Every team hopes to put themselves in a position to not only compete, but hold their spot in the Premier Madden League. What is a teams realistic ceiling in season 1? How good can each team be with their current roster, user, and divisional foes? Or how badly can things fall apart?
Lets dive into the AFC North
Bengals: Goose
Browns: Mali
Steelers: Curt
Ravens: Arod
Bengals
Ceiling: 4-13
Head coach Goose and the Bengals walk into a pretty ideal situation with your franchise QB, RB and two #1’s on the outside off rip all under the age of 28, with a pretty solid defense. Goose hasn’t shown me much in the last few years but if there was ever a time it’s now…at his best he’s better than all these coaches and with the best qb there’s really no excuse. If he takes care of business he should have 3-4 free wins per year and that’s where I believe he gets all his wins in year 1 -Tbandit
Floor: 1-16
Goose wasn’t able to win a game in his return to Pml and although he was placed in a terrible division wins are going to be tough to come by as all those coaches are verrry scrappy. If he’s not at his best he could very much lose all 6 games as all 3 coaches in his roster have good rosters. Wins outside of the division will be tough to come by so if Goose isn’t taking care of business in the division I can definitely be in the running for a top 3 pick come April. -Tbandit
Browns
Ceiling: 12-5
Head coach Mali lands in the dawg pound this cycle and he should be excited. With the addition of Deshaun Watson and now edge rusher Zadarius Smith, this team is ready to compete year 1. In this division Mali has an opportunity to take the reins and win the AFC North. -Bubba
Floor: 4-13
While this roster is an improved top 5 team, they are far from perfect. With many aging players, and huge contracts, Mali may have to start making moves early to ensure he is under the cap for future seasons. Rumors of Watson being shopped before the season starts lead me to believe that is where Mali will try to address his cap situation, possibly at the detriment of his offense. -Bubba
Steelers
Ceiling: 5-12, miss playoffs
Not really a knock, but 5-8 wins probably will win the AFC North. Outside the divisional games, the schedule is tough for the Steelers. He may easily prove me wrong, but we haven’t seen a competitive Curt for about 3 or 4 years now. The chips are stacked against him as he takes the lowest team in a stacked division roster wise that has a few major holes. It may be a few seasons until we see the Steelers making a run at not only the division but any type of deep playoff run. I can tell you first hand that Kenny Pickett is not the answer- at 26 years old and 86 throw power- he is a 1 year bridge player until they come to a permanent solution. The defense will keep them in games but the offense will be the issue especially going against Burrow, Watson, and Lamar. -Arod
Floor: 3-14, miss playoffs
Worst case scenario has the Steelers winning 3 games, falling a few games short of the AFC North crown, and using a top draft pick to draft the quarterback to lead them seasons 2-5. Curt may be the most skilled player in the division, I will give him that, but the roster will hold him back as many of the key pieces are not ‘Madden’ good. Najee and Friermuth are slow, Dionte Johnson is on the wrong side of 20 with no ability, and the OL needs a lot of work. We will circle back next season when the roster is tailored to Curts liking -Arod
Ravens
Ceiling: 8 – 9
Most people see the name Arod and only can see the most recent tire fire. I am old enough to remember when Arod and his thumbs worked. Back in those days there was glorious cheese that was abundant to all! Now that the game has gone more sim in terms of player movement Arod has fallen off a little… ok ok… a lot. This Ravens team however has a player who could be one of the most cheesy in the league! If Arod can master using Lamar Jackson we just might see him approach .500 status again. -KingMike
Floor: 0- 17
Simply put… its very possible for him to lose every game. He has done it before… -KingMike
