AFC North: Bengals with Burrow, Ravens running, Steelers in transition, Browns in turmoil
AFC NORTH
BALTIMORE RAVENS
Coach: John Harbaugh (15th season in Baltimore, 137-88 regular season, 11-8 playoffs).
Last season: 8-9 (fourth in the division).
Key additions: S Marcus Williams, NT Michael Pierce, S Kyle Hamilton, C Tyler Linderbaum.
Key subtractions: WR Marquise Brown, WR Sammy Watkins, CB Anthony Averett, C Bradley Bozeman, LB Justin Houston, OT Alejandro Villanueva.
Looking ahead: Quarterback Lamar Jackson doesn’t have an agent and has not signed a new contract for 2023 and beyond. Clearly, he’s betting heavily on himself returning to MVP form and being the kind of dual-threat, explosive-play grenade who makes the Ravens a playoff team almost on his own. Anyone betting on the Ravens getting back to the playoffs needs to hope Jackson, running back J.K. Dobbins and cornerback Marcus Peters get back to normal health.
CINCINNATI BENGALS
Coach: Zac Taylor (third season, 16-32-1 in regular season, 3-1 in playoffs).
Last season: 10-7 (first in the division), lost the Super Bowl to the Rams.
Key additions: OT La’el Collins, C/G Ted Karras, G Alex Cappa, TE Hayden Hurst, S Daxton Hill, CB Cam Taylor-Britt..
Key subtractions: C Trey Hopkins, TE C.J. Uzomah, G Quinton Spain, OT Riley Reiff, CB Trae Waynes.
Looking ahead: What, is this the 1980s again? The Bengals come one stop from winning the Super Bowl. A “Top Gun” movie. A second-year quarterback plays phenomenally well in making the Super Bowl, but is done in by an ace pass rush. Last year, we referenced Bengals one-year great Greg Cook saying Joe Burrow can’t keep getting sacked 3.2 times per game as he comes off a knee injury. Well, Burrow did — 3.0 in the regular season, 4.75 in the playoffs — so the Bengals addressed protection for Burrow in free agency. The draft was for defense.
CLEVELAND BROWNS
Coach: Kevin Stefanski (third season, 19-14 in the regular season, 1-1 in the playoffs).
Last season: 8-9 (third in the division).
Key additions: QB Deshaun Watson (eventually), WR Amari Cooper, WR Jakeem Grant, CB Martin Emerson Jr., DT Taven Bryan, DE Chase Winovich.
Key subtractions: QB Baker Mayfield, C J.C. Tretter, DT Malik McDowell, WR Jarvis Landry, TE Autsin Hooper, DT Malik Jackson.
Looking ahead: Ah, the warm, comforting sameness of the AFC North: Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh, John Harbaugh in Baltimore and the Browns in the toilet. They ignored the sexual assault allegations and lawsuits, traded a fistful of draft picks for quarterback Deshaun Watson, then got shot down in the short term when Watson’s suspension got jacked up to 11 games. But the franchise of Brown, Mitchell, Mack and Byner can pound the rock again with Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, making the quarterback’s life so much easier.
PITTSBURGH STEELERS
Coach: Mike Tomlin (16th season with the Steelers, 154-85-2 regular season, 8-9 playoffs).
Last season: 9-7-1 (second in the division), lost in the AFC Wild Card round to Kansas City.
Key additions: QB Mitchell Trubisky, QB Kenny Pickett, WR George Pickens, WR Calvin Austin III, LB Myles Jack, CB Levi Wallace, G James Daniels, C Mason Cole.
Key subtractions: QB Ben Roethlisberger, CB Joe Haden, G Trai Turner, LB Joe Schobert, WR JuJu Smith-Schuster.
Looking ahead: The last time Pittsburgh didn’t start the season with Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback, cutting-edge technology was about to give us flip phones that took grainy, short videos. This is a Steelers team in full transition on offense in an offensive league. That throws a lot on the defense, which rode T.J. Watt’s Defensive Player of the Year season to its fifth consecutive year as the NFL’s sack leaders. You can blame being last in run defense on sharing a division with Cleveland and Baltimore, but the Steelers need to be better.
