My eyes are on Jack Del Rio's
Raiders. Among some of the offseason moves were: signing
Sean Smith,
Kelechi Osemele and
Bruce Irvin in free agency, re-signing
Donald Penn and adding
Karl Joseph,
Jihad Ward and
Shilique Calhoun, among others, in the draft. There is a lot of excitement surrounding the defense and offense.
Derek Carr and
Amari Cooper made for a great QB-WR combo in Cooper's first NFL season, and they should put up even bigger numbers in 2016. The
Raiders have a talented team and a lot of players who will fit well into Del Rio's system. My question is: Can this team put it all together?
I want to see how quickly the
Tennessee Titans can come together. They have a quarterback in
Marcus Mariota who, I think, is going to be really good in this league. He's smart, has leadership skills and is an accurate passer. The
Titans added
DeMarco Murray and
Derrick Henry, allowing the
Titans to be
physical in the run game behind a much improved offensive line, which allowed the
most sacks in the league in 2015. The addition of first-round draft pick
Jack Conklin should help.
The AFC South is going to balance out. The
Colts, who have dominated this division in the past, have dropped back to the middle of the pack. The
Texans have questions at the quarterback position with
Brock Osweiler, because he's only had seven career starts. We don't know if he's the future of that organization yet, and
J.J. Watt is
missing a good chunk of time. The
Jaguars have made big changes this offseason, as well.
So many teams have my attention right now, with the top three being Pittsburgh, Arizona and Dallas. The
Steelers will be without
Martavis Bryant, and
Le'Veon Bell
will miss the first four games of the season. Running back
DeAngelo Williams had a great year in 2015, but he is entering his 11th NFL season. We can't automatically assume he'll have another great year at this point in his career. On the flip side, when looking at their defense, the
Steelers have a lot of good players who are flying under the radar. For me, I look at the
Steelers as a potential
Super Bowl candidate, so that makes their camp all the more interesting.
After watching the
"All or Nothing" series and knowing that the
Cardinals made the NFC Championship Game last season, I think they will be just as good as they were in 2015, if not better. Arizona is definitely going to be worth watching in the next few weeks. In the Lone Star State, there's a lot of hype surrounding the
Cowboys now that
Tony Romo and
Dez Bryant are healthy. Not to mention, the team added rookie running back
Ezekiel Elliott this offseason. I'm excited to watch that offense come together behind a good offensive line.
There are two teams who stand out to me heading into training camp, both with new head coaches. I think we will gather a lot of info -- good or bad -- from the
Philadelphia Eagles and
Miami Dolphins by the end of camp. It is plain and simple: We will either see players respond to what Doug Pederson or Adam Gase want to accomplish -- or we won't. The
Eagles are loaded with talent and ready to put their less-than-stellar 2015 season behind them. I'm eager to see what Pederson will do with this team.
I believe the
Dolphins have the potential to be in the mix for the AFC East title, especially when you factor in
Tom Brady's
four-game suspension. Gase has had a huge impact on his former teams, and I want to see if he can get the best out of an up-and-down
Ryan Tannehill.
This offseason has been all about the
Rams' move to Los Angeles, and my attention is staying put for one reason --
Jared Goff. I want to see how long it takes the rookie quarterback to win the starting job. I think we'll learn a lot in the next few weeks of training camp and see if the former Cal star is truly ready to play in this league.
