NFL

2018 NFL Team Needs: Master List

By Ian Hartitz @ihartitz
Feb 20, 2018

This offseason we’re taking a look at all 32 NFL teams’ most pressing needs heading into the 2018-19 season. This page will be updated with a detailed account of each team’s three biggest needs as they are published.

The following list is organized according to draft position. For more offseason content, check out our round one mock draft.

1. Cleveland Browns

Team Needs: Quarterback, Secondary, Running Back

The Browns have had 28 different starting quarterbacks since returning to Cleveland in 1999, with 2007 marking the only season in which they’ve had a top-16 scoring quarterback (Derek Anderson, QB6) or offense.
The Browns have allowed a league-high 71 percent of opposing quarterbacks to surpass their salary-based expectations on DraftKings since 2016.
Duke Johnson has ranked among the league’s top-three backs in yards per touch during each of the past two seasons. Crowell had more touches than Johnson in 27 of their last 32 games.

2. New York Giants

Team Needs: Offensive line, Running Back, Linebacker

Among quarterbacks to start at least 16 games over the past two seasons, only Jay Cutler, Joe Flacco, and Brock Osweiler have averaged fewer adjusted yards per attempt than Eli Manning.
The Giants have 12 rushing touchdowns over the past two seasons. Every other team has at least 16.
The Giants allowed four and two backs, respectively, to rack up 15-plus and 20-plus DraftKings points in 2016. They allowed eight- and five-such performances last season.

3. Indianapolis Colts

Team Needs: Offensive Line, Receiver, Cornerback

Last season the Colts were responsible for two of the four games in which a quarterback was sacked at least eight times.
Colts wide receivers have surpassed their salary-based expectations in a league-low 30 percent of their games on DraftKings since 2014.
Last year 40 defensive backs allowed no more than one yard per coverage snap. Not one of them was on the Colts.

4. Houston Texans

Team Needs: Offensive Line, Cornerback, Defensive Line

Lamar Miller averaged 4.8 yards per carry with an average of eight touchdowns per season in 2014-15. He’s averaged 3.9 yards per carry with eight total touchdowns since joining the Texans.
The Texans allowed a league-high five games of 30-plus DraftKings points to wide receivers this season courtesy of Robert Woods, T.Y. Hilton, Brandin Cooks, Keelan Cole, and Paul Richardson.
Texans defensive linemen accounted for just 3.5 sacks all of last season.

5. Denver Broncos

Team Needs: Quarterback, Offensive Line, Defensive Line

The Broncos have gone 7-6 with 200 or fewer passing yards from their quarterback over the past two seasons. The rest of the NFL is 119-187.
Four of the league’s seven top edge defenders in total pressures play in the AFC West, and the division has accordingly allowed the fewest average DraftKings points, Plus/Minus values, and Consistency Ratings to quarterbacks over the past two seasons.
Five quarterbacks scored 18-plus DraftKings points against the Broncos in 2017. Six quarterbacks did so in 2015 and 2016 combined.

6. New York Jets

Team Needs: Quarterback, Defensive End, Pass Catchers

Josh McCown’s average of 7.26 adjusted yards per pass attempt last season was the fourth-best single-season mark in franchise history, but just the 15th-highest mark among the league’s 34 quarterbacks to start at least six games in 2017.
The Jets have a league-low 55 sacks over the past two seasons.
The Jets are one of just 10 teams with fewer than $15M devoted to their wide receivers, and currently nobody is spending less on tight ends.

7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Team Needs: Cornerback, Defensive End, Running Back

The Buccaneers allowed two of last season’s seven 40-plus point wide receiver performances. They joined the Texans as the only defenses to allow multiple receivers to eclipse 150 yards and score two touchdowns in a game.
The Buccaneers’ league-worst defense in adjusted sack rate produced just 22 sacks in 2017, and zero of their defensive ends totaled more than 2.5.
The Buccaneers are one of three teams to average fewer than 3.65 yards per rush over the last two seasons. Martin, Barber, and Rodgers weren’t among the 35 backs last season to average at least four yards per carry (min. 50 carries).

8. Chicago Bears

Team Needs: Wide Receiver, Defensive Line, Cornerback

Note: The 49ers and Raiders will flip a coin to determine who picks first in Round 1.

Bears wide receivers averaged the fewest DraftKings points per game to go with bottom-eight marks in Plus/Minus and Consistency Rating last season.
Antonio Brown was the only wide receiver to eclipse 100 yards against the Bears last season. No other receiver managed to eclipse 25 DraftKings points in a single game, a mark that was surpassed on 84 separate occasions in 2017.
The Bears ranked among the league’s top-12 defenses in fewest open field and second level yards allowed per rush but also among the bottom-three defenses in percentage of runs stopped at or behind the line of scrimmage and runs on third- or fourth-and-short.

9. San Francisco 49ers

Team Needs: Wide Receiver, Cornerback, Interior Offensive Line

There were 74 instances of a player gaining over 100 receiving yards and scoring a touchdown last season. The 49ers were responsible for zero of those games.
18 of 32 quarterbacks (56.3 percent) have scored at least 18 DraftKings points against the 49ers since 2016.
The 49ers were one of 10 teams to rank 20th or lower in both percentage of runs to achieve a first down on third- and fourth-and-short and percentage of runs for no gain or a loss.

10. Oakland Raiders

Team Needs: Defensive Line, Secondary, Quarterback

The Raiders have ranked 32nd, 23rd, 30th, and 23rd in adjusted sack rate since drafting Mack in 2014.
The Raiders have allowed a league-high 29 passes of 40-plus yards over the past two seasons: 22 teams haven’t allowed even 20 such passes over that span.
Since 2000, 39 quarterbacks have been drafted and started at least 50 games. Only Joey Harrington and David Carr have averaged fewer yards per attempt than Carr’s 6.54 mark.

11. Miami Dolphins

Team Needs: Offensive Line, Running back, Quarterback

The Dolphins have ranked among the league’s top four teams in average open field yards per rush over the past two seasons but among the league’s bottom three offenses in percentage of running back rush attempts finished at or behind the line of scrimmage.
12 backs last season had at least 50 carries behind offensive lines that were bottom-five in adjusted line yards per rush; 11 averaged 4.3 or fewer yards per rush, while Drake led the group with 4.8.
Among 25 quarterbacks with 50-plus starts since Tannehill entered the league in 2012, only Eli Manning, Sam Bradford, Blake Bortles, Joe Flacco, and Derek Carr have averaged fewer yards per attempt.

12. Cincinnati Bengals

Team Needs: Offensive Line, Quarterback, Linebacker

Only Derek Carr and Eli Manning had a quicker average release than Dalton last season among 29 quarterbacks to take at least 50 percent of their team’s snaps, but Dalton took 16 and six more sacks.
Dalton threw for 300-plus yards in a career-low one game last season. He’d previously passed that threshold on at least three separate occasions during every season except his rookie year.
In terms of Football Outsiders’ Defense-Adjusted Value Over Average, the 2017 Bengals defense was the team’s worst overall unit since 2011, ranking as the second-worst group against the run and pass.

13. Washington Redskins

Team Needs: Cornerback, Defensive Line, Wide Receiver

Washington signed Norman to win battles with Odell Beckham Jr.and Dez Bryant, but his trash talking and stationary positioning haven’t exactly shut the pair down. Beckham posted 7-121-0 and 5-44-0 lines on Norman in 2016, and Bryant has gone 7-102-0, 5-72-0, 4-39-0, and 5-61-1 against his Samsung rival.
The Redskins allowed a league-high 4.91 adjusted line yards per rush — the highest mark by any defense since 2000.
Among Alex Smith, Kirk Cousins, Tyrod Taylor, and Case Keenum, Smith has the largest downgrade from old to new wide receiver units in average yards of separation.

14. Green Bay Packers

Team Needs: Cornerback, Pass Rush, Offensive Line

The Packers allowed a league-high +1.6 Plus/Minus and 51 percent Consistency Rating to wide receivers last season. Only three defenses allowed a higher Plus/Minus to opposing receivers over the past four years, and only the 2014 Falcons allowed a higher percentage of receivers to hit their salary-based expectations.
The Packers allowed a league-high four quarterbacks to score 30-plus DraftKings points last season: 26 teams allowed either one or zero such passing performances.
Rodgers hasn’t ranked higher than 19th among all quarterbacks in completion percentage under pressure since 2012.

15. Arizona Cardinals

Team Needs: Quarterback, Offensive Line, Wide Receiver

16. Baltimore Ravens

Team Needs: Wide Receiver, Tight End, Running Back

17. Los Angeles Chargers

Team Needs: Offensive Tackle, Quarterback, Linebacker

18. Seattle Seahawks

Team Needs: Offensive Tackle, Quarterback, Linebacker

19. Dallas Cowboys

Team Needs: Linebacker, Defensive Tackle, Cornerback, Tight End

20. Detroit Lions

Team Needs: Running Back, Defensive End, Offensive Guard, Linebacker

21. Buffalo Bills

Team Needs: Quarterback, Defensive Tackle, Defensive End, Linebacker

22. Kansas City Chiefs

Team Needs: Cornerback, Linebacker, Offensive tackle

23. Los Angeles Rams

Team Needs: Cornerback, Offensive Line, Linebacker, Defensive End

24. Carolina Panthers

Team Needs: Offensive Line, Wide Receiver, Defensive End

25. Tennessee Titans

Team Needs: Defensive End, Offensive Guard, Tight End

26. Atlanta Falcons

Team Needs: Defensive Tackle, Offensive Guard, Safety

27. New Orleans Saints

Team Needs: Interior Offensive Line, Quarterback, Wide Receiver

28. Pittsburgh Steelers

Team Needs: Linebacker, Quarterback, Safety

29. Jacksonville Jaguars

Team Needs: Tight End, Offensive Line, Quarterback, Wide Receiver

30. Minnesota Vikings

Team Needs: Offensive Line, Defensive Line, Quarterback

31. New England Patriots

Team Needs: Cornerback, Quarterback, Defensive End

32. Philadelphia Eagles

Team Needs: Offensive Tackle, Wide Receiver, Linebacker, Cornerback

Photo via James Lang-USA TODAY Sports

The following list is organized according to draft position. For more offseason content, check out our round one mock draft.

1. Cleveland Browns

Team Needs: Quarterback, Secondary, Running Back

The Browns have had 28 different starting quarterbacks since returning to Cleveland in 1999, with 2007 marking the only season in which they’ve had a top-16 scoring quarterback (Derek Anderson, QB6) or offense.
The Browns have allowed a league-high 71 percent of opposing quarterbacks to surpass their salary-based expectations on DraftKings since 2016.
Duke Johnson has ranked among the league’s top-three backs in yards per touch during each of the past two seasons. Crowell had more touches than Johnson in 27 of their last 32 games.

2. New York Giants

Team Needs: Offensive line, Running Back, Linebacker

Among quarterbacks to start at least 16 games over the past two seasons, only Jay Cutler, Joe Flacco, and Brock Osweiler have averaged fewer adjusted yards per attempt than Eli Manning.
The Giants have 12 rushing touchdowns over the past two seasons. Every other team has at least 16.
The Giants allowed four and two backs, respectively, to rack up 15-plus and 20-plus DraftKings points in 2016. They allowed eight- and five-such performances last season.

3. Indianapolis Colts

Team Needs: Offensive Line, Receiver, Cornerback

Last season the Colts were responsible for two of the four games in which a quarterback was sacked at least eight times.
Colts wide receivers have surpassed their salary-based expectations in a league-low 30 percent of their games on DraftKings since 2014.
Last year 40 defensive backs allowed no more than one yard per coverage snap. Not one of them was on the Colts.

4. Houston Texans

Team Needs: Offensive Line, Cornerback, Defensive Line

Lamar Miller averaged 4.8 yards per carry with an average of eight touchdowns per season in 2014-15. He’s averaged 3.9 yards per carry with eight total touchdowns since joining the Texans.
The Texans allowed a league-high five games of 30-plus DraftKings points to wide receivers this season courtesy of Robert Woods, T.Y. Hilton, Brandin Cooks, Keelan Cole, and Paul Richardson.
Texans defensive linemen accounted for just 3.5 sacks all of last season.

5. Denver Broncos

Team Needs: Quarterback, Offensive Line, Defensive Line

The Broncos have gone 7-6 with 200 or fewer passing yards from their quarterback over the past two seasons. The rest of the NFL is 119-187.
Four of the league’s seven top edge defenders in total pressures play in the AFC West, and the division has accordingly allowed the fewest average DraftKings points, Plus/Minus values, and Consistency Ratings to quarterbacks over the past two seasons.
Five quarterbacks scored 18-plus DraftKings points against the Broncos in 2017. Six quarterbacks did so in 2015 and 2016 combined.

6. New York Jets

Team Needs: Quarterback, Defensive End, Pass Catchers

Josh McCown’s average of 7.26 adjusted yards per pass attempt last season was the fourth-best single-season mark in franchise history, but just the 15th-highest mark among the league’s 34 quarterbacks to start at least six games in 2017.
The Jets have a league-low 55 sacks over the past two seasons.
The Jets are one of just 10 teams with fewer than $15M devoted to their wide receivers, and currently nobody is spending less on tight ends.

7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Team Needs: Cornerback, Defensive End, Running Back

The Buccaneers allowed two of last season’s seven 40-plus point wide receiver performances. They joined the Texans as the only defenses to allow multiple receivers to eclipse 150 yards and score two touchdowns in a game.
The Buccaneers’ league-worst defense in adjusted sack rate produced just 22 sacks in 2017, and zero of their defensive ends totaled more than 2.5.
The Buccaneers are one of three teams to average fewer than 3.65 yards per rush over the last two seasons. Martin, Barber, and Rodgers weren’t among the 35 backs last season to average at least four yards per carry (min. 50 carries).

8. Chicago Bears

Team Needs: Wide Receiver, Defensive Line, Cornerback

Note: The 49ers and Raiders will flip a coin to determine who picks first in Round 1.

Bears wide receivers averaged the fewest DraftKings points per game to go with bottom-eight marks in Plus/Minus and Consistency Rating last season.
Antonio Brown was the only wide receiver to eclipse 100 yards against the Bears last season. No other receiver managed to eclipse 25 DraftKings points in a single game, a mark that was surpassed on 84 separate occasions in 2017.
The Bears ranked among the league’s top-12 defenses in fewest open field and second level yards allowed per rush but also among the bottom-three defenses in percentage of runs stopped at or behind the line of scrimmage and runs on third- or fourth-and-short.

9. San Francisco 49ers

Team Needs: Wide Receiver, Cornerback, Interior Offensive Line

There were 74 instances of a player gaining over 100 receiving yards and scoring a touchdown last season. The 49ers were responsible for zero of those games.
18 of 32 quarterbacks (56.3 percent) have scored at least 18 DraftKings points against the 49ers since 2016.
The 49ers were one of 10 teams to rank 20th or lower in both percentage of runs to achieve a first down on third- and fourth-and-short and percentage of runs for no gain or a loss.

10. Oakland Raiders

Team Needs: Defensive Line, Secondary, Quarterback

The Raiders have ranked 32nd, 23rd, 30th, and 23rd in adjusted sack rate since drafting Mack in 2014.
The Raiders have allowed a league-high 29 passes of 40-plus yards over the past two seasons: 22 teams haven’t allowed even 20 such passes over that span.
Since 2000, 39 quarterbacks have been drafted and started at least 50 games. Only Joey Harrington and David Carr have averaged fewer yards per attempt than Carr’s 6.54 mark.

11. Miami Dolphins

Team Needs: Offensive Line, Running back, Quarterback

The Dolphins have ranked among the league’s top four teams in average open field yards per rush over the past two seasons but among the league’s bottom three offenses in percentage of running back rush attempts finished at or behind the line of scrimmage.
12 backs last season had at least 50 carries behind offensive lines that were bottom-five in adjusted line yards per rush; 11 averaged 4.3 or fewer yards per rush, while Drake led the group with 4.8.
Among 25 quarterbacks with 50-plus starts since Tannehill entered the league in 2012, only Eli Manning, Sam Bradford, Blake Bortles, Joe Flacco, and Derek Carr have averaged fewer yards per attempt.

12. Cincinnati Bengals

Team Needs: Offensive Line, Quarterback, Linebacker

Only Derek Carr and Eli Manning had a quicker average release than Dalton last season among 29 quarterbacks to take at least 50 percent of their team’s snaps, but Dalton took 16 and six more sacks.
Dalton threw for 300-plus yards in a career-low one game last season. He’d previously passed that threshold on at least three separate occasions during every season except his rookie year.
In terms of Football Outsiders’ Defense-Adjusted Value Over Average, the 2017 Bengals defense was the team’s worst overall unit since 2011, ranking as the second-worst group against the run and pass.

13. Washington Redskins

Team Needs: Cornerback, Defensive Line, Wide Receiver

Washington signed Norman to win battles with Odell Beckham Jr.and Dez Bryant, but his trash talking and stationary positioning haven’t exactly shut the pair down. Beckham posted 7-121-0 and 5-44-0 lines on Norman in 2016, and Bryant has gone 7-102-0, 5-72-0, 4-39-0, and 5-61-1 against his Samsung rival.
The Redskins allowed a league-high 4.91 adjusted line yards per rush — the highest mark by any defense since 2000.
Among Alex Smith, Kirk Cousins, Tyrod Taylor, and Case Keenum, Smith has the largest downgrade from old to new wide receiver units in average yards of separation.

14. Green Bay Packers

Team Needs: Cornerback, Pass Rush, Offensive Line

The Packers allowed a league-high +1.6 Plus/Minus and 51 percent Consistency Rating to wide receivers last season. Only three defenses allowed a higher Plus/Minus to opposing receivers over the past four years, and only the 2014 Falcons allowed a higher percentage of receivers to hit their salary-based expectations.
The Packers allowed a league-high four quarterbacks to score 30-plus DraftKings points last season: 26 teams allowed either one or zero such passing performances.
Rodgers hasn’t ranked higher than 19th among all quarterbacks in completion percentage under pressure since 2012.

15. Arizona Cardinals

Team Needs: Quarterback, Offensive Line, Wide Receiver

16. Baltimore Ravens

Team Needs: Wide Receiver, Tight End, Running Back

17. Los Angeles Chargers

Team Needs: Offensive Tackle, Quarterback, Linebacker

18. Seattle Seahawks

Team Needs: Offensive Tackle, Quarterback, Linebacker

19. Dallas Cowboys

Team Needs: Linebacker, Defensive Tackle, Cornerback, Tight End

20. Detroit Lions

Team Needs: Running Back, Defensive End, Offensive Guard, Linebacker

21. Buffalo Bills

Team Needs: Quarterback, Defensive Tackle, Defensive End, Linebacker

22. Kansas City Chiefs

Team Needs: Cornerback, Linebacker, Offensive tackle

23. Los Angeles Rams

Team Needs: Cornerback, Offensive Line, Linebacker, Defensive End

24. Carolina Panthers

Team Needs: Offensive Line, Wide Receiver, Defensive End

25. Tennessee Titans

Team Needs: Defensive End, Offensive Guard, Tight End

26. Atlanta Falcons

Team Needs: Defensive Tackle, Offensive Guard, Safety

27. New Orleans Saints

Team Needs: Interior Offensive Line, Quarterback, Wide Receiver

28. Pittsburgh Steelers

Team Needs: Linebacker, Quarterback, Safety

29. Jacksonville Jaguars

Team Needs: Tight End, Offensive Line, Quarterback, Wide Receiver

30. Minnesota Vikings

Team Needs: Offensive Line, Defensive Line, Quarterback

31. New England Patriots

Team Needs: Cornerback, Quarterback, Defensive End

32. Philadelphia Eagles

Team Needs: Offensive Tackle, Wide Receiver, Linebacker, Cornerback

Photo via James Lang-USA TODAY Sports

Our Blog

2018 NFL Team Needs: Master List

1. Cleveland Browns

2. New York Giants

3. Indianapolis Colts

4. Houston Texans

5. Denver Broncos

6. New York Jets

7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

8. Chicago Bears

9. San Francisco 49ers

10. Oakland Raiders

11. Miami Dolphins

12. Cincinnati Bengals

13. Washington Redskins

14. Green Bay Packers

15. Arizona Cardinals

16. Baltimore Ravens

17. Los Angeles Chargers

18. Seattle Seahawks

19. Dallas Cowboys

20. Detroit Lions

21. Buffalo Bills

22. Kansas City Chiefs

23. Los Angeles Rams

24. Carolina Panthers

25. Tennessee Titans

26. Atlanta Falcons

27. New Orleans Saints

28. Pittsburgh Steelers

29. Jacksonville Jaguars

30. Minnesota Vikings

31. New England Patriots

32. Philadelphia Eagles

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

1. Cleveland Browns

2. New York Giants

3. Indianapolis Colts

4. Houston Texans

5. Denver Broncos

6. New York Jets

7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

8. Chicago Bears

9. San Francisco 49ers

10. Oakland Raiders

11. Miami Dolphins

12. Cincinnati Bengals

13. Washington Redskins

14. Green Bay Packers

15. Arizona Cardinals

16. Baltimore Ravens

17. Los Angeles Chargers

18. Seattle Seahawks

19. Dallas Cowboys

20. Detroit Lions

21. Buffalo Bills

22. Kansas City Chiefs

23. Los Angeles Rams

24. Carolina Panthers

25. Tennessee Titans

26. Atlanta Falcons

27. New Orleans Saints

28. Pittsburgh Steelers

29. Jacksonville Jaguars

30. Minnesota Vikings

31. New England Patriots

32. Philadelphia Eagles

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