- New person, same old mistakes: The Carolina Panthers and Indianapolis Colts both enter roughly their fifth consecutive offseason in dire need of a quarterback.
- How much do running backs matter?: The Miami Dolphins seem willing to mess around and find out considering they have zero running backs currently under contract ahead of 2023.
- Remember that time the Jacksonville Jaguars traded for Calvin Ridley?: Probably not, but they did, so now they should focus on re-signing Evan Engram and improving the offensive line
Estimated reading time: 17 minutes
Happy offseason! The NFL is chilling for the moment, but before too long free agency and the NFL Draft will overhaul teams of all shapes and sizes in a major way before next September.
The best way to prepare for the offseason is by going through the top fantasy football need for all 32 teams. Naturally, this practice will ignore defense and be innately subjective. However, with that said, I focused on the following three main factors when looking at each specific team:
- Does the team have a long-term answer at quarterback? If not, better get one.
- Does the team have any glaring weaknesses? Continuity doesn’t exactly help if the returning players aren’t any good.
- What key pieces are free agents or potential cap casualties? Trades will certainly factor in as well, but let’s just do the best we can with the present information available.
Special thanks to Over The Cap for all salary cap and contract-related information.
Team Need: Please add some high-end wide receivers.
The biggest offensive free agent is probably RB David Montgomery, but PFF’s reigning 32nd-ranked offense in team receiving grade needs to supply capable weaponry for whoever winds up being under center in 2023 and beyond. The government should step in if the Bears unironically enter next season with Darnell Mooney, Chase Claypool and Equanmieous St. Brown as the offense’s top-three receivers.
Team Need: A quarterback capable of instilling even 1% of future optimism into this franchise.
Davis Mills ranks 31st in PFF passing grade (61.7), 33rd in yards per attempt (6.6) and 35th in adjusted completion rate (72%) among 39 quarterbacks with at least 300 dropbacks over the past two seasons. He’s probably not this franchise’s long-term answer under center despite dealing with as porous of a surrounding cast (and organization) as any signal-caller in the league.
Team Need: Get these skill-position talents a good offensive line.
Wide receiver could also become a need in a hurry should the Cardinals send DeAndre Hopkins elsewhere, but either way, this offense has a lot to worry about with RT Kelvin Beachum, RG Will Hernandez and C Billy Price all unrestricted free agents. PFF’s 24th-ranked offensive line from last season finished the year tied as the most penalized group in the NFL. Welcoming Kyler Murray (ACL) back with a better group of big uglies could certainly help.
Team Need: Another veteran quarterback in their late 30s.
I'm kidding. The league’s reigning 32nd-ranked squad in point differential needs help everywhere, but even owner Jim Irsay already said the team hired an offensive coach, “knowing we’re going to have to find a young quarterback to develop.” While it’d be objectively hilarious if Derek Carr winds up in Indianapolis, all signs point toward the Colts addressing the position in the draft. PFF’s recently released 2023 draft guide ranks Alabama QB Bryce Young, Kentucky QB Will Levis and Ohio State QB C.J. Stroud as the top-three incoming signal-callers.
Team Need: Broncos country isn’t riding anywhere without an offensive line.
PFF’s reigning 21st-ranked offensive line has a lot of work to do in free agency with LT Cameron Fleming, LG Dalton Rising, RT Billy Turner and LT Calvin Anderson each set to be unrestricted free agents. Improved play is also needed elsewhere – this was 2022’s 32nd-ranked scoring offense we’re talking about here – but failure to build anything close to an average unit up front could be awfully problematic when forced to line up against Joey Bosa, Chris Jones and Maxx Crosby six times per year.
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