Matt Williamson is a former scout for the Cleveland Browns, and spent the last 10 years at ESPN as a scout and co-host of "The Football Today Podcast."
With training camps underway, things are starting to happen very quickly within the NFL, with injuries, roster moves and rumors galore. But let’s take a little bit more of an in-depth look at three particularly intriguing storylines in the NFC. The AFC version came out earlier this week.
Seahawks' thin line
This is a mess. But isn’t that often the case of late with the Seahawks' offensive line? This front office gives outstanding line coach Tom Cable very little to work with, but in the end, he patches it all together, coaches them up and gets the Hawks’ big uglies to play respectable football when it matters most late in the season and in the playoffs.
Having Marshawn Lynch sure helped. As does having Russell Wilson’s escapability and athleticism. But Lynch is gone and this is now Wilson’s offense. Wilson was amazing during the second half of last season and a big reason for it was that Seattle changed up what they do on offense, going to a very quick passing game, which of course puts less stress on the pass protection.
Wilson was remarkable in that system and his receivers stepped up in a big way too. But you can’t hide the offensive line forever and there simply are a ton of questions revolving around this seemingly ever-changing unit.
Prediction: From left to right, expect the Seahawks to trot out Garry Gilliam, Mark Glowinski, Patrick Lewis, German Ifedi and J’Marcus Webb. It also wouldn’t be a shock if one of Ifedi or Bradley Sowell claimed starting right tackle and Rees Odhiambo ended up as a starting guard. Odhiambo could be an excellent find for this group, but still, every position and player mentioned here are loaded with question marks. But Cable will have them playing their best down the stretch…as always.
Help wanted in New York
Besides Odell Beckham, there really are no answers here. However, don’t be surprised if rookies Paul Perkins and Sterling Shepard are major contributors in their first seasons. But what if Perkins and Shepard are not immediate hits? The remaining running backs, wide receivers and tight ends are marginal at best, unless, of course Victor Cruz returns entirely to the player he was years ago in his healthy seasons. Which, let’s just say, seems unlikely.
Will Tye showed some good things without question, but can he be anything resembling a second or even third receiver in this offense? Beckham is a superstar, but the Giants use a third wide receiver as much as any team in the NFL. You really have to strain to see someone of consequence after Beckham and maybe Shepherd and Cruz.
The other running backs, namely Rashad Jennings and Shane Vereen (although don’t discount Bobby Rainey), certainly have their warts and even on their best day are not all-around running backs that even rank in the top half of the league amongst starters. We know Eli Manning can be very up and down and the Giants' offensive tackles are amongst the league’s worst. Let’s just say that a lot could go wrong here and it will be very interesting to monitor this situation throughout the preseason to see how it shakes out.
Prediction: The write-up above is not real optimistic. But Beckham’s stardom just can’t be denied and Ben McAdoo coaxed quite a bit out of this offense a year ago without much in the way of stability or depth. The prediction here is that Perkins and Shepherd end up being a very fine pair of rookies that are instrumental in the success of this offense in 2016. But wow, is there a lot of room for error here.
Is Jordy back?
Everything that could go wrong for Green Bay’s offense pretty much did go wrong in 2015. And it all started, but didn’t end with, Jordy Nelson’s injury.
With Nelson not in the lineup, the rest of Green Bay’s receiving corps were unable to get anything done on the outside of the formation, especially against man coverage. There was little speed to stretch the field and the wide outs in that role could not come close to showing the timing that Nelson and Rodgers displayed so beautifully. Where were those back shoulder fades, let alone the deep ball? Therefore, opposing defenses caught on very quickly and flooded the middle of the field with defenders to take away Eddie Lacy’s inside runs as well as what Randall Cobb, who played much of the season injured, did best. And let’s just say that Lacy wasn’t exactly at his most spry last year either.
Then, one of the league’s best offensive lines were hit with injuries and there was just nothing for even the great Rodgers to do with this cast of characters. It didn’t help that Mike McCarthy’s passing game is predicated on winning one-on-one matchups rather than out scheming the opponent. The Packers didn’t have pass catchers, including at tight end, that were consistently winning one-on-one matchups. And, as we know, it was a total collapse. News so far in camp has not been super encouraging on Nelson’s return and it is something we all must monitor very closely.
Prediction: The Pack’s attack will be back. Last year’s perfect storm will not occur again. Even if Nelson isn’t the star he was pre-injury, the multitude of other debilitating events is unlikely to occur in such a manner again. Plus, never forget: Green Bay has Rodgers, still the NFL’s best quarterback.
