NFL teams that can expect to take a leap forward in 2012

As the draft has past and the player movement slows down, NFL training camps draw closer as we approach July and some teams should expect to take a step forward in 2012.

The teams that jump out include the Denver Broncos, Indianapolis Colts, and Washington Redskins due to the significant upgrades they made at the quarterback position this offseason.

The Broncos let go of arguably the most popular athlete in all American sports in quarterback Tim Tebow, however they replaced him with one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the game.

After acquiring future Hall Of Famer Peyton Manning, the Broncos can expect to take themselves from being a good team that they were in 2011 to a potential championship contender in 2012. 

Hall Of Famer to be Peyton Manning was the biggest
acquisition of the NFL offseason, signing with Denver
Broncos after spending his entire career with
the Indianapolis Colts.

Despite missing the entirety of the 2011 season, Manning, when healthy is arguably the best regular season quarterback in the history of football. 

The Colts drafted franchise quarterback Andrew Luck out of Stanford with the first pick in the draft and the Redskins snagged their own franchise quarterback in Robert Griffin III with the second pick in the draft. 

All three of these teams can expect to get a lot better this coming season, even if it doesn’t show in the win column. For the Colts and Redskins due to the maturation process needed for their young quarterbacks and the fact that they were drafted to the two worst teams in the league, wins could be difficult to come by. 

The Buffalo Bills and the San Francisco 49ers appear to have significantly improved themselves, though they will not receive the same publicity because they did not land big name new quarterbacks.

Nonetheless, the Bills added one of the best defensive linemen in the game in Mario Williams, who they snagged from the Houston Texans. Williams, is the kind of dominant force on defense who can help change an entire defense just by his presence alone on the field.

The Bills remain in a tough division with the New England Patriots and New York Jets as the favorites but this move should give the Bills and their fans much more hope in 2012.

Meanwhile, the 49ers added many offensive weapons to a team that relied heavily upon its shutdown defense in 2011. In free agency the 49ers snagged wide receivers Randy Moss and Mario Manningham, and running back Brandon Jacobs. Then, the 49ers followed up their signings by drafting more offensive help, the team selected wide receiver A.J. Jenkins (University of Illinois) in the first round and running back LaMichael James (University of Oregon) in the second round.  

Other teams have improved themselves this offseason but these teams in particular jump out as teams that are ready to take a step or another step forward this fall.