Justin Wilkie, over at Bleacher Report, has offered his 2008 Arena Football League preseason rankings, and like a lot of us, has Chicago topping the list. They return strong from last season, and had the top free agent signing group bar none. His top 8 (visit the article for the complete list):

1-Chicago Rush(Central Division, 2007 record 12-4)

2-Philadelphia Soul(Eastern Division, 8-8)

3-Cleveland Gladiators(Eastern Division, Former L.V.Gladiators 2-14, in Western Div.)

4-New Orleans VooDoo(Southern Division, 5-11)

5-San Jose Sabercats(Western Dvision, 13-3, 2007 ArenaBowl Champs)

6-Los Angeles Avengers(Western Division, 9-7)

8-Arizona Rattlers(Western Division, 4-12)

I'm becoming convinced that LA is underranked across the board. Granted, they do have, debatedly, the toughest division in the AFL. I like the way the team worked in the offseason, and I expect great things from this group. I'd put them at #2.

Justin is putting a lot of faith in the building going on in Cleveland. The team has put out a ton of effort during the offseason to get things going in its new Ohio home, whether this will yield a top 5 return is likewise debateable.

Be sure to check out Justin's 2008 Arena Football League team preview series, which just kicked off with the Chicago Rush preview.