2012 NFL Schedule: Early Predictions for 2012 Super Bowl Contenders

Free agency is far from over and the NFL Draft is still over a week away, but as the 2012 schedules begin to trickle out, it's hard to avoid making predictions about which teams will contend for a spot in Super Bowl XLVII.

Will the Giants repeat? Will the teams that were almost there improve enough to play in New Orleans on Feb. 3rd, 2013? Will a random team come out of nowhere to dominate in the 2012 season (perhaps led by Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin III)?

Here's a look at some of the teams that could be contending for a Lombardi Trophy next February.

San Francisco

The 49ers were only a couple of plays away from making a trip to Indianapolis for Super Bowl XLVI in 2012, and since losing to the Giants last January, they've only gotten better.

Since ending their season with a 20-17 overtime loss to the Giants, the 49ers have added the offensive playmakers that will help them make a run again in 2012. Next season's wide receiving corps will feature Randy Moss and former Giant Mario Manningham, who made the play of the game in last year's Super Bowl against the Patriots. San Francisco also added former Giants running back Brandon Jacobs, who struggled to come to terms with losing playing time to Ahmad Bradshaw in New York.

Quarterback Alex Smith finally started to come into his own last season throwing for 3,144 yards, 17 touchdowns and just five interceptions. With reigning Coach of the Year Jim Harbaugh leading the charge, this will be a much-improved and dangerous team to contend with next season.

New York Jets

This season's experiment in New York could go one of a few ways: Mark Sanchez could thrive under the pressure of Tim Tebow breathing down his neck, Tebow could assume the starting role and lead the team to a deep playoff run or both quarterbacks could flop.

Either of the first two scenarios leave the Jets with a good opportunity to gun for the AFC East title.

New York looked good on paper last season, but a collapse over the last three games of the year doomed them to an 8-8 record and no playoff berth. Since the season ended, the Jets have re-signed Sanchez to a three-year deal, traded for Tebow, signed wide receiver Scotty McKnight and picked up a couple of safeties in LaRon Landry and DeAngelo Smith.

The Jets had all the pieces in place to be great last season, but they fell apart late. This season, with a little bit of defensive fortitude (plus the spark that Tebow and Sanchez will provide), New York could finally live up to its potential and head coach Rex Ryan's infamous promise.

Green Bay Packers

Nobody was more surprised by the Packers' early exit from last year's postseason than the Packers themselves. They were the most dominant team in the regular season, finishing with a 15-1 record, but bowed out in their first game of the postseason to the eventual champion New York Giants.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers followed up his Super Bowl victory with his most spectacular season yet, leading the NFL with a 122.5 quarterback rating. The Packers finished third in the league with 6,482 total yards (405.1 per game), but their defense proved to be a problem, finishing dead last in the league  allowing 411.6 yards per game.

During the first few months of free agency, Green Bay signed safety Anthony Levine and cornerback Brandian Ross, but they have a lot of work to do in training camp to prevent last year's inefficiencies from cropping up again.

Struggling defense or not, though, the Packers are good enough to make a run in the playoffs this year. Their offense last year was too dominant to be counted out. As the Patriots proved in 2012, one of the worst defenses in the league can still end up in the Super Bowl.