Any conversation about the AFC North starts in Baltimore where the not only have the division's best offense, but this group, led by , is one of the most explosive offenses in football. And the defense, which started the 2019 season slow only to get better each week, also remains a top unit. In Pittsburgh, the anxiously await the return of , who until two games into the '19 campaign, had served as the top quarterback in AFC North going back a decade. Now the hope is that his right elbow will allow him to be close to the player he was before the injury last September. Meanwhile, the and will look to their young QBs to lead them out of mediocrity -- or worse. The roster is stacked in Cleveland but the constantly changing faces in both the front office and on the coach staff has led to a lot of underachievement. Perhaps that changes with new general manager Andrew Berry and new coach Kevin Stefanski. In Cincinnati, is gone, replaced by No. 1 overall pick , who is coming off the most productive college season in human history. The expectations are high
Joe Cardona Jersey for Burrow and second-year coach Zac Taylor, but this is also a team coming off just two wins; a six-win season in 2020 would be considered a huge step in the right direction. While a team is only as good as its quarterback, the surrounding cast is almost just as important. Knowing that, here are homegrown talents still on their rookie deals whose impact could be the difference between treading water during the regular season and a deep playoff run. Baltimore Ravens: Drafted: No. 93 in 2019Final year of rookie deal: 2022Boykin started 11 games last season as a rookie but was targeted just 22 times and finished with 13 catches for 198 yards and three touchdowns. Those numbers aren't nece sarily surprising; Boykin arrived in Baltimore from Notre Dame as a raw prospect that would need time to grow into the job. We saw glimpses of his athleticism in 2019 but what makes him so interesting is that he gives Lamar Jackson a huge downfield target. At 6-foot-3, he's five inches taller than 2019 first-round wideout , but Boykin also blazed a 4.42 40-yard time at the 2019 combine. When he puts it all together, an already ridiculous offense will somehow be even better.The Ravens are stocked up with speedy-but-undersized playmakers at wide receiver. When healthy, Brown is a terror and the team selected and in the 2020 draft, undersized slot receivers who excel after the catch. But Boykin'
Jabrill Peppers Jersey s game is down the field where he can beat up smaller cornerbacks and win at the high point. Imagine being a defensive coordinator trying to figure out how to stop Jackson. Then add in Brown, one of the league's most underrated tight ends in , and then throw in Boykin, who has the talent to win down the field. (And we haven't even mentioned the run game which now includes rookie second-rounder J.K. Dobbins, who joins in the backfield.) If Boykin emerges in 2020, the Ravens will be able to
Gino Cappelletti Jersey consistently threaten defenses at every level -- short, intermediate and deep. This will be in addition to owning the league's best run game, as well as a top-10 defense. PIT WR #13 Cincinnati Bengals: Drafted: No. 52 in 2019Final year of rookie deal: 2022When was healthy, he was quietly one of the league's best tight ends. In fact, in 2015 , according to Football Outsiders. Unfortunately, his career in Cincinnati was marred by injuries and one of Andy Dalton's favorite targets mi sed 53 games over his seven seasons with the Bengals. But Dalton is now in Dallas and Eifert is in Jacksonville. And new face of the franchise Joe Burrow will be thrown into the fire without the benefit of OTAs, and it's safe to a sume he'll be looking for a reliable tight end to ease his transition from college to the . That brings us to Drew Sample, an underutilized target at the University of Washington, where he caught just 25 pa ses as a senior in 2018, for 252 yards and three touchdowns. Sample excels as a run blocker but the expectation is that he becomes much more than that; after all, you don't take a blocking tight end with the 52nd overall pick. Here's what Mike Potts, the Bengals director of college
Devin McCourty Jersey scouting, . Run blocking is the best thing that he does but what kept coming up in our draft meetings was do we want a guy that tested better that can take the top off the coverage or really stretch the seam and maybe you get two or three big plays a game out of that guy but you feel like you have to take him off the field in certain instances," he told the at the time. "We always talk about playtime percentages. Maybe that guy only ends up playing 30-40 percent of the snaps. Whereas, this guy, if you want to be in 11 or 12 personnel, whatever you want to be in, he conceivably doesn't need to come off the field because he's not a liability in the pa s game." Sample managed just five receptions for 30 yards in nine games as a rookie, but the quarterback situation was also in flux. Now with Burrow under center, Sample has a chance to emerge as something more than a blocker, and if everything goes well, remind folks of those Dalton-to-Eifert connections back when the Bengals were regularly making the playoffs. CIN TE #89 Cleveland Browns: Drafted: No. 10 in 2020Final year of rookie deal: 2023This is pretty easy: The Browns' offensive line took several steps backs when retired following the 2017 season. and weren't the answer, and 2018 free-agent signing struggled at right tackle after arriving from Pittsburgh. Taken together, the lack of consistency complicated quarterback development and the Browns, who were 0-16 in 2017, limped to 7-8-1 in 2018 and 6-10 last season. On paper, Cleveland has enough firepower to play with anyone in the league. That has rarely been the case in real life, usually because of some self-inflicted wound that should've been altogether avoided. Wills, who was the most dominant offensive tackle in the 2020 draft cla s, was a no-brainer selection, and the all that aforementioned firepower will now have a chance to shine because the offensive line will be much-improved from a year ago. The Browns signed right tackle in free agency. He arrives from Tenne see where he helped protect and create holes for to run throw. Wills, who played right tackle at Alabama, will be tasked with moving to the left side. And while that seems like a nontrivial i sue -- it's not often a college right tackle moves to left tackle to begin his NFL career -- . " Wills was the left tackle for us by playing right tackle because Tua Tagovailoa was left-handed,'' Alabama coach Nick Saban told Cleveland.com's Mary Kay Cabot shortly after the draft. "But he always played right tackle. He played right tackle in high school, he's always played right tackle here. He has all the physical abilities to be able to play
Carl Davis Jersey left tackle. He's got the feet, he
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