KempBolt

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Oh whoops. Maybe… I confess some of those weren't so inspired. That's the nature of it when you decide to come up with one for each team. But if they did, I guess it's bold to say they do it two years running?

Brandon Weeden starts 6 games and ends up with a QB Rating of 90 or greater. Orakpo and Kerrigan combine for the highest sack total of any edge rush duo in the league. New York fields a bottom 5 offense in games 1-8, and a top 5 offense in weeks 9-16. Mark Sanchez starts at least two games and outperforms Nick Foles. :patriots: Kenbrell Thompkins leads the team in receiving yards and yards per reception. Geno Smith ends the year with the following stats or better: 63% completion, 7.5 YPA, 2-1 TD/INT ratio. The Bills starting defensive line creates the most sacks of any 4-3 DL in the league. Miami fields a top 5 passing offense in 2014. Jordy Nelson leads the league in yards and touchdowns. The Bears defense allows 4.0 yards per carry or less to opposing rushing attacks on the season. Joique Bell leads the league in rushing touchdowns with at least 14. Kyle Rudolph finishes the year 2nd in receptions and yards among all tight ends. Markus Wheaton breaks 1,000 yards and 7 touchdowns. Baltimore fields a top 5 rushing attack. Carlos Dunlap has at least 12 sacks over the course of the season. Andrew Hawkins catches 100 passes from whoever is playing QB. Russell Wilson throws for over 4,000 yards. San Francisco fields a bottom 16 scoring defense. Arizona also fields a bottom 16 scoring defense. Stedman Bailey tops 800 yards receiving despite the suspension and QB situation. Emmanuel Sanders leads the team in receptions. Travis Kelce has a top 5 receiving year among all tight ends. Maurice Jones-Drew tops 1,000 yards rushing for the season. San Diego hits at least 2,100 rushing yards and 4.5 YPC as a team. Kenny Stills has over 1,000 yards and 8 touchdowns and leads the league in YPC. Devonta Freeman has over 1,500 yards from scrimmage. Mike Glennon starts 8 games and throws for 2,000+ yards and 15 touchdowns. They DON'T suck. Tennessee wins the AFC South division with 10 wins on the season. Brian Cushing plays all 16 games in 2014. Ahmad Bradshaw has over 4.5 YPC on whatever carries they give him. Allen Hurns' sickness spills over into the regular season with 50+ receptions, 600+ yards, and 5+ scores.

Thursday Green Bay @ Seattle 8:30 PM ET Sunday New Orleans @ Atlanta 1:00 PM ET Cincinnati @ Baltimore 1:00 PM ET Buffalo @ Chicago 1:00 PM ET Washington @ Houston 1:00 PM ET Tennessee @ Kansas City 1:00 PM ET New England @ Miami 1:00 PM ET Oakland @ New York Jets 1:00 PM ET Jacksonville @ Philadelphia 1:00 PM ET Cleveland @ Pittsburgh 1:00 PM ET Minnesota @ St. Louis 1:00 PM ET San Francisco @ Dallas 4:25 PM ET Carolina @ Tampa Bay 4:25 PM ET Indianapolis @ Denver 8:30 PM ET Monday New York Giants @ Detroit 7:10 PM ET San Diego @ Arizona 10:20 PM ET Tiebreaker How many points will be scored between the Cardinals and Chargers? 51

I think the Saints are better almost everywhere. I can't pick against them. The Panthers don't look great right now, but they still have the best front 7 in football, and the Buc's line looks highly suspect. Mankins is a good add, but he's not a great pass protector anymore. I think Carolina eviscerates the Tampa Bay front and wins a really low scoring game.

I didn't hear good things about his camp and preseason weeks 1-3, but he looked like crap against our scrubs.

Broken leg obviously ended his rookie year before it ever started and he hasn't come back nearly the same. Track record for broken legs is not great for offensive linemen. Chas Alecxih, who is currently on our practice squad, whooped Cooper in our 4th preseason game against him.

Obviously we are all more plugged into our team's roster and depth chart than the average NFL fan. So share with the rest of us-- what are the key positions of competition to be sorted out in camp and what are you predicting/hoping for as a result.

I picked the Ravens at home. I think they're going to be much improved in 2014 on both sides of the ball. I hate the Kubiak offense in the long term, but it has the benefit of being able to get things turned around in a hurry. I think the Browns get crushed into a fine powder. EDIT: What kinks do the Steelers have to work through on offense? They were a top 3 offense in the 2nd half of last season and over the offseason all they did was add players and get healthy. Plus young guys like Bell and Wheaton have another year under their belt. I'm expecting them to hit the ground running. Especially Ben and the passing game. Pettine's system is extremely complex and difficult to pick up. I think the Browns defense is what will actually be out of sync. I would especially expect Justin Gilbert to get worked over.

Linval Joseph is a good player. He's probably the most proven starter on that line. I think the front four is going to be one of the best in the NFL among 4-3 teams.

Good pickup. I thought Keenum looked pretty decent last year.

Most obvious announcement ever. Schaub's right arm basically doesn't exist. I like most everything about Carr except for how he reacts to pressure. But that's a huge exception and a deal breaker for me when looking at QB prospects. I will be interested to see how he fares behind that Oakland line (which will be better than it's been, but probably still not great).

No QB carries a team all on his own. But great ones shoulder a lot more of the load than those of Smith's caliber. You can be successful with a guy like Smith, but the rest of the roster has to be better than you would need to replicate that same success with a guy like Manning, Brees, Rodgers, and yes- Rivers. So if you're being led by a QB with more limitations like him, it's more important than it would be otherwise to keep the team around him playing at a really high level. Less margin for error elsewhere, in other words. So on teams with elite running attacks and defensive play (not to mention a cakewalk schedule if we look specifically at last year), teams with Smith under center can and do win. No argument there, obviously. But in order to maintain that sort of supporting cast, you need cap space and draft picks. They've sunk two 2nd rounders into him to begin with, and now have made him their highest paid player. So they're without two talented young players they'd have on the roster otherwise to maintain the level of play he needs to be successful, and we've already seen some of the financial results of extending him preemptively. Their offseason was marked by losses that were not replaced because of cap restraints. You can already see the effects by just looking at the depth chart along the offensive line, at receiver, and in the secondary. Obviously there is a breaking point at which the rest of the roster is just so bad that not even a great QB can overcome it. That breaking point is fluid based on how good the QB is. A Peyton Manning led team has a higher tolerance for a bad roster than a Philip Rivers led team does. From 2010-2012, the team around Rivers deteriorated to the point that he could not overcome. I'm reminded specifically of the 2010 team where we were #1 on offense and defense, but had the worst special teams season in NFL history. He couldn't overcome that. But now we have some reasonable help around him on offense, and we can have a chance again. The defense is still bad, the offensive line is still meh, but we don't need elite we just need those things around him to be good enough. In other words, what he needs to put great seasons together is less than what Smith does. Not that Rivers needs nothing. Just less. I know you already understand this, but I'll say it twice for the emphasis. And now that Smith is eating up more salary, it's going to be hard to come up with that more that Smith needs around him to make things go. If your argument is that Rivers and Smith keep their teams in the same situation just because Rivers doesn't have a ring yet, you clearly haven't watched him play with anything close to objectivity. Nobody wins it all until they do. But looking around the league, it's pretty obvious that guys like Rivers give their teams a better chance than guys like Smith.

I don't think Dallas wins, but I can understand the rationale with how out of sync SF has looked. With Boone back, I expect the Niners to just pound the ball, control the clock, and wrack of the rushing yards. Kaep might suck, but they can hide him and he can contribute as a runner rather than a passer. But I don't think people even need to look at the preseason to predict that the Dallas defense will be awful. Just look at what they were last year, the roster, and who they've lost.

I agree that the 49ers win that game, but I take issue with a few of these statements. Last year, the Cowboys were 5th in points and 16th in yards. SF was 11th and 24th respectively. Dallas averaged 4.5 YPC as a team compared to SF's 4.4 (despite Kaep's contributions). And when healthy, I think they have the best back between the two teams. The 49ers have made some good additions and get Crabtree back on offense, but they haven't looked anywhere near elite in the preseason. To the contrary. And when you compare the offenses, I think Dallas is better at QB, RB, WR, and OL. Literally every spot but TE, where I think it's still close. I just have them losing because their defense is atrocious. But then again, the 49ers will be without Smith, Bowman, Dorsey, and a lot of their secondary from a year ago.

It's easy for me to avoid it in theory from my computer, but it would be a seriously dicey thing for a front office. Because signing Smith to big money might relegate a team to mediocrity, but not signing him and then finding a bad option to replace him might get a whole staff fired. The fact that jobs and livelihoods are at stake is probably one of the least considered and most influential reasons behind a lot of moves that seem peculiar from the outside. All that said, I hope the Chargers are never there and I'm glad that a team in our division is. Hopefully Derek Carr and Brock Osweiler turn out to be equally promisingly middling. Alex Smith... may he live forever.

Too difficult to pick anyone against Seattle when they're at home. The Bills are going to get crushed. Like the Jags, I really want to pick Minny on the road but not if they're starting Cassel. That defensive front is just too gnarly. I'm picking the Lions at home. I can see the Giants being the better team by season's end, but they aren't in sync at all yet.

I like HOU over WAS. I think RGIII is going to be a hot mess. I really want to pick the Jags, but if they're really gonna start Henne I just can't. I think the 49ers beat the Cowboys. I don't think Kaep has a good game as a passer either, but I think they run roughshod over that defense (both the backs and Kaep) to the tune of 200+ yards and multiple scores.

I get why teams make these deals, but I still think they're terrible. Smith isn't a franchise QB. He's not an upper echelon guy capable of carrying a team. A team can win with him, obviously. But those teams need to be stacked elsewhere or at least run through a more talented conduit. So he's fine while he's cheap. But when he becomes expensive, he's a mill stone around the neck. And yet, he's still good enough that the teams he leads typically won't drop below 6 wins. So they aren't going to often be picking in the top 5 where the elite QB prospects reside. So the team that pays him becomes mired mediocrity. Not good enough to win it all and not bad enough to be in position to get someone who likely can change that. I'm all about division rivals making these deals.

This is wonderful news. Hugs all around. Bring it in guys.

Seems like a fair deal for both sides given what Mallet has looked like.

That's big for SF. I still think Boone is a bargain at that price.

Yeah what's up with keeping Paul Cornick? Seems like they have plenty of depth otherwise with Schofield and Franklin still being able to shift over if need be.

I don't know if they're giving up so much as preparing for the potentiality that he truly is as bad as he's looked.

Probably Cordarro Law (DE/OLB), Thomas Keiser (DE/OLB), and Craig Watts (G). Law and Keiser both showed some nice things as pass rushers (albeit later in games). Law probably has more upside as a guy who could develop as more of an every down rush linebacker. He's really good on ST too. Watts is a just big and athletic and raw. Could maybe turn into something if stashed (which I hope we do). All in all, not much to see here. We're deeper than we were last season, but we still aren't deep. And as of now we kept both backs- Grice and Oliver.