It is safe to say that this season has been bizarre with the level of injuries but Playoff Projections are starting to look a little bit clearer. It is important to note that this list looks dramatically different than earlier in the season primarily due to devastating injuries.
AFC West Champions and 1 Seed: Kansas City Chiefs
Lets start with the easiest prediction with the Kansas City Chiefs once again winning the AFC West. With little competition from the rest of the division, reigning MVP Patrick Mahomes still manages a strong offense even if his decision making has looked worse this season. Many put the blame for this offense on the lack of receivers but the receiving corps doesn’t look much worse than last years group but Mahomes has thrown some tough interceptions this year.
Surprising to many, the defense looks like the strength of the team while superstar defensive tackle Chris Jones is putting together another excellent season. The defensive secondary has also played well with L’Jarius Sneed and Trent McDuffie looking like an elite tandem of cornerbacks.
AFC North Champions and 2 Seed: Baltimore Ravens
While I have written in the past of the weaknesses of the Raven’s defense, this team appears to be stacked with talent on the offensive side of the ball. While this group of receivers has struggled to get going and just lost its best producer Mark Andrews to a season ending ankle injury, the Ravens once again have one of the best offensive lines in football and an elite rushing offense to go with it. Center Tyler Linderbaum has become the anchor to a strong offensive push that allows backs Lamar Jackson and Gus Edwards plenty of room to maneuver.
The defense has put up elite numbers but look to see it struggle down the stretch. Elite playmakers Roquan Smith and Kyle Hamilton bring up the talent on this defense with a long list of adequate but not elite defenders rounding out this group.
AFC East Champions and 3 Seed: Miami Dolphins
What looked like hands down the best offensive in the NFL through the first half of the season, the Miami Dolphins have struggled the past month of the season against elite competition. Head Coach Mike McDaniel has done an excellent job implementing his speed-first strategy on offense with speedsters Tyreek Hill, Jalyen Waddle and Raheem Mostert but quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has struggled to live up to the impossible standard with these great receivers.
The Dolphins sport a defense full of high draft picks that are capable of taking over any game. They are capable of taking over games with the pass rush of Bradley Chubb and their defense is full of borderline All-Pro talent with defensive backs Jalen Ramsey, Xavien Howard and Jevon Holland. This is the biggest question mark in the NFL as this defense has the potential to impact a lot of games and the Dolphins could easily rise to the number one seed.
AFC South Champion and 4 Seed: Houston Texans
The AFC South is one of the biggest questions of this AFC Playoff Prediction. With C.J. Stroud playing like his is at quarterback though, this team can really make a push late in the season. A lot of the time when you get a high talent rookie coming into the NFL at quarterback, they can form a connection with other rookie receivers and that is what has happened with Stroud and emerging superstar receiver Tank Dell. Dell has performed excellently down the stretch.
The Texans defense has performed well with some key free agents this season. Sheldon Rankins has made some big plays at defensive tackle down the stretch and they still sport third overall pick Will Anderson is starting to come into his own. This is a young defense that is improving week-by-week and does a great job keeping the team in games so Stroud has the opportunity to make huge plays to win.
AFC Wildcard 1 and 5 Seed: Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jaguars will go as far in the AFC Playoff Picture as Star quarterback Trevor Lawrence takes them. Travis Etienne has played exceptionally this season and while this offense has an average group of free-agent addition receivers, this offense is capable of playing with the strength of the defense in tow.
The Jaguars Defense has performed well with the amount of young defensive players available. When a team struggles for a long time as the Jaguars have, they can assemble a long list of high draft pick players on the defensive front. While they don’t have any players who stand out on the defensive player of the year list, this is a defense that has the ability to hold teams to low yards totals and keep the offense in the game.
AFC Wildcard 2 and 6 Seed: Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns have had a tough year in terms of injury struggles with the injury of a star quarterback in Deshaun Watson and star running back Nick Chubb. This offense will be depending on an elite offensive line with the best guard tandem in the NFL with Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller leading an elite rushing offense. The advantage of building a team behind an elite offensive line is that regardless of injuries to the skill positions, this team will be able to run the ball dominantly to win games.
The Browns have arguably the best defense in the NFL with star power across the board. Superstar Myles Garrett is capable of wrecking an offensive game plan at any moment. The entire secondary on this team seems to be made of high first round picks such as Greg Newsome and Denzel Ward, which allows the team to play aggressively and make plays as a defense. This unit alone can carry this team a long way into the playoffs.
AFC Wilcard 3 and 7 Seed: Buffalo Bills
The seventh seed is always a difficult pick but with Josh Allen having another superstar season, it is hard to bet against the Bills for this spot. Currently one game behind the Steelers who appear to be facing locker room turmoil, the Bills are an elite offense whose only issue is that Allen has a tendency to attempt to do everything on his own. Allen leads the league in both overall touchdowns and overall interceptions which is a stat that needs to change to carry the Bills into the playoffs.
The Bills defense is a tragic story this season with an elite defense that has struggling with key injuries. All-Pro cornerback Tre’davious White once again went down with a season-ending injury and former Defensive Player of the Year Von Miller has struggled to come back from a preseason knee injury and play at the level that this team needs him to play at. Without the effectiveness of the Bills star defense, this has become a unit that has to rely on turnovers to keep them in games.