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Rank Your NFL Team's 2023 Season (1 Viewer)

Ravens

Now: 9.5

If they win Sunday: 9.75

If they win the Super Bowl: Infinity, best season they’ve ever had or ever will have in my lifetime

DVOA has them as the best team ever through the Divisional Round and that nearly passes my eye test. They’re up there with 91 Redskins, 07 Patriots, 89 49ers (I put 85 Bears on a different tier because they would have beaten any team I’ve ever seen with that defense even though their offense wasn’t top tier). But they need to win it all to pay that off, and Lamar winning a Lombardi now will make the rest of his career much more fun to enjoy because it will minimize idiotic discussions about him not being able to win a championship
I have them at a 9, because I don't like fractions.
or decimals
Dewey invented those, right?
Ask his uncle, Donald Duck.
 
Jets - 3

no, 2

wait . . . 1

It went from running it up (or with) the flagpole to instant, season-ending disaster. No backup plan at QB (other than the lying insistence that the best available QB was in the building) and a horrendous offensive line sunk the defensive stalwarts on the other side of the ball. Inconsistent coaching and weird messaging from GM on down confused fans and media alike.

Not much else to say. You all know the story. Rodgers goes down behind bad offensive line and the ship never sails. Eight to nine men in the box all year stalls the running game, and there was little in the way of the offensive line blocking effectively. It was a non-starter, a no-show, a terrible job from terrible construction. The offense was historically bad.

Giving them a three because the defense was able to win some games for them to wind up 7-10 and the big four from the 2022 draft (Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner, Garrett Wilson, Jermaine Johnson, and Breece Hall) didn't get injured, played extraordinarily well given the QB limitations where applicable, and will be even better next year barring injuries. A very solid four at some important positions. You can build with those guys.

Injuries. Every game on the renovated MetLife turf still puts a lump in my throat thinking of potential injuries to stars. I'm marking the season down to a two for that. Forget Joe D, this all starts at the top and both Giants and Jets ownership have proven to be ineffective the past decade-plus years, resulting in possibly the worst teams (overall) and the worst modern stadium in football. I'm not even sure who makes the decisions for the Jets anymore.

No wonder Belichick resigned on a napkin.

Forget it, it's a 1.

Give it a one. We're all sick of this story.
 
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Denver Broncos = 5

On the plus side, they won the most games in a season since 2016, went 4-2 against playoff teams, and won 7 of their last 11. Several young players emerged on both sides of the ball during the season that could form a solid core moving forward. The offensive line is Top 15 (PFF) and the defense is above average despite a shaky start.

Of course the Russell Wilson situation and inability to get better performance from him is a profound negative. Indeed the offense as a whole was anemic, inconsistent and overall disappointing given Sean Payton's resume.

The offseason will likely see quite a bit of upheaval in the form of trades, contract restructurings and outright veteran cuts as Payton attempts to mold the roster to his vision.

Pretty solid summary.

My grade would be 6.5

We went from a laughing point of giving up 70 to week 14ish of being the team you didn't want to see in the playoffs. To ending the season with a clear understanding that Payton can get this team heading in a better direction and that he is the man in charge. That is needed post John/ and post Bowlen.
 
I`m going to use the letter grading

First half of the season - F

2nd half under AP - H

H for HOPE as thats what we as Raider Nation now have
 
Denver Broncos = 5

On the plus side, they won the most games in a season since 2016, went 4-2 against playoff teams, and won 7 of their last 11. Several young players emerged on both sides of the ball during the season that could form a solid core moving forward. The offensive line is Top 15 (PFF) and the defense is above average despite a shaky start.

Of course the Russell Wilson situation and inability to get better performance from him is a profound negative. Indeed the offense as a whole was anemic, inconsistent and overall disappointing given Sean Payton's resume.

The offseason will likely see quite a bit of upheaval in the form of trades, contract restructurings and outright veteran cuts as Payton attempts to mold the roster to his vision.

Pretty solid summary.

My grade would be 6.5

We went from a laughing point of giving up 70 to week 14ish of being the team you didn't want to see in the playoffs. To ending the season with a clear understanding that Payton can get this team heading in a better direction and that he is the man in charge. That is needed post John/ and post Bowlen.
Yep. Agree that the Broncos now have a much clearer direction and the beginning of a foundation being laid.

My primary reason for not giving higher than a "5" was the QB position. Maybe Payton is confident he can get who he wants but from the outside it sure seems like they're going backward.
 
Texans - 9

Greg said it perfect in his post but I’ll throw two considerations in:

I don’t like 10 on a 1-10 scale and it better be perfect. Close this year, but not quite.

I think a 10 this year for the Texans would have been at least the AFCCG because no Houston football team has ever made it that far.

But this season is as close as it gets for a Texans fan. You’d have never convinced me a few years ago.
 
I give the Vikings a 4.

The season as a whole was a 5. How KOC kept them even competitive with trash at QB after Cousins went down is admirable.

Overall it's a 4 because I give a -1 for the trend. The GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah hasn't done very well in the draft and is on pretty shaky ground. Hockenson tore his ACL. Harrison Smith is likely done as a Viking. The QB situation is double plus ungood even if Cousins returns.

Next year could be a yikes.
 
Pats-2

The only reason it was not a 1 was because how it unfolded made it easier to move on from BB...at one time we were all members but there were still some holdouts in the "in Bill we Trust" club and the season needed to be a disaster for them to finally realize he could no longer be in charge of the roster (hence the 2 grade)...offensively this team is an embarrassment but there is hope on defense...both Gonzalez and Barmore look like they may turn into All-Pro level players which is even better when you consider the positions they play...we are now onto the Jerod Mayo era.
 
Giants - 1

Horrible off season. DJ and Barkley situations
Horrible Season. The whole Tommy Devito thing was a joke. Got embarrassed multiple times on National TV. It’s a bad roster.

Need to trade up and go get a QB
 
Falcons - maybe a 4. They have some pieces now and a decent defense but Ridder isn’t the answer at QB. They are a playoff team with a decent QB. Not thrilled with the Morris hire but oh well - they are irrelevant either way.
 
Pittsburgh Steelers 3 out of 10

Sounds harsh considering the team made the playoffs rocking the worst Vegas line in the wildcard round. But this is how I feel.

  • Kept Matt Canada as OC going into the season. Could be the worst OC in the history of the NFL. No excuse of keeping his position as long as he held it
  • Kenny Pickett. I get Rooney wanted to give his first round draft pick a chance but the guy shouldn’t have ever gotten a shot to be the starter. He never earned it. Promotion due to draft capital alone is a losing position.
  • OL is overpaid and underperforming. Who is being held accountable?
  • Plenty of talent on this roster. Coach T should be ashamed for flushing away a shot at the Super Bowl by burying his head in the sand. Fact that a third string QB can put the team on his back and carry the team to 3 straight wins.. press conferences very reluctant to praise your best QB and won’t even list him as your starter. Sad. Pathetic.
  • Bumped from 1 to 3 points for not benching the best QB on the roster and nod to Omar for doing a great job with free agency and NFL draft.
 
Bengals 6.

The future is a 3 if they do not wake up.

Injuries derailed the season but also some poor planning for the season and the future. I have to admit changes need to be made or planning for the future must be considered. I think people forget that we were holding the bag when Burrow got hurt AGAIN. They lucked out with a valiant effort by Jake Browning but still showed poor planning by not being prepared. This team has so much now to review and think about for the future. We are losing our OC and the Higgins question and Mixon questions still have no answers. We have not found a way to protect Burrow and our depth issues seem to haunt us. I have been through many 1 seasons though so hope springs eternal.
 
Detroit Lions
  • Sold out season tickets at Ford Field for the first time ever
  • Became the first NFC team to beat [a Mahomes led] Kansas City in Arrowhead
  • Finished Regular Season with the 2nd most wins in the league, tied for the most in the NFC
  • Tied Franchise Record for Regular Season Wins - 12
  • Set Franchise Record for Most Wins [Overall] - 14
  • Tied NFL record with 4 players scoring 10 touchdowns
  • Sam LaPorta set NFL Rookie TE record for receptions, 3rd best ever for targets, yards and touchdowns
  • LaPorta also set records for most receptions by a rookie TE in a playoff game (9) and in a playoff season (12)
  • 2 1st Team All Pro players (Sewell, St Brown) for the first time since 2017
  • 2 1st Team All Pro offensive players for the first time since 1997
  • RT Penei Sewell finished with the highest PFF Grade for Tackles, and the 2nd highest Run Blocking Grade ever
  • Won NFC North for the first time in 30 years
  • Won a playoff game for the first time in 32 years
  • Won 2 playoff games for the first time since 1957
  • Won 2 home playoff games for the first time ever
  • Advanced to the NFCCG for the 2nd time in franchise history
  • Quarterback Jared Goff became the 3rd QB in franchise history (Layne, Rote) to win multiple playoff games
  • Head Coach Dan Campbell became the 3rd Lions coach to win multiple playoff games
  • accumulated 23 scrimmage TDs from rookies this season (including the playoffs), the most scrimmage TDs any team's rookies have combined for in a season since the 1970 merger
  • 9 players age 23 or younger: Penei Sewell, Alim McNeil, lSam LaPorta, Kerby Joseph, Aidan Hutchinson, Jack Campbell, Jameson Williams, Brian Branch, and Jahmyr Gibbs

Probably missing a bunch of other stuff but you get the idea.

But the job's not done yet. Relative to their woeful history, most folks would say it's probably fair to say 10.0 on a scale of 1-10.

I don't view it that way. Objectively, this wasn't their best season as they have won 4 NFL Titles - which, when the Super Bowl era began, was tied for third best (GB-9, CHI-8, NYG-4, DET-4, CLE-4.) In the Bobby Layne era they went to 4 NFL Title games in 6 years including 3 straight, and were the 3rd team in NFL history to win back-to-back titles. Along with the Browns (3-4 in NFL Title games 1950-57), they were the dominant NFL team of the 1950s, going 3-1 in NFL Championships 1952-57.

The Detroit Lions had their best record in a season in 1953, with a record of 10-2. This season was their 10th best regular season by winning percentage.

TEAMSEASONREC
Detroit Lions195310-2
Detroit Lions19549-2-1
Detroit Lions196211-3
Portsmouth Spartans193111-3

https://www.statmuse.com/nfl/ask/best-lions-season-record

66 years since their last title, and one of only four teams that have never been to a Super Bowl. The other 3 are all expansion franchises. Technically Cleveland wasn't a new franchise because they retained their history.....Lions are still the only team that has been in existence for all of the last 58 years and not gone to a Super Bowl.

IMO the season has been an 8. They have exceeded expectations but the final grade isn't in, so that's the floor.

9 if they make the Super Bowl.

10 if they win the Super Bowl.

8 it is.

Wasn't what they were going for, but still the best Detroit Lions season of the Super Bowl era.
 
Chargers = 2

The Chargers came into existence 64 years ago. Only once did they have more losses (yeah, I know the season is longer now, but just let me exaggerate, thanx).

As a Chargers fan, I disagree. This season was a 10, since it resulted in:
  • Getting the #5 draft pick/position to help jump start a quick rebuild
  • Firing GM Tom Telesco
  • Firing HC Brandon Staley, along with presumably most/all of the rest of the coaching staff
  • Hiring new HC Jim Harbaugh
  • Hiring a new GM from among an apparent couple of finalists who seem likely to be better than Telesco
  • Causing the owner, Dean Spanos, and President of Football Operations, John Spanos, to "reimagine" their approach
Hiring Harbaugh is evidence of real change that Chargers fans haven't seen for at least 20 years. 👍
 
Firing GM Tom Telesco
As a Raiders fan, I’d love to hear more details on this.

From the outside, it seemed like the Chargers had a very good roster of drafted and free agent players, and it was “bad luck” (lots of injuries) or “bad coaching“ that has caused them to underachieve.

What’s your take? Thanks
 
Ravens- 6

Was an A++=10! until yesterday when they looked like the same offense that cant figure it out in the postseason that they've been the last 5 years. Playoff Monken became playoff Greg Roman and Lamar made a poor decision resulting in a horrible endzone pick. On top of that we may lose our boy genius DC who had the defense playing hard until the bitter end and we have some tough FA decisions to make. Lamar and the offense have a window and Zay Flowers, Isiah Likely and hopefully Keaton Mitchel mean it's open for awhile but to squander the monster defense and more open offense we had this year feels like a giant opportunity lost.
 
Firing GM Tom Telesco
As a Raiders fan, I’d love to hear more details on this.

From the outside, it seemed like the Chargers had a very good roster of drafted and free agent players, and it was “bad luck” (lots of injuries) or “bad coaching“ that has caused them to underachieve.

What’s your take? Thanks

Well, Telesco was there for 11 seasons. IMO it is unreasonable to blame generally poor results on:
  • Poor coaching across 3 different head coaches, especially since Telesco was involved in hiring those head coaches
  • Injuries across an 11 season sample... yes, perhaps a particular season or two were drastically affected by injuries, but that isn't an excuse for an 11 season sample, particularly since we know every team suffers injuries
Bottom line - Team Performance
  • In 11 seasons before Telesco (2002-2012):
    • 103-73 (0.585) regular season record - average of 9.4 wins and 6.6 losses per season
    • 3-5 (0.375) postseason record; made the playoffs 5 times (45%)
    • 42-24 (0.636) division record; 5 division titles (45%)
    • 2 losing seasons (2003, 2012) - both resulted in firing the head coach; the first one occurred in GM Smith's first season as GM, so he kept his job... but he lost it after 2012
  • In Telesco's 11 seasons (2013-2023):
    • 84-95 (0.469) regular season record - average of 7.6 wins and 8.6 losses per season
    • 2-3 (0.400) postseason record; made the playoffs 3 times (27%)
    • 23-43 (0.348) division record; 0 division titles (0%)
    • 5 losing seasons (2015, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2023) - resulting in 3 fired head coaches and finally Telesco's firing
It's not like the Chargers were a model NFL franchise before Telesco, but they were considerably worse in his tenure. And consider that in 2013, only 5 offensive/defensive starters were acquired by Telesco, so his influence on that roster was modest at best. That team was 9-7 in the regular season, 4-2 in the division, and 1-1 in the playoffs. Take that season away from Telesco's record, and it just increases the gaps.

His drafting was considerably overrated.
  • In recent days in the media reports about him interviewing with and then being hired by the Raiders, there were frequent statements about him having a strong draft track record. That is false. Over the past 5 years, there have been articles by the Athletic, Football Outsiders, and PFF that compared draft records, and the Chargers have consistently been near the bottom of the league in draft return.
  • To date, the Chargers have only signed 8 of the players drafted by Telesco in his first 8 draft classes to a second contract. I don't know how that compares, but I suspect it is below average at best.
  • Telesco never traded down in the draft, but he traded up 4 times -- 3 times for a LB and 1 time for a RB. Among them, only RB Gordon was with the team more than 4 seasons, and he was gone after his 5th. This also shows how little Telesco grasps or cares about positional value.
His free agency decisions were mixed at best. I suspect he was below average at free agent results, especially after the recent J.C. Jackson fiasco, but I don't know where to find comparison data.

And now he has left the Chargers in the worst cap situation in franchise history.

In fairness, I posted this in the Chargers thread recently:

I expect Telesco to be a bad GM for the Raiders, as he was for the Chargers. There have been multiple media reports on this praising Telesco's talent evaluation, which is laughable based on Chargers draft results.

That said, there are two primary reasons he could be better:
  1. He was a first time GM with the Chargers, and I think he was at least a bit worse in his early years than in his later years. He certainly has an opportunity to learn from the 11 years he spent with the Chargers and apply some improvements. I think the fact that he is moving straight from one GM job to the other without a break makes it harder for him to really reflect on his Chargers performance and identify areas to change.
  2. It is possible that his poor performance with the Chargers was caused in large part by interference from President of Football Operations John Spanos, the owner's son. It's hard for fans to know how to assign credit/blame between them, since Telesco may have merely been the face of the front office without being the actual driver. To the extent that is true, if the Raiders don't have a similar level of interference, Telesco could perform better.

I can tell you that all Chargers fans I know and interact with online were happy to see him go, feeling that was long overdue, and then even happier to see him hired by the Raiders. Good luck.
 
Chargers = 2

The Chargers came into existence 64 years ago. Only once did they have more losses (yeah, I know the season is longer now, but just let me exaggerate, thanx).

As a Chargers fan, I disagree. This season was a 10, since it resulted in:
  • Getting the #5 draft pick/position to help jump start a quick rebuild
  • Firing GM Tom Telesco
  • Firing HC Brandon Staley, along with presumably most/all of the rest of the coaching staff
  • Hiring new HC Jim Harbaugh
  • Hiring a new GM from among an apparent couple of finalists who seem likely to be better than Telesco
  • Causing the owner, Dean Spanos, and President of Football Operations, John Spanos, to "reimagine" their approach
Hiring Harbaugh is evidence of real change that Chargers fans haven't seen for at least 20 years. 👍
I was grading the season, not the aftermath, hahaha

Sadly, I think Harbaugh has his work cut out for him. I think they will be lucky to be a .500 team in 2024 and 2025.
 
Firing GM Tom Telesco
As a Raiders fan, I’d love to hear more details on this.

From the outside, it seemed like the Chargers had a very good roster of drafted and free agent players, and it was “bad luck” (lots of injuries) or “bad coaching“ that has caused them to underachieve.

What’s your take? Thanks

Well, Telesco was there for 11 seasons. IMO it is unreasonable to blame generally poor results on:
  • Poor coaching across 3 different head coaches, especially since Telesco was involved in hiring those head coaches
  • Injuries across an 11 season sample... yes, perhaps a particular season or two were drastically affected by injuries, but that isn't an excuse for an 11 season sample, particularly since we know every team suffers injuries
Bottom line - Team Performance
  • In 11 seasons before Telesco (2002-2012):
    • 103-73 (0.585) regular season record - average of 9.4 wins and 6.6 losses per season
    • 3-5 (0.375) postseason record; made the playoffs 5 times (45%)
    • 42-24 (0.636) division record; 5 division titles (45%)
    • 2 losing seasons (2003, 2012) - both resulted in firing the head coach; the first one occurred in GM Smith's first season as GM, so he kept his job... but he lost it after 2012
  • In Telesco's 11 seasons (2013-2023):
    • 84-95 (0.469) regular season record - average of 7.6 wins and 8.6 losses per season
    • 2-3 (0.400) postseason record; made the playoffs 3 times (27%)
    • 23-43 (0.348) division record; 0 division titles (0%)
    • 5 losing seasons (2015, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2023) - resulting in 3 fired head coaches and finally Telesco's firing
It's not like the Chargers were a model NFL franchise before Telesco, but they were considerably worse in his tenure. And consider that in 2013, only 5 offensive/defensive starters were acquired by Telesco, so his influence on that roster was modest at best. That team was 9-7 in the regular season, 4-2 in the division, and 1-1 in the playoffs. Take that season away from Telesco's record, and it just increases the gaps.

His drafting was considerably overrated.
  • In recent days in the media reports about him interviewing with and then being hired by the Raiders, there were frequent statements about him having a strong draft track record. That is false. Over the past 5 years, there have been articles by the Athletic, Football Outsiders, and PFF that compared draft records, and the Chargers have consistently been near the bottom of the league in draft return.
  • To date, the Chargers have only signed 8 of the players drafted by Telesco in his first 8 draft classes to a second contract. I don't know how that compares, but I suspect it is below average at best.
  • Telesco never traded down in the draft, but he traded up 4 times -- 3 times for a LB and 1 time for a RB. Among them, only RB Gordon was with the team more than 4 seasons, and he was gone after his 5th. This also shows how little Telesco grasps or cares about positional value.
His free agency decisions were mixed at best. I suspect he was below average at free agent results, especially after the recent J.C. Jackson fiasco, but I don't know where to find comparison data.

And now he has left the Chargers in the worst cap situation in franchise history.

In fairness, I posted this in the Chargers thread recently:

I expect Telesco to be a bad GM for the Raiders, as he was for the Chargers. There have been multiple media reports on this praising Telesco's talent evaluation, which is laughable based on Chargers draft results.

That said, there are two primary reasons he could be better:
  1. He was a first time GM with the Chargers, and I think he was at least a bit worse in his early years than in his later years. He certainly has an opportunity to learn from the 11 years he spent with the Chargers and apply some improvements. I think the fact that he is moving straight from one GM job to the other without a break makes it harder for him to really reflect on his Chargers performance and identify areas to change.
  2. It is possible that his poor performance with the Chargers was caused in large part by interference from President of Football Operations John Spanos, the owner's son. It's hard for fans to know how to assign credit/blame between them, since Telesco may have merely been the face of the front office without being the actual driver. To the extent that is true, if the Raiders don't have a similar level of interference, Telesco could perform better.

I can tell you that all Chargers fans I know and interact with online were happy to see him go, feeling that was long overdue, and then even happier to see him hired by the Raiders. Good luck.
Thanks for resetting my off-season optimism to the appropriate 21st century Raiders level.
 
I'd rate Miami's season at a 7, if only because most of the last 20 years has been so miserable and at least the team was a lot of fun to watch most of the time. If I remove the influence of previous seasons then it's more like a 6. They met expectations by making the playoffs, but the end of the season sucked and to fall short of the division title yet again is a bummer.
 
Bengals 6.

The future is a 3 if they do not wake up.

Injuries derailed the season but also some poor planning for the season and the future. I have to admit changes need to be made or planning for the future must be considered. I think people forget that we were holding the bag when Burrow got hurt AGAIN. They lucked out with a valiant effort by Jake Browning but still showed poor planning by not being prepared. This team has so much now to review and think about for the future. We are losing our OC and the Higgins question and Mixon questions still have no answers. We have not found a way to protect Burrow and our depth issues seem to haunt us. I have been through many 1 seasons though so hope springs eternal.

I'm in agreement on the poor planning, but a little lower in ranking. We had super bowl hopes this year and we didn't live up to it. A lot of it had to do with the Burrow injuries, but a lot didn't.

Bengals - 4.

What the Bengals did without Burrow was a surprise and enjoyable to watch, but I have some serious concerns with our defense with most of our starting defense back from 2022 outside the safeties. There were games where we couldn't stop anyone and looked bottom 5 in the league, especially when DJ Reader was out towards the end of year, and he is a free agent this year. We need some serious help at DT and I fear that the Bengals won't sign any big FA's at that position because that isn't what we do. Reader is a FA and coming off injury, BJ Hill should be a rotation player, but gets paid like a starter, no other DT is starter worthy. At DE: Honestly I'm sure a lot of Bengals fans don't agree with me, but they need to make a decision on Sam Hubbard (hometown fan favorite). He is a nice run stopper, but I don't think he is worth the money he is getting paid for the production he gives. Outside of Trey Hendrickson, we have no "X factors" to make the QB scared. Myles Murphy and Joseph Ossai have to step up in a big way next year to give me hope, but I said that before this year and they didn't stand out like i was hoping. LB's: Wilson and Pratt need to get back to the 2021-2022 seasons, but I still love both. Secondary: I miss Jessie Bates more than what I thought I would. I do think we found the answer with Dax Hill and Jordan Battle at safety, them along with Cam Taylor Britt and Mike Hilton in Nickel is a nice start, but we must replace Awuzie who is a FA anyway, and I think he either lost a step or with him coming off ACL injury, maybe he still has not gotten back to his full self.

The Bengals offense, I have more hope with and there were times this year where we were our old selves (Weeks 5-9 when we beat San Fran and Buffalo handily in that stretch) and other times where we looked like garbage. The first 3-4 weeks where Burrow was coming back from his calf injury was shaky and it is easy to look back after the fact, maybe it would have been better to have Browning start those games if he performed anything like he did at the end of the season. And we looked like garbage in every divisional game, we didn't show up for any of those games besides when the Browns sat their starters week 18 and we had nothing to play for.

I do like what the OL did this year and another year of them being together will only help. I am not concerned with the Tee situation, as most Bengals fans are. I think we will tag him this year and let him walk/trade him after next season, I personally don't want to sign him long term. Chase is the super star we must extend and I really like Iosivas as a replacement there for Higgins. Draft a slot guy to replace Boyd. RB: I think Mixon had a solid year and will be here next year and I am ok with that. I think Chase Brown should get more involved with hopes he takes over towards the end of 2024 into 2025. I saw reports of us signing Barkley or Henry, I personally think there is no chance of this happening, and frankly would be very surprised as this isn't something the Bengals do. TE: Is the only position on offense I have concerns with going into the offseason. I like Tanner Hudson a lot but he is also 30+ years old and not the answer long term. Irv Smith was a bust which is fine, I just want to make sure we move on from him. Drafting Brock Bowers is a pipe dream imo, we passed on Kincaid and Laporta and Mayer last year, I don't see Bowers being there when we pick, or taking him if he did reach us in round 1.

Special Teams: So disappointed in Brad Robbins at Punter, cut him and sign Matt Ariaza (sp?). Great punters are such a huge weapon in field position and so undervalued. McPherson is good and hope we can extend him this offseason without paying top 5 Kicker money.

This is a huge make or break offseason for the Bengals leading into the big money contract years with Burrow, extending Chase and possibly Higgins. Things have to play out just right for the Bengals to be Super Bowl contenders during Burrow's prime years. I trust in our front office now more than ever that they will make the right moves, but I am still nervous.
 
Miami won as many Playoff games this year as they did in '22, '21, '20. '19. '18, '17, '16....and it keeps going and going
I'd rate it about a 5 overall, Miami won 11 games but in the end it felt meaningless as usual around South Beach
I'd rate it a little higher than a 5. Miami has a "bad luck" curse around it and we have not pulled through it yet. This year it was injuries. 4 starters started the whole year, and Tua was one of the 4. (long, Wilkins, and Seiler were the other 3). Last year it was Tua and everyone else in the QB room with the rest of the team in tack.

When healthy, this team was definitely a contender and we were a hairs breath from winning the AFCE.

I'd give us a solid 7. Had we won in KC or won the division then it would be an 8. Our cap is in a "manageble position" moving forward and the big question (as usual) will be Tua and his extension.

The only teams that deserve a higher grade than Miami are the two in the Super Bowl, The two that made their championship games but lost, and then Green Bay and Houston.

Dallas, Philly, The Bills, all should likely feel worse than the Dolphin fan.
 
Firing GM Tom Telesco
As a Raiders fan, I’d love to hear more details on this.

From the outside, it seemed like the Chargers had a very good roster of drafted and free agent players, and it was “bad luck” (lots of injuries) or “bad coaching“ that has caused them to underachieve.

What’s your take? Thanks

Well, Telesco was there for 11 seasons. IMO it is unreasonable to blame generally poor results on:
  • Poor coaching across 3 different head coaches, especially since Telesco was involved in hiring those head coaches
  • Injuries across an 11 season sample... yes, perhaps a particular season or two were drastically affected by injuries, but that isn't an excuse for an 11 season sample, particularly since we know every team suffers injuries
Bottom line - Team Performance
  • In 11 seasons before Telesco (2002-2012):
    • 103-73 (0.585) regular season record - average of 9.4 wins and 6.6 losses per season
    • 3-5 (0.375) postseason record; made the playoffs 5 times (45%)
    • 42-24 (0.636) division record; 5 division titles (45%)
    • 2 losing seasons (2003, 2012) - both resulted in firing the head coach; the first one occurred in GM Smith's first season as GM, so he kept his job... but he lost it after 2012
  • In Telesco's 11 seasons (2013-2023):
    • 84-95 (0.469) regular season record - average of 7.6 wins and 8.6 losses per season
    • 2-3 (0.400) postseason record; made the playoffs 3 times (27%)
    • 23-43 (0.348) division record; 0 division titles (0%)
    • 5 losing seasons (2015, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2023) - resulting in 3 fired head coaches and finally Telesco's firing
It's not like the Chargers were a model NFL franchise before Telesco, but they were considerably worse in his tenure. And consider that in 2013, only 5 offensive/defensive starters were acquired by Telesco, so his influence on that roster was modest at best. That team was 9-7 in the regular season, 4-2 in the division, and 1-1 in the playoffs. Take that season away from Telesco's record, and it just increases the gaps.

His drafting was considerably overrated.
  • In recent days in the media reports about him interviewing with and then being hired by the Raiders, there were frequent statements about him having a strong draft track record. That is false. Over the past 5 years, there have been articles by the Athletic, Football Outsiders, and PFF that compared draft records, and the Chargers have consistently been near the bottom of the league in draft return.
  • To date, the Chargers have only signed 8 of the players drafted by Telesco in his first 8 draft classes to a second contract. I don't know how that compares, but I suspect it is below average at best.
  • Telesco never traded down in the draft, but he traded up 4 times -- 3 times for a LB and 1 time for a RB. Among them, only RB Gordon was with the team more than 4 seasons, and he was gone after his 5th. This also shows how little Telesco grasps or cares about positional value.
His free agency decisions were mixed at best. I suspect he was below average at free agent results, especially after the recent J.C. Jackson fiasco, but I don't know where to find comparison data.

And now he has left the Chargers in the worst cap situation in franchise history.

In fairness, I posted this in the Chargers thread recently:

I expect Telesco to be a bad GM for the Raiders, as he was for the Chargers. There have been multiple media reports on this praising Telesco's talent evaluation, which is laughable based on Chargers draft results.

That said, there are two primary reasons he could be better:
  1. He was a first time GM with the Chargers, and I think he was at least a bit worse in his early years than in his later years. He certainly has an opportunity to learn from the 11 years he spent with the Chargers and apply some improvements. I think the fact that he is moving straight from one GM job to the other without a break makes it harder for him to really reflect on his Chargers performance and identify areas to change.
  2. It is possible that his poor performance with the Chargers was caused in large part by interference from President of Football Operations John Spanos, the owner's son. It's hard for fans to know how to assign credit/blame between them, since Telesco may have merely been the face of the front office without being the actual driver. To the extent that is true, if the Raiders don't have a similar level of interference, Telesco could perform better.

I can tell you that all Chargers fans I know and interact with online were happy to see him go, feeling that was long overdue, and then even happier to see him hired by the Raiders. Good luck.
Thanks for resetting my off-season optimism to the appropriate 21st century Raiders level.

And I forgot to mention that during Telesco's tenure, only 2 of 181 games were started by a QB other than Rivers and Herbert. (5 of 184 if you count the final 3 regular season games this season after Telesco was fired, since they were effectively on his watch.) 😬
 
Firing GM Tom Telesco
As a Raiders fan, I’d love to hear more details on this.

From the outside, it seemed like the Chargers had a very good roster of drafted and free agent players, and it was “bad luck” (lots of injuries) or “bad coaching“ that has caused them to underachieve.

What’s your take? Thanks

Well, Telesco was there for 11 seasons. IMO it is unreasonable to blame generally poor results on:
  • Poor coaching across 3 different head coaches, especially since Telesco was involved in hiring those head coaches
  • Injuries across an 11 season sample... yes, perhaps a particular season or two were drastically affected by injuries, but that isn't an excuse for an 11 season sample, particularly since we know every team suffers injuries
Bottom line - Team Performance
  • In 11 seasons before Telesco (2002-2012):
    • 103-73 (0.585) regular season record - average of 9.4 wins and 6.6 losses per season
    • 3-5 (0.375) postseason record; made the playoffs 5 times (45%)
    • 42-24 (0.636) division record; 5 division titles (45%)
    • 2 losing seasons (2003, 2012) - both resulted in firing the head coach; the first one occurred in GM Smith's first season as GM, so he kept his job... but he lost it after 2012
  • In Telesco's 11 seasons (2013-2023):
    • 84-95 (0.469) regular season record - average of 7.6 wins and 8.6 losses per season
    • 2-3 (0.400) postseason record; made the playoffs 3 times (27%)
    • 23-43 (0.348) division record; 0 division titles (0%)
    • 5 losing seasons (2015, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2023) - resulting in 3 fired head coaches and finally Telesco's firing
It's not like the Chargers were a model NFL franchise before Telesco, but they were considerably worse in his tenure. And consider that in 2013, only 5 offensive/defensive starters were acquired by Telesco, so his influence on that roster was modest at best. That team was 9-7 in the regular season, 4-2 in the division, and 1-1 in the playoffs. Take that season away from Telesco's record, and it just increases the gaps.

His drafting was considerably overrated.
  • In recent days in the media reports about him interviewing with and then being hired by the Raiders, there were frequent statements about him having a strong draft track record. That is false. Over the past 5 years, there have been articles by the Athletic, Football Outsiders, and PFF that compared draft records, and the Chargers have consistently been near the bottom of the league in draft return.
  • To date, the Chargers have only signed 8 of the players drafted by Telesco in his first 8 draft classes to a second contract. I don't know how that compares, but I suspect it is below average at best.
  • Telesco never traded down in the draft, but he traded up 4 times -- 3 times for a LB and 1 time for a RB. Among them, only RB Gordon was with the team more than 4 seasons, and he was gone after his 5th. This also shows how little Telesco grasps or cares about positional value.
His free agency decisions were mixed at best. I suspect he was below average at free agent results, especially after the recent J.C. Jackson fiasco, but I don't know where to find comparison data.

And now he has left the Chargers in the worst cap situation in franchise history.

In fairness, I posted this in the Chargers thread recently:

I expect Telesco to be a bad GM for the Raiders, as he was for the Chargers. There have been multiple media reports on this praising Telesco's talent evaluation, which is laughable based on Chargers draft results.

That said, there are two primary reasons he could be better:
  1. He was a first time GM with the Chargers, and I think he was at least a bit worse in his early years than in his later years. He certainly has an opportunity to learn from the 11 years he spent with the Chargers and apply some improvements. I think the fact that he is moving straight from one GM job to the other without a break makes it harder for him to really reflect on his Chargers performance and identify areas to change.
  2. It is possible that his poor performance with the Chargers was caused in large part by interference from President of Football Operations John Spanos, the owner's son. It's hard for fans to know how to assign credit/blame between them, since Telesco may have merely been the face of the front office without being the actual driver. To the extent that is true, if the Raiders don't have a similar level of interference, Telesco could perform better.

I can tell you that all Chargers fans I know and interact with online were happy to see him go, feeling that was long overdue, and then even happier to see him hired by the Raiders. Good luck.
Thanks for resetting my off-season optimism to the appropriate 21st century Raiders level.

And I forgot to mention that during Telesco's tenure, only 2 of 181 games were started by a QB other than Rivers and Herbert. (5 of 184 if you count the final 3 regular season games this season after Telesco was fired, since they were effectively on his watch.) 😬
That’s great news actually since the Raiders need a QB. Go find us one for the next decade, Telesco!
 
Saints - feels like a 3 to me

2023 ceiling was NFC South title, but nothing beyond that. Division was wide open, but took too long to find our offensive identity (and weather some injuries) so by the time the ball got rolling it was too little too late. Now heading into 2024 in absolute salary cap hell, and with a lame duck HC that the fanbase doesn't want, and who (as it became extremely apparent in W18 and after) the players don't respect. So fully expect in 2024 we'll be slapping more band-aids on and playing cap gymnastics and kicking the can of a rebuild down the road yet another year.

The division could still be up for grabs in 2024 like it was this year which will entice the FO to go for another banner but this team isn't winning anything meaningful until we get out of cap hell and out from under Dennis Allen.
 
Bills -- 5

They dug themselves a deep hole by losing several games to teams that they had no business losing to, with some ugly wins tossed in there for good measure. Thankfully, they did just barely enough to win the division, an accomplishment that was greatly aided by Miami's inexplicable loss to the Titans. They beat a Steelers team that was missing its starting QB and its best defensive player, and got summarily bounced in the divisional round.

For a team with this much talent, "losing in the divisional round yet again" should be an unsatisfying not-quite-par result. Fans should reasonably expect better than that.
 
WAS 9

1. We unloaded Snyder
2. We got Harris
3, We unloaded Ron
4. We unloaded Chase
5. We unloaded Del Rio
6. We didn't spend future salary cap
7. We found out Howell is middle tier QB at best

The only things keeping it from a 10 are we didn't get the #1 pick and we didn't determine if Bienemy is a good coach.
 
Steelers 5. PIckett was bad, awful at times. Injury allowed a careers backup to show what the offense might look like with decent QB play. Pickers was up and down. Injuries destroyed the defense, yet they still did ok. Cam, Minkah, Watt, Holcomb, Alexander, Neal, Kazee all missed time. Thats an old group.
Positives were rookies, Jones, Porter, Herbig, Benton all did well for rooks. Washington was meh. Najee and Warren are a dynamic duo. Trice will be back, Darius Rush will be back, both at CB. Dumped Canada.
Boswell a great kicker, Harvin an awful punter.
Winning record, playoffs saved the end of the season.
Franchise still without a QB tho.
Arrow pointing slightly up.
 
49ers: 8 today, and if they beat KC, 10.

8 because they had a 3 game skid early in the season, lost 2 of their last 3 reg season games & kinda limped into the playoffs, and have not looked great in the 1st half of both playoff games.

If they lose to KC, the rating stays 8. It's great being conference champs, but not winning a SB falls short of expectations for this season. Im not giving a 9 as a SB participation trophy.
 

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