Breer talks about challenges

[Mr. Scot]

 In his latest mailbag (Link)

From Pete Crespo (@Petedelaware1): Who will have the best start of the new coaches hired this cycle? Who has the biggest challenge ahead of them?

Pete, this should be relatively simple, since there are only five new head coaches.

To the first one—I’ll go a little off the board and say Frank Reich in Carolina. The Panthers finished last year 6–6, and there are potential cornerstones in Ickey Ekwonu, DJ Moore, Brian Burns, Jaycee Horn and Jeremy Chinn. There’s a physical identity to the team that Steve Wilks worked to cultivate in his 12-game run as interim coach. If you can find an answer at quarterback—and there are answers out there—that quarterback should benefit from working with Reich.

And the division looks very winnable (as opposed to what, say, Denver is facing).

As for the group that’s facing the biggest challenge, I’d say it’s probably Gannon in Arizona. Kyler Murray is coming off ACL surgery and will likely miss (at least) the whole offseason with a new system being installed. The roster has gotten old in a lot of places and already has taken two retirement hits, with JJ Watt and A.J. Green deciding to walk away. So where you can see the Panthers, Broncos, Colts and even Texans making a leap in Year 1, it looks like Gannon and Ossenfort have longer builds facing them.