Ranking The AFC North With Training Camps About To Start

The Ravens are considered a better team than the rest of the AFC in the betting markets.

They are expected to contend to reach the Super Bowl, and, perhaps they will. And if they do, with the AFC North being in a downward cycle and weaker than expected, would help that cause. And, if in fact, this division continues to give the Ravens fits as it has in recent years, and they aren’t stout at home and all of the inexperience on their staff leaves them short of the Lombardi Trophy – as history would suggest – that wouldn’t constitute a surprise to me.

Part of the reason I am hesitant to stamp this as the year they break back through for a title is because I believe the Bengals are going to be a smidge than them. And it’s pretty difficult getting to a Super Bowl as a Wild Card if you have to go to Kansas City and beat Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes or to Denver in altitude and top that defense, for starters.

Here’s how I would stack the AFC North, right now, with training camps about to open and before injuries have struck and rosters begin to churn:

1. Bengals

They just check more boxes for me than the Ravens. They have a quarterback who has won at Arrowhead with the season on the line and who has been to a Super Bowl and who was on track to be the MVP before his defense wilted. And whatever you think of Zac Taylor, he has coached in a Super Bowl. The Bengals had a great offseason, they fortified their defensive line with a top three defensive tackle (Dexter Lawrennce) and ownership seems pretty all-in to win (like Baltimore).

The schedule sets up great for them with seven straight 1pm kickoffs – where Burrow does his best work – and they get the Ravens coming to them in prime time rather than vice versa. This is a team that can hang 30 on anyone and won’t have to do it as much anymore.

The secondary quietly got better last year as the season went on and while the linebackers could be a problem, I also believe they are overdue for a fast start and to not have to chase the rest of the AFC. Burrow has seen ownership display the level of intensity he takes to his craft, and I believe he will reward them for it.

2. Ravens

The games with the Bengals will decide the division. But unlike Cincy, where there is cohesion and continuity, the Ravens have a lot of new stuff going on. NFL history would dictate that a staff this young and inexperienced does not win it all in their first year at a new team (this isn’t carryover from within like with the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl V or George Siefert taking over the 49ers dynasty for Bill Walsh).

It just doesn’t happen this way.

The Ravens are long in tooth at some critical spots and that gives me a little pause. I don’t like Lamar Jackson going into what amounts to a walk year without a new deal, if they cant get that finally taken care of ASAP. They lack the playmakers on offense the Bengals boast for Burrow.

3. Steelers

Everything is just too convenient for me in Pittsburgh. Bringing back Aaron Rodgers and pretending he has anything left and thinking it will work because he’s been with Mike McCarthy, their new head coach, before. No thanks. McCarthy wasn’t an inspired hire like their storied history of selected head coaches has suggested … it was pretty convenient to grab the out-of-work Pittsburgh guy to try to squeak out nine or ten wins and get back in the playoffs.

It’s not particularly inspired, they have been treading water forever and this feels like more of the same.

4. Browns

I’m a big Todd Monken guy from way back and I bet he has the offense more competitive than you might think. But they have gutted the roster and the Myles Garrett trade sends a massive signal about where they are as a franchise and how badly the guys running the roster want to be positioned to draft a QB very high in 2027.

I bet Shedeur Sanders ends up playing a fair amount because Deshaun Watson ain’t long for this. But guys like Denzel Ward could still be dealt, the offensive line is a shell of what it once was, and this is a team in transition. This would be a good year for the Ravens to sweep them.

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