Almost every year, a team manages to crawl out of the basement and win the division. Last year the hapless Bengals took that honor. This year we have a lot of candidates to make that leap. The Jets: IYKYK Denver: Seems to underperform annually but finally has a bonafide FQB behind center. Last time they had one of those, they won the SB Baltimore: Considered a SB contender every year, they brought in arguably the best DB in the draft to shore up their D. Jackson hasn’t signed a contract bc according to him, he hasn’t earned it. This is the year he needs to prove his worth. Jacksonville: They added some pieces on D and their FQBs favorite collegiate weapon should take the field this year. The Giants: Seattle: Detroit: Added to their DL and got their QB a top flight WR. Their OL should be solid this year with Sewell coming into his own last year. Their secondary was trash but they’ve invested a lot back there and if the players develop, they could outperform. Playing the Bears and Vikings 4 times should help if they start to shine. Panthers: The Panthers finally got an OT to protect their FRB. I have more faith in Baker than most and with both he and Rhule needing to “prove it” it could be fun. They’ve invested a lot in their D the last few drafts… this is the year we find out.
I could easily see Denver being most improved, but the AFC West is a bear. Baltimore, on the other hand, only finished a couple of games behind Cincinnati last year, and their long-term history of success is far greater than that of the Bengals. I also think that Pittsburgh and Cleveland will both be worse than last year, so I went with Baltimore.
None of the above. Forced to choose, Baltimore has the shortest distance to travel with no significant new roadblocks along the way.
Easily Baltimore, none of the others have improved near enough or had the teams above them get that much worse. Cleveland and Pittsburgh likely take big steps back this season so they really only need to contend with Cinci. Of course this is predicated on Watson being suspended this season.
