Bills, Rams, and Bucs Lead the List of Favorites for the 2022-23 NFL Campaign

If the NFL has something, it is that it is an unpredictable championship because it is very difficult to establish a hegemony. The Los Angeles Rams, current monarchs, start with the logical favoritism that is granted to a champion, but it will not be easy for them to repeat the title taking into account the changing nature of the event and how well teams like the Buffalo Bills have prepared or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The preseason and, in general, the seven-month break in the market, left us with interesting movements such as that of Russell Wilson, franchise quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks, who closed his cycle with this team to go to the popular Denver Broncos to compete in the so-called “Death Division” located in the American Conference West.

Also during the break, the world watched as Tom Brady, the most important player in the history of the sport, announced his retirement only to reverse his decision a few weeks later. Kansas City and Pat Mahomes will no longer have partner Tyrek Hill on offense, while Matt Ryan made a surprise change of scenery at the end of his career to play for the Indianapolis Colts.

The campaign will kick off this Thursday, September 8, at the same stage where the previous harvest ended, the Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles, where the Rams will begin the defense of their title against whom everyone mentions as the great rival to dethrone them: Buffalo Bills, with Josh Allen and Steffon Diggs at the helm.

American Conference

At first glance, this conference looks like the strongest because of the number of competitive teams that can aspire to great things. First order, Buffalo. In 2021-22, the Bills lost an incredible game in the Divisional Round to the Chiefs in overtime, despite playing better. They won the Eastern Division comfortably ahead of the New England Patriots.

That's when Buffalo knew that to reach the Super Bowl it needed to beef up. To the powerful duo of Josh Allen and Steffon Diggs, Jameson Crowder is now added, to have more depth in attack, mainly with speed and short passing and leaving Gabriel Davies as a third receiver option.

His defensive line, one of his weaknesses, is strengthened by the presence of experienced Von Miller, who has just been crowned champion with the Rams and is going into his 11th season in the NFL. A real wall at linebacker. Coach Sean McDermott has no excuses, they put together a great team.

In addition to the Bills, there are many focuses on the Baltimore Ravens who this year have their figure Lamar Jackson healthy since day 1. You can not leave out the current NFL runners-up, Cincinatti Bengals, who maintain their base with one more year of maturity with Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase, one of the best teams in the league.

You can't leave Andy Reid's Chiefs out of the equation, dominators of this Conference in the last three years but who lost Hill. To counter that, they brought in a peer substitute, Juju Smith, who comes in from the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Cincinnati has everything to repeat its good performance from last year, as it returns with its attacking trident Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins and, in addition, that line is now reinforced with Lael Collins, Alex Cappa and Ted Karras.

In turn, the Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos, who will be rivals of the Chiefs in the most closed and qualitative division of the entire circuit, were reinforced by Davante Adams (former Green Bay), defensive lineman Khalil Mack (former Bears) and the aforementioned Russell Wilson, respectively, so their chances of competing better have grown automatically.

National Conference

Logic is imposed again on this side of the draw, because the favorite in the first round is the champion Rams. The recovery of their offensive player Cam Akers is the main news to endorse the favoritism, plus the good health of their main attacker Cooper Kupp and that of the defensive wall, Aaron Donald.

This year, however, coach Sean McVey will have to manage to compete without Von Miller, who left for Buffalo. Miller was Donald's defense partner. Neither will Odell Beckham Jr., who is a free agent and who was a very important alternative piece in the attack in the postseason.

Finally, there's Matthew Stafford, the quarterback, who had elbow surgery during the layoff and hasn't shown he's 100 percent. His arrival on the team last year to replace Jared Goff was very positive as it created new attacking options, especially in the air, but he is not an elite quarterback either and the team needs him to be at his highest level.

A team that has Tom Brady at the helm must always be taken into account and that is the case of Tampa Bay, second favorite in this Conference. The Bucs' offense is very potent with Julio Jones, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Russell Cage and Leonard Fournette. The return of the 'Goat' after his short decision to retire, strengthens a team that was already good without him.

The pool of candidates on the NL side is rounded out by the Green Bay Packers, San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys. In the case of the Packers, this year they don't look so strong, especially after the departure of Davante Adams, one of the favorite partners of star Aaron Rodgers, who will now only have Aaron Jones. Still, Matt Le Fleur's team remains competitive.

San Francisco built on its superb defense to reach the conference finals earlier this year with an intractable Debo Samuel and despite the blunders of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. Coach Kyle Shannahan understood that he couldn't wait any longer for Garoppolo and this year his starting QB will be young Trey Lance. That modification in attack can give them a plus.

On the other hand, the Dallas Cowboys signed late, but made up for the loss of Amari Cooper with the arrivals of wide receiver James Washington and defensive end Donte Fowler. They strengthen every line of the field and turn to their quarterback, Dak Prescott, and the main running back: Ezequiel Elliot. Considering the weak division they are in, the Cowboys should return to the playoffs and go further than the previous season. Watch out for that group with the Philadelphia Eagles.