NFL 2020 season: 5 teams most likely to fall out of playoffs
Did these five NFL teams over achieve last year? Or are they due to decline? We take a look at 5 teams likely to fall out of the playoffs in 2020.
5. New Orleans Saints
The Saints are only on here because Drew Brees is 41 years old. If Brees begins to fall back or gets injured again, New Orleans could have a tough time hiding off the revamped Tampa Bay Buccaneers. While there’s an argument to be made for the Saints as a potential Super Bowl team — and a good one, at that — there’s also the argument for time to catch up to their future first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterback.
4. Tennessee Titans
This comes down to how much you believe in the 10 games Ryan Tannehill played in the regular season for the Titans last year. In the postseason, Tannehill was asked to do absolutely nothing for the Wild Card and Divisional round wins over the New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens. Once he needed to produce in the AFC Championship Game against the Kansas City Chiefs, he faltered. If Tannehill reverts back to the form we saw during his days with the Miami Dolphins, Tennessee will regress.
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3. Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings are a good team that shouldn’t be much worse than last year. Here’s the rub though: Minnesota was the conference’s No. 6 seed last year and didn’t deal with a ton of injuries. Should the Vikings have an uptick in that department, it could be the difference. Also, Minnesota had a great draft but does that immediately replace wide receiver Stefan Diggs, defensive linemen Linval Joseph and Everson Griffen, cornerbacks Xavier Rhodes, Trae Waynes and Mackensie Alexander, and offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski? Tough to say yes.
2. Houston Texans
Now we get to the obvious teams on this group. Houston still has one of the game’s rising stars at quarterback in Deshaun Watson, but the coach and the rest of the roster is a major concern. Will Fuller and Randall Cobb are fine players, but they aren’t meant to be the leading men in a passing game. The running back situation? David Johnson is well past his prime. The offensive line remains a concern and the defense was one of the league’s worst in 2019, only to lose cornerback Johnathan Joseph and nose tackle D.J. Reader without obvious replacement in the offseason.
Read: 5 NFL Bets To Bounce Back From Missing Playoffs in 2019
1. New England PatriotsÂ
The Patriots are clearly the team most likely to fall from the playoffs in 2020. Tom Brady is being replaced by Jarrett Stidham and the rest of the group lose linebackers Jamie Collins and Kyle Van Noy, kicker Stephen Gostkowski, center Ted Karras and nose tackle Danny Shelton. Not good.
