Pittsburgh Steelers
I know the Browns are the trendy pick to win this division but the Steelers still have Big Ben and Mike Tomlin and the Browns have proven nothing so far. The Steelers may be without Antonio Brown but they have JuJu Smith-Schuster and he’s pretty good. They may be without LeVeon Bell for good now but James Connor proved he’s no slouch last year. I think the combination of JuJu, Donte Moncrief, James Washington and Vance McDonald can make up for the losses of Brown and TE Jesse James. Connor, Jaylen Samuels and rookie Benny Snell should make for a solid group at RB. The offensive line is fine although I do think they will miss o-line coach Mike Munchak. Roethlisberger led the NFL in passing yards last season so I don’t think his advancing age is a problem just yet. He will have to spread the ball around more instead of focusing on two WRs like he did last year but I don’t think that will be a problem for a veteran like Big Ben. He seems to have a much better relationship with offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner than the one he once had with Todd Haley.
The defense was fine last season and this year they are hoping for a shot of energy from free agent LB Mark Barron and rookie LB Devin Bush. The ILB spot was a bit of a problem after they didn’t replace the injured Ryan Shazier from the year before so Bush was drafted to fill that role. The defensive line is made up of solid veterans Cameron Heyward, Javon Hargrave and Stephen Tuitt, they aren’t flashy but they are effective. The secondary needs some help. Joe Haden is a solid CB but they either need Steven Nelson to really step up at the other CB spot or hope that 3rd round rookie Justin Layne can steal the spot. At safety they are hoping veteran Sean Davis can hold down one spot while second-year man Terrell Edmunds can live up to his lofty draft status from last year. He didn’t exactly set the world on fire as a rookie but the light could come on at any moment.
Mike Tomlin is arguably the most underrated and underappreciated coach in the NFL, especially by his own fanbase. Tomlin has tons of experience and all he does is win at least 10 games every year. For me, he’s the reason I’m giving the Steelers the edge over the Browns in the AFC North. The Browns are led by a first-time head coach Freddie Kitchens. When I say first-time, I mean at any level. No disrespect to what he did with that team last year once he took over but he’s going to have to prove it over more than half a season before I’m buying the Browns knocking off the Steelers in the division.
Cleveland Browns
The Browns probably have the most talented roster in the AFC North and they actually have one of the more talented starting lineups in the NFL. They are going to give the Steelers everything they can handle in the division race and I think they make the playoffs. They have a few questions marks that give me some pause. On offense they are stacked at the skill positions with RB Nick Chubb, WRs Odell Beckham, Jarvis Landry, Rashard Higgins and TE David Njoku, not to mention halfway through the season they will get RB Kareem Hunt off suspension. That’s a lot of weapons for QB Baker Mayfield and he set the rookie passing TD record last year without Beckham. The real question is the offensive line. They re-signed LT Greg Robinson after he stepped in and stabilized the position last year. Robinson is a former 1st round bust and the team is counting pretty heavily on him continuing to play well, that’s a little concerning. They traded RG Kevin Zeitler to the Giants and they are counting on veteran Eric Kush to step in because former 2nd round pick Austin Corbett has been pretty bad. They have to hope the offensive line doesn’t undermine the potential of this offense.
The defense is led by DE Myles Garrett. He’s a legitimate defensive player of the year candidate. He’s an elite pass rusher who just got his first legitimate pass rushing partner in Olivier Vernon. Vernon was miscast last year with the Giants and their 3-4 defense and now he goes to Cleveland where he gets to be a DE again. He will benefit from all the attention Garrett gets. The interior of the line should be good with Larry Ogunjobi and free agent signee Sheldon Richardson. At LB they have two steady players in Joe Schobert and Christian Kirksey. Genard Avery takes over for Jaime Collins and he should be more reliable, that was the reason they got rid of Collins, he was too inconsistent. The question mark is still the secondary for the Browns defense. CB Denzel Ward was fantastic as a rookie and Damarious Randall was solid at safety. The other two spots need some help. They signed veteran SS Morgan Burnett to stabilize that spot but he’s not the player he once was. For now, veteran CB Terence Mitchell is holding on to the other CB spot over rookie Greedy Williams but Williams isn’t making it easy and the team really needs him to step up and be the cover corner they know he can be. The pass rush should be excellent which will help the secondary as long as the secondary doesn’t completely fall apart.
The offensive line and the secondary are the two biggest question marks when it comes to the personnel for this team but the real question is, can Freddie Kitchens handle being the full-time head coach and all the expectations there are for this team? Kitchens has never been a head coach at any level and that’s concerning. He turned over the staff from last season as he brought in some new blood to replace the guys that had been hired by Hue Jackson. Todd Monken was brought in as offensive coordinator and he has plenty of weapons to work with. Steve Wilks takes over as defensive coordinator after being fired after one year as the Cardinals head coach. He may have failed in Arizona as a head coach but he’s always been a good defensive mind and he has plenty to work with here too. I’m not ready to anoint this team Super Bowl contenders or AFC North Champs just yet but considering where this team was just a couple of years ago this is a pretty impressive turn around.
Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens are in a transition period as they move to an offense that will feature the unique talents of QB Lamar Jackson and as the defense adjusts to losing some important veterans. Lamar Jackson is a freakish athlete who still has a lot to learn about playing QB in the NFL. As much as he wants to use his legs to make plays that’s only going to shorten his career and open him up to missing time with injuries. The team signed RB Mark Ingram because they lacked consistency at the position. Ingram isn’t flashy but if consistency is what you want, he’s your man. The team has three TEs of note; Nick Boyle, Mark Andrews and Hayden Hurst. Jackson would be wise to use these guys to make his life easier. At WR the transition is in full effect. John Brown and Michael Crabtree are gone and the team is hoping rookies Marquise Brown and Miles Boykin fill their shoes and then some. Slot receiver Willie Snead is the only known commodity. The offensive line returns four starters; LT Ronnie Stanley, RT Orlando Brown Jr, RG Marshall Yanda and C Matt Skura. The LG spot is up for grabs but the unit should be pretty solid if they stay healthy.
The defense was excellent last season but they lose three highly important players off that squad. OLB Terrell Suggs has been a stalwart for a long time. ILB CJ Mosley was the leader of the unit and called the plays on the field. S Eric Weddle was great last year even at his advancing age. The team signed Earl Thomas to replace Weddle and he’s coming back from an injury. If he’s healthy he can be pretty good but the jury is still out. To replace Suggs the team brought back former Raven Pernell McPhee and they are counting on Tim Williams to step up and hoping rookie Jaylon Ferguson can give them something. The team is counting on internal candidates to replace Mosley, most of the burden will fall on Patrick Onwuasor to lead the defense from the middle. The defensive line is solid and they get a little help with rookie Daylon Mack adding some depth. The linebacking corps needs Tim Williams and Jaylon Ferguson to provide some pass rushing help. McPhee is a steady veteran but he’s never been an elite pass rusher. Matt Judon was good opposite Suggs last year and he should be steady. The secondary is counting on Earl Thomas to be a playmaker. SS Tony Jefferson is solid. At CB Jimmy Smith and Marlon Humphrey are big, physical corners that can hold their own.
John Harbaugh has been pretty successful in Baltimore. He almost always has a winning record and he’s got one Super Bowl win, that earns a coach a lot of leeway. Not too many coaches get a chance to remake a team the way Harbaugh is right now with Lamar Jackson completely changing their offense. There is going to be some growing pains and for now they are behind Pittsburgh and Cleveland, at least for this year. I don’t see the Ravens making the playoffs but they will not be easy to beat any given week.
Cincinnati Bengals
The Bengals are making the transition away from long-time head coach Marvin Lewis to a very young head coach Zac Taylor. Taylor comes from the Sean McVay coaching tree, a very popular coaching tree this off season. Taylor was the QB coach under McVay for the Rams and now he will try to get the Bengals into the playoffs and over that hurdle of the first round. Taylor’s new offense starts with Andy Dalton. Dalton has been the Bengals QB for what feels like forever and while the Bengals have been more successful with Dalton than they had been in decades he’s still just a guy. Dalton is not a transcendent talent but he can run an offense. The team has an excellent RB in Joe Mixon and some depth with Gio Bernard. At WR, AJ Green is one of the best in the NFL and Tyler Boyd had a break out season last year. It would really help if John Ross would stop being a bust and bring a deep speed element to the team. Green is dealing with a foot injury the team hopes won’t affect him for too much of the season. TE Tyler Eifert is excellent when healthy, unfortunately that just doesn’t happen very often. CJ Uzomah has thankfully proven to be a solid fill-in. The offensive line is pretty suspect. LT Cordy Glenn came over in a trade before last season and he’s fine but that’s about it. The guards are rookie Michael Jordan and John Miller, that’s not great. RT Bobby Hart leaves a lot to be desired. Trey Hopkins is playing center, they need Billy Price to be healthy and actually play up to his potential. It’s tough for the offense to get going when the line doesn’t hold up and I’m afraid it won’t especially in division with three teams that I expect to have very good defenses.
The Bengals defense lacks playmakers. The team ranked 30th in sacks last season and they were in the bottom third of the league in interceptions. They simply lack an elite pass rusher and while their secondary isn’t terrible they just don’t take the ball away enough. Carlos Dunlap and Sam Hubbard start at DE but the team really needs Carl Lawson to get healthy, stay healthy and provide an edge rusher. DT Geno Atkins is aging and simply isn’t the player he once was while Andrew Billings is solid in the middle but not a “collapse the pocket” type of player. The LB corps is devoid of any real difference makers too. Nick Vigil is fine and Preston Brown is solid in the middle but no one is spending extra time accounting for the Bengals LBs during game prep. The secondary has good players like Dre Kirkpatrick, William Jackson and Jessie Bates but none of them make plays to change the game. It doesn’t help that the pass rush doesn’t put pressure on the offense but they don’t always give the guys up front time either.
It could be a rough year in Cincinnati especially with AJ Green starting the year injured. This team simply lacks playmakers on defense and a steady line on offense. I think Taylor is going to want a different QB sooner rather than later and I can’t blame him, Dalton excites no one. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Taylor give rookie Ryan Finley some serious playing time if the season goes downhill fast. Finley has looked good in the preseason and the team already knows what they have in Dalton. Mixon should have a good year but he’s going to have to earn every yard behind his less than stellar offensive line.
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