Preseason Power Rankings 27-23

By: Lucas Kochevar

27. Jacksonville Jaguars 
      The Jaguars made some pretty solid moves during the off season like signing AJ Bouye, Calais Campbell, and drafting Leonard Fournette. The question for them this season is whether or not Blake Bortles can make that leap that other young QBs have made. He has struggled very heavily with his INTs and he tends to be very loose with the ball. The Jags need him to have a good year in order to make any noise. Problem is that I don't see that happening and the team is still very young and inexperienced. They will have an average season but they will still struggle and not do a great job. I like where they are heading with Tom Coughlin at the helm to make decisions as he knows what it takes to build a Super Bowl winning team. 

26. Buffalo Bills
      The Bills are going to struggle. They don't have a great QB, they have a shaky WR core, and their secondary lost their best CB, Stephon Gilmore, to the Pats. Another problem they face is that they have a new Head Coach, who is pretty sketchy hire. The offense will be a mess, as the only reliable player to throw to is TE Charles Clay. Tyrod Taylor is not a winning QB and unless he changes and becomes great, I don't believe in the Bills but I feel like they have a better chance at being competitive because of their talented players like Marcell Darius and Lesean McCoy. The Bills will have some good games but they won't have a great year as they still have to play the Patriots twice every year. 

25. Los Angeles Chargers
       The San Diego Chargers, excuse me, Los Angeles Chargers will struggle once again this year as they have a raw defense and they don't have a quality O-Line to protect Phillip Rivers, who is a fantastic QB. They have weapons with Melvin Gordon, Keenen Allen, Antonio Gates, and Hunter Henry along with rookie WR Mike Williams. The defense will be a struggle as, outside of Casey Heyward, the secondary is still very young. The front 7 isn't the best although Melvin Ingram is a stud LB. They also still play in a very competitive division with the KC Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, and Denver Broncos. They will have a another down year similar to another LA team as they try to grow with their young players and new Head Coach.

24. Cincinnati Bengals
        The Bengals are due for another year of mediocrity as they just don't have a very talented roster. It is a fact that Marvin Lewis is a good season coach, but when it comes to discipline and playoffs Marvin Lewis is garbage. I have supported Marvin Lewis for the last couple of years until that atrocious playoff game against the Steelers. The defense is going through a rebuild as players are getting older and slower. The offense still has potential to be great with Andy Dalton, Zach Eifert, and top 3 WR, behind Julio and AB, AJ Green. I still believe the offense was at its peak with Hue Jackson a couple of years ago. The Bengals will take more step backs and hopefully they will come to their senses and fire Marvin Lewis. 

23. Minnesota Vikings
     It seems like such a long time ago that the Vikings were 5-0 and they were in the Adrian Peterson era. Suddenly they fell back down to Earth and the defense couldn't carry the scoring load with their turnovers and the offense just couldn't score. Sam Bradford actually did a decent job as he had a great completion percentage but he did not have a run game as Adrian Peterson only played 3 games. Now that he is out, the Vikings only have Lativius Murray and rookie Dalvin Cook. I expect the defense to do as good as they can with their very talented defensive roster with Harrison Smith leading them. The struggle will be the offense. Sam Bradford is a capable QB as Teddy Bridgewater is still recovering. The Vikings will be better off than they were last year running the ball as Murray is a better RB than what they had last year. They will need Stefon Diggs to step up as they lost their dynamic WR Cordalle Patterson. Although he wasn't the best WR to target, he made electric plays happen with his speed. They will have a down year as they still need their QB to come back even though there is a chance he might not ever play again.