NFL: Five takeaways from the offseason
1. Tom Brady ain't done just yet: Who would’ve thought there would come a day where Tom Brady would play home football games in another stadium besides Foxboro? What absolutely crazy times we live in as Brady will be taking his talents to Raymond James Stadium and the Buccaneers next season. If he can win a seventh ring with a different team in their home stadium this season, I don’t know how you couldn’t call him the GOAT at that point.
2. The AFC runs through Jackson, Mahomes, and Watson now: Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, or Ben Roethlisberger represented the AFC in the Super Bowl every year except two from 2001-2018. Its safe to say that three quarterbacks dominating will likely continue. Patrick Mahomes already has a league MVP and Super Bowl, Lamar Jackson was the MVP last season, and Deshaun Watson can be right there if the Texans get rid of Bill O'Brien.
3. Bill O’Brien needs to go: It was bad enough that the Texans managed to blow a 24-point lead in the divisional round against the Chiefs. It was bad enough that O’Brien thought it’d be a good idea to trade Jadaveon Clowney and Laremy Tunsil for barely anything. But trading DeAndre Hopkins for not even a first round pick should be the final nail in the coffin. It's time Houston shows O'Brien the door before Watson and J.J. Watt’s primes are wasted.
4. Where do the Patriots go now: While Bill Belichick will always be the greatest head coach in NFL history, if he’s able to lead the Patriots anywhere in 2020 with his current QB situation, it’ll be his best coaching job yet. With such a late draft pick, New England cannot take one of the marquee QB prospects barring an unforeseen trade, so who will start at quarterback for the Patriots in 2020: Jarrett Stidham or Brian Hoyer? All I can say is yikes.
5. NFC battle for the ages: The Eagles, Cowboys, Packers, Vikings, Buccaneers, Saints, Falcons, 49ers, Seahawks, Rams, and Cardinals all look to be teams that could have serious Super Bowl aspirations and we’re not even to the draft yet! That’s 11 of the 16 teams in the conference that you could make a legitimate argument that they have a shot at representing the NFC. Maybe expanding the playoffs from six to seven teams won’t be so bad after all.
Photo Credit: Clutch Points.
