Allen Park — It’s a question coaches often get as spring turns to summer and the NFL offseason unofficially ends: Are you better off now than you were a year ago?
The short answer is nobody knows. Certainly not in this league, where roster turnover fueled by the salary cap and the annual coaching carousel turns projections into guesswork. And where parity is part of the plan, the Patriots’ dynasty notwithstanding.
Remember, there were eight new teams that made the playoffs in 2017. Seven new teams made it last winter. And two of those — Chicago and Houston — did so by going from worst to first in their respective divisions.