The second article of the day; now we focus on teams that came last in their division and the chances of winning it in 2021.
NFC North – Detroit Lions
NFC South – Atlanta Falcons
NFC West – San Francisco 49ers
NFC East – Philadelphia Eagles
AFC North – Cincinnati Bengals
AFC South – Jacksonville Jaguars
AFC West – Denver Broncos
AFC East – New York Jets
NFC North – Detroit Lions
If it wasn’t obvious from my article earlier, I am one of the people who think the Lions will contend for the #1 pick. Lions have always had potential, but all their best players have left (Stafford, Kenny Golladay, Marvin Jones, just to list 3), and the hope is all gone.
NFC South – Atlanta Falcons
I mentioned a potential comeback for the Falcons in my article earlier, and I think they have a good chance. An offensive trio that could potentially challenge any QB-WR-WR in the league (Ryan, Ridley and Pitts) and that is just the start.
The Panthers shouldn’t be a concern leaving just the Saints (led by Jameis Winston) and the Buccaneers. Saints no one can predict and they could easily be much worse than the Atlanta team.
The Bucs are hard to pass on, and with their combo of insane offence and elite defence, they will be hard to pass. Brady doesn’t look like he’s slowing down, and that is what it would require.
NFC West – San Francisco 49ers
If the 49ers weren’t in a transition year from Garoppolo to Lance, then the answer is easily yes. Shanahan + Jimmy G would win this division but when you put in a rookie QB, that changes a few things. Lance will be a lot more error-prone and will take at least this season to adapt to the speed of professional football.
The Cardinals are not very good and even with the transition year, the 49ers will outplay the Cardinals. There is no question about that. The Rams are also in a transition and therefore not so sure what will happen to them either.
The Seahawks are the only team I’m certain will do well and therefore while the chances aren’t high for the 49ers, it is really between them and the Seattle team. More chance than most recent years though.
NFC East – Philadephia Eagles
As also mentioned earlier, with Dak Prescott back for the Cowboys the chances of any other winner in the NFC East is much smaller. The Eagles are rebuilding and their roster shows it. It wouldn’t shock me if they outplay the Giants, but Dallas and Washington are a couple of steps too good for the time being.
AFC North – Cincinnati Bengals
The Bengals have everything needed to be a contender for the division – QB, WRs, decent OL etc. Their problem is that the Ravens and Browns are also in the same division. The Bengals will have to overcome the might of Lamar Jackson (who had a rocky first half of 2020, before returning to his best) and the rest of the Ravens. A new look WR core (Bateman, Watkins, Hollywood Brown) should hopefully mean that they run a duel-threat offence along with a fringe top 5 TE Mark Andrews. The CB duo of Humphrey and Peters contend with anyone in the league for lockdown corners.
The Browns also have a great WR core (Landry and OBJ) with the best OL in the game (Wills, Bitonio, Tretter, Teller and Conklin); all before considering they have one of the best offensive minds in the game. They had a massive upgrade on defence bringing in John Johnson, Jadeveon Clowney with rookies Grey Newsome and JOK (in the 1st and 2nd rounds). And let’s not forget one of the best edge players in the league (Myles Garrett is their star man on defence).
The Bengals have an upfield battle, but I think they are ready.
AFC South – Jacksonville Jaguars
As mentioned in the article earlier, I don’t have much faith in the Jaguars outplaying the Titans in 2021; a rookie HC and rookie QB playing a significant part in that belief. That said, I think they could easily come 2nd in the division.
The Texans are in a nightmare situation and the Colts are in a weird place. Texans have one player in their team that I think could walk into most teams (Laremy Tunsil). While a potentially elite LT is nice, it is not a make or break position for an offence.
The Colts are mentioned earlier are in a good place outside of their QB and as a result no idea where they could finish next year. Can the team carry a bad QB? I’m not sure. The Colts also have a trade condition on 75% of snaps for Wentz meaning that early failure could send them tanking for Rattler.
AFC West – Denver Broncos
As I said earlier, the Broncos have more chance of getting the #1 pick than the playoffs. I meant it, I look at this team and they have a potentially elite WR core (Sutton and Jeudy), a great Safety duo (Simmons and Jackson) with Von Miller and Garett Boiles in the team. That is a really good core and the Broncos front office should be proud. What they should be less proud of is the QB situation. Imagine this team with Justin Fields, that is all I will say on this matter.
Outside of the Broncos, they have to contend with two AFC powerhouses in Chiefs and Chargers with the Raiders not too far behind that duo. It is not possible on any circumstances that Broncos win the division outside of injuries to Mahomes, Herbert and Carr.
AFC East – New York Jets
The Jets had one of the best offseasons in the NFL last year; I wouldn’t have gone with Robert Saleh but managing to get Mike LaFleur and the 49ers system into the Jets has convinced me since. Free Agency moves of Corey Davis before rookie draft of Zach Wilson and Elijah Moore were dreams come true for the Jets faithful. It wasn’t perfect but it should do the job.
With a rookie QB, the chances of success of the back is unlikely, but I suspect they will outplay the Patriots and get a minimum of 3rd in the division. To beat the Dolphins, they will require Tua to not have developed at all (which is unlikely). And to beat the Bills, they will require Josh Allen of his rookie/sophomore years and even if that happens I doubt they could beat the Bills due to the strength of that team.
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Cincinnati Bengals
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Atlanta Falcons
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San Francisco 49ers
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Philidelphia Eagles
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Jacksonville Jaguars
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New York Jets
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Detriot Lions
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Denver Broncos