Baltimore Ravens
2024 Record: 12-5 (1st in AFC North)
Head Coach: John Harbaugh (18th season)
Notable Additions: WR DeAndre Hopkins, CB Jaire Alexander, T Joseph Noteboom
Notable Departures: CB Brandon Stephens, G Patrick Mekari, K Justin Tucker
Biggest Reason for Excitement: The Addition of Quality Veteran Depth Pieces
The biggest gift of being a Ravens team that is in good, if not great shape at nearly every position on both sides of the ball is that it grants them the freedom to dedicate their free agent efforts to targeting talented vets that can add depth and experience to their roster. This offseason was another masterclass from Eric DeCosta in this area as they were able to land a handful of guys that could make a big difference in 2025.
Headlining this crop of veteran pickups is DeAndre Hopkins. The 33-year 5x All-Pro may not be the level of playmaker he was during his tenures with the Texans and Cardinals these days, but as he proved with the Chiefs last season, he's still capable of being a productive posession WR in this league and he should slot in nicely alongside returning starters Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman.
Next up is the addition of longtime Packers corner Jaire Alexander to replace Brandon Stephens-who departed for the Jets in free agency. Alexander was a bit of a surprise cut from the Packers in early June as the team had reportedly been conflicted about keeping him in the fold after missing a whopping 34 games over the past 4 seasons. While there are clearly concerns about his durability after missing so much time recently (hence why the Ravens only signed him to a 1-year deal), Alexander is still only 28 years old, has been excellent when healthy during this period and will have less pressure on him to be a CB1 with an established star in Marlon Humphrey and a promising youngster in Nate Wiggins playing alongside him-making this the epitome of low risk/high reward transaction.
Rounding out the bunch are projected backups Joseph Noteboom, Chidobe Awuzie and John Jenkins. Noteboom and Awuzie are valuable insurance policies to a pair of oft-injured starters (Ronnie Stanley, Alexander) thanks to their heaps of starting experience while Jenkins should be a nice rotational, run-stopping piece on the interior defensive line. If the Ravens are finally going to get over the hump and challenge for a title in 2025, these guys could prove to be immensely valuable pieces that help them do so.
Biggest Reason for Concern: Derrick Henry Finally Starting to Show His Age
Derrick Henry had himself one hell of a 2024 campaign. The future Hall of Fame running back just put together one of the best seasons of his illustrious career at age 30 during his 1st season with the Ravens, rushing for 1,921 YDS, a league-leading 16 TD's and average a career-high 5.9 YDS per carry. As brilliant as he was, a sad, unavoidable question remains: Will this be the last time Henry has a dominate season? He's now 31 years old-which is basically 65 in running back years-and has been handling a cartoonishly high workload dating back to his school days in Yulee, Florida. All of the punishment he's endured from so many consecutive years of touching the ball 300+ times her season taking away his elite ability is going to eventually KO him and for the sakes of the Ravens Super Bowl aspirations, they have to hope that 2025 isn't the year where age finally comes for Henry.
What made the 2024 Ravens uniquely threatening was how Henry was able to work in tandem with Lamar Jackson. Defenses were constantly on edge as they didn't know whether Henry was going to plow through them or Lamar was going to blow by them or chuck it downfield, which provided this offense with a level of dynamism and unpredictability that they never had in the past. Losing that after just 1 season would be a devastating blow to the functionality of their offense and make them a considerably less imposing team to face, even with Jackson coming off a career year and conceivably continuing to improve as a passer in his 3rd season in Todd Monken's offense.
The other problem Henry falling off and/or getting hurt would provide is thrusting their other RB's into bigger roles. They've built their entire RB room around the idea of Henry being a bellcow who only needs to be taken off the field in certain passing situations (2-minute drills, 3 and long's, etc.), which is why their top backups are Justice Hill and Keaton Mitchell. While Hill and Mitchell are plenty explosive and not exactly strangers to getting carries, they're both slight change-of-pace options who likely couldn't hold up to the rigors that a full RB workload would bring on. If something were to happen to Henry, they would probably have to go out and bring in a bigger back to handle the ugly between-the-tackles rushing in order to try and preserve Hill and Mitchell's freshness/health.
Given how Henry has been operating, it wouldn't be surprising if he staved off his demise as a game-changing force for at least another season. But the harsh reality is that he's at a point in his career where that can no longer be viewed as a safe bet. We've seen plenty of players go from looking ageless to old as shit in a matter of months over the years and as sad as it would be for fans to witness the demise of one of the greats, it could very well happen this season.
Key to Reaching Their Ceiling: Not Shooting Themselves in the Foot Come Playoff Time
What has transpired with the Ravens over the past 2 playoff runs has been absolutely infuriating to witness. In 2023, a brutal performance from Lamar Jackson and a stupid, stupid play from Zay Flowers that led to a key fumble in the redzone undid a masterful effort from their defense to slow down Patrick Mahomes and co. as the Chiefs defeated them 17-10 in the AFC Championship Game. Last year, was even more aggravating as the difference in a 27-25 loss to the Bills was a lost fumble and dropped 2 PT-CNV from the typically reliable Mark Andrews in the 4th quarter. These 2 mishaps paired with the beatdowns at the hands of the Titans and Bills that ended in their playoff runs in 2019 and 2020 (2022 is excluded as Tyler Huntley was playing QB when they lost to the Bengals) has created a narrative that the Ravens are a regular season team who chokes when the playoffs come around. Even if you're a big believer in Jackson, John Harbuagh and/or the strength of the organization as a whole, it's hard to credibly refute that claim.
There's only 1 way to get people to stop dumping all over your team (for a little while at least), win a championship. And the only way this Ravens team will win a Super Bowl is if they stop shooting themselves in the foot during key games. A perfect game isn't required to win championships, but the messy, backbreaking shenanigans they've engaged in of late are going to have stop at once if they want to lift their 3rd Lombardi Trophy this century. As naive as it sounds given what's transpired with them over the past 6 seasons, I really do believe that they're capable of pulling it off. Jackson has made real strides in big games of late, and their talent remains among the best in the league. Now, it's just time to prove that they're up to the challenge of playing up to their championship-caliber potential on the biggest stage.
Bottom Line:
A lot is going to have to go wrong for the Ravens to not be among the top teams in the AFC once again, but if they want this season to be truly different than the last handful, they're going to have to get through a playoff run without having a game where they full blown implode.
Cincinnati Bengals
2024 Record: 9-8 (3rd in AFC North)
Head Coach: Zac Taylor (7th season)
Notable Additions: DT T.J. Slaton, ILB Oren Burks, G Lucas Patrick
Notable Departures: CB Mike Hilton, G Alex Cappa, DE Sam Hubbard (retired)
Biggest Reason for Excitement: Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins Got Paid
Living to see the day where Mike Brown swallowed his pride and inked a pair of players to big money contract extensions during the same offseason is legit crazy. Either he's softening in his old age or Joe Burrow's repeated public lobbying to keep both Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins in the fold long-term simply forced his hand since pissing off the best QB in franchise history would be really bad for business. Regardless of the reason, getting to keep one of the most dynamic receiving duos in the league together for the foreseeable future is a huge win for the Bengals.
Now, is it wise for cap purposes to commit up to $194 mil to your top 2 wideouts over the next 5 seasons on a team that has as many weak spots as the Bengals currently do? Probably not. But having that kind of weaponry in the passing attack and keeping your QB happy makes it worth the investment. The pressure will now shift to Duke Tobin and the front office to nail the next few drafts so they can accumulate cost-controlled talent and fix the many problems that exists with this team, especially on defense (more on that in a matter of moments).
Biggest Reason for Concern: Not Doing Enough to Address Their Woeful Defense
As expected, Lou Anarumo was relieved of his duties as DC after 6 seasons in the role after putting together his worst season on the job since his 1st season back in 2019 during 2025. Tasked with bringing this group back from the bowels of the league will be Al Golden, who previously served as Anarumo's LB coach from 2020-21 before departing to be the DC at Notre Dame. Golden was very successful during his 3 seasons at Notre Dame (top 10 scoring defenses in the country in his final 2 season) and his familiarity with some of the personnel here should prove to be helpful, but his ability to serve in the job remains a huge question mark. This will mark the 1st time Golden has been tasked with running a defense in the pros, which isn't exactly encouraging since Anarumo had previous NFL DC experience before he came to the Bengals and hadn't spent most of his career in the college ranks like Golden has (coming into this year, Golden has spent 6 of his 32 seasons of coaching in the NFL).
Further mucking up Golden's uncertain prospects is the fact that he's inheriting an absolute mess of a situation. As bad as shit was for the Bengals last season, things could somehow be even worse for them this season. Reigning NFL sack leader Trey Hendrickson is currently holding out for a new deal and considering this is now the 2nd straight season that he's asked for a new contract and tried to find a trade partner after the negotiations fell apart, it doesn't seem like there's a resolution on the horizon. Their best corner from a year ago in Mike Hilton wasn't re-signed. Pass-rushing specialist Sam Hubbard surprisingly announced his retirement after 7 seasons in the league. 1st round pick Shemar Stewart is currently embroiled in an ugly contract spat with Brown that could end with him sitting out the year and re-entering the draft in 2026 if he never signs his rookie deal. The only new Bengals slated to start this season are free agent pickup from Green Bay T.J. Slaton (defensive tackle) and rookie Demeterius Knight Jr. (inside linebacker).
Given all of these factors, it's hard to believe that they've done to fix their defense. Hell, they might even be in worse shape than last year given that the departure of Hilton makes an already thin corner group that much worse and the potential pair of losses in the one area that was somewhat of a strength for them in 2024 (pass-rushing). Golden is going to have his work really cut out for him to bring this unit that's below average (run D, 3rd down%)-to-awful (pass D, red zone D) in every area of note back to something that even resembles respectability.
Key to Reaching Ceiling: The Offense Maintaining the Level of Play That Displayed for Most of 2024
Despite a both a lack of commitment to and effectiveness in the rushing game (30th in attempts/30th in rushing YDS), the Bengals had one of the best offenses in football last year. They rode the strength of their passing attack (1st in the league) to the #6 scoring offense in the league and a 5-game winning streak to close the season that got them back into the playoff picture against all odds after a 4-8 start that saw them lose a ton of close games on account of their aforementioned terrible defense along with some bad luck. What made the passing attack hum so well was a combination of Burrow playing the best football of his career (4,918 YDS, 43 TD's, 9 INT's, 70.6 CMP%) and boasting the deepest arsenal of pass-catchers they've had since Zac Taylor took over as HC in 2019 with rookie back Chase Brown, new starting TE Mike Gesicki and 2023 5th round pick Andrei Iosvias all making various notable contributions alongside the established star receiver duo of Chase and Higgins.
Running 5-deep in reliable pass-catchers just opens things up for an offense to an insane degree. The route-running precision/YAC ability that many of these guys have allow them to attack you at every level of the field and rotate alignments in a way that gives opposing defenses huge headaches. With all of them back in the fold and Burrow having the benefit of not having to rehab from an injury this offseason, they're in a great spot to pick up right where they left off in Week 1. If their slightly overhauled line (free agent pickup Lucas Patrick replacing the released Alex Cappa at left guard, rookie Dylan Fairchild replacing 4th year pro Cordell Volson at right guard) can open things up a bit more for Brown in the rushing game, this group could be truly unstoppable.
Bottom Line:
As unconvinced as I am that their defense will meaningfully improve from a year ago, I do have faith in their offense's ability to maintain the sharpness they showed for most last season and potentially will them into clinching the playoff berth that's alluded them in each of the past 2 seasons.
Cleveland Browns
2024 Record: 3-14 (4th in AFC North)
Head Coach: Kevin Stefanski (6th season)
Notable Additions: QB Kenny Pickett, QB Joe Flacco, DT Maliek Collins
Notable Departures: DT Dalvin Tomlinson, RB Nick Chubb, S Juan Thornhill
Biggest Reason for Excitement: Deshaun Watson Has Probably Played His Last Down for the Browns
A rare bit of good news broke for Browns in early January when it was announced that serial sexual predator Deshaun Watson re-ruptured the Achillies he tore in a game versus the Bengals last October while rehabbing and underwent his 2nd surgery in 4 months to repair. Given the rehab required, this will likely keep him out for the duration of the 2025 season. Given his age (30), injury status and the absolute dog shit level of play he's engaged in since he began his tenure with the Browns in 2022, it's now increasingly likely that Browns will just nail him to the bench in 2026 (opting to release him next offseason would give them an absurd dead cap hit of $131.16 mil) and exercise the void option for the final 3 years of his 5 year/$230 mil extension he signed in March 2022 that exists in his contract ahead of the 2027 season. While there's really no winning for the Browns as they gave out the worst contract in NFL history to a deranged sex pest, the fans who had to hold their nose while this piece of shit was their team's starting QB position can at least breathe a sigh of relief that they don't have to experience the pain of watching him play QB horribly every week. Selling your soul for a guy who also is no longer good at football is the most Browns thing imaginable and this disgraceful chapter in their history book can't close soon enough.
Biggest Reason for Concern: The Collection of QB's That Are Currently Vying for the Vacant Starting Job
The albatross of Watson's contract along with the uh, questionable 2025 QB draft class has birthed one of the saddest training camp QB competitions in league history. Behind door #1, it's a recent Super Bowl Champion that their division rivals moved on from as their starting QB just 3 seasons after drafting him. Come on down, Kenny Pickett! Behind door #2, it's the guy who became a Browns folk hero in 2023 when he came off his couch to lead them to a playoff berth after Watson suffered his 1st season-ending injury as a Brown then immediately came crashing back down to Earth when he left for the Colts last season? Everyone say hello to Joe Flacco. Behind door #3, it's a rookie that everyone was shocked came off the board in the 3rd round due to his very short stature (5'11 on a good day). Please welcome, Dillion Gabriel! And last but not least, it's another rookie whose draft process didn't go as planned and certainly didn't only end up in Cleveland as a result of owner Jimmy Haslam demanding they select him in the 5th round despite a lack of need at the position? It's Sheduer Sanders, everybody!
As of today, Flacco seems poised to be the Week 1 starter as Pickett is battling a hamstring injury that has kept from participating in practice for most of camp so and has the advantage of being the only one from this group with prior knowledge of the system Kevin Stefanski runs. Still, there's no guarantee that Flacco will be able to hold onto the job for long as he's now 40 years old and likely has no future in Cleveland (or possibly, even the NFL) beyond this season. Pickett will almost certainly be the first one to get a crack if/when Flacco falters or gets hurt, which makes sense as he's a 27-year-old with recent starting experience and potentially untapped potential. The problem is that Pickett has been thoroughly unremarkable in the pros and didn't appear to show any improvement from his rocky tenure in Pittsburgh during the 2 games where he got extended action in relief of Jalen Hurts last year in Philly. Both rookies are facing similarly long odds to get onto the field this season for slightly different reasons. Gabriel has reportedly been abysmal throughout camp-displaying horrible accuracy and an inability to get in rhythm with his pass-catchers (which is ironic since those were his biggest strengths at Oregon) while Sanders is working his way back from an arm injury and has yet to receive any meaningful reps. This is more or less a choose your fighter scenario where the options are nausea, diarrhea, kidney stones or a migraine. There are no winners here: only pain, aggravation and suffering for all parties involved. Whoever the top QB class of 2026 ends up being might as well start at looking at house in the greater Cleveland area come February because there's just no way in hell they aren't going to the Browns.
Key to Reaching Their Ceiling: The Defense Locking the Fuck In
A mere 2 years ago, Jim Schwartz had the Browns defense playing well. They were ranked #1 against the pass and in 3rd down defense, ranked a respectable #11 against the run and were a similarly respectable 13th in scoring defense. They ranked dead last in red zone D, but I guess you can't win 'em all. Despite having much of the same personnel and remaining pretty healthy all season long, 2024 was a much different story. Although they did see their red zone ranking shoot up a bit to #24 and retain their status as a top 10 3rd down D by finishing at #8, their regression was pretty sharp elsewhere as they dropped to 12th against the pass, 21st against the run and 27th in scoring defense. Part of this fall can be attributed to how much their offense was last season, but that still doesn't fully excuse just how much weaker they got in a year's time.
With another brutal offensive campaign looming, they're going to have their work cut out for them to take a step forward in 2025. As difficult as it will be for them to improve, this group is talented enough to make it happen. Myles Garrett-who agreed to a huge extension in March after requesting a trade in February-remains one of the most dominant pass-rushing forces in the league and at 29 going on 30, he's not likely to slow down for at least another few years. Denzel Ward is one of the top ballhawking corners in the league and is coming off a season in which he appeared in a career-high number of games (16). Grant Delpit has become one of the more quietly solid safeties in the league over the past couple of seasons and he should only get better as he enters his age 27 season. Ronnie Hickman played really well in relief of the injured Juan Thornhill last season and could really thrive now that he's the full-time starter following Thornhill's release at the start of the new league year. Rookies Mason Graham and Carson Schwesinger are the kinds of players that could make big impacts on the front 7 right away if they can adjust to the increased speed and physicality of the pro game early on. Schwartz sure as hell isn't going to shy away from the challenge of making this talented group pop in a difficult environment and if he pulls it off, it'll be a career-defining accomplishment that could very well keep him around the Browns for a little bit longer.
Bottom Line:
Kevin Stefanski, Andrew Berry and everybody other power player in this organization who isn't a player, get those resumes polished up because this hopeless team is probably going to get your asses fired sometime in the next five months.
Pittsburgh Steelers
2024 Record: 10-7 (2nd in AFC North)
Head Coach: Mike Tomlin (19th season)
Notable Additions: WR DK Metcalf, CB Jalen Ramsey, QB Aaron Rodgers
Notable Departures: S Minkah Fitzpatrick, WR George Pickens, QB Russell Wilson
Biggest Reason for Excitement: Extending T.J. Watt
After the brief threat of holding out from camp, the Steelers gave T.J. Watt a 3 year/$123 mil/$108 mil guaranteed extension that will keep him in Pittsburgh through the 2028 season early last month. With Watt turning 31 in October, this deal will keep him around for the remainder of his prime but not long enough for the risk of him being completely over-the-hill by the time the deal is over to be overly high. It's a win for both sides as Watt gets the bag he deserves, and the Steelers get to keep one of the few blue-chip talents they still have around for a bit longer.
Biggest Reason for Concern: Trotting Out Aaron Rodgers at QB
The Steelers have made an interesting decision to push all of their chips on the 2025 season. What about last year's 10-7 team that limped into the playoffs and ultimately got dusted by their pals down in Baltimore compelled Omar Khan, Mike Tomlin and the rest of their brass to do such a thing is completely beyond me, but clearly, they believed it was the right call for their team.
Designs for this ambitious project started to form shortly after free agency started when they swung a huge trade to acquire DK Metcalf from the Seahawks. While it's not a clear schematic fit given Arthur Smith's love of the run game and dump-off passes, Metcalf is a proven vertical playmaker who brings a level of consistency that they have hadn't at the position in quite some time. This move quickly became less exciting once George Pickens got dealt to the Cowboys a couple months later and they immediately reverted them back to being a 1-horse WR team, but hey, at least they're not a 0-WR operation.
Building up the veteran pedigree of the team intensified once free agency opened and they snapped up 2x Super Bowl champion Darius Slay from the Eagles, 2x Super Bowl Champion Juan Thornhill from the Browns and 1x Super Bowl Champion Robert Woods from the Texans. The cherry on top of this dramatic offseason was pulling another stunning trade that landed them Jalen Ramsey and Jonnu Smith from the Dolphins in exchange for Minkah Fitzpatrick and adding veteran safety Chuck Clark late last month. This particular set of moves bolstered their biggest defensive weakness from a year ago (pass D, in which they ranked 25th), brought some leadership and a steady possession receiver in Woods to their WR room and gives Smith the ability to deploy a potentially lethal 2-TE formation with Jonnu Smith and Pat Friermuth in the fold.
So, the only question is who is playing QB for this win-now operation? We know it's not Russell Wilson or Justin Fields, as they let them both of them walk in free agency. It's probably not their old friend Mason Rudolph-who returned to town after a brutal 1-year stint with the Titans-as he lacks the explosiveness and consistency as a passer to lead a team to the promised land. No, it can't be.... Can it? Yep, they are trotting out Aaron Rodgers as their starting QB.
What's particularly funny and egregious about this scenario is that was basically a forced marriage. The 41-year-old Rodgers flamed out in spectacular fashion with the Jets last season and had zero suitors in free agency as a result while the Steelers weren't interested in bringing back Wilson or Fields or drafting a QB early in this suspect 2024 class (they did select Ohio State product Will Howard in the 6th round as a developmental project), which caused them to come crawling to Rodgers. Trusting Rodgers to lead this operation is just malpractice. By waiting till early June to sign him, Rodgers will have minimal time to build up a rapport with his teammates, learn the playbook, etc. and inviting his erratic, high maintenance ass into your locker room at this stage of his career when he's broken down physically and completely checked out mentally just feels like disrupting the apple cart for the hell of it.
The best part of this whole ordeal? He effectively confirmed to his BFF Pat McAfee that he's going to retire at the end of the season. Why the fuck would any team to do themselves for a single season, especially after just seeing what happened to a Jets that completely tailored their entire operation to his liking and still couldn't win games or make him happy? Rodgers is not a winning player anymore (nor has ever really been given that he has 1 Super Bowl win/appearance on his resume) and it's baffling to see teams treat him as such when he's so visibly washed just out of sheer desperation.
Key to Reaching Ceiling: Getting the Rushing Attack Going
Arthur Smith's arrival in Pittsburgh last season meant one thing: They were going to commit to the running game even harder than they did under Matt Canada. This proved to be correct as they logged the 4th most rushing attempts in the league (up from 9th in 2023) and finished 11th in rushing offense (up from 13th in 2023). While those are certainly respectable numbers, the individual rushing numbers as Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren both averaged pretty subpar gains per attempt (4.0 and 4.3 respectively). The blame for these numbers is split between the backs for their middling yards after contact numbers and the Steelers O-line for their generally below average run blocking.
Heading into 2025, Smith will have a slightly reconfigured attack as Harris departed for the Chargers in free agency, Warren is projected to take over as starter and rookie Kaleb Johnson will slot into the #2 spot. A Warren/Johnson tandem is more appealing on paper than the Harris/Warren pairing they've had over the past few seasons thanks to Warren's shiftiness and Johnson's decisiveness and vision, but they'll still have to contend with the challenges of playing behind a potentially suspect offensive line that is undergoing yet another reworking as Broderick Jones moves over to LT to replace free agent casualty Dan Moore Jr. and Troy Fautanu steps into the RT role after appearing in just 1 game as a rookie last year (Week 2 versus the Broncos) before going on season-ending IR the following week after sustaining a dislocated kneecap in practice.
All of Smith's finest hours as a coach involved a rushing attack that was potent as hell, and he's never needed to find a way to make that shit happen more than this year. Rodgers can't move anymore and no receiver on this team has proven that they can get open consistently besides Metcalf. The only chance this offense has of being respectable is developing something dangerous with the ground game and as risky of a proposition as that feels with his current personnel, Smith is skilled enough of a tactician to find a way for these backs to be productive enough to be the lifeblood of this offense. Get wacky with blocking schemes. Have Warren handle outside runs and Johnson handle the between the tackle stuff. Be creative and effective and try to carry Ayahuasca Aaron to one more playoff berth before he retreats to a cave in Ecuador, never to be seen or heard from again.
Bottom Line:
There are 2 possible scenarios with this team. 1.An aging roster with some major talent deficiencies and the magic poison touch of washed 72-year-old- Aaron Rodgers serve as the catalysts for Mike Tomlin posting his 1st losing season in 19 years of coaching the Steelers. 2.Tomlin wins in spite of those things, and they got trounced in the Wild Card Round in what has become a sadistic tradition in recent years. I like the odds of the former more than the latter, but I'd also never be stupid enough to bet against Tomlin after watching him lead this team to dozens of wins that they had no business earning over the past 7 or 8 seasons.
Predicted Standings:
1.Baltimore Ravens (13-4)
2.Cincinnati Bengals (11-6)
3.Pittsburgh Steelers (7-10)
4.Cleveland Browns (2-15)
