05-09-2018, 01:46 PM
(05-04-2018, 05:32 PM)Vambo Wrote: Four NFL teams that will disappoint fan bases in 2018, including the Dallas Cowboys
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/four-nfl-teams-that-will-disappoint-fan-bases-in-2018-including-the-dallas-cowboys/
With offseason housekeeping mostly over, Jason La Canfora identifies his four potential teams that could be disappointing
Jason La Canfora mugshot
by Jason La Canfora @JasonLaCanfora 4h ago • 4 min read
Earlier this week I weighed in on the teams I believe are poised to make a positive step forward in 2018. So, it was only a matter of time before I shared my thoughts on teams I believe are trending in the opposite direction. Right?
And indeed that time has come.
Rosters are largely formulated by now and the chances of a team making a transaction significant enough that it alters the scope of their upcoming season are scant. Coaches in the NFL know that by this time in the offseason, the 45 guys they will take into play on Sundays are coming from the group that is currently assembled. This is their team. It's not up to them to find the best group out of these 90 bodies to get the job done.
Joe Montana ain't walking into that building. And neither is Barry Sanders of Lawrence Taylor, for that matter. And while, eventually, somewhere, I suppose, Dez Bryant will be walking into a team headquarters, expecting players who are on the street into May to make a difference is folly. They are available for a reason (or three). So with that in mind, here are some teams that have experienced at least a modicum of success in recent years who I don't have a great feeling about in the spring of 2018:
Cincinnati Bengals
Man that run of five straight playoff appearances seems like a long time ago. The worst aspects of those teams – lack of discipline, rewarding selfish and undisciplined players, an incredible tendency to melt down collectively in the most critical junctures – are still there, but the talent loss and brain drain has caught up to them. Stunned they would (over)draft an injured player in the first round for a second straight year with Marvin Jones yet again entering a season fighting for his job, and found it odd that they would pass on a potential franchise quarterback in Lamar Jackson at a time when every other team in the division (including the Steelers with potential Hall of Famer Ben Roethlisberger) grabbed one relatively early. Andy Dalton is functional with a coterie of skilled playmakers and an outstanding line in front of him ... but those are luxuries he has no more. They open another season with a Vontaze Burfict suspension cloud hanging over them, and all the recent draft misses has this smelling like a 7-9 season to me.
What a moron. Complains that we didn't draft Jackson in the 1st but then complains that our oline is not outstanding. Why do you think we didn't draft Jackson and instead drafted one of the top center prospects int he draft, you idiot?