The 2018 NFL regular season is complete and we're now in the playoffs with four teams left competing for a Super Bowl win. With the regular season over, many things were learned with many of those things becoming expectations for next season. Here are six things that were observed throughout the regular season.

Texans are elite when healthy

In 2017, the Texans finished last in the AFC South with a 4-12 record. The poor record can be blamed on injuries as they lost their then breakout rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson to an ACL injury and they also lost star defensive player J.J.

Watt to an injury. This season, they finished first in their division with an 11-5 record and a big reason why they finished with that record was that everyone stayed healthy. Watson appeared in every single game and carried over his success from last season and Watt appeared in every single game for the first time in two seasons.

Cooper trade paid off for the Cowboys

On October 22, the Raiders traded Cooper to the Cowboys for a first round pick. Many thought that the Cowboys gave up too much for Cooper, who was playing mediocre at the time, but it turned out to be a great deal for the Cowboys. Once he was traded, the Cowboys went 7-2 and Cooper had more receiving yards in a Cowboys uniform than he did in all of last year.

Cooper also averaged 13.7 yards a reception and scored six touchdowns as a Cowboy. Meanwhile, the Cowboys first round pick which is now the Raiders will be pick number 27 and the player the Raiders select with that pick will most likely have nowhere near an impact that Cooper gave the Cowboys.

Jaguars and Steelers are a mess

Both the Jaguars and Steelers were playoff teams, in the 2017-18 season, but both teams missed the playoffs this season.

With the Jaguars, they performed terribly on the field as a team. Star defensive player Jalen Ramsey did a better job trash-talking opponents than he did on the field which led to the Jaguars front office being open to trading him in the offseason. Star running back Leonard Fournette missed half the season with an injury and was also suspended for a game.

He also got into an argument with a fan after a game in which they lost. The quarterback situation in Jacksonville is awful with Blake Bortles and Cody Kessler underperforming which led the Jaguars to the last place in their division with a 5-11 record.

The Steelers did fine on the field but it's off the field where problems ensued. It started off with Le'Veon Bell holding out the entire season due to contract disputes with the front office which resulted in Steelers players criticizing Bell for not reporting to the team. Things got worse at the end of the season where star receiver Antonio Brown was not allowed to play in a playoff deciding matchup due to an altercation that occurred earlier during that week.

Brown has requested a trade and wants out of Pittsburgh but it is not known whether the Steelers front office will grant him that request. Whether Brown stays or not, the Steelers lack of chemistry and ongoing issues are causing problems for the whole team.

Time to start trusting the younger players

Most quarterbacks usually start as backups before they become the starter for their team. Mahomes was Alex Smiths' backup in 2017-18 and he has put up an MVP caliber season this year. What if Mahomes started in his rookie season? He is a better quarterback than Smith. Many teams went young this year as multiple players from the 2018 draft found themselves in a starting role in their first season on an NFL roster.

Baker Mayfield and Nick Chubb ended up getting the majority of the starts for the Browns and they ended up going 7-8-1. If they were both starters from week one, the Browns could have possibly been in the playoffs. Sam Darnold became the youngest player to start during the opening week and while the Jets didn't have a fantastic season, Darnold played reasonably well. When Flacco couldn't perform for the Ravens, they turned to rookie Lamar Jackson who finished with a 6-1 record and led them to the playoffs. Saquon Barkley put up the most rushing yards by a rookie in NFL history and if it wasn't for him, the Giants may have not won a game this year. Also, Josh Allen started the majority of the games for the Bills and the Bills performed much better than anyone expected them to.

Teams would be wise to have their top rookies in a starting role in year one.

One player can change a whole team

Football is a team sport but one player can make a huge difference in the landscape of the team. After refusing to grant a contract extension to Khalil Mack, the Raiders shipped him to the Bears and the Bears became a much better team. In a division with the Packers and Vikings, the Bears weren't expected to make the playoffs but they managed to do so with a 12-4 record with two of those wins against the Vikings and one of those wins against the Packers. The Bears went from being last in the division in 2017 with a 5-11 record into a playoff team with a record of 12-4 with Mack playing his first year with the Bears.

The Browns are knocking on the door

After winning one game in a span of two years, the Browns went 7-8-1 and beat some of the better teams in the league. The Browns still have some work to do but are now a much more complete team than they used to be with Garrett, Mayfield, Chubb, Njoku, and Landry all in the fold. They tied the Steelers, in week one, and got wins against teams like the Falcons, Bengals, and Panthers. The Browns are no longer the laughing stock in the league and are now a much more competitive team that other teams need to start taking more seriously. The playoffs next year is not out of the question but that will depend on who they bring in during the offseason.
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