The NFL preseason is almost upon us, with only about a month left, a lot of teams
are looking to make an impact across the league after a successful drafting. The articles
will be split up into four different reads, as we will dive in and take a look at what to
expect from each team in each division.
NFC North: Chicago, Detroit, Green Bay, and Minnesota
The Chicago Bears are definitely a team that has been struggling over the past couple
of years with Matt Nagy being fired after 4 seasons with the Bears. They now look to
bring on a new coach who looks to try and put Chicago back on top of the division, just
like Nagy did back in 2018. Matt Eberflus, says that all his coaching staff and who he
wants next to him is set and ready for the 2022-23 season, and looks to make an impact
with young talent QB Justin Fields leading the way. Fields, coming out of the 2021 draft,
looked to be a promising spread QB and who could make a lot of things happen with a talent like
Allen Robinson to throw too. Fields has a lot to prove though after coming off a rough
rookie season, battling through a small ankle injury and not playing to his full potential
like he did when playing for his college team, the Ohio State Buckeyes. Chicago looks
to try and make an impact with a start to the season on the road at the Seattle
Seahawks who lost their star QB Russell Wilson.
Detroit fans have not been pleased with the Lions after many unsuccessful seasons, but
they all say that Detroit fans bring it upon themselves, because they always feel the next season will be the season the Lions break through. With the trade of Matthew
Stafford to the Rams and bringing on Jared Goff, the Lions thought they were in a pretty
good spot to at least make a run for 2nd in the division, during the 2021-22 season.
Sadly, the Lions struggled and started off with a 0-10-1 record, after finally securing a
win against conference opponent Minnesota with a last second touchdown. Detroit finally
secured some wins and they also managed to get the 2nd pick in the NFL draft along
with trading up and getting the 12th pick to get both Aidan Hutchinson, an edge rusher
they badly needed out of Michigan, and Jameson Williams, the star receiver at
Alabama. With these moves the Lions finally want to give their fans a winning season
and some glimmer of hope to make the playoffs even if it is the wild card spot. With their
young talent, Detroit should have lots of success this upcoming season.
The cheese heads, or so that is what people call them, look to make another promising
run to the playoffs this year with veteran QB, Aaron Rodgers, back to play another
season for Green Bay. Although the Packers had some trouble with Rodgers during the
off-season and wondering if he would shape up and return to Lambeau field in the fall,
the Packers finally secured a nice deal with the 38-year old QB. Although Rodgers won’t
have much of a receiving core to back him up like he did last year. Davante Adams, now in Las Vegas ready to play for the Raiders, was an essential receiver for Rodgers with a lot of his passes
targeting Adams. Rodgers will have to adjust, as he usually does, and target more
receivers like Allen Lazard and Sammy Watkins. The Packers also drafted a couple of
defenders from the 1st round in the draft and look to input them quickly to help out their defense. The Packers open up the regular season at Minnesota and look to get an early
jump on the division. Green Bay might struggle to finish on top of the division this year,
but in years past they were doubted and they came out just fine.
The Vikings look to strip the division title away from Green Bay this year as QB Kirk
Cousins and WR Justin Jefferson have been blending quite nicely. Jefferson, one of the
top receivers out of LSU and in the NFL last season, looks to have an even better
season this year. Minnesota finished 2nd last season in the division with an 8-9 record
and they look to turn that around and have a season back above .500. Minnesota had
the last pick in the draft and took S Lewis Cine to help out their run defense. With
already having stars on their offense like Jefferson and Thielen, Minnesota just wanted
to make their defense better in hopes of having a very successful season. The Vikings
open up at home against Green Bay to hopefully best their rival on their own turf.
NFC East: Dallas, New York, Philadelphia and Washington
The Cowboys have definitely had a lot of talent on their team, and making the playoffs
has been quite easy for them. It is performing in the playoffs, where they struggle the
most. Having stars like Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott, Micah Parsons and CeeDee Lamb,
Dallas should be able to breeze through the regular season and have multiple efforts at
winning the Super Bowl. Sadly, they have come up short quite a few times. Taking a
look at their 1st round draft pick, which was an offensive tackle, the Cowboys really
need to step up their offensive line and make a better pocket for Prescott to pass out of.
Of course with the exception that Dallas has a good chance to win the NFC East yet again, the Eagles and Commanders should not be sold short as they were close to
winning the division title last year. Dallas opens up their regular season at home against
Tom Brady and the Buccaneers with hopes of starting out their season 1-0.
The New York Giants have had lots of trouble for awhile now, ever since their 2011
Super Bowl victory with QB Eli Manning running the show. The tables have turned now
though and after Manning left the Giants have had no answers at their QB position.
They hoped drafting star RB Saquon Barkley out of Penn State would help solve their
run game issue, but Barkley has been injured quite frequently and cannot stop being
injury prone. After having a couple of top 10 picks in the draft the Giants looked to not
only strengthen their offensive line but also their defense as well, drafting star edge
rusher out of Oregon, Kayvon Thibodeuax. After finishing last in the NFC East last year,
New York has to focus up if they want a shot at the divison title this year behind QB
Daniel Jones, and running back Saquon Barkley. The Giants head down to Nashville to
play the Titans in their regular season opener.
Philadelphia has had some very strange seasons ever since they won the Super Bowl
in 2017. Finishing in the division anywhere from 3rd to 1st, and they have made it to the
playoffs since and gone through a coach in Doug Pederson as well. With QB Jalen
Hurts now leading the way and Nick Sirianni calling the shots, the Eagles have
developed a nice receiving core as well as having a strong offensive line. Not to
mention the Eagles also have worked on their defense and look to get rid of struggles
they had last season and secure another division title. Drafting Davante Smith in last year’s draft and picking up AJ Brown in a trade with the Titans this year, Philly should be
feeling pretty good at where they are as a team and should be able to try and win the
division and best the Cowboys. They open up the season in Detroit at Ford Field
against the Lions, where they bested them 44-6 in last season’s matchup.
The Washington Commanders have had some trouble and look to bounce back from
some tough seasons. After coming close last year and falling short finishing 3rd in the
division, the Commanders look to Carson Wentz who started out with Philadelphia, then went
to Indianapolis to find potential there and now ending up on Washington. To say the
least, the number 2 overall pick in the 2016 draft is less than pleased with how his
career is turning out. Taking Jahan Dotson as their pick in the 2022 draft, Washington
has a decision to make at the starting QB position between Taylor Heinicke and Carson
Wentz. If Washington wants to make a run through the regular season and into the
playoffs, they are going to need to make some serious decisions and fast before the
season starts. They open up against the Jaguars who finished last in the league last
year, and hope to start their season on a positive note.
