2019 DFL Pre-Season Rankings
Sept 3, 2019 21:52:39 GMT -5
Philadelphia Eagles, Baltimore Ravens, and 1 more like this
Post by Los Angeles Rams on Sept 3, 2019 21:52:39 GMT -5
2019 DFL Pre-Season Rankings: Took me longer than I expected to get this wrapped up, was busier than I thought I would be the last week and a half or so. As you can tell, some teams are already out of date on information here as moves were made after I wrote their write ups, but with the season about to start I don't have time to update every team that made moves, but most the moves, I don't think change where teams currently are. Other teams that are in leagues I have done this for they can tell you, I typically put the reigning champ back at #1 to start the season, so I am NOT playing favorites to my own team, as I feel Washington is again the team to beat. I had a hard time placing most teams on this list, as I think final standings will come down to health and just some luck, so if you don't like where you are, prove me wrong and start winning. Hope you guys enjoy, and good luck this season!
1. Los Angelas Rams: 2018 DFL Champions
Outlook: The Rams start the season as the defending champs of DFL after a long winning streak to end the season. Over the offseason the team lost Frank Clark, Bynes, and others from the title winning team. They have added some pieces, but it has mostly been players for depth and nothing more. The team still boasts Deshaun Watson, a top 3 fantasy QB, AP, LeSean McCoy, and Hyde at RB, who will all be nothing more than solid options at the position for them. Antonio Brown, Tyler Boyd, Albert Wilson, and Mohammed Sanu(a big key for the team in the final week to beat Washington) at WR to give them a strong WR core. To fill out the offense they are a team that can afford to own a backup QB to fill the bye week, and also have Eric Ebron, Jarwin, and Will Dissly at TE to give the Rams a very good offense in the league. On the other side of the ball, Cory Littleton of the real LA Rams leads the team with a solid group of DBs like Amukamara, Ward, Lattimore, and Joyner all projected to be good DB options, at LB behind Littleton they don't have great options, but playing the cards right Judon and Christian Jones could be helpful options. At DL the Rams will go into the season with 3 options of Damon Harrison, Ezekiel Ansah, and Grady Jarrett. The Rams will be a strong team again this season granted they stay healthy, and will be in play to defend their title come postseason time.
Strength and Weakness: QB and WR, and Littleton are definite pluses for the team as all project to score well. RB and lack of depth at LB are clear problems for the Rams and might really hurt the team this season.
2. Washington Redskins: 2018 DFL Runner-Up
Outlook: The Redskins were SO close to winning their 3rd DFL title, but ultimately fell a couple points short of beating the Rams. Going into the off-season the Redskins would have been most everyone's favorite going into this season (could be wrong, but they are my pick at this time). The Redskins are never ones to shy from making big moves to try and improve their roster, this offseason it was trading in Wentz, Kittle, JuJu, and Jordan Reed on offense for Mahomes, Evan Engram, and Trey Quinn, a long with drafting Miles Boykin. With a couple more changes on defense swapping some LBs, the Redskins have definitely retooled for another run at the DFL crown. On offense they currently have the top two players in terms of projected points in Patrick Mahomes and Saquon Barkley. Not to be outdone by those two the other options on offense go as follows DeAndre Hopkins(arguably the best WR in the game), Evan Engram (a top 2/3 young TE in the league), Joe Mixon, Peyton Barber, Kenny Stills, Trey Quinn, Byron Pringle, Dontrell Hilliard, and Miles Boykin, which is probably the top offense in DFL as it stands. Probably equally as good his defense has Jayon Brown, Roquan Smith, and Zach Cunningham at LB. At DB he has John Johnson III and Quandre Diggs as the big options with Adrian Amos and Adrian Phillips as back up players there, and at DL he is lead by JJ Watt and Frank Clark with Trey Flowers as a third option there. He has one of the top defenses in the league, which pairs nicely with likely the top offense as well.
Strength and Weakness: Having the top QB, RB, and WR are clear strengths for a team, and having another RB that is borderline top 10 adds to that. For Washington the weaknesses would be not currently having a backup TE and maybe not having a good LB behind the 3 he has starting.
3. Cincinnati Bengals
Outlook: The 2018 season did not go quite as well as the Bengals would have hoped, coming into the season they seemed to be the Redskins biggest threat for the title as the Bengals have multiple trips to the final, including going to the DFL Super Bowl the season before. That being said the Bengals lost the round before the conference championship and ended up 3rd in the conference. During the off-season, the Bengals moved on from LeSean McCoy and Tyreek Hill on offense and get a healthy AJ Green back in the fold, a long with Alvin Kamara and Kyle Rudolph, the Bengals also had Gronk retire. On defense he replaced Deion Jones with Matt Milano and has mostly the same cast back on defense. With a core of Jared Goff at QB, Alvin Kamara at RB, AJ Green at WR, and Alshon Jeffrey at R/W the Bengals boast a very strong starting 5 on offense, especially when adding Rudolph at TE. Giving him solid depth at RB he has CJ Anderson, Nyheim Hines, and Kareem Hunt, all who could carve out nice roles on their teams. To give him some options at WR he has Robert Foster and Willie Snead on the bench, and Mike Gesicki at TE to fill in for Rudolph when needed. Despite losing Avery Williamson for the year, the Bengals still have Anthony Hitchens, Matt Milano, and CJ Mosley at LB to give them 3 strong options there, with Burfict, Rashaan Evans, and Dorian O'Daniel to provide a little cover for his main three. On the DL the Bengals will rely on two NFL Bengals in Dunlap and Hubbard, along with Da'Ron Payne, 3 usable options for him there. He currently only has 2 DBs on the roster, but both are solid in Minkah Fitzpatrick and DJ Swearinger. The Bengals are solid on both sides of the ball so again they will be a strong contender to win the league and finally break through for their 1st DFL title.
Strength and Weakness: His 3 main LBs, Kamara, and his 2 WRs in the starting lineup are the obvious answer here for the Bengals strengths. Only having 2 DBs currently on the roster might prove to be a problem, but with how easy it is to find them in waivers, it isn't a huge concern.
4. San Fransisco 49ers
Outlook: Despite going into the season under the Browns name for finishing last place in the league the year before, SF made a big splash last season, reaching the playoffs, only to lose to the Redskins in the round of 8, and becoming a strong team to deal with in DFL. To improve the team going into the next season SF struck a massive deal with Washington which netted the 49ers Russell Wilson, JuJu, George Kittle, the now retired(taking a year off?) Telvin Smith, and a FA 1st which turned into Dee Ford, but it cost him Pat Mahomes and Evan Engram. SF made another trade with WAS to land Tevin Coleman and Micah Hyde in exchange for Zach Cunningham. They lost a big option at DB in Tyrann Mathieu to FA over the off-season as well. For the 49ers this year to be successful, they will look to pick the right guy between Russell Wilson and Lamar Jackson at QB every week. Gurley at RB will need to stay healthy all season, and Coleman be a useful bye week fill in, or fill in when needed at RB. The trio of JuJu, Emmanuel Sanders, and Marquise Goodwin is a good top 3 to own, but nothing behind them could cause problems, and to go along with a thin WR core, they only have 1 TE on the roster, but that 1 TE is probably a top 3 option at the position. Like his offense, his defense is currently a little thin as well with 1 DL on the roster, Cam Jordan, 3 DBs who are Micah Hyde, Marcus Maye, and Eric Berry (who currently is not on team). He does have 4 active LBs and 1 LB who is not playing this year, Fred Warner will lead his LB core, and the 49ers will hope Dee Ford, De'Vondre Campbell, and Shaquem Griffin can be strong options behind Warner so his defense will provide enough help for his offense.
Strength and Weakness: SF's strength lies in having 2 very strong options at QB, and a deadly RB, WR, and TE trio. SF is one of the better teams with a huge weakness going into the season, lack of depth every where on his team, except QB.
5. Denver Broncos
Outlook: Denver seems to be a perennial title contender in DFL, which is evident by the multiple titles the team has over the course of their tenure in the league. Last year wasn't a title winning season, but the team made it to the 2nd round of the playoffs, where they lost to eventual champs, the LA Rams. Looking to get back to the top of the league, the Broncos brought in Nick Chubb to replace Mark Ingram at RB, Stephon Tuitt at DL, Rashaan Gaulden at DB, and KJ Wright to provide depth at LB. We will start with WR for this Broncos team because it is likely the best WR group and deepest group on any team in the league, the group will look like Chris Godwin, Allen Robinson, Corey Davis, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and DeVante Parker, so if needed he could potentially deal from a position of strength to net him a needed piece for a playoff push, down the stretch. With the addition of Chubb this off-season, his RB core looks solid with Breida, Rashaad Penny, and Elijah McGuire providing solid depth behind the workhorse for the team. Add Cam Newton at QB and Travis Kelce at TE this Bronco team has a VERY strong offense that will lead this team all season. To provide the help needed for the offense, the defense will be led by tackle machine Luke Kuechly, who is paired with Nick Vigil at LB to give the Broncos solid play at the position. With a DL core of Danielle Hunter, Stephon Tuitt, and Derek Barnett the position will be strong all season. DB for Denver is Rashaan Gaulden and Kenny Vaccaro, other notable IDPs for them are KJ Wright and Preston Brown, to give them a high rated defense in the league.
Strength and Weakness: WR is obviously the biggest strength for this team, also having the top TE in fantasy is helpful. Weakness could be Cam if he can't stay healthy, a long with DB depth, but those are easy to find in waiver wire.
6. Atlanta Falcons
Outlook: Atlanta is coming off their best season in DFL to date, with a 4th place finish and losing to the Rams in the conference championship round, after knocking off Cincinnati in the divisional round. To try and build on that success of last season, Atlanta brought in James White who they planned to use with Lamar Miller at RB, now will be the lead dog at RB with Miller going out for the year and Atlanta dropping Miller. They also added Jared Cook, Jarvis Landry, Josh Gordon, Tyrell Williams, Jason Witten, and Devin Funchess to the offense to give the team more depth there. Atlanta did not add a lot on defense, but they did replace Allen Bailey, Kenny Moore, Josh Norman, and Prince Amukamara with Shelby Harris, Isaiah Oliver, Eric Reid, and Jalen Ramsey, and brought in Leon Jacobs to keep the defense on what looks like level terms with what they had last year. In pursuit of making the final 4 again or trying to get further this year, Atlanta will hope Big Ben can take advantage of the new look Steeler offense around him, James White is consistently a solid RB, and Landry, Funchess, Josh Gordon, and Tyrell Williams all have good seasons at WR, with Cook, Witten, and LaCosse being a solid TE core. Looking to the defensive side of the ball, the Falcons will look at Bradham, Lorenzo Alexander, Von Miller, Leon Jacobs, and Foyesade Oluokun to be a high scoring LB core with hopes that Shelby Harris and Ndamukong Suh at DL and Isaiah Oliver, Eric Reid, Joe Haden, and Jalen Ramsey at DB provide the scoring needed for them to have a top tier defense.
Strength and Weakness: Having a top TE in Jared Cook is a strength as having a high scoring TE is hard to come by, two solid DL on the roster is a big help as well. Losing Miller and leaving the team with only 1 solid RB could be costly.
7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Outlook: Tampa Bay had a good team last year, but being in a difficult division, and some hard matchups meant the team would have to settle for a 5-7 end to the season, missing out on the playoffs. Over the off-season the former owner left, and Chief who enjoyed a DFL retirement of 2 seconds(or something like that), came back to take over the team. In the first off-season running the team, Chief moved a lot of pieces, only returning 1 starter on offense, and 4 starters on defense, the most notable changes were bringing Tom Brady in at QB, Amari Cooper and Robert Woods at WR, and Landon Collins and Earl Thomas at DB. This team rocks a starting 5 on offense of Brady, CMC, Mike Evans, Jordan Reed, and Robert Woods, with young RBs Gus Edwards and Jamaal Williams, WRs of Geronimo Allison and Amari Cooper, and Dallas Goedert at TE on the bench to give this team options behind the starters. His defense won't quite be as deadly as his offense, but with Whitehead, Vince Williams, Landon Collins, Earl Thomas, Eli Apple, and Kyle Fuller leading the way there the defense should be the better defense in more than enough matchups to give Tampa a strong case to be a contender this year.
Strength and Weakness: Strengths for this team are WR with 3 very strong options, and obviously CMC who should be a top 3 RB this year again. The weak spot on this roster would be DL and lack of real depth on defense as a whole.
8. New York Giants
Outlook: Despite have a talented roster, the Giants did not have a good 2018 at all. They finished the season at 4-8, it appeared Winston being in a job share with Fitzpatrick over the season cost them any chance of putting together a good season. To get back to the playoffs and be a playoff threat again the team swapped Tevin Coleman for Devonta Freeman at RB, and while they let Golden Tate go, they brought in Cole Beasley for some WR depth. For the Giants, Bradley Chubb not having DL eligibility is a big loss this season for the team, they also lost Fletcher Cox at DL as well. To get back to the playoffs and compete for the DFL title this year the Giants will need Winston to play the whole year, Devonta Freeman and Derrick Henry to be a deadly RB duo, Lockett and Diggs to be the top 15/20 WRs they should be, with help from Pettis and Beasley when needed. Howard at TE will need to continue to progress, if that happens this Giants team will be one of the top offenses in the league. Defense will be led by Tremaine Edmunds and Benardrick McKinney at LB, with DBs of Terrell Edmunds and Kendall Fuller, and DL of Jonathan Allen and Joey Bosa. To help those guys he has Bradley Chubb, DeAndre Baker, Reggie Ragland, and Jonathan Abram. The Giants are solid all around and appear to be poised to rebound from the bad year last year and be a playoff team again.
Strength and Weakness: Basically the whole offense is a strength, can't put it any better than that. Being thin behind his starters on offense could be costly.
9. New Orleans Saints
Outlook: The Saints were able to make the playoffs, by going 6-6, but the visit to the playoffs was short lived as they lost round 1 to the Browns. Being in a stacked division is probably what kept the Saints from getting a more favorable matchup and possibly advancing further into the playoffs. The Saints had two QBs on the roster last year to try and help them succeed, and going into the season they will still use that strategy, but with Nick Foles and Josh Rosen instead of Andy Dalton and Josh Rosen. He added Latavius Murray to the offense, a long with other players to give his team some depth on offense that he did not have last year. On defense he brought in Anthony Barr to replace Mark Barron, and lost Grady Jarrett and Barry Church, which slimmed down the defensive depth a bit. Can the Saints get some Foles magic this season to make them a playoff contender, or will Rosen start in Miami and take a step forward in his sophmore year? The biggest question for the Saints is if Melvin Gordon will play a single snap this year for the Chargers, if not, will the add of Justin Jackson help, a long with Latavius Murray at RB? Those two probably will not be enough to replace Gordon if he does end up holding out all season. At WR the team has TY Hilton to lead the way, and a couple guys who probably won't be anything more than bye week fillers in Taylor Gabriel and Rashard Higgins, and they also drafted DK Metcalf to help out the WR situation. For his TE spot, he has one of the top guys at the position in Zach Ertz, with Hayden Hurst as his backup option there. The Saints have Jurrell Casey, Myles Garrett, and Lawrence Guy as a strong trio at DL, with Woodyard, Barr, Klein, Jarrad Davis, and BJ Goodson at LB. His 3 DBs, that all should be solid scoring options are Ricardo Allen, Adoree' Jackson, and Donte Jackson. This team is solid and could very well make some noise this season, but if Melvin Gordon does not play, I question how good this team will be.
Strength and Weakness: TY Hilton and Zach Ertz would be who I look at as strengths for this team, a long with Garrett at DL and Jarrad Davis at LB. With Foles and Rosen as his QB options, the weakness is, are either good enough for a team to make the playoffs, and the uncertainty hanging over Melvin Gordon right now does not bode well for them.
10. Minnesota Vikings
Outlook: Last year I had a feeling Minnesota was gonna be a big threat to win the league. They definitely answered that bell, going all the way to the conference championship game against the Redskins, where they ultimately fell short against the Redskins and had to settle for 3rd place in the league, still a strong season for the Vikings. The biggest change this off-season for the Vikings this offseason was losing Andrew Luck to a shock retirement, a week and a half before the season. They also just lost a couple FAs on the defensive side including both their DL starters. The Vikings have a solid offense despite losing Luck. That being said, Dalvin Cook and OBJ will have to be monsters this year, and hope the QB the Vikings bring in will be solid enough that losing Luck will not be a HUGE loss. The Vikings have Gio Bernard and Mike Davis behind Cook for some depth at RB. At WR he has Calvin Ridley and Curtis Samuel to give him 3 solid options at WR, and maybe use in some order at the R/W position, with Jack Doyle at TE, this offense will still put up a lot of points this year, but still need to find the right QB to keep this team in a position to be a threat. Currently the Vikings only have 2 DL on the roster, both rookies, and neither of them projected to be useful options there, so the Vikings will need to find guys there or hope his two bust out and play way above what they are expected. If they can't his LB core of Demario Davis, Myles Jack, and Blake Martinez will need to be monsters to carry the point total on defense, especially with his high scoring DB Derwin James set to miss 3-4 months of the season. The other DBs on the roster will look to pick up the slack, those DBs being Sean Davis, Vernon Hargreaves, and Malik Hooker, all 3 of whom look to be solid options for the team this season.
Strength and Weakness: Dalvin Cook and OBJ on offense and Jack, Davis, and Martinez at LB on defense are the biggest reasons the Vikings will be a title contender this season. Losing Luck so close to the season is a clear weakness, but it can be minimized if the Vikings can grab a solid QB, other weaknesses for them would be only having 1 TE, 2 rookie DL, and almost no defensive depth will be the biggest obstacles in the Vikings path this year.
11. Kansas City Chiefs
Outlook: KC had an up and down 2018 season, struggling early and often to get into a good run of wins, they managed to put something together to end the season, and finish the year 6-6, but that was not enough to get them into the playoffs. Over the off-season they brought in a new QB, swapping Mariotta for Trubisky, which should be a more consistent and better option there, the team already had 2 very solid RBs, but still drafted Josh Jacobs early to give them 3 options to rotate at RB and R/W on the season. They get Hunter Henry back at TE, and also drafted Noah Fant who will compete with Hockenson to be the premier TE of the 2019 rookie class, they also drafted Parris Campbell to add to their WR room. KC added Thomas Davis at LB to help strengthen his defense. With the previously mentioned Trubisky at QB, KC will look to Leonard Fournette, Josh Jacobs, and Aaron Jones to be a three headed monster at RB this season. To give the RBs help they will look for Julio Jones, Parris Campbell, Paul Richardson, Hunter Henry, and Noah Fant to be solid scoring options at WR and TE, if that all comes together, this offense could be very deadly this year. With Lavonte David, Thomas Davis, and Jerome Baker for his LB options, that is a strong start to KC's defense, add in Aaron Donald and Marcus Davenport at DL, the front line for the team is solid. He currently has 6 DBs on the roster, they are Tony Jefferson, Jordan Poyer, Justin Simmons, James Bradberry, Ronnie Harrison, and Desmond King, all of whom will be good scoring options, so picking which ones to play each week will be tough, but that is a good problem to have.
Strength and Weakness: RB with the 3 big hitters, LB with David and Davis, and a deep DB core are all great things to have for KC going into this season. Trubisky at QB, still raises questions for me, as I am still not sure what he will be as a QB in the NFL, and having no DL depth behind the 2 starters is not a
good thing going into the season.
12. Chicago Bears
Outlook: Chicago was a team I just never could quite figure out why they were losing last year, aside from not scoring more than the other team obviously. This team is loaded with talent on offense and has plenty of guys on defense, that a 2-10 record and 22nd place finish last season was very confusing to me. To try and figure things out and be a threat this season, the Bears added Moncrief, Delanie Walker, and NKeal Henry to their offense. On defense they added Javon Hargrave and Bilal Nichols at DL and Jordan Hicks at LB, all those adds should be the ingredients needed to put this team at least in a spot to make the playoffs this year. On offense, Wentz returning to MVP form will be huge for the team, but behind him at RB he has a top 5/6 RB in David Johnson, a young up and coming Sony Michel, and Austin Ekeler who looks to gain the most from Melvin Gordon holding out, that is 3 very strong options at RB. WR he has a top fantasy WR in Davante Adams, with Moncrief, David Moore, and NKeal Henry to provide depth there, and add Delanie Walker at TE, this Bears offense should be high scoring every week. So with Bobby Wagner, Danny Trevathan, and Jordan Hicks at LB, the Bears can argue for the best LB core in the league, and might win that argument. DL with Hargrave and Nichols that is two solid options there, and at DB he has options there to put up points in Weddle and Shawn Williams, but TJ McDonald not being on a team right now and other DBs seemingly down the pecking order on their teams, those 2 DBs will be in search of some help.
Strength and Weakness: His 3 LBs and 3 RBs are definite strengths for this team going into the season. Wentz injury history could, but hopefully not, become a problem, and the thin options at DB behind the two top options could be costly.
13. Indianapolis Colts
Outlook: Despite the 7-5 record on the season last year, the Colts were not able to make the playoffs. It was a solid season for the Colts, but started out a little rocky not being able to string wins together. Over the off-season the Colts added John Brown to give them some more depth at WR, and Clayton Geathers at DB to help out the defensive side of the ball. The Colts return mostly the same roster from last year to try and make the leap into the playoffs this year. They have Stafford at QB, the Vanimal, Vance McDonald at TE, and the biggest boost for this team is Duke Johnson at RB, who assumes the Texans starting job, after Lamar Miller unfortunately tore his ACL. WR is where his big guns on offense are at with Adam Thielen, Mike Williams, John Brown, Nelson Agholor, and John Ross making up a solid core there. RB behind Duke Johnson for the Colts is very thin, unless TJ Yeldon can start to get carries in the Bills backfield. The Colts have Everson Griffen, Larry Ogunjobi, and Arik Armstead to use at DL, with Clayton Geathers, Harrison Smith, and Justin Evans as his options for DB. His LB options are pretty solid as well with Alex Anzalone, Anthony Walker, Eric Kendricks, Christian Kirksey, and Darron Lee all being guys that should put up good numbers at the position. Can bringing mostly the same team back for the new season, be what gets the Colts into the playoffs, or did they need to make some changes?
Strength and Weakness: With Thielen and Mike Williams at WR, the team is strong there. Behind the main guys on defense, the Colts are a little thin on depth.
14. Dallas Cowboys
Outlook: Dallas was a hard team to figure out last season, they won their division, despite not putting up many points every week of the season. It resulted in an 8-4 season, but lost in the first round of the playoffs. Looking to be more consistent this season, Dallas will hope Fuller will stay healthy is all season, Guice breaks out in his first healthy NFL season, and adding DeMarcus Lawrence and Jadeveon Clowney to the defense will all do the trick. If Zeke does not get his extension and holds out this Dallas team could be in for a long season, with Guice as the only RB option behind Zeke, and Marquise Brown as the only player projected to score any kind of points on his bench for offense. If Zeke plays him, Cousins at QB, Fuller at WR, Greg Olsen at TE, and Guice at R/W could be a competitive offense. Pair that with Clowney, Lawrence, and Robert Quinn at DL, Vander Esch and Watt at LB, and Chung at DB, Dallas could have a solid defense, but will need Dupree, Darby, and Dylan Cole to be helpful on defense to be that solid defense and make a run at the playoffs. All this really hinges on Zeke playing this season though, because without him, I would say the season is toast for them.
Strength and Weakness: Zeke on offense and Vander Esch on defense are the strengths of this Dallas team. WR with Fuller and and Brown as the only options and neither being top options on their NFL teams does not bode well for them.
15. Tennessee Titans
Outlook: So for Tennessee the season ended at 6-6 and not in the playoffs, despite having a very talented offense, and some good scoring players on defense, the record probably did not do this team justice. They added Randall Cobb to their WR group to give them a littl more depth and Vernon Davis to give them a backup option at TE behind Mark Andrews. On defense they replaced Tre Boston with Tyrann Mathieu, they lost Morris Claiborne and were only able to add Harold Landry at a DP spot to replace him, which Landry probably will not score as well as Claiborne. The Titans will rely heavily on Saints players on offense with 4 Saints there, those being Brees at QB, and 3 WRs of Michael Thomas, Ted Ginn, and Kirkwood. At RB the Titans will use Cohen again, but only have Sproles behind him for depth. The other WRs to go with the 3 Saints are Edelman, Cobb, and rookie Jalen Hurd. TE will be led by second year TE Mark Andrews and veteran Vernon Davis. Defense will be led by very strong options at each level, with Calais Campbell and Cam Heyward at DL, Alec Ogletree at LB, and Tyrann Mathieu at DB. Behind those guys they have Lorenzo Carter, Landry, and Barron(who they will hope has a significant role on the Steelers defense at LB, and Marcus Williams at DB, can that cast be enough help for the big guns on defense to give the Titans a solid scoring defense this season? This Titans team might be a little low in my rankings, but it all depends on the defense, and how well the non-Saint offensive players do.
Strength and Weakness: Brees and Thomas on offense and Campbell, Ogletree, and Mathieu on defense will be the Titans strong points this season. RB and defensive depth will be struggle points for the team.
16. Pittsburgh Steelers
Outlook: The Steelers got screwed over by Bell holding out the whole season last year, forcing them to try and find help for Conner and Jackson on offense, but did not have such luck forcing them to settle for a 5-7 season. Getting Bell back is a huge gain over the off-season for the team, they have also added some fringe depth on offense to try and help them there this season, namely swapping Funchess for Humphries at WR, and going from Austin Hooper to Tyler Eifert at TE. They lost Henry Anderson at DL, but drafted Clelin Ferrell and Jerry Tillery to try and replace him. They let Mike Adams go, but brought in Josey Jewell to keep the defensive depth close to where it was. With Le'Veon Bell and James Conner at RB, the Steelers might have the best RB duo in the league, which will be big for them. Having Carr at QB should be interesting for them this year, as its not clear how he will be with the new weapons in Oakland this year. The Steelers have plenty of WRs, led by DeSean Jackson, followed by Gallup, looking for a breakout 2nd season, Adam Humphries, DJ Chark, also looking for a big jump in year 2, and Benjamin and Arcega-Whiteside to give them a very deep WR core. TE will be Eifert, Schultz, and Waller, so a mixed bag there with an injury prone Eifert leading them, and two unknown quantities as the backup options. On defense the Steelers might have the best young LB currently in the league, in Darius Leonard. To help him out they have Joe Schobert, Oren Burks, and Josey Jewell at LB. His DB options are good too with Vonn Bell, Tre'Davious White, Justin Reid, and Logan Ryan, all being solid scoring options. DL would be the question mark on his defense with Kawann Short, and two rookies Clelin Ferrell and Jerry Tillery, can those guys score enough points to help this defense.
Strength and Weakness: RB is obviously a big strength, Leonard and Schobert at LB on defense will also be key for this team. WR with Jackson as the top option might not be great, and DL with the 3 options there will likely be a problem.
17. Green Bay Packers
Outlook: Green Bay finished off the 2018 season with a 3-9 record and the 4th worst record in the league. The season started off rough and just never got good for them. With the pieces they had, I would say the record is a bit surprising, so turning their luck around this season, would be top priority. In the of season, GB let Alex Collins go and drafted Devin Singletary at RB, and they thinned the WR ranks by moving on from Cole Beasley and Chad Williams. They added rookie DL Ed Oliver to give them depth there, also upgraded LB with Kwon Alexander and top drafted LB Devin White giving them a solid LB core. To help on the defense they also added McDougald, Bethea, and Kareem Jackson to help what was a seemingly thin defense. This team will be led by Aaron Rodgers at QB, Keenan Allen at WR, and Kenyan Drake at RB. Those guys will need help, which will come from Jimmy Graham and Ian Thomas at TE, DJ Moore and James Washington at WR, and some solid RB depth with Dion Lewis, Devin Singletary, Ito Smith, and Corey Clement. The Packers improved defense is led by Kwon Alexander, Devin White, and Zach Brown at LB, with Bostic and Collins as other options, but not as strong options as the other 3. His DBs are better this season with Bradley McDougald, Damarious Randall, Antione Bethea, and Kareem Jackson all projected to be very high scoring DB options. DL is the lowest of the 3 levels on defense for GB, but they have Yannick Ngakoue and Da'Shawn Hand to do a job and be useful, while being backed up by rookies Ed Oliver and Zach Allen. This GB team should get more wins this season, if they stay healthy, but time will tell.
Strength and Weakness: Keenan Allen, Kwon Alexander, Devin White, and Antoine Bethea will need to lead from the front and be the strongest options for this team. DL could be a liability this season, as could Kenyan Drake and the other RBs if they do not get a solid amount of carries this year.
18. New England Patriots
Outlook: New England had a very solid season finishing 7-5 on the year and making it to the 2nd round of the playoffs, losing to the Vikings in that round. New England made some moves to retool the roster to try and improve this year, letting their guy Tom Brady move on to build around Baker, moved Kamara for Tyreek Hill, Deion Jones, and Kevin Byard to try and help balance the team out. To try and help fill the gap for Kamara they drafted David Montgomery and picked up Jalen Richard at the position as well. The Pats lost Trey Flowers, and replaced him with Michael Bennett, also replaced Bethea with Kevin Byard, and AJ Bouye with Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. They also added Jeff Heath to help on defense. Looking to make it back to the playoffs, the Pats will look to Baker to take a big step forward in year 2, David Montgomery to get his fair share of work in Chicago, Mack to be able to keep up his work load with Luck gone, and Tyreek Hill to be the same guy he was last year, despite the off-season noise around him. If that happens, NJoku, Jalen Richard, Mecole Hardman, and Marvin Jones will need to be solid depth options. His defense should be a solid unit with Khalil Mack, Deion Jones, DeForest Buckner, and Kevin Byard leading the way. Behind them Bennett, Onwuasor, Clinton-Dix, Leonard Floyd, Jeff Heath, and the rookie Juan Thornhill all need to be solid to help make this defense a solid scoring one.
Strength and Weakness: LB duo of Mack and Jones will be high scoring, and young TE NJoku continuing to improve will be strong points for this team. TE and LB depth are gonna be an issue on bye weeks, and if guys can't stay healthy.
19. New York Jets
Outlook: The Jets finished last year in 17th place in the league last season, despite seemingly having a good team. It appeared the division he was in did him in. The team had to decide between Trubisky and Sam Darnold at QB and ultimately went with Darnold for the long run, they also in the same trade sent Jordan Howard away to acquire a 1st round pick, which was used on T.J Hockenson. He returns most of his roster, adding some rookies, and only losing some borderline/depth options. As mentioned he will go into the season with Darnold at QB, with the Jets improving their offense will Darnold make the big leap forward a lot of people think he will? A question mark on this team will be RB, as currently his two options are Ballage, who needs to beat out Drake for carries in Miami and Chase Edmonds who is behind a top 5 RB in the NFL in David Johnson. The Jets will have plenty of options at WR as they drafted 3 rookie WRs (AJ Brown, Andy Isabella, and Deebo Samuel) which will add to Brandin Cooks, their leading man at WR, Courland Sutton and DaeSean Hamilton two solid young Denver WRs, and Quincy Enunwa who is 2nd on the Jets depth chart. At TE he is looking at Everett, Hollister, and rookie Hockenson, so two of those 3 should be good options at TE for them, and he will hope 1 breaks out to have a strong option there. His defense appears to be solid with a number of DBs who are good, those being Adams, Peppers, and Budda Baker who all scored 122+ points last year. The Jets also have Todd Davis and Haason Reddick at LB and Kenny Clark at DL, but behind those 6 guys, the Jets will hope that another one of their defenders break out or they will not have much depth. Will the Jets take advantage of new division foes and make a play for the playoffs?
Strength and Weakness: The Jets biggest assets are Cooks at WR, Hockenson at TE, 3 very good DBs, and Todd Davis at LB. The Jets will hope the lack of a starting RB and defensive depth doesn't ruin the season for them.
20. Arizona Cardinals
Outlook: With his 4-8 finish last year, the Cardinals finished in 20th place last year. The result was probably due to losing Jimmy G to an unfortunate injury, and having to role with other QBs like Eli Manning, he also lost Cooper Kupp during the season, and did not have a great option at TE. Over the off-season the biggest add to this Arizona team was getting guys healthy, and Damien Williams getting KCs RB gig thanks to Hunt being released by the team. The Cardinals will hope Jimmy G can stay healthy this season, and finally prove be able to prove why the 49ers paid him all that money, but if that doesn't happen, the Cardinals picked up Jimmy G's back up Mullens. At RB he has options with Chris Carson and Damien Williams, backed up by Chris Thompson, he could also have a break out guy in Pollard if Zeke never shows up to Dallas. WR could use a little help for the Cardinals as the only real viable option he currently has is Cooper Kupp, with Amendola being the sole usable backup, like WR his TE options might be lacking a little as he just signed Geoff Swaim to take the starting spot over Jonnu Smith. With Hicks, Robinson, Sheard, and Leonard Williams at DL, the Cardinals have options at DL for the season. With Alonso and Van Noy at LB the team has two good options, behind them it will be a question of what will Minter and Preston Smith do to give them depth at the position. Tre Flowers and Janoris Jenkins lead the way at DB for Arizona, but they will need Curtis Riley, Greedy Williams, and Mike Hughes to have better seasons then they are projected currently. If things go well Arizona could be a top half team, if not they might be staring another down year in the face.
Strength and Weakness: The obvious strength for this Arizona team is the two RBs that could score 200 points this season, his weaknesses would be lack of depth at WR and on defense.
21. Detroit Lions
Outlook: Detroit had a 7-5 season last year, which put them into the playoffs on the season, but for them, that is as far as it got, as they lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Patriots. Over the off-season the only notable change on offense, was that the Lions drafted Darrell Henderson at RB. They mostly kept the same offense, just dropping Sproles, Abdullah, and Spencer Ware, thinning out of the options there. On defense, they added Denzel Perryman, BJ Hill, and Takkarist McKinley, while losing Jordan Hicks. Can an offense of Rivers at QB, Kerryon Johnson and Darrell Henderson at RB, Sterling Shepard, Sammy Watkins, and Keke Coutee at WR, and Trey Burton at TE be a strong enough offense to make noise this year? Defense appears like it could be a solid set of players with Jerry Hughes, Chandler Jones, BJ Hill, Takkarist McKinley, and rookie Montez Sweat at DL, Jaylon Smith, Samson Ebukam, Denzel Perryman, and a few others at LB, and Eddie Jackson and Keanu Neal as the two DB options. The defense has a lot of options, but are any of them behind the few big names gonna be good enough options to make this defense one that helps this team to the playoffs?
Strength and Weakness: Chandler Jones at DL, Jaylon Smith at LB, and Keanu Neal at DB will be key for this team on defense. Lack of a #1 at WR and only Trey Burton at TE, coupled with only 2 DBs and some iffy options on defense, Detroit has some holes to fill this season.
22. Carolina Panthers
Outlook: Carolina was a playoff team in 2018 with a 7-5 record on the season. It was a quick visit to the playoffs for the Panthers though, losing in the first round to Denver. In the off-season they lost James White at RB and Kyle Rudolph at TE, but brought in a number of rookies to help give the offense options, but will those be enough to replace the guys he lost. They lost Clowney at DL, Foster at LB is still not on a team, Bradley Roby at DB and Denzel Perryman were also players lost for the defense over the offseason. If the Panthers want to have another playoff run, Matt Ryan at QB will need to be a top 5 QB again, Freeman, Armstead, Ronald Jones, Dare Ogunbowale, or Miles Sanders will need to establish themselves as the top RB for their respective teams so that the Panthers have a lead dog at RB. Christian Kirk and Jamison Crowder will be the top 2 options at WR, but the team will hope Jakeem Grant and Hakeem Butler can carve out spots in their WR rotation on their teams to give them some depth there. With Uzomah and Josh Oliver at TE, they don't have a true lead option there, but could change if things go their way. On defense his scoring options are Chris Jones at DL, Raekwon McMillan at LB, and Jessie Bates, Tashaun Gipson, and Byron Jones at DB, but behind them a couple rookies at DL in Chase Winovich and Dexter Lawrence, FA Mason Foster at LB, and Josh Jackson in a crowded secondary in GB all seem to be holding this defensive unit back for this season.
Strength and Weakness: Matt Ryan, plenty of RBs to choose from, Christian Kirk at WR, and Jessie Bates at DB are all players the Panthers need to have big seasons. Only having 1 LB on an NFL roster, and overall lack of depth on defense, and no true number 1 TE are gonna be hard to overcome.
23. Seattle Seahawks
Outlook: Seattle comes into this 2019 DFL season with a new owner at the helm, as Chief tried to retire but it didn't stick. Seattle the team is coming off a two win season last year, where they were not very competitive at all, all season. To try and improve this year, the team added Mark Ingram at RB and Denico Autry and Brandon Graham at DL, hoping those adds and other guys progressing will move them up the standings. At QB for the Seahawks this year, Dak's success might hinge on if Zeke returns and takes pressure off Dak to play well. With Mark Ingram as the lead and only reliable back on the roster, the Seahawks will pray he stays healthy, or hope that McKinnon can come back healthy and take play time from Coleman and Breida in the 49ers backfield. The WR spot has options for Seattle with Robby Anderson, Larry Fitz, Anthony Miller, and possibly Tre'Quan Smith, if he can carve a solid role out in the NO pass attack, those 4 should make Seattle feel comfortable at WR for the season. TE looks decent for Seattle right now, as they have the Jets top TE, but he will miss time thanks to a PED suspension, that being Chris Herndon, the backup who will start early for the team is Nick Vannett who currently is the 2nd TE in NFL Seattle behind Dissly. For the Seahawks on defense, they will hope Kenny Young take a big step forward to fill the hole CJ Mosley left in the middle of the Ravens defense, so that the Seahawks can have a top LB on the roster, and next to Young they have Shaq Thompson. DL will be filled by previously mentioned Autry and Graham, with help from highly rated rookie Nick Bosa. It looks like Seattle will have some solid DBs for the year with Awuzie, Malcolm Butler, Xavien Howard, and Jaire Alexander all projected to put solid points up this year.
Strength and Weakness: WR should be the leading position for this team. Not having a higher rated TE or big scoring defender will be the weakest spots for this team this season.
24. Cleveland Browns (PHI)
Outlook: The Browns (for the season, normally the Eagles) had a very difficult season last year, only winning 1 game all year, and getting the unwanted right to wear the Browns name for this upcoming season. To try and get away from being the last place team in the league for the second straight year, the Eagles added Josh Allen, Jordan Howard, Kenny Golladay, and Golden Tate to his offense to give him some better options there. They lost Stephon Gilmore and Preston Smith, but did not bring in replacements that appear to be as solid, but that could change if guys have good seasons. To move up the standings this season, the team will look for Josh Allen to make a big jump this season at QB, a long with Lindsay to repeat and improve on what he did as a surprise break out rookie, and Jordan Howard to be a solid backup to Lindsay at RB. The WR core of Dede Westbrook, Kenny Golladay, and Golden Tate is solid, and he will need all 3 to be very good options this year to help fill the gap at TE where they only have rookie Dawson Knox of the Bills who is listed as the top TE for them, but not projected to be a strong fantasy option, so we will see what happens there. On defense he returns Jatavis Brown and Malcolm Jenkins as the leading point getters from his defense last season, and he also brings back Melvin Ingram, Darius Slay, and Justin Houston who were all solid for him last year. He added Elandor Roberts and Jordan Evans on defense to help his LB core. Will this be enough talent on offense and defense to shed the Browns name?
Strength and Weakness: Young up and coming, break out potential talent on offense should be a strength for this team, as they all looked poised for bigger seasons then they had last year. Weakness would be depth on defense, as behing his starters things look like they might be a little thin.
1. Los Angelas Rams: 2018 DFL Champions
Outlook: The Rams start the season as the defending champs of DFL after a long winning streak to end the season. Over the offseason the team lost Frank Clark, Bynes, and others from the title winning team. They have added some pieces, but it has mostly been players for depth and nothing more. The team still boasts Deshaun Watson, a top 3 fantasy QB, AP, LeSean McCoy, and Hyde at RB, who will all be nothing more than solid options at the position for them. Antonio Brown, Tyler Boyd, Albert Wilson, and Mohammed Sanu(a big key for the team in the final week to beat Washington) at WR to give them a strong WR core. To fill out the offense they are a team that can afford to own a backup QB to fill the bye week, and also have Eric Ebron, Jarwin, and Will Dissly at TE to give the Rams a very good offense in the league. On the other side of the ball, Cory Littleton of the real LA Rams leads the team with a solid group of DBs like Amukamara, Ward, Lattimore, and Joyner all projected to be good DB options, at LB behind Littleton they don't have great options, but playing the cards right Judon and Christian Jones could be helpful options. At DL the Rams will go into the season with 3 options of Damon Harrison, Ezekiel Ansah, and Grady Jarrett. The Rams will be a strong team again this season granted they stay healthy, and will be in play to defend their title come postseason time.
Strength and Weakness: QB and WR, and Littleton are definite pluses for the team as all project to score well. RB and lack of depth at LB are clear problems for the Rams and might really hurt the team this season.
2. Washington Redskins: 2018 DFL Runner-Up
Outlook: The Redskins were SO close to winning their 3rd DFL title, but ultimately fell a couple points short of beating the Rams. Going into the off-season the Redskins would have been most everyone's favorite going into this season (could be wrong, but they are my pick at this time). The Redskins are never ones to shy from making big moves to try and improve their roster, this offseason it was trading in Wentz, Kittle, JuJu, and Jordan Reed on offense for Mahomes, Evan Engram, and Trey Quinn, a long with drafting Miles Boykin. With a couple more changes on defense swapping some LBs, the Redskins have definitely retooled for another run at the DFL crown. On offense they currently have the top two players in terms of projected points in Patrick Mahomes and Saquon Barkley. Not to be outdone by those two the other options on offense go as follows DeAndre Hopkins(arguably the best WR in the game), Evan Engram (a top 2/3 young TE in the league), Joe Mixon, Peyton Barber, Kenny Stills, Trey Quinn, Byron Pringle, Dontrell Hilliard, and Miles Boykin, which is probably the top offense in DFL as it stands. Probably equally as good his defense has Jayon Brown, Roquan Smith, and Zach Cunningham at LB. At DB he has John Johnson III and Quandre Diggs as the big options with Adrian Amos and Adrian Phillips as back up players there, and at DL he is lead by JJ Watt and Frank Clark with Trey Flowers as a third option there. He has one of the top defenses in the league, which pairs nicely with likely the top offense as well.
Strength and Weakness: Having the top QB, RB, and WR are clear strengths for a team, and having another RB that is borderline top 10 adds to that. For Washington the weaknesses would be not currently having a backup TE and maybe not having a good LB behind the 3 he has starting.
3. Cincinnati Bengals
Outlook: The 2018 season did not go quite as well as the Bengals would have hoped, coming into the season they seemed to be the Redskins biggest threat for the title as the Bengals have multiple trips to the final, including going to the DFL Super Bowl the season before. That being said the Bengals lost the round before the conference championship and ended up 3rd in the conference. During the off-season, the Bengals moved on from LeSean McCoy and Tyreek Hill on offense and get a healthy AJ Green back in the fold, a long with Alvin Kamara and Kyle Rudolph, the Bengals also had Gronk retire. On defense he replaced Deion Jones with Matt Milano and has mostly the same cast back on defense. With a core of Jared Goff at QB, Alvin Kamara at RB, AJ Green at WR, and Alshon Jeffrey at R/W the Bengals boast a very strong starting 5 on offense, especially when adding Rudolph at TE. Giving him solid depth at RB he has CJ Anderson, Nyheim Hines, and Kareem Hunt, all who could carve out nice roles on their teams. To give him some options at WR he has Robert Foster and Willie Snead on the bench, and Mike Gesicki at TE to fill in for Rudolph when needed. Despite losing Avery Williamson for the year, the Bengals still have Anthony Hitchens, Matt Milano, and CJ Mosley at LB to give them 3 strong options there, with Burfict, Rashaan Evans, and Dorian O'Daniel to provide a little cover for his main three. On the DL the Bengals will rely on two NFL Bengals in Dunlap and Hubbard, along with Da'Ron Payne, 3 usable options for him there. He currently only has 2 DBs on the roster, but both are solid in Minkah Fitzpatrick and DJ Swearinger. The Bengals are solid on both sides of the ball so again they will be a strong contender to win the league and finally break through for their 1st DFL title.
Strength and Weakness: His 3 main LBs, Kamara, and his 2 WRs in the starting lineup are the obvious answer here for the Bengals strengths. Only having 2 DBs currently on the roster might prove to be a problem, but with how easy it is to find them in waivers, it isn't a huge concern.
4. San Fransisco 49ers
Outlook: Despite going into the season under the Browns name for finishing last place in the league the year before, SF made a big splash last season, reaching the playoffs, only to lose to the Redskins in the round of 8, and becoming a strong team to deal with in DFL. To improve the team going into the next season SF struck a massive deal with Washington which netted the 49ers Russell Wilson, JuJu, George Kittle, the now retired(taking a year off?) Telvin Smith, and a FA 1st which turned into Dee Ford, but it cost him Pat Mahomes and Evan Engram. SF made another trade with WAS to land Tevin Coleman and Micah Hyde in exchange for Zach Cunningham. They lost a big option at DB in Tyrann Mathieu to FA over the off-season as well. For the 49ers this year to be successful, they will look to pick the right guy between Russell Wilson and Lamar Jackson at QB every week. Gurley at RB will need to stay healthy all season, and Coleman be a useful bye week fill in, or fill in when needed at RB. The trio of JuJu, Emmanuel Sanders, and Marquise Goodwin is a good top 3 to own, but nothing behind them could cause problems, and to go along with a thin WR core, they only have 1 TE on the roster, but that 1 TE is probably a top 3 option at the position. Like his offense, his defense is currently a little thin as well with 1 DL on the roster, Cam Jordan, 3 DBs who are Micah Hyde, Marcus Maye, and Eric Berry (who currently is not on team). He does have 4 active LBs and 1 LB who is not playing this year, Fred Warner will lead his LB core, and the 49ers will hope Dee Ford, De'Vondre Campbell, and Shaquem Griffin can be strong options behind Warner so his defense will provide enough help for his offense.
Strength and Weakness: SF's strength lies in having 2 very strong options at QB, and a deadly RB, WR, and TE trio. SF is one of the better teams with a huge weakness going into the season, lack of depth every where on his team, except QB.
5. Denver Broncos
Outlook: Denver seems to be a perennial title contender in DFL, which is evident by the multiple titles the team has over the course of their tenure in the league. Last year wasn't a title winning season, but the team made it to the 2nd round of the playoffs, where they lost to eventual champs, the LA Rams. Looking to get back to the top of the league, the Broncos brought in Nick Chubb to replace Mark Ingram at RB, Stephon Tuitt at DL, Rashaan Gaulden at DB, and KJ Wright to provide depth at LB. We will start with WR for this Broncos team because it is likely the best WR group and deepest group on any team in the league, the group will look like Chris Godwin, Allen Robinson, Corey Davis, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and DeVante Parker, so if needed he could potentially deal from a position of strength to net him a needed piece for a playoff push, down the stretch. With the addition of Chubb this off-season, his RB core looks solid with Breida, Rashaad Penny, and Elijah McGuire providing solid depth behind the workhorse for the team. Add Cam Newton at QB and Travis Kelce at TE this Bronco team has a VERY strong offense that will lead this team all season. To provide the help needed for the offense, the defense will be led by tackle machine Luke Kuechly, who is paired with Nick Vigil at LB to give the Broncos solid play at the position. With a DL core of Danielle Hunter, Stephon Tuitt, and Derek Barnett the position will be strong all season. DB for Denver is Rashaan Gaulden and Kenny Vaccaro, other notable IDPs for them are KJ Wright and Preston Brown, to give them a high rated defense in the league.
Strength and Weakness: WR is obviously the biggest strength for this team, also having the top TE in fantasy is helpful. Weakness could be Cam if he can't stay healthy, a long with DB depth, but those are easy to find in waiver wire.
6. Atlanta Falcons
Outlook: Atlanta is coming off their best season in DFL to date, with a 4th place finish and losing to the Rams in the conference championship round, after knocking off Cincinnati in the divisional round. To try and build on that success of last season, Atlanta brought in James White who they planned to use with Lamar Miller at RB, now will be the lead dog at RB with Miller going out for the year and Atlanta dropping Miller. They also added Jared Cook, Jarvis Landry, Josh Gordon, Tyrell Williams, Jason Witten, and Devin Funchess to the offense to give the team more depth there. Atlanta did not add a lot on defense, but they did replace Allen Bailey, Kenny Moore, Josh Norman, and Prince Amukamara with Shelby Harris, Isaiah Oliver, Eric Reid, and Jalen Ramsey, and brought in Leon Jacobs to keep the defense on what looks like level terms with what they had last year. In pursuit of making the final 4 again or trying to get further this year, Atlanta will hope Big Ben can take advantage of the new look Steeler offense around him, James White is consistently a solid RB, and Landry, Funchess, Josh Gordon, and Tyrell Williams all have good seasons at WR, with Cook, Witten, and LaCosse being a solid TE core. Looking to the defensive side of the ball, the Falcons will look at Bradham, Lorenzo Alexander, Von Miller, Leon Jacobs, and Foyesade Oluokun to be a high scoring LB core with hopes that Shelby Harris and Ndamukong Suh at DL and Isaiah Oliver, Eric Reid, Joe Haden, and Jalen Ramsey at DB provide the scoring needed for them to have a top tier defense.
Strength and Weakness: Having a top TE in Jared Cook is a strength as having a high scoring TE is hard to come by, two solid DL on the roster is a big help as well. Losing Miller and leaving the team with only 1 solid RB could be costly.
7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Outlook: Tampa Bay had a good team last year, but being in a difficult division, and some hard matchups meant the team would have to settle for a 5-7 end to the season, missing out on the playoffs. Over the off-season the former owner left, and Chief who enjoyed a DFL retirement of 2 seconds(or something like that), came back to take over the team. In the first off-season running the team, Chief moved a lot of pieces, only returning 1 starter on offense, and 4 starters on defense, the most notable changes were bringing Tom Brady in at QB, Amari Cooper and Robert Woods at WR, and Landon Collins and Earl Thomas at DB. This team rocks a starting 5 on offense of Brady, CMC, Mike Evans, Jordan Reed, and Robert Woods, with young RBs Gus Edwards and Jamaal Williams, WRs of Geronimo Allison and Amari Cooper, and Dallas Goedert at TE on the bench to give this team options behind the starters. His defense won't quite be as deadly as his offense, but with Whitehead, Vince Williams, Landon Collins, Earl Thomas, Eli Apple, and Kyle Fuller leading the way there the defense should be the better defense in more than enough matchups to give Tampa a strong case to be a contender this year.
Strength and Weakness: Strengths for this team are WR with 3 very strong options, and obviously CMC who should be a top 3 RB this year again. The weak spot on this roster would be DL and lack of real depth on defense as a whole.
8. New York Giants
Outlook: Despite have a talented roster, the Giants did not have a good 2018 at all. They finished the season at 4-8, it appeared Winston being in a job share with Fitzpatrick over the season cost them any chance of putting together a good season. To get back to the playoffs and be a playoff threat again the team swapped Tevin Coleman for Devonta Freeman at RB, and while they let Golden Tate go, they brought in Cole Beasley for some WR depth. For the Giants, Bradley Chubb not having DL eligibility is a big loss this season for the team, they also lost Fletcher Cox at DL as well. To get back to the playoffs and compete for the DFL title this year the Giants will need Winston to play the whole year, Devonta Freeman and Derrick Henry to be a deadly RB duo, Lockett and Diggs to be the top 15/20 WRs they should be, with help from Pettis and Beasley when needed. Howard at TE will need to continue to progress, if that happens this Giants team will be one of the top offenses in the league. Defense will be led by Tremaine Edmunds and Benardrick McKinney at LB, with DBs of Terrell Edmunds and Kendall Fuller, and DL of Jonathan Allen and Joey Bosa. To help those guys he has Bradley Chubb, DeAndre Baker, Reggie Ragland, and Jonathan Abram. The Giants are solid all around and appear to be poised to rebound from the bad year last year and be a playoff team again.
Strength and Weakness: Basically the whole offense is a strength, can't put it any better than that. Being thin behind his starters on offense could be costly.
9. New Orleans Saints
Outlook: The Saints were able to make the playoffs, by going 6-6, but the visit to the playoffs was short lived as they lost round 1 to the Browns. Being in a stacked division is probably what kept the Saints from getting a more favorable matchup and possibly advancing further into the playoffs. The Saints had two QBs on the roster last year to try and help them succeed, and going into the season they will still use that strategy, but with Nick Foles and Josh Rosen instead of Andy Dalton and Josh Rosen. He added Latavius Murray to the offense, a long with other players to give his team some depth on offense that he did not have last year. On defense he brought in Anthony Barr to replace Mark Barron, and lost Grady Jarrett and Barry Church, which slimmed down the defensive depth a bit. Can the Saints get some Foles magic this season to make them a playoff contender, or will Rosen start in Miami and take a step forward in his sophmore year? The biggest question for the Saints is if Melvin Gordon will play a single snap this year for the Chargers, if not, will the add of Justin Jackson help, a long with Latavius Murray at RB? Those two probably will not be enough to replace Gordon if he does end up holding out all season. At WR the team has TY Hilton to lead the way, and a couple guys who probably won't be anything more than bye week fillers in Taylor Gabriel and Rashard Higgins, and they also drafted DK Metcalf to help out the WR situation. For his TE spot, he has one of the top guys at the position in Zach Ertz, with Hayden Hurst as his backup option there. The Saints have Jurrell Casey, Myles Garrett, and Lawrence Guy as a strong trio at DL, with Woodyard, Barr, Klein, Jarrad Davis, and BJ Goodson at LB. His 3 DBs, that all should be solid scoring options are Ricardo Allen, Adoree' Jackson, and Donte Jackson. This team is solid and could very well make some noise this season, but if Melvin Gordon does not play, I question how good this team will be.
Strength and Weakness: TY Hilton and Zach Ertz would be who I look at as strengths for this team, a long with Garrett at DL and Jarrad Davis at LB. With Foles and Rosen as his QB options, the weakness is, are either good enough for a team to make the playoffs, and the uncertainty hanging over Melvin Gordon right now does not bode well for them.
10. Minnesota Vikings
Outlook: Last year I had a feeling Minnesota was gonna be a big threat to win the league. They definitely answered that bell, going all the way to the conference championship game against the Redskins, where they ultimately fell short against the Redskins and had to settle for 3rd place in the league, still a strong season for the Vikings. The biggest change this off-season for the Vikings this offseason was losing Andrew Luck to a shock retirement, a week and a half before the season. They also just lost a couple FAs on the defensive side including both their DL starters. The Vikings have a solid offense despite losing Luck. That being said, Dalvin Cook and OBJ will have to be monsters this year, and hope the QB the Vikings bring in will be solid enough that losing Luck will not be a HUGE loss. The Vikings have Gio Bernard and Mike Davis behind Cook for some depth at RB. At WR he has Calvin Ridley and Curtis Samuel to give him 3 solid options at WR, and maybe use in some order at the R/W position, with Jack Doyle at TE, this offense will still put up a lot of points this year, but still need to find the right QB to keep this team in a position to be a threat. Currently the Vikings only have 2 DL on the roster, both rookies, and neither of them projected to be useful options there, so the Vikings will need to find guys there or hope his two bust out and play way above what they are expected. If they can't his LB core of Demario Davis, Myles Jack, and Blake Martinez will need to be monsters to carry the point total on defense, especially with his high scoring DB Derwin James set to miss 3-4 months of the season. The other DBs on the roster will look to pick up the slack, those DBs being Sean Davis, Vernon Hargreaves, and Malik Hooker, all 3 of whom look to be solid options for the team this season.
Strength and Weakness: Dalvin Cook and OBJ on offense and Jack, Davis, and Martinez at LB on defense are the biggest reasons the Vikings will be a title contender this season. Losing Luck so close to the season is a clear weakness, but it can be minimized if the Vikings can grab a solid QB, other weaknesses for them would be only having 1 TE, 2 rookie DL, and almost no defensive depth will be the biggest obstacles in the Vikings path this year.
11. Kansas City Chiefs
Outlook: KC had an up and down 2018 season, struggling early and often to get into a good run of wins, they managed to put something together to end the season, and finish the year 6-6, but that was not enough to get them into the playoffs. Over the off-season they brought in a new QB, swapping Mariotta for Trubisky, which should be a more consistent and better option there, the team already had 2 very solid RBs, but still drafted Josh Jacobs early to give them 3 options to rotate at RB and R/W on the season. They get Hunter Henry back at TE, and also drafted Noah Fant who will compete with Hockenson to be the premier TE of the 2019 rookie class, they also drafted Parris Campbell to add to their WR room. KC added Thomas Davis at LB to help strengthen his defense. With the previously mentioned Trubisky at QB, KC will look to Leonard Fournette, Josh Jacobs, and Aaron Jones to be a three headed monster at RB this season. To give the RBs help they will look for Julio Jones, Parris Campbell, Paul Richardson, Hunter Henry, and Noah Fant to be solid scoring options at WR and TE, if that all comes together, this offense could be very deadly this year. With Lavonte David, Thomas Davis, and Jerome Baker for his LB options, that is a strong start to KC's defense, add in Aaron Donald and Marcus Davenport at DL, the front line for the team is solid. He currently has 6 DBs on the roster, they are Tony Jefferson, Jordan Poyer, Justin Simmons, James Bradberry, Ronnie Harrison, and Desmond King, all of whom will be good scoring options, so picking which ones to play each week will be tough, but that is a good problem to have.
Strength and Weakness: RB with the 3 big hitters, LB with David and Davis, and a deep DB core are all great things to have for KC going into this season. Trubisky at QB, still raises questions for me, as I am still not sure what he will be as a QB in the NFL, and having no DL depth behind the 2 starters is not a
good thing going into the season.
12. Chicago Bears
Outlook: Chicago was a team I just never could quite figure out why they were losing last year, aside from not scoring more than the other team obviously. This team is loaded with talent on offense and has plenty of guys on defense, that a 2-10 record and 22nd place finish last season was very confusing to me. To try and figure things out and be a threat this season, the Bears added Moncrief, Delanie Walker, and NKeal Henry to their offense. On defense they added Javon Hargrave and Bilal Nichols at DL and Jordan Hicks at LB, all those adds should be the ingredients needed to put this team at least in a spot to make the playoffs this year. On offense, Wentz returning to MVP form will be huge for the team, but behind him at RB he has a top 5/6 RB in David Johnson, a young up and coming Sony Michel, and Austin Ekeler who looks to gain the most from Melvin Gordon holding out, that is 3 very strong options at RB. WR he has a top fantasy WR in Davante Adams, with Moncrief, David Moore, and NKeal Henry to provide depth there, and add Delanie Walker at TE, this Bears offense should be high scoring every week. So with Bobby Wagner, Danny Trevathan, and Jordan Hicks at LB, the Bears can argue for the best LB core in the league, and might win that argument. DL with Hargrave and Nichols that is two solid options there, and at DB he has options there to put up points in Weddle and Shawn Williams, but TJ McDonald not being on a team right now and other DBs seemingly down the pecking order on their teams, those 2 DBs will be in search of some help.
Strength and Weakness: His 3 LBs and 3 RBs are definite strengths for this team going into the season. Wentz injury history could, but hopefully not, become a problem, and the thin options at DB behind the two top options could be costly.
13. Indianapolis Colts
Outlook: Despite the 7-5 record on the season last year, the Colts were not able to make the playoffs. It was a solid season for the Colts, but started out a little rocky not being able to string wins together. Over the off-season the Colts added John Brown to give them some more depth at WR, and Clayton Geathers at DB to help out the defensive side of the ball. The Colts return mostly the same roster from last year to try and make the leap into the playoffs this year. They have Stafford at QB, the Vanimal, Vance McDonald at TE, and the biggest boost for this team is Duke Johnson at RB, who assumes the Texans starting job, after Lamar Miller unfortunately tore his ACL. WR is where his big guns on offense are at with Adam Thielen, Mike Williams, John Brown, Nelson Agholor, and John Ross making up a solid core there. RB behind Duke Johnson for the Colts is very thin, unless TJ Yeldon can start to get carries in the Bills backfield. The Colts have Everson Griffen, Larry Ogunjobi, and Arik Armstead to use at DL, with Clayton Geathers, Harrison Smith, and Justin Evans as his options for DB. His LB options are pretty solid as well with Alex Anzalone, Anthony Walker, Eric Kendricks, Christian Kirksey, and Darron Lee all being guys that should put up good numbers at the position. Can bringing mostly the same team back for the new season, be what gets the Colts into the playoffs, or did they need to make some changes?
Strength and Weakness: With Thielen and Mike Williams at WR, the team is strong there. Behind the main guys on defense, the Colts are a little thin on depth.
14. Dallas Cowboys
Outlook: Dallas was a hard team to figure out last season, they won their division, despite not putting up many points every week of the season. It resulted in an 8-4 season, but lost in the first round of the playoffs. Looking to be more consistent this season, Dallas will hope Fuller will stay healthy is all season, Guice breaks out in his first healthy NFL season, and adding DeMarcus Lawrence and Jadeveon Clowney to the defense will all do the trick. If Zeke does not get his extension and holds out this Dallas team could be in for a long season, with Guice as the only RB option behind Zeke, and Marquise Brown as the only player projected to score any kind of points on his bench for offense. If Zeke plays him, Cousins at QB, Fuller at WR, Greg Olsen at TE, and Guice at R/W could be a competitive offense. Pair that with Clowney, Lawrence, and Robert Quinn at DL, Vander Esch and Watt at LB, and Chung at DB, Dallas could have a solid defense, but will need Dupree, Darby, and Dylan Cole to be helpful on defense to be that solid defense and make a run at the playoffs. All this really hinges on Zeke playing this season though, because without him, I would say the season is toast for them.
Strength and Weakness: Zeke on offense and Vander Esch on defense are the strengths of this Dallas team. WR with Fuller and and Brown as the only options and neither being top options on their NFL teams does not bode well for them.
15. Tennessee Titans
Outlook: So for Tennessee the season ended at 6-6 and not in the playoffs, despite having a very talented offense, and some good scoring players on defense, the record probably did not do this team justice. They added Randall Cobb to their WR group to give them a littl more depth and Vernon Davis to give them a backup option at TE behind Mark Andrews. On defense they replaced Tre Boston with Tyrann Mathieu, they lost Morris Claiborne and were only able to add Harold Landry at a DP spot to replace him, which Landry probably will not score as well as Claiborne. The Titans will rely heavily on Saints players on offense with 4 Saints there, those being Brees at QB, and 3 WRs of Michael Thomas, Ted Ginn, and Kirkwood. At RB the Titans will use Cohen again, but only have Sproles behind him for depth. The other WRs to go with the 3 Saints are Edelman, Cobb, and rookie Jalen Hurd. TE will be led by second year TE Mark Andrews and veteran Vernon Davis. Defense will be led by very strong options at each level, with Calais Campbell and Cam Heyward at DL, Alec Ogletree at LB, and Tyrann Mathieu at DB. Behind those guys they have Lorenzo Carter, Landry, and Barron(who they will hope has a significant role on the Steelers defense at LB, and Marcus Williams at DB, can that cast be enough help for the big guns on defense to give the Titans a solid scoring defense this season? This Titans team might be a little low in my rankings, but it all depends on the defense, and how well the non-Saint offensive players do.
Strength and Weakness: Brees and Thomas on offense and Campbell, Ogletree, and Mathieu on defense will be the Titans strong points this season. RB and defensive depth will be struggle points for the team.
16. Pittsburgh Steelers
Outlook: The Steelers got screwed over by Bell holding out the whole season last year, forcing them to try and find help for Conner and Jackson on offense, but did not have such luck forcing them to settle for a 5-7 season. Getting Bell back is a huge gain over the off-season for the team, they have also added some fringe depth on offense to try and help them there this season, namely swapping Funchess for Humphries at WR, and going from Austin Hooper to Tyler Eifert at TE. They lost Henry Anderson at DL, but drafted Clelin Ferrell and Jerry Tillery to try and replace him. They let Mike Adams go, but brought in Josey Jewell to keep the defensive depth close to where it was. With Le'Veon Bell and James Conner at RB, the Steelers might have the best RB duo in the league, which will be big for them. Having Carr at QB should be interesting for them this year, as its not clear how he will be with the new weapons in Oakland this year. The Steelers have plenty of WRs, led by DeSean Jackson, followed by Gallup, looking for a breakout 2nd season, Adam Humphries, DJ Chark, also looking for a big jump in year 2, and Benjamin and Arcega-Whiteside to give them a very deep WR core. TE will be Eifert, Schultz, and Waller, so a mixed bag there with an injury prone Eifert leading them, and two unknown quantities as the backup options. On defense the Steelers might have the best young LB currently in the league, in Darius Leonard. To help him out they have Joe Schobert, Oren Burks, and Josey Jewell at LB. His DB options are good too with Vonn Bell, Tre'Davious White, Justin Reid, and Logan Ryan, all being solid scoring options. DL would be the question mark on his defense with Kawann Short, and two rookies Clelin Ferrell and Jerry Tillery, can those guys score enough points to help this defense.
Strength and Weakness: RB is obviously a big strength, Leonard and Schobert at LB on defense will also be key for this team. WR with Jackson as the top option might not be great, and DL with the 3 options there will likely be a problem.
17. Green Bay Packers
Outlook: Green Bay finished off the 2018 season with a 3-9 record and the 4th worst record in the league. The season started off rough and just never got good for them. With the pieces they had, I would say the record is a bit surprising, so turning their luck around this season, would be top priority. In the of season, GB let Alex Collins go and drafted Devin Singletary at RB, and they thinned the WR ranks by moving on from Cole Beasley and Chad Williams. They added rookie DL Ed Oliver to give them depth there, also upgraded LB with Kwon Alexander and top drafted LB Devin White giving them a solid LB core. To help on the defense they also added McDougald, Bethea, and Kareem Jackson to help what was a seemingly thin defense. This team will be led by Aaron Rodgers at QB, Keenan Allen at WR, and Kenyan Drake at RB. Those guys will need help, which will come from Jimmy Graham and Ian Thomas at TE, DJ Moore and James Washington at WR, and some solid RB depth with Dion Lewis, Devin Singletary, Ito Smith, and Corey Clement. The Packers improved defense is led by Kwon Alexander, Devin White, and Zach Brown at LB, with Bostic and Collins as other options, but not as strong options as the other 3. His DBs are better this season with Bradley McDougald, Damarious Randall, Antione Bethea, and Kareem Jackson all projected to be very high scoring DB options. DL is the lowest of the 3 levels on defense for GB, but they have Yannick Ngakoue and Da'Shawn Hand to do a job and be useful, while being backed up by rookies Ed Oliver and Zach Allen. This GB team should get more wins this season, if they stay healthy, but time will tell.
Strength and Weakness: Keenan Allen, Kwon Alexander, Devin White, and Antoine Bethea will need to lead from the front and be the strongest options for this team. DL could be a liability this season, as could Kenyan Drake and the other RBs if they do not get a solid amount of carries this year.
18. New England Patriots
Outlook: New England had a very solid season finishing 7-5 on the year and making it to the 2nd round of the playoffs, losing to the Vikings in that round. New England made some moves to retool the roster to try and improve this year, letting their guy Tom Brady move on to build around Baker, moved Kamara for Tyreek Hill, Deion Jones, and Kevin Byard to try and help balance the team out. To try and help fill the gap for Kamara they drafted David Montgomery and picked up Jalen Richard at the position as well. The Pats lost Trey Flowers, and replaced him with Michael Bennett, also replaced Bethea with Kevin Byard, and AJ Bouye with Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. They also added Jeff Heath to help on defense. Looking to make it back to the playoffs, the Pats will look to Baker to take a big step forward in year 2, David Montgomery to get his fair share of work in Chicago, Mack to be able to keep up his work load with Luck gone, and Tyreek Hill to be the same guy he was last year, despite the off-season noise around him. If that happens, NJoku, Jalen Richard, Mecole Hardman, and Marvin Jones will need to be solid depth options. His defense should be a solid unit with Khalil Mack, Deion Jones, DeForest Buckner, and Kevin Byard leading the way. Behind them Bennett, Onwuasor, Clinton-Dix, Leonard Floyd, Jeff Heath, and the rookie Juan Thornhill all need to be solid to help make this defense a solid scoring one.
Strength and Weakness: LB duo of Mack and Jones will be high scoring, and young TE NJoku continuing to improve will be strong points for this team. TE and LB depth are gonna be an issue on bye weeks, and if guys can't stay healthy.
19. New York Jets
Outlook: The Jets finished last year in 17th place in the league last season, despite seemingly having a good team. It appeared the division he was in did him in. The team had to decide between Trubisky and Sam Darnold at QB and ultimately went with Darnold for the long run, they also in the same trade sent Jordan Howard away to acquire a 1st round pick, which was used on T.J Hockenson. He returns most of his roster, adding some rookies, and only losing some borderline/depth options. As mentioned he will go into the season with Darnold at QB, with the Jets improving their offense will Darnold make the big leap forward a lot of people think he will? A question mark on this team will be RB, as currently his two options are Ballage, who needs to beat out Drake for carries in Miami and Chase Edmonds who is behind a top 5 RB in the NFL in David Johnson. The Jets will have plenty of options at WR as they drafted 3 rookie WRs (AJ Brown, Andy Isabella, and Deebo Samuel) which will add to Brandin Cooks, their leading man at WR, Courland Sutton and DaeSean Hamilton two solid young Denver WRs, and Quincy Enunwa who is 2nd on the Jets depth chart. At TE he is looking at Everett, Hollister, and rookie Hockenson, so two of those 3 should be good options at TE for them, and he will hope 1 breaks out to have a strong option there. His defense appears to be solid with a number of DBs who are good, those being Adams, Peppers, and Budda Baker who all scored 122+ points last year. The Jets also have Todd Davis and Haason Reddick at LB and Kenny Clark at DL, but behind those 6 guys, the Jets will hope that another one of their defenders break out or they will not have much depth. Will the Jets take advantage of new division foes and make a play for the playoffs?
Strength and Weakness: The Jets biggest assets are Cooks at WR, Hockenson at TE, 3 very good DBs, and Todd Davis at LB. The Jets will hope the lack of a starting RB and defensive depth doesn't ruin the season for them.
20. Arizona Cardinals
Outlook: With his 4-8 finish last year, the Cardinals finished in 20th place last year. The result was probably due to losing Jimmy G to an unfortunate injury, and having to role with other QBs like Eli Manning, he also lost Cooper Kupp during the season, and did not have a great option at TE. Over the off-season the biggest add to this Arizona team was getting guys healthy, and Damien Williams getting KCs RB gig thanks to Hunt being released by the team. The Cardinals will hope Jimmy G can stay healthy this season, and finally prove be able to prove why the 49ers paid him all that money, but if that doesn't happen, the Cardinals picked up Jimmy G's back up Mullens. At RB he has options with Chris Carson and Damien Williams, backed up by Chris Thompson, he could also have a break out guy in Pollard if Zeke never shows up to Dallas. WR could use a little help for the Cardinals as the only real viable option he currently has is Cooper Kupp, with Amendola being the sole usable backup, like WR his TE options might be lacking a little as he just signed Geoff Swaim to take the starting spot over Jonnu Smith. With Hicks, Robinson, Sheard, and Leonard Williams at DL, the Cardinals have options at DL for the season. With Alonso and Van Noy at LB the team has two good options, behind them it will be a question of what will Minter and Preston Smith do to give them depth at the position. Tre Flowers and Janoris Jenkins lead the way at DB for Arizona, but they will need Curtis Riley, Greedy Williams, and Mike Hughes to have better seasons then they are projected currently. If things go well Arizona could be a top half team, if not they might be staring another down year in the face.
Strength and Weakness: The obvious strength for this Arizona team is the two RBs that could score 200 points this season, his weaknesses would be lack of depth at WR and on defense.
21. Detroit Lions
Outlook: Detroit had a 7-5 season last year, which put them into the playoffs on the season, but for them, that is as far as it got, as they lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Patriots. Over the off-season the only notable change on offense, was that the Lions drafted Darrell Henderson at RB. They mostly kept the same offense, just dropping Sproles, Abdullah, and Spencer Ware, thinning out of the options there. On defense, they added Denzel Perryman, BJ Hill, and Takkarist McKinley, while losing Jordan Hicks. Can an offense of Rivers at QB, Kerryon Johnson and Darrell Henderson at RB, Sterling Shepard, Sammy Watkins, and Keke Coutee at WR, and Trey Burton at TE be a strong enough offense to make noise this year? Defense appears like it could be a solid set of players with Jerry Hughes, Chandler Jones, BJ Hill, Takkarist McKinley, and rookie Montez Sweat at DL, Jaylon Smith, Samson Ebukam, Denzel Perryman, and a few others at LB, and Eddie Jackson and Keanu Neal as the two DB options. The defense has a lot of options, but are any of them behind the few big names gonna be good enough options to make this defense one that helps this team to the playoffs?
Strength and Weakness: Chandler Jones at DL, Jaylon Smith at LB, and Keanu Neal at DB will be key for this team on defense. Lack of a #1 at WR and only Trey Burton at TE, coupled with only 2 DBs and some iffy options on defense, Detroit has some holes to fill this season.
22. Carolina Panthers
Outlook: Carolina was a playoff team in 2018 with a 7-5 record on the season. It was a quick visit to the playoffs for the Panthers though, losing in the first round to Denver. In the off-season they lost James White at RB and Kyle Rudolph at TE, but brought in a number of rookies to help give the offense options, but will those be enough to replace the guys he lost. They lost Clowney at DL, Foster at LB is still not on a team, Bradley Roby at DB and Denzel Perryman were also players lost for the defense over the offseason. If the Panthers want to have another playoff run, Matt Ryan at QB will need to be a top 5 QB again, Freeman, Armstead, Ronald Jones, Dare Ogunbowale, or Miles Sanders will need to establish themselves as the top RB for their respective teams so that the Panthers have a lead dog at RB. Christian Kirk and Jamison Crowder will be the top 2 options at WR, but the team will hope Jakeem Grant and Hakeem Butler can carve out spots in their WR rotation on their teams to give them some depth there. With Uzomah and Josh Oliver at TE, they don't have a true lead option there, but could change if things go their way. On defense his scoring options are Chris Jones at DL, Raekwon McMillan at LB, and Jessie Bates, Tashaun Gipson, and Byron Jones at DB, but behind them a couple rookies at DL in Chase Winovich and Dexter Lawrence, FA Mason Foster at LB, and Josh Jackson in a crowded secondary in GB all seem to be holding this defensive unit back for this season.
Strength and Weakness: Matt Ryan, plenty of RBs to choose from, Christian Kirk at WR, and Jessie Bates at DB are all players the Panthers need to have big seasons. Only having 1 LB on an NFL roster, and overall lack of depth on defense, and no true number 1 TE are gonna be hard to overcome.
23. Seattle Seahawks
Outlook: Seattle comes into this 2019 DFL season with a new owner at the helm, as Chief tried to retire but it didn't stick. Seattle the team is coming off a two win season last year, where they were not very competitive at all, all season. To try and improve this year, the team added Mark Ingram at RB and Denico Autry and Brandon Graham at DL, hoping those adds and other guys progressing will move them up the standings. At QB for the Seahawks this year, Dak's success might hinge on if Zeke returns and takes pressure off Dak to play well. With Mark Ingram as the lead and only reliable back on the roster, the Seahawks will pray he stays healthy, or hope that McKinnon can come back healthy and take play time from Coleman and Breida in the 49ers backfield. The WR spot has options for Seattle with Robby Anderson, Larry Fitz, Anthony Miller, and possibly Tre'Quan Smith, if he can carve a solid role out in the NO pass attack, those 4 should make Seattle feel comfortable at WR for the season. TE looks decent for Seattle right now, as they have the Jets top TE, but he will miss time thanks to a PED suspension, that being Chris Herndon, the backup who will start early for the team is Nick Vannett who currently is the 2nd TE in NFL Seattle behind Dissly. For the Seahawks on defense, they will hope Kenny Young take a big step forward to fill the hole CJ Mosley left in the middle of the Ravens defense, so that the Seahawks can have a top LB on the roster, and next to Young they have Shaq Thompson. DL will be filled by previously mentioned Autry and Graham, with help from highly rated rookie Nick Bosa. It looks like Seattle will have some solid DBs for the year with Awuzie, Malcolm Butler, Xavien Howard, and Jaire Alexander all projected to put solid points up this year.
Strength and Weakness: WR should be the leading position for this team. Not having a higher rated TE or big scoring defender will be the weakest spots for this team this season.
24. Cleveland Browns (PHI)
Outlook: The Browns (for the season, normally the Eagles) had a very difficult season last year, only winning 1 game all year, and getting the unwanted right to wear the Browns name for this upcoming season. To try and get away from being the last place team in the league for the second straight year, the Eagles added Josh Allen, Jordan Howard, Kenny Golladay, and Golden Tate to his offense to give him some better options there. They lost Stephon Gilmore and Preston Smith, but did not bring in replacements that appear to be as solid, but that could change if guys have good seasons. To move up the standings this season, the team will look for Josh Allen to make a big jump this season at QB, a long with Lindsay to repeat and improve on what he did as a surprise break out rookie, and Jordan Howard to be a solid backup to Lindsay at RB. The WR core of Dede Westbrook, Kenny Golladay, and Golden Tate is solid, and he will need all 3 to be very good options this year to help fill the gap at TE where they only have rookie Dawson Knox of the Bills who is listed as the top TE for them, but not projected to be a strong fantasy option, so we will see what happens there. On defense he returns Jatavis Brown and Malcolm Jenkins as the leading point getters from his defense last season, and he also brings back Melvin Ingram, Darius Slay, and Justin Houston who were all solid for him last year. He added Elandor Roberts and Jordan Evans on defense to help his LB core. Will this be enough talent on offense and defense to shed the Browns name?
Strength and Weakness: Young up and coming, break out potential talent on offense should be a strength for this team, as they all looked poised for bigger seasons then they had last year. Weakness would be depth on defense, as behing his starters things look like they might be a little thin.
