New blog post by Martin Futter! NFL Season 2018/19 Early Preview
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Now that the NFL draft is complete and free agency is all but wrapped up, it feels like a good time to start looking at the Superbowl 53 in Atlanta. A lot can happen between now and the start of the season in September (injuries to key players being the biggest threat to any long term trades but this does allow for some quite juicy odds in a fairly wide open field this year.
I am going to focus on two teams who have had a great offseason so far, the LA Chargers and the LA Rams. The battle of Los Angeles is well under way and last season the teams were still adapting to their new environments, especially the Chargers who had moved that offseason.
LA Rams
The Rams were sensational in winning their division at a relative canter going 11-5, with a third year QB now in Goff I only expect them to improve and continue on their great play from last year. The Rams lit up free agency with the signing of Ndamukong Suh to help bolster that already mean defence. They also cornered the conerback market, signing Talib, Peters, Shields and Robey Coleman who are all starting calibre in this league. The list of great signings does not stop there as they also secured the services of world class wide receiver Bandin Cooks from the Patriots. They have all the makings of a dominant offence with Pro-Bowl potential QB (already mentioned), RB Todd Gurley and WR (again mentioned).
Let's look at their route to the play-offs, win the NFC West and they are there. The Seahawks look like they are rebuilding having scrapped pretty much all their talent beyond the great but erratic Russell Wilson. The Cardinals just drafted a rookie QB in the first round having lost Carson Palmer to retirement and look like a rebuild job. The 49ers have secured some great deals (Garoppolo and Sherman) but still have work to do before they can really be called a top team. On paper I just do not see a better team out there and 15.0 on Betfair looks a very good price on a team I would have at 10.0 or below.
LA Chargers
If the Rams got the deals done in free agency, then the Chargers picked up a great talent in the draft. Derwin James could be the most NFL ready player out there from the College system and for him to fall to them at 17th place in the draft was mind blowing. The defensive back joins an already scary line up with Bosa and Ingram (the best defensive end combo in the league in my opinion). They also filled some real holes in free agency picking up centre Mike Pouncey and kicker Caleb Sturgis. The kicker has cost the Chargers many games in the last couple of seasons and if they get that right they can easily turn last seasons 9-7 record into 11-5 and win their division.
This is another team with a daunting defence and special offence. Again, look at the core of the offence, you have a world class QB in Philip Rivers, a great RB in Melvin Gordon and one of the games best WR in Keenan Allen. The AFC West is very winnable too, Chiefs let a lot of talent go and have a rookie QB, Raiders are doing all kinds of bizarre things after a terrible season and the Broncos still don't have a QB of note to go with that imposing defence. To go 9-7 in a new home last year was impressive, look at how much the Rams improved in their second season in LA, who is to say the Chargers cannot do the same? At 28.0 they have to be worth a go.
Back LA Rams at 15.0 Medium bet
Back LA Chargers at 28.0 Small bet
