Over the last few days, NFL Twitter has been on fire with the incredibly HOT idiotic takes from NFL Network’s “Fantasy Analyst” Adam Rank. The network had rank give his “predictions” for every team’s record this upcoming season. Here are some of the more outrageous “predictions”:
Titans at 3-13
Seriously? Rank has the Tennessee Titans finishing this next season at 3-13. The team that finished 3rd in total defense last year will finish with 3 wins? Give me a break. Not only that, he has the Titans starting off with 4 straight losses to Cleveland, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, and Atlanta. I can see them losing to Indianapolis, and maybe Atlanta, but this defense is much better than Rank gives credit for and if they do end up losing to Cleveland and Jacksonville, it will be close. He has the Titans beating Buffalo, losing to Denver, but then beating the Chargers? Tennessee beat Jacksonville twice last year, split with Houston, and lost both to the Colts. They also lost to the Bills and the Chargers in close games.
With Cleveland, Atlanta, Carolina, Kansas City, Denver, Oakland, Tampa Bay, and New Orleans being their different opponents from last season, this team will be much better than a 3-13 team. I see this team, who didn’t lose much on either side of the ball, but also picked up some quality talent in the draft on both sides, to be more of a 7 or 8 win team.
Raiders at 8-8
The Raiders finished 4-12 last season with the worst defense in the entire NFL. Yeah, they added some young pieces on the defense and added Antonio Brown, but that’s not enough to justify an 8-8 season. They swapped out an aging Osemele for a washed up, coming-out-of-retirement Richie Incognito. They still have Derek Carr as their QB. They drafted Clelin Ferrell with the FOURTH OVERALL PICK. Yet, Rank has this Oakland team beating Denver twice, the Chargers (who they lost to twice last season to a combined score of 46-16), Chicago (who Rank said has the top ranked defense going into this season, which I agree with), Detroit, Cincinnati, the Jets, and Tennessee.
This team didn’t upgrade as much as they want us to believe, but they didn’t necessarily regress. I still see this team being a 4-12 squad. Antonio Brown will request a trade by Week 4.
Bills at 8-8
This isn’t too bad of a take, seeing as how the management in Buffalo has given Josh Allen some decent receiver threats now. They also did a decent job adding defensive pieces in the draft, but not good enough. This season is really all dependent on if Josh Allen can (a) stay healthy and (b) show progress. This team plays some tough opponents outside of its own division in Philadelphia, (at) Tennessee, (at) Cleveland, Denver, (at) Dallas, Baltimore, and (at) Pittsburgh. Their own division will not be a cake walk either, as the Jets (as much of a joke as they are) have upgraded well on both sides of the ball, and the Patriots are…well, the Patriots. Did Rank forget that the Jets got C.J. Mosley and Lev Bell this offseason?
This will be a tough year for Josh Allen and the Bills. I honestly don’t see them having more than 4 or 5 wins.
Jaguars at 11-5
Oh boy. Where to even start here. Rank believes that the NICK FOLES LED JAGUARS are going to be able to stop Patrick Mahomes in Week 1. This is a Jags team who way overpaid for a 30+ year old QB who was very much thriving in Philadelphia because of the pieces surrounding him, rather than his pure talents. They also let some important defensive pieces go. I’m sorry Rank, but there’s no way Nick Foles walks into Mile High Stadium and beats the Broncos. There’s no way that Philip Rivers allows his team to lose to Nick Foles. There’s also a 0% chance that a team who outscored the Jaguars 40-10 last season, allows them to split a season.
Flip the record. 5-11 for the Jaguars. Next.
Washington at 2-14
This might be close for Rank, seeing as how Washington will most likely be going with Dwayne Haskins as their starter in this season. However, they added some quality pieces in free agency and in the draft on both sides of the ball. Landon Collins and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie were their key additions on the defense in free agency and they added Montez Sweat in the draft. On the offensive side, they added Terry McLaurin (Haskin’s teammate at OSU) and Kelvin Harmon, both weapons that can create explosive plays.
This is still going to be a tough year for Washington, though. They start off the season with (at) Philly, Dallas, and Chicago. Then at the end of the year they finish with (at) Green Bay, Philly, and then (at) Dallas in Week 17.
This is purely a growing year for Washington, but I think they get 4-5 wins.
Broncos at 2-14
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! This is laughable. Extremely, extremely laughable.
Adam Rank believes that a team who:
- Fired Vance Joseph and hired Vic Fangio as head coach
- Hired Rich Scangarello as offensive coordinator and Ed Donatell as defensive coordinator and Mike Munchak as OL coach
- Signed Bryce Callahan, Kareem Jackson, and Ja’wuan James in free agency
- Drafted Noah Fant and Dalton Risner
- Has Von Miller, Bradley Chubb, and Chris Harris, Jr.
- Changed out Case Keenum for Joe Flacco
- Has Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman
Will win ONLY TWO GAMES THIS ENTIRE SEASON.
Vance Joseph may have been a terrible coach, but even he didn’t have a 2 win season. This is the ultimate example of Rank’s inability to see what’s really going on here.
Do I think the Denver Broncos are a 14, 13, 12, 11, even 10 win team? Not yet. But here’s what I do know.
Vic Fangio is one of the greatest defensive coaches of this era. His results are well known and are what got him the job in Denver. It’s ignorant to think that this team, with the pieces it had coming in and the pieces it added in the draft, will be a 2 win team. Rank believes that Denver’s only wins will come at home against Tennessee and Detroit.
Not against the Raiders, who haven’t swept a season against Denver since 2010 when the quarterbacks were…*checks notes*…Kyle Orton and Tim Tebow.
Not against the Chargers, who haven’t swept a season against Denver since 2010.
Not against the Browns, who won by a single point due to Case Keenum’s inability to quarterback.
Not against the Texans, who won by 2 points due to Vance Joseph’s inability to make coaching decisions late.
Not against the Nick Foles Jags (at home), or the Minnesota Vikings, or the Buffalo Bills.
This is a much improved offense, and an even more dangerous defense. This is a 8-9 win team at it’s best and a 6-7 win team at it’s worst.
Clown Status
Adam Rank should be ashamed of the laziness he took with making these types of prediction. They have absolutely no merit to them and is purely a way of creating shock value within the NFL community. Is the NFL season unpredictable? Of course it is, but the teams he is projecting to have 2-4 wins is just outrageous. Shame on NFL Network for allowing this garbage to happen. Remove the “analyst” from his title. No analyzing was done with his projections.
