Pillar Article 4

Pillar Article Four

For my fourth pillar article I will be giving my pre-draft picks for every division

AFC North:

1.       Pittsburgh Steelers (11-5)

2.       Cincinnati Bengals (10-6)

3.       Cleveland Browns (6-10)

4.       Baltimore Ravens (4-12)

I think the Steelers will come out on top just above the Bengals at 11-5. The combination of Big Ben and a healthy Le’Veon Bell will be too much for many teams. I think the Bengals are a very solid team but I don’t trust Dalton in big games. I think Cleveland will surprise a lot of people even at six wins. RG3 could have a comeback year playing with a chip on his shoulder. The Ravens have tried to get younger like the Steelers but they don’t have many impact players other than Flacco.

AFC South:

1.       Houston Texans (10-6)

2.       Indianapolis Colts (9-7)

3.       Tennessee Titans (8-8)

4.       Jacksonville Jaguars (8-8)

This division is trending up in a big way. All four teams now have franchise quarterbacks in place. I think the Texans will edge out the Colts for this division. With the additions of Osweiler and Lamar Miller, it gives the Texans some high powered weapons on offense to pair with a top five defense. The Colts seemed to be stuck in a rut at a bad time. They are quickly wasting the best years of Andrew Luck. Behind them the Titans have little talent behind Marcus Mariota and a horrible defense. The Jags are one of the youngest teams in the league and still are a couple years away from competing.

AFC East

1.       New England Patriots (14-2)

2.       Buffalo Bills (9-7)

3.       New York Jets(7-9)

4.       Miami Dolphins (4-12)

This is one of the easier divisions to pick. The Patriots only got better in the offseason by adding Martellis Bennett and Chris Long. Pairing Bennett with Gronkowski could be the best tight end combination in the history of the NFL. Also, there’s this guy named Tom Brady to go along with all that. Other than that, I see Buffalo’s stellar defense carrying their offense for much of the year. I think the Jets will implode from within after losing some guys on defense. The Dolphins are going to need some time to adjust to losing Lamar Miller along with learning the new coach in Adam Gase.

AFC West

1.       Kansas City Chiefs (10-6)

2.       Oakland Raiders (9-7)

3.       San Diego Chargers (6-10)

4.       Denver Broncos (5-11)

Kansas City is able to field a playoff team year after year it seems. I think 2016 will be the same with Alex Smith and company being just good enough to make the playoffs again. Chasing the Chiefs are the Raiders, who are another young team on the rise. Derek Carr seems like their QB of the future and their defense has made some big strides in the last couple of years. After that it gets bad. San Diego doesn’t have enough good players to make up for Philip River’s inconsistency and a terrible defense. The Broncos will go from first to worst on the shoulders of Mark Sanchez.

NFC East

1.       Dallas Cowboys (9-7)

2.       Washington Redskins (9-7)

3.       New York Giants (6-10)

4.       Philadelphia Eagles (4-12)

This division is bad, really bad. I think a healthy Tony Romo and a decent defense will be enough to push America’s team into the playoffs with nine wins. The cowboys still have a big hole to fill on the defensive line and maybe running back. The Redskins should continue their winning ways after franchising Kirk Cousins. They just don’t have enough impact players around him to push them into the playoffs. The Giants spent a ton of money on defensive guys in free agency and I think they will have buyers-remorse in a big way. The Eagles just took a huge gamble trading five of their future draft picks to acquire the second overall pick from the Browns. Their idea is to draft their next franchise QB with this pick.

NFC South

1.       Carolina Panthers (14-2)

2.       New Orleans Saints (10-6)

3.       Atlanta Falcons (8-8)

4.       Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-10)

Carolina is not going anywhere. They could be even better than last year after getting all that expierence in the playoffs. Their defense didn’t lose any key players and Cam is going to get his big time WR back after losing him all last year. I think the Saints are going to surprise a lot of people. I think Drew Brees will return to his younger self and lead the Saints to a respectable 10 win season. Besides that there is the Falcons and Bucs. The Falcons are getting better but just don’t have enough impact players on defense to pair with Matt Ryan and Julio Jones. The Bucs have their franchise QB but are going to need some time to adjust to a new coach.

NFC West

1.       Arizona Cardinals (12-4)

2.       Seattle Seahawks (11-5)

3.       LA Rams (6-10)

4.       San Francisco 49ers (3-13)

This one is a little difficult to predict. I think the Cardinals are a better overall team than the Seahawks. I think Bruce Arians will keep Carson Palmer playing at a high level for at least a couple more years. Pair that with a top five defense and you have a pretty solid NFL team. The Seahawks are right behind the Cardinals as far as skill level. Their defense is going to be in the top three and Russell Wilson is only going to continue to grow as a QB. The only bad spot for the Seahawks is at running back. The Rams are going to take a QB with the first overall pick so there is going to be some growing pains throughout the year. The 49ers are stuck between a rock and a hard place. It appears that Colin Kapernick is going to be their QB. Pair that with a below average defense and a weird head coach and it could be really bad.

NFC North

1.       Green Bay Packers (15-1)

2.       Chicago Bears (11-5)

3.       Minnesota Vikings (10-6)

4.       Detroit Lions (4-12)

The NFC North has a chance to be the best divison in the NFL. The Packers are getting a healthy Jordy Nelson back after missing him all of last year. They also are getting a slimmed down Eddie Lacy which could be huge for this team. And oh yea, they have one of the best QB’s in the game today. Behind them I think the Bears have a chance to surprise everyone. With their revamped line-backing unit, their defense should be in the top ten at least in 2016. They are also getting Kevin White back from injury. Basically they will have two first round picks on the field in 2016. Behind them are the Vikings. I think this team has a talented defense but will only go as far as Teddy Bridgewater will take them. The Lions are trending downward in a big way. Other than a couple players their entire roster is made up of backups from other teams.


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