AFC Division       

                                  Standing Prediction 

          

                                       By Josh Olson

This is my early prediction on how I think the AFC division will end up being at the end of the NFL regular season. And let’s be honest, some of you will hate how I predicted your team, looking at you Bronco fans, but guess what… there are other surprise in my division ranking that’ll you’ll just have to read to find out. Hope you enjoy the article and come back when I do the NFC. 

AFC East

Buffalo Bills

What cane you say about the team that has it all… great football operation, great coach, great quarterback and an all around talent in all aspects of the game. It’s super bowl or busy for the Buffalo Bills. They added Von Miller who is coming off a Super Bowl title to help groom the up and comers defensive ends. They hopefully answer the 2nd cornerback position with addition of Kaiir Elam to play opposite side of Tre’Davious White. The big question facing the Bills is how will the hiring of Brian Daboll affect the offence. 

Key addition: Von Miller 

Key departure: Brian Daboll

Miami Dolphins 

A team that has been in the news for all the wrong reason due to their owner but what they put on field is where it counts. The hiring of Mike McDaniel, some saying the brain trust of the 49ers run game, will bring new ideas to a stale offence especially with new comers like Tyreek Hill and Terron Armstead to help with the growth and development of Tua Tugovailoa. With a middle of the pack defence with no really big addition to come, this team will rely on offence to win them games and keep them in the playoff hunt. 

Key addition: Tyreek Hill

Key departure: Mack Hollins

New England Patriots

A team that two years ago lost their franchise quarterback to only draft, what they hope to be the next franchise quarterback in Mac Jones, made the playoffs after one season of missing it. Mac took the league by storm, looking like the best quarterback to come out of the draft. He was the most pro ready but this off season he lost the man that was fully in charge of his development in Josh McDaniel. They lost a lot of important players, the biggest being JC Jackson. They also go into the season not evening know who is the offensive and defensive coordinator so look for the Pats taking a slight step back. 

Key addition: Kenny Stills 

Key Depature: Jc Jackson 

New York Jets 

A lot of bumps in the road with a new coaching staff and new quarterback, the jets ended last season with a 4-13 but their offseason moves of bringing in Laken Tomlinson, C.J. Uzomah, and D.J. Reed to name a few. They also had their 3 first round draft picks in Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner, Garret Wilson, and Jermaine Johnson to help in positions of need. With a lot of addition and Zach Wilson having another year in the same offence, I see a bump in the win total but it will be hard to make a leap in the division standings. 

Key addition: Laken Tomlinson 

Key departure: Marcus Maye

AFC South

Indianapolis Colts

One word to describe their season last year… rollercoaster. The up and down season that the colts had with Carson Wentz at the helm was not enough for him to have a second kick at the can to be the Colts starting quarterback as they shipped him off and traded for Matt Ryan. Johnathan Taylor to the league by storm, bursting on the scene and ending as the rushing leader for the season. Defences was a top ten in the league and they added a bookend for Kwity Paye in Yannick Ngakoue. Hopefully adding Ryan will make this team a playoff team. 

Key addition: Matt Ryan

Key departure: Jack Doyle 

Tennessee Titans

The Tennessee Titans started and ended the regular season off strong when they finish with a record of 12-5, finish 1st in the division but lost to the Cincinnati Bengals in the divisional round. They lost their number one receiver in 

A.J. Brown in a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles. It did get them a first round draft pick in the 2022 NFL draft and a 3rd but it took away Ryan Tannehill number one option in the passing game. Also the front office and coaching staff might have a tad doubt in Tannehill with the drafting of Malik Willis. The return of Derrick Henry will help this offence once again but the lack of receivers talent will be in question. The Titans are hoping they can carry on being a dominant defense, that was ranked 6th in the league last year, in the upcoming season with almost everyone returning.

Key addition: Treylon Burks 

Key departure: A.J. Brown 

Jacksonville Jaguars

How do get everyone to forget about your team going 1-15 and picking first overall in 2020? You hire Urban Meyer as your head coach and go 3-14 and get the first overall pick for back to back years. Hoping theirs not a 3rd time. As much as the 2021 season was bad due to the hiring they did come away with, hopefully, a franchise quarterback in Trevor Lawerence in 2020. He had an up and down season, the offence, ranked 19th, wasn’t as bad as people may think. With Marvin Jones Jr.and James Robinson/ Travis Etienne Jr., Lawerence should have decent weapons to capitalize on. The hiring of Doug Pederson, a super bowl winning coach should help the offence. The defense can only do better, being ranked 28th, the addition of 2021 first overall pick Trevon Walker and fellow first rounder Devin Llyod will hopefully add some more juice to help with Josh Allen.

Key addition: Doug Pederson 

Key departure: Dj Chark

Houston Texans

Well now that the whole Deshaun Watson drama is finally over, the Houston Texans can finally get back to playing and winning football games. Playing will come right away, winning might take a bit longer. The Houston 

Texans had the worst offence and the 27th ranked defense in the league last year. They added some quality players in the offseason, Derek Stingley being their biggest addition. They are bringing in defensive minded, Lovie Smith, as head coach and hoping that they have found they’re franchise quarterback in Davis Mill. With the likes of these two leaders, the Texans are hopefully steering themselves back in the right direction of being a team for good product on the field and not a team that is in the news for all the wrong reason.

Key addition: Derek Stingley

Key departure: Deshaun Watson

AFC North 

Cincinnati Bengals 

The Cincinnati Bengals shocked the world by going from a team that drafted in the top five of the 2021 draft to one play away from winning the super bowl with an offensive line that ranked near the bottom of the league. So you fix it and boy did they fix it… they added players like La’el Collins, Ted Karras, and Alex Cappa to help keep your quarterback, Joe Burrow, from getting hit. Joe got sacked 55 times. The defense is retiring everyone back but Jessie Bates is looking for a long term contract extension and will not step on the field without one. 

Key addition: La’el Collins

Key departure: C.J Uzomah

Baltimore Ravens 

The 2021 Baltimore Ravens got out to a fast start and in the first 12 weeks, they were 8-3. Playoffs looked lock down. But injuries were piling up all throughout the season with Ronnie Stanley, Marcus Peters, J.K. Dobbins, Marlon Humphrey and Lamar Jackson all going on IR at some point in the season. Losing star players, especially your franchise quarterback, couldn’t keep the playoff hope alive as they ended the season on a six game losing streak. Now with everyone back healthy, J.K. Dobbins still questionable for the start of the season, that hopefully they can pick up where they left off in the first 12 weeks of the season. They do have a contract dispute with quarterback Lamar Jackson going on which they hope to resolve before the season begins. Wide receivers will have a lot of question that will need answering in training camp. The defense added some big name but no bigger then safety, Marcus Williams.

Key addition: Marcus Williams

Key departure: Marquise Brown

Cleveland Browns 

What does a team do that think they are a Super Bowl team but doesn’t have a franchise quarterback in the building…… sell your soul for one. That’s what the Cleveland Browns did when the shipped out Baker Mayfield for franchise quarterback, Deshaun Watson. The last time we saw him playing, he lead the league in yards with 4823. Dropping a player of his caliber into an already made offensive with good running backs, great o-line, and has shown that he doesn’t need much receiving help to put up yards. So it was never about his playing that was troubling, it was the legal problem he got himself involved with. This team will only go as far as long as Watson is on the field, suspension is coming, how many games though is the question. The defense was middle of the pack but they have superstars like Myles Garret, Denzel Ward, future stars in Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Grant Delpit to push them into the top ten.

Key addition: Deshaun Watson 

Key departure: Jarvis Landry 

Pittsburg Steelers 

The Ben Roethlisberger era is over. Bring on the Mitch Trubisky. Or Mason Rudolph. Or Kenny Pickett. That’s what the Steelers fan have to look forward too, seeing who will take over as quarterback and fill Big Ben’s shoes. Mitch was brought in as a free agent and Pickett was drafted in the first round in this past year draft. They also drafted George Pickens in this past year draft also, who is making waves in training camp. The franchise just knows how to draft wide receivers. The defense took a huge dip last year, ranked 20th from pro-football reference, so they added Larry Ogunjobi, Myles Jack, and Levi Wallace to help improve the overall defense. 

Key addition: Mitch Trubisky 

Key departure: Ben Roethlisberger

AFC West 

Los Angeles Chargers 

The Chargers made some BIG splashes in the offseason with the trade for Khalil Mack and the signing of J.C. Jackson to add to their disappointing defense they had last year. They ranked 30th according to Pro Football Reference, which is shocking to think that was one of the reason they brought in Brandon Stanley to be their head coach, being a defensive minded coach. This will be Justin Herbert second year with the same offence coordinator, in his first year where he put up 5014 yards and 38 touchdowns. That was him learning the offence so the sky the limit in year two. They drafted Zion Johnson to play right guard, their hopes are that he turns out like their last year first round, Rashawn Slater. 

Key addition: Khalil Mack 

Key departure: Kyzir White 

Kansas City Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs made the AFC Conference Final for the 4th year in a row and looked to be heading to their 3rd Super Bowl in a row, heading into halftime against the Bengals. But that would not be the case when the Chiefs only scored 3 more points in the second half and losing 27-24. The off-season got crazy when they decided to trade Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins, putting even more pressure on Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. They added JuJu Smith-Schuster in free agency and drafted Skyy Moore to hopefully replace the production Hill leaves behind. The Chiefs had the 8th ranked defense according to Pro Football Reference. They drafted George Karlaftis and Trent McDuffie to help with the lost of players on defense. 

Key addition: JuJu Smith-Scuster

Key departure: Tyreek Hill

Las Vegas Raiders

A team that went through so much in season turmoil with a coach that was caught writing and sending racist, misogynistic, and homophobic emails. Then they lost Henry Ruggs due to driving under the influence resulting in death and reckless driving. Then intern coach, Rich Bisaccia, lead the Las Vegas Raiders to the playoffs. The players played hard for him. They ended the regular season on a four game winning streak, with the last game being a big win and your in scenario against the Los Angeles chargers. They got bounced in the wild card round. In the offseason they made a coaching change with the hiring of Josh McDaniels and made probably the biggest trade in the offseason by acquiring the best Wider receiver in the game in Davante Adams, which reunites him with his college quarterback, Derek Carr. They also got a running mate for Maxx Crosby in the signing of Chandler Jones. And some defensive back help in Rock  Ya-Sin in a trade with the Colts that sent Yannick Ngakoue the other way.

Key addition: Davante Adams

Key departure: Rich Bisaccia

Denver Broncos 

The Denver Broncos haven’t had a quality starting quarterback since the year Peyton Manning won them a Super Bowl in 2015… names like Brock Osweiler, Trevor Siemian, Paxton Lynch, Case Keenum, Joe Flacco, Drew Lock, and Teddy Bridgewater all tried replacing Peyton at quarterback but none of them could. So they made a franchise game changing move, trading for Russell Wilson to hopefully bring a stop to the quarterback carousel that has haunted them since Peyton retired in 2015. They have a new head coach in Nathaniel Hackett, who comes over from the Green Bay Packers.

The defence, which was ranked third in the league according to pro football references, adding players like Randy Gregory and D.J. Jones to an already ferocious front four but the secondary is no slouch either. Players like Justin Simmons, Patrick Surtain II, Ronald Darby, and new comer, K’Waun Williams. This defenses should be in the top 5 but makes you wonder if they will miss Vic Fangio play calling. 

Key addition: Russell Wilson 

Key departure: Vic Fangio