One Bold Prediction for Every Team
Arizona Cardinals: Colt McCoy's inability to move the ball in the first game gets him benched for Clayton Tune. Tune deals with typical rookie struggles, but his exciting play helps the Cardinals to two surprising wins before Kyler Murray returns. Or, the rumors are true, Murray doesn't return and Tune plays Arizona out of the top pick.
Atlanta Falcons: Bijan Robinson breaks Gale Sayers' rookie running back all-purpose yards record (2,272).
Baltimore Ravens: Lamar Jackson throws for over 4,000 yards. And yes that is a bold prediction since his current season high is 3,127.
Buffalo Bills: Buffalo takes a step back, and instead of fighting for the #1 seed, they're fighting for their division and the #4 seed.
Carolina Panthers: Bryce Young breaks Andrew Luck's rookie passing yards record (4,374).
Chicago Bears: Despite the additional receiving weapons, Fields still struggles in the pass game. The Bears find themselves picking high enough that they once again spend the early offseason re-evaluating their QB situation.
Cincinnati Bengals: The offensive line finishes top ten allowing Burrow to cruise to his first MVP and the Bengals to cruise to their first ever Super Bowl win.
Cleveland Browns: The defense finally reaches their potential, finishing as a top ten unit and pairing with Deshaun Watson to launch Cleveland into the playoffs.
Dallas Cowboys: They finish dead last in the NFC East. In reality that could be a 7-10 or 8-9 record, but Philly wins the division, Washington comes in a surprising second, with Dallas' tough schedule causing them to also fall below the Giants.
Denver Broncos: Sean Payton fulfills the hype and Denver wins the AFC West.
Detroit Lions: Aidan Hutchinson leads the league in sacks and runs away with the DPOY award.
Green Bay Packers: Romeo Doubs finishes top ten in receiving yards, receiving touchdowns and yards/reception.
Houston Texans: DeMeco Ryans and Will Anderson lead a defensive resurgence for the Texans launching them into the top 15. The offense takes longer to come along, but things are looking up for Houston by the end of the year.
Indianapolis Colts: Josh Downs finishes as their WR1.
Jacksonville Jaguars: Tank Bigsby leads the Jags in rushing, not Travis Etienne.
Kansas City Chiefs: Their Tackle situation, coupled with a lack of a real pass rush causes them to narrowly miss out on the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
Las Vegas Raiders: The Raiders slip into the playoffs. Their defense improves a little, but it's their QB with his "been there, done that" mentality, and the firepower around him that pushes them through.
Los Angeles Chargers: They go into week 10 at 2-6 and Brandon Staley is the first coach to get the axe. Kellen Moore ends up as the interim coach but they don't fare much better in the second half of the season and the whole coaching staff gets overhauled at the end of the year.
Los Angeles Rams: It's the Rams, not the Cardinals, that win the Caleb Williams sweepstakes.
Miami Dolphins: The offseason workout regime helps Tagovailoa stay healthy for almost the entire season, which leads to Miami fighting for the AFC East title in the final week against Buffalo, winner takes all.
Minnesota Vikings: The Flores effect gets the Vikings defense into the top 18, their first top 20 finish since 2019.
New England Patriots: Mac Jones bounces back in a big way in O'Brien's first season back as the OC. The Pats still finish last in the AFC East, but nobody is talking about Jones being on the hot seat going into next season.
New Orleans Saints: The Saints easily end up with the 2 seed at the end of the year, not the Niners, Seahawks, Lions, or Vikings.
New York Giants: Hyatt delivers on his comments...sort of. He leads all rookies in receiving yards and YPR, but he falls short of Bijan Robinson in the OROY race.
New York Jets: The Rodgers hype fizzles quickly and the Jets fail to make the playoffs once again.
Philadelphia Eagles: They win 13 straight games to open the season, becoming the tenth team ever to win 13 or more and the first to do it since the 2015 Carolina Panthers.
Pittsburgh Steelers: The offense as a whole takes a major step forward thanks in large part to their O-Line additions, but it's Calvin Austin that everyone is talking about at the end of the season thanks to his all-around performance (receiving, rushing and returning).
San Francisco 49ers: Trent Williams remains a stalwart, but the rest of the Offensive Line performs so poorly the Niners enter week 18 on the brink of missing the playoffs (spoiler, they win and get in).
Seattle Seahawks: Zach Charbonnet and Kenneth Walker become the second duo ever to both eclipse 1,100 rushing yards in a season.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: The Bucs enter full rebuild mode by mid-season shipping out some of their bigger assets (Mike Evans, Devin White, and Shaq Barrett) in order to accrue picks and give some youngsters (Trey Palmer, SirVocea Dennis and Anthony Nelson/Yaya Diaby) a chance at valuable starting time.
Tennessee Titans: They find themselves at 1-5 or 0-6 going into their bye week. And coming out of it they decide to hand the reins over to Levis, who doesn't help turn things around and the Titans end up picking top three.
Washington Commanders: Sam Howell throws for 4,200 yards, runs for another 300 and leads Washington to the playoffs. The dark cloud has lifted Washington fans.
