving WR Jordan Matthews on August 11th. Despite his underwhelming sophomore season in 2016, Darby has all the traits of a top NFL corner (physicality, ball skills, fluid footwork) and with an overpowering pass-rush in front of him and a great defensive coordinator in Jim Schwartz running the show, he's in an excellent position to further develop in this organization. If Darby can consistently play like he did during his rookie year, this will go down as another lopsided trade win for grade-A finesser Howie Roseman.
-Since he has a front office role with the team, I'm going to use this space to bitch about Brian Dawkins getting snubbed from the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his 1st year of eligibility. Dawkins was arguably the most imposing safety of the 2000's and his resume is one of the most impressive of any defensive back to every play in the league (9x Pro Bowl, 6x All-Pro, 1st player in NFL history to record 30 career interceptions and forced fumbles, only player in NFL history to record 25+ sacks, INT's and forced fumbles in their career). How the Hall-of-Fame voters deemed Morten Andersen, Kurt Warner and JERRY FUCKING JONES worthy of enshrining over Dawkins (or fellow unfathomable snubs Terrell Owens and Alan Faneca) this year is completely asinine to me.
Bottom Line:
If Carson Wentz and the back-end of the defense can improve, the Eagles could end up surprising in 2017.
-Unlike most of the young quarterbacks in the league, I feel really good about Carson Wentz this year. The 24-year old was thrust into the starting role just 8 days before the season started last year when the team unexpectedly dealt projected starter Sam Bradford to the Vikings and despite the flashes of horrific play he experienced at various points of the season, he looked pretty decent on the whole. Having an offseason where he knows he's going to be the starter and was able to spend a significant amount of time developing a rapport with his receivers should be very beneficial to Wentz's confidence as well as his development as a passer. Plus general manager Howie Roseman went out and got him the weapons he lacked a year ago by signing Alshon Jeffrey and Torrey Smith in free agency. Jeffrey is a big, versatile top wideout with an absurd catch radius that has established himself as a top-10 wideout in the league when he's healthy while Smith is a home-run hitter that has proven to be lethal when paired with a big-armed quarterback. Wentz is in a pretty ideal situation right now and as long as he can limit his amount of misguided, forced throws, he should be able to make a notable leap forward in his sophomore season.
-Even with a strong offensive line in front of him and not even a semblance of competition for the starting running back job, this should be the season where the LeGarrette Blount hype train goes up in a sea of appropriately underwhelming flames. His tenure in New England was defined by a barrage of 2-3 yard runs that were offset by a dozen or so long run a season that padded the shit out of his stats and allowed insane conversations like "Is Blount better than Marshawn Lynch?" to become a thing that existed outside of a delusional Patriots fans symposium (I'd like to think that the people that made the argument for Blount over Lynch have all given money to a Nigeran prince at some point of their lives). Now that he's out of the Belichick/Brady voodoo overachiever zone, the volume of his game-breaking runs will cease to a halt and he'll go back to being the whiny, mediocre fuckboy he was when he played with the Buccaneers and Steelers. I'll be surprised if the 30 going on 31-year old back even sniffs 800 yards and 5 TD's this season.
-Going into training camp, I was baffled by the Eagles decision to not aggressively address their corner problem in the offseason. Despite their reported interest, they lacked the cap space to woo the high-profile free agents (Stephon Gilmore, A.J. Bouye, Brandon Carr) that were available at the position and they surprisingly passed on the plethora of buzzed-about corners (Marlon Humphrey, Adoree' Jackson, Tre'Davious White) that were on the board at #14 in favor of adding to their embarrassment of riches at edge-rusher by selecting Derek Barnett. They deserve some praise for landing a potential stud in Sidney Jones in the 2nd round, but the torn Achilles he suffered at his pro day in March will likely keep him out for the duration of the season. Then the Bills, who decided to go into full-blown tank mode after the 1st week of training camp, descended from the heavens to help them potentially solve their lack of a top corner problem for the 2017 season by trading them Ronald Darby in exchange for underachieving WR Jordan Matthews on August 11th. Despite his underwhelming sophomore season in 2016, Darby has all the traits of a top NFL corner (physicality, ball skills, fluid footwork) and with an overpowering pass-rush in front of him and a great defensive coordinator in Jim Schwartz running the show, he's in an excellent position to further develop in this organization. If Darby can consistently play like he did during his rookie year, this will go down as another lopsided trade win for grade-A finesser Howie Roseman.
-Since he has a front office role with the team, I'm going to use this space to bitch about Brian Dawkins getting snubbed from the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his 1st year of eligibility. Dawkins was arguably the most imposing safety of the 2000's and his resume is one of the most impressive of any defensive back to every play in the league (9x Pro Bowl, 6x All-Pro, 1st player in NFL history to record 30 career interceptions and forced fumbles, only player in NFL history to record 25+ sacks, INT's and forced fumbles in their career). How the Hall-of-Fame voters deemed Morten Andersen, Kurt Warner and JERRY FUCKING JONES worthy of enshrining over Dawkins (or fellow unfathomable snubs Terrell Owens and Alan Faneca) this year is completely asinine to me.
Bottom Line:
If Carson Wentz and the back-end of the defense can improve, the Eagles could end up surprising in 2017.
Washington Redskins
2016 Record: 8-7-1 (3rd in NFC East)
Head Coach: Jay Gruden (3rd season)
Notable Additions: WR Terrelle Pryor, ILB Zach Brown, S D.J. Swearinger
Notable Departures: WR DeSean Jackson, WR Pierre Garcon, DT/DE Chris Baker
-In the football wonderland that is Washington D.C., being a quarterback that throws for nearly 5,000 yards in a season isn't enough to secure a long-term contract. The Redskins once again proved their impressive ability to piss all over any good thing that falls into their lap by franchising poor Kirk Cousins for a 2nd straight season. Not only is the move insulting to a quarterback that has repeatedly proven he can be a productive starter in the NFL, it also makes zero sense from a financial standpoint. Cousins would likely command $12-14 mil a year in guaranteed money on a long-tem deal, but since the Redskins brass are a bunch of petty, inept dinguses, they now have to fork over $23.9 mil in guaranteed money for 2017. I expect Cousins to ball out once again in 2017 and finally escape Dan Snyder's gridiron purgatory for the (ever so slightly) greener pastures of San Francisco or Jacksonville next season.
-Although free-agent pickup Terrelle Pryor has been positioned as the de facto top receiver since he signed with the team in March, I think that Jamison Crowder will end up with that role when the season starts. Crowder's chemistry with Kirk Cousins has been great since he joined the team in 2015 and his valuable strong route-running/YAC combo makes him the favorite to fill the possession receiver role that was vacated by Pierre Garcon when he left for the 49ers in free agency. Pryor's size and speed will undoubtedly earn him a solid amount of targets, but Crowder's more polished skill set makes him a more natural fit for the go-to receiver role in this pass-happy offense.
-Outside of Seattle, there isn't a less intriguing starting running back competition than the one going on in D.C. right now. The heated battle for who will touch the ball on the 12-14 plays a game where Cousins isn't dropping back to pass is currently a 2-horse race between incumbent starter "Fat" Rob Kelley and rookie Samaje Perine. Kelley seemed like a logical choice to remain the starter given his relative effectiveness in 9 games as the Skins featured back last season (704 YDS and 6 TD's on 168 carries), but the team was reportedly very high on Perine, who was drafted in the 4th round this year, going into training camp. Unsurprisingly, Kelley has looked better every step of the way since camp opened and is going to have to make some colossal fuck-ups over the next 2 weeks in order to lose the job to Perrine. Stay tuned for Jay Gruden's very dramatic announcement for which of these middling power backs gets the coveted honor of being the team's rarely-deployed change-of-pace option sometime next week.
-The 2016 numbers might not back it up (28th in total yards allowed, 25th against the pass, 19th in scoring defense) but there's a solid amount of talent present on this defense. Josh Norman is one of only a handful of true shutdown corners in the league right now, their pass-rush headed by Ryan Kerrigan and Preston Smith has been quietly excellent over the past few years and the influx of promising young talent they have on the roster right now (defensive tackle/end Jonathan Allen, safety Su'a Cravens, cornerbacks Bashaud Breeland and Kendall Fuller) is absurd. The untapped potential of this defense makes the hiring of Greg Manusky as defensive coordinator an absurdly confusing move. For those who don't know, Manusky was the architect of the Colts innovative mannequin defense that got Biblically steamrolled by the Patriots in the 2013 and 2014 playoffs. To be fair, Manusky has much more talent at his disposal here than he did during his time in Indy, but he's not a guy I would entrust with trying to turn a flawed group with some excellent pieces into a sound, productive collective.
Bottom Line:
Despite limited roster turnover and the presence of a reliable veteran quarterback, I have a bad feeling that this team won't be able to win more than 6 or 7 games this year.
-In the football wonderland that is Washington D.C., being a quarterback that throws for nearly 5,000 yards in a season isn't enough to secure a long-term contract. The Redskins once again proved their impressive ability to piss all over any good thing that falls into their lap by franchising poor Kirk Cousins for a 2nd straight season. Not only is the move insulting to a quarterback that has repeatedly proven he can be a productive starter in the NFL, it also makes zero sense from a financial standpoint. Cousins would likely command $12-14 mil a year in guaranteed money on a long-tem deal, but since the Redskins brass are a bunch of petty, inept dinguses, they now have to fork over $23.9 mil in guaranteed money for 2017. I expect Cousins to ball out once again in 2017 and finally escape Dan Snyder's gridiron purgatory for the (ever so slightly) greener pastures of San Francisco or Jacksonville next season.
-Although free-agent pickup Terrelle Pryor has been positioned as the de facto top receiver since he signed with the team in March, I think that Jamison Crowder will end up with that role when the season starts. Crowder's chemistry with Kirk Cousins has been great since he joined the team in 2015 and his valuable strong route-running/YAC combo makes him the favorite to fill the possession receiver role that was vacated by Pierre Garcon when he left for the 49ers in free agency. Pryor's size and speed will undoubtedly earn him a solid amount of targets, but Crowder's more polished skill set makes him a more natural fit for the go-to receiver role in this pass-happy offense.
-Outside of Seattle, there isn't a less intriguing starting running back competition than the one going on in D.C. right now. The heated battle for who will touch the ball on the 12-14 plays a game where Cousins isn't dropping back to pass is currently a 2-horse race between incumbent starter "Fat" Rob Kelley and rookie Samaje Perine. Kelley seemed like a logical choice to remain the starter given his relative effectiveness in 9 games as the Skins featured back last season (704 YDS and 6 TD's on 168 carries), but the team was reportedly very high on Perine, who was drafted in the 4th round this year, going into training camp. Unsurprisingly, Kelley has looked better every step of the way since camp opened and is going to have to make some colossal fuck-ups over the next 2 weeks in order to lose the job to Perrine. Stay tuned for Jay Gruden's very dramatic announcement for which of these middling power backs gets the coveted honor of being the team's rarely-deployed change-of-pace option sometime next week.
-The 2016 numbers might not back it up (28th in total yards allowed, 25th against the pass, 19th in scoring defense) but there's a solid amount of talent present on this defense. Josh Norman is one of only a handful of true shutdown corners in the league right now, their pass-rush headed by Ryan Kerrigan and Preston Smith has been quietly excellent over the past few years and the influx of promising young talent they have on the roster right now (defensive tackle/end Jonathan Allen, safety Su'a Cravens, cornerbacks Bashaud Breeland and Kendall Fuller) is absurd. The untapped potential of this defense makes the hiring of Greg Manusky as defensive coordinator an absurdly confusing move. For those who don't know, Manusky was the architect of the Colts innovative mannequin defense that got Biblically steamrolled by the Patriots in the 2013 and 2014 playoffs. To be fair, Manusky has much more talent at his disposal here than he did during his time in Indy, but he's not a guy I would entrust with trying to turn a flawed group with some excellent pieces into a sound, productive collective.
Bottom Line:
Despite limited roster turnover and the presence of a reliable veteran quarterback, I have a bad feeling that this team won't be able to win more than 6 or 7 games this year.
Projected Standings
1.New York Giants (10-6)
2.Philadelphia Eagles (9-7)
3.Dallas Cowboys (7-9)
3.Dallas Cowboys (7-9)
4.Washington Redskins (6-10)
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