No one is surprised to see the Kansas City Chiefs among a handful of undefeated teams, but that is about all that has gone according to schedule early in the NFL regular season. Injuries are beginning to mount across the league and that is stretching depth at key positions.
Here is the most pressing need for every team ahead of Week 4:
AFC North
Bengals: Defensive line
Myles Murphy, Cameron Sample and McKinnley Jackson are all on injured reserve. Sheldon Rankins and B.J. Hill were both inactive for Monday night’s game against the Commanders. Those two players, as well as Trey Hendrickson and Kris Jenkins, were on Wednesday’s injury report. It is a depleted unit in Ohio’s queen city.
Cornerback was the other consideration just because they need the current group to play at a higher level. They did a good job muddying the waters against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs last week.
Browns: Offensive line
Starting left tackle Jedrick Wills returned last week but then left during in the game as a result of an injury. Jack Conklin has yet to make his season debut and starting right guard Wyatt Teller was added to injured reserve this week. The Browns have the second-highest pressure rate allowed (44.7%) this season, according to TruMedia. The poor quarterback play does not help.
The pass catchers need to be better as well. The Browns led the league in drops last year with 39 and already have a league-leading ten drops three games in 2024.
Ravens: Edge rusher
Former defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald is now the coach in Seattle. Baltimore is applying pressure on 27.1% of opponent’s dropback attempts, which is the fourth-worst rate in the league, according to TruMedia.
Coming into the regular season, the concern was regarding the offensive line, who welcomed two new starters with Andrew Vorhees and Daniel Faalele. Utilityman Patrick Mekari is in the starting lineup as well. Left…
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Author : Josh Edwards
Publish date : 2024-09-27 18:37:11
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