5 most disappointing NFL teams so far in 2018

Through nearly five weeks of the 2018 season, these five teams are the most disappointing.

This side of the New England Patriots, legit Super Bowl contenders come and go each NFL season with a fair amount of turnover. At this point last year no one would have pegged the Philadelphia Eagles as a potential champion, but there they were in early February hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.

A deep NFC brought a bunch of teams into the conversation to win Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta next February, or at least make a deep playoff run. The first quarter-plus of the season has weeded a few out, with weaknesses that have been and will be exposed against good teams.

It’s not fair to draw broad conclusions five games in, since teams wind up using September as an extended preseason as they try to figure out what they are.

But these five teams have fallen short of expectations thus far, and are the most disappointing teams in the NFL through almost five complete weeks.

5. New York Giants

The level of disappointment in the Giants is tied to where expectations were going into the season. There was nowhere to go but up after a 3-13 campaign in 2017 though, and the drafting of running back Saquon Barkley second overall brought some spark.

But Eli Manning and a bad offensive line has held back an offense that otherwise has good talent, to the point Odell Beckham has sort of called out the two-time Super Bowl MVP.

Three of New York’s four losses have come by seven points or less, and the other was one-score game deep into the fourth quarter. If Panthers’ kicker Graham Gano doesn’t make a 63-yard field goal on Sunday, they are 2-2 and this is a different conversation. But there’s no denying the Giants have been disappointing through five games.