Detroit Lions
Last Season
The Lions' greatest regular season ended in disappointing fashion, losing in the first round of the playoffs. It was a testament to their coaching staff that they managed to overcome a historic injury crisis to win the NFC North, but come the playoffs, the margins were too thin.
Worryingly for the Detroit Lions, they have lost a significant portion of their coaching staff, including both of their coordinators and positional coaches who have followed them. This level of brain drain has the potential to derail what has been several seasons of an upward trajectory. However, what the Lions still have is Dan Campbell and one of the league's deepest rosters.
Strengths
Offensive weapons. While the offence doesn’t have a traditional ‘X-receiver’, they make up for it with their abundance elsewhere. Jared Goff will be spoiled for choice when he drops back, having the potential to throw to either Amon Ra St Brown, Sam LaPorta, Jameson Williams, or Jamhyr Gibbs. Even with the absence of Ben Johnson’s scheme, they still have the talent to put up points on anyone.
Weaknesses
While the Lions' offensive weapons have attracted attention in recent years, their offensive line was seen as the real engine. They helped open up space in the run game and kept Jared Goff clean, bringing out the best in him. This year is the first time in a few years that there’ll be doubts.
They lost their all-pro centre Frank Ragnow to retirement as well as veteran guard Kevin Zeitler. To combat this, veteran guard Graham Glasgow, who is coming off a down year, will be moved to centre. In turn, he will be flanked by second-year guard Christian Mahogany and second-round rookie Tate Ratledge. As far as drafting goes, **Brad Holmes**has a lot more hits than misses, so Lions fans will just have to trust his evaluation.
Breakout Star
After taking a major step forward from year one to two, linebacker Jack Campbell looks set to become one of the leaders on this defence. Now entering his third season, Campbell has been anointed as the ‘quarterback of the defence’, inheriting the role from Alex Anzalone.
Rookie to Watch
Many were surprised to see the Lions give up two additional thirds to trade up and select wide receiver Isaac Teslaa, a relative unknown from Arkansas. After two pre-season games, you can understand why. His athleticism jumped off the screen, his mullet looked majestic, and his ability to high-point the football could give the Lions the big body downfield threat that they’ve been missing.
Reports from camp have commented on his blossoming chemistry with Jared Goff, indicating that he may play a bigger role this season than expected.
Minnesota Vikings
Last Season
The Minnesota Vikings' 2024 team felt like a fairy tale with a cruel ending. Journeyman QB **Sam Darnold**had his best season by far, but fell apart in the two most important games of the season, including a playoff meltdown against the Los Angeles Rams. This was the second time in three seasons that the Vikings have been one-and-done in the playoffs following three-loss regular seasons.
They look ready to go again, though. They’ve retained Brian Flores as their DC and will hope that JJ McCarthy can be their franchise QB following a rookie season lost to injury.
Strengths
Trench warfare. The Vikings invested significantly in their offensive and defensive lines. On offense, they acquired Centre Ryan Kelly and Guard Will Fries, while also investing a first-round pick into Guard Donovan Jackson.
On their D-line, they brought in veteran defensive tackles Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen to transform the focal point of their defense. Good luck to the guards and centres of the NFC North.
Weaknesses
While their lines are laden with recognizable names, their cornerback room is not. The most notable player in this group is Byron Murphy, who plays in the slot. He’s done a good job rejuvenating his career under Brian Flores, but he wouldn’t be considered a top-20 player at his position.
Then on the outside, their most experienced corner is Jeff Okudah, who you could argue would be out of the league if he weren’t a former 3rd overall pick. He’s the mother of all reclamation projects, but early in the season, opposing Quarterbacks will be looking to pick on him.
Breakout Player
Finding a player ready to take the leap is difficult on this team, given their makeup of veterans and already established stars. Jordan Addison could’ve slotted nicely into this spot, but he decided to go engage in criminal behaviour.
So instead, I’m gonna go with a great player who could become a household name: Jonathan Greenard. The pass rusher had charted consecutive 12 sack seasons, and while he was a known commodity in Houston, he’s established himself in the football zeitgeist since being traded to Minnesota, being named to the Pro Bowl.
I’m backing him to establish himself as one of the league’s best pass rushers and head into all-pro contention as he enters the prime of his career.
Rookie to Watch
The Vikings weren’t exactly flush with draft picks this year, so there aren’t many to choose from. So that makes this choice pretty easy, and that’s their first round pick, Donovan Jackson.
Jackson is a major component in the initiative to protect JJ McCarthy. Being the youngest player on a line full of veterans means he has a great chance to develop and get the most out of his talent. He’s a mauler in the run game and has experience at playing in a variety of positions.
Last Season
The Packers limped into the playoffs on the back of an 11-6 regular season, only to be roundly defeated by the eventual champions, the Philadelphia Eagles. While they were never considered serious contenders, this season once again showed the pedigree of their head coach, Matt LaFleur.
Despite the league’s youngest roster and a stretch of games with their backup Quarterback, the Packers still managed to remain competitive in the league's toughest division. Should his young team continue to develop, LaFleur may soon have a Super Bowl roster on his hands.
Strengths
Safety group, I guess. Green Bay has a lot of ‘good, not great’ units on its roster, but its safeties are some of its best players. Xavier McKinney was named to Second Team All-Pro in his debut season in Green Bay, while Evan Williams has been one of the league's better young safeties.
Weaknesses
While they have strong safeties, the rest of the secondary is among the worst in the league. Like the Vikings, they lack true star power at this position following the departure of Jaire Alexander (though in all fairness, that star was waning).
They’ll be relying on Nate Hobbs to be worth the sizable contract he was handed and become their CB1.
Breakout Star
Last season, **Jayden Reed**looked poised to be the breakout star, going for over 100+ receiving yards in the first 9 weeks of the season. He looked to be a major big-play threat in both the receiving and jet sweep game, adding an exciting dimension to the offense.
However, following that first portion of the year, he would have one 50+ yard game for the remainder of the season. I’m expecting Reed to build on his early-season form and produce a more consistent campaign.
Rookie of the Year
Packers fans have been crying out for a first-round receiver for years. Because the second round picks like Devante Adams and Jordy Nelson are the main reason why they haven’t been back to the Super Bowl in 14 years.
Matthew Golden finally ended the streak, bringing 4.2 speed to the Packers' offense (though some frame-by-frame video journalism disputes this). With Christian Watson still recovering from an ACL injury, Golden will have a chance to establish himself as Jordan Love’s main weapon.
Chicago Bears
Last Season
The Chicago Bears got off to a strong start, winning four of their first six games going into a post-London bye. After returning to the states, they rounded off a ten-game losing streak before finishing the year with a meaningless win over the Packers.
It was a turbulent year, fraught with poor coaching, baffling moments, and a rookie quarterback playing like a rookie quarterback. This resulted in the coaching staff getting fired, allowing them to fall into Ben Johnson as their head coach, the most sought-after hire in recent memory.
Ryan Poles has made a habit of falling backwards into good things. It happened with Caleb Williams, and it's now happened with Ben Johnson. For the sake of Bears fans, they’ll hope that Johnson is more of a Sean McVay than a Brian Daboll when it comes to being in the main chair.
Strengths
Their O-line. Last season, the Bears' offensive line could have been tried for war crimes after what they allowed to happen to Caleb Williams. The former number one pick was in danger of getting David Carr’d and getting sacked out of the league.
This caused the team to establish themselves as the offseason champs by investing heavily into the protection for what should be their franchise Quarterback. Like the Vikings, they’ve revamped their entire interior o-line, bringing in veterans Joe Thuney, Drew Dalman, and Jonah Jackson. They then continued with their investment by taking in a gigantic tackle in Ozzy Trapilo (elite name) with a third-round pick.
Weaknesses
While everyone is excited about the Bears offence, their defence is also littered with good players. Except in the interior of their D-line. In order to improve it, they brought in veteran Grady Jarrett, who is now aged 32, and hasn’t played up to his usual level for the past few seasons.
There is hope, however, for their 2nd round pick, Shemar Turner, who missed a large portion of training camp with an ankle injury.
Breakout Star
Easy one here. Caleb Williams. Williams was one of the most highly touted QB prospects to ever come out of college, but his rookie season left a lot to be desired. From his rookie class, you could argue that he was, at best, the fourth most impressive QB, behind Jayden Daniels,, Bo Nix, and Drake Maye.
While he didn’t have a lack of talent around him last season, he did have a lack of competency, as coaching dysfunction often showed up throughout the year. Now with Ben Johnson and an improved O-Line, there is hope that he can take the leap.
The talent is on display for all to see; he just needs coaching on how best to utilise it at the highest level.
Rookie to Watch
Colston Loveland was taken with the 10th overall pick. A more valuable pick than last season's rookie sensation, Brock Bowers.
Loveland will likely not be as effective as Brock Bowers, but there is hope that Ben Johnson can turn him into the Bears' own version of Sam LaPorta.
He’s more of a pass catcher than a blocker, and his size combined with athleticism will make him a tempting target for Caleb Williams.