...the Bengals rank 6th in the NFL in talented players under 25 years old on the roster according to Football Outsiders. Say what you want about Management (and we sure as hell do) but we do have a good base of young guys. They note this is on the defensive side of the ball only, not the offensive side.
The bad news?
The Ravens rank 4th, with boatloads of under 25 talent on each side of the ball and the Browns rank 7th (hey, they won't stay down forever). The AFC North stands alone as the only team with 3 teams in the top 10. The odd team out, of course, is Pittsburgh. And while Chad correctly observes they're just a bunch of girls, I think we can all agree girls from Pittsburgh are not to be trifled with.
It adds up to some pretty tough competition for a long time within the division if the teams keep their talent and continue to develop it.
Interesting stats.
I predict that at the end of the season, Pittsburgh will be in official rebuilding mode for a couple of seasons. Their team is a shell of its former self, they have a lot of holes on their team these days. Doesn't mean they are guaranteed wins since with division games you can typically toss the records out the window, except the 20 years Mike Brown ran the team without anyone's input- we really sucked...
Posted by: blesterov | July 14, 2010 at 03:10 PM
Interesting stat indeed. We've been better at drafting the past few years. MB has allowed Marvin, Zim and co. to have more input, which has very clearly changed the team over the past 7 years or so (just compare to the 15 years before that).
Posted by: Artrell | July 16, 2010 at 12:21 PM
blesterov, I hope you are right. This would be a fantastic year to see Pittsburgh slide to 4th in the AFC North. (Every year is.) That would be a well-deserved kick in the nuts, especially on the heals of a 3 year contract extension for Mike Tomlin.
Posted by: Major Payne | July 16, 2010 at 04:06 PM