1. Seattle- The Seahawks exceeded everyone’s expectations last season winning 9 games and earning a Wild Card berth in its first season in 11 years without Russell Wilson under center. Geno Smith, Wilson’s replacement was sensational completing 69.8% of his passes for 4,282 yards and 30 TD’s. Smith was helped out by a 1,050-yard, 9 TD season by rookie RB Kenneth Walker III after Rashadd Penny went down. The defense struggled for much of 2022 ranking near the bottom of the league in rush yards allowed while giving up 40 plus points three times. The front office went out and acquired DE Dre’Mont Jones from Denver (6.5 sacks, 8 TFL) and longtime Seahawk LB Bobby Wagner from the Rams, but overall this is still far from the Legion of Boom in years past under HC Pete Carroll. The schedule makers didn’t do any favors with road trips to Detroit, New York (Giants), and Cincinnati in the first 5 games along with a brutal 4 game stretch late in the year that includes San Francisco twice in three weeks as well as at Dallas and at home against Philadelphia OVER/UNDER Total Wins 8.5
2. New York Giants- the Giants surprised everyone last year winning 9 regular season games and reaching the divisional round of the playoffs in Brian Daboll’s first season as HC. RB Saquon Barkley led the offense with 1,312 rushing yards and 10 TD’s along with 57 catches for 338 yards. The passing game, however, lacked juice ranking 26 in the league in yards per game and last in pass plays over 20 yards. The defense has its fair share of issues allowing 144.2 rush yards per game, which ranked 27th in the NFL, while also struggling to pressure opposing QB’s and force INT’s. The front office added free agents A’Shawn Robinson (LAR) at DT and Bobby Okereke (IND) at LB to stop the run but the loss of Julian Love, who led the team in both tackles (116) and INT’s (2) last season, will be felt in the secondary. A favorable schedule was a major contributing factor to last year’s 5-win increase from 2021. This year’s slate, on the other hand, is much more challenging with 6 matchups against teams that won 12 plus games a year ago. OVER/UNDER Total Wins 7.5
3. Los Angeles Chargers- The Chargers were able to reach Playoffs as a 5 seed in HC Brandon Staley’s second season but inexplicably squandered a 27-point lead in a 31-30 Wild Card loss to the Jaguars. Justin Herbert, who signed a record setting contract in the offseason, has proven he is elite franchise QB that is more than capable of leading a team to a Super Bowl title. The concern is does Herbert have the right pieces around him to accomplish that feat? The offense lacked production in the running game (30th in the NFL in rush yards per game) to compliment Herbert and the explosive weapons in the passing game. Hybrid RB/WR Austin Ekler led the team with 915 yards rushing but backups Joshua Kelley and Isaiah Spiller were unable to provide much assistance behind him. The defense was porous against the run last year allowing 145.8 yards rushing per game and must rely on newly acquired inside linebacker Erik Kendicks from Minnesota to replace its leading tackler Drue Tranquill. At outside LB Joey Bosa has been injury prone playing just 3 full seasons in his 7-year NFL career and Khalil Mack, despite turning in an impressive 8 sack season in 2022 is another year older at age 31. OVER/UNDER Total Wins 9.5
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