Subscribe Now
3 month for $19
Boston and New York Bear Brunt
Monday, January 1, 2018
- 23 °C
- 23 °C
Boston and New York Bear Brunt
- 23 °C
Is your favorite team going to make it to Super Bowl LV? Find out here
Guys, I don't want to jinx anything, but I think the 2020 NFL season is actually going to happen. The first game of the year is now just days away, and unless this country comes under attack by fire-breathing hornets between now and Thursday - which does seem at least somewhat plausible based on how the year has gone so far - I'm thinking we're going to get football. With the start of the NFL season now here, that means it's time for everyone's favorite thing: PREDICTIONS. I mean, one team has a 41-year-old player on its practice squad in case you're wondering how bizarre things have gotten this year.
I'll be honest, I have high expectations for my predictions this year and that's mainly because I've been locked in my house for the past five months quarantined with a baby. During that period, the only two things I've done are: 1. Change diapers and 2. Try to figure out who's going to win this year's Super Bowl. Although I'd like to think I'll hit the nail on the head with all of my predictions this year, the fact of the matter is that this could end up being one of the most unpredictable years in NFL history. Not only was the preseason eliminated, but NFL teams did their best to shut down the flow of information coming out of their training camps, which means I have no idea which rookies have looked good or if any aging veterans look like they should be thinking about retirement.
Before we get to my predictions, let me explain how things are going to work here: I'm going to go through each division and predict each team's final record. After that, I'll be making a bold prediction for each division. Once you roll through the divisional portion of these predictions, you'll see my playoff picks and eventually, my Super Bowl champion. In two of the past five years, my preseason Super Bowl pick has ended up winning it all, so you might want to scroll down and check out that prediction first to see if I'm picking your favorite team.
Also, since we all know that making fun of someone's predictions is half the fun of reading predictions, you can send all your hate tweets to me on Twitter by clicking here, and just so you know, Broncos fans, I'm already mentally preparing for your hate tweets.
One of the toughest days of every football season comes the weekend before Week 1, as NFL teams are forced to reduce their rosters to 53 players. Most years, unheralded players are able to win spots in certain situations with standout performances in game situations, but thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, all preseason games were canceled this season, leaving those underdogs with less of a chance to make an impression.
Still, some players were able to use their practice time wisely and unseat more proven options on the depth chart. That includes in Green Bay, where Malik Turner won the last spot at receiver over Jake Kumerow, and in Pittsburgh, where Ray-Ray McCloud was able to beat out Ryan Switzer. Some moves caused us to scratch our heads, including the Raiders trading Lynn Bowden for a lower value than the third-round pick they spent on him in April, as well as the Cowboys reversing course on veteran safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix after signing him earlier this offseason. We'll have one takeaway from every team below, but you can also check out every single cut in our tracker from the weekend.
The Bills spent a fifth-round pick on Jake Fromm in this year's draft with the hope that he could challenge for the backup spot at quarterback behind Josh Allen, but instead he found himself in a battle with Davis Webb to be the team's No. 3 option at the position. Speculation emerged that Fromm could fail to make the initial roster despite the draft pick invested in him back in April, but in the end it was Webb who found himself on the cut list. Buffalo did only keep four cornerbacks on the initial roster, so it's possible there are more moves on the way. One of those four, Tre'Davious White, also reportedly agreed to a massive extension on Saturday, keeping him in Buffalo for years to come.
SpaceX will attempt to break a rocket reusability record with a launch this
week
SpaceX is preparing for yet another launch of Starlink satellites on Tuesday — its tenth launch of production versions of the satellites to date. In addition to 58 Starlink satellites, the Falcon 9 flying the mission will also carry three Planet satellites — and it’ll be the sixth time this particular rocket booster has made the trip, marking a record-breaking achievement for SpaceX.
821
28
The concept of ranking teams by overall strength isn't foreign to anyone; our Pete Prisco shares his rankings of all 32 teams every week of the regular season. Where power ratings for NFL bettors differ is that you must affix a point total to each team that signifies how far they are from an average team.
First, pick the team you consider the 16th- or 17th-best in the NFL in 2020. If you go by the season win total market, that's someone in the Rams-Browns tier of teams (last year I used the 49ers and Ravens as our mid-level win total examples, so remember that these are just what the market is projecting at this moment). Assign whichever teams you think are average with a power rating of zero. From there, you'll assign point totals for each team that are better or worse than average, generally staying within the range of plus-5 and minus-5 at this point of the season, though I've made a few exceptions in my Week 1 ratings this year.
821
30
5,030
495
1,904
82
2,873
982
Benjamin Hoffman
Comments
36