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I am beyond ecstatic for the NFL to begin tomorrow. What I love about the NFL is that you only get 17 Sundays — just 4 months to soak in as much as you can. It’s like going to your favourite restaurant that you only visit once a year, or drinking your favourite Christmas beverage around the holidays, or the annual weekend away trip with your buddies. It’s a rare treat that you look forward to all year long.

With that all said, I wanted to provide my NFL predictions for this upcoming season — two days ago I posted my NFC predictions, now it’s time for my AFC predictions. Below I have listed my predictions for the division standings, playoff teams, AP Awards, some made up awards of my own, and a few notes about my predictions. I hope you enjoy and please leave your bold NFC predictions down below.

AFC North

1 — Baltimore Ravens (11–6)
2 — Pittsburgh Steelers (9–8)
3 — Cincinnati Bengals (8–9)
4 — Cleveland Browns (3–14)

AFC East

1 — Buffalo Bills (13–4)
2 — New England Patriots (8–9)
3 — New York Jets (6–11)
4 — Miami Dolphins (6–11)

AFC South

1 — Houston Texans (10–7)
2 — Indianapolis Colts (8–9)
3 — Jacksonville Jaguars (7–10)
4 — Tennessee Titans (5–12)

AFC West

1 — Kansas City Chiefs (11–6)
2 — Denver Broncos (11–6)
3 — Las Vegas Raiders (9–8)
4 — Los Angeles Chargers (8–9)

AP Awards:

MVP: Josh Allen (BUF)
OPOY: Ja’Marr Chase (CIN)
DPOY: Pat Surtain II (DEN)
OROY: Ashton Jeanty (LV)
DROY: Mason Graham (CLE)
CPOY: Daniel Jones (IND)
COTY: Pete Carroll (LV)

Playoff Teams:

1. Buffalo Bills
2. Kansas City Chiefs
3. Baltimore Ravens
4. Houston Texans
5. Denver Broncos
6. Las Vegas Raiders
7. Pittsburgh Steelers

First Coach Fired: Mike McDaniel (MIA)
Biggest Underachieving Team: Miami Dolphins
Biggest Underachieving Player: Trevor Lawrence (JAX)
Biggest Overachieving Team: Las Vegas Raiders/Denver Broncos
Biggest Overachieving Player: Daniel Jones (IND)
Super Bowl Favourite: Buffalo Bills
Super Bowl Sleeper: Denver Broncos

Might Actually Be Decent Award: New York Jets
Will Levis Award (Most Likely to be Entertainingly Bad): Miami Dolphins
Avoid Ever Betting on This Team Award: Cincinnati Bengals
Indianapolis Colts Post-Andrew Luck Award (Team to Start the Most Quarterbacks This Season): Cleveland Browns

A Few Notes:

• Clearly I’m not a fan of Miami. Yes they have weapons, but they constantly underperform and have issues every year. Yes their offence can put up points. However, their defence isn’t good, their quarterback cannot stay healthy, their best player is falling out with the coaches, and I’m iffy on their head coach. Miami reminds me of the friend who moves out for the first time and spends all their money on a TV/gaming setup and ultimately has nothing left for the important stuff — toilet roll, dishwasher tablets etc.
• Now I am a Colts fan, so this will be a delusional take. I have Daniel Jones for CPOY. Would I bet on him winning? Hell no. However, I do really like his offensive weapons — JT in the backfield, solid O-Line, and Pittman Jr., Downs, Pierce, Warren, Mitchell to throw to. If you watch the Colts you know they are legit weapons — Mitchell being the exception after struggling last year, but I think he will turn it around this season. Overall, I think Jones and the Colts can be a decent team — 9 wins at best.
• My hot take is Las Vegas finishing ahead of the Chargers. I really believe the Raiders will be good this year. The key for them is that they have drastically improved their QB/Head Coach situation. From Gardner Minshew/Antonio Pierce to Geno Smith/ Pete Carroll is the best improvement throughout the league. The team that goes from disaster QB/HC to a good one is always the team to root for to sneak into the playoffs. Furthermore, the Chargers are a no-no for me. They tremendously struggled against good defences last year and they continue to suck in their divisional matchups. I think Los Angeles will struggle and there will be some questions surrounding Herbert and Harbaugh next off-season.