My sleeper teams at this early stage are St Louis and Washington.
The St. Louis offense is formidable, with Orlando Pace returning healthy, the maturation of A. Barron, the addition of McMichael, D. Bennett and Brian Leonard to spell S. Jackson. The LB corps is an underrated group. Witherspoon is a borderline probowl talent, Tinoisamoa was on the verge of stardom before an injury plagued year, Chillar is a solid, durable vet. The secondary has the emerging Tye Hill and the very underrated S Atogwe, who quietly made as many impact plays as any safety in the NFL last season. Corey Chavous is a steady, heady player. The problem is the D-Line. L.Little is still a fearsome pass rusher. Carriker, L. Glover and C. Wroten will play DT. The defense has the makings of an above average squad if Haslett can get his head out of his @$$. An above average D is enough to propel the Rams into the playoffs IMO.
The Redskins hopes depend on the progression of J. Campbell. I have been a big fan of Campbell since his senior year at Auburn. He has great pocket presence, poise, leadership ability, a plus arm. After another off-season absorbing Al Saunders' scheme, IMO this offense could flourish, similar to the way the KC offense exploded in Vermeil's 2nd year, going from the #16 scoring offense to #1. I doubt the Skins will explode like that, but an uptick is likely. One indication of that could be the team scoring 59 points combined in its last 2 games. The receiving corps is talented, the TE Cooley is capable, and the two headed rb tandem is top notch. As for the D... I have never been a fan of Greg Williams' since his Buffalo days. Last year's record setting ineptitude by the Skins' D proved skeptics correct. Still, I expect Williams to at least coach this D back to respectability with the additions of L. Fletcher, L. Landry, F. Smoot, the return of C. Griffin, and the return to form of S. Taylor. I like the Redskins to surprise and finish 10-6 in the playoff picture.
