Personally, I think the Texans by far. Stroud is already a stud, Demeco Ryans seems promising as a motivator and a defensive mind, and their GM, Nick Caserio, probably had the best offseason out of any GM except for Howie Roseman.
I’d also throw the Colts and Rams in. Steichen seems legit and Stafford isn’t washed like a lot of people thought.
The Cardinals. Though I can’t think of a team as good at killing hope better than them, so we’ll see
Feels way to early to make that call. Typically the teams that “inspire hope” in the offseason are the ones that start poorly & get hot late in the year (see last year’s Lions/Jaguars/Steelers). Conversely, there’s probably a few teams unexpectedly in the playoff hunt right now that will collapse down the stretch (see last years Commies/Patriots/Titans)
I’m in danger
The NFC may have a surprise Wild Card team, while AFC is going to come down to tiebreakers. I think 11 wins is what gets a team in the postseason this year and even then someone maybe still sitting out with a 11 wins. The surprise Wild Card NFC team I would put into the playoffs will be the Buccaneers. I just think they are too good of a team to miss out. Probably help keep players who that organization was going to go through a complete rebuild.
Chargers are inspiring hope that they’ll lose enough to fire Staley and therefor have a chance to actually be good next year
I think the easy answer is the Texans and Cards. Nice turnarounds on offense has been the driving factor.
Issue though is both are lead by DC’s. Why is that an issue? Both of the OC’s if they continue this success are going to be be getting head coaching gigs. Then you have Houston with promising QB having to restart with a new OC (who knows if Ryans hits again).
Same thing goes with the Cards if they draft a QB.
In this modern NFL I never get why teams hire DC’s as headcoaches. Say Stroud hits, then gets a new OC, then does well, then the OC is gone, and keeps happening. You need to give the QB’s you’ve invested so much capital/money/time a setup to success and develop a rhythm with.
To me it’s a simple answer and it’s Steichen/Colts. Early dividends have been promising with AR (though I still have some concerns about his accuracy) and him/Minshew absolutely carved up the #1 defense. If Colts continue to have success, Steichen will still be there and will still have his hand prints/style on the offense (similar to Reid, not in talent but that Reid is involved in the offense).
texans easily, they could easily mess around and win our division this year tho. their schedule is pretty light going forward and they already have a win against us. obv rly hope the dont win the division but wouldn’t shock me at all if they do
Bears from my division