2022 Offseason Assessment Tournament: 2nd-Round (IND v. JAX)
Same intro everyday: Our annual series taking a look at each NFL team’s offseason (free agency, draft, trades) moves and assessing their impact for the upcoming season – simply speaking, 'did all of the offseason moves, en masse, project to make the team better or worse for just the upcoming campaign (not worried about the long-term effect)'?
We’ll list the key adds and losses for each team competing and then comment on them and anoint a winner that will move on to the next round, until we get down to the final two (the 'Super Bowl') and we name a winner for the top offseason (to date). Our way to review and judge what each of these teams have done halfway through the offseason.
2nd-Round Matchup…
INDIANAPOLIS COLTS
Key Adds:
QB Matt Ryan (trade), DE Yannick Ngakoue (trade), CB Stephon Gilmore (FA)
WR Alec Pierce (pick #53), TE Jelani Woods (pick #73), OL Berhard Raimann (pick #77), SAF Nick Cross (pick #96), DT Eric Johnson (pick #159)
Key Losses:
CB Rock Ya-Sin (trade), QB Carson Wentz (trade), OG Mark Glowinski (FA), SAF George Odum (FA), DT Al-Quadin Muhammad, OG Chris Reed (FA)
vs.
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS
Key Adds:
WR Christian Kirk (FA), OG Brandon Scherff (FA), Foye Oluokun (FA), Darious Williams (FA), DT Foley Fatukasi (FA), WR Zay Jones (FA), LB Damien Wilson (FA), DE Arden Key (FA)
LB Travon Walker pick #1), LB Devin Lloyd (pick #27), OL Luke Fortner (pick #65), LB Chad Muma (pick #70), CB Gregory Junior (pick #197)
Key Losses:
LB Myles Jack (FA), OG Andrew Norvell (FA), OL A.J. Cann (FA), WR D.J. Chark (FA)
I don’t believe Matt Ryan is a big upgrade from Carson Wentz. I think Yannick Ngakoue is a joke. And I fear Stephon Gilmore may be kinda out of gas for his career, as a top CB anymore. Those are Indy’s three big ‘gets’ for 2022, pre-Draft. Not great news.
Indy had a great draft and didn’t lose much ‘net’ in free agency/trade, so overall they pushed ahead with talent for 2022 impact.
Jacksonville added a ton of 2022 impact talent in free agency and then had a very solid draft, complete with a few 2022 impact players. They didn’t lose much talent in free agency, but whatever they lost they brought in better at the positions…and then some.
Indy had an OK/decent offseason, but Jacksonville bought themselves a great offseason and then had top draft picks to further the nice offseason personnel run.
WINNER = Jacksonville, and they now go onto the AFC Final Four.
2nd-Round results:
MIA defeats NYJ
DEN defeats LAC
CIN defeats CLE
JAX defeats IND
