WHO’S A HAPPY CAMPER?
John Kryk offers two compelling questions for each NFL team as pre-season practices begin
You know summer has peaked when NFL training camps start opening.
By this time next week, all 32 NFL teams will have begun one-a-days. (Two-a-days died in 2011.) Baltimore and Chicago were the first to get going this past week, with everybody else starting this coming week.
Here are two compelling camp questions for each team, grouped by conference and division, in order of 2017 finish:
AFC EAST
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS 13-3, 2-1 Can Bill Belichick and QB Tom Brady immediately shelve whatever animosity lurks between them and keep the Patriots Express screaming onward? And can veteran Adrian Clayborn provide a desperately needed, reliable edge rush on defence?
BUFFALO BILLS 9-7, 0-1
Which of a trio of potential starting QBs emerges by September as No. 1 — fifth-year free-agent signee AJ McCarron, secondyear grinder Nathan Peterman or rifle-armed rookie Josh Allen? And is 20-year-old rookie middle LB Tremaine Edmunds ready to be the defensive front-seven’s dynamic performer?
MIAMI DOLPHINS 6-10
The talent level is down, with Suh and Landry gone, so how can this team reverse its won-lost record? Pressure never has been greater on seventh-year QB Ryan Tannehill to put it all together and become a top NFL QB. He’s coming off ACL surgery to boot. Can QB-whispering head coach Adam Gase finally take him there?
NEW YORK JETS 5-11
Another three-man QB battle. Can hotshot rookie and No. 3 overall draft pick Sam Darnold wrest the starting job from veterans Josh McCown and Teddy Bridgewater? And can Toronto rookie Nathan Shepherd fast emerge as an integral member of the Jets’ D -line, as the club hopes?
AFC NORTH
PITTSBURGH STEELERS 13-3, 0-1 Talent oozes everywhere, but can the Steelers as a team, from head coach Mike Tomlin on down, demonstrate believable signs they’ve shed the arrogance that wrecked a promising 2017 season? Plus, without camp holdout RB Le’Veon Bell, can sophomore James Conner emerge as a dangerous sub?
BALTIMORE RAVENS 9-7
Will reinvigorated 11th-year Joe Flacco shake off numerous mediocre seasons, hold off hotshot first-round rookie pick Lamar Jackson, and re-emerge as a top-end NFL QB? And with veteran free-agent WR signees Michael Crabtree, John Brown and Willie Snead, can the Ravens offence finally scare an NFL defence?
CINCINNATI BENGALS 7-9
Marv Lewis is back for a
16th season as head coach. After back-to-back nine-loss seasons, does he have enough replacement talent to make QB Andy Dalton effective enough to win more games? Toward that end, can perennially banged-up freeagent LT Cordy Glenn bolster a bad O -line?
CLEVELAND BROWNS 0-16 They’re 1-34 since Dec. 20, 2015. Eesh. Can ex-Buffalo QB Tyrod Taylor really hold off No. 1 overall draft pick Baker Mayfield as starter into September? The Browns insist Taylor’s the man. Sure. Can oft-suspended but supertalented Josh Gordon stay clean and form, with Jarvis Landry, a top NFL WR combo?
AFC SOUTH
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS 10-6, 2-1
Never mind the positional and strategic minutiae. The Jags have more than enough talent to challenge for a Super Bowl. But two questions soak everything. First, is their defence for real? And, most importantly, can QB Blake Bortles become a more reliable crunch-time playmaker and helmsman?
TENNESSEE TITANS 9-7, 1-1
No NFL team was as maddeningly inconsistent last season as the Titans — dominant at times, futile at others, often within the same game. Can new head coach Mike Vrabel muster more consistency? And can Patriots CB cast-off Malcolm Butler bolster one of the NFL’s shoddiest pass defences?
INDIANAPOLIS COLTS 4-12
No team has more obvious paired, pre-camp questions. That is, can Andrew Luck finally throw footballs for days and weeks on end without pain, for the first time since 2015 or ’16? If so, can he regain his early-career form, before shoulder woes hindered him in ’16 and scotched his ’17 season?
HOUSTON TEXANS 4-12
QB Deshaun Watson flashed spectacular promise in not even two full months as a rookie, before an ACL tear ended his season. How close to full recovery is he this summer? And how much did missing the important first full NFL off-season set him back on his captivating ascendancy?
AFC WEST
KANSAS CITY CHIEFS 10-6, 0-1 With QB Alex Smith gone, can soph successor Patrick Mahomes quickly live up to towering expectations? And is the secondary of a bad D better or worse without lockdown CB Marcus Peters (traded to the Rams) but with the additions of slot corner Kendall Fuller and the return of Pro Bowl S Eric Berry from a ruptured Achilles?
LOS ANGELES CHARGERS 9-7 Can one of the NFL’s most talented defences on paper become
as much on the field, too, especially with the addition of heralded rookie Derwin James, a versatile, physical safety? And can C Mike Pouncey upgrade a perennially weak O -line to allow Phil Rivers and his great playmakers to consistently sparkle?
OAKLAND RAIDERS 6-10
We all want to know: after a decade up in the Monday Night Football broadcast booth, is Jon Gruden open-minded enough to adapt to late-2010s NFL? And can he indeed turn Derek Carr into one of the NFL’s most productive passers?
DENVER BRONCOS 5-11
Can the Broncos end a two-year skid of finishing last in the division behind QB Case Keenum, who shocked the continent with a bust-out year in Minnesota in 2017? And will rookie Bradley Chubb, the No. 5 overall draft pick, join the great Von Miller to comprise one of the NFL’s top edge-rushing duos?
NFC EAST
PHILADELPHIA EAGLES 13-3, 3-0 For the third time in four years, entering August we’re unsure which QB will start for the Super Bowl champs. Will Carson Wentz — fast recovering from a torn ACL in December, which halted his MVP-calibre campaign — be ready by camp’s end? Or will playoff hero Nick Foles keep starting for now?
DALLAS COWBOYS 9-7
It was far from a terrible year in Big D. But there were distractions plus O -line regression that sometimes made it seem so. Still, more should be expected from QB Dak Prescott and RB Ezekiel Elliott in Year 3. Can they re-establish their dynamic-duo pre-eminence of 2016? And is a young, retooled defence poised to surprise?
WASHINGTON REDSKINS 7-9 Discarded by K.C., 14th-year QB Alex Smith now plays for a team slumped with questions. In head coach Jay Gruden’s offence, can Smith quickly adapt and shine? And can a defence hamstrung with raw youngsters up front, a middling pass rush and other holes stop being a liability?
NEW YORK GIANTS 3-13
Last year’s tire-fire is out. There’s
a new front office, new head coach (Pat Shurmur), new left tackle (Nate Solder) — but still Eli Manning at QB. Does Manning have more good plays left in him than bad? And can No. 2 overall pick Saquon Barkley shed ‘bounceout-itis’ that afflicted him at RB in college?
NFC NORTH
MINNESOTA VIKINGS 13-3, 1-1
Is new QB Kirk Cousins worth the $84 million fully guaranteed over three years? And was it worth getting rid of three former starters — Case Keenum, Sam Bradford and Teddy Bridgewater — to win the Cousins bidding war?
DETROIT LIONS 9-7
Can the Lions finally field a competent rushing attack — with vet LeGarrette Blount and rookie Kerryon Johnson — to complement Matthew Stafford’s aerial heroics? And can new head coach Matt Patricia keep Lions players on board with his strict code of Patriots-style discipline, after player-friendly regimes?
GREEN BAY PACKERS 7-9
Head coach Mike McCarthy and quarterback Aaron Rodgers return, if surrounded by new lieutenants. Can Jimmy Graham, after three meh years in Seattle, return as one of the league’s most prolific tight ends? He turns 32 in November. And can a remade secondary, maybe with two rookies, fare better versus the pass?
CHICAGO BEARS 5-11
Does new head coach Matt Nagy, who barely even called plays beneath Andy Reid in K.C., have the experience to build a dangerous attack led by soph QB Mitchell Trubisky and thunder-andlightning RBs Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen? Can ex-Jag WR Allen Robinson resurrect his career as a Bear?
NFC SOUTH
NEW ORLEANS SAINTS 11-5, 1-1 Quarterback Drew Brees no longer has to throw for more than 4,000 yards for the Saints to field a lethal attack. But with half of their fabulous RB duo suspended until October (Mark Ingram, for PEDs), can 2017’s rookie extraordinaire Alvin Kamara handle the
added load? Also, can edge rusher Marcus Davenport dominate as a rookie?
CAROLINA PANTHERS 11-5, 0-1 Norv Turner now plans the offensive attack for Cam Newton & Co. Can Turner turn Superman into even just an average passer, from a completion-rate standpoint? That would be no small accomplishment. Plus, at just age 27, can ex-Bronco RB C.J. Anderson prove he’s not washed up?
ATLANTA FALCONS 10-6, 1-1
As everybody seemed to be asking last season: What did then new offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian do to wreck the juggernaut attack of the 2016 Super Bowlfinalist Atlanta Falcons? And if he can’t help return newly re-signed $100-million (guaranteed) quarterback Matt Ryan to something approaching his lofty ‘16 MVPearning production, can Sarkisian last much past training camp?
TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS 5-11 The questions draping QB Jameis Winston are more important and longer-term than mere camp previewing; the NFL suspended him for the first three regular-season games for fondling a female Uber driver. On the field, can he cut down on the picks? And stay healthy?
NFC WEST
LOS ANGELES RAMS 11-5, 0-1
A second consecutive division title is expected. Can WR Brandin Cooks stretch defences better than the departed Sammy Watkins? And presuming the NFL’s best DT Aaron Donald eventually ends his holdout and re-signs, how much better is L.A.’s defence with the additions of elite CBs Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib?
SEATTLE SEAHAWKS 9-7
Pete Carroll hit reset buttons all over his roster. Questions abound. On offence, is rookie RB Rashaad Penny worth the 27th-overall pick, when the O -line still needs upgrading? And how can a once ferocious defence overcome the losses of so many impact players, including Richard Sherman and Kam Chancellor?
ARIZONA CARDINALS 8-8
New head coach Steve Wilks will have a pressing decision. Does he go with established veteran QB Sam Bradford, or with the rookie arguably most ready to play effectively right out of the box — 10th overall draft pick Josh Rosen? But will Bradford’s everproblematic left knee even be healthy enough for him to start?
SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS 6-10 We’re all wondering the same thing: Is QB Jimmy Garoppolo really that good? A month after the Niners acquired him in a tradedeadline deal with the Pats, JimmyG won all five of his seasonending starts, even if he did throw five picks. Also, how effective can ex-Seahawk CB Sherman be following double Achilles surgery?