The NFL regular season is almost upon us. With just over a couple of weeks away from meaningful NFL games being played, there are still a lot of questions surrounding most of the NFL’s franchises.
Like any week of football, there were clear winners and losers from a week of preseason games.
For the second week in a row, the preseason has given a ton of insight into who might be the pretenders or true contenders during the NFL season.
Let’s take a look at who stood out.
Winners – AFC bottom cellars no more
The New York Jets and the Jacksonville Jaguars were two of the worst teams in football last season. The Jaguars got a new head coach in Doug Pederson, while the Jets are in the second phase of their rebuild under Robert Saleh and Joe Douglas.
Through the first month, you are already seeing major changes to both rosters. The Jaguars look like a team with direction, a positive after being with a coach like Urban Meyer. The defense looks a lot better and the offense is making necessary strides.
The Jets on the other hand are in a very tough division and already have lost their quarterback for the next few weeks. But, it’s not all doom and gloom. The Jets dominated the joint practices with the Falcons, and are expected to have one with the Giants as well.
Both the Jets and the Jaguars aren’t supposed to do much this season, but it’s clear that both teams could be a lot better than people realize.
Losers – Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks can pound their chest all they want about how confident they are with Geno Smith or Drew Lock at quarterback.
They aren’t fooling anyone.
There were plenty of options at quarterback the Seahawks should have been in on after trading Russell Wilson, but the team stayed pact and will now reap the rewards of that in 2022. In Thursday preseason’s game alone, Seattle looked completely outmatched against a very bad Bears team.
This is going to be a very long year for Seahawk fans if something isn’t done soon. Missing out on Baker Mayfield was a big whiff.
Winners – NFL fans
Speaking of Baker Mayfield, he was named the starting quarterback in Carolina over Sam Darnold on Monday. It didn’t surprise anyone as the former first overall pick reportedly was light-years better than Darnold.
But it does help bring an excellent week one to the fold. Not only do NFL fans get to see Russell Wilson play the Seahawks, but Baker Mayfield gets to start against the Browns in week one with Deshaun Watson not playing.
There isn’t a more intriguing matchup in week one. NFL fans have been spoiled with some great regular season games over the years but week one might just take the cake.
Losers: Malik Willis
A ton of analysts and fans were stunned when Titans head coach Mike Vrabel was very critical of the third-round rookie’s performance in the first preseason game.
While Willis showed off his arm strength and legs, the Titan’s head coach was adamant that he needed to improve his accuracy. Week two of the Titan’s preseason kind of proved that.
Willis was 7-17 passing but totaled over 100 yards, and his first NFL TD pass. His accuracy though is a major issue. There’s a reason Willis fell to the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft, and we’re seeing it live through two games.
It also doesn’t help that Kenny Pickett and even Desmond Ridder both have looked better passing than Willis has through two preseason games.
There will be analysts clamoring for Willis to start over Ryan Tannehill, but he isn’t even close yet.
Winners – USFL Legitimacy
Long live the USFL! Well, at least until they run out of money. Critics who accused the new spring league of being glorified scrimmages completely ignored that some of the top players are actually making headway on NFL rosters.
KaVontae Turpin, the USFL MVP returned a punt, and a kickoff return for a touchdown for the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday, while Channing Stribling has turned heads in Washington after his defensive player of the year win for the Philadelphia Stars.
It’s easy to say that most of the USFL players won’t make an NFL roster, however, it’s also important to note that there’s a lot of talent in that league that could very helpful for NFL teams in the future.
