The 5 Best Teams for the Upcoming 2015 NFL Season
Seattle Seahawks
Projected Record: 10.1-5.9
Playoff Probability: 74.5%
Division Probability: 58.6%
Super Bowl Probability: 12.4%
nERD: 8.34
The Seattle Seahawks are looking to make it three straight Super Bowl appearances this season, and there's no indication from our algorithms here at numberFire that they won't be able to do it.
Perennially ranked as one of the top defenses in the league, last year the Seahawks Adjusted Defensive Net Expected Points (NEP) of -0.04 per play ranked them third behind just Houston (-0.05) and Buffalo (-0.05). Expect that success on the defensive side of the ball to continue in 2015.
The team boasts perhaps the deepest front seven they've had in years, anchored by Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett, who will put plenty of pressure on opposing team's quarterbacks. In the secondary, despite not being fully healthy from the torn labrum he suffered in last year's playoffs, playmaking free safety Earl Thomas will return to patrol the field for the Hawks from sideline to sideline. And of course, who can forget self-proclaimed best cornerback in the NFL, Richard Sherman?
However, with this team already without elite cornerback Byron Maxwell, if Pro Bowl strong safety Kam Chancellor makes good on his threats to hold out this season, it would be a major blow to the defense. Playing in Chancellor's place has been Dion Bailey, who has done an admirable job filling in at the position, but is nowhere near the level of talent as the man he's been tasked to replace.
On the offense, already with the best running back in the NFL over the past three years in Marshawn Lynch, the team has loaded up with additional firepower for their Super Bowl run, adding Antonio Brown-clone Tyler Lockett in the draft, reuniting Lynch with old Buffalo Bills teammate Fred Jackson in free agency, and trading for one of the best tight ends and red zone threats in the league in Jimmy Graham.
And with Santa Clara hosting Super Bowl 50 -- given the intense level of animosity between the Hawks and Niners over the past few years -- there may be nothing sweeter than winning it all on their division rival's home turf.
