Today we will take a brief look at the upcoming 2023 NFL season and showcase 5 teams we feel are underrated by the experts in the world of sports talking heads.
PITTSBURGH STEELERS
With nine or more victories in all but three of Mike Tomlin’s 16 seasons as head coach, the Steelers have now finished at or above.500 for 19 straight seasons. The Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens are their two main rivals in the AFC North, hence they have the weakest chances of winning the division. The Pittsburgh Steelers have a chance to truly surprise some people if quarterback Kenny Pickett can play consistently well. From Week 12 to the end of the season, Pickett ranked second among quarterbacks with a 90.1 PFF grade.
GREEN BAY PACKERS
With the exception of a major question mark at quarterback, the Packers have a really solid squad and were in contention for the final NFC playoff place all season. Jordan Love’s potential performance is now a huge unknown, but it’s important to remember that the Packers were still in the postseason hunt despite Aaron Rodgers earning the second-worst PFF rating of his career in 2022 (77.5). The Packers are more than capable of competing in the NFC North if Love can even rank among the top-16 starting quarterbacks in the NFL.
NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
Given that the NFC South is one of the worst divisions in sports and that the Saints are the division favorites, there is a decent probability that they will host a playoff game in January if Derek Carr can provide an upgrade at quarterback. If they get the 2019–2021 version of Carr that we saw with the Raiders, there is a way to them contending late in January in the NFC. Their supporting group is headlined by wide receiver Chris Olave, whose 82.9 PFF receiving grade was the third-best among rookies and 16th among all receivers.
BUFFALO BILLS
The Bills have the third-best chances to win the Lombardi Trophy at the end of the season, so this may be tenuous, but it appears that the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals’ growing rivalry is the focus of the AFC at the moment. It seems like a lot of people have forgotten how nearly the Bills defeated the Chiefs in the 2021 playoffs. The Bengals easily defeated them in the playoffs last year, but the Bills have one of the league’s best QB-WR combinations with Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs, and with Allen earning grades of 90 or higher on the PFF scale each of the past three seasons, they will once again be in the thick of the AFC title race in 2023. Online sportsbooks currently have the Bills near the top as favorites to win it all at 8/1 odds.
LA RAMS
Since Matthew Stafford just had his lowest rated season since 2015, everything will depend on how he performs in 2023. But only one season has passed since Stafford posted a career-high 86.1 PFF rating as the Rams advanced to the Super Bowl. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a deep roster, but if its studs, like Stafford and Cooper Kupp, who was rated as the best receiver in the NFL in 2022, can remain healthy, this offense should be OK. They still have Aaron Donald on defense, who has zero career seasons with a PFF grade below 90.0. It’s a big if, but if they can stay healthy, I find it difficult to imagine them not challenging for a top-five draft pick in the NFC and being closer to the seven-seed.
