AFC Overview.

The After Math: The shortest (and Longest) seven months of every sports fan's life, with the Super Bowl behind us, As The NFL Heads Into Hibernation Until September or August If You Care About Preseason. Before long, NFL Teams Won’t Have Much Tine To Blink Because It feels Like Just Yesterday The Chiefs notched back-to-back Super Bowl wins, or the Eagles picked up two Super Bowl appearances in three seasons: those two teams hang in limbo in the football hierarchy. Interest: The world’s most powerful Sports Complex Never Weans Because The Money Never Sleeps, and the NFL’s Influence In Western and International Affairs Strengthens With Every Mention of Their Brand. The Media And People Like Myself Will Keep the NFL Thriving By Breaking Down The Super Bowl For about Two Weeks Weeks, and As Free Agency Approaches and The New Salary Cap Gets Released or Becomes Official. The Has Arrived For A Time To Rank all The Teams Heading Into The Offseason, Partly based On How Each Team Finished The Year, and The Other Half Based On Non-Quantifiable Like “Vybes” and Eye Test, Because So Much How Much Football Changes from Snap To Snap.

New England Patriots—

Drake Maye Suffered Through One Of The Worse Playoff and Super Bowl Performances In History All Within The Shadow of His Unexpected MVP runner-up season. The post-Super Bowl Film Reviews Only Further Exacerbate How Bad Maye Played Relative To Expectation, with a light shone on all the missed opportunities. Still, the Offensive Game Plan Failed On Nearly All Levels, from the coaching staff down, But Particularly The Execution. The Patriots, Despite Making the Super Bowl, Have A Long Way To Go As Far Competitive Longevity, and Several Offseason Moves To Faced In March, Including A Contract Extension For Christian Gonzales, Upgrades to The Offensive Line. The Patriots' passing game has gotten a couple of solid years of production out of tight end Hunter Henry, but the offense needs to address the tight end position this offseason with options like Kyle Pitts and Isiah Likely Hitting The Market. The Patriots Won’t Want To Move Will Campbell To Guard, Simply Avoid Negatively Impact The Players Confidence But The Move Inside Appears Both Imminent And Necessary. “If you don’t make plays, you end up crying at the podium.”

Miami Dolphins—

Not Too Long Ago, Like Just Three Seasons Ago in 2023, The Miami Dolphins Introduced The Football World To A New Iteration Of High Octane Offense By Putting Up A Historical Offensive Performance. The Addition of Star Wide Receiver Tyreek Hill, with New Head Coach Mike McDaniels, The Mastermind Behind The Offense, The Dolphins Exploded For 70 Points, 726 Yards Of Offense, 10.2 Yards Per Play To Beat down the Broncos. The Explosive Offense Looked Limitless, The Dolphins Sat Their Starters In The Fourth After Scoring Touchdown On 8 of Their 9 Drives. A Year Earlier, in 2022, the Dolphins Gave The World A Slight Preview When Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa threw 469 Passing yards, six touchdowns, and the offense scored four touchdowns in the fourth quarter to overcome a 35-14 Deficit In a Comeback Win Over The Ravens. The Dolphins Produced So Many Stand Out performances, The Offense Ranked Number One in 2023, And Simply Looked Incomparable Even Limitless, even limitless. Tua Also Lead The League In Passing Yards with 4,624 yards Through The Air. The Stars Of The Offense Were All Under 30, and Miami Had Tua and Receiver Jaylen Waddle Under Rookie Deals. Tua A Top Ten Pick Shook Off Concerns About His Health and His Stature And Starter Looking Like A Future MVP come 2026 None Of Hype and Promise Not Arrived Delivered Like Some Of The MCU Post Credit Scenes and Everything The Dolphins Started Has All Fallen Into Rubble In A Few Season. The Moments Of Success Flew By Like Tyreek Hill On His Many Touchdowns For The Dolphins Offense of That Period Leaving Behind A Memorable Time Even For Non-Dolphins. In one offseason, the Dolphins have torn everything down and are now poised to embark on a rebuild. After Initial Reports Suggested The Dolphins wouldn’t fire Mike McDaniels, after the first of the firings made news, then later that week, the Dolphins Made A 180 Or A Reverse Uno And Let Go Of Mike McDaniels after four seasons, after a doldrums of a 7-10 Season. The Dolphins Also Released Star Receiver Tyreek Hill four seasons after the Dolphins traded for the prized speedster, after Hill's time in Kansas City Came To A Close. Hill enjoyed his best years as a receiver in Miami, Including Two 1700 Or More Yards Seasons Leading The League In Receiving Yards and Receiving Touchdowns(13) in 2023. In His First Two Seasons With The Dolphins, Hill Recorded 238 Receptions, 3509 Receiving Yards, 160 First Downs, and 106.3 Receiving Yards Per Game. the Gravity That Hill Generated Created Avenues For other Receiving Options Like Jaylen Waddle, Tight End Mike Gesicki(For A Stretch), and Running Back Devon Achane, all of whom thrived with Hill on the field and at his best, not to mention Tua Tagovailoa. By 2024 Season All Of The Splendor Vanish Tyreek Hill Seem To Lose A Step Or Money Motivation On The Field But Not Off The Field As He Challenge Olympic Champion Noah Lyles To a Race. Defense Adjusted To More Deep Safety Looks, Forcing An Explosive Centric Offense With Explosive Centric talent To Nose Dive Tua’s Air Yards Per Attempt Drop From 9.3 In 2022 to Just 5.7 In 2024, And The Concussion Issues With Tua didn’t Help The Offense. Tua Missed Six Games In 2024 despite Completing A Career High 72.9% Of His Passes.

Hill finished 2024 with 81 catches, 959 receiving yards, and six touchdowns. With Tua Injured For Several Games. In 2024, Tua suffered a series of concussions, some of which, from first glance, looked career-threatening but ultimately proved career-altering injuries. Tua Noticeably Shied Away From Contact In A contact Sport At A Protected Position, and Coming Into This Season His Massive 54 Million Dollar Contract($212.1 million contract) Annually Became An albatross Rather Than An Asset in just two seasons of the deal. In December of 2025, the Dolphins Bench Tua Amidst The Worse Season Of His Career, career-high 15 interceptions, and A Career Low 37.5 Qbr, in favor Of Rookie Quinn Ewers To Close out the Year. The Dolphins released Tyreek Hill, and in the process absorbed a $28 million dead cap hit. If They Trade Tua or cut him, the Dolphins Would Incur A $99 Million Dead Cap Hit Making Any Kind Of Tua Transaction Nearly Unfathomable. The Dolphins Also Cut Edge Rusher Bradley Chubb after three seasons, after acquiring Chubb From The Broncos. A Former Top Five Pick Chubb Never Lack The Talent But Always Found Himself On The Injured List The Dolphins Made The Move For Chubb After Early But Unproven Success Under McDaniels As The Franchise Looked To Go “All In” And InPersonally Never Liked The Move, trading Away A First in A Classic “Haste Makes Waste” Style Move That Never Lived Up To “The Promise”. In Two And Half Seasons With The Dolphins Chubb Racked up 19.5 Sacks, Missed The Entire 2024 With An ACL injury, double Figure Sacks Once(11,2023) and Despite 48 Pressures Last Season He Never Lived Up to The $33,462,444 guaranteed Reworked Contract He Signed In 2025 or The 2023 first-round pick, running back Chase Edmonds and a 2024 fourth-round pick The Dolphins Surrendered For His Services. The Exact Pick The Broncos Used To Secure The Rights To Head Coach Sean Payton. Now, the Dolphins Lack Both A Hall Of Fame Coach And A Bradley Chubb. The Dolphins fired Former general manager Chris Grier For A Longs List Of Bad Deals that Have Sunk The

dolphins In A Few Seasons. The Dolphins Hired Former Packers Defensive Coordinator Jeff Hafley To Lead The Team. The Dolphins Will Steer Towards A Complete “rebuild” of sorts, maybe with an emphasis on younger, cost-effective players, According To Sportac. The Dolphins Spent $1.34 billion In Free Agency But The Results Never Reflect The Bill, but the results never reflect the bill. They have just two playoff seasons and a bunch of overpriced contracts.

Buffalo Bills—

The Buffalo Bills Found Themselves Back At The Door With Just A Few Steps Away From The Promise Land Of The AFC Title Game And Maybe the Super Bowl. The Bills Came One Turnover Filled, Inevitable Bo Nix game-winning drive away from getting back to the AFC Championship, and with Buffalo’s latest divisional crash-out in the books, the question persists: Will This Team Join The Ranks Of The Last Iteration Of A Bills Contending Team, One That Made Four Straight trips to the Super Bowl? The Bills Have Made The Playoffs Every Years Since 2019, registering four division round losses, including this season, two conference losses, and One Wild Card Loss. This Season(2025), the Bills Shifted Their Philosophy, With Reigning MVP Quarterback Josh Allen still in his prime. No Team Ran The Football More The Ball More Than 547 times In 2025. Whether Through Strategic Alteration, a results-oriented approach, or A Amalgamation Of All The Bills Pivoted From Their Drop back Offensive Approach. Josh Allen Had Just 505 Dropbacks, 466 Passing Attempts, 35 Passing Touchdowns, 3686 passing yards, and 7.2 average depth of target, all the lowest numbers in four years. Allen Turned In A Few Hyperbolic Performances, His 394 yards Four Touchdown Performance In Week One(two touchdowns through the air and another pair of scores on the ground), a Six Touchdown Performance Against The Bucs Where He Threw For 317 Passing yards, Registering Six Touchdowns Total Three Passing, Three On The Ground, One Several Performances Allen Notch With At Least One Touchdown Pass and Another Touchdown On The Ground. Buffalo Proved That Whenever They Wanted To Or Whenever Defenses Forgot What Allen Already Proved He’s Capable Of, Allen Would Perform Up To Super Saiyan levels before heading into the recesses to await The Playoffs. The Bills' offense got off to a Hot Start, 30 Points Or More In Their First Four Games Before Winning All Four Before Suffering A Two Game Losing Streak. Defenses Understood That The Bills' offense lacked the level Punch From Years Past Due To Changes In Talent And A Lack Of Development Of Receiver Talent. Josh Allen's deep passing Attempt Dropped From 15.5% To 11.3% in 202. Just 21 deep completions were made because the defense faced Allen with more zone-based coverages (60.4%). Allen Completed 77.0% Of His Passes Against Zone, 7.9 Yards Per Attempt, 111.6 Passer Rating, But Allen Threw The Ball Below 10 Air Yards 65.0% Of His Attempts. The Bills Still Produced Plenty Explosive Plays 11.79% Tops In The League But Those Plays Often Happened on Yards After Catch Plays, especially On Targets To lead Receiver Kahlil Shakir, Who Generated 33 yards after catch per game and led the Bills In Receiving Yards, 719, 533 After The Catch. The Bills Finished Sixth In Yards After The Catch In The league But Lack Talent At Receiver, but lack talent at receiver. No Player on the roster averaged better than 50 Yards Receiving Per Game, and only one, Dalton Kincaid, Averaged Better Than two Yards Per Route Run. The Bills Had 17 Players Receive At Least One Target This As The Team Sifted The Margins Of The Wide Receiver Bins Of Football To Find Play Making. Second Year Receiver Keon Coleman Never Found The Edge To Make The Leap and Found Himself At Odds With The Team During The Season Because of “maturity issues off the field.” The Bills Head Coach Scratched Himhealthy For Three Games and Led The Team In Air Yard Share. The Bills needed play-making, and When The Deep Throw Opportunities Opened Up Against The Broncos, Allen couldn’t Connect Late In The game. The Lack Of Dynamic Ability (and Turnovers and careless play)Thwarted The Bills' AFC Championship Hopes. In years past, the Bills Could Count On At least a first-round home game, but Buffalo didn’t Count On The New England Patriots Emerging As One Of The Best Teams in football and taking off with the division, ending Buffalo’s Division Run At Five Straight. The Bills Faced A Very Tough Jaguars Team In Jacksonville— A Great Place To Play Winter Football In Sunny Florida—but maybe in cold, snowy Upstate New York. The Bills Control The Ball and Therefore Control The Game Instead Of A Hotly Contested Game With The Jaguars 27-24. With Allen Nursing, a foot injury and a slower-paced game fit the bill for The Bills. In the Divisional Round Against The Broncos, Allen and the Bills overcame five turnovers to force an overtime period. Still, Allen Got Back To His Regular Play Style with 9.1 Intended Air Yards Per Attempt. Still, Allen Finished The Game 0/9 On Deep Passes( 20 yards or further downfield) with two picks, including one pick that Broncos Defender ja’Quan McMillan drove the death nail in the overtime period. The Broncos Committed Their Defense To Slowing Down The Run with Bills Running Back James Cook and Quarterback Josh Allen, thus opening up one-on-one opportunities for the Bills' offense that Buffalo lacked The Talent To Take advantage of In The Long haul. The Buffalo Bills Need To Prioritize Playmaker(s) Like The Organization Did Some Years Ago When They traded For Wide Receiver Stefon Diggs. The Bills Stand 6 Million Dollars Over The Cap. Still, They Can Restructure multiple Deals Because Only Josh Allen Has A Cap Hit north of 25 Million Dollars, and This Offseason Presents a Litany Of Options On The Market. Maybe take a look at Tyreek Hill, A Player Who Has Cut At The Heart Of Buffalo Fans On Multiple Occasions. He’s Available. Bucs All-time Great Mike Evans Will Also Field Interest From the Bills. This Offense Nearly Made The Conference Championship. The Bills' defense finished 20th Overall In Defensive DVOa, Thanks To Finishing 31st in rushing DVOA. The Bills averaged just 149.1 Passing yards allowed, but that was mostly because offenses could just run the ball at will against the Buffalo Front. The Bills Could Also Invest In upgrading Their Front Four With A Young Plugger Possibly In The Draft. The Bills Fired Head Coach Sean McDermott after Nine Seasons and Elevated Play Caller Joe Brady To Head Coach. McDermott Revived The Bills' brand from Patriots Push Over To Formidable Opponent, but he hit a wall, and I’m surprised his personage survived that whole 9/11 Comment Fiasco. With the Chiefs Expected To Remain Out Of The Picture As a Contender, the Ravens are facing a Philosophical Retooling. The Bills' window remains open, of course, they have new threats to fend with in the Broncos and Patriots, and Lord knows who else awaits to become a challenger in the AFC. Josh Allen Will Turn 30 This Year, and with a load of playoff experience, lots of football is ahead of him. A Couple Of The Right Moves Can put the Bills Back In The Driver Seat Of Their Fate In Football.

New York Jets—

I’ll Admit The Jets didn’t Give Me Cause for “optimism”—I’m not a Jets Fan, Quite The Opposite—as a football fan, but I Believed The Team Could Have A Competitive Year, Like Many Of The Seasons The Team Produced Under Robert Saleh. The Jets Still Hold Much Of The All Pro Talent From Years’s Past Corner Back Sauce Gardner, Defensive Tackle Quinnen Williams, and also high-end players like Jermaine Johnson, Quincy Williams, and Others All On Defense. The Jets Signed Quarterback Justin Fields Two Year Deal Worth 40 Million Dollar, Still Just 25 Years Old(At The Time Of Signing)Fields’s High end Productive and Starter Experience Made Him A Viable Option With a lot Of Untapped Potential and The Jets Would Provide The Environment With Fields As The Unquestioned Starter Could Re-Ignite The Confidence Of The Former Number One Quarterback In American High School. With Garrett Wilson at wide receiver, the Jets playing competitive ball this season seems feasible. New York Started The Year With a Competitive Battle Against The Steelers, In Which Pittsburgh won by three, but Field Completed 72.7% Of His Passes and Generated A Passer Rating Over 100. The Jets started with five straight losses, but Fields Generated A Passer Rating Over 100 with 200 Yards Or More Passing In Three Of The First Five Games Before Everything Unfolded Starting With The Week Six Game In London. The Broncos Sacked Justin Fields Nine Times in London. Fields Would Get One More 200 Yard Passing Performance In the team's first win of The Season In A Upset Over The Bengals in Week Eight. By that point, the Bengals Had Lost seven Straight Games and closed the season with a 3-14 Record. The Negatives For The Jets Pervaded The Season, Fields Played Just Nine games leading The Team In Passing Yards (1,259), but injuries and Poor Play Derailed His Season. Lead Received Garrett Wilson Played In Eight games but Still Led The Team In Receiving Yards At 395 Yards. The Jets Offense Had Two Bright Spots: Rookie Offensive Tackle Armand Membou, who generated a rookie-best 5.4% pressure rate, and Running Back Breece Hall, who posted the first 1,000-yard rushing season of his career. At The TRADE DEADLINE, the Jets Traded Away Corner Sauce Gardner To The Colts For Two First Round Picks and Defensive Tackle Quinnen Williams to Dallas for a first and Later Picks As New York Hit A Hard Refresh. The Jets Retained Head Coach Aaron Glenn After His First Season Went Off Like A Disaster, and The Offseason Has Started Somnolently. The Jets also traded Promising Defensive End Jermaine Johnson to the Titans for Titans Defensive Tackle T’vondre Sweat, an Even Trade On Paper. Sweat Ranked Fifth In Amongst Interior Defenders According To Pff. The Jets Have Mostly Traded A lot Of The Players From The Joe Douglas Era Especially On The Defensive Side Of The Ball And Now Aaron Glenn and Darren Mougey In The Second Year Attempt The Helm Have A Chance To Reshape The Roster Towards The Future. One of the major features of the Jets team is that the offense lacks talent and Options. Once Garrett Wilson Went Down With Injury The Lack Of Depth Became Pronounced. The Jets Acquired Former Colts second-round pick Adonai Mitchell In The Sauce Gardner Trade After Mitchell fell out of the team's offensive game plan. Mitchell Showed Off His Route Running Skills And Those eight Inch Had By Dropping A Couple Of Catchable Targets Before wrapping Up His First Run With The Jets with eight Catches For 301 Receiving Yards. The Jets have Mitchell Under A Rookie Deal for Two More Years, but they’ll need a legit number two receiver, perhaps number one, at the rate they're trading Joe Douglas Guys. The Jets Project To Have North Of $80 million Dollars To Spend In Free Agency. Sometimes Teams With A lot of money get the deals, other times they settle for overpriced and underperformers. Players, whether Home Grown or Outsourced, don’t Always Want To Play On The Jets Because The Jets Suck Unless The Jets overpay. As far as quarterbacks go, the Jets Will Focus On The Veteran Free Agent Market With Only One Prominent Quarterback Available In The Draft. The Jets could keep Justin Fields(They Didn’t) Around, Given They already Paid Him $30 Million Guaranteed On Two Year Deal and A Load Of Talent In next year's draft, where the Jets Will Likely Have Another Top Ten Shot At a long-term quarterback.

AFC West—

Denver Broncos—

The Bo Nix Ankle Injury Will Stand As One Of The Biggest “What Ifs?” of Recent Football Memory. The Broncos' second quarterback suffered An Ankle Injury On One Of The Final Plays In Overtime Of Denver’s Divisional Win Over The Buffalo Bills. While No One will mention Nix In The Same Vein As A Tom Brady, Joe Burrow, or Even A Drake Maye, he’s a better-than-average quarterback, and the Broncos' offense operated better with him on the field. In their Sophomore Season, Quarterbacks Either Leap Or Suffer A Slump, But Nix(And Caleb Williams) Mostly Remain Static As Far As Measurable Matter. Nix led the NFL In Attempts 611 on 669 dropbacks), but improvements to metrics like net yards Per Attempt, success rate, and 29th In Accuracy PerCentage, 25th In Adjusted Completion percentage, and 16th in EPA per dropback. Nothing About Nix On Thesurface Screams “Super-bowl Winning Quarterback” But the Oregon Duck Product Makes For His early Lapses In His Game With A Few Advantages, He’s Practically Un-sack-able Thanks To His Mobility, 3.3%, and the Denver Offensive Line. Nix also explained that at completion, highlight throws, throws with a higher level of difficulty like throws on the move, are measured by FTNfantasy. Nic had 17 and Explosive Throws for 20 or more yards downfield, for which Nix had 47, 25 Plays Of 20 Plus Air Yards(8th), and Nine Explosive Touchdowns(3rd). According to Next Gen Stats, Nix threw on the run (8+ MPH) on 25.5% of his Pass attempts in the 2025 regular season, the highest Next Gen has ever recorded in-season, and On Such Throws, Nix Has Completed 51% Of attempts, and While Not efficient, the volume helps Nix overcome defenses. Movement Help Nix Extend The Play, He Finished The Season Number One In Attempts Over 2.5 Seconds Time To Throw, But Generated the Second Highest Target Separation And Tight Window Throw Rate. Nix also bared the arsenal of scrambling. He scrambled 35 times, piling up 300 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 8.6 yards per attempt. Nearly A New Conversion of Downs. If Nix Rollouts Didn’t Create The Looks He Liked, He Just Scrambled To Create Yards on Manage A Positive Play Until The Next Down. His Traditional Numbers Sunk But His Effectiveness As Played Remain. Nix and Sean Payton demonstrated Such Against The Bill in the division, where Nix finished 26/46, but his effectiveness on deep passes was 3/4 for 82 yards and two touchdowns. He threw a 20-yard pass and used 14 passes when on the run, Completing Just four for 36 yards and one touchdown, but forcing Buffalo’s Defense To Respect His Legs. The Denver Offense Doesn’t Need an efficient Bo Nix but an Effective One, A Quarterback Who Can Make His Offense Work Not Quite On Demand But More Times Than Not and the Broncos Took The AFC West crown and the number one seed in the conference with Nix as The Copilot, along with Sean Payton and The Defense. Should The broncos Upgrade Their Skill Position player? Denver Added Tight end Evan Engram, Who Didn’t Work Out with The Team. He Finished Outside The Top Ten On The Team In Receiving EPA and didn’t convert Opportunities.-8.1 Catch Over Expected) and Adds Very Late In Terms Of An Extra Gear And Carries The Highest Cap Hit Of Any Broncos Pass Catcher. With Bo Nix’s Play Style, Thriving Off Script, Living On The edge, scrambling, and Hunting Deep Completion But Mainly Settling For Short Passes—Bo Nix led the league in attempts under 10 air yards, 432. Not Too Many Receivers Can Thrive in this environment. The Broncos Could Lean In On The Players Already Established, Trusting In The Development Of Troy Franklyn, Marvin Mims, and Patrick Bryant, all guys on rookie contracts, alongside veteran and number one Cortland Sutton. The Broncos Also Had A Rookie Running back in RJ Harvey, Who Had Some Moments And Whom The Teams Expects To Take On a greater Role As Contributor To The Offense. He’s playing behind one of the best offensive lines in football, top 10 in Run Block Win Rate and Pass Block Win Rate. The Broncos Have A Large Share Of Their Players On rookie Scale Deals, With Most Of The Broncos' cap spending exhausted on the offensive line. The Broncos have $20 million to spend, with room For Extension To Create Move Space To Create An Immediate Contender. The Broncos' defense played standout last season, allowing the second-fewest offensive yards per game, Fifth In EPA Per Play(-01.5), and Second In Pressure Rate. The Broncos' pass defense limited Held's wide receivers to 6.6 yards per target, the second-fewest in the NFL, the Lowest Yards Per Play On Pass Plays, and 6 touchdowns, the fewest In The League. The Broncos Had Four Player Register At least seven sacks, led by edge rusher Nik Binitto, who Finished With 80 Pressures, 20.9% Pressure rate, and 14 Sacks. The Broncos' defense started the season pace to break the sack record, but they relied heavily on Binitto (and others) For Sack Production But Limited His Playing Time and His Pass Rush Snaps(397 Pass Rushes,36th). The Broncos Like Their Pass Rush But Adding More Depth Would Go A Long Way To Lifting This Defense To New Height. Denver Could Also Look To Improve Their Off Ball Linebacker Situation As Top Coverage(or The Most Targeted) linebacker, Alex Singleton, Registered A 132.4 Passer Rating When Targeted,+27.1 Coverage EPA, but he Made Up for it by leading the team in tackles, stops, and Hustles Plays. The Broncos have One Major Free Defensive Lineman, John Franklyn-Myers, Who Finished The Year With 7.5 Sacks and 39 pressures, and the 29-year-old could get serious interest in free agency. The Broncos Will Face Extension Talks and Renegotiation In The Future, and might not Want To Wrap Up Serious Money In A Periphery Player. The Broncos Fell One Awkward Bo Nix Fall away From Potentially Making A Super Bowl, Maybe Defeating The Patriots, and Bo Nix Knowing How To Identify A Blitz And Maybe Denver Wins. With Cap Space in tow, the Broncos Could Add Some Edge Depth, Running Back Depth, and Make Another Run at an AFC championship. Denver Now Holds Control Over The Division With The Chargers Not Far Behind, But Maybe Not To The Caliber.

Los Angeles Chargers—

Every Justin Herbert Stan Knows Where They Were When His Herbert’s 2025 MVP Campaign Crash Landed. Of course, I Had A Coffee In My Hand At Home Watching The Game Week Five Against The Commanders, When The Chargers' offense scored just ten points, and Justin Herbert threw just 166 Passing Yards on 29 Attempts. The Chargers Started That Game With A 10-0 Score But The Offense Nosedive After The First Quarter. The Chargers Offense Suffered Through Inconsistencies A Consequence Of Injuries Along and Injurious Play Along The Offensive Line And Running backs. In His First, Herbert Played Excellent Football Leading The League In Interception Rate In A More Contained Format But Racking Up +53.7 Pass EPA. However, In The 2025 season, the Chargers leaned a lot more on Herbert’s With 619 Dropback Shoulder By Necessity. Herbert’s Scrambling Help Him Racked 498 Yards Rushing Total For The Year, And Throwing 8 Touchdowns Total on The Move. The Chargers' Offensive Line Suffered A Major Blow When All-Pro Tackle Rashawn Slater Suffered A Season-Ending Knee Injury in The Offseason Days After Signing A New Deal. Joe Alt The Chargers Top Ten Pick In 2024 Suffered A Season ending Ankle Injury After Just 312 Snaps(offensive Lineman Play North Of 900 Snaps) Four Games and he Ranked 6th In Pass Block Grade Amongst Tackle According To pff and according To ESPN The Chargers Pass block win Rate Drops From 52.6% To 48% Without Alt In The Lineup, Both Bad Scores But One Significantly worse. The Chargers' hopes of a brilliant offensive line sank early, and so did The Hope Of A Run Game. The Chargers Drafted Running Back Omarion Hampton in the First Round In 2025. Drafting a first-round running back is always a bad omen. He Played In nine Games And Finished Second On The Team In Rushing Behind Former Sixth round Pick Running Back Kimani Vidal. Offseason acquisition Najee Harris Made Marginal Impact On The Team Before Suffering An Achilles Tear In His Third Game With the Team. Offseason Acquisition For The Chargers Didn’t Live Up To What The Team Hoped. Recently, Cut Guard Mekhi Becton lasted just one season, struggling with injury and sub-level play. After experiencing a bounce-back year in Philly at guard, after the Jets drafted him at tackle in the first round, the Chargers assumed Becton Would Continue To Develop At Guard But He Struggled Outside Of Philly. If the Chargers' offensive line returns in full health next, and that's a Big If Because Football and Injuries Go Hand in Hand, the Chargers Will Enter 2025 With At Least A Top Five Offense and At Worse Reduce That 43% Pressure Rate 60.0% Scramble Rate Against Justin Herbert. Despite Offensive Coordinator Greg Roman’s Propensity Towards The Run, Herbert flexed the arm talent out, not exactly “Return Of The Mack” sort of, but Herbert Dished Out Quality Deep Passes. The Chargers ranked in the top ten in serious attempts and Deep Passing Completion Percentage Over Expected With Eight Deep Touchdowns. This offseason, the Chargers Brought In Former Dolphins Head Coach Mike McDaniel to revamp the Chargers Offense. McDaniel led the Dolphins To Two Top Ten Offense Finishes In His Four Years In Miami, Including A Number One Finish In 2023 with a talented but physically limited quarterback in Tua Tagovailoa. With McDaniel’s leadership, a physically limitless quarterback, Herbert, The Sky Looks Like The Ceiling For The Chargers' offense. Third Year Receiver Quentin Johnston Made Strides In His Game In His Third Year In The League As He Can Actually Catch A Ball, +5.2% Catch Rate Over Expected, and Johnston Generated +20.9 Receiving EPA, Second On The Team, and Tied For First On The Team +0.24 EPA Per Target As The Team's Primary Deep Threat(23.0% Of His Routes). The Chargers Have To Upgrade The Pass Catchers. Top Target Ladd McConkey Took A Step Back from Last year’s Star Studded Pace, But He Regressed In Year Two. The Georgia Product Yards Per Route Run From The Slot Dropped From 2.4 to 1.2, His Recieving EPA Dropped From +62.1 in 2024 To +2.4 In 2025, and Catch Rate Over Expected All Declined In 2025. The Chargers' lack of a formidable run gave That Forced Opponents Out Of Nickel And Into More Base Defensive Looks(4-3) To Match McConkey Up With Favorable Matchups and His Place As A Non-Factor As Down Field Threat McConkey (-10.5 On Deep Reception). Herbert Ranked Fourth(171) in Total Attempts To The Slot Against But 17th in Yards Per Attempt Against Nickel Passing Attempts To The Slot, 7.4 Yards Per Attempt. I Love That The Charger Brought Back Franchise Legend Receiver Keenan Allen, And Let’s Forget That One Year Allen played in Chicago, But He’s 34 and Best Suited In The Slot Where Ladd McConkey Likes To Dominate, so the Chargers Need To Find Better Options At Pass Catchers. The Chargers don’t Necessarily Need To Pick Up An Elite Option But Guys Like Tua, Stefon Diggs, or even Darnell Mooney stand Out As Better Options Inside the Chargers Offense. Without Fielding Too Many Brand Name Options along Defense Outside Of All-Pro Safety Derwin James and Edge Rusher Khalil Mack, The Chargers Produced A Top Ten Defense, 10th In DVOA. The Team Lost Defensive Coordinator Jesse Minter In The Off-Season As He Prepares To Takeover The Ravens' head coaching job, but also a glut of the team's pass rush. The Chargers ranked 21st In Total Pressures and 26th In Close Coverage, despite coming in eighth in yards per attempt allowed. The Chargers' defense, however, ranked ninth in pressure rate On Third Down, and When The Chargers Used Nickel On Third The Defense Ranked Second In EPA Per Play Allowed (-0.43). The Chargers won with situational football rather than elite talent, but they’ll need elite Talent To excel Next Year. Final Thoughts: The Addition of Mike McDaniels Will Unlock Another level (Or The Level We Once Witnessed) Out Of Justin Herbert, Who Started His Career With Three Straight 4000 Yard Passing Seasons But No 4000 Yard Over His Last Three Season years. If the Chargers Steer Clear From Linebacker In The Draft After Drafting A Running Back In The First Round, I Think The Team Building Will Roll more Smoothly Under Harbaugh. Mike McDaniel’s Could Scheme Up More Opportunities For The Chargers ' skill position players with spamming slot shots. The Chargers Have A lot Of Cap Space To Work With $99 Million Plus with Only Three Players With Cap Hits Over $20 Million. If handled effectively, the Chargers should be a contender for years To Come But Maybe Not Immediately given the Chargers' history with shortcomings.

Las Vegas Raiders—

The Raiders Started Their 2025 Campaign On An Auspicious Note, something We Can Say For Much about The Rest Of Their 2025 Campaign. Las Vegas Took Home a Win In Week One in a Game Between two teams From The Bottom Seven Of Finishers From Last Season Defeating The New England Patriots. Possibly The Least Needle Moving Game Of Week One, Nobody At The Time Suspected The Future AFC Champs and future MVP runner Took The field That Day, and How This One Loss Nearly Negated The Patriots From Earning Home field Before The Football gods Retroactively Forced The Patriots Into The Super Bowl. If You Don’t understand, the Broncos Owned The Tie-Breaker Over New England Because Of Their Record Against Similar Opponents—the Raiders, In This Case—But By The Will Of The Gods Almost New England Won The AFC championship Crown and the Super Bowl because Of The Bo Nix Injury. The Patriots And Raiders Diverged Greatly From Week One. The Raiders are headed towards the bottom, winning just two more games from there on out. In The Offseason, the Raiders made a Splash Move Acquiring “Mr. Never Wrote Back” Geno Smith from the Seahawks, And Before He Took a snap, the Raiders Locked Smith In $85.5 million Just For Showing Up. The Quarterback Position Always Presents A Problem For Teams Not Fortunate To Give A Mirror Of Gadriel At Their Disposal To foresee A Failure. The Raiders haven’t fallen as badly as the Browns Because OF The Stability Derek Carr provided for a few years, but for a moment, the Raiders Set The Standard For Quarterback ignominy, 27 Starters Since 1999. At 34 years old, not even the most delusional Raiders Affiliate Believed Geno Smith would Serve As The Teams Long Term Answer But He Wanted To Play For The Raiders Plus The Millions Of Dollars And The Raiders Have Never Served As Sterling Representation Of Long Term Thinking. Smith Would Reunite With head coach Pete Carroll, Who Joined The Raiders A Year After Moving On From Seattle, and the Raiders didn’t Look At Geno to save the franchise, but after three starting quarterbacks in each of the past two seasons, the Raiders hope Geno brings stability And Maybe some of his 70.4 completion percentage, 7.5!Yards Per Attempt, 4,320 passing yards, and 9th Rank Quarterback in 2024, According To PFF, Would Travel From Seattle With Him. Instead Geno’s First Year And Presumably His Last Year With The Team Turned Out Disastrously, Geno’s Played fell From 9th To 38th In PFF’s Rankings in 2025 and If Anything Traveled With Geno From Seattle To Las Vegas, Interceptions Geno Threw 15 Picks In his Final season In Seattle And That Number Expanded To 17 Picks In Las Vegas With 23 Turnover Worthy Plays Compared 19 TOUCHDOWNS, 84.7 Passer Rating, -0.17 EPA Per Drop Back While Still Completing 67.4% of His Passes. This Raiders Offense Ranked 29th In EPA Per Play In 2024 For A Reason: They Lack Talent. Davante Adams Left for the Jets, and Geno Smith lacks the talent to lift The Ceiling Of A Team. He’s better suited to guiding already established Talents like DK Metcalf. You can trust Geno Operate What You Give Him, and Scheme In Las Vegas Failed Under Chip Kelly, and The Raiders Lacked Outside Talent. Geno Smith Ranked Top Five In All Of His Teo Seasons As A Starter In Seattle, Pff Call His Deep/Vertical Passing Ability Smith’s Greatest strength But the Raider Only Provided Smith One Deep Threat Wide Receiver Tre Tucker—Don’t Feel Ashamed For Not Knowing Who His— A Solid Option who Generated 101 Passer rating When Targeted But he’s A Far Cry From DK Metcalf Level threats. Smith Deep Ball Attempt Race and With That Most Of Geno’s Game. Geno EPa Per Dropback On The Deep Ball Remained Positive +0.28, Suggesting That He Can Still Produce Deep Efficiency, but not at The Rate The Majority Of Geno’s targets went Under Ten yards. Smith also faced A lot of pressure, eight worse in football, and the Raiders Dropped To 31st in EPA Per Play on Offense. The Smith era set the Raiders Up With The Number One, Their First Selecting Number Since 2006, Despite Owning One Of The Worse Win Percentages In Football Since 2000. A new Quarterback Won’t Solve All The Raiders’ problems, just like a new running back didn’t Solve The Raiders' problems in the run game. The Raiders cut Smith in the process of this write-up, but He’ll Have His Fair Share Of Suitors as Both A potential Starter and a bridge quarterback. New Head Coach Klint Kubiak Will Bring New Energy To The Raiders And Not That Old Pete Carroll Energy and A New System. The Raiders Organization Will Owe approximately $50 million in the 2026 offseason to coaches no longer with the team, Pete Carroll, Jon Gruden, Josh MCDaniel, Antonio Davis and Former Offensive Coordinator The Raiders Defense Played Not Terrible This Season, They 0.0 EPA Per Play On Average, 201.0 Passing Yards Per GAME, 5.0 Yards Per Play 11th Best In Football However Their 25.4 Per Game Allowed Ranked Eighth Worse In The League. The Raiders' special teams ranked 31st by ESPN FPI Efficiency, Handing Opponents The Third Best Starting Position, And With Their Offensive Turnover Woes (23 Total) To Add To The Mix Opposing Offense Didn’t Need A Lot Of Yards To Score On Short Fields. Las Vegas Also Has Slight Altitude Not As Pronounced As Denver’s, But Enough To Slow Down Offenses. In Home, The Raiders Defense Surrenders 4.7 Yards Per Play, Compared To 5.3 On The Yards Per Attempt In The Passing Game, Take A Nose Dive, As Well As Passer Rating, but Sacks Go Up At Home. The Raiders organization, for One Reason Or Another Has Become A Breeding Ground For Defensive Reclamation Projects. Two former first-round picks, Devin White and Jamal Adams, Redurfaced To League Relevance With Solid Contributions To The Raiders' defense, particularly linebacker Devin White, Who Finished First In The NFL In Tackles. The Primary Focus Of The Raiders Defense Edge Rusher Maxx Crosby, who Suffered A down season in 2025, 53 pressures, 10 Sacks, While Missing A Good Chunk Of The Season. Crosby’s Name Has Come Up In Serious Trade Talks For More Than Two Or Three Seasons Now and While The Raiders Want To Keep Their Best Player A Franchise At A Crossroads Will Have To Take Action On A Player Before The Value Gets Hurt(any Further). The Raiders Will Draft Indiana Quarterback Fernando Mendoza Number One Overall. They’ve Essentially Declared As much By Cutting Geno Smith. The Raider Will Then Have A Lot Of Work In Front Of Them To Build A Roster Around Mendoza Outside Of Super Start Tight End Brock Bowers. I intend to discuss Mendoza until I Get To My draft Breakdown In The Near Future. The Raiders Have Hit Reset On their Direction Every Year since They Dismissed Head Coach Jon Gruden Some Years Ago. The Raiders Need To Build Infrastructure Before Rushing A Young Quarterback Into A Face Of The Franchise Role. Last Year’s Top Six Pick Ashton Jeanty Had A Tough Time Cutting His Teeth In The NFL, 3.7 Yards Per Carry, 975 total rushing yards, but he also forced 61 Missed Tackles, generated 24 Explosive Runs, 1,321 scrimmage yards, and 10 touchdowns in 2025. He’s A Good Talent But A Bad Selection For Las Vegas, who probably Should Have Chosen Tackle Or Receiver At Sixth Overall As The Offense Missed Out on offensive rookie Zig Ziglar, the Year Tet McMillian, and One Of The Best Tackles in The Class, Armand Membou. The Raiders' bad team-building decisions and Process Like Drafting A Running back Top Over A More Valuable Position Like Tackle Or receiver Have Them Stuck in a Reset Time Loop. The Raiders Finished With. The Worst Record In The Sport. The Bar For Improvement Starts At Three Wins or Less Than Three Wins, But an Improved Run Game and Maybe A Coach That Lasts More Than One Season. The Raiders traded Maxx Crosby To The Ravens for two first-round picks, a necessary move for Las Vegas.

Kansas City Chiefs—

The Chiefs' Dynasty Didn’t Appear Faded Even After Their Super Bowl 59 Loss To The Eagles. Instead, The CHiefs Looked Ready For A Sort Of Metamorphisms Of Sorts. Sure, the Eagles Dusted Kansas City In That Super Bowl, But Nobody expected the Chiefs to Roll Over And Hide In A Corner. They’ve Suffered Such Losses Before. As Long As The Chiefs had Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Had A shot at a championship, but in 2025, something changed. The Fall Off Started Early In The Season For The Chiefs, Who Suffered Two Close Losses At The Hands Of The Chargers And Eagles By One Score In Each bout. The games Kansas City would have won a year ago no longer swung in their favor. The Offense Struggled On Third Down. Through the season, the Chiefs ranked 10th in EPA Per Play On Third Down, 4.5 Yards Per Play 8th Worse In The League 37.4% Third Down Conversion Rate. Ever Since The Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes Imploded Against The Bengals in 2022, they blew an 18-point lead with their Gung Ho style. The Man Known As Kansas City Remodeled Their Offense, and the Man Known As The Gunslinger Got Rope In From On His Dropback Abuse. Mahomes ' intended air yards per attempt and Completed Air Yards Dropped To Career Lows in both 2023 and 2024, beneath 1700, After Starting His Career Over 2000 Completed Air Yards Four Straight Years. The Chiefs Shifted To A More Efficiency-Based Going From A Track Hawk To A Prius(I Never Driven either, but I Know They're Both Dissimilar Cars). In 2025 Mahomes And Andy Reid Pushed Back And The Passing Offense Started Chucking The Ball Down Field Again 7.9 intended Air Yard Per Attempt(Highest Rate Since 2020)But This Time Without Top Tier Talent down Field, Lacking Talent At Running Back, An Aging Talent In Tight End Travis Kelce and Offensive Shifting Around Due To The Absence Of Left Tackle rookie Josh Simmons. The Results, Mahomes’ Season That Ended Short By Three Games Due To An ACL Injury Mixed If Not Bad +0.11 Epa Per Dropback, 89.6 Passer Rating(career Worse) 7.1 Yards Per Attempt, -2.9% Completion Percentage Over Expected, one Deep Touchdown In 2025 Despite An 11% Deep Attempt Rate with a 6.7% Sack Rate. At Age 30, Mahomes Also Produced His Best season As A Runner: 422 Yards(Career Best), 56.3% Success Rate, +0.47 EPA Per Attempt. Mahomes Rushing Attempts Mostly Consist Mostly Of Scrambles, 19.5% of his dropbacks this season, the 3rd-highest In Football, highest of his career. Ultimately, he ended his season with an ACL injury. All 34 of Mahomes ' sacks came on plays when he held the ball over 2.5 seconds, looking downfield for targets that couldn’t Win Down Field. The Chiefs got top Receiver Rashee Rice Back From Injury and Suspension In Week Seven, and in only eight games, he finished third on the team in total receiving yards but had a -5.5% Catch Rate Over Expected. Before Rice returned, the Chiefs made Good Use Of Guys Like Tyquan Thornton, who averaged a league-high 26.3 air yards per target, 23.1 Yards Per Reception On 19 Receptions. Second Year Receiver First Round Wide Receiver Xavier Worthy failed To Make The Leap. The Chiefs Expected As His Number Declined In 532 Receiving Yards, 42 Receptions, and one touchdown in the same Amount of Games As Last. Worthy Lacks A Define Role As His Combine Record Breaking Speed 4.21 seconds suggests he’s A Deep Threat But With Only Three receptions deep, 19.7%!cOmpletion PercenTage Over Expected, -0.06 EPA Target On Deep Passes But he’s Also Lacks Juice In The Behind The Line Of Scrimmage Game. With Mahomes Out To Start The Season, the Chiefs Have A Chance And Some Time To Rework Their roster, After No Skill Position Player Registered A 1000 Yards Of Offense, and make Another Run At A Championship. The Run Suffered After The Chiefs Traded Their Best Run Blocker, Joe Thuney, Who Help Transformed The Bears' run game. While the Chiefs ranked 25th in run block win rate, the Chiefs might want To Look To Take On a Brief Rebuild as the offense needs an Upgrade At Running Back Though A Free Agent would suffice, receiver, Receiver, Tight End Amongst Other Positions. The Chiefs restructured Patrick Mahomes’s Deal To Free Up Some Cap Space And Now Have A Little $24 Million To Work With In Free Agency. The Defense Will Also Need Addressing, Especially After The Chiefs Traded Away All-Pro Corner Trent McDuffie For A Deal That Includes The 29th Pick In the 2026 Draft and Multiple Picks. The Draft Always Presents a Certain Volatility Because Players Don’t Always Translate To The Pros, But The Chiefs Risking their Top Corner will At Least save The Team A lot More Money Than An Extension For McDuffie. The Chiefs ranked 13th in EPA Per Play Allowed and 13th in EPA Versus The Pass and allowed 19.3 Points Per Game, Sixth Best But The Pressure Rate ranks just 19th In Pressure Rate. The Chiefs' extended edge rusher George Karlaftis leads the team in pressure with 51, According To Next Gen Stats. Veteran Chris Jones finished second in Pressure From The Interior with 48 and Leading The Team In Sacks. The Chiefs Need To Add Talent To The Defensive Line, whether Through The Draft Given Their Limited Cap Space. NFL Teams Don’t Like To “Exhaust” Or Waste Prime Years On Elite Quarterbacks Or An Elite Aging Coach, but another step back, an intentionally devised step back next season, could set Kansas City Up For Success. I’ve Read Rumors That Travis will return, but not with the Chiefs. If that’s Possible, suggesting that he discuss the future and direction with the team and competing for another Super Bowl Next season Seems Unlikely.

AFC South—

I watched hours and hours of football last season, from Red Zone to Multi-Screen To Replays, but I Never Watched Much Of The Titans. The Titans Secured The Number one Pick In The Draft Last Season For A Reason And Third Overall Pick After Winning Just Three Games This Season, and The Team Has Earned Top Ten Picks Dating Back To 2023 because they’ve Sucked At football For Some Time—Really Since Earning The Number One Seed In The AFC in 2021. With The Number One Pick In The 2025 draft, the Titans Selected Miami Quarterback Cam Ward, the zero-star high school recruit who played five seasons before finishing up at Miami as a fifth-year senior who posted 4313 Passing Yards, 37 Touchdowns, 7 interceptions, and A 172.2 Passer Rating in His Final Season Before The Pros. His Final Season As amateur Highlighted Most Of Wards Highlight Reel Ability Which He Showcased In The NFL. Ward Produced a Hall Of Fame Level Highlight Reel In First Season, He Produce The Pass Of The Week A Couple Of Seasons But On A Down To Down and Process Wavered And This Style And Outcome Align With My Pre Draft Evaluation of Ward’s Game. Ward Played With A lot of “Moxie,” Trusting His Arm Talent, scheme anticipation, to deliver on a lot of NFL Open Window Throws. Head Coach Brian Callahan, who got booted midway through the season, and his staff and Ward Averaged The 9th Best Target Separation In Football But Finished Last In EPA per drop-back because he took too many bad sacks, averaging 3.2 sacks Per Game Resulting The Worse EPA Per Dropback In Football -0.23 EPA Per Dropback Partly By Holding The 2.99 Second In Terms Of Time To Throw. Ward Register Nine Game With 4 Or More But In All He Didn’t Look Overwhelmed Adjusting To The Pro Game, He Released Got The Ball Out Of His Hand, He Threw 7 Picks On 540 passing Attempts Compared To 15 Touchdowns, Less Than 200 Yards Per Game But You Had To Love What You Witnessed In Ward, Especially Considering Everything Against Him. A three-win team like the Titans often trailed by multiple scores, so Ward Would Roll Out And Lay It Out On The Line. Did Someone Say “Line”? the Titans Have Invested A lot Of Resources Into Their Mediocre Project Of An Offensive, Signing Tackle Dan Moore Jr., Center Lloyd Cushenberry and To Big Money along With a One Year Deal For 35 Year Old Guard Kevin Zeitler Deals All In The Past Two years along With adding Top Twelve Picks PETER SKORONSKI(2023,11th Pick overall )and tackle JC Latham(2024,7th Pick Overall)And Ranked 16th In Pass Block Win Rate and 25th According To FTN Ranking. The Titans Have The Most Cap space Available This Offseason But reworking an Offensive line After Just Reworking An Offensive Line Will Come Down To More Than Cash Flow. The Titans Could Also Look To Upgrade The Skill Position Player and A Defense That Allowed 28.1 Points Per Game, 358.0 Yards Per Game, and 29th In Defensive DVOa. The Titans Have To Get Aggressive To Acquire Talent While Avoid The Trap Minnesota fell into last year, overspending on players but ultimately missing the playoffs. The Titans Hired Former Jets head coach Robert Saleh To Lead The Next Era Of Titans football, a real players' coach with A Defensive Track Record For His Effort With The Jets and Most Recently With The Niners. The Titan doesn’t have A Tall Task In Their First Season Under Saleh, As They Seek To Improve From A Three Win Season, but The Team Needs To Make strides in the areas of protection and down-to-down consistency.

Indianapolis Colts—

If I had To Describe The Colts ’ season to someone who didn’t WatchAny Football Last Year, I Would Use The Album Title Of Singer and Grammy Award Winner Kehlani's 2020 Release “It Was Good Until It Wasn’t”. The Colts Pick Up Former Giants/Vikings Quarterback Daniel Jones As A Potential Competition-Insurance For Anthony Richardson, the Quarterback The Colts Drafted Fourth Overall In 2023, but Jones, the former sixth overall pick in 2019, Won The starting job. Indy Started The Season 7-1, Defeating Opponents By an Average Of 20 Plus Points. In All Of The Colts' first Seven Victories, Daniel Jones Threw For Over 200 Passing Yards and a 100 or better passer rating, proving the coaching staff and talented roster didn’t Carry Him But He Made The Offense That Lead the offense that led the league in EPA Per Play over The First Two Months Of The Season and Still Finished Top Ten Despite Falling A Cliff. Running Back Jonathan Taylor earned MVP mentions—Which Means A lot For A Running Back—, Tight End Tyler Warren Looked Like The Early Favorite for Offensive Rookie Of The Year and The Colts Offense Had A Pass First Approach(56.6% Pass Play Percentage) and Once Cracks Began To Show In Jones’s Game and In His Leg Due To Injury Limited His Mobility and His Effectiveness. As the season progressed, the Colts ' schedule “Hardened”; the offense couldn’t Cover For The Defense As Much. Early in the season, the Colts ' offense would build Early Leads That Force Opponents Into Higher Drop back Rates(36.9 Passing Attempts Faced Per Game), which Covered For The Colts ' lack of true pass rush talent: 16th In Pressure Rate, 26th In Sack Rate, 30th In Pass Rush Win Rate. The Colts Made The Big Swing At The Trade Deadline For Jets All-Pro Sauce Gardner, who played in just four games down the stretch of the season, at the cost of two first-round picks. While The Colts Saw Fewer Passing Attempts They Lost Eight Straight Games In The Second Half When Opponents Had Less Leads To Overcome As The Colts Offense Closed The Year Averaging 21.4 Points, 78.0 Passer Rating. Former Colts Starter and Future Hall Of Famer Phillip Rivers Un-Retired At The Age Of 44 To Give The Colts A Spell, Create Buzz Around The Team, and Extend His Insurance in The NFL, but Indy Missed The Playoffs. Did Rivers Give The Colts The Best Chance At Competing? I Can’t say But Indy Had No Reason To Tank Without A First Round Pick But The Contender They Built In ThenFirst Half Crumple As Daniel Jones Tore His Achilles And Will enter Free Agency Most Likely Receiving Another “Prove It” Deal After Looking Like A 30 Million Dollar Guy. The organization has $35 million, and The Organization Can Create More Space By Cutting And Restructuring Player Like Micheal Pittman Jr., defensive lineman DeForest Buckner, and Quarterback Anthony Richardson Sr., who Missed Most Of The Season With Concussion Related Symptoms. The Colts Also Need To Work Out New Deals With Players Like Receiver Alex Pierce and tackle Braden Smith. Pierce Registered His First 1000 Yard Receiving Season Lead The League In Yards Per Reception For The Second Year In A Row(21.4 Yards Per Reception), 54.8 Percent Success, Six Touchdowns, Top 10 In Both Receiving Total Receiving EPA And EpA Per Target. In 15 Games. Pierce, although somewhat of a one-trick pony (27.4% Deep Target Rate), Should Cost The Colts $20M to over $25M+ annually. The Colts Could Also Stand To Add Another Running Back Behind Jonathan Taylor. Indy’s Offense Ran A Single Back System Last Year, With Daniel Jones Finishing The Year Second On The Team In Rushing(164 Rushing Yards). In 13 Games, Jones Finished 1421 Yards Behind Taylor In The Colts Rushing Pecking Order. Taylor amassed 18 rushing touchdowns, 1,136 Yards After Contact, and led the league in attempts, but he slowed down tremendously in the second half. Starting The Season Averaging 5.9 Yards Per Carry During The Colts 7-1 Start and 4.1 over The Final Nine Games Of The Year. The Colts Need Another Back, Particularly A Bruiser Type Who Can Take Some Of The Load Off Taylor, Who Just Turned 27 Years Old. A Guy Like Atlanta’s Tyler Allgeier Fits The Bill. The Colts Stand In A Pretty Ominous Position, Without A first Round Pick For Two Season, Needing To Sign A Semi-Proven Quarterback To Real Money, and still needing defensive playmakers. The Colts forced 21 turnovers but finished the season with a -2 turnover differential, along with minor Sack Production, Held The Defense down efficiency-wise. The Colts Need To Focus On Securing A Difference Making Edge Rusher, AndMaybe That Means Taking A Big Swing At Trey Hendrickson.

Jacksonville Jaguars—

The Jags Shook Off Two Uneven Stretches At The Start Of The Season Before Finishing The Year 13-4, Eight Straight Victories To Close The Season Before Suffering A Close Loss To The Bills In The Wild Card Round. Liam Coens ' first season with the Colts registered as a success on multiple fronts, leading the franchise back to the playoffs, and two, he may have solved the talented conundrum of former number one overall pick Trevor Lawrence. Lawrence Earned MVP Consideration For The First Time In His Career, and Most Of Us Thought He’d Produced MVP Level Play Two Years Into His Career, and Not Six Feel Some Since Of Relief. Lawrence Had Moments last Season When He SeemedHeaded Towards Regression. The Jags Started The Year 4-1, most on the strength of the defensive play, but when Jacksonville lost two straight games to the Seahawks and Rams, everything, including Lawrence Looked Unraveled. The Jags Scored 7 Points, down 28-0. Matthew Stafford Scorched The Defense For Five Passing Touchdowns against A Good Secondary. The Jaguars teetered after that performance, losing rookie receiver/Corner and top-five pick Travis Hunter, and Escaping The Raiders in the game after. Liam Coen Also Had To Work Through The Sophomore Slump Of Promising Receiver Brian Thomas Jr. After The LSU Product became A House Hold Football Name With 87 Receptions, 1282 Receiving Yards, 10 Touchdowns as A Rookie The Shift To Weighted Expectations, A New Offensive System Or Heightened Attention From Defenses Thomas Struggled With Drops, Questionable Effort and Eventually Became A Liability Ranking 59th Of 81 Receivers According To Pff, -6.1 Catch Rate Over Expected, 91 Targets(2nd On The Team). The Jags didn’t waver, adding Raiders Wide Receiver Jakobi Meyers To Supplement The Loss In Production From Thomas, but the real difference maker was former sixth-round wide receiver Parker Washington. Washington Produce An amazing 2025, Leading The Team In Target Rate, Yards Per Route Run, Second In EPA per target, and first in yards after the catch and First In Yards After The Catch Over Expected(13th In The League). Parker Defies His 5’10 212lbs To Win Route All Along The Field and Emerged As A safety Blanket on Third down, 23.7% Target Rate On Third Down, 3.1 Yards Per Route On Third Down. The Jags' Passing Offense Took Off with Meyers and Washington More at the Forefront. Cap Space Wise The Jags Have Just Two Players With Cap Hits(Allocations) Over 20 Million: Quarterback Trevor Lawrence, and Edge Rusher Josh Hines-Allen, But With 43 Million in Dead Cap The Jags stand Twelve Million Over The Cap With Several Contracts Slated For Restructuring To Create Room. The Jags Defense Ranked Sixth DVoa, 7th against The holding Opposing Offenses To 19.4 Points Per Game With Excellent To Stable Secondary(2nd In EPA Per Pass Allowed -0.21), But The Pass Rush Limits The upside Of Defense. The Jags ranked 26th In Pressure rate, According To FTN, 14th In Pass Rush Win Rate, 29th In Sack Rate, and So On. The Jags Had One Pass Rusher With More Than 35 Pressure, Josh Hines-Allen. Former First Overall Pick Travon Walker Concluded His Fifth Season With Just 31 Pressures, 3.5 sacks, and the Jags Expected Walker to surge into Super Stardom After A Promising Season In 2024, but he’s Faltered Once More, and While Lawrence Took Multiple Years to Scratch His Potential, Walker hasn’t Lost Sight Of His Potential Once More. The Can Create Upwards Of $60 Million In Cap Space Through Cuts and Restructures, But They’ll Probably Work To Get Cap Compliant and Make Room For A Few Add-On Transactions To Replenish The Roster. The Jags Don’t Have A First Round Pick Because They Traded Travis Hunter. The Jags Have A Major Free Agent In Devin Lloyd, a 2022 first-round pick. The Jags Didn’t Pick Up Lloyd’s Fifth-Year Option, and He Responded With a Second-Team All-Pro Selection With Five Interceptions. I Think The Jags Let Lloyd Walk Because Lesser Acclaim But Functional Linebackers Will Cost Less. The Jags Have Earned The Title Of A “laughingstock,” And Sustaining Success As A Franchise Has Never Come Easy. The Jags Have Made The Playoffs Five Times Since the playoffs five times since the turn of the century and haven’t seen back-to-back playoff appearances since 1998 & 1999. Sometimes, making the playoffs boils down to a team's effectiveness, like the Tom Patriots Of The 2000s and beyond, and sometimes Chaos In The Division Opens the Door For An unexpected Champion, Like The 2025 Panthers. Would the Jags have made the playoffs Had The Colts not collapsed? Maybe, But Not In The Fight For The Two Seed, Maybe They Enter The Postseason With The Seventh Seed. The AFC South Remains A Wide Open Division Because Every Team Has Questions and strengths, so the team with the easiest answers should win. Houston Questions at Quarterback And Offensive Line, The Colts, Questions at Quarterback And Defensively. The Jags might have a few tough decisions, but fewer question marks.

Houston Texans—

“Just Get This Defense Into The Playoffs…” I Heard Every Football Talking Head Say During The First Quarter Of The Season. With Offense Struggling and The Team Starting 0-3. Those Three Losses All Came Down To One Score Against Two Playoff Teams, Offenses That Finished In The Top 10 In Scoring(Jags and Rams), And The Buccaneers, Who Could’ve Made The Playoffs. The Texans Closed The Season On 12-2, The Third Hottest Team To Close The Season, behind the Broncos and the Jaguars. The Texans' defense finished second in Scoring Defense,17.3 Points Allowed Per Game, Second In Defensive DVOa, 1st In Yards and EPA Per Play Allowed. The Texans Played A Pretty Mediocre Scheduled Down The stretch, But Picked Up Crucial Victories Of The Chargers, Bills, and Jaguars. This kept the Texans Lock Into The Playoff Picture. The defense nearly helped the Texans With A Nine Game Win Streak To Close The Season Almost Stealing The AFC South From The Jags Before Settling Into The Fifth Seed Missing Out On Three Straight Division Titles In The AFC South. Whenever A Conversation begins about the Texans' defense, everyone mentions their two monstrous defensive ends in Will Anderson Jr and Danielle Hunter, two top-five players at the edge position, Known For Producing Pressure and havoc. But the Texans' secondary may matter more in how the defense functions. The Texans Elite Secondary is flush with elite, Range-less Players Like Kamari Lassiter, Callen Bullock, Jalen Pitre, and All-Pro Derek Stingley Jr., who posted elite numbers in terms of coverage EPA, Passer Rating Allowed, and Catch Rate Over Expected. Pass Rushers Have Reached Such Height That Their Position Has Become Synonymous Or Interchangeable With Defense In Sorts, But The Texans Finished The Year 18th In Pressure Rate, with The Pass Rush Generating So Much Hype, Making The Staple Plays To Get Opposing Offenses Off The Field On Third Down, Where The Texans Defense Ranked Sixth In Pressure Generated On Third Down. The Coverage Unit Created A lot of Buzz and Confusion for Passing Opposing Offenses. The Texans Rank First In EPA Per Pass Allowed On first Down(obvious Passing Situation) While Ranking 24th in pressure rate on first down, so most of the effectiveness on early downs fell on the Texans' secondary. The Texans Secondary Delivered In The Playoffs, Shutting Down Pittsburgh’s Passing Defense Allowing Just 7 Catches For 48 Receiving Yards, a 30.97 Passer Rating Generated, While The Defensive Line Pressured Rodgers 45.9% Of His Drop-backs In The Wild Card Round. The Defense Forced -33.4 EPA Total and 179 Yards Of Offense. Pittsburgh’s offense never impressed this season, 16th in EPA Per Play(-0.03). The Patriots, In The Wild Card Round, were second in EPA Per Play(+0.11). How The Texans Handled New England Looked More Impressive. Houston Held New England To 248 yards Of Offense, Nine Unsuccessful Drives, Three Turnovers Forced With Five Sacks. When the Texans lost, fingers pointed at the much-maligned offense led by third-year quarterback CJ Stroud, who won Offensive Rookie Of The Year for 2023. But he’s stagnated, and New Offensive Coordinator Nick Caley couldn’t Cover Some Of Stroud’s Limitations. Strouds Problems Trace Back To Ohio State Where The Offense In Columbus Manufactured Ways To Generate Production Plus The Best Talent Money Could Buy Even Before Money Could Buy College Talent Through NIL. Would Stroud Have The Chops To Elevate A Less Talented Roster In The Pro? Apparently not, Stroud hasn’t regressed; he’s stagnated. Statistically, Stroud Has Hovered Around The Same Numbers In terms of touchdowns, Percentage, Completion Percentage, Success Rate, and yards per attempt, with a lower sack rate and a higher QB rating last In Fewer Games Thanks To a Concussion. Stroud Also Lost Two Of His Top Receivers For That Wild Card Games, Wide Out Nico Collins, Who Suffered A concussion, and tight-end Dalton Schultz, Who Left The Game with a hamstring Injury. The accuracy and Decision Stroud possesses doesn’t Accommodate For His Lack Of Arm talent And Anticipation On routes. Coming Out Of The Draft Critics Worried About Stroud’s Reliance On A First Read, “Interceptions arise when he refuses to come off primary receiver,” A Quote From NFL.com. Stroud Ranked Fifth In First Read Throws In The NFL, 75%, 239 First Read Throw and His Struggles with Post Snap Progressions Or Processing Have Also Pop Up Through His Career Along With An Enability To Create Outside The Pocket And Extend Plays. Stroud generated a positive CPOe(+1.1%), EPA Per Drop back(+0.06), Barely But He Shine Best Against Man Coverage, and He’s Better Than Average. The Texans Don’t Need To Rush Into Extending Stroud, But Continue To Build Around Him. The Offensive Line in Houston Has Always Stood Out, even Dating Back To The Deshaun Watson days, and Houston Will Have To Rework The Already Re-Worked Offensive Line From Last Season. Beyond the Offensive Line, the Texans Augmented Their Receiving Group With Rookies Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel, Along With Xavier Hutchinson, a third-year receiver with 207 Yards In Two Season Before 2025, Veteran Christian Kirk, and Tight End Dalton Schultz, who led the team in EPA Per Target. Kirk Failed To Add A Veteran Presence To The Lineup (-0.44 EPA Per Target).

Texans' defense carried an offense that ranked 19th DVOA, led by quarterback CJ Stroud, Who Remains The Same in The League Measured By Evolution, and the Texans Settled At A Divisional Round Lost. The Texans have No Money To Spend, and will need To ReWork A Few Contracts To Get under The Salary Cap And Perhaps Make A Few Additions. Houston Posses Two Second Round Picks Which Means The Texans Add Two Players Or Move Up The First Round And Select A difference Maker On Offense Whether Offensive Line Or Outside Play Maker. If the Texans decide to develop, they’ll Lose Another Year Of Cheap Contracts From Stars Like Edge Rusher Will Anderson Jr. and CJ Stroud Players They Will Have To Pay Both At Some Point In the Coming Seasons.

AFC North

Baltimore Ravens—

The Ravens Began The 2025 Season As Preseason Favorites To Make and Win The Super Bowl, But Ultimately Miss The Playoffs On The Final Play Of The Season With A Missed Kick As Time Expired In Week 18. For More Than Half A Decade, The AFC’s Other Teams Fantasized About A Day When The Chiefs Reign Would End, Just Like With The Patriots Reign Before, And A New AFC(Or The Patriots Again) Would Take Over. The Kansas City Chiefs Finally Showcased Some Signs Decay After Years With A Blow Out Loss In The Super Bowl. Jon Harbaugh Needed A Strong Playoff Run To solidify His Position As A Premier Coach In Football. The Season Got Off To an Ominous But Mysteriously Familiar Start As The Ravens Blew A Two Score With Lesss Than Five Minute Left In Forth Quarter Lead Against The Bills In Week One. The Defense Gave Up 394 yards passing to Josh Allen. The Ravens Have Lost Five Games When Leading By Two Scores In The Forth Over The Past Seven Years According to ESPN, Including A Famous Meltdown In week Two Of 2022 Against The dolphins When Tua Tagovailoa Torched The Ravens ' passing defense for 469 Passing Yards and Six Touchdowns. The Ravens also Fielded Losses To The Giants, Raiders, and Browns Along That Stretch Of Games Lost In The Fourth Quarter. The Ravens Had A Chance To Make A Statement Win Over The Team That Knocked Them Out Of The Playoffs The Season Prior, Another Team Hoping To Take The Chiefs Thrown In The Buffalo Bills and Josh Allen Who Took Home MVP Over Lamar. Before The Season MVP Quarterback Lamar Jackson Said He Believes He’s Still Hasn’t Reached The Surface Of His Potential And He Can Meet That Next Level This Season Coming Out Of His Best Season As A Pro 41 Touchdowns, 4 Interceptions, 4,172 Passing Yards 119.6. Lamar Started The 2025 Season Completing 71.6 Of His Passes, 10.7 Adjusted Yards Per Attempt, 10 Touchdowns to One Interception, 130. 5 Passer Rating Over His First Four Game But The Ravens Started The Year 1-3. Jackson Would Miss The Next Four Games With an Hamstring Injury, and The Ravens Fell To 1-4. Baltimore Found Some Wind Mid way Through The Season, with Tyler Snoop Huntley Inserted Into. The Lineup The ravens Would Win Four Straight Games, Including A Good Win Over The NFC North champion Chicago Bears, and get back into the wide-open AFC North Race. Lamar Returned For A Portion Of The Ravens' win streak, Suffered A Back Injury In A Crucial Week 16 Matchup Against The Patriots, with Baltimore Winning The Game Before New England Mounted A Comeback, and The Loss To The Steelers in Week 18 Closed The Season. Considering everything Baltimore Faced With Lamar’s Injury, A Defense That Struggled Early But Found an Identity Later In The Second Half Of The Season. For All Of Lamar’s Greatness And Uniqueness His Game And The Ravens Offense Has Evolved, his game and the Ravens offense have evolved. The Ravens Rely On Explosive Plays, Third in the NFL in Explosive Play Rate, While Ranking Last in Passing Attempts On The Season. The Ravens Utilize Explosive Pass Plays(8.1 Intended Air Yards Per Attempt, 9th In Football)To Open Up Defenses and Create Lead Before Shifting To A Run Based Attack To Help Gradually Melt Away The Clock And Open up The Play Action Attack Game and Get Their Tight Ends In The Action. Lamar Led The League In Terms Of Yards Per Completion(13.3 Yards Per Completion). Baltimore’s Offense Has Never Ranked High In Terms Of Pace Of Play(Plays Per Game). The Ravens Ran 978 Plays Compared To 1089 Plays By Their Opponent. Teams With Lowered Play Calling Numbers Help Skew Efficiency Metrics Like Yard Per Play, EPA Per Play, or Any Per Play Metric, But Any Off-Schedule Happenstance Like a Sack, Drops, or Fumble (The Ravens finished The Year -3 in Turnover Differential and Lamar Jackson Finished The Season With 10.65% Sack Rate) tend To Derail Entire Game Plan. The Ravens ' offense negates evolution in itself because the lack of passing calls makes the offense “Unfriendly” To Receivers. The Receivers Have Produced Just Two 1000 Yard Receivers And One 1000 Yard Tight End, Mark Andrews, in 2021, With 153 Targets in the Lamar Jackson Era, Zay Flowers Twice In The 17 Game Era, Marquise Brown In 2021 on 148 Targets Before He Left Hoping For A Wide Open Offense. Receivers Don’t Often Thrive In The Ravens System With Lamar Jackson Unless They're The Focal Point Or The Safety Net Schemed Into The Passing Game. The Ravens Don’t Attract Top Tier Wide Receiver Free Agents, Despite Building A Winning Culture In Baltimore, Numbers, Production Make Pay Days. I’m Sure AJ Brown Doesn’t Want To Play In Baltimore, and For all His Talent, Lamar Jackson Appears To Lack The Capacity For 40 Plus Drop-backs on The Regular. Matters: The Ravens Offense Will Flow From The Rushing Attack. Derrick Henry Took A Step Back From A Near Thousand Yard Pace Last Season But He Played Effective 53.1 Success Rate, 5.2 Yards Per Carry, and only four fumbles lost, but two lost in crucial fourth-quarter moments, Again Mistakes The Ravens Offense Couldn’t afford. The Ravens moved on from long-time head coach John Harbaugh and brought Chargers Defensive Coordinator Jesse Minter, A Understudy Of Harbaugh’s Brother Jim From The Chargers. The Ravens' defense finished the year ranked 14th In Defense According To ESPN FPI Efficiency, 21st in EPA Per Pass Allowed, and 29th in quarterback pressures. The Ravens Will Need Some More Talent In Those Areas If Minter Hopes To Replicate His Success He Created In Los Angeles. The Ravens Have A Fair Amount of cap space at a projected $22 million, with potential cuts and A Definite Restructure Of Lamar Jackson’s $74 million cap hit will Open More Money. The Ravens Have Key Free Agent In Tyler Linderbaum, one of the best centers in the game, to lock up long term. The Ravens Will Install A New Offense With Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken Headed To The Browns, but how will their offense change or evolve and Add New Wrinkles With Lamar At Quarterback?

Pittsburgh Steelers—

The Steelers Quarterback Carousel Continued In 2025, This Time The Dial Landed On Aaron Rodgers To Take The Reins As The Next Passer By to Stand In As Pittsburgh’s Lead Passer. After two uneventful Years In New York, Aaron Rodgers Made The Move Slightly West, Six Hours Travel To Pennsylvania to Presumably Wrap Up His Hall of Fame Career. The Steelers went all-in, acquiring wide receiver DK Metcalf Away From The Seahawks And Adding Cornerback Jalen Ramsey in A Trade To Tag Along With Defensive Stalwarts Like TJ Watt and Cam Hayward And Developing Players Like Joey Porter, Alex Highsmith, Amongst Others. The Roster Had leaks, like Hollowed Out Receiver Corp After The Team Traded George Pickens, The Steelers also Lack A formidable Run Game, and The Offensive Line Had A lot Of Development Still Ahead But Pittsburgh Hoped To Catch Lightning In Bottle Possibly Ride A hot Streak and Catch A Few Breaks, Make The Playoffs And Let Aaron Rodgers Out Process All His Other Teams. The Steelers Caught Lightning In A Bottle Forcing Five Turnovers Or New England and six turnovers against the Colts, Two Of The AFC’s Best Offenses And Won Those Games. The Steelers Suffered With Inconsistency All Year Round on both offense and defense. The Steelers Started The Year With Seven Sacks In TWO games, Then Two Sacks The Next Four Games. Each of Pittsburgh’s Top Pass Rushers Missed Time But All Finished TJ Watt, Nick Herbig, Alex Highsmith, Cameron HEYWARD and Keanu Benton Finished The Season With Quarterback Pressure Rates, All Below 15% Pressure Rate. The Steelers Will Cost Them 49% Of Their Cap Space Heading Into The Offseason, The Fourth Most In football, Ranking 11th Overall In Defensive DVOA, 11th Against The Pass and Seventh Against The Run. the Steelers Got Older On Defense After Trading Away Mickah Fitzpatrick For A 31 Year Old Jalen Ramsey, TJ Watt Passed 31 A Few Years Back and Cam HEYWARD Hit 36 Last Season With a Mix Of Young Players Like Joey Porter Jr In Pass Coverage And Linebacker Patrick Queen as Run Stuffer and Added Blitzer. The Steelers ' offense averaged 23.4 Points Per Game, 187.6 Passing Yards Per Game. Rodgers and Arthur Smith Attempted To Operate The Offense As A Death By a thousand Paper Cuts, as Aaron Rodgers finished with the lowest intended air yards per attempt and The Fastest Time To Throw In Football, 2.59. Rodgers Avoided Pressure Like The Plague Or Covid and Didn’t Even Like Getting Hit By His Own Teammates. According to Next Gen Stats, 71.5% Of Rodgers ' targets went to receivers below ten air yards downfield, and this Limited The Team Because Even When The Defense Registered High Sack Numbers and High turnover numbers, the offense only helped the Steelers Scrape By In Games With Just .6 Points Separating The Steelers From Their Opponents On Average. The Steelers Offense Didn’t Produced A lot Of Explosive Plays Making It One Of The Least Efficiency Offenses Last Season Because Explosive Plays Because of The Value Added Through Big Plays. The Steelers finished the season ranked 2nd in total yards after the catch, led by number one receiver DK Metcalf, who ranked 21st in total yards after the catch (446) and 5th in yards after the catch over expected (+166). Metcalf Missed The Final Two Of The Season Due to A Suspension After A physical Altercation With A Fan, and He’s become the Miss Zig trade speculation This Offseason, Although In An Offseason Light On Major Free Agents The Media Will Spin A Narrative For “Clicks” Sake. The Steelers won ten games, securing the AFC North crown over the Ravens in the final week of the season. However, they suffered a historic defeat to the Texans in the Wild Card Round. Following this performance, the Steelers decided to part ways with long-time head coach Mike Tomlin, who had coached the team since before the Obama administration. During his tenure, he led the team to a Super Bowl and never experienced a losing season. Enter Mike McCarthy, former Packers and Cowboys Coach Who Coached Rodgers TO A Super Bowl in Green Bay And Coached The Cowboys To Relative Success Before His Dismissal In 2025. If the Steelers Want To Improve They Walk Away From Rodgers and Start Seriously Considering Younger Options At The Position in Free Agency Or The Draft, and That Could Mean Taking A Step Backwards Next Season. The Steelers Have Cap Space and Need To Revamp The Receiving Core. Beneath DK Metcalf, Kenneth Gainwell finished second in targets, and he and Tight Pat Freiermuth Finished Tied For Second In receiving Yards On The Team At 485. Coach McCarthy Never Built A Reputation As A Developer Of Talent But More Of A System Installer And Schematic Attacker But Pittsburgh needs a Young, Live arm.

Cincinnati Bengals—

The Bengals Struggled Through a topsy-turvy season that featured injury to Joe Burrow, A Trade For Joe Flacco, and the Bengals hadn’t Made The Playoffs In Two Season following back-to-back AFC championship Appearances and A Super Bowl Appearance. Coach Zach Taylor Needed To Get The Ship Back On The Course He Set Years Prior When The Bengals Made The Super Bowl, and in a make-or-break type of season, the Bengals finished 6-11, their third-worst finish under Taylor, Pushing Their Playoff Streak To Three Years. The Season Some Highlights, The Bengals Started The Year 2-0 Before Joe Burrow Went Down With A Toe Injury In Week Two That Would Sideline Him For An Extended Period(Nine Games Total). When Burrowed Missed Time In 2023, back-up JaKe Browning stepped in. In seven starts, Nine Appearances, He Completed 70.4% of His Passes, threw 12 Touchdowns, with a 98.4 Passer Rating. The Bengals had One Of The Best Back Up Situations In football. Instead, Browning Couldn’t Find The Same Success in 2025. In Three Starts At Quarterback, Browning Threw Eight Picks, six Touchdowns, 38.8% Success Rate, 4.25 Adjusted Yards Attempts, Nearly an Entirely Different Player. Browning Lost Three Straight Games. The Bengals Made The Move For Joe Flacco, The Veteran Who Started The Season With The Browns. Flacco Revived The Passing Offense With 13 Touchdowns, 4 Interceptions, 91.0 Passer Rating, and Single-handedly Saved Jamar Chase From A Massive Fall Off In Terms Of Production, but Ultimately Finished His Stint As The Bengals Starter 1-4. With Browning In The Lineup, Chase Averaged 8 Targets Per Game, 61.0 Yards Per Game. With Flacco In As The Starter His Target Rate Jumped 14.4 And 97.9 Receiving Yards, Chase’s Best Run Of The Season. The Former Triple Crown winner, Chase, led the league in targets, 185(Nearly twice As Much As The Next Bengals, 98, Tee Higgins). Chase Racked Up 1412 Yards Playing With Three Different Quarterbacks. Joe Burrow returned in week 12 To Defeat The Ravens, But The Bengals' season had already Hit The Unsalvageable Point. The Bengals' offseason preceded the Chaos Of Their Season As Team Front Office managed the hassle of curating new deals for Ted Higgins and Jamar Chase, Two Premiere Wide Receivers In Search Of Big Money. Joe Burrow Returned to Finish 5-3, 1809 Passing Yards, 17 Touchdowns, Five Interceptions, 7.0 Yards Per Attempt, 51.8 Success Rate. The Bengals Locked Up Those Two Players On Extensions But Then Star Edge Rusher Trey Hendrickson Demanded A Trade Before The Bengals Also Restructured His Deal Giving The Cincy Sack King A New Deal Worth North Of $30 Million For One Season. Hendrickson would have missed 10 games Due To A Core Injury That Required Surgery, But Not Racking Up 24 Pressures and A 14.2 Quarterback Pressure Rate, and He Now Hits Free Agency At The Top Of The Class At 31 Years Of Age. The Bengals Will Have To Stretch far To Keep Hendrickson Long Term But His Absence Opened Up Avenues For Younger Options Like Defensive Lineman Myles Murphy and Joseph Ossai To Make A Greater Impact In Terms Of Pressure and Defensive Input. The Bengals ' defense played notoriously bad, Last In Yards Per Play allowed, Fourth In EPA Per Play allowed, third In Points Per Game, Last IN Rushing Yards Per Game Allowed. If you can name it, the Bengals Struggled With It Defensively Or The Cowboys, Raiders, and Jets Save Them From The Bottom By The End Of The Season. Cincy Paced The League In Missed Tackles 171, including A fifteen Missed Tackle Game Against The Bears, In Which Bears Tight End colston Loveland Caught A 58 Yard Game-winning touchdown (35 After Contact) After Multiple Bengals tacklers just bounced off of him. One player, even a player of Hendrickson’s caliber, won't fix all of the problems plaguing the Bengals’ defense. The Cincy Brain Trust Needs To Attempt A Comprehensive Retooling Of Cincy’s Defense, From Top-Down. The Bengals Project To Have Between $52-57 Million In Cap Space, But The Bengals Still Have That Persistent Offensive Line Issue, After Ranking 28th in the league in Pass Block Win Rate. 2025: the best Finish The Team Has Produced In The Zach Taylor Era. This Same Offensive Line Finished 10th In Run Block Win Rate, and Cincy Finished The year leaning in more on the run game, averaging 27.1 Carries A Game, for 111.0 rushing yards per game, 4.1 yards per rush over the final seven games, compared to 19.1 Carries, 81.4 Rushing Yards Per Game, and 4.2 yards per carry. Cincy Got A 1019 Yards Rushing from lead Back Chase Brown, a former fifth-round pick. The Bengals Could Serve To Upgrade Their Tight End Position A Spot The Team Hasn’t Gotten a lot of production from in recent years. I Don’t Believe The Bengals Can Or Will Fix Their Defense Overnight But I’m Curious To See what Players They Add Or The Secondary. Maybe A Guy like Tremaine Edmonds, The Linebacker From The Bears, as he seeks a trade, could become a target, and Then Add A Young Edge Rusher In The Draft. The Bengals If Healthy Could Return To Place As Playoff Team Or Even A Contender If All Goes Right.

Cleveland Browns—

The Quarterback Position Has Defined The Cleveland Browns’ Franchise And Not In A Good Way, and The Ineptitude At One Position Overshadows Much Of What Cleveland Accomplished Defensively Last Year. From The Inception Of This IterationOf The Browns In 1999, the Browns Have Embodied Quarterback Futility Like Cleveland 42 Starters Have Graced The Browns Uniform In Less Than 30 Years. In 2025, the Browns Suffered With another Cycle Of Multiple Starting Quarterbacks In One Season, and The Browns Have Had Multiple Starters In Every Season Since 2021, when Cleveland Moved On From Baker Mayfield and Added Deshaun Watson Via A Trade with The Texans. After Passing On A Quarterback early in the draft, the Browns rumble with three starters in 2025. Two Drafted Quarterbacks As Cleveland Famously Ended The Fall of One Prominent Name In The Draft. Rookies Dilon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders Tagged Along With Veteran Quarterback Joe Flacco, Installed As The Starter. The Browns Found Success With Flacco as their quarterback years before. He started the franchise's last playoff game in 2023–The Browns Started Four Quarterbacks That Year—But Flacco wouldn’t generate The Same Success He Experienced In first Run In Cleveland, Actually The Vet Played Worse Much Worse. Through Four Games, Flacco Threw Six Interceptions, two touchdowns, a 60.3 Passer Rating, and the Browns Traded Him To Division Rival Bengals after A 1-3 start. Then Browns Head Coach Kevin Stefanski dodged the question regarding the quarterback position, Particularly Surrounding Fifth Round Pick Before Turning To Rookie Third Rounder Dilon Gabriel, The Undersized(5’10) Lefty From Oregon. Gabriel played six games, finishing 1-5 As A starter, -0.27 EPA Per Dropback, and Dillon couldn’t Attack Deep, Not That The Browns Had Any One Worth Targeting Deep. Gabriel Finished His Run As The Browns Starter With Seven Touchdowns And Two Picks, -4.7% Completion Percentage over expected and 41.9% Pressure Rate. Shedeur Sanders, the most talked and commented on quarterback in Browns’ history, or At Least since Johnny Manziel—Or That Other Quarterback We’ll discuss later—took Over To Close The Season. Sanders Starter Seven Games Finished With 1400 Passing Yards Took Home Three Of The Browns' Five Wins And A 364 Passing Yard With Four Touchdowns In A Week 14 Performance against The Titans and Cam Ward. Statistically, Gabriel Produced The Best Run Based On EPA Per Drop back, Passer Rating, and Touchdown To Interception Ratio. However, neither guy looked like the long-term option, and These Weren’t Young Quarterbacks. Both will enter the next season, 24 Or Older. One Thing Remained True THROUGHOUT each Quarterback Pressure all Of The Browns Quarterback Face Pressure On Over 40% Of Their Dropback, Shedeur’s Pressure Rose Over 50% Partly Because He Held The Ball For 3.2 Secs On Average On Time To Throw. The Browns' Offensive Line Struggled. Starting left tackle Dawan Jones hasn't adjusted to NFL-level play before getting hurt, and they made the desperate move to trade for Texans Left Tackle—You It’s Bad When You Trade For Offensive Line Talent From The Texans—But That Patch Also Failed, and The Browns Ranked 20th In Pass Block Win Rate According To ESPN. The Browns Still Have Deshaun Watson, but obviously, he’s Not Long for Cleveland after Missing All of Last Season Recovering From A Double Achilles tear, but doesn’t Appear Apart Of The Teams’s Future. The Browns signed Watson to a five-year, $230 million contract with all guaranteed money in 2022, which Leaves One Season Left And A Massive Cap Hit When The Deal Voids In 2027, but Cleveland won’t Escape The Sunk Cost Of His Contract Until The End Of The Decade Possibly. The Positives For Cleveland: The Browns got a lot Of Impact Play From Their Rookie Class. Rookie Tight end Harold Fannin Jr. led the team in receiving Yards, receptions, and Receiving Touchdowns. Something Both Good and Bad Most Offenses Don’t want Their Tight End Or A Rookie Third Rounder Leading Your Offense in Receiving, but he’s A promising Prospect. Fellow Rookie Running Back Quinshon Justin produced A Brilliant Rookie Despite Missing A Few Games With Injury And Off The Field Matters. He produced 827 Rushing Yards, 230 rushing attempts, 3.4 Yards Per Carry, despite Getting Hit Behind The line On 54% Of His Carry with 760 Rushing Yards After Contact. The Wide Receivers For The Browns Struggled, especially Lead Receiver Jerry Jeudy, Who Suffered A Down Year Compared To Last Year’s 1229 Receiving Yards Out Break. A Pro Bowler in 2024, Awarded A New Contract. Jeudy Finished With Just 602 Yards Receiving and Struggled Catching The ball, Generating A -9.1% Completion Percentage Over Expected. Can Cleveland count on Jeudy To Bounce Back In 2026 And Maintain His Place As The Team’s Top Receiving Talent? Jeudy Has Always Played Better As A Complimentary or A 1B receiver, so wideout would’ve Ranked The Top Of The Browns' offseason needs, no matter the expectations for Jeudy Heading Into The Final Year Of His Contract. The Browns' defense shone, and most of their (If Not All) Of Their Five Wins The Defense Proved The Focal Point With Multiple Standout Members. The Browns finished 3rd in ESPN FPI efficiency, 8th in Defensive DVOA, Fourth In EPA Per Play Allowed(-0.15), Third In Passing 167.2 Passing Yards Allowed Per Game, and Sixth In Quarterback Pressure Rate. All World Edge Rusher Myles Garrett Broke The All Time Sack record with 23 Sacks In A 17-Game Season, 77 pressures, despite getting chipped at the highest rate in sports. Myles Played With A Relentless Motor This Season To Get Sacks A Lead This Browns' defense. After Cleveland Awarded Him With a Massive Deal In The Offseason Making Him The Richest Non-Quarterback In NFL history. Garrett Took Home Defensive Player Of The Year, The Second Of His Career. Other Browns Player Also feasted Off Of Garrett’s Gravity Veteran Maliek Collins posted 6.5 Sacks, 28 Pressures In 12 Games As An Interior Pass Rusher. Rookie Linebacker Carson Schwesinger led the team in tackles and Run Stops, adding 2.5 Sacks With Two Picks, 25.6% Pressure Rate, and Ultimately Took Home Defensive Rookie Of The year. Veteran Linebacker Devin Bush, A Former top Ten Pick In 2019, finished ranked fourth amongst linebackers overall according to PFF, with 366 coverage snaps and 39 targets. Bush Allowed A Passer Rating Of 56.6, three Picks, 124 Tackles, seven tackles for loss, eight passes defensed, and 230 Yards allowed. The Browns' defense allowed just 15 Passing Touchdowns and 5.9 Yards Per Pass Attempt, and Bush, who enters Free agency, Played A Crucial Part In Cleveland’s Defense. Bush Will Be Free Agency Expected TomGet Looks yas One of The Best Players Available with Price Tag Out Of The Browns. The Browns finished second in EPA Per Pass Play Allowed, the Pass Defense Allowed A passer Rating of 90, and 3.5 Yards Of Separation. Trade Acquisition Tyson Campbell Forced Tight Window Throws on 37.8% Of His Targets, 2.2 Average Separation, and -8.3 Coverage EPA. The Browns' secondary, Till Employ Denzel Ward, The Corner Gave Up Three Touchdowns But Forced An 87.2 Passer Rating, -3.3% Catch Rate Over Expected, 3.1 Yards Of Separation Locked Up With The Top Threat Of The Opposing Teams. Browns long-time defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz Moved On From The Team After The Firing Of Head Coach Kevin Stefanski, And Now Todd Monken Takes Over. New Head Coach Todd Monken Will Install A New Defensive System and hopes to inspire the same performance Schwartz Got From His Talent. The Change At Head Coach places everything On The Table As Far Starters At Key Positions. The Browns have two first-round picks to work with, thanks to the Travis Hunter trade, but not Much In Flexibility Terms Of cap space for the reason referenced above. The Browns May Have To Take The Slow Burn Approach To Building another playoff-caliber team, which may Include Making The Unthinkable Move.