My Top 5 Teams On Paper Heading Into The 2019 NFL Season

5) The Houston Texans: QB Deshaun Watson is the real deal ladies and gentlemen. When healthy he is easily a top 5 NFL QB with the athletic ability and arm strength of a stronger Russell Wilson. The Texans have certainly done an excellent job surrounding their young Franchise Signal caller during the offseason by drafting not one but two talented young OTs in Tytus Howard and Max Scararping in the first and second round. This should greatly improve Watson’s offensive line.

Then the team decided to spoil Watson by adding a highly talented TE/WR and blocking specialist Kahale Warring to pair up with burner WR Will Fuller, stud WR Deandre Hopkins and TE Ryan Griffin. The Texans rushing attack may be average, but this is a pass-happy team that wins games through the air rather than on the ground. An already excellent defense headlined by J.J. Watt also added several defensive backs to the roster such as Xavier Crawford through the draft and Bradley Roby via free agency turning the teams biggest weakness last year into a strength. The Houston Texans are one of three teams on my list with great rosters from top to bottom. If only they still had DE Jadeveon Clowney to anchor their defense…oh wait they still do!

4) The New York Jets: I am riding the hype train with this one. The Jets went all-in during free agency by adding quite possibly the NFL’s best RB in Le’Veon Bell and adding the sneaky talented WR Jamison Crowder to play opposite of underrated speedster, WR Robby Anderson. QB Sam Darnold showed a ton of promise as a rookie for the Jets last season as a rookie with half the supporting cast he now has. Imagine what his stats may look like if he continues to stay healthy during the entire 2019 NFL season. The Jets should sneak into the playoffs on the heels of their offense this season. He could literally break several Jets passing records in just his second year. No matter what ill be rooting for the Jets to take down The Cheating and boring Patriots twice this year. The 2019 Jets should be fun to watch. Here’s hoping that they are worth the hype.

3) The Cleveland Browns: If you would have told me 18 months ago I’d be putting The Browns on this type of a list I would have laughed at you and made me you buy me Rita’s water ice for being naive, and yet here we are. Hype, hype and more hype for The Browns in 2019. QB Baker Mayfield is already a top 10 QB in the NFL in my opinion, and now he has nearly too many toys to play with.

The Browns somehow landed Mega Star WR Odelle Beckham Jr. Via trade with the Giants of New Jersey during the offseason to pair with another Superstar at WR in Jarvis Laundry possibly forming the best WR duo in the NFL. If this team does not make win their division this season and lock up the No. 3 playoff seed in The AFC it should be considered a disappointing season. Their only real competition in their division comes from the Baltimore Ravens who have a very good young QB themselves in Lamar Jackson.

The Ravens, however, lack the skill position players the Browns boast. The Pittsburgh Steelers lost about half their team in the offseason, and Big Ben is not the same QB he once was. The Bengals are..well The Bengals. All of this being said I know that Browns fans will be thrilled if their team simply reaches the playoffs for the very first time since 1999. It would be the Cleveland Browns first playoff appearance in 20 years. If I were a Browns fan I suppose I would be thrilled with that. Luckily, I’m used to greener pastures. I’ll say this for the Brownies. I hope they beat the stuffing out of they ever annoying and overrated Steelers twice this year by 75 points both times they play them.

2) The L.A. Chargers: The Chargers have one of the best Rosters as fair as Offense and Defense goes in the NFL. There are 12 NFL teams that have never won the Super Bowl. Two of them are on my list. The Cleveland Browns, (who are the only team in the NFL to not even appear in one) and The Chargers.

A recent poll was filled out by NFL fans. The question on the said poll was: Out of all 12 teams that haven’t won a Super Bowl as of yet which team has the best odds? 35 percent of NFL fans chose the Browns, a small percentage chose another team, and 58 percent chose the Chargers to do so in 2019. There’s a big reason for that. Top to bottom the Chargers have the second-best roster in my opinion in the NFL right now. QB Phillip Rivers is, in my opinion, the best QB from that famous 2004 NFL Draft class that also included Eli Manning and Big Ben. Unlike the other two guys Rivers still plays like a top tier QB.

I’ll come back to the offense in a minute. I’m just going to quickly state the obvious. On defense, the Chargers have the NFL’s best DE tandem with Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram hands down. Everyone knows that the Chargers are completely stacked on defense. Now back to the fun part in regards to this team.

On offense Rivers already had star TE Hunter Henry to throw to, as well as Pro Bowl WR Keenan Allen. Through free agency, the team added former Pro Bowl WR Travis Benjamin. Guess what?

The Chargers Coveted 2017 first-round pick WR Mike Williams who’s been injured for close to 2 seasons is finally healthy and having a great camp. They have their speed WR in Allen, but could potentially have one of the league’s top Red Zone scoring units due to the three pass catchers they have over 6 foot 3 in Benjamin, Williams, and Hunter Henry. I could see them being a top 2 or 3 red zone offense in the NFL this year, and nobody is talking about it. I’m calling it right now: They will lead the AFC in Red Zone TD percentage.

1) The Philadelphia Eagles: The Philadelphia Eagles have the best and most complete roster in the NFL heading into the 2019 regular season. The Eagles have an astonishing and complete roster without any holes. You really have to nitpick to find one minimal weakness at any position group on this team even when looking at the team’s backup depth players as they have the whole package. Offense, Defense and Special Teams The Philadelphia Eagles are loaded. This is not just the most complete roster in the NFL, but also the most star-studded, talented, and certainly most well-coached team in the league as we head into the 2019 NFL season.

Make no mistake it is Super Bowl Victory or Bust for my Eagles in 2019. I don’t know how the heck GM Howie Roseman does it, but he continues to add Pro Bowl level players at key positions on the fly nearly every offseason. Let’s start with the offense. RB was a position of weakness last season due to injury, and now is not just a major strength for The Birds, but could very well be the best RB unit in The NFC East and the NFL. The team traded some peanuts for the league’s third-leading rusher since 2015 in star RB Jordan Howard who already has nearly 3,500 yards rushing in just three NFL seasons.

The Philadelphia Eagles also drafted the explosive Miles Sanders who somehow (Wizardry?) fell to them at no. 53 in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft. They also recently brought a very healthy Darren Sproles back on a one year deal. That’s one hell of a three-headed monster. At WR, The Eagles have the best core in the NFL.

Their outside starters are Pro-Bowlers WR Alshon Jeffery and future Hall of Famer WR Desean Jackson. (The fastest WR even at 32 in the NFL). In the slot, they have talented former first-round pick WR Nelson Agholor. The teams no. 4 and no. 5 WRs Rookie second Rd. pick J.J. Arcega Whiteside and Mack Hollins would be starters on most NFL rosters as well. As if the team wasn’t loaded with talented pass catchers as it is they also have the NFL’s best TE/WR in Zach Ertz, and second-year TE/WR Dallas Goedert (Who some believe has the potential to be even better than Ertz) returning as well.

QB Carson Wentz has looked extremely healthy throughout OTAs and training camp for the first time since 2017 and is a top 2-3 NFL QB when healthy and should return to his 2017 MVP form. With C Jason Kelce, LT Jason Peters, RG Brandon Brooks, LG Issac Seumalo and LT Lane Johnson The Eagles boast The top Oline in the league as well. Nearly every OL on the team has made multiple Pro Bowls. This team is a Juggernaut on offense and their defense is even better. On the defensive side of the ball, The Eagles boast the best trio of DTs in the NFL in Pro-Bowlers Fletcher Cox, DT/DE Malik Jackson, and Timmy Jernigan. Their pass rush on the edge is just as impressive with Super Bowl 52 hero and Pro-Bowler DE Brandon Graham on one side and DE Derrek Barnett (who had an excellent rookie season) on the other. Their backups would be starters on most teams. Former Pro-Bowler DE Vinny Curry will be the main backup who subs in with ultra-athletic Josh Sweat as the DE4 and rookie standout and Penn State Alum Shareef Miller rotating in as the teams DE5.

Not to mention former Pro-Bowlers Chris Long and Connor Barwin will be on speed dial if there is an injury to any of the depth players along the DL. The DL is the strength of their defense, and yet they still have one of the leagues best safety tandems with Pro-Bowler and future Hall of Famer Malcolm Jenkins and FS Rodney McCloud. CB was a position of weakness last season for The Eagles but not due to a lack of talent. They had the NFL’s highest amount of Injured Corners and started 10 different Corners over the course of the season. While an injury bug like the one that the secondary faced last year is highly unlikely the team still added starting quality depth by signing veteran CB and former Pro Bowler Orlando Scandrick and S/CB Andrew Sendejo to back up good young DBs like Rasul Douglas, Avante Maddox, and Sidney Jones (Who’s finally healthy and having an excellent camp). The Eagles use only 2 LB for the majority of the snaps played on defense, but still somehow someway signed Pro Bowl LB Zach Brown to a veteran minimum contract. I don’t think GM Howie Roseman needs sleep. Hey, Let’s talk about special teams.

Kicker Jake Elliot is one of the NFL’s most clutch Kickers, and Punter Cameron Johnston averages nearly 50 yards per punt. While writing this I was going over the Eagles roster and nitpicking as I tried to find a weakness at any position. A little depth at Punt returner is all I came up with. In other words, I found nothing. There is no football team that Philadelphia cannot beat going into 2019. I’m not saying that my Eagles will go undefeated as I currently have them going 11-5 or 12-4 on the year, however, they have the talent to beat every single team they play this year and should be very dangerous yet again in the playoffs. The Saints of last year were the class of the NFC. The Philadelphia Eagles of this year are the class of the NFC and possibly the entire NFL.

Bold Prediction: The Philadelphia Eagles will defeat The L.A. Chargers 37 to 21 in Super Bowl 54, and hoist up their second Lombardi Trophy in 3 years.

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