New England Patriots

Here we are at New England, a team I know a little bit more about. As we all know Tom Brady is out suspended for 4 games so Jimmy Garoppolo has to fill the gap for a the time being. Jimmy is more of a mobile QB compared to Brady so it will be interesting to watch. He has looked ok in Pre Season but has not had Edelman, Amendola and Gronk to throw to.

Rob Gronkowski is dealing with some minor issues he got over the offseason. He had surgery but isnt going to be out for week 1. The guy is a beast and without him the Patriots look a completely different team. Lets hope his injury concerns are behind him. Martellus Bennett joins Gronk this season after coming over from the Bears. The Patriots will be looking to use the Twin Towers like previous years when Hernandez was around. At this time AJ Derby also looks a lock for 3rd TE position.

Julian Edelman is also coming back from injuries he suffered last season, the Pats have been very careful with him this pre season. He did get a small amount of playing time with Brady week 3 of the preseason but still looked a way off. Lets hope he is right to go for Week 1 as he is our dump off man, so so reliable. When Julian isnt around our next guy is Danny Amendola, Amendola plays the same role as Edelman and is also out with injury concerns. The Pats picked up Hogan from the Bills this offseason and he has looked sharp. He will come in handy if Edelman and Amendola struggle early.

Dion Lewis is another injury concern, the guy was on fire early last year until he blew out his knee at Washington. He was looking good to be back but now reports are that he has had to have a clean up on the knee meaning we may not see him until Week 10. James White came in and filled the role to a lesser extent last season and was ok. The Pats rely on LeGarrette Blount to pound the ball mostly and now have a fit and healthy Tyler Gaffney to help with that role. We really miss Shane Vareen and I hope DJ Foster can fill that role this season.

On Defense we lost one of our star players in Chandler Jones. Jones had one of his best years last year being our sack leader and it was a shame to see him go. Jebaal Sheard will be looking to take over that role. Rob Ninkovich also looks like an injury concern so we will be looking for big things from new recruit from the Rams Chris Long. Cyrus Jones was our first pick in the draft and will be used mainly as a punt returner. He has shown a bit thou already at Corner. Trey Flowers has shown plenty in the pre season aswell.

I dont have big hopes this year now with the Brady situation and all the injury concerns to our starters. If we can get one or two wins from the first four games that would be awesome. I believe we will still have a good enough season to win our division at 11 - 5. If we can do that and everyones healthy around Christmas..we can still win it all.

Minnesota Vikings

The Vikings are up and about again this year with a new stadium to play at. Teddy Bridgewater is getting into the game more and again he will rely on veteran running back Adrian Peterson. Peterson showed he hadnt lost anything last season after a year off under suspension. The Vikings will look to go two better than last year where they were knocked out in the divisional game due to a muffed kick on goal late in the game.

Bridgewater is a young up and coming QB who rely's heavily on the Running Back, this says to me his team is not overly confident in his arm. Whilst his yardage is down Bridgewaters passing accuracy is fairly good when compared to other QB's in the league.

Adrian Peterson is a jet, when on he is very hard to stop. In 2012 Peterson ran for over 2000 yards and had 200 plus yards receiving. Peterson only played 1 game in 2014 before serving a suspension handed down from the league for abusive discipline against his 4 year old son. He came back in 2015 and was probably better for the year off. He ran for 1485 yards and 11 touchdowns.

The Vikings grabbed Laquon Treadwell in the draft, the rookie out of Mississippi was huge last year where he had 1100 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns. He was highly regarded as the best Wide Receiver in this years draft. Cordarrelle Patterson is another guy they will be looking forward to seeing more from this year. He hasnt really stood up to his pre draft hype.

The Vikings are a good team and I think they will be on par with what they did last season, I can not see them putting to much pressure on the top 4 teams I have picked for Championship games. Having the Packers in their division does not really help them to much. They will finish one game behind the Packers at 11 - 5 and maybe scrape into the playoffs through wildcards.

Miami Dolphins

The Dolphins will be looking to Ryan Tannehill to lead them to success this season, I still dont know why this team makes the moves it does. Losing Lamar Miller to Houston was a big one, the guy was a star for them last season. Landry will be the main go to guy and then they will be looking for help from the new crop of wide receivers. Jordan Cameron is a solid Tight End which will help them alot.

Tannehill has been a solid starter for the Dolphins but he never seems to have consistent starters around him for more than one year. He had been able to have solid passer rating for all 4 years in the league but just doesnt seem to have that star wideout to throw too. Last season Tannehill threw for 4000 plus yards with Landry being his main man.

Jarvis Landry at age 23 is a young star on the rise, he had over 1000 plus yards last season in his second year. He will be the main guy in this offense and the Dolphins will be looking to him to improve on last year. Another guy they will lean on alot is Kenny Stills who comes over from the New Orlean Saints. Stills was pretty quiet in his first season with the Phins but will get more of a look in this season no doubt.

Laremy Tunsil was a massive selection for this team after dropping back a few numbers due to picture of him smoking weed through a gas mask came out on his Twitter the day of the draft. He was still picked in the first round however. He is a quality Left Guard and will come in handy in the run game. Tunsil was seen at training recently throwing punches at his team mates, will be keeping an eye on him for sure.

Arian Foster was a late pick up coming in just before camp, the former Houston Running back will be looking to stay healthy. When on he is one hell of a player and great to watch. Another guy I will be interested to watch is Sue, he is coming back from injury and will be looking to show why is so heavily paid.

The Dolphins are stuck behnd a very improved Jets team and the division conquering Patriots, I dont see that changing either. I have the Dolphins going backwards this season and I think they will finish 5 - 11.

Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs are one team I dont really follow to much, I have a small understanding of who they look to on this team but thats really it. Alex Smith has been solid enough after being given the boot from the 49ers for Kap. Jamaal Charles will be looking to come back from a knee and show he still has it.

Alex Smith was solid without being outstanding in 2015 with over 3400 yards passing and 20 touchdowns. The Chiefs will be looking to get more output from the veteran now into his 12th year in the league. Nick Foles just arrived as go to back up if needed, he rejoins his man in Andy Reid, Foles had a solid year in 2013 with the Eagles with one of the best ever touchdown to interception rates ever but he has never shown anything since. Injuries have also played a big part in his career.

Jamaal Charles went down early last year after only 5 games, Charles has been a star for the Chiefs running for over 1000 yards 5 times in his career including 1509 in 2012. West and Ware will be his back ups if his knee keeps him from the field. West was ok in his first year with 600 plus yards and Ware filled a gap when needed after coming across from Seattle.

Jeremy Maclin was solid also for the Chiefs last season after coming across from the Eagles, Maclin went for over 1000 yards and had 8 touchdowns. His biggest year was 2014 with 10 touchdowns and 1300 plus yards. He is a solid player and I will be interested to see how he goes this season.

I think the Chiefs are going to have a rough time this year with the emerging Oakland Raiders and the Superbowl Champs in the Broncos. Sure they may win a lot of games but getting to the top of their division might be a struggle. If Charles stays fit I can see them getting to .500. So 8 - 8 for me for the Chiefs.

Jacksonville Jaguars

The Jacksonville Jaguars have been the easy beats over the last while but plans have started to come together for the team with Blake Bortles under centre and a few young Wide Receivers absolutely coming on as stars of the league. I suggest this season will be their best in almost 10 years.

Bortles now into his 3rd season has shown that he can run an offence as good as anyone in the league, the QB had a massive 2015 throwing over 4400+ yards and 35 Touchdowns. If he builds on this he will go a long way to taking his team to the Playoffs.

Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns are up and coming stars. Hurns had 1000+ receiving yards and 10 touchdowns last season, now coming into his 3rd season he will look to improve even further on that. Robinson also now in his 3rd year had 1400 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns. The two are a lethal pair.

The Jags went out and got big back Chris Ivory from the Jets, Ivory is a wrecking ball back who puts up big numbers. 2015 was Ivory's best year in the NFL with over 1000 rushing yards, 200 receiving yards and 8 touchdowns. He will be very handy for this team but so will his back ups. TJ Yeldon is no slouch either with 700+ rushing and 200+ receiving yards.

A guy Im interested in is Jonas Gray, Gray was at New England in 2014 and filled a gap at RB whilst Blount was over at the Steelers, he had a massive night against Indy going 200 yards with 4 touchdowns, he then slept through his alarm and was almost forgotten about. He was at the Dolphins for a little whilst but wasnt able to break into the team, im hoping he can show his worth at the Jags as he was one of my favourites.

The Jags have that division again that I think will be strong, the AFC South has so many contenders so it will be hard for them. I think they can win a lot more games this year and will surprise a few people whilst doing so. Unfortunately 2016 wont be their year with a 8 - 8 finish.

Indianapolis Colts

The Colts are looking good to return to form with a healthy QB in Andrew Luck, their season in 2015 was defined by injuries. Luck went down with constant shoulder problems, with no consistency it saw the Colts drop to 8 - 8 after a big year in 2014. It shows what a healthy QB means to a team! Andrew Luck has now extended his contract for 6 years at 140 Mill...huge!

The Colts were meant to play the Packers on Monday in the Hall of Fame game to give us our first taste of action this year but due to some moron putting the wrong paint down the game was cancelled.

Ty Hilton is Luck's go to man on Offense. Hilton is a great wide receiver and will be better with Luck back on board. In 2015 Hilton had 1000 yards plus with 5 Touchdowns. He will no doubt build on this form and be very handy for the Colts. The other guy to throw to is Donte Moncrief, Moncrief has been steadily rising and I project he will have a big year in 2016. Josh Boyce comes across from the Patriots, he was well down the depth chart and injured most of the time but I hope to see him get a good go at it here, he is still very young at 25.

Frank Gore is the first picked RB coming across from the 49ers after the 2014 season. He was a consistent performer at San Francisco but is getting on in years. This will be the 33 year olds 11th season in the NFL but he is still putting up good enough numbers to show he is solid choice. Robert Turbin seems to be best choice as the number 2 guy coming over from Dallas and Seattle prior to that all thou he is still in a battle with Josh Ferguson to get the gig.

Adam Vinatieri is still playing, the 43 year old is one of the best clutch kickers in the game, he is now only doing field goal and extra point duties but keeps his spot due to his great accuracy.

The Colts are locked in a great battle in the AFC South division with all teams looking good after the summers roster moves. If all goes well they can win their division but who knows in this league. If Luck goes down again they may finish bottom. I have them going ok with 10 -  6 this season with everything going right. Houston to have this division locked up.

Houston Texans

The team that went and got themselves a bunch of play makers who will help this team rise straight away. Osweiler looks a solid get even with the big price tag, he managed the ship whilst Peyton was away at Denver last season and did a reasonable job playing in 8 games and throwing for almost 2000 yards. He is now into his 5th year in the NFL and should go well.

Lamar Miller comes across from Miami to help in the backfield. Miller is a solid play maker and I suspect he will have a big year. He takes over the role from Arian Foster who is now down with the Dolphins. Miller put up ok number in 2015 and 2014 with 16 touchdowns over that period. Now into his 5th year the Texans will be hoping for more output.

DeAndre Hopkins is their main man on the outside, he has shown he is a star of the game. Last season he had 1500 yards and 11 touchdowns. This season he has a lot of help from Rookies Will Fuller from Notre Dame who is a speedster and Braxton Miller from Ohio State. Fuller had a massive year last season with 1200 yards and 14 Touchdowns. Miller came out as a Quarterback but really stared when moved to Wide Receiver late. His real highlight was the spin move from the game vs Virginia Tech.

J.J.Watt annouced recently that he went in for surgery to fix up a back issue, he has started camp on the PUP list. They think he will be ready for the season proper, lets hope so as he is great to watch. The guy is almost unstoppable at Defensive End. In now his 6th year he has already been named best defensive player 3 times. He averages 17.5 sacks a season from 2012 onwards which is huge.

The Texans will be hoping Watt gets some help down the other end from injury prone Defensive End Jadeveon Clowney. Clowney when active has shown the NFL the reason he was taken at number 1 pick but unfortunately it hasnt been enough. A lot of people have him having a break out year in 2016, well thats if he can stay out on the field!

The AFC South is going to be massive this season, Jags/Titans will no doubt step it up and the Colts will be back with a healthy QB. I think it will be really competitive and I look forward to all the Divisional match ups. I think the Texans will be seen in the Postseason again, I think they will pip the Colts at the end of the day winning 11 - 5.

Green Bay Packers

You can never go into a season without giving the Packers a chance at winning it all, Aaron Rodgers is a freak. It doesnt matter how long is left Rodgers will normally pull something out the trick bag to help get his team over the line. The Hail Mary vs Detroit was unbelievable last season and he did it again in the NFC Divisional game to take it to overtime (Which they ended up losing).

Jordy Nelson will return to the team after injuring his knee early last season, Nelson is one of Rodgers main go to guys. Randall Cobb came off a great 2014 with over 1000 yards to have another solid season in 2015. Adams also came in handy for Rodgers when needed. Richard Rodgers came into his second season and really helped out with 8 touchdowns, most notably getting on the end of the Hail Mary at Detroit.

A lot had been said about running back Eddie Lacy over the last year or so due to his inability to keep his weight down. He is coming into this season under a lot of pressure to perform after a mediocre 2015 with well under 1000 yards (758). Starks stepped up in his place and took a lot of the snaps, he finished with over 600 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Packers will want to get more out of their Running Backs this season.

Clay Matthews is an absolute beast, he has acrued 67 sacks over his 6 years in the league with 6.5 last season. This is solid for a guy who plays Inside Linebacker. Put that up against one of the best in Kuechly and they dont even compare with 1 sack by Kuechly last year. Clay doesnt match Kuechly in the overall scheme of things as he only picked off one pass last season.

The Packers have a pretty long year ahead with the Hall of Fame game this weekend and their bye coming in week 4. It will be a battle to see if they can keep all their guys on the field. At this stage Jordy Nelson may not be back before week 1 so he may need time to get back into it.

I still believe they will be up there again this year with a 12 - 4 season. They have a good schedule when it comes down to it with game early against the Jags, Lions and Giants all very winnable.

Detroit Lions

The Detroit Lions lost one of their main play makers to retirement at the end of 2015, Calvin Johnson decided to hang up the boots. "Megatron" was still in his prime at 30 years of age and it seemed he had not lost any of his ability. It was a strange one for sure. Matthew Stafford at Quarterback is a solid investment, the guy has been solid over his 7 seasons in the league. 2011 and 2014 were great years for the QB leading the Lions to 10 - 6 and 11 - 5. He was still able to throw for 32 TD's last season, the most of his career.

The Lions have a good list on paper so with everything going right they should be a competitive outfit this year. Ameer Abdullah is now in his second year and will provide some run out of the back field. Stevan Ridley has come across from the New York Jets after not being able to prove himself there. Ridley was huge for the Pats in 2012 with 1200+ yards and 12 Touchdowns, but he has had ball security issues and knee problems since. I hope he can regain that form as he was one of my favourite players.

Jeremy Kerley comes across from the Jets aswell to fill the hole at WR. Kerley has always shown a lot of promises but was down the depth chart behind Decker and Marshall. He now hopes to get more reps working with Stafford and the Lions. He is also a good return man. Golden Tate has been great for the Lions since coming across from the Seahawks in 2014. He has been a good second man behind Johnson. He will now be looked at to take on more responsibility.

All in all I think they can cover the loss of Johnson with the use of both the Tight Ends, Efron and secondly Pettigrew. These guys are both good receivers more than blockers and it will be interesting to see how they are used this year.

I feel the Lions will be a middle of the road team maybe winning 7 - 9. They do have 7 winnable games to start the year with the Packers game a loss locked in. It all depends on how they use the tight ends in my opinion.

Denver Broncos

After winning the Superbowl last year they said farewell to their starting QB in Peyton Manning, now this wouldnt have been so bad but they were not able to keep a hold of Brock Osweiler as he left for the Texans on big cash. There is now an unknown, who starts at QB for the Broncos? Mark Sanchez? Trevor Siemian or new guy Paxton Lynch. Sanchez I believe will get first chance at showing what he has to offer.

The defense was the main reason they won the SB last year. Ware, Talib, Ward, Harris and of course Miller. Miller recently signed on again for big money and will again be one for other teams to get nervous about. The Superbowl MVP was amazing last year when it counted, sacking Tom Brady a number of times as well as Cam Newton. Talib is one we need to keep an eye on, the corner was recently shot in the leg so it will be interesting to see how he comes back from that.

The offense still has a lot of play makers in Sanders and Thomas aswell as CJ Anderson out of the back field. One guy I was surprised to see dropped was Owen Daniels, Daniels scored two TD's in the AFC game aswell as one in the Superbowl win. He is veteran and is now going on 34 but has been pretty durable. CJ Anderson has a lot of help with Ronnie Hillman and new comer Devontae Booker ready to play.

I think we will see Gary Kubiak use all 3 Quarterbacks this season due to inconsistent play. I can even see them possibly looking for another guy mid year if they want to hold back Paxton Lynch. Sanchez has shown his in ability to handle the pressure of the starting role and he has spent some time whilst at the Jets on the sidelines. Time will tell but its very interesting.

Now Week 1 opener is a rematch of the Superbowl, what better way to get things under way. The Panthers will want to get something back after being demolished last season. I think the Broncos will go 10 - 6 this season. Its a strange schedule with them hitting up the Chargers twice in 3 weeks. Unfortunately we have to wait til December 18 for a rematch with the Patriots.