Like a huge beast in hibernation the NFL slumbers, and every sports journalist tries their hand as a crime reporter thanks to Aaron Hernandez (and to a lesser extent Joe Lefeged and Josh Brent). This gives me (with no pretensions of becoming the next Dominick Dunne) the opportunity to continue my set of articles grading likely starters — this time for the Panthers and Bears.
For those new to the series and wanting to catch up, you can find the other teams covered to date with this handy set of links.
Charts by team:
ARZ | ATL | BAL | BUF | CAR | CHI | CIN | CLE | DAL | DEN | DET
GB | HOU | IND | JAX | KC | MIA | MIN | NE | NO | NYG | NYJ
OAK | PHI | PIT | STL | SD | SF | SEA | TB | TEN | WAS
Wednesday, July 3rd
Carolina Panthers (Click to enlarge)
Notes:
— If Newton can continue his late-season surge from 2012 he may actually live up to some of the hype he’s already generated. The best running quarterback in the game needs to show his throwing consistency from Week 11 on wasn’t a fluke.
— Every offensive lineman other than Gross got the benefit of the doubt. Bell in particular needs to continue his improvement.
— Is Charles Godfrey the most overrated safety in football not named Michael Griffin?
— If this snapshot is correct, it would bear out Dave Gettleman’s view that he has the foundation of a pretty decent team.
Chicago Bears (Click to enlarge)
Notes:
— While the O-line still has issues, it looks like a reasonable upgrade on last year.
— Bennett has the ability to be the best blocking tight end in football, let’s hope he doesn’t lose that in his desire to be a receiving star.
— With the loss of Brian Urlacher and Kelvin Hayden now playing slot corner, the underneath coverage looks pretty suspect.
Other editions of Neil’s NFL Daily can be found HERE
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