Neither the owners nor the union are enamored of seeing disproportionate amounts spent on rookies at the expense of veterans, so that disparity should be addressed in future labor negotiations. And with the owners having opted out of the collective bargaining agreement a year ago, this season could be the last played with a salary cap. That would leave only the "balanced" schedule to assure that parity remains a centerpiece of the NFL's future. However, fans that prefer parity to dynasty can rest easy. It is the schedule that is the essential component in those rapid NFL turnarounds.

Not the balanced schedule, but the critical imbalances within it. Each team plays two games, or 12.5 percent of its schedule, against different teams than its division rivals. (And if the commissioner has his way and expands the season to 17 games, it may soon be three games against different teams.) Given that six of the eight NFL divisions were decided by a game or less, that is hardly an insignificant difference. Especially when last year's fourth-place teams play their two " different" games against considerably weaker opponents.

That bodes especially well for teams like the Washington Redskins and the New Orleans Saints, both of which finished with 8–8 records, but in last place in strong divisions. Both will be rewarded this season when they play their two "different" games against a pair of true doormats, the Lions and the Rams, which were a combined 2–30 last year.

The other imbalance in the schedule is, of course, that each division is matched with a different division in both the NFC and AFC. And there are huge disparities between them. The two divisions which featured the biggest 2008 turnarounds, the NFC South (40–24) and the AFC East (38–26) were not so coincidentally the two that drew both the NFC West (22–42) and the AFC West (23–41), the weakest divisions in the league. That again augurs well for the Redskins; the team has the luxury this season of four games against an AFC West that did not produce a single winning team last year.

The schedule suggests that Washington and New Orleans are best positioned to emerge as the sleeper team of the 2009 season. Of course, Las Vegas never sleeps, which may explain why bookmakers haven't cast either the Redskins or the Saints as genuine long shots. Rather, Washington will kick off the season at similar odds to 2009 playoff teams like Atlanta and Miami while New Orleans is considered to have as good or possibly even a better chance to win Super Bowl XLIV as last year's almost-champion Cardinals.

So check out the weekend's draft for all those fun fantasies of the future. But check out the NFL schedule, released just last week, for a far better indication of how your favorite team will fare this season.

© 2009