Breaking down every other team in the AFC for 2026

[BobDigital]

I think thread I will do a team by team break down.. I will hit on every NON-Pats team in the AFC. I was thinking of doing one for the entire NFL... but 31 breakdowns seems like a lot... With that in mind. Lets start off with the Titans.

This team is honestly not that bad in certain respects.

QB - Cam Ward showed something as a rookie... he was kind of like a less impressive Maye in year 1... his OL was bad... his weapons were bad... and he got bad results. It is hard to be too hard on him due to this... But Maye proved 2 years ago even if everything around you is crap you should be able to hit near 2/3 passes in this league if you are good. Cam hit a hair under 60%. Maybe he takes a massive jump up but i don't expect it.

WR - They improved a lot here. Robinson was a free agent add. Ridley is old but had one of the worst years in his career in a small sample. Is he still close to that 1K WR he was just 2 and 3 years ago when he went back to back 1K yards? Maybe not quite... but there is a good chance he has 1 year left. Then there is #1 pick Tate. What will he be? No to mention the young Ayomanor is coming off a solid rookie year. Honestly... this room looks pretty promisng.

TE - Gunner Helm after a decent rookie year goes into year 2. Bellinger is a decent TE2... but they overpaid. Overall... not impressive... but something.

RB - A quietly solid room. Pollard is still solid. Spears is a good change of pace guy. What can Singleton give them? Maybe something. But again.. nothing here scares me. Like the TE room it is solid... they will be competitive but limited splash plays from either of those units i think.

OL - This is a head scratcher... They wanted to help their young QB. And did in the WR room. Good job. Then you took one of the worst OLs in the NFL... and basically overall left them one of the worse OLs in the NFL... no draft picks of note likely. No signings of note. This line does have some youth which can maybe improve... particularly at RT.. but IDK.. that interior seems sus to me.

Offense overall? WR room is good. Cam showed flash but limited consistency... he will get some support from the TE and RB rooms... but not much as far as game changing plays.. and again will need to do the heavy lighting with a bad OL. Overall one of the 3 worst offenses in the NFL last year maybe moved to the top of the bottom 10... at best.

While offense is flashier... the D saw more improvement. For context this offense was around 20th in YPG and 28th in PPG. And surprisingly they were not hampered by excessive give aways. But this will likely turn around.

DT - Simmons is arguably the best at his position right now in the league. Elliot and Thomas were decent adds here... but neither one alone moves the needle... however for a unit which last year seems like just Simmons and little else... they have a bit more this year.

Edge - The add of Myers is big. Johnson II are probably better than the lose of Key by themselves... Can't forget about Martin either. overall this unit is massively upgraded. While not one single splash signing make this unit elite... overall the quality and depth are leap years ahead... and this is before we even assume they get anything at all from their first round pick Faulk. So yeah... huge improvement here. I would mention Dre'mont Jones but they traded him half way through the year.

LB - The doors are open for Hill to start immediately. This unit isn't impressive... but they have options. Barton should hold down one spot here solidly. He's okay to pretty good. 2 young guys in Grey and Williams Sr. who knows?

CB - A very different room. Taylor and Flott were 2 FA adds and should instantly elevate this unit. Nickle could be 2nd year guy Harris or Williams. Another FA signing this year. So all 3 CBs could be FA guys. Interesting. Overall a far superior room... no one is elite... but from pretty much trash and 1 star to solid. Even with the loss of Sneed the overall group he is better. 1 star can not cover for 2 other trash spots, which is what they had last year. While this unit won't shut people down... they will be competitive more often with less massive hiccups.

S - Hooker is still one of the better safeties in the game overall. Winston is the 2nd year player who could turn heads though. His play last year was questionable at times.. but he flashed and his traits are elite. Adams is the reliable depth option.

Overall comparing this unit to last year looks a lot different.. it was pretty much Sneed, Simmons and Hooker trying to hold youth a few okay vets and scrubs together... and clearly they couldn't. This is a more balanced unit. If they were middle of the pack would it surprise me? Not at all. Of course it could go wrong. Maybe Winston is a bust. The DT adds turn out to not help at all so Simmons can be keyed on the inside.. the CB room is just weak enough everywhere to not consistency stop anything instead of being just strong enough to have some resistance... And maybe LB goes bad... Hill can't do it and there is no solution next to Barton. All possible. But i think things go the other way more than that.

IMO this is a mid defensive unit.. maybe slightly above.

I won't talk about special teams much.. but their return is among one of the 3 most dangerous guys in the league. I think the offense is slightly less pathetic... and the defense is mid to slightly above. While i still am not a believer in Ward i think they improve more than people think.

They go 6-11 to 7-10 I think. Doubling last years wins.

 

[BobDigital]

Now lets talk about the 2026 Raiders.

As a reminder, they got the 1st pick in 2026. And were the worst offense last year in PPG and YPG. On defense they were 14th in YPG and 25th in PPG. They gave the ball away a fair amount but not so much it should cause such a gap. Probably the lack of offense made teams not feel the need to churn yardage to score and the overall defensive ability is probably closer to its PPG value.. Of course key injuries didn’t help. Anyway… Lets break it down.

QB – Cousins will be 38 and his last 2 years do not inspire much confidence. He may have a bit of something left.. but this will be a hard room to do it it. Mendoza may get a chance sooner rather than later. Not expecting much from this position in year 1 though unless Mendoza comes out ready to go.

WR – This may be the worst WR room in the NFL. Tre Tucker, Jalen Nailor, Jack Bech are the top options. Thorton is probably a total bust after doing very little his rookie year. If they thought he had a chance I doubt they extend for Nailor. Bech probably won’t have a massive breakout after an underwhelming year 1.. but he could improve and should. Nailor is a 3. Even though they paid him something close to 2 money. Tucker is the defacto #1 in this unit. He ain’t up for it.

TE – What can be said. Bowers is a beast. Losing him last year hurt a bad offense more. Mayer is a decent #2 behind him but not particularly notable. Just a piece. Worth mentioning though.

RB – Jeanty is hard to project. Yes they had one of the worst OL, crap QB play and little threat with Bowers and Meyers both missing extended time… but still his stats weren’t great. 3.7YPA is bad no matter the situation. But there were lots of plays that flashed… maybe his situation was just that bad and he is a pretty damn good back outside of his flash plays? Mike Washington was a good get for them in the draft and could out play his pick. This room can surprise. But it it turns into a disappointment it wouldn’t surprise me. Basically I’m not sure what to expect here honestly

OL – This room improved a lot. Center Linderbaum. Nuff said there. Powers-Johnson is a young guard and was one of the bright spots on the OL. Burford was the other guard and was iffy but decent when in. Kolton Miller solves the LT spot for them and is still one of the better guys at his position in the league. Glaze the RT is… not garbage… but they were hoping for a lot more in his 2nd year. I think he will be an issue. Overall some weak spots but they are spread out nicely. I think this lines goes from bad to mid. But if one of those 3 goes down for any length they are sunk. I have no faith in any of their depth. They seem mid to low mid. A nice improvement.

Overall… offense is going to be better than the worst room last year. Even an old Cousins is better than Geno Smith. WR will be a massive issue. Bowers can help with it as the #1 weapon on the team. Maybe Jeanty is a very good back and behind this OL he will get to show it.

Both overall this is at best the Jeanty/Bowers show with a mid OL and young QB with starts and stops. Even in the best case this offense should keep no one up at night.

As for the D… it was not good last year and they went on a spending spree and made high picks to address it.

DT – Not much here really. Some low level starters. Booker really shouldn’t be starting by the looks of it. Butler got okay pressure up the middle for a time but is getting older and 1 sack last year wasn’t great. Laulu outside of a few rare plays looked bad. Like the WR room… it would be hard to find a worst DI room in the NFL. They did nothing to address it… questionable.

EDGE – While they did nothing for DI the Edge got plenty of help. Crosby is still very good. Adding Paye will help… but maybe it was an overpay? Koonce is good too. Maybe 67th overall Crawford can add something too. While edge pressure matters.. maybe spreading out talent along the DL would have been better?

LB – They signed 2 big checks to bring in Walker and Dean. While neither is as good as Devin White was alone… have 2 guys back here who are solid will do more good than a good player and a slouch. Both have been inconsistent at times though… so this may not look as good as the contracts say.

CB – Johnson was a nice add here. He should help with the nickle spot. He has had some very good and very mixed years IIRC. The reason they upped Stokes on a short term deal is the same reason he didn’t break the bank. Good enough to sign back… not a guy you extend for. Porter is a rookie who had a more miss than hit first year. We will see… personally this group seems below mid too me for now. They are praying McCoy comes in here week 1 and takes a spot. Maybe he can. If he is only okay it doesn’t change much though.. they have okay options. If he is an instant #1 or a very solid #2 suddenly things get more interesting here.

S – Stukes is a guy they took early in RD2. We will see how that goes. Though maybe they’d prefer him at CB. The young makes this interesting. But I doubt it as Palo-Mao was really bad last year according to PFF and Chinn, the solid free agent addition could use a much better running mate.

Overall this unit has a higher ceiling and more competence. But the interior is weak. The LB unit isn’t something I am impressed by, though it should be less leaky. The edge looks better and more deep. But pass rush on the outside isn’t enough to cover for other things. As for the DB unit… It has some issues and basically need Stukes and McCoy to step up to right the ship. If that happens and suddenly the pass rush has time to get home it could become interesting, even with the other mid to weak areas.

They have improved on the whole… but they aren’t ready for prime time. Needed to keep White, add at DT. Then the front 7 may have been good enough to carry a back end finding their feet. Right now I see this as still a below average unit with long term upside. Frankly IMO they should trade Crosby and think about 2 years out. Unless they get a massively good draft the next 2 years they are a lot of pieces away and some desperation contracts may have pushed them further back.

Unless their QB sets the world on fire… this is still IMO a bad team… Probably better than 3-14.. but 4-13 or 5-12 seem the most likely. Would 6-11 surprise me? No. Would 7-10? Yes.