Everyone is 0-0 again. You can officially throw last year’s records out.
Whenever people berate me for my rankings (which is a right I’ll fight for them to have) this time of year, I tend to fall back on the idea that last year is really last year, and it no longer matters.
That is, of course, only partly true. The top of the rankings actually look remarkably similar to our post-Super Bowl edition, so there’s clearly some natural carryover. If we’re being honest with ourselves, of the dozens of offseason additions we’re spending so much time parsing these days, only a few might pay real dividends. Some of the losses we’re lamenting will only hurt so much.
But there is a reality about turning the calendar to March, and that’s pretty evident below in the middle tier, which has been shaken up from six weeks ago. Figuring out where to place teams such as the Vikings, Bengals, Bears, 49ers, Seahawks, Texans and Chargers is tricky right now. They fit into a few different categories of uncertainty: Either they overachieved or underachieved last season — or, in some cases, they look vastly different than they did at season’s end. There are also teams without starting quarterbacks, which are even harder to slot properly, absent some kind of supposition as to what they’ll do at the position.
The remnants of free agency are still finding homes, and the whole draft process remains in front of us, meaning there’s plenty of time for the chairs to shift more. So please keep that in mind when you’re crafting that hate mail. I can’t wait until it arrives.