The NFL is on the cusp of a fascinating campaign. These are the people in and around the league who will drive the conversations of 2018.

They're not necessarily the most skilled or important players, coaches and executives, but for one reason or another, I think we'll either be talking about them or noticing how they influence the upcoming season. I've split them into several unordered groups, starting with the folks who have the most riding on the season.

Jump to a section:

Group I: The Now-or-Nevers

Group II: The Rookies (or Almost Rookies)

Group III: Familiar Faces in New Places

Group IV: The Rehabilitation Stories

Group V: The Breakout Stars

Group VI: One More Ride

Group VII: The Wild Cards

Group VIII: The Ghost

Group I: The Now-or-Nevers

These are the people around the league who have more to gain or lose than just about anyone else over the next six months -- for all kinds of reasons.

I think we're underrating Bell's MVP (or Offensive Player of the Year) chances heading into the season. For one, he has actually been healthy for most of the past two seasons underneath a heavy workload. Past availability doesn't always indicate future health, but it's a positive sign for a player whose only weakness seemed to be injury concerns. If he stays healthy, we can feel reasonably confident Bell is going to pick up another 350-touch season given the lack of a notable second back on the roster, Pittsburgh's chances of winning 10-plus games, and the advancing age of 36-year-old quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

Bell's yards per carry dropped in 2017, but he remained efficient and posted a success rate of 49 percent as a runner. As I mentioned earlier this offseason, Bell's totals fell because he didn't rack up big plays as a runner. He had eight runs of 30 yards or more on 908 carries from 2013 to '16. The Steelers handed Bell the rock 321 times last season and didn't get a single run longer than 27 yards. Bell had three catches of 30 yards or more, and history tells us that there's little reason to think that Bell won't rack up a few big gains in 2018.

A healthy Bell with a heavy workload and a few more big plays should be enough to produce a career year. Running backs are always at a disadvantage against quarterbacks in award races, but Bell could be uniquely positioned to exceed even lofty expectations in 2018.

Marcus Mariota has a whole new offensive system to learn this season, as the Titans fired Mike Mularkey after the 2017 season. AP Photo/Steven Senne

In the paradox that was the 2017 Titans season, Mariota was a microcosm of Tennessee's stunted growth. The former second overall pick produced his worst season as a pro and simultaneously led the league with three fourth-quarter comeback victories and four game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime. He became the first Titans quarterback to win a playoff game since Steve McNair, but he struggled so much in Mike Mularkey's antiquated scheme that the Titans had little choice but to fire their coach.

If Mariota stays healthy and succeeds in 2018 under the stewardship of former Rams offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur, all will be forgiven. If he struggles, though, the Titans might be looking at a Ryan Tannehill-esque situation. Nobody doubts that Mariota's mobility, leadership and propensity for highlight-reel plays make him a great prospect, but after years of cycling through coaches and schemes to try to fit their quarterback, at what point is it more about the passer than the people around him? If Mariota doesn't turn into the player we've been waiting to see this season, there are going to be reasonable concerns about his ceiling.

Winston produced the best four-game stretch of his career after returning from injury last season, a run in which he completed nearly 72 percent of his passes while averaging 9.3 yards per attempt and throwing for eight touchdowns against two picks. He improved in virtually every statistical category I can find and was better than league average by the vast majority of measures.

We should be looking at a potential Pro Bowl season for Winston. Instead, he is suspended for three games after allegedly groping an Uber driver in Arizona in March 2016. This is a critical year for Winston's development, but that has far less to do with what he does on the field than how he acts off of it. Can the Buccaneers justify giving an eight-figure contract to a quarterback who has repeatedly been accused of sexual misconduct and doesn't appear to be learning any lessons? Should we even be asking the question?

4. John Elway, GM, Broncos

It's unfathomable to suggest that Elway's job might be on the line given that he's a franchise icon and two years removed from winning Super Bowl 50. But it's difficult to believe just how much has gone wrong in Denver since the team raised the Lombardi trophy. The Broncos weren't able to come to terms on an extension with defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, who went to Los Angeles and turned around the Rams' defense overnight. Six of the 11 starters who suited up for the Broncos in the Super Bowl win over the Panthers are no longer on the roster, and the defense regressed and fell from first to 10th in DVOA last season.

More disconcerting, though, is Elway's inability to improve the offense. He mishandled the C.J. Anderson situation and was forced to match an onerous offer sheet from the Dolphins for what ended up being two years of ordinary play. The efforts to upgrade the offensive line in both the draft and free agency have made little progress; the Broncos are about to cut Menelik Watson despite owing the former Raiders right tackle $5.5 million in guaranteed base salary this season.

John Elway has a new quarterback in veteran Case Keenum, who got $25 million guaranteed this offseason. David Zalubowski/AP Photo

What's most worrisome, though, is how the transition from Peyton Manning has not gone to plan. Elway avoided a landmine when the Broncos were outbid for Brock Osweiler, who went to Houston, but the trade up to grab Paxton Lynch in the first round in 2016 looks to be a misstep. Lynch was awful in 128 pass attempts over two seasons and might not make the roster after slipping behind seventh-rounder Chad Kelly. Now, it will be Case Keenum's turn after the Broncos made a $25 million bet on the former undrafted free agent keeping up his stunning form from Minnesota.

It's hardly as if Elway was on an island with his decisions, of course. The Texans wanted Osweiler. The Cowboys were furiously upset about the Broncos beating them to the punch in trading up for Lynch, and after the Raiders drafted fellow target Connor Cook, Dallas was forced to settle for Dak Prescott. There wasn't much chatter around Keenum before he signed with the Broncos, but it's not difficult to believe that he would have attracted serious money on a one-year deal if the Broncos had gone in a different direction.

Part of the equation with Elway, though, has always been the idea that his experience as a player offers an advantage over executives who haven't won games on the field at the highest level. To be fair, Elway has been humble and hasn't expressed that sentiment himself, but this is a league in which both John Dorsey and Dave Gettleman were out of a job at this time last season. If any other general manager pieced together a five-year stretch of first-round picks that included Sylvester Williams, Shane Ray, Lynch and Garett Bolles (and the useful Bradley Roby), wouldn't we be worrying about his future?

Since 1970, 318 quarterbacks have thrown 500 or more passes in a season. Of those quarterbacks, just three have posted a worse yards per attempt index (Y/A+) than Flacco did last season, when the Super Bowl XLVII MVP averaged 5.8 yards per attempt in a league in which the average pass went for 6.6 yards per throw. Flacco hasn't posted a Y/A+ above the league average of 100 since the 2012 season.

Since winning the Super Bowl in the 2012 season, Flacco has been one of 19 passers to throw 2,000 or more pass attempts. He's a middling 13th in completion percentage, and that's the bright spot. Flacco ranks last in yards per attempt, last in adjusted net yards per attempt, 16th in interception rate, last in touchdown percentage, 18th in passer rating and 15th in Total QBR. If a productive preseason is a sign that Flacco is responding to the challenge of first-round pick Lamar Jackson, that's great. Just one question, though: What has he been waiting for?

Here are Ansah's sack totals and then the number of sacks we would have expected for Ansah given his quarterback knockdown totals:

Year Sacks Knockdowns Expected

Sacks Difference 2013 8 11 5 3 2014 7.5 26 11.7 -4.2 2015 14.5 34 15.3 -0.8 2016 2 15 6.8 -4.8 2017 12 17 7.7 4.3 Total 44 103 46.4 -2.4

He is right where we would expect him to be over the course of his career, but he has dramatically under- or over-performed his expected sack total in four of his five pro seasons. That doesn't bode well for 2018, during which Ansah will be playing out his franchise tag under a new coach in Matt Patricia and defensive coordinator in Paul Pasqualoni. Since 2006, 55 pass-rushers have outperformed their expected sack total by somewhere between 3.5 and 4.5 sacks, as was the case for Ansah last season. The following season, 42 of those 55 players declined, while just nine improved.

7. Norv Turner, offensive coordinator, Panthers

Panthers fans who were deliriously excited about the franchise moving on from longtime offensive coordinator Mike Shula had about three days to celebrate before being puzzled by the hire of the 66-year-old Turner, who was just over one year removed from leaving the Vikings in the middle of a frustrating season. Turner has had an impressive career as an offensive coordinator, but after the Chargers finished fifth in offensive DVOA in 2011, his offenses haven't ranked better than 16th in offensive DVOA in any season.

As I mentioned earlier this year, Turner has never really worked with a mobile quarterback during his career. Is that a great fit for Cam Newton? Turner has built his offenses around attacking teams downfield, which makes sense given Carolina's offensive weapons but might not be a great fit given this offensive line. The Panthers already are missing star guard Andrew Norwell, who left for Jacksonville, and could be down both starting tackles with Daryl Williams likely heading to injured reserve and Matt Kalil undergoing a knee scope. It seems like one of three things will happen: The Panthers make miracles happen with their backup offensive linemen; Turner changes his spots as an offensive coach after decades in the NFL; or Cam Newton gets hit more than any other quarterback in the league.

Blake Bortles finished the 2017 with a 55.6 Total QBR, which ranked 12th in the league. Sam Greenwood/Getty Images

The best example of the unique position Bortles occupies in the NFL world is that he is a former No. 3 overall pick who had an organization shop for pieces to make him look good each offseason while simultaneously making excuses as he failed to improve and yet, still, Bortles manages to have a persecution complex.

We know the lows have been bad for Bortles. Even the highs, though, haven't been impressive. I took each quarterback's top 16 starts by Total QBR over the past five seasons and combined their numbers into what amounts to their best-case seasonal line. Of those 37 passers, Bortles' best 16 games combine to rank 35th in completion percentage, 26th in yards per attempt, 34th in interception rate and 29th in adjusted yards per attempt.

The best-case scenario is that we see more of the Bortles who pieced together the best three-game stretch of his career last December along with the guy who subsequently held his own against Ben Roethlisberger and Tom Brady in the playoffs. The worst case is that we get the Bortles who showed up in between the stretches, the guy who threw five interceptions across three games and became the first quarterback in nearly two decades to throw 20 passes in a playoff game and win despite failing to make it to 100 passing yards. If you know which Bortles is going to show up in 2018, we're all ears.

9. Hue Jackson, coach, Browns

Let us all grow up to have Jackson's confidence. Few coaches keep their jobs after a 1-15 season, although it would have been harsh to fire Jackson amid Cleveland's tanking efforts. Even fewer manage to hold onto the gig after a winless campaign, when the Browns actually were supposed to be more competitive. Jackson was hired for his ability to work with quarterbacks, but he spent 2017 destroying DeShone Kizer's confidence before letting the rookie flail on the field during a brutal season. Deposed general manager Sashi Brown and analytics chief Paul DePodesta have taken the heat for trading away the pick the Eagles used on Carson Wentz, even though Jackson didn't want to use the second overall pick on Wentz.

Brown certainly had his own issues and probably deserved to lose his job, but Jackson framing the Browns' future as the greatest turnaround in sports history seems like a case of putting the cart before the horse. In this case, the horse is something like "two wins in a season" or "handling a quarterback situation effectively for a month at a time." Jackson was eager to frame himself as a traditionalist in contrast to Brown after the latter was fired and replaced by John Dorsey, but the decision to play rookie Antonio Callaway into the fourth quarter of a preseason game as a punishment was panned by ex-players. To keep his job past 2018, Jackson is going to have to settle on a story and an identity. With first overall pick Baker Mayfield in the fold, the time for excuses is up.

10. Steve Sarkisian, offensive coordinator, Falcons

I'm not convinced Sarkisian deserves anywhere near as much of the blame for what happened with the Falcons' offense last season. For one, the Falcons were always going to decline from the record marks they put up in 2016, regardless of whether former coordinator Kyle Shanahan stuck around. The Falcons produced the best first-down offense in league history in 2016, and in 2017, they fell all the way to third in yards per play and third in conversion rate on first downs. Their offensive line also stayed healthy for 80 starts in 2016, which is virtually impossible to repeat (and out of any coordinator's control).

The biggest problem with the Falcons' offense in 2017, instead, was that it spent too much time on the sidelines. Atlanta's defense allowed more plays per drive than any other team in football. The Falcons' defense allowed the second-longest average drive in terms of time of possession. It ranked 26th in turnover percentage.

Steve Sarkisian is back for Year 2 with the Falcons, who have kept the same weapons. Brett Davis/USA TODAY Sports

As a result, the offense ran only 157 meaningful possessions last season, the lowest mark in the league by nine full possessions. The league average was 179 possessions. It's as if the Falcons just punted on first down every drive for two games of the season. Atlanta also faced the league's second-worst average starting field position. With that, the Falcons then averaged the league's second-most yards per drive and its seventh-most points per drive. They finished ninth in offensive DVOA. The offense held up its end of the bargain.

Those numbers aren't going to placate Falcons fans, though, and Sarkisian might make for a convenient scapegoat if the defense doesn't take that long-awaited big step forward. He will have to hope for a positive regression to the mean in the red zone from Julio Jones, who scored a scarcely believable three touchdowns on 88 receptions a year ago. I imagine Falcons fans might have some playcalling suggestions for what not to do in the red zone after last season's goal-line stand in Philadelphia.

There aren't many comparisons made between Newton and Andy Dalton. Rightfully so. I'm making one here because both Newton and Dalton put together 2015 campaigns that look like huge outliers in context with the rest of their careers. Dalton's passer rating falls between 80.4 and 91.8 in six of his seven seasons. In 2015, he posted a passer rating of 106.2. Cam's passer rating stays within a similarly modest range in five of his six campaigns, with a low of 75.8 and a high of 88.8. During his MVP season, the former Auburn star made his way up to a rating of 99.4.

Passer rating shouldn't tell the whole story for Newton given how much he offers as a runner, but you can understand why there's a sense of frustration with Cam stagnating as a passer. After their attempt to change the offense and reduce the workload on Newton failed last season, though, the Panthers punted on the idea and leaned even further into a downfield passing attack by hiring Norv Turner to serve as offensive coordinator. It would be foolish for the Panthers to put Newton on the hot seat given how productive he has been before turning 30, but it's also fair to wonder whether the MVP is coming out to play again anytime soon.

12. Adam Gase, coach, Dolphins

It took one year for Gase to morph from darling young coach into a frustrated, possibly overmatched leader. This time last year, Dolphins staffers were somehow predicting breakout seasons for virtually every one of Miami's weapons. The breakouts didn't come. Jay Ajayi was traded in an attempt to fix the team culture, only for the Eagles to win a Super Bowl with him in the lineup. DeVante Parker was rarely healthy. Kenny Stills' touchdown percentage regressed toward the mean. The much-ballyhooed reunions of Gase with Jay Cutler and Julius Thomas ended with both players retiring; Thomas to get his Ph.D., Cutler to serve as the languid, curious muse of a reality show.

The Dolphins instead structured this offseason around rebuilding their culture, replacing Jarvis Landry and Ndamukong Suh with Danny Amendola, Albert Wilson and Robert Quinn. The problem is that the culture woes in Miami stretch beyond the 2017 team and even Gase's tenure with the organization. The Dolphins don't operate in the real world. This is a team that can't afford to make Suh the highest-paid defender in the league and does so anyway, drastically restructures the deal to free up cap room, then cuts him to bring in the next big-name player while patting themselves on the back for dumping their most talented defender. If Gase can overcome that, he's an even better coach than the guy we were impressed with after 2016.

UPDATE: The Jets were, in fact, able to procure a valuable pick for their $500,000 investment in Bridgewater when the Saints sent their 2019 third-round selection for the former Vikings starter and a sixth-round pick. It's a great move for the Jets, who basically bought a top-level compensation pick without having to pay Bridgewater his base salary. It's a curious move in the short term for the Saints, but if Bridgewater wanted to find a long-term home, it's hard to find a better location for the 25-year-old than Sean Payton's offense in New Orleans.

A league constantly decrying the lack of useful quarterbacks didn't value Bridgewater this offseason; while veterans such as Mike Glennon and Chase Daniel were able to sign multimillion-dollar deals, Bridgewater's one-year deal guaranteed him only $500,000 at signing. It seemed like a logical landing spot for Bridgewater given that he would be competing with injury-prone veteran Josh McCown, only for the Jets to trade up and grab Sam Darnold in the draft, pushing back Bridgewater into the No. 3 role.

Darnold seems likely to start Week 1, which leaves both the Jets and Bridgewater in a quandary. Both Bridgewater and McCown have $5 million base salaries, but while McCown's money is guaranteed, Bridgewater's is not. The Jets also value McCown as an on-field coach for Darnold. There's not an obvious fit on the roster for Bridgewater, even though he has looked impressive during the preseason.

Teddy Bridgewater will likely enter the season as the Jets' third quarterback, but an injury could see him traded elsewhere. Vincent Carchietta/USA TODAY Sports

Carrying Bridgewater's $5 million base salary in the hopes of essentially buying a compensatory pick also doesn't make sense. The league isn't going to suddenly value Bridgewater at $16 million per year if he sits behind Darnold. If he gets backup money on the free-agent market in 2019, Bridgewater would qualify for a draft pick only in the sixth or seventh round. Even that would require the Jets to mostly sit out free agency, something they haven't done under GM Mike Maccagnan (and shouldn't do as they build their offense around Darnold).

The most likely scenario is that the Jets either cut Bridgewater or trade him for a conditional pick. The Jets can hope to get a second- or a third-round pick, but they have little leverage in keeping Bridgewater and aren't likely to find a desperate team on the market. The comparisons to Sam Bradford don't fit; the Vikings were a unique match in terms of a team expecting to be very competitive, and the Eagles had a quarterback who the league continues to value as a starter.

While there have been folks clamoring for the Jaguars to acquire Bridgewater -- and a swap of Bridgewater and a pick for Dante Fowler would make sense for both sides -- Tyrod Taylor would be a much better fit for the Jags and their desire to hold onto the football and protect field position. Bridgewater remains a useful player and deserves a chance to start somewhere, but that opportunity probably won't come until 2019.

Teams don't normally wait this long to sign true franchise players, as we're seeing from the other stars in this draft class. Mike Evans signed an extension over the summer, while Odell Beckham Jr. just signed an extension. Aaron Donald is close to signing his deal. It's a little bit of a surprise that Mack isn't yet signed, but it's far more disconcerting that the Raiders don't even appear to be close to a deal with their star pass-rusher.

Do the Raiders really think Mack isn't worth Donald-level money? Would they realistically trade their star pass-rusher with no obvious replacement for Mack left on the roster? It's difficult to fathom, in part because 27-year-old superstar edge rushers don't often come available. Whichever team acquires Mack would be immediately paying him a huge contract, which would reduce his trade value to a point in which it's difficult to imagine the Raiders getting a return they could sell to their fans as viable.

The most likely scenario is still that the Raiders and Mack find common ground and work their way into a deal. Oakland could still franchise Mack in 2019 at a defensible price, leaving it with another year to negotiate. At the same time, though, it's not as if Mack's price is about to come down. The sooner the Raiders make this move will be the better.

15. David Culley, quarterbacks coach, Bills

It's possible that Culley is extremely well-qualified to coach new Bills quarterback Josh Allen, for whom the team traded draft capital in excess of the first overall pick to move up in April. Culley takes the stance that coaching is coaching regardless of position, and as a 62-year-old entering his 40th year on the job, you suspect he knows a thing or two.

At the same time, though, how many teams do you see handing the quarterback coaching duties to a guy whose résumé at that specific job has a 30-year gap? The last quarterback Culley directly tutored before taking over as Bills quarterbacks coach in 2017 was future NFL running back Brian Mitchell at Southwestern Louisiana in the mid-1980s. Culley worked mostly as a receivers coach over the ensuing decades, but the early returns from 2017 weren't very exciting. Tyrod Taylor had his worst season as a Bills starter, and Nathan Peterman ... well, you know what happened. Culley deserves his chance to mold Allen, but if things go poorly, who do you think is going to take the blame?

Group II: The Rookies (or Almost Rookies)

Here are the folks who are either debuting or practically debuting on the national stage this upcoming season.

When the Chiefs traded up to grab the top guy on their draft board in 2017, they sealed Alex Smith's fate. What happened next could not -- and did not -- alter the plan. Smith produced the best season of his career and led the league in passer rating. The Chiefs fired the general manager who drafted Mahomes and lost much of their offensive brainpower when Matt Nagy left for the Bears. No matter. The Chiefs drafted Mahomes in 2017 to start in Week 1 of 2018. We're about to get there.

Patrick Mahomes, who takes over for Alex Smith this season, threw for 284 yards and had an interception in his lone start in 2017. AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Organizations don't do this very often, in part because it's difficult to be spoiled for choice with quarterbacks. Teams peck and claw and stay up at night dreaming about getting someone like Smith, who virtually never throws his team out of a game and gets them back into it more often than the public thinks. Imagine a team like the Browns or the Jets being frustrated by a quarterback whose purported ceiling is 10 wins and a playoff loss. It's football privilege to shoot for a better quarterback than Smith, even given Smith's age (34) and cap number.

Teams have replaced their sitting Pro Bowl starter with an inexperienced backup for injury reasons, of course, but there aren't many recent examples of a team willingly trading or allowing a Pro Bowl passer to leave during the offseason while replacing them with a first-round pick sans track record.

You remember the most famous example, of course. The Packers traded Brett Favre after he retired and un-retired in the summer of 2007 to turn things over to Aaron Rodgers, who had thrown 59 career passes with a passer rating of 73.3. It worked out fine. Drew Brees actually tore his labrum in Week 17 of the 2005 campaign and would have likely made the Pro Bowl, but the Chargers sealed his fate beforehand by using their 2004 first-round pick on Eli Manning and subsequently trading for Philip Rivers.

The other recent example, perhaps not coincidentally, involves Andy Reid. The Eagles traded away Donovan McNabb after their longtime starter made it to the Pro Bowl and led the Eagles to the playoffs in 2009. McNabb was about to enter his age-34 season and had two years and $19.2 million in unguaranteed money left on his contract, but the Eagles didn't have the sort of clear succession path the Chiefs have with Mahomes.

play 1:49 Greeny doesn't expect Pats or Eagles back in Super Bowl Mike Greenberg wouldn't bet on New England or Philadelphia to make it back to the Super Bowl this season.

Philly's plan was to turn the job over to Kevin Kolb. Their 2007 second-round pick had thrown seven interceptions in 130 pass attempts over two seasons, but he had been a wildly accurate quarterback in college and completed 64.6 percent of his passes over a 96-throw campaign while filling in for McNabb in 2009.

Things went awry almost immediately. Kolb went down with a concussion after throwing 10 passes in the opener against the Packers, an injury that would sadly crop up repeatedly throughout his career. Reid was forced to turn things over to Michael Vick, who had spent two years in jail before throwing 13 passes as Philadelphia's third-string quarterback in 2009. Vick excelled as Kolb's replacement and was named the starter after Week 2.

There's no Vick lurking on the roster for the Chiefs, who would have to turn things over to Chad Henne or Matt McGloin if Mahomes got hurt. The 2010 Eagles season reminds us of two truths about quarterbacks, which apply to these Chiefs. One is that we don't know whether a quarterback can stay healthy at the NFL level until he has actually pulled it off. The other is that Andy Reid can sure coach quarterbacks.

Does any rookie running back in recent memory come into the league under more pressure than the former Penn State star? Ezekiel Elliott was drafted nearly as high, but he was entering a situation with a great offensive line on a team that had run the ball well in previous seasons. Leonard Fournette and Trent Richardson were joining teams with low expectations, although the Jaguars quickly exceeded theirs with Fournette's help.

Barkley, the highest-drafted running back since Reggie Bush in 2006, has to single-handedly rescue a moribund Giants running game. He won't have the offensive line, given that the move to swap Weston Richburg and Justin Pugh for Nate Solder and Patrick Omameh might not be an upgrade. (The Giants used a second-round pick on guard Will Hernandez, but as the Ereck Flowers saga will tell you, using a high pick on a lineman is no guarantee of success.) New York is simultaneously counting on Barkley to take some of the load off Eli Manning and extend the longtime quarterback's career in the process. It's a lot to ask of a 21-year-old rookie, but Barkley might very well be up to the task.

The biggest surprise from the 2017 Eagles roster was ... OK, it was Nelson Agholor. The second-biggest surprise on the roster was Patrick Robinson, who was cut after one season with the Colts and signed with the Eagles for just $775,000. Robinson promptly turned into one of the best slot cornerbacks in the league, giving the Eagles a huge advantage at what became close to a starting role. He knocked away 18 passes, which tied the former Saints first-round pick for the sixth most in football. Robinson promptly returned to New Orleans on a four-year, $20 million deal this offseason.

Enter Jones, who tore his Achilles and fell to the Eagles in the middle of the second round in last year's draft. Jones essentially took 2017 as a redshirt year, but with Robinson leaving, the Washington product will be taking over in the lineup as Philadelphia's slot cornerback. The Eagles can still survive if Jones struggles, but a successful sophomore campaign from Jones would reinforce Philadelphia's current plan under Howie Roseman. If they can get cornerbacks like Jones to produce on the cheap, they can continue to spend money at the line of scrimmage and lock up weapons for Wentz. If they can't, you can take a look at the Seahawks roster for what happens when you try to invest everywhere.

First-year head coach Matt Nagy has much better weapons on offense, as the Bears added Allen Robinson, Trey Burton and others in free agency. Kamil Krzaczynski/USA TODAY Sports

19. Matt Nagy, coach, Bears

When teams fire their head coach, they often replace that coach with someone who represents the polar opposite of their deposed leader. It's no surprise, then, that the Bears replaced 63-year-old defensive stalwart John Fox with 40-year-old Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy. Fox has 16 years of head-coaching experience; Nagy has 10 years of coaching experience in total, having been elevated to the offensive coordinator's role in Kansas City after Doug Pederson left for the Eagles.

Bears fans understandably want to give Nagy the credit for the Chiefs blowing teams away on offense with a modern attack during the first two months of the 2018 season, but he might also deserve some of the blame for that same offense stagnating during a four-game midseason losing streak. Nagy took over as playcaller from Reid in December and helped inspire a return to form, but even after the Chiefs averaged 28.6 points per game over the final five contests and dropped 21 points on the Titans in the first half of their wild-card game, Reid seemed to be the one blamed when the Chiefs went scoreless and seemed to forget about Kareem Hunt in the second half of their crushing loss.

If everything goes right, the Bears could be one of the league's most entertaining offenses. The combination of Nagy, Brad Childress and former Oregon coach Mark Helfrich as offensive coordinator gives the Bears the opportunity to get ahead of the curve on offense as pro teams bravely begin to go where college offenses were seven or eight years ago. The learning curve in going from the vastly experienced Alex Smith (who has thrown exactly 5,200 passes at the college and pro level) to Mitchell Trubisky (who comes in at 902 attempts) could limit what Nagy can implement in Year 1.

The Steelers haven't really found a replacement for Troy Polamalu since the future Hall of Famer faded after 30 and retired in 2015. Their defense took a step forward last season, only to regress after star linebacker Ryan Shazier suffered a career-threatening spinal injury, allowing an average of 28 points per game.

While Pittsburgh didn't acquire a direct replacement for Shazier this offseason, their best solution may be to get creative. New safety Morgan Burnett played some linebacker in Green Bay and could feature there on passing downs. Edmunds, on the other hand, might play a little bit of everything. The first-round pick from Virginia Tech will probably begin the season as a part-time strong safety, but by the end of the year, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Edmunds playing everything from safety to linebacker to slot cornerback. If he can make a quick adjustment to the pro game, the Steelers will have a Swiss army knife capable of filling in the weakest spot in their lineup from snap to snap. They might also have someone capable of competing athletically with Steelers killer Rob Gronkowski, who has racked up 664 receiving yards and eight touchdowns in six career games against Pittsburgh.

Seahawks rookie Michael Dickson won the Ray Guy Award at Texas in 2017. AP Photo/John Amis

There's something a little sad about Seahawks fans who once bragged about arguably the best roster in football pinning their hopes on a rookie punter, but Dickson has comfortably been the best punter in football during the preseason. He is averaging 48.1 net yards per punt, nearly three yards better than any other punter and 3.5 yards ahead of Brett Kern's league-leading 44.6-yard mark from a year ago. It's a small sample, of course, but the NFL has preseason punting data going back through 2000, and no qualifying punter has even hit 47 net yards per punt. Make sure to quote this preseason punting statistic at your Labor Day party if you want to be left alone for a while.

One question, though: If Dickson is really good during the regular season, would he be a candidate for Offensive Rookie of the Year or Defensive Rookie of the Year? Could he inspire the league to create a Special Teams Rookie of the Year award? And shouldn't there be a Special Teams Player of the Year award already?

Group III: Familiar Faces in New Places

How will these names we already know fare in new digs?

The most plausible scenario for the 2018 Vikings, sadly, is that they decline for reasons almost totally unrelated to Cousins, only for their $28 million quarterback to take the blame. Cousins can't control how healthy the Vikings will be on defense or whether Aaron Rodgers will be in the lineup for more than one quarter of the two Packers-Vikings games. He also has no control over his own offensive line staying healthy, although the issue plagued Cousins' final season in Washington and seems to have followed him to Minneapolis before the season has even begun.

The scary thing is that the only way for Cousins to really live up to this deal, given how good the Vikings were a year ago, is to make it to the Super Bowl. Anything less and there will be a portion of the audience pointing out that they could have kept Case Keenum (or Teddy Bridgewater) at a fraction of Cousins' price tag while using the savings to add an impact player at another position of need, regardless of how effective Cousins performs. Is this fair? Absolutely not.