AFC North Preview

Over the next couple weeks, Greg and I will preview each division leading up to the regular season. This week, it's all about the AFC. Yesterday, we covered the AFC South. Today, we head north.

AFC North

Division Winner: Cincinnati Bengals (Both)

Division Cellar: Cleveland Browns (Both)

Other Playoff Teams: None (Greg), Baltimore Ravens - Wildcard #2 (Andrew)

1. Cincinnati Bengals

Greg - Cincinnati will be much improved this year. Andy Dalton is in his third season, they drafted Tyler Eifert to be an option at tight end, and their defense will be solid as well. This isn't necessarily a case of Cincinnati getting all that much better as much as the rest of the division, with the exception of Cleveland, getting worse.

Andrew – Of the three contenders, the Bengals are the only team that got better from last year. On offense, they added weapons in rookies Tyler Eifert and Giovani Bernard. And on defense, they took James Harrison from a divisional team in Pittsburgh. I think they could end up having the division’s best defense and offense this year, which is incredible given the history of the other teams.

2. Baltimore Ravens

Greg - Keeping Joe Flacco was something that I suppose they had to do, the defense won't be much worse, but losing Anquan Boldin was a big blow for them. Torrey Smith is not a #1 receiver, and Jacoby Jones is not a #2 receiver. They will need help there. Also, Ray Rice has been remarkably healthy over his career so far, and that will probably change this season. They should be mostly competitive this year, but won't have what it takes to win any more than nine games.

Andrew – The Ravens may have had the worst offseason of any team in the NFL. First, they gave Flacco way too much money which killed their chances to spend money elsewhere. They lost Boldin to the 49ers on offense, and tight end Pitta is out for the year. On defense, Lewis retired and Reed is on the Texans. The only positive came late in the offseason when they added Elvis Dumervil after the Broncos messed up in trying to re-sign him. But will he be enough? They aren’t a playoff team on paper, so why did I say they would grab the final playoff spot? Because the AFC is weak this year, and I think they hold off all the other sucky teams and squeak in on experience and coaching.

3. Pittsburgh Steelers

Greg - Roethlisberger being fully healthy and having a fully healthy offensive line will help the Steelers this year. However, they are still starting a couple of offensive tackles that are not stalwarts. The line will struggle to protect, and the defense hasn't even looked that great in pre-season. This could be Mike Tomlin's last season in Pittsburgh.

Andrew – They weren’t a playoff team last year, and I don’t think they did anything to improve upon that. Le’Veon Bell made me excited, but now he’s injured, so the offense is now worse based on Mike Wallace leaving. Big Ben has struggled over the last couple seasons also.  The defense is still anchored by Troy “Big Hair” but I think losing James Harrison was significant. If they finish .500 I think they should be thrilled.

4. Cleveland Browns

Greg – Cleveland will be very competitive this year. They beat Cincinnati last year and were close in many division games. Brandon Weeden looks to be much improved and Trent Richardson is simply a massive human being. If their defense plays above expectations they can do better than this rank implies, but I don't know if they have what they need to overtake the other teams in the division quite yet.

Andrew – I actually view Cleveland as a team on the rise in the AFC, but they still don’t have enough to get out of the division cellar. I love Trent Richardson, so they better lean on him a lot. I also love some of the young defensive pieces. But the other teams still have better and more experienced players, particularly at quarterback. They still need a bit more to climb out of this annual spot in these division rankings.

Preseason Division Awards

Offensive MVP: AJ Green (Both)

Defensive MVP: Vontaze Burfict (Greg), Elvis Dumervil (Andrew)

Rookie of the Year: Giovani Bernard (Both)

Free Agent of the Year: Matt Elam (Greg), James Harrison (Andrew)

By: The Sports Guys