NFC West
Jul 23, 2021 1:59:22 GMT -5
Carolina Panthers (Justin) and San Francisco 49ers (Nate) like this
Post by Cincinnati Bengals (Chris) on Jul 23, 2021 1:59:22 GMT -5
NFC WEST
Welcome to the eighth year of the CDFL Divisional Previews. When I took over writing these in 2014, they were seemingly done in arbitrary order, skipping from one division to another with no rhyme or reason. That’s why, following Jordan’s suggestion from two years ago, I will be publishing the Divisional Previews in the order of divisions easiest to predict to the hardest. Therefore, just as last year, and the year before—I’m sorry to say, to teams in this division—I’m starting with the division that has the biggest runaway team—The NFC West.
In 2020, despite a year of chaos, unrest, and uncertainty like we’ve never seen, the NFC West went back to its default setting of autocracy, seemingly, as after a brief and uncommon occurrence the year before—a two-horse race in a division dominated by the league’s most-dominant team in its history, the Seahawks won the division going away. Trey’s Los Angeles Rams—the team that in 2019 gave Cecil his first serious hurdle in years—could not replicate the success of the year prior, and neither of the other two NFC West teams were yet in a window to say anything about it. 2021 figures to be the same in that regard, as it now feels very much like three teams fighting to avoid last place, rather than anyone staging a legitimate challenge to the king of the NFC West for a league-record six years running (And, let’s be honest, soon to be seven), in Cecil’s Seahawks. No amount of unbiased, non-partisan, or journalistic values could convince me to write it like that this year. And if by some infinitesimal chance, I, in effect, ‘broadcaster jinx’ myself in making this call preemptively, so be it. Provided that Cecil doesn’t forget to set his lineup like he has in the playoffs on two occasions, and provided he doesn’t suffer a Josh Castle-esque spate of injuries, the Seattle Seahawks are the CDFL’s 2021 NFC West Champions. Apologies to the other three teams, but you’re so far away from competing with him that it would be malpractice not to state that, rather than pretending to put you on pins and needles about it. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to the previews. Also, DON’T FORGET to vote in the poll, as that’s the whole point.
Arizona Cardinals (Jeremy)
Last year’s finish: 24th (Division: 3rd)
Outlook: Jeremy takes over as the third (Or fourth, I honestly can’t remember. It’s nauseating) GM for the Cardinals in the last calendar year, and despite the obvious struggles that come with having several previous parties at the helm that either, A. Intended to start less than full lineups, or B. Was a league hall of famer who re-joined, only to never be heard from again (Again), Arizona has quite a lot of pieces to work with, though still with numerous holes. Though early returns re: Jeremy’s activity have given us all a little panic that it’s the same song on repeat, his draft—at least based on value—was pretty promising, netting him the quarterback that he lacked, in resident scared of gang signs because of Mormonism, New York Jets’ rookie Zach Wilson. Additionally, he picked up Christian McCaffrey’s likely long-term handcuff in Chuba Howard, who had a sensational college season in 2019 (With over 2,000 yards on the ground) only to return to school with a first two day draft grade in hand, threaten to leave the team after Head Coach Mike Gundy disrespected black players by forwarding a television network’s racist agenda, groveled his way back/sidled up to said coach, and then disappointed in 2020, looking like a completely different player. Usually college players can help themselves or hurt themselves by coming back to school, and all things considered, it’s safe to say he made the wrong decision. It’s an open question which player is the real Hubbard—especially as his story sounds a lot like Bryce Love (MIN signed off on this joke at his own expense) but what is fairly clear is that despite the above concerns, he represents the best asset in the backfield for the Cards. On that note, Royce Freeman, and Malcolm Brown want you to know that they’re still alive. Also, Jeremy added Javian Hawkins at the position. Wideout is replete with mid-tier players, who should all be solid, but predicting week-to-week for them may be challenging, as non of them are THE guy for their teams. Marquise Brown probably comes closest to fitting that billing, but he has been a maddeningly inconsistent scorer (Even losing his nickname of Hollywood to Rashard Higgins, according to a great many football experts on Twitter), which probably has to do with the post-rookie year Robert Griffin-esque performance his quarterback put on display in 2020. Dawson Knox has been adequate for much of his two seasons, but the Bills’ patience in regard to his production is waning. If he doesn’t make a big jump this year, he could be in street clothes by the end of the year. Defensively there is a ton to like about this group, with current and future standouts Isaiah Simmons, Jordan Poyer, and Fred Warner, and names like T.J. Edwards, and Nicholas Morrow as quality options behind. Ultimately, this has the potential to be a dominant defense down the line, but likely falls just short of that while some of those players are still learning on the job, and have yet to seize full, fantasy-producing roles.
X-factor: Keep building. Arizona has yet to arrive, but with the team that was left behind for him, Jeremy has done enough to say the direction is positive, and it’s possible to start talking contention in 2022.
Projected division finish: 3rd
Los Angeles Rams (Trey)
Last year’s finish: 20th (Division: 2nd)
Outlook: Coming off of a rousing late run in 2019, resulting in a winner-take-all game for the division crown, the closest the division has been been since Trey’s brother, Mett, won the NFC West over Cecil in 2014, the follow up was a disappointment for the Rams. Trey had guided LA to two-straight wild-card berths previous to his 5-7 effort a year ago. If you are looking for a culprit, Los Angeles failed in areas where it was strongest in 2019, namely, quarterback, running back, wide receiver, tight end, and defense. While quarterback regression can easily be attributed to reigning MVP Lamar Jackson’s seismic drop-off in play from 2019-2020, losing a starting running back, and wide receiver from the oft-maligned deal—the one that netted him Jackson, Marlon Mack, and Tyrell Williams—really showed how much he was reliant on them. Defensively, many of Trey’s players took a step back as well, falling from an elite defense (5th) to just the good side of league average (12th). While many teams could do well with that result, the faltering of the Rams’ offense made it untenable. Unfortunately, this year—and frankly the near future—doesn’t look to be any less bumpy for the Rams. Trey made a solid and underrated move near the end of last season, swapping the struggling Jackson for Dak Prescott (Who, previous to his injury, was lighting it up with Dallas, and probably offers a more secure, consistent threat to Jackson’s ebbs and flows, given his struggles so far), in a rare win-win move with Steve. However, late in this year’s Rookie Draft, Trey flipped Dak to Philly for two 2nds and a 3rd, just under half of what trade metrics say he should’ve received in draft pick value for the star QB. With that move, he selected Kenneth Gainwell, Kellen Mond, and Kylen Granson (IND-TE), solid enough picks in their own right, and all have their backers in fantasy circles. However, it’s likely that Trey will rue the value—if not the individual players—he got back in this deal, even if he had knocked each of his selections out of the park. Time will tell if that is in fact the case, but the hard truth is, no matter the career trajectories of the players he acquired here, it will undoubtedly reside in the annals of league history as one of the worst value deals ever consummated. It’s with that in mind that we acknowledge a clear move here, which is that Trey has committed to a full rebuild—perhaps the best option given his offensive deficiencies, and slumping defense. What he didn’t have in high picks, he made up for in numbers, selecting nine rookies in total (Also picking Quincy Roche, Elijah Molden, Khalil Herbert, Chris Rumph II, Dazz Newsome, and Ronnie Perkins). Many of those names are projectable talents, who are not earmarked for significant early reps as of yet. They are the future of this team, and it now shifts to them to see what they can do.
X-factor: Reset button. It’s always fun building a team from scratch, and that’s essentially what Trey has committed to do. Now, it’s about stacking assets in consecutive years, and resisting the temptation of now. If Trey can do that, he stands a decent chance of turning this around long term. It’s always tough to take your licks and know that no help is on the way/waiting in the wings—yet, but it’s often the right call to put that out of your mind, a la the Chicago Cubs front office members watching low level minor league games more intently rather than the big league team many nights. That’s the way to build a champion, and I wish Trey bon voyage on that journey.
Projected division finish: 4th
San Francisco 49ers (Nate)
Last year’s finish: 30th (Division: 4th)
Outlook: Chess pieces—They’re what Nate has, and everyone wants. Once again, Nate had a stellar offseason, his second in a row, by acquiring Trevor Lawrence in the Rookie Draft, a move which sets up his window of contention for several years to come. Given that he still has Tom Brady on hand, he’ll likely be able to fetch a nice asset for him as well. Pairing Lawrence with the likes of last year’s selections of Clyde Edwards-Helaire, KJ Hamler, 2021 UFA Draft pickup Marvin Jones, and trade acquisition Curtis Samuel, the offense is in excellent overall shape. Further players, like Jamaal Williams, Jordan Wilkins, KJ Hill, Keke Coutee (Potentially, but who knows anything about Houston), and La’Michael Perine, provide San Francisco with an element of depth that was not present in previous years. The one weak spot of the offense is TE (Take a number), with Jack Doyle trending towards an iffy career trajectory. Defensively, it’s still an uphill climb. While there are some quality individual football names on that side of the ball, very few are solid fantasy IDP commodities in this format. Frankly, it’s a bottom half defense, and potentially bottom 10-12, though that might be a little grim of a projection. Melvin Ingram’s recent signing with Pittsburgh is one of the rare cases in which a defensive lineman becoming a linebacker—for our purposes at least—benefits the team that rosters him, as, if he planned to keep him, Ingram instantly becomes one of the Nate’s best linebackers. In truth, this is where San Francisco has to make its biggest improvement, as the current crop of LBs is replete with EDGE players, who do not generally produce as much fantasy relevance in this format. The high-upside DL should play up, even if Clelin Ferrell continues to confirm the notion that Jon Gruden picked him at least a round too highly—although the unit’s overall depth/talent was slightly hurt by the move of Ingram to LB. Overall, this side of the ball will likely be a constant struggle for the 49ers, and cap any headway the offense is able to make above previous seasons.
X-factor: Defense. For the third-straight season, defense is one of the top concerns. Menial improvements have been made, but before Nate can take his Niners to the realm of a legitimate playoff contender, he’s going to have to massively overhaul this defense. Even with an infusion of an impact player or two, he can basically guarantee his team a postseason berth, but as he’s taken the long road thus far, I don’t expect him to do anything flighty. #Trusttheprocess, because good things are happening. In the end, I back Nate’s offense over Jeremy’s defense, but it’s extremely close, and will likely get closer with time and development.
Projected division finish: 2nd
Seattle Seahawks (Cecil)
Last year’s finish: 9th (Division: 1st)
Outlook: In the film, The Usual Suspects, we are introduced to a group of super-criminals (At least in terms of their rap sheets), who have often worked together, or at least are familiar with one another and their various criminal enterprises—and then there’s the mysterious, mercurial, and even mythical Keyser Söze, who is the behind-the-scenes ringleader, controlling all the strings. In this instance, Cecil is Söze, and his band of Mahomes, Carson, Jones, Evans, Gesicki, Garrett, Burns, White, Rapp, James, Dissly, Howard, Blair, and Abram are The Usual Suspects, and the league knows those cast of characters well, as each has spent at least two years in Seattle (And for many, much longer) No team has done a better job at retaining all the necessary parts as Cecil has with the Seahawks, year-in and year-out, seamlessly moving on from players at the optimal times, and knowing which players are core to his contention, and which he can afford to part with. Quite clearly the league’s greatest grouping of talent—even just from the names above—Cecil has supplemented this group masterfully, adding the likes of DeVante Parker, Jonathan Taylor, Antonio Gibson, Jordyn Brooks, Bobby Okereke, Jalen Thompson, Zack Baun, and Cole Kmet, and that’s without even factoring in this year’s draft class, in which Cecil added chiefly at his previous biggest problem spot: Linebacker, with Jamin Davis and Jabril Cox. In the end, it equates to far-and-away the most talented roster in the league, as is the case in most years. With this group, the Seahawks carry perhaps one of Cecil’s best chances to win it all—again, as he was the league champion in 2016. But, considering the absolute embarrassment of riches that Cecil has had across the years, and especially now that Andrew has added a second title to his name, it will likely be a disappointment if Seattle doesn’t yet add to his trophy case, and allow the narrative to creep in that the league’s best team in its history was also not up to snuff in most years when it came down to it, bad luck be damned. Clearly, this squad has the ability not to repeat those ills, given health and some attention, but as the past has proven, those are not a given.
X-factor: Wide receiver. Beyond a strong on paper top-3 at the position, Cecil has long failed to add enough quality depth to step into the lineup in their stead, in the case of injury or byes. That will once again remain the case this year, as Seattle is only functionally three-deep at the position, a troubling development considering the aging/nagging injuries that Jones showed a year ago, and now the competition for targets on a run-first team, the nagging injuries and competition for targets that Mike Evans experienced in 2020, and the uncertainty with the franchise quarterback that DeVante Parker now faces. It won’t come near derailing what should be a season-long coronation/cakewalk for the Seahawks, but it could once again rear its ugly head come playoff time. Further enforcements are needed at the position in case of emergency, and the Seahawks have the assets to do so, turning an impediment into the final puzzle piece in his plan, just like Keyser Söze.
Projected division finish: 1st
Remember to watch out for the second of our divisional previews, which will deal in the AFC South, and should drop sometime next week. Thanks again guys.
Welcome to the eighth year of the CDFL Divisional Previews. When I took over writing these in 2014, they were seemingly done in arbitrary order, skipping from one division to another with no rhyme or reason. That’s why, following Jordan’s suggestion from two years ago, I will be publishing the Divisional Previews in the order of divisions easiest to predict to the hardest. Therefore, just as last year, and the year before—I’m sorry to say, to teams in this division—I’m starting with the division that has the biggest runaway team—The NFC West.
In 2020, despite a year of chaos, unrest, and uncertainty like we’ve never seen, the NFC West went back to its default setting of autocracy, seemingly, as after a brief and uncommon occurrence the year before—a two-horse race in a division dominated by the league’s most-dominant team in its history, the Seahawks won the division going away. Trey’s Los Angeles Rams—the team that in 2019 gave Cecil his first serious hurdle in years—could not replicate the success of the year prior, and neither of the other two NFC West teams were yet in a window to say anything about it. 2021 figures to be the same in that regard, as it now feels very much like three teams fighting to avoid last place, rather than anyone staging a legitimate challenge to the king of the NFC West for a league-record six years running (And, let’s be honest, soon to be seven), in Cecil’s Seahawks. No amount of unbiased, non-partisan, or journalistic values could convince me to write it like that this year. And if by some infinitesimal chance, I, in effect, ‘broadcaster jinx’ myself in making this call preemptively, so be it. Provided that Cecil doesn’t forget to set his lineup like he has in the playoffs on two occasions, and provided he doesn’t suffer a Josh Castle-esque spate of injuries, the Seattle Seahawks are the CDFL’s 2021 NFC West Champions. Apologies to the other three teams, but you’re so far away from competing with him that it would be malpractice not to state that, rather than pretending to put you on pins and needles about it. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to the previews. Also, DON’T FORGET to vote in the poll, as that’s the whole point.
Arizona Cardinals (Jeremy)
Last year’s finish: 24th (Division: 3rd)
Outlook: Jeremy takes over as the third (Or fourth, I honestly can’t remember. It’s nauseating) GM for the Cardinals in the last calendar year, and despite the obvious struggles that come with having several previous parties at the helm that either, A. Intended to start less than full lineups, or B. Was a league hall of famer who re-joined, only to never be heard from again (Again), Arizona has quite a lot of pieces to work with, though still with numerous holes. Though early returns re: Jeremy’s activity have given us all a little panic that it’s the same song on repeat, his draft—at least based on value—was pretty promising, netting him the quarterback that he lacked, in resident scared of gang signs because of Mormonism, New York Jets’ rookie Zach Wilson. Additionally, he picked up Christian McCaffrey’s likely long-term handcuff in Chuba Howard, who had a sensational college season in 2019 (With over 2,000 yards on the ground) only to return to school with a first two day draft grade in hand, threaten to leave the team after Head Coach Mike Gundy disrespected black players by forwarding a television network’s racist agenda, groveled his way back/sidled up to said coach, and then disappointed in 2020, looking like a completely different player. Usually college players can help themselves or hurt themselves by coming back to school, and all things considered, it’s safe to say he made the wrong decision. It’s an open question which player is the real Hubbard—especially as his story sounds a lot like Bryce Love (MIN signed off on this joke at his own expense) but what is fairly clear is that despite the above concerns, he represents the best asset in the backfield for the Cards. On that note, Royce Freeman, and Malcolm Brown want you to know that they’re still alive. Also, Jeremy added Javian Hawkins at the position. Wideout is replete with mid-tier players, who should all be solid, but predicting week-to-week for them may be challenging, as non of them are THE guy for their teams. Marquise Brown probably comes closest to fitting that billing, but he has been a maddeningly inconsistent scorer (Even losing his nickname of Hollywood to Rashard Higgins, according to a great many football experts on Twitter), which probably has to do with the post-rookie year Robert Griffin-esque performance his quarterback put on display in 2020. Dawson Knox has been adequate for much of his two seasons, but the Bills’ patience in regard to his production is waning. If he doesn’t make a big jump this year, he could be in street clothes by the end of the year. Defensively there is a ton to like about this group, with current and future standouts Isaiah Simmons, Jordan Poyer, and Fred Warner, and names like T.J. Edwards, and Nicholas Morrow as quality options behind. Ultimately, this has the potential to be a dominant defense down the line, but likely falls just short of that while some of those players are still learning on the job, and have yet to seize full, fantasy-producing roles.
X-factor: Keep building. Arizona has yet to arrive, but with the team that was left behind for him, Jeremy has done enough to say the direction is positive, and it’s possible to start talking contention in 2022.
Projected division finish: 3rd
Los Angeles Rams (Trey)
Last year’s finish: 20th (Division: 2nd)
Outlook: Coming off of a rousing late run in 2019, resulting in a winner-take-all game for the division crown, the closest the division has been been since Trey’s brother, Mett, won the NFC West over Cecil in 2014, the follow up was a disappointment for the Rams. Trey had guided LA to two-straight wild-card berths previous to his 5-7 effort a year ago. If you are looking for a culprit, Los Angeles failed in areas where it was strongest in 2019, namely, quarterback, running back, wide receiver, tight end, and defense. While quarterback regression can easily be attributed to reigning MVP Lamar Jackson’s seismic drop-off in play from 2019-2020, losing a starting running back, and wide receiver from the oft-maligned deal—the one that netted him Jackson, Marlon Mack, and Tyrell Williams—really showed how much he was reliant on them. Defensively, many of Trey’s players took a step back as well, falling from an elite defense (5th) to just the good side of league average (12th). While many teams could do well with that result, the faltering of the Rams’ offense made it untenable. Unfortunately, this year—and frankly the near future—doesn’t look to be any less bumpy for the Rams. Trey made a solid and underrated move near the end of last season, swapping the struggling Jackson for Dak Prescott (Who, previous to his injury, was lighting it up with Dallas, and probably offers a more secure, consistent threat to Jackson’s ebbs and flows, given his struggles so far), in a rare win-win move with Steve. However, late in this year’s Rookie Draft, Trey flipped Dak to Philly for two 2nds and a 3rd, just under half of what trade metrics say he should’ve received in draft pick value for the star QB. With that move, he selected Kenneth Gainwell, Kellen Mond, and Kylen Granson (IND-TE), solid enough picks in their own right, and all have their backers in fantasy circles. However, it’s likely that Trey will rue the value—if not the individual players—he got back in this deal, even if he had knocked each of his selections out of the park. Time will tell if that is in fact the case, but the hard truth is, no matter the career trajectories of the players he acquired here, it will undoubtedly reside in the annals of league history as one of the worst value deals ever consummated. It’s with that in mind that we acknowledge a clear move here, which is that Trey has committed to a full rebuild—perhaps the best option given his offensive deficiencies, and slumping defense. What he didn’t have in high picks, he made up for in numbers, selecting nine rookies in total (Also picking Quincy Roche, Elijah Molden, Khalil Herbert, Chris Rumph II, Dazz Newsome, and Ronnie Perkins). Many of those names are projectable talents, who are not earmarked for significant early reps as of yet. They are the future of this team, and it now shifts to them to see what they can do.
X-factor: Reset button. It’s always fun building a team from scratch, and that’s essentially what Trey has committed to do. Now, it’s about stacking assets in consecutive years, and resisting the temptation of now. If Trey can do that, he stands a decent chance of turning this around long term. It’s always tough to take your licks and know that no help is on the way/waiting in the wings—yet, but it’s often the right call to put that out of your mind, a la the Chicago Cubs front office members watching low level minor league games more intently rather than the big league team many nights. That’s the way to build a champion, and I wish Trey bon voyage on that journey.
Projected division finish: 4th
San Francisco 49ers (Nate)
Last year’s finish: 30th (Division: 4th)
Outlook: Chess pieces—They’re what Nate has, and everyone wants. Once again, Nate had a stellar offseason, his second in a row, by acquiring Trevor Lawrence in the Rookie Draft, a move which sets up his window of contention for several years to come. Given that he still has Tom Brady on hand, he’ll likely be able to fetch a nice asset for him as well. Pairing Lawrence with the likes of last year’s selections of Clyde Edwards-Helaire, KJ Hamler, 2021 UFA Draft pickup Marvin Jones, and trade acquisition Curtis Samuel, the offense is in excellent overall shape. Further players, like Jamaal Williams, Jordan Wilkins, KJ Hill, Keke Coutee (Potentially, but who knows anything about Houston), and La’Michael Perine, provide San Francisco with an element of depth that was not present in previous years. The one weak spot of the offense is TE (Take a number), with Jack Doyle trending towards an iffy career trajectory. Defensively, it’s still an uphill climb. While there are some quality individual football names on that side of the ball, very few are solid fantasy IDP commodities in this format. Frankly, it’s a bottom half defense, and potentially bottom 10-12, though that might be a little grim of a projection. Melvin Ingram’s recent signing with Pittsburgh is one of the rare cases in which a defensive lineman becoming a linebacker—for our purposes at least—benefits the team that rosters him, as, if he planned to keep him, Ingram instantly becomes one of the Nate’s best linebackers. In truth, this is where San Francisco has to make its biggest improvement, as the current crop of LBs is replete with EDGE players, who do not generally produce as much fantasy relevance in this format. The high-upside DL should play up, even if Clelin Ferrell continues to confirm the notion that Jon Gruden picked him at least a round too highly—although the unit’s overall depth/talent was slightly hurt by the move of Ingram to LB. Overall, this side of the ball will likely be a constant struggle for the 49ers, and cap any headway the offense is able to make above previous seasons.
X-factor: Defense. For the third-straight season, defense is one of the top concerns. Menial improvements have been made, but before Nate can take his Niners to the realm of a legitimate playoff contender, he’s going to have to massively overhaul this defense. Even with an infusion of an impact player or two, he can basically guarantee his team a postseason berth, but as he’s taken the long road thus far, I don’t expect him to do anything flighty. #Trusttheprocess, because good things are happening. In the end, I back Nate’s offense over Jeremy’s defense, but it’s extremely close, and will likely get closer with time and development.
Projected division finish: 2nd
Seattle Seahawks (Cecil)
Last year’s finish: 9th (Division: 1st)
Outlook: In the film, The Usual Suspects, we are introduced to a group of super-criminals (At least in terms of their rap sheets), who have often worked together, or at least are familiar with one another and their various criminal enterprises—and then there’s the mysterious, mercurial, and even mythical Keyser Söze, who is the behind-the-scenes ringleader, controlling all the strings. In this instance, Cecil is Söze, and his band of Mahomes, Carson, Jones, Evans, Gesicki, Garrett, Burns, White, Rapp, James, Dissly, Howard, Blair, and Abram are The Usual Suspects, and the league knows those cast of characters well, as each has spent at least two years in Seattle (And for many, much longer) No team has done a better job at retaining all the necessary parts as Cecil has with the Seahawks, year-in and year-out, seamlessly moving on from players at the optimal times, and knowing which players are core to his contention, and which he can afford to part with. Quite clearly the league’s greatest grouping of talent—even just from the names above—Cecil has supplemented this group masterfully, adding the likes of DeVante Parker, Jonathan Taylor, Antonio Gibson, Jordyn Brooks, Bobby Okereke, Jalen Thompson, Zack Baun, and Cole Kmet, and that’s without even factoring in this year’s draft class, in which Cecil added chiefly at his previous biggest problem spot: Linebacker, with Jamin Davis and Jabril Cox. In the end, it equates to far-and-away the most talented roster in the league, as is the case in most years. With this group, the Seahawks carry perhaps one of Cecil’s best chances to win it all—again, as he was the league champion in 2016. But, considering the absolute embarrassment of riches that Cecil has had across the years, and especially now that Andrew has added a second title to his name, it will likely be a disappointment if Seattle doesn’t yet add to his trophy case, and allow the narrative to creep in that the league’s best team in its history was also not up to snuff in most years when it came down to it, bad luck be damned. Clearly, this squad has the ability not to repeat those ills, given health and some attention, but as the past has proven, those are not a given.
X-factor: Wide receiver. Beyond a strong on paper top-3 at the position, Cecil has long failed to add enough quality depth to step into the lineup in their stead, in the case of injury or byes. That will once again remain the case this year, as Seattle is only functionally three-deep at the position, a troubling development considering the aging/nagging injuries that Jones showed a year ago, and now the competition for targets on a run-first team, the nagging injuries and competition for targets that Mike Evans experienced in 2020, and the uncertainty with the franchise quarterback that DeVante Parker now faces. It won’t come near derailing what should be a season-long coronation/cakewalk for the Seahawks, but it could once again rear its ugly head come playoff time. Further enforcements are needed at the position in case of emergency, and the Seahawks have the assets to do so, turning an impediment into the final puzzle piece in his plan, just like Keyser Söze.
Projected division finish: 1st
Remember to watch out for the second of our divisional previews, which will deal in the AFC South, and should drop sometime next week. Thanks again guys.