Last Season : 12 - 4
Drafted Players
1st Round - Jimmy Smith CB
2nd Round - Torrey Smith WR
3rd Round - Jah Reid OT
4th Round - Tandon Doss WR
5th Round - Chykie Brown DB
5th Round - Pernell McPhee DL
6th Round - Tyrod Taylor QB
7th Round - Anthony Allen RB
Players in
Bryant McKinnie T
Bernard Pollard S
Casey Rabach C
Ricky Williams RB
Lee Evans WR
Players out
Jared Gaither OT
Kelly Gregg DT
Todd Heap TE
Scott Kooistra OT
Dawan Landry S
Derrick Mason WR
Willis McGahee RB
Tony Moll T
The Ravens shocked everybody this season by allowing very experienced players (Heap, Gaither, Mason, McGahee) leave the team. Their offence did then look less effective, but they have bought in FB Leach (from the Texans) who is a very effective blocker, and should make Ray Rice's job alot easier this year. Ricky Williams came in from Miami, and I'm not sure how much he has left, but he will be good cover for Rice. 2nd round draft pick Torrey Smith and Lee Evans (in from Bills) should add a different dimension to the pass game opposite Anquan Boldin. Boldin will be the possession receiver, and the Ravens hope that Evans and Smith will stretch the field for them.
The Ravens defence should be as good as ever this year. Their 1st round draft pick CB Jimmy Smith will add some much needed cover in the secondary and their front 7, led by Ray Lewis, should still be dominant. It will be interesting to see in week one if they can get a jump start over the Steelers, by beating them in Baltimore.
Last Season : 4 - 12
Drafted Players
1st Round - A.J Green WR
2nd Round - Andy Dalton QB
3rd Round - Dontay Moch DL
4th Round - Clint Boling OL
5th Round - Robert Sanders S
6th Round - Ryan Whalen WR
7th Round - Korey Lindsey CB
7th Round - Jay Finley RB
Players in
Bruce Gradkowski QB
Thomas Howard LB
Brian Iwuh LB
Max Jean-Gillis OG
Manny Lawson LB
Bo Scaife TE
Players out
Carson Palmer QB
Kirk Chambers OT
Johnathan Joseph CB
Reggie Kelly TE
Evan Mathis OG
Isaac Stowells OG
Clint Stitser K
Terrelle Owens WR
Roy Williams S
The Bengals didn't have a great year last year, but I think that this year, they may be even worse. I believe this because of the shambles at the QB position. Carson Palmer has left, leaving 2nd round pick Andy Daulton with the starting job. I believe that Daulton will be a decent NFL QB in time, but I believe that a couple of years as a back up would have been very beneficial. They have done a good job though surrounding Daulton with decent talent, most notably 1st round draft pick WR A.J Green.
Very talented CB Johnathan Joseph has left to join the Texans. This is a big blow to an already pretty poor defence. They did bring in Nate Clements from the 49'ers to replace Joseph, lets hope for their case he is up to the job. I believe that the Bengals are really going to struggle this year, and will probably be lucky to get up to last years win total of 4 games.
Last Season : 5 : 11
Drafted Players
1st Round - Phil Taylor DT
2nd Round - Jabaal Sheard DL
2nd Round - Greg Little WR
4th Round - Jordan Cameron TE
4th Round - Owen Marecic RB
5th Round - Buster Skrine DB
5th Round - Jason Pinkston OL
7th Round - Eric Hagg DB
Players in
Brandon Jackson RB
Brett Johnson DB
Richmond McGee P
Dimitri Patterson CB
Usama Young FS
Players out
Kenyon Coleman DE
Blake Costanzo LB
Tyson DeVree TE
Sabby Piscitelli S
Matt Roth LB
Chansi Stuckey WR
Jason Trusnik LB
Lawrence Vickers FB
Floyd Womack OG
Eric Wright CB
I've got to be completely honest, the Browns are a very difficult team for me to get my head around. They are a team full of relatively unknown players, but the defiantly seem to be moving in the right direction. QB Colt McCoy has been very impressive throughout the preseason so far, and with RB Peyton Hillis, they should have a very capable offence.
The defence should be tougher to run on this year, thanks to their 1st and 2nd round draft picks, Taylor and Sheard. They also tried to improve their secondary in free agency, bringing in 2 CB's (Johnson and Patterson) and a S (Usama Young). I believe that the defence will improve as the year goes on. The Browns may well be slightly better than last year, but in my eyes, they still have a long way to go to catch the Steelers and Ravens.
Last Season : 12 - 4
Drafted Players
1st Round : Cam Heywood DT
2nd Round : Marcus Gilbert OL
3rd Round : Curtis Brown DB
4th Round : Cortez Allen DB
5th Round : Chris Carter DL
6th Round : Keith Williams OL
7th Round : Baron Batch RB
Players in
John Gilmore TE
Kenny Moore WR
Players out
Nick Eason DE
Keyaron Fox LB
Matt Spaeth TE
The Steelers, Superbowl runners up, should be all set for another assault on the championship. You know exactly what your going to get with Pittsburgh, tough D, good running game, and QB 'Big Ben' who can make a play out of the blue. The really impressive thing for me this preseason is the talent they seem to have at the WR positions this year. Hines Ward, Mike Wallace, Jerricho Cotchery, Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders are all very capable WR's, and don't be surprised if the Steelers throw them all on the field at the same time. This offence could be very explosive.
On the other side of the ball, the Steelers will be their usual self's. Hard hitting, quick to the ball, with S Troy Polamalu flying around. They should once again be one of the top D's in the league. I think the Steelers will win this division, but the week 1 matchup in Baltimore, could upset their season.
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