2017 NFL Season: Players to Watch

Personally I love the month of August. It’s arguably the most exciting month of the year. For parents it signifies the start of school and after a long summer they finally don’t have to take their kids everywhere they go. For students it means they will soon be reunited with friends at school and although no kid likes school there is still a level of excitement that surrounds the first day of school. There are also endless pool parties and ‘End of Summer’ celebrations. But the most exciting part of it all? The start of Football season.

Much like August signifies ‘Back to School’ it also is a sign that NFL training camps are about to open their doors. After months of Off season workouts (and arrests) NFL Players return to training camp with a sense of possibility as any and every team is sitting there with a chance to win the Super Bowl, except for the Browns and Bears. The start of training camp and the NFL Pre Season is the chance for fans to get excited about the future no matter who you cheer for. So get excited Football Fans because Football is back and here are my 10 players to watch this upcoming season.

On Offense…

1. Matt Ryan (Atlanta Falcons)

The reigning NFL MVP seemed destined to add another MVP trophy to his shelf with 2:12 left in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl 51. But that was before the greatest quarterback of all time led the Patriots to the greatest Super Bowl comeback in the history of the NFL. So with a devastating Super Bowl collapse in the rearview mirror, how will the 4x Pro Bowl Quarterback respond? Coming off the best season of his career, Ryan seems to be hitting his stride at just the right time. Atlanta has one of the most high powered offenses in the league led by Ryan and one of the top wide receivers in Julio Jones. All eyes will be on Matty Ice this season to see if the All-Pro can lead the Falcons back to the Super Bowl and avenge their humiliating loss. The biggest challenge standing in the Quarterback’s way is the change of offensive coordinators. Time will tell if Ryan will gel with new Coordinator Steve Sarkisian as well as he did with now 49ers head coach Kyle Shannahan and lead the Falcons to Super Bowl 52.

2. Jared Goff (Los Angeles Rams)

Jared Goff had a disappointing rookie season to say the least. Goff found himself in the spotlight the second he was drafted when he was selected number one overall by the Rams who were in the middle of a move from St Louis to Los Angeles. Goff was the golden boy quarterback from the Bay Area who was supposed to lead the Rams through a re-branding in America’s second largest market. Instead of being the savior Rams fans wanted, Goff failed to maintain a starting role. When Goff was on the field he struggled mightily throwing for 1,089 yards on 54% completion percentage to go along with 5 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. Despite struggling his rookie year, Goff is poised to make a big leap during year two. The Ram’s QB will have a full training camp under new head coach Sean McVay and a reloaded offense. Not many teams improved on offense as much as the Rams did which should bode well for Goff. Now it’s time to see if Goff can take these weapons and produce for Los Angeles.

3. Adrian Peterson (New Orleans Saints)

Adrian Peterson has been the best running back in the NFL over the past decade and it’s not even close. Typically the shelf life for a running back is around 5 years so the fact that Peterson has been a mainstay for 10 years is surprising. The fact Peterson was a Pro Bowl running back just 2 years ago is just a surprising. This offseason the Vikings decided to waive the 7x Pro Bowler and the market for the former NFL MVP was sparse. After weeks of rumors and speculation Peterson finally found a home in New Orleans. Not only is Peterson an interesting player to keep an eye on because he’s one of the best running backs of all time but it will be fun to see how Peterson will fit in on the Saints. Peterson joins a New Orleans team that is led by one of the best QB’s of all time in Drew Brees and will easily be the best quarterback Peterson has ever played with. Peterson also joins a division that is not known for their stout defenses which should bode well for the running back. So don’t be surprised to see Peterson rejuvenate his career in NOLA.

4. Dak Prescott (Dallas Cowboys)

Dak Prescott exploded onto the scene in 2016, replacing long time Cowboy’s quarterback Tony Romo and leading Dallas to the playoffs. Of course the majority of the hype is due to the fact that Prescott plays for one of football’s most popular teams and Prescott would not have had as great as a season as he did if it weren’t for the Cowboy’s tremendous offensive line and Pro Bowl Running back. But the fact is Dak Prescott is now the face of one of football’s most recognizable franchises, so whether it’s positive or negative Prescott will receive a tremendous amount of attention this coming season. The biggest question facing Prescott will face is whether he can sustain the same amount of production the quarterback did during his rookie season. With expectations higher than they’ve been in years past for the Cowboys it will be on the second year quarterback to shoulder most of those expectations. How Prescott will handle that is yet to be seen.

5. Brandon Cooks (New England Patriots)

Every NFL team should be on their toes during the 2017-18 season because the Patriots are back as the defending Super Bowl champs and they are even better than they were last year when they won 14 regular season games en route to the franchise’s fifth Super Bowl victory. The Patriots are so good that talks of a perfect season have already been making the rounds through the media circuit. A large factor in the Patriot’s improvement coming off a Super Bowl victory is the addition of Wide Receiver Brandon Cooks from New Orleans in exchange for a first round draft pick. Cooks is coming off of career year in 2016 with a career high 1,173 receiving yards despite seeing less targets in 2016 than he did in the 2015 season. Not only is Cooks a tremendous up and coming receiver in the NFL but he has the opportunity to be the best wide receiver Tom Brady has ever played with. Brady, one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game if not the greatest, has never played with a star wide receiver in their prime. The closest Brady has ever had to a star receiver was Randy Moss in 2007, when Moss was 30 years old. Cooks is 23 years old and has yet to even enter his prime so it will be exciting to see how Brady performs with one of the NFL’s best young receivers. Expect a big year from Cooks as he catches passes from the winningest quarterback in NFL history.

On Defense…

1. Richard Sherman (Seattle Seahawks)

Richard Sherman is well known for his loud and outspoken opinions, beginning with declaring himself the best cornerback in the NFL in 2014. Sherman recently made headlines with the Seahawks corner leading the charge for NFL players to make more money. However recently Sherman’s outspoken personality may have led to a bit of trouble with reports swirling that Sherman was still unhappy with the Seahawks’ failure to run the ball at the one yard line in Super Bowl 49. This frustration reportedly led to friction between Sherman and Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson, and Seahwaks management. There were even a couple of weeks in May in which Sherman’s time in Seattle seemed to be coming to an end. However with training camps days away Sherman remains on the Seahawks roster and the question is; how will one of the best cornerbacks in the league respond to an offseason filled with questions and rumours? Can the CB come to terms with Russell Wilson and Seattle management or will the Pro bowler find himself on his way out of Seattle sooner rather than later?

2. Stephon Gillmore (New England Patriots)

As someone who follows the Buffalo Bills more than most I can safely say that Gilmore was one of the most frustrating players I have ever watched. There are points in which Gilmore looks like the Pro Bowl Corner that he was in 2016. But there are also times in which Gilmore gets burned by third or fourth string wide receivers. So when New England gave Gilmore a 5-year deal worth $65 million dollars I was shocked. With $40 million garunteed it’s the largest contract the Patriots have ever given a defensive player. So can Gilmore live up to the expectations that come with that large of a contract? The Patriots are notorious for getting the most out of their players and after giving up that much money Belichick and the Patriots front office must see something special in Gilmore.

3. The entire Cowboy’s defense

Last year the Dallas Cowboys finished the year 13-3 but failed to win a playoff game for yet another year. Offensively the Cowboys ranked fifth in the NFL in yards and points. Defensively, however, the Cowboys finished 14th in the NFL. The scary part is that the Cowboys defense drastically outperformed expectations and still finshed as an average defense and goes into 2017 having lost several key contributors in Brandon Carr and Mo Claiborne in Free Agency as well as David Irving to a suspension. With the Cowboys having the second best odds, behind the Patriots, to win the Super Bowl according to Las Vegas, all eyes will be on the Cowboys, specifiacally the Cowboys offense. But don’t be fooled by the impressive Cowboy offense anchored by the NFL’s best offensive line, the key to the Cowboys Super Bowl chances lie with the Dallas defense. The Cowboys offense will put up numbers and is certainly talented enough to make it all the way to the Super Bowl, but how will Dallas’ defense match up with offensive powerhouses like Green Bay and Atlanta?

4. Falcon’s Secondary

No unit came into the playoffs and the Super Bowl on a hotter streak than the Atlanta Falcons secondary. The Atlanta Falcon’s secondary allowed 512 passing yards throughout the playoffs leading up to the Super Bowl and looked as if they would keep it up throughout the first half of Super Bowl 51. Every Patriot’s fan, including myself, would still be having nightmares about Robert Alford’s 82 yard pick 6 off of Tom Brady if it weren’t for Brady’s huge second half en route to the greatest Super Bowl comeback of all time. Everyone will be watching this year to see how the Falcons will bounce back from such a tremendous let down. More specifically I will be watching to see how the Falcon’s secondary will respond to being 17 minutes away from a Super Bowl victory before allowing Brady to throw for 246 yards and hit on 21 of 27 attempts in the fourth quarter alone on the way to 31 unanswered points and the Patriot’s fifth Super Bowl victory.

5. Earl Thomas (Seattle Seahawks)

As I have already written, the Seahawk's locker room is at odds. Russell Wilson and Richard Sherman clearly do not like each other and Seattle management is clearly on the side of Wilson. With so much turmoil behind the scenes in Seattle it falls onto team leaders to make sure the team is ready and focused going into the season. One player specifically is safety Earl Thomas who is the leader of the Seahaw'ks secondary, a unit that contains Richard Sherman who is at the center of all the Seahawk's drama. The truth is that Thomas was close to not only never suiting up for the Seahawks again, but never suiting up for another football team again. Thomas suffered a broken leg late into the 2015-16 season and later tweeted out that the pro bowl safety was considering retirement following the injury. Thomas, however, decided to return to the football field and postpone retirement. It will fun to see how Earl Thomas will perform in his return from injury but more importantly it will be interesting to see how Thomas can keep the Seahawk’s defensive unit, and Sherman in particular, focused on winning a Super Bowl.