Since some of the sneak peak #MaddenRankings were so outlandish, I decided to look through the full lists again & identify the most over- & underrated players respectively at each position
— Halil's Real Footballtalk (@halilsfbtalk) August 3, 2022
Lmk what you think of these & maybe some other names that stood out 2 you!#NFL #Madden23 pic.twitter.com/V8G1D9LYWZ
Tag Archives: NFL Offseason
Second- and third-year breakout players for the 2022 NFL season – Defense edition:
After breaking down seven offensive breakout candidates for this upcoming NFL season, we’re switching over to the defensive side of the ball and identifying seven more names, who I believe are due for taking a big step forward heading into year two or three.
Once again, these guys must have at least played to some degree in the NFL and not made the list last year already. Players don’t qualify for a breakout, if they’ve once reached double-digit tackles for loss, sacks, at least five interceptions, received a Pro Bowl or All-Pro selection, as well as if they’re just considered one of the best players at their respective position already.
And for the purpose of this being original content, there won’t be any repeat candidates from my list last year, which included Alex Highsmith, who I named a day before the Steelers signed Melvin Ingram to push him back on the depth chart, and Javon Kinlaw, who needed season-ending knee surgery after struggling through it for a while. The rest of the list actually pretty much all hit in a major way.
So now let’s get to seven new names, that I’m excited about for 2022:
Second- and third-year breakout players for the 2022 NFL season – Offense edition:
We’ve talked so much about the roster building process, with a bevy of big-time trades, an interesting free agency period and maybe the deepest draft we have ever seen, thanks to the effects of the COVID-shorted 2020 college football season. Two weeks we started shifting our focus ahead to this fall, with my ranking of the teams most likely to go from worst to first inside each division, before I did a longer video on the most intriguing training camp battles, that I’ll have my eyes on. Now it’s time to analyze specific players, who I believe will reach new heights this year.
As has become an annual tradition, this list is focused on players about to enter their second or third season. They must have at least played to some degree in the NFL and not made the list last year already. Players don’t qualify for a breakout, if they’ve once reached 1000 rushing or receiving yards, were selected to a Pro Bowl or All-Pro team, as well as just being considered one of the best players at their respective position already.
For the purpose of this being original content, there won’t be any repeat candidates from my list last year, which included J.K. Dobbins, Irv Smith Jr. and Mekhi Becton among others, who all missed basically the entire season (Becton was the only one to at least play one game)
Somehow, I ended up with seven players on either side of the ball, which may be an odd number, but that’s what I came up with when deciding to dive deeper into the tape and statistics of these players. So here’s my list on offense:
Most intriguing 2022 NFL training camp battles:
With the majority of NFL training camps starting in about a week and depth charts starting to be formed, I wanted to highlight some of the more intriguing battles for (mostly) starting positions and certain roles around the league. I tried to address every position at least once and cover a bunch of teams, discussing their options at those positions.
NFL teams most likely to go from worst to first in 2022:
After spending months on evaluating college prospects, talking about what each team did in the draft and their overall roster building process, it’s time to discuss some of the tangible effects we may witness this upcoming season. So I wanted to look at all eight teams, who finished last inside their division in 2021, and rank them based on likelihood of ascending to the top of those groups.
I had a lot of fun with this exercise, because while I enjoy creating excitement for one franchise – and I was able to still do so for the teams in question – it’s also good to do think contrarily, try to poke holes in rosters/coaching staffs and lay out a path for why groups may underachieve. Therefore, I ultimately put together a short intro on the baseline situation, gave the other three teams a paragraph each to break down certain concerns they may have, and then finally got to the franchises in question here.
We spend so much time hyping up the established squads and neglect those closer to the bottom of the league – at least in terms of positives they may have going on for themselves – that this was supposed to be a change-up to a lot of the content out there.
(I have no idea how it happened, since the Jaguars obviously selected first overall in the draft, but somehow I ended up listing the Texans for the AFC South. Since they have a lower projected win total this season, that actually makes it a slightly bigger challenge anyway though.)
So let’s get into the breakdown:
Biggest remaining need on each NFL roster for 2022 – AFC edition
In the second half of this series, we’re breaking down the one area for each AFC team, where they could still improve their roster upon, now that the main period of free agency and the draft are in the books, along with some of the crazy trades that ruled the early stages of the NFL offseason.
Biggest remaining need on each NFL roster for 2022 – NFC edition:
We’ve arrived at a point of the NFL offseason, where rosters are generally set. So I thought it was time to kind of reflect on the roster building process and point out that one area where each team should still be looking to upgrade.
Most improved position groups from the 2022 NFL offseason:
Now that “draft season” of 2022 is finally done for me, with the conclusion of my divisional draft breakdown series (breaking down every single pick, their fit on the roster, etc. for all 32 NFL teams), it’s time to point out which teams improved the most this offseason at every single position, through free agency, trades and of course the draft.
For the purpose of this exercise, I didn’t want to just mention the obvious major additions of one specific player, such as quarterback Russell Wilson going to Denver or wide receiver Davante Adams going to Las Vegas, but rather look at the entire unit and how much better their depth chart looks like altogether, compared to 2021. Therefore I’m also considering the allocated resources to some degree, in particular the money invested.
I will mention all the additions and departures, explain how big of a difference those moves will actually make and how it changes what each team can now expect or even do altogether from a schematic/game-plan perspective.
Now that “draft season” of 2022 is finally done for me, with the conclusion of my divisional draft breakdown series (breaking down every single pick, their fit on the roster, etc. for all 32 NFL teams), it’s time to point out which teams improved the most this offseason at every single position, through free agency, trades and of course the draft.
For the purpose of this exercise, I didn’t want to just mention the obvious major additions of one specific player, such as quarterback Russell Wilson going to Denver or wide receiver Davante Adams going to Las Vegas, but rather look at the entire unit and how much better their depth chart looks like altogether, compared to 2021. Therefore I’m also considering the allocated resources to some degree, in particular the money invested.
I will mention all the additions and departures, explain how big of a difference those moves will actually make and how it changes what each team can now expect or even do altogether from a schematic/game-plan perspective.
AFC West Draft & Roster Review 2022
In the eighth and final video of our divisional draft breakdown series, we’re looking at the AFC West!
Over the last month, we’ve now analyzed all 262 draft picks and talked about all 32 NFL teams in detail, as it pertains to their roster building process!
NFC West Draft & Roster Review 2022
Kicking off our final week of divisional draft breakdowns, we finish up with the NFC & AFC West!
As always we run through every single pick, talk about their fit on the roster, analyze each class as a whole and then rank them against each other inside the division.
Halil's Real Footballtalk 