A new idea I had in order to help me go through the NFL team’s rosters and examine all the personnel and coaching changes, etc., one-by-one. I’m going to look at two teams head-to-head in seven key categories (my bias on what is ‘key’). The team that gets my vote in each category gets a ‘win’…the first team to 4 wins moves on to the next round. Just a quick, hopefully fun, way to take the temperature of each team heading into the 2023 preseason.
The seven categories…it’s actually six because one category is so important that it’s worth double:
1-2) The quarterbacks comparison…the winner of this gets 2 wins, or if too close to call it could be a 1-1 split.
3) O-Line -- Judging which team has the better O-Line…the most critical aspect of a team after the QB.
4) Cornerbacks -- After O-Line, I think the most critical position is shutdown corners (or not having any).
5) Head Coach/Organization -- A battle of which coaches will get in the way less, to some degree but also an edge given to teams that will attract free agents or be a desired destination in trades…and what teams are filling the stadium for home games, etc. Everything rolled into one judgment call.
6) Offensive Weapons -- Which team has the better, scarier RB-WR-TE group.
7) Kicker -- If it comes down to #7, of course the kicker should make the determination...as the kicker often determines the winner of a 59+ minute war prior with a last second make/miss.
As we lead into each category and tap a winner -- I’m also listing the major add/loss for each team in the offseason so far, just to eyeball it as a list.
Is this a brilliant way to judge teams over another? Who knows! But it struck me as something fun to do while studying each team this preseason, after the majority of offseason moves have been made.
ARI major adds: OT P. Johnson, LB Ojulari, WR M. Wilson, CB G. Williams
ARI major losses: WR Hopkins, DL J.J. Watt, OC Hudson, DE Z. Allen, CB B. Murphy, LB M. Golden
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SF major adds: DT Hargrave, PK Moody, SAF J. Brown, OC Brendel
SF major losses: OL McGlinchey, QB Garoppolo, DE Ebukam, DE Omenihu, DB J. Ward, CB Moseley
QB (2x): I’ll say this is going to be Brock Purdy for Week 1 for SF…and in the Year of Our Lord 2023…you take Purdy (or Trey Lance) over Kyler Murray. Good spend by Arizona on Kyler’s contract last year (and don’t forget the Kliff extension…then fired)…
If you think…None of us knows if Purdy will be ready, physically for 2023 start? Well, we also don’t know that about Kyler.
SF leads (2-0).
O-Line: Not even close…advantage San Fran. And I expect most everything in this contest to not even be close/a sweep for SF since the Cardinals are purposefully tanking.
49ers on their way (3-0).
CBs: The Cardinals CBs are a joke. The 49ers’ aren’t…they aren’t great at CB, but they ain’t Arizona bad.
SF wraps it up (4-0).
HC/Organization: I mean…I don’t even need to type anything. Arizona is hurtling towards being the single worst top-to-bottom organization in the NFL…Arizona, Las Vegas, Carolina are running strong at the top of the leaderboard for being THE WORST. Kyle Shanahan is arguably the best head coach in football and the SF organization is solid+.
49ers lead (5-0).
Weapons: Ha. I’ll take the 49ers’ group.
SF dominates to a (6-0) lead. This is like a bye week, in this contest, for SF…
Kicker: Rookie Jake Moody or fading/aging out Matt Prater. I’d take the rookie at this stage.
49ers crush it (7-0).
Upcoming Matchups (next round):
MIA v. BUF for AFC East
LAC v. KC for the AFC West
BAL v. CIN for AFC North
IND v. JAX for the AFC South
DAL v. PHI for the NFC East
MIN v. DET for the NFC North
TB v. NO for the NFC South
SF v. ??? for the NFC West
