A bit of analysis:

AFC East: I wouldn't consider it arrogant for New England to just hand out 2017 AFC East Champions shirts after their next preseason game. The Jets and Bills have traded away nearly every notable weapon they had, and the Dolphins are starting Jay Cutler at QB. 

AFC North: I had originally intended to pick Baltimore as a bounce back team, but then they lost about half their starters to season ending injuries. The Bengals never do what I predict them to, so chances are by putting them third in the division I've guaranteed that they'll go 15-1 and lose their first playoff game after Andy Dalton tears both his ACL and all the ligaments in his pinky finger after Pacman Jones gets distractedand cheapshots the wrong person.

AFC South: A make or break year for all four teams, and given how unpredictable the AFC North is and how the AFC West is set up to cannibalize itself, I'll bank on two of these teams making it. Houston finally has an at least mediocre QB option in Tom Savage and quite possibly the best defense in the NFL, and Tennessee has an easy schedule + a promising roster that went 9-7 last year. Provided they can finally stop losing to the Jags, I think this is a playoff caliber squad. The Colts are too injured to save Chuck Pagano's job, and the Jags are seriously considering starting Chad Henne at QB.

AFC West: Going by last year's win %s, the toughest four schedules in the league all belong to teams from this division. Every team plays the NFC East, the Patriots, and then of course two games against the rest of the division. This division is going to slaughter itself. Each team has noticeable flaws, too; Oakland has a horrendous defense, Denver has an anemic offense, Kansas City is inconsistent, and the Chargers suck at everything. I don't think the division winner has more than 11 wins. Initially, I was going to predict that the West would only get one team into the playoffs, but given how banged up the Ravens and Colts are, and how mediocre the rest of the AFC is, I have Denver making it in as a wild card.

NFC East: I'm never sure what to make of this division. The NFC East hasn't had a repeat champion since 2004, and the division's two best teams may have lost arguably their best players for significant playing time (OBJ to injury, and Elliott to suspension). The Redskins are useless; they're 2-11 all time with Kirk Cousins as QB against teams that finished the year with a winning record. So y'know what? Fuck it, I'm picking the Eagles. Last year Carson Wentz looked genuinely all right in beating the Steelers, Falcons, and Cowboys, and their achilles heel was one possession games (1-6), which is usually a statistic that regresses to the mean hard from year to year. Dallas as a Wild Card because nobody else seems particularly appealing and they can probably manage a solid finish when Zeke returns.

NFC North: The only interesting things to watch for in this division is how long it will take the Bears to start Mr. Tittie Kisser and whether the Packers will go for an early season tank job so they can get some other team's hopes for a division title up and then proceed to win like 10 straight and curb stomp them in another de facto division championship game. 

NFC South: Another very strange division. I still believe that the Panthers' offensive line has been emotionally scarred ever since Super Bowl 50, so we can look forward to another year of Cam Newton running for his life and then being called lazy by Colin Cowherd. Beyond that, the Falcons are talented enough to make the playoffs, though I think Tampa will take the division title. The Bucs have a slightly easier schedule, avoiding both Seattle and Dallas, and could very realistically be 4-0 (@Dolphins, Bears, @Vikings, Giants) when New England comes to Tampa on a Thursday night. After that, they get Arizona, Buffalo, Carolina, New Orleans, and the Jets. The Bucs could very easily win 7 or 8 out of their first 10 games.

NFC West: Somebody's gotta be the first seed in this conference with a bunch of good teams but seemingly no great ones, and I'll bank on Russell Wilson taking a major step forward and the offseason chemistry issues not being too much of an issue. The offensive line is still trash, but fortunately for them, they don't play any team with capable pass rushers until Week 10. The Rams and 49ers are looking even more lost than they were last year. Maybe the Cards could be good for one last year, but I'm not banking on it with 37 year old Carson Palmer at QB.

AFC: #1 New England (13-3), #2 Pittsburgh (11-5), #3 Houston (11-5), #4 Oakland (10-6), #5 Tennessee (10-6), #6 Denver (9-7)

NFC: #1 Seattle (12-4), #2 Tampa Bay (12-4), #3 Green Bay (11-5), #4 Philadelphia (10-6), #5 Atlanta (11-5), #6 Dallas (10-6)

Playoffs: I'll take New England at home in the playoffs, although leaving Gillette in January with a win hasn't been as seemingly impossible a task since the turn of the decade. The NFC Championship winds up being a rematch of the 2014 title game, with the Packers winning because I've been picking this Brady-Rodgers Super Bowl for like five years now and I swear I'm going to be right eventually.

Count me in again too

Yay FF hype! I managed to get in

Joined the Fantasy League as well for good measure. I'm The Loins lol so looks like we got a full league.

Welp, Farsala was looking for preseason injuries to famous players, so...here you go, I guess...

Julian Edelman went down during the first quarter of the Patriots' preseason game against the Lions with a non contact knee injury. The Patriots are probably about as well equipped to handle the loss of their #1 receiver as any team in the league, but this puts additional pressure on Rob Gronkowski to stay healthy for once. It'll be interesting to see who steps into his role if he's out for an extended period of time; Chris Hogan has been playing very well as of late and probably won't reprise last season's role as primary deep target with Gronk and Brandin Cooks available.

Also Rol, I corrected my bracket. Brain froze and put Dallas as #1 in the East for some reason.

Meh non contact is about as uneventful as getting injured while with the practice squad :P. Will Brady make someone else a star? or will he just throw to Gronk more making him more likely to get injured, who knows.

I'm in. I'm probably going to get banned again soon though.

Also, fix Farsala's name in the first post. It's "Orange" man, c'mon. Everybody knows that.

Patriots believe it's a torn ACL; MRI tomorrow to confirm.

Right off the bat, this is obviously a major blow to the Patriots, though how big will depend largely on how well some of the newer Pats' receivers can adapt to the quick slot routes that New England has been known for since Wes Welker was brought in. I don't think Brady will make up for this by just throwing a bunch more passes to Gronk; teams already paid a ton of attention to him when Edelman was in the lineup. I'd look for either Chris Hogan or Malcolm Mitchell to largely try and fill that role, and become a much bigger focus of the passing offense as a result (although Hogan was a major target tonight). Alternatively, the Pats could try converting one of their pass catching backs (James White or Dion Lewis) to slot receiver. I wouldn't count on seeing Amendola more, however; his injury history is extensive and the Patriots have made a habit of mostly saving him for third downs, crucial drives, and playoff games.

One player who this will likely positively affect is Austin Carr; an undrafted rookie out of Northwestern who looked pretty impressive in the first two preseason games where he had significant action. Given how loaded the Patriots were at WR, it was expected he would probably be a practice squad player (best case), but with Edelman likely gone for the year he could very well step in and see playing time. He's looked very comfortable with the Welker/Edelman-esque crossing routes, which is another bonus to him.

I really despise preseason football. Seeing players get season ending injuries in a completely meaningless game is endlessly frustrating

I'm in for weekly picks and the bracket. I will fill out the bracket later.