The latest rumor on the Tony Romo front has the Jaguars possibly making a move for him. That would make sense on a lot of fronts. They've assembled a very talented roster over the last couple of years and their only real weakness is Blake Bortles. Tom Coughlin knows how disruptive Romo can be to an opposing team. I suspect that won't happen and is merely being leaked by the Cowboys to try and motivate the Broncos/Texans to part with a pick or two to get Romo, but the Jags and Jets would both make some sense as possible landing places for Romo.
The free agent frenzy should be quieting down a bit now. The winner of the new league year is likely going to be the Patriots. They've made a strong team even stronger, and right now it's hard to see any other AFC team matching up to them unless Brady implodes in some manner. They are likely stronger on both offense and defense than they were in the Super Bowl. They may be a tick thin on the offensive line and a few injuries there could disrupt everything, but they look like the strong early favorite to win the AFC. The Texans with Clowney and JJ Watt both healthy and playing at full speed could disrupt the Patriot offense, but that Patriot defense could likely disrupt the Texans offense even more.
It's possible Brandin Cooks could make it clear to the Patriots why the Saints were so anxious to unload him. A locker room cancer can derail the best teams, but barring that (and the Patriots are legendary at their locker room being able to straighten out even the most incorrigible guys) things look messy for the rest of the AFC teams.
In the NFC, the early favorites are still likely the Cowboys. Their offense will be formidable. I'm not sure what they'll have in the way of a defense, but we'll see. The Falcons will likely slump a bit after the Super Bowl defeat and they've been pretty quiet in the off season so far. Seattle seems to have lost "it" whatever "it" is. Even their home field advantage isn't quite as intimidating as it was for a while there. I expect Carolina to rebound a bit this year. I'm not sure they'll have enough to knock off Atlanta, but last year was an embarassment to them. Green Bay will always be a threat with Aaron Rodgers.
I also like the moves the Eagles made this year so far. The offensive line has been shored up with great depth and size. (Pretty much everyone is now over 300 pounds and in many cases well over 300 pounds,) We've signed two veteran wide receivers in Alshon Jeffery and Torrey Smith who are nice mirrors of the two young guys we have. Torrey Smith is an older, more experienced version of Nelson Agholor while Alshon Jeffery is an older, more experienced/mature version of Dorial Green Beckham. Both of those vets talked of being mentors in their press conferences and passing down what they've learned, so that could help the future careers of both of the kids.
The cornerbacks on defense were the Eagles achilles heel last year. We've got two kids in CJ Smith and Aaron Grymes who were largely red-shirted last year despite looking good in the preseason. We've also signed a guy from the CFL who came highly recommended. Jalen Mills proved competent when forced into a starting role as a rookie. We'll likely add a high profile kid or two in the draft also. We could use a disruptive edge rusher, but there aren't many teams in the league that couldn't use a guy like that. I think if the Eagles can stay generally healthy, they'll be contending for that NFC East crown.
The Giants have made a few moves, notably signing Brandon Marshall. The consensus of league insiders last year was that Eli Manning was the biggest problem for the Giants. He was inaccurate and missed far too many opportunities. The Giants have acknowledged that they have to get a young QB, so watching Eli perform this year could be interesting. If the Giants do draft a young QB, he'll likely steal reps from Eli which may, or may not, help Eli.
The Redskins resemble a dumpster fire at this point. Pretty much every name you've ever heard in the NFL starting with Mike Mayock, the draft guru, have been mentioned as possible GM replacements for the Redskins. None of those named sound overly enthusiastic about the job offer. Bruce Allen and Dan Snyder seem incapalbe of letting their football people run things and knowing that, the candidates don't see overly enthused about the job.
The Redskins' free agent signings aren't overly impressive. DJ Swearinger, the safety they signed, has been in the league four years now after being a second round pick of the Texans. The Redskins will be his fourth team. He's been waived by the Texans who invested a second round pick in him, and waived by the Bucs, and the Cards. I'm not sure what the Redskins see in him, but they signed him to a three year $13.5 million contract. He's got a reputation as being a big hitter, but this is becoming more of a cover league than a hitting league. If your safety is a liability in coverage, he'll get exploited.
Terrelle Pryor is a potentially good signing, but he's had something of a bad locker room rep. Cleveland had tons of cap room to sign him and they opted not to. That's kind of a red flag to me.
Right now, the clear favorite to win the Super Bowl in 2018 is the New England Patriots. They'll also be getting Gronkowski back, so barring something disastrous happening, it's hard to see them losing more than a few games (if any.) The picture on the NFC side is a bit more muddled with maybe eleven possible contenders. It's hard to see the Rams, Niners, Saints, Redskins, and Bears as contenders, but the rest of the teams all have some shot.
Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
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