NFL power rankings Week 1: Tennessee Titans land just outside top 10
By Will Lomas
17. Carolina Panthers
The equation is pretty simple in Carolina. If the trenches are better or can play better and if the young skill position talent can live up to their investment the the Panthers will be a hard team to stop.
If not, then a potentially banged up Cam Newton is going to have a lot of trouble being the man they paid him to be.
16. Baltimore Ravens
Lamar Jackson is exciting in the open field and threw well in the preseason. Despite that, I am going to have to see what he looks like when defensive coordinators really scout him well because honestly the Ravens looked terrible when that happened to them in 2018.
Can the Ravens coaching staff that almost got fired at the end of last season find a way to make Jackson productive in the NFL? Can they overcome the loss of guys like Eric Weddle, C.J. Mosley and Terrell Suggs?
Leadership is a hard thing to replicate and even if you can replace the talent, those issues show up.