Most improved position groups in the NFL heading into the 2019 season
A few weeks into the black hole of the offseason, which is filled with overblown reports from OTAs and media analysts coming up with crazy ideas for discussions, I had the time to go back and analyze which moves teams have made to improve a specific area of their football team.
However, this is not about the most improved team overall, such as the Browns who added on several fronts, and I won’t name any teams that only added one superstar at a position and nothing else. This list is more about how these front offices made it a priority to invest into a unit that either needed to get better anyway or might have been solid to this point, but could be a true strength for them in 2019. Here are the ten position groups I came up with and I added a few units at the beginning, who didn’t quite make the cut.
Honorable mentions:
Giants cornerbacks
Falcons offensive line
Buccaneers secondary
Seahawks receivers
Ravens running backs
Steelers inside linebackers
Jets defensive line
Titans receivers
Broncos quarterbacks
#1 Packers pass rush
When I look at this Green Bay defense, I think it is the most talented one they have had since their lone Super Bowl run with Aaron Rodgers at the helm, back in 2010/11. Since then they have not been in the top 10 in yards or points allowed once, with a lot of those rankings somewhere in the 20s.
Unlike they were under former general manager Ted Thompson, the Packers were aggressive in free agency to spend money on the defense and have moved around a lot on the draft board since last year. I used the term pass rush, which is less than a real unit than an area of the team because I think they will use their additions all over the front.
First, they acquired Preston and Za’Darius Smith via free agency to come off both edges and in the draft they used both first round picks on defense, going with Michigan’s freakish Rashan Gary 12th overall. Gary was not super-productive in college, especially in limited time last season, but he is exactly the chess piece Mike Pettine is looking for to move around and create havoc to make those blitz packages and stunts work.
I also think they made an excellent selection in the fifth round when they added another talented D-lineman in Texas A&M’s Kingsley Keke. Add to that the new safety duo of Adrian Amos coming over from Chicago and Darnell Savage being the team’s second pick in round one out of Maryland and you get a completely new look.
Savage especially will be part of that pass rush, as he played a ton in the slot and comes off that corner like a lightning rod. Pettine will not shy away from being creative and bringing the heat against opposing signal-callers – and now he has the personnel to get there.