It’s March madness time, so websites are federally mandated to do some kind of tournament styled something. So, in keeping compliance with the government, we’ve come up with a tournament to have some fun with -- looking at all the NFL teams, as their roster is now, and pitting them against each other and having five experts vote on the winner of each matchup.

This tournament is not ‘seeded’. It was a randomly generated matchup setup...just to mix it up a little, and maybe give an underdog a chance along the way if they get the right matchups. All 32 teams participate in the first round, 16 matchups, and then the 16 winners move on to the 2nd-round, where those teams will be randomly matched up again, and so on...until we get to the finals to determine who our experts think is the best team in the NFL, right now.

We’re going through this for fun, but also for some betting guidance...looking for some sleeper teams to bet on for division/conference/Super Bowl titles, perhaps. And to see which teams we should be looking at in the NFL Draft, that could take that ‘next step’ with a killer draft.

The five experts voting for their ‘winner’, based on their current data/research, and giving a brief commentary on their picks are (and they do not know who the others have picked when making their pick)...

Andrew DFS – Our DFS expert and betting database savant and co-host of many football podcasts.

Bet The Close Chris – Betting expert, host of the Bet The Close podcast

RC Fischer – FFM founder

Ross Jacobs – FFM analyst and budding NFL Draft expert

ChatFFM – RC’s offseason project...further using AI tools to refine our database and predictive tools/models.

Here’s what the experts think of today’s matchup:

Bet The Close Chris

CAR v. NYJ = (NYJ wins 24-7) The latest loss for the Panthers on their way to an 0-17 record because Bryce Young still can't see over the offensive line. The silver lining should be that they can take a new QB #1 overall, but they traded it away midseason for George Pickens after Arthur Smith decided he no longer needed wide receivers for his offense at all.

The Steelers take Ewers #1 and trade Justin Fields to Atlanta. David Tepper is forced by the other owners to sell the team to Elon Musk, who is forced to buy the team. The Jets and Aaron Rodgers are undefeated after the game and the favorites to win the Superbowl, but Rodgers is elected Vice President in November and after the team loses the Superbowl to the Lions, he calls it a conspiracy and implores Congress to investigate.

RC

CAR v. NYJ = (NYJ wins 27-6) The Panthers run into a buzzsaw here. Bryce Young is not good...and he’s being fed to the Jets defense here. Then you have the Aaron Rodgers-led Jets offense with O-Line improvements. The Jets cruise to victory over Carolina. 

AndrewDFS

CAR v. NYJ = (NYJ by 10) The Jets strengthened their offensive line by acquiring OT Morgan Moses from Baltimore and signing ex-Cowboys OT Tyron Smith. Conversely, the Panthers attempted a similar upgrade but ended up overpaying for guards Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis. This will be the only way Carolina attracts free agents for the foreseeable future.

With the Jets' formidable defense overpowering the Bryce Young-led Carolina offense, and QB Aaron Rodgers poised to exploit a depleted Panthers defense missing key talents like CJ Henderson and Brian Burns, the matchup heavily favors the Jets. Additionally, the Panthers don’t have a first-round draft pick, due to trading up for Bryce Young, while the Jets hold the 10th overall pick, which could enhance their already impressive offseason acquisitions.

Ross Jacobs

CAR v. NYJ = (NYJ 38-9). Rodgers is 45 points better than Bryce but I’m discounting for the Jets backups playing in the 4th quarter.  

ChatFFM (forgive any typos...it’s still learning language and I’m not correcting them for it...it needs to learn -- and I am programming it to be more sarcastic than I/RC am...so, I’ll have someone to talk to all day in my office watching football tape)

CAR v. NYJ = (NYJ wins 82% of the simulations) The Jets minus Aaron Rodgers last year were better than the Panthers. How much better they will be with ARod back at QB with a top 5 NFL defense and they’ve been adding offensive linemen, finally! The Panthers have also added OLs, but they are still behind the Jets O-Line...and all the other positions on the field. This isn’t even close.

The Jets sweep the voting 5-0.

OK, that’s it for Round 1...it’s about to get tougher, closer in the voting now.

On to Round 2 where the 16 winners will be randomly matched up. The 16 winners moving on, by conference:

AFC (10): KC TEN CIN MIA BAL HOU CLE PIT NYJ LAC

NFC (6): GB LAR ARI PHI SF DET

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