The AFC has a few teams walking into 2026 with trouble already written all over them, and the clearest warning signs are showing up in Cleveland, Miami, and Las Vegas.
Sure, the NFL loves a surprise. Teams flip from bottom feeder to contender all the time. But some rosters are carrying too many problems to hide them for long - quarterback questions, coaching changes, youth in key spots, and enough uncertainty to make the early outlook feel bleak.
At No. 3, the Las Vegas Raiders are dealing with a messy mix of issues, and the Ashton Jeanty injury only adds to it. Jeanty got some positive news after a frightening scene at practice, but even so, his absence is expected to stretch into the regular season.
That matters a lot for a team that was counting on him to make a major jump and help an offense that still needs more at receiver. The Raiders finished with the worst record in the NFL last season, and the best-case path here may be a second-half push, something along the lines of the New Orleans Saints last year.
The problem is whether this Raiders defense can even support that kind of run. There are major holes on the defensive line, a lot of youth in the secondary, and a rookie head coach stepping into the job.
Long term, the roster is not empty. But in the AFC West, with all those questions piling up and Jeanty already sidelined, this team could be in evaluation mode fast.
Miami comes in at No. 2, and the skepticism around the Dolphins has been building for a while. This is not a team sneaking up on anybody.
From the moment GM Jon-Eric Sullivan and head coach Jeff Hafley took over, the roster reset was obvious. Even with the new look, though, the preseason approach has rubbed some fans the wrong way.
Hafley has used his starters for just one drive in the preseason, choosing to keep them as healthy as possible instead of giving them more live reps. Some coaches swear by that approach, others want more work before Week 1.
For Hafley, it does not feel like a true make-or-break gamble, and his job security beyond 2026 sounds pretty secure. The bigger picture is plain enough inside the building: this is a rebuilding season, and the focus is on culture.
The wins may have to wait.
The bleakest situation in the AFC belongs to the Cleveland Browns. They are set to open 2026 with Deshaun Watson as their starting quarterback, and that decision alone makes them the most hopeless team in the conference right now.
Maybe the whole league, too. The move makes no sense from an organizational standpoint, unless Watson is somehow giving the staff a better look at the young skill players than Shedeur Sanders would.
And if that’s the explanation, then Sanders’ development has gone badly off track. It also says a lot that Dillon Gabriel, a third-round pick last year, never really entered the competition at all.
The Browns have mishandled the quarterback spot, and now they’re rolling back into opening weekend with Watson after ownership already admitted the whole situation was a mistake. That is a tough place to be, even if Cleveland is hoping this is just the dark before the dawn.
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The reception may be split right down the middle. Tagovailoa had two productive seasons in Miami, but his uneven recent play and offseason contract holdout have left plenty of hard feelings in the fan base, even as others still remember what he brought to the franchise before the new management made the move to release him. However it plays in the stands, his return adds another layer to a preseason game that would otherwise be easy to overlook. [Read more 🡒]
Dolphins Bubble Players Face One Last Chance To Avoid Cut Day
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The next game now carries added weight for those bubble players, because a strong showing can still change a coachs mind even this late in the process. For the players trying to squeeze through, the margin is thin and the timing is unforgiving, with cut day looming and little room left for uneven play. [Read more 🡒]
Dolphins Fans May Need To Rethink These Waiver Expectations
As the waiver wire churns around the league, Miamis interest in any available help has to be weighed against a familiar constraint: how the Dolphins prefer to spend. Mekhi Blackmon and Cedric Tillman are the kind of names that can draw attention, but both come with a 2026 base salary of $3.6 million, a figure that sits above what Miami usually commits to newcomers.
That matters because a waiver claim means taking on the players existing contract, not negotiating a fresh one. For a team that has been deliberate about its payroll strategy, that can make a claim less appealing even before the scouting report comes into play. If either player clears waivers, though, Miami would have a chance to rework the deal on its own terms, which is much closer to how the Dolphins typically operate. [Read more 🡒]