by The 2021-2022 NFL season was electric. Matthew Stafford got a fresh start with the LA Rams and proved to everyone he is an elite quarterback by winning a Super Bowl, Antonio Brown walked out on his team in the middle of a game, Cam Newton went home to the Carolina Panthers, Joe Burrow and the Bengals shocked the AFC, and Urban Meyer… well let’s not talk about that. But, all in all 2021 provided an unreal football season and one of the best NFL Playoffs anyone has ever seen. Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes played in a game for the ages. Then the Bengals pulled off the upset of the year, beating the Chiefs in the AFC Championship game.
But, the Los Angeles Rams walked away champions beating the Cincinnati Bengals in the Super Bowl by a final score of 23-20. Last season will be hard to top, but this year has the potential to do just that. Starting with the Cleveland Browns shaking up the entire NFL by trading for an immense talent at QB in Deshaun Watson and guaranteeing him 230 million over 5 years, but he comes with baggage. Watson was under investigation for 24 civil cases of sexual assault. Since then, 20 of those cases have been settled and the whole NFL is waiting to see what judge Sue Robinson decides for his suspension.
The Browns also traded for star receiver Amari Cooper. Cleveland is looking to finally get over the hump and make it to a Super Bowl with these additions. The Browns also recently have traded their QB of the last 4 years Baker Mayfield to the Carolina Panthers. Baker, the former 1st overall pick had some great years in Cleveland, and also some bad years.
Baker won the Browns their first playoff game in 2 decades and showed a ton of promise going into the next season. But in the 2021-2022 season, he tore his labrum in week 2. This caused Mayfield to have a horrific rest of the season and the Browns felt they needed to upgrade. Baker, is now in Carolina and the two teams play each other week 1 of this upcoming season.
If Baker wins the starting job in Carolina, this is must see television. There was another quarterback change in the AFC. The Denver Broncos made a move to get superstar quarterback Russell Wilson from the Seattle Seahawks. What Wilson can bring to this Denver team is being a leader and also just being a good quarterback, something Denver has not had since Peyton Manning retired. Denver is in the AFC West which is full of unreal talent at the quarterback position. From Derrick Carr, Justin Herbert, and Patrick Mahomes.
But, this off-season Mahomes lost his Superstar receiver in Tyreek Hill who requested a trade and was traded to the Miami Dolphins. The Chiefs were able to sign former Pittsburgh Steelers receiver JuJu Smith- Schuster and former Green Bay Packers receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling. So, the Chiefs are still a huge threat with Mahomes and coach Andy Reid leading the pack. Staying in the same division, the Raiders made some noise. Las Vegas made a huge move by signing former Green Bay receiver Davante Adams.
Adams is a top 3 receiver in the NFL and is former college teammates with Raiders QB Derrick Carr. The offensive fire power in Vegas is unreal now with Adams, Waller, Jacobs, and Renfrow. The Raiders have potential to be one of the best teams in the NFL after adding Davante Adams to their roster. The last team in the AFC West is the Los Angeles Chargers with young Star QB Justin Herbert.
They made some great moves with their defense by adding Superstar edge Khalil Mack and also getting a shut down corner in J.C. Jackson. The AFC West is going to be the most fun division to watch in football this year with all the talent that has gone there in the off-season. Lastly in the AFC, the Buffalo Bills added 2-time super bowl winning edge Von Miller to their defense.
The Bills just keep getting better and better each year with Josh Allen leading them and this year could be the year they win the whole thing. They were so close to advancing to the AFC Championship game last year but came up just short in overtime against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. Heading over to the NFC, Tom Brady stated at the end of the season he was retired. Only to a couple days later come out and say he is not retiring and is returning for his third season in Tampa Bay. This puts the Buccaneers right back up there in Super Bowl contention and are closely behind the Rams to make it to the big game. As I stated earlier, the Rams won it all last year and are looking to do the same this year.
Losing Von Miller hurts their defense slightly but on offense they added a great receiver in Allen Robinson. Of course, they signed star receiver Odell Beckham Jr. last year after he was cut by the Browns and he played well all the way to the Super Bowl, but then tragically tore his ACL in the game. So, we wait to see if they bring Odell back to LA, or if they will let him move on to a new team. That new team may be the Green Bay Packers.
Green Bay recently signed their Hall of Fame QB Aaron Rodgers to an extension after many reports of him wanting to leave and move on. They did this also while hoping to retain Davante Adams, but that was not the case. Adams is now in Vegas and Aaron Rodgers does not have a number 1 receiver in Green Bay. Look for the Packers to maybe go out and grab Beckham while he’s still on the market to help out Rodgers.
The NFC also contains some teams that are looking to really prove themselves this year and take a giant leap. Teams like the New Orleans Saints, Dallas Cowboys, and Arizona Cardinals. The Saints have put together an insane receiving core after signing Jarvis Landry and drafting stud receiver Chris Olave. Those two will be joining Michael Thomas in catching balls from Jameis Winston. Their running back however may be facing a suspension for an incident that happened after the Pro Bowl. Alvin Kamara’s suspension length could cost the Saints some games because he is an elite running back.
But, nonetheless The Saints finally have an electric offense to go along with their tough defense. In Dallas, time is only getting shorter and shorter for this group to make something happen. Dak Prescott must start winning playoff games or this team will be blown up. Running back Ezekiel Elliott seems to be regressing each year and they just lost two of their best receivers in Amari Cooper and Cedric Wilson. This means Ceedee Lamb will have to play an even bigger role in the offense in what is a huge season for Dallas. Finally, Arizona Cardinals QB Kyler Murray is looking for a contract extension.
Murray has been electric but for some reason the team still can not win a ton of games. They made the playoffs for the first time with Murray last season but ended up losing in the first round to the Rams 34-11. The Cardinals were missing their best receiver Deandre Hopkins as he had gotten hurt a couple weeks before the playoffs.
But. Arizona still had enough fire power to keep it close, in which they didn’t. It will be interesting to see if Arizona gives Murray that extension before the season or if they will wait and see how this season plays out for them. If all this is not enough to get you hyped up about the NFL this season, I don’t know what could. Thursday September 8th, 2022 can not come soon enough.
