Like most divisions, the AFC North is about the haves and have-nots. In recent memory the Steelers and Ravens have bossed this division, with the Browns and Bengals writing more punchlines than headlines.

It looks like this year the Bengals are going to be left behind as the rest of this division looks set to compete for playoff spots, in what should be one of the competitive years that we have seen in the North.

Let’s start with the upstarts, those Cleveland Browns. ‘Tanking’ has been such a contentious topic across all US sports in recent years, with the 76ers in the NBA, and the Astros in MLB undermining those opposed to tanking my showing what you can do when you have the chance to consistently recruit top-level young talent and do it well. It feels as though the Browns were tanking long before it was on-trend to do so, but the main reason the Brown’s tanking failed to garner headlines is that the recruitment and nurturing of the players they gained was so laughable bad that they never had the chance to enter the spotlight.

The consensus is that this is the year that the Browns finally step out from the dark ages that they have been suffering for the best part of a decade or so, and will be lead into their own Enlightenment by Bakernardo de Mayfield.

The excitement is not misguided either – on paper their roster is absolutely stacked, with Mayfield looking like he is ready to lead the team both on and off (I for one think his outspoken nature will win more friends in the clubhouse than gain him enemies), OBJ will surely thrive in this offense, and Miles Garrett and Denzel Ward wrecking their way on defence. Even a typically Brownsian sideshow this offseason of Duke Johnson’s trade request ended up going away pretty quickly and quietly before it could disrupt the optimism surrounding this team.

It is difficult to see where the flaws are going to be in this team – possibly the biggest challenge they face is dealing with the sudden about shift of being perennial losers where every ‘W’ was received with great fanfare to being the team in the crosshairs in the AFC and upon whom scrutiny will be piled with each and every ‘L’. The roster looks to have enough characters to carry them through, but they are in a smashmouth division and up against two teams experienced in the playoff battle, so we’ll have to wait and see how the new kids on the block hold up.

What about those perennial contenders? The Ravens are one of the other teams that I am really excited to see. I can remember following Lamar Jackson’s college career with interest – if only because I initially thought he may end up being a converted RB start when he ended up in the NFL. But last season he demonstrated that while he arm is by no means top tier, it most definitely is not the popgun limiting factor that many people predicted it would be. I suspect he will show growth in the passing game in his second year, but more importantly, with the team now fully committed, they have a chance to go all out with their plans for total run-domination. Adding Mark Ingram to a backfield that was historically good last year was a double-downing by the Ravens front office, and a shrewd one in my opinion. In this era of the quarterback ever-increasing passing numbers, defences are being built around athleticism and containment much more, so dealing with the power game of the Ravens will definitely prove a challenge.

The Ravens will be a very exciting watch on offense, if only because it will be a change of pace from the approach the majority of other teams are going with, and because Lamar Jackson is one of the most dynamic players we have seen for a good few years in this league.

The Steelers are possibly the most unpredictable of teams this year. Because they are the Steelers, and because they have yet to have a losing record under Mike Tomlin, the assumption is that their baseline is to once again be there or thereabouts when it comes to the playoff races. What is interesting about the Steelers this year is that having shed themselves of Bell and Brown, who formed a large part of the personality of this team over the last decade, they have something of an old-fashioned Steelers ethos reappearing. The late 2000s teams were all about badass defence – led by the likes of Polomalu, Harrison and Woodley, and the 2019 team shorne of their headliners on offense could see the identity be lead by TJ Watt and first-round draft pick Devin Bush.

Devin Bush is the all-round defensive player that the team has been crying out for for years, and pairing him with Watt in his post-breakout-year state could see a return to the dominating defences which set the tone for Steelers success in years past.

That is all sound in principle, but the unpredictability of this team stems from the lack of definite, guaranteed production. They have a lot of possible superstars or high-production players, but for each one you can point to and argue their case, it would be pretty easy to form the counter opinion that that same guy could disappoint. Juju could be on the cusp of a breakthrough to the top table of WRs, but he could suffer from being exposed without Brown around to draw coverage? TJ Watt broke through last year, but was that a flash in the pan? Devin Bush looked great on tape at Michigan and has the athleticism for instant success, but how will he adapt to the pressure of the NFL? Roethlisberger has shown remarkable consistency over the last 5 years that belies his age, but how long will that persist? If the Steelers get more pluses that minuses in the positive/negative outcomes of these questions then I could see them rising to the challenge of their division, but if one or two of the chips fall in the wrong direction then they could easily find themselves on the outside looking in.