The AFC North heads into 2026 with the kind of mix that keeps the division interesting: star quarterbacks, playoff expectations, and a few major coaching changes. Each team has its own reason to feel good, even if those reasons look very different from one locker room to the next.
For Pittsburgh, the hope starts with the quarterback room - and the future beyond Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers is a Hall of Famer, but he has one season left, and the Steelers still need a real long-term answer.
They took Will Howard in 2025 and Drew Allar in 2026, and new head coach Mike McCarthy likes both of them. That matters, because McCarthy’s offenses in Green Bay with Rodgers were consistently top-five.
If Rodgers stays healthy and close to his best, the Steelers’ offense should sit in the top 5, and a so-so season with a playoff berth is on the table. Bigger picture, though, the next five years look promising.
Cleveland’s optimism is more complicated, but it’s there. The Browns are still tied to Deshaun Watson, and there’s a simple reason: moving on would bring severe salary cap penalties.
Watson is still young, and the belief here is that he still has plenty of strong quarterback play ahead of him. The Browns should keep him as the starter and try to get a good season out of him before shifting to the many other quarterbacks they’ve drafted.
Todd Monken has taken over as head coach, and that should help the offense. It has to, because Cleveland is 8-26 over the last two seasons and has had the league’s lowest-scoring offense.
That has to improve. Right?
In Cincinnati, the big-picture outlook stays tied to Joe Burrow. Burrow said he wanted to have fun playing again, and for him that means at least Super Bowl appearances.
Entering his seventh season, the window is still wide open. The Bengals also made a rare move by trading a first-round pick for Dexter Lawrence.
That kind of swing says plenty about where they see themselves. The expectation here is that Cincinnati wins the division and is right in the mix in January.
Baltimore’s optimism comes with a little uncertainty, but also plenty of confidence in Lamar Jackson. Jackson showed up for his first set of voluntary workouts since his rookie year, which is at least a good sign.
The Ravens also have fresh memories of last season, when a missed field goal cost them the division title. That leaves them hungry in a division that should be brutally competitive again.
With a completely new offensive coaching staff, Jackson will be leaned on heavily. He’ll handle that professionally this season, but next season could bring a very different conversation - maybe even one involving a Dolphins or Falcons uniform.
In Other News...
Bengals May Have Found A Defensive Wild Card They Desperately Need
The Bengals went looking for help in the kind of place teams often do when a defense needs more juice, and Antwaun Powell-Ryland is at least giving them a reason to pay attention. The former Eagles draft pick landed in Cincinnati on a reserve/futures deal after the 2024 season, and with the linebacker room still viewed as an area that needs reinforcement, he has a chance to work his way into the conversation as more than just a camp body.
Powell-Rylands appeal is tied to the pass rush he showed in college, where he piled up disruptive production and finished with a strong final season. Cincinnati is exploring him as a linebacker, which adds another layer to his path, and the question now is whether he can carve out a role in the rotation or follow a tougher road toward the roster. For a player trying to stick, the next stretch could decide whether this becomes a real opening or just another short stop. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals Fans Can Only Smile At Clevelands Latest Camp Mess
With Joe Burrow healthy and the Bengals roster looking better around him, Cincinnati has every reason to feel good about where it stands heading toward 2026. The bigger picture for the division still includes a Browns team trying to sort out its own quarterback future, and from a Bengals perspective, that matters just as much as anything happening in their own building.
Clevelands camp has turned into another reminder of how unsettled that position remains, with the battle between Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders still unresolved as practices move on. Reports have Sanders making real progress in pocket presence and reading the field, which only adds another layer to a situation that already feels fluid, and it leaves the Browns with more questions than answers at the spot that matters most. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals Already Face A Secondary Decision Fans Were Dreading
The Bengals offseason planning already has a familiar kind of tension attached to it, with executive vice president Katie Blackburn acknowledging the difficulty of keeping the roster intact while the salary cap keeps pushing every decision into sharper focus. In particular, Cincinnati is trying to navigate a secondary situation that has become one of the more delicate parts of the roster conversation, especially with the team needing to balance present value against future flexibility.
Daxton Hill and DJ Turner are both central to that conversation, and the timing only makes it trickier. Hill is tied to a fifth-year option, while Turner is entering the final year of his deal, leaving the Bengals with a decision that goes beyond simple talent evaluation and into the realities of how much they can commit without boxing themselves in elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]