The off-season strikes me as a tough time of the year and probably not the best time to start a blog on the NFL but I will persevere and I have a lot of content to be released in the coming days/weeks.
Obviously don't take what I list below as gospel as these will change dependant on the off season progress of teams, my power rankings are as follows;
1. Green Bay Packers
General Manager Ted Thompson always seems to have a knack of completing a successful off-season. Ensuring they dot the i's and cross the t's, Green Bay managed to sign back all their influential free agents and also pick up some positions of need in the draft. Packers are my pick for the NFC team in Superbowl 50.
2. Seattle Seahawks
The Seahawks didn't have the greatest draft this year and reached for their 2nd round selection. Tyler Lockett is a nice prospect in the 3rd round to add to Wilson's supporting cast. I'm sure they are hoping he is a bit more aggressive than his name sake Lockette (too soon?). I think the Packers will edge them out in the NFC Championship game this year and should have last year, had it not been for Brandon Bostick.
3. Dallas Cowboys
The story of the Cowboys draft was no running back selected in the entire draft. They have plenty of capable backs to work in a team to achieve what DeMarco Murray did last season. With the dominant offensive line, I think people need to stop worrying about not picking up a running back; I could run behind this line and be productive (or maybe not).
4. Arizona Cardinals
If any team is going to topple the Seahawks this season, I believe the Cardinals are the team to do it. However, we aren't there yet and still a long way to go until December. Carson Palmer will need to have a bigger season coming of his ACL injury for the Cards to take the division. D.J. Humphries & David Johnson were good additions with the latter likely to see most of the running back reps over a recovering Andre Ellington.
5. Detroit Lions
A very savvy pick on Day 1 of the draft from the Lions with Laken Tomlinson and they were able to obtain more picks from the Broncos during this trade. Abdullah, a day 2 pick at running back will compliment Joique Bell in the backfield. This means they can shy away from Matt Stafford who hasn't reached his potential yet despite having Megatron at his disposal.
6. Carolina Panthers
Carolina may have reached for Shaq Thompson in the first round and also paid highly for Devin Funchess at the top of the second round. However, no other team in the NFC South is getting placed above the Panthers at this stage. After a strong finish to the 2014 season, I believe the Panthers will repeat and win the NFC South.
7. Philadelphia Eagles
Apart from missing out on Mariota in the draft, I think they had an okay draft. However, it will be interesting to see how the new dynamic of the Eagles offence plays out come August/September. I think Agholor is a great pick up in the first round and paired with the second year Jordan Matthews, they could put up some deadly numbers in Chip Kelly's offence.
8. New Orleans Saints
The Saints had two 1st round picks but it's going to be difficult to see whether they got better this offseason. They lost two key players with Jimmy Graham and Ben Grubbs in the off season and didn't replace them with anyone who is going to provide as much production as those departing players did. However, they did improve on defence by adding Anthony & Kikaha.
9. New York Giants
No one seems to be talking about the Giants going into the season so far. I think the return of Victor Cruz from injury puts the Giants in a great position. It will help Beckham continue his meteoric rise in his second season as teams will no longer be able to double team him without giving Cruz loads of space. I still think they will struggle to challenge for the division title this year but I think they are one more year away from getting back to the playoffs. Landon Collins fills a huge position of need for New York too.
10. Minnesota Vikings
Apart from the news that Peterson won't be attending OTA's (Organised Team Activities), Minnesota had a great draft and received positive grades from a number of sources. They will need to secure Peterson to a new contract and they could be challenging Detroit for the 2nd place in the division.
11. Atlanta Falcons
It's understandable that the Falcons fans are getting excited about the draft they had. They managed to pick up two positions of need and got Beasley & Jalen Collins who will firm up that defence but there is still more to be done but a great start from Dan Quinn who looks to use the nucleus of the Seahawks defensive scheme in Atlanta.
12. St. Louis Rams
Todd Gurley was a surprise at the 10th pick for the Rams as they have a great running back in Tre Mason already. However, they look to be building around the backfield by picking 4 lineman in the remainder of the draft. If you pair that up with a fearsome front 7 on defence, it may help Nick Foles regain the form we saw two seasons ago.
13. Chicago Bears
Kevin White must start from Day 1, he could form a formidable partnership with Alshon Jeffrey which means there should be no excuses from Jay Cutler this season. Eddie Goldman was a steal in the second round and firmed up a position of need for the Bears. Chicago might need to move away from Jay Cutler before they are relevant in the NFC again.
14. San Francisco 49ers
An off-season filled with so many negatives for the 49ers. They managed to fill needs in this year's draft but as per recent years, they need to hit on this group as previous year's have been unsuccessful. Jim Tomsula will need to ensure this team's chemistry is on point going into the season to avoid any embarrassment.
15. Washington Redskins
There were some serious holes filled in the Redskins' draft, however, the main talking point is that they passed on Leonard Williams (potentially the best player in the '15 draft). They proceeded to take Brandon Scherff at #5 and if he can contribute straight away then who cares if they took him early. They will need to ensure that RGIII can give this team what he produced in his rookie season or it could be his last in D.C.
16. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
I'm sure people are confused with my selection of Tampa Bay in last position. Well, it won't come as a surprise but they were the worst team in football last year. This position will solely depend on whether Jameis Winston can lead this team from the word "go". They have the weapons around him so he will need to mature and prove they were right to pick him #1.
Finally, I have arrived at the end of my NFC Power Rankings. I hope you have enjoyed them and I will be following up these power rankings with my positional rankings (top 10), starting with QB's.
The Rookie Season