Post by Cincinnati Bengals (Chris) on Sept 8, 2016 16:02:53 GMT -5
NFC East
And finally, bringing up the tail (just for these purposes) is the NFC East, the division that has produced the #1 seed in the NFC as recently as two years ago and a semi-finalist a year ago (the same team). But it’s not simply been a one-team show, as three teams made the playoffs both of the past two years. This year, the East is in a little bit of a changing of the guard, with a new Dallas owner for I believe the first time since the league’s inception in 2009 and the ‘Boys, G-Men and ‘Skins all in various states of rebuild/reload mode. Will the Eagles, who actually didn’t win the division a year ago (Did anyone else remember that? Major kudos Dave!), continue their dominance over the division and the league at large? Will Dave stay atop the pile? Can Ty match or even exceed Aaron’s reign over “America’s (Fantasy Football) Team?” Or will Malachi establish himself and lead the Giants away from the malaise they have suffered since that guy who previously ran them flipped Manning for RGIII and immediately left the league? These are all questions that will, at least in part, be answered this year. Let me know what you think about my projections and post you own comments. Also, DON’T FORGET to vote in the poll, as that’s the whole point.
Dallas Cowboys (Ty)
OFF: 72.41 (56.74 LY)
DEF: 52.2 (50.9 LY)
K: 10.44 (5.67 LY)
TOTAL: 135.05 14th (113.31 LY)
Offensive Impact Players: Tom Brady, Eric Decker, Doug Martin, Terrance Williams, Derrick Henry
Defensive Impact Players: Dwight Lowery, Ezekiel Ansah, Mike Mitchell, Jurrell Casey
Last year’s finish and recap- 14th: Aaron, who was (unless I’m wrong) one of the founding members of the Midwest Football League (two iterations ago), was forced out last year because of his tendency to space on the off-season to play fantasy baseball. It was a problem that worsened as the years went by. That often left Dallas with a very bare bones roster (numbers wise) with no/very few UFA picks or adds in free agency and skipped rookie picks, leaving Aaron to piece together a team in the last week or two before the season. It came to a head last year, which is reflected in the Cowboys’ 6-6 record last year (Aaron’s worst since I joined the league in 2011) and uneven roster right now. As a result, the Cowboys started off last year with a loss to the Bengals in Week 1 and a pillaging at the hands of Seattle in Week 2 174-98, before registering their first win, a 30~ point victory over St. Louis in Week 3. In Week 4, Dallas won the snooze fest of the century (69-59) over San Francisco to get back to .500, though they were still two games out of first with NYG opening 4-0. After losing to Arizona in Week 6, Jerry’s team got back in the win column by edging New England and once again reaching breakeven. With a win over Miami in Week 7, Dallas moved to 4-3 and within one game of first (Washington), but that would change the next week when WAS beat the Jets as the Cowboys were dominated by the Bills. Next, Aaron inched above .500 for the first time in 2015 with a close win over NYJ, and even climbed a season-high 2 games over .500 with a Week 10 win over the Giants. But that would stay the high point, as over course of the season’s final two weeks, Dallas was handled by Washington and lost by an infinitesimally small margin to the Eagles. Though the Cowboys made the playoffs, they were spanked in the opening frame by the league runner-up Lions.
Outlook: Enter Ty, who has made some controversial trades upon entering the league, but has also given Dallas a full roster in the process, with much more depth than Aaron’s two previous iterations that I covered. In a way, he trimmed the fat (Even if it was marbled. And you know folks, fat isn’t always a bad thing), got some extra meat out of the package (as long as we’re on the meat/fat thing) and pounded it out with a meat tenderizer so that it would stretch (Now I’m hungry). Certainly, the Cowboys’ top end has fallen off, but, and to quote the pretty good film version of the opus-level Michael Lewis text, Moneyball, maybe Ty can “replace Giambi in the aggregate.” That’s certainly what it looks like he is trying to do at least, and over the course of a season, with all of the injuries and changes that occur (The manner in which coaches vacillate over the order of their depth chart…) it’s probably a smart move. Firstly, he made the smart move to trade for Jimmy Garoppolo, allowing him to keep Brady. He still has Doug Martin, and has added Eric Decker and Will Tye. Defensively, Ty has made the Cowboys stout up front with three quality options (Ansah, Casey and Devin Taylor). Linebacker, however, is a little bit thinner, and likely the Cowboys’ worst position on the team. Defensive back should also be adequate, though none of those names flash as over-the-top performers.
X-factor: Linebacker. Ty’s problem is simple: he doesn’t have enough linebackers and the ones he does have aren’t good enough. It’s clear he’s ready to compete, but not with the likes of Philly and the elite from other divisions. Still, I project him to make the playoffs and leapfrog one rung up the division ladder in 2016.
Projected division finish: 2nd
New York Giants (Malachi)
OFF: 55.41 (52.8 LY)
DEF: 38.53 (49.09 LY)
K: 10.62 (4 LY)
TOTAL: 104.56 26th (105.89 LY)
Offensive Impact Players: Kirk Cousins, Benjamin Watson, Nate Washington, Arian Foster, Charles Clay, Terrance West, Kenneth Dixon
Defensive Impact Players: None
Last year’s finish and recap- 22nd: Malachi takes over a team that was league-run for much of the last two years, but for whatever it’s worth, the league seemed to do a pretty good job with them considering their start a year ago. After a Week 1 thumping of the Packers, the Giants added consecutive wins over the Cardinals, 49ers and Rams to race out to 4-0 and a one game lead in the standings. They followed that up, however, with perhaps the worst four-game stretch in league history, getting more than doubled up by the Seahawks and Bills, beaten by nearly 50 by the Jets and nearly doubled up again by the Patriots. After a Week 9 loss to the Dolphins, New York’s fifth in a row, the G-Men fell below .500 for the first time on the season, and after a Week 10 loss to the Cowboys, could no longer do anything better than breakeven on the year. The Giants lost again in Week 11, ensuring them a losing record and eliminating them from the playoffs. However, in Week 12, the Giants shocked the league, showing everyone what they were capable of from the first 4 weeks, knocking off NFC East winner Washington and keeping him from a 10-win season.
Outlook: The Giants may seem to have a lot of offensive playmakers in the above listing, but Watson is now on injured reserve, Washington was released and is hearing crickets, Foster and Clay have troubling injury histories and West and Dixon (who is currently injured and will miss the first few weeks himself) are in the same backfield, limiting each others’ potential, making Kirk Cousins (Who astoundingly, despite his wealth of options is projected for FEWER points this year?) the only real reliable, fantasy-worthy offensive commodity the Giants have at this moment. Defensively, the above listing is telling. No player met the criteria to be listed as an impact player, and no fewer than four players are either injured or no longer on their respective teams. As the one of the only teams in the league to suffer a negative point projection from last year, New York is going to have a rough year.
X-factor: Getting healthy/rostered players. While much of what is wrong with NYG can’t be fixed in a single season, simply offloading guys who will not play this year/maybe ever again and placing guys on IR who are on real-life IR could help free up spots for Malachi to make important signings.
Projected division finish: 4th
Philadelphia Eagles (Andrew)
OFF: 89.49 (68.73 LY)
DEF: 65.17 (65.59 LY)
K: 8.69 (2.67 LY)
TOTAL: 163.35 1st (136.99 LY)
Offensive Impact Players: Russell Wilson, Odell Beckham Jr., Matt Forte, Greg Olsen, Justin Forsett, Pierre Garcon, Zach Ertz, Jeremy Langford
Defensive Impact Players: J.J. Watt, Daryl Smith, Kam Chancellor, Olivier Vernon, Keanu Neal, Mychal Kendricks, Su’a Cravens, Ben Heeney
Last year’s finish and recap- 4th: Andrew had somewhat of a down regular season in 2015, at least compared to his high-flying (No pun intended…unless you want it) 2014 campaign, but finished strong in the playoffs, advancing as far as the NFC Championship Game. Philly got off on the wrong foot, losing a high-scoring bout to mouthy and petulant Jacksonville, now immortalized act of poor sportsmanship when the previous JAX GM used an out of context quote from Andrew and the score of the Week 1 game as his signature for the rest of his time in that league. Andrew recovered from that loss (And the burning Jacksonville slight) to romp San Francisco, Arizona and Seattle in three consecutive games to close within one of early-season Cinderella, the New York Giants. But in equally shocking fashion, St. Louis blasted the Eagles in Week 5, dropping Andrew to 3-2. The Eagles recovered the next week, obliterating the Jets, but fell back to Earth themselves (Again, only if you want it) in Week 7, losing a low-scoring game to Buffalo in a match up that was billed as a bout between heavyweights. The next two weeks saw the Eagles get back on track (Kind of), as they won rather unimpressively over the Dolphins and Patriots to run to 6-3 and close within one game of the Redskins for the East lead. But they would never get closer, as Washington would close it out against Philly in Week 10 in a victory that sealed the division on a head-to-head tiebreak. The Eagles finished out by vanquishing the Giants in Week 11 and the Cowboys in Week 12 (Barely) to finish the campaign 8-4. In the playoffs, they ran over the Saints and bested the Seahawks to make it to the NFC Championship Game, where Detroit was waiting. Unfortunately for Andrew, Ryan brought his game and won the right to appear in the Super Bowl (And lose a close one to JAX…so now we’ve come full circle).
Outlook: As always, Philadelphia is blessed with an embarrassment of options on both sides of the ball. For brevity’s sake, just look at the list above. The real key to PHI’s success though: the benches. Nearly every player on both sides of the ball is projected to have a significant role in 2016. That means a lot of teams are going to get put through the ringer, even if the Eagles aren’t fully healthy. That’s scary to think about.
X-factor: Wide Receiver depth. Though it’s kind of hard to identify a weakness, especially as Andrew has perhaps the top player at his position in the league leading his weakest position (depth-wise), it’s really one of the only areas that he can improve, both in numbers and production. But if Beckham especially, and Garçon can stay healthy, they’ll only need to come out of the lineup on their byes, allowing Andrew to get back into the conversation of, “Does he have the best team in the league?”
Projected division finish: 1st
Washington Redskins (Dave)
OFF: 65.78 (61.6 LY)
DEF: 50.91 (57.06 LY)
K: 11.88 (9.92 LY)
TOTAL: 128.57 20th (128.58 LY)
Offensive Impact Players: Ben Roethlisberger, Allen Robinson, LeSean McCoy, Michael Crabtree
Defensive Impact Players: Rolando McClain, Muhammad Wilkerson, Wesley Woodyard, Carlos Dunlap, Perry Riley
Last year’s finish and recap- 6th: If you’ve made it to this point, you already know how strong of a season Washington had a year ago. Dave’s team cremated the Chiefs in Week 1 and seriously outgunned St. Louis in Week 2. But in Week 3, he received payback in a major way courtesy of Cecil’s Hawks, and in Week 4, put up a stunningly short-sided line (based on his first two) in a loss to Arizona. At that point, it was easy to label the ‘Skins as pretenders, but after a low-scoring win over the Niners in Week 5 and an incredibly close victory (Half a point) over Miami in Week 6, Dave claimed a share of the East lead. After holding on to beat New England in Week 7 (coupled with a Philadelphia loss), Dave never looked back, beating the Jets and curb-stomping the Bills to move to 7-2 entering division play. A week later, Washington had it locked up with a win over Philly, and vanquished Dallas to add a win for good measure. But a Week 12 los to the Giants, a minor setback, kept Dave from a 10-win campaign. He opened the playoffs in style with a 40-point win over Green Bay, but was beaten badly in the second round game to eventual league runner up Detroit.
Outlook: Offensively, Washington doesn’t really have a weak spot within their lineup, though the possibility of some of the bench options needing to contribute right now is a daunting prospect for Dave, as the ‘Skins’ bench is made up of nothing but injured, suspended, unrostered or rookie players, except for Blake Bell and Shaun Draughn. That’s not ideal. While the starting offense should provide enough to get by, without some more/better depth, any time a starter misses time will be a problem for the Redskins. The defense is also a mixed bag. With elite starting DL options and several contributors at the other spots as well, this defense will probably be no worse than average. But, there is a huge hole at linebacker with Markus Golden and Wesley Woodyard the only rostered LBs on the team right now. The suspension of Rolando McClain and surprise cut of Perry Riley really hurt WAS in that regard, so his success will depend on how well Dave copes with it/how he’s able to replace those pieces.
X-factor: Depth on both sides of the ball. The offense needs it direly from a talent/active player perspective. The defense needs it from a numbers and active player perspective. At any rate, it’s clear this team is not complete, but as of now, I can’t see the reigning division champs finishing any higher than 3rd.
Projected division finish: 3rd
Pay attention in the next few hours, as I will have a Pre-season Power Rankings post up soon.
And finally, bringing up the tail (just for these purposes) is the NFC East, the division that has produced the #1 seed in the NFC as recently as two years ago and a semi-finalist a year ago (the same team). But it’s not simply been a one-team show, as three teams made the playoffs both of the past two years. This year, the East is in a little bit of a changing of the guard, with a new Dallas owner for I believe the first time since the league’s inception in 2009 and the ‘Boys, G-Men and ‘Skins all in various states of rebuild/reload mode. Will the Eagles, who actually didn’t win the division a year ago (Did anyone else remember that? Major kudos Dave!), continue their dominance over the division and the league at large? Will Dave stay atop the pile? Can Ty match or even exceed Aaron’s reign over “America’s (Fantasy Football) Team?” Or will Malachi establish himself and lead the Giants away from the malaise they have suffered since that guy who previously ran them flipped Manning for RGIII and immediately left the league? These are all questions that will, at least in part, be answered this year. Let me know what you think about my projections and post you own comments. Also, DON’T FORGET to vote in the poll, as that’s the whole point.
Dallas Cowboys (Ty)
OFF: 72.41 (56.74 LY)
DEF: 52.2 (50.9 LY)
K: 10.44 (5.67 LY)
TOTAL: 135.05 14th (113.31 LY)
Offensive Impact Players: Tom Brady, Eric Decker, Doug Martin, Terrance Williams, Derrick Henry
Defensive Impact Players: Dwight Lowery, Ezekiel Ansah, Mike Mitchell, Jurrell Casey
Last year’s finish and recap- 14th: Aaron, who was (unless I’m wrong) one of the founding members of the Midwest Football League (two iterations ago), was forced out last year because of his tendency to space on the off-season to play fantasy baseball. It was a problem that worsened as the years went by. That often left Dallas with a very bare bones roster (numbers wise) with no/very few UFA picks or adds in free agency and skipped rookie picks, leaving Aaron to piece together a team in the last week or two before the season. It came to a head last year, which is reflected in the Cowboys’ 6-6 record last year (Aaron’s worst since I joined the league in 2011) and uneven roster right now. As a result, the Cowboys started off last year with a loss to the Bengals in Week 1 and a pillaging at the hands of Seattle in Week 2 174-98, before registering their first win, a 30~ point victory over St. Louis in Week 3. In Week 4, Dallas won the snooze fest of the century (69-59) over San Francisco to get back to .500, though they were still two games out of first with NYG opening 4-0. After losing to Arizona in Week 6, Jerry’s team got back in the win column by edging New England and once again reaching breakeven. With a win over Miami in Week 7, Dallas moved to 4-3 and within one game of first (Washington), but that would change the next week when WAS beat the Jets as the Cowboys were dominated by the Bills. Next, Aaron inched above .500 for the first time in 2015 with a close win over NYJ, and even climbed a season-high 2 games over .500 with a Week 10 win over the Giants. But that would stay the high point, as over course of the season’s final two weeks, Dallas was handled by Washington and lost by an infinitesimally small margin to the Eagles. Though the Cowboys made the playoffs, they were spanked in the opening frame by the league runner-up Lions.
Outlook: Enter Ty, who has made some controversial trades upon entering the league, but has also given Dallas a full roster in the process, with much more depth than Aaron’s two previous iterations that I covered. In a way, he trimmed the fat (Even if it was marbled. And you know folks, fat isn’t always a bad thing), got some extra meat out of the package (as long as we’re on the meat/fat thing) and pounded it out with a meat tenderizer so that it would stretch (Now I’m hungry). Certainly, the Cowboys’ top end has fallen off, but, and to quote the pretty good film version of the opus-level Michael Lewis text, Moneyball, maybe Ty can “replace Giambi in the aggregate.” That’s certainly what it looks like he is trying to do at least, and over the course of a season, with all of the injuries and changes that occur (The manner in which coaches vacillate over the order of their depth chart…) it’s probably a smart move. Firstly, he made the smart move to trade for Jimmy Garoppolo, allowing him to keep Brady. He still has Doug Martin, and has added Eric Decker and Will Tye. Defensively, Ty has made the Cowboys stout up front with three quality options (Ansah, Casey and Devin Taylor). Linebacker, however, is a little bit thinner, and likely the Cowboys’ worst position on the team. Defensive back should also be adequate, though none of those names flash as over-the-top performers.
X-factor: Linebacker. Ty’s problem is simple: he doesn’t have enough linebackers and the ones he does have aren’t good enough. It’s clear he’s ready to compete, but not with the likes of Philly and the elite from other divisions. Still, I project him to make the playoffs and leapfrog one rung up the division ladder in 2016.
Projected division finish: 2nd
New York Giants (Malachi)
OFF: 55.41 (52.8 LY)
DEF: 38.53 (49.09 LY)
K: 10.62 (4 LY)
TOTAL: 104.56 26th (105.89 LY)
Offensive Impact Players: Kirk Cousins, Benjamin Watson, Nate Washington, Arian Foster, Charles Clay, Terrance West, Kenneth Dixon
Defensive Impact Players: None
Last year’s finish and recap- 22nd: Malachi takes over a team that was league-run for much of the last two years, but for whatever it’s worth, the league seemed to do a pretty good job with them considering their start a year ago. After a Week 1 thumping of the Packers, the Giants added consecutive wins over the Cardinals, 49ers and Rams to race out to 4-0 and a one game lead in the standings. They followed that up, however, with perhaps the worst four-game stretch in league history, getting more than doubled up by the Seahawks and Bills, beaten by nearly 50 by the Jets and nearly doubled up again by the Patriots. After a Week 9 loss to the Dolphins, New York’s fifth in a row, the G-Men fell below .500 for the first time on the season, and after a Week 10 loss to the Cowboys, could no longer do anything better than breakeven on the year. The Giants lost again in Week 11, ensuring them a losing record and eliminating them from the playoffs. However, in Week 12, the Giants shocked the league, showing everyone what they were capable of from the first 4 weeks, knocking off NFC East winner Washington and keeping him from a 10-win season.
Outlook: The Giants may seem to have a lot of offensive playmakers in the above listing, but Watson is now on injured reserve, Washington was released and is hearing crickets, Foster and Clay have troubling injury histories and West and Dixon (who is currently injured and will miss the first few weeks himself) are in the same backfield, limiting each others’ potential, making Kirk Cousins (Who astoundingly, despite his wealth of options is projected for FEWER points this year?) the only real reliable, fantasy-worthy offensive commodity the Giants have at this moment. Defensively, the above listing is telling. No player met the criteria to be listed as an impact player, and no fewer than four players are either injured or no longer on their respective teams. As the one of the only teams in the league to suffer a negative point projection from last year, New York is going to have a rough year.
X-factor: Getting healthy/rostered players. While much of what is wrong with NYG can’t be fixed in a single season, simply offloading guys who will not play this year/maybe ever again and placing guys on IR who are on real-life IR could help free up spots for Malachi to make important signings.
Projected division finish: 4th
Philadelphia Eagles (Andrew)
OFF: 89.49 (68.73 LY)
DEF: 65.17 (65.59 LY)
K: 8.69 (2.67 LY)
TOTAL: 163.35 1st (136.99 LY)
Offensive Impact Players: Russell Wilson, Odell Beckham Jr., Matt Forte, Greg Olsen, Justin Forsett, Pierre Garcon, Zach Ertz, Jeremy Langford
Defensive Impact Players: J.J. Watt, Daryl Smith, Kam Chancellor, Olivier Vernon, Keanu Neal, Mychal Kendricks, Su’a Cravens, Ben Heeney
Last year’s finish and recap- 4th: Andrew had somewhat of a down regular season in 2015, at least compared to his high-flying (No pun intended…unless you want it) 2014 campaign, but finished strong in the playoffs, advancing as far as the NFC Championship Game. Philly got off on the wrong foot, losing a high-scoring bout to mouthy and petulant Jacksonville, now immortalized act of poor sportsmanship when the previous JAX GM used an out of context quote from Andrew and the score of the Week 1 game as his signature for the rest of his time in that league. Andrew recovered from that loss (And the burning Jacksonville slight) to romp San Francisco, Arizona and Seattle in three consecutive games to close within one of early-season Cinderella, the New York Giants. But in equally shocking fashion, St. Louis blasted the Eagles in Week 5, dropping Andrew to 3-2. The Eagles recovered the next week, obliterating the Jets, but fell back to Earth themselves (Again, only if you want it) in Week 7, losing a low-scoring game to Buffalo in a match up that was billed as a bout between heavyweights. The next two weeks saw the Eagles get back on track (Kind of), as they won rather unimpressively over the Dolphins and Patriots to run to 6-3 and close within one game of the Redskins for the East lead. But they would never get closer, as Washington would close it out against Philly in Week 10 in a victory that sealed the division on a head-to-head tiebreak. The Eagles finished out by vanquishing the Giants in Week 11 and the Cowboys in Week 12 (Barely) to finish the campaign 8-4. In the playoffs, they ran over the Saints and bested the Seahawks to make it to the NFC Championship Game, where Detroit was waiting. Unfortunately for Andrew, Ryan brought his game and won the right to appear in the Super Bowl (And lose a close one to JAX…so now we’ve come full circle).
Outlook: As always, Philadelphia is blessed with an embarrassment of options on both sides of the ball. For brevity’s sake, just look at the list above. The real key to PHI’s success though: the benches. Nearly every player on both sides of the ball is projected to have a significant role in 2016. That means a lot of teams are going to get put through the ringer, even if the Eagles aren’t fully healthy. That’s scary to think about.
X-factor: Wide Receiver depth. Though it’s kind of hard to identify a weakness, especially as Andrew has perhaps the top player at his position in the league leading his weakest position (depth-wise), it’s really one of the only areas that he can improve, both in numbers and production. But if Beckham especially, and Garçon can stay healthy, they’ll only need to come out of the lineup on their byes, allowing Andrew to get back into the conversation of, “Does he have the best team in the league?”
Projected division finish: 1st
Washington Redskins (Dave)
OFF: 65.78 (61.6 LY)
DEF: 50.91 (57.06 LY)
K: 11.88 (9.92 LY)
TOTAL: 128.57 20th (128.58 LY)
Offensive Impact Players: Ben Roethlisberger, Allen Robinson, LeSean McCoy, Michael Crabtree
Defensive Impact Players: Rolando McClain, Muhammad Wilkerson, Wesley Woodyard, Carlos Dunlap, Perry Riley
Last year’s finish and recap- 6th: If you’ve made it to this point, you already know how strong of a season Washington had a year ago. Dave’s team cremated the Chiefs in Week 1 and seriously outgunned St. Louis in Week 2. But in Week 3, he received payback in a major way courtesy of Cecil’s Hawks, and in Week 4, put up a stunningly short-sided line (based on his first two) in a loss to Arizona. At that point, it was easy to label the ‘Skins as pretenders, but after a low-scoring win over the Niners in Week 5 and an incredibly close victory (Half a point) over Miami in Week 6, Dave claimed a share of the East lead. After holding on to beat New England in Week 7 (coupled with a Philadelphia loss), Dave never looked back, beating the Jets and curb-stomping the Bills to move to 7-2 entering division play. A week later, Washington had it locked up with a win over Philly, and vanquished Dallas to add a win for good measure. But a Week 12 los to the Giants, a minor setback, kept Dave from a 10-win campaign. He opened the playoffs in style with a 40-point win over Green Bay, but was beaten badly in the second round game to eventual league runner up Detroit.
Outlook: Offensively, Washington doesn’t really have a weak spot within their lineup, though the possibility of some of the bench options needing to contribute right now is a daunting prospect for Dave, as the ‘Skins’ bench is made up of nothing but injured, suspended, unrostered or rookie players, except for Blake Bell and Shaun Draughn. That’s not ideal. While the starting offense should provide enough to get by, without some more/better depth, any time a starter misses time will be a problem for the Redskins. The defense is also a mixed bag. With elite starting DL options and several contributors at the other spots as well, this defense will probably be no worse than average. But, there is a huge hole at linebacker with Markus Golden and Wesley Woodyard the only rostered LBs on the team right now. The suspension of Rolando McClain and surprise cut of Perry Riley really hurt WAS in that regard, so his success will depend on how well Dave copes with it/how he’s able to replace those pieces.
X-factor: Depth on both sides of the ball. The offense needs it direly from a talent/active player perspective. The defense needs it from a numbers and active player perspective. At any rate, it’s clear this team is not complete, but as of now, I can’t see the reigning division champs finishing any higher than 3rd.
Projected division finish: 3rd
Pay attention in the next few hours, as I will have a Pre-season Power Rankings post up soon.