ESPN's John Clayton published an article yesterday highlighting the five teams most affected by a lockout (and the five teams least affected by a lockout). With the Cleveland Browns having a lot of changes this offseason, including at the head coach at defensive coordinator positions, a new scheme will be introduced on both sides of the ball. That would seem to make them a prime candidate for being a team affected by the lockout, but apparently it wasn't enough to crack Clayton's top five. After the jump, I give my brief take on the teams Clayton did list.
John Clayton's Five Teams Most Affected by a Lockout
I don't see the Vikings being affected a whole lot. Regardless of whether there was a lockout or not, the transition from Brett Favre to a rookie quarterback in Christian Ponder was going to be met with some bumps in the road. The defense should still be the same, so they have that going for them too. The Titans are a team definitely worthy of being on this list. After so many years of having Jeff Fisher as their head coach, the Titans are in a similar situation as the Browns with new offensive and defensive systems.
The only reason Cincinnati is on this list, in my view, is because they can't make a firm decision on what to do with quarterback Carson Palmer. Until a decision is made on Palmer, the team and fans are sort of in limbo in terms of who will be the official starter next season, and that has to drive people up a wall. I'm not too sure why Seattle belongs on the list over Cleveland. Matt Hasselbeck will probably be back, and the team had a scrappy happy-go-lucky winning stretch last year. I don't see a whole lot changing for them next year. Lastly, the Cardinals certainly belong on this list because they have no answer at the quarterback position. They did not draft a starter in April's draft and none of last year's guys will start. It is assumed they will sign or acquire someone like Marc Bulger, Kyle Orton, or Kevin Kolb, but that is still a big unknown until the lockout is lifted.
My guess is that Cleveland did not crack the list because of the stability they appear to have in the front office. What do you think?