10. Minnesota Vikings
I think I shuffled the Vikings on this ranking more times than any other team. The Vikings have the reigning NFL coach of the year in Kevin O’Connell. They have an outstanding roster overall with the best collection of offensive weapons in the league.
They have a good offensive line, a good defensive line, and a 1st-round pick under center.
There are just a couple of reasons I’m approaching this season with a slight bit of hesitance to push all-in on the Vikings. The first is obvious: JJ McCarthy. As talented and charismatic as McCarthy is, he’s an unknown and more than that, he’s coming off of a serious injury.
O’Connell is a great coach, not a master puppeteer. We need to actively see what McCarthy can do before putting a ton of confidence behind him.
The other thing is that this Vikings secondary could quickly become a liability for this team. They need players to step up in the worst way. Luckily, they can bring pass rush in waves with the outstanding front seven built by GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. I think the Vikings are a minimum 10-win team.
9. Washington Commanders
Everyone is excited to see if the Washington Commanders can come out this season and repeat or even come close to the success we saw from them last season. Again, just like with the Denver Broncos, how is this team going to respond to the pressure of actual expectations?
It felt like they were playing with house money last year, and they wound up looking two or three years ahead of their rebuild schedule under new GM Adam Peters and head coach Dan Quinn.
Jayden Daniels got himself a legit left tackle this offseason with Laremy Tunsil coming in, and the front office doubled down on tackles, bringing in Oregon’s Josh Conerly. They brought in Deebo Samuel. The offense is not really a concern.
The defense, especially the pass rush? It might be the worst-looking group of pass rushers in the entire league. Dan Quinn is going to have to create some magic with that group, or it could be a disappointing year for the Commanders.