One crucial question for each team in the AFC heading into the 2025 season

In this article, we examine one crucial question each AFC team will have to answer in order to be successful in 2025. A subsequent article will address the NFC.

Buffalo Bills

Have they done enough to get over the Kansas City hump? The Bills have lost to the Chiefs in four of the past six post-seasons. Kansas City is the hurdle Buffalo must clear to reach the Super Bowl for the first time in over 30 years. Will adding Joey Bosa and Josh Palmer in what was a fairly uneventful off-season be enough to get it done?

Miami Dolphins

Can the Dolphins shake the label that they’re soft? The Mike McDaniel era got off to a splashy start, but Miami regressed last season and looked soft at times in doing so. The don’t fare well in cold weather, and their timing-based offense feels too finesse-oriented for late season football. Can the Dolphins find enough grit to prove they belong when the weather turns cold and toughness matters most?

New England Patriots

Can Mike Vrabel rebuild the broken culture in New England? The Jerod Mayo era was a flop, largely because the culture Bill Belichick had honed disappeared. Vrabel is a no-nonsense coach who holds players accountable. How quickly he can restore the intangibles that made the Patriots great for so long will determine the time-clock on the rebuild in New England.

New York Jets

Is Justin Fields the answer at quarterback? Fields signed a two-year, $40 million deal for a chance to be the man in New York. He’s sputtered in his previous two stops, and now joins a franchise that has made an art out of poor quarterback play. Will Fields and the Jets find harmony together, or continue to malfunction?

Baltimore Ravens

Can Lamar Jackson shake off his playoff demons and get Baltimore to a Super Bowl? Jackson is a two-time league MVP and one of its best regular season players. But his numbers take a serious dip come playoff time, as do Baltimore’s fortunes. The Ravens have yet to reach the Super Bowl in the Jackson era, which feels like a glaring omission on his otherwise stellar career resume.

Cleveland Browns

Will the Browns’ curious quarterback strategy pay dividends? Cleveland heads to training camp in a few weeks with one of the wonkier quarterback situations in the league. 40-year-old Joe Flacco is in line to be the starter, while former 1st Round pick Kenny Pickett, and a pair of picks from this year’s draft — Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders — jockey for position on the depth chart. Cleveland has invested a host of resources at the position, but will any of their current quarterbacks emerge as a long-term solution?

Cincinnati Bengals

Can the Bengals stop anyone on defense? The offense will be one of the more high-powered units in the league. But the defense was bad last season, and not much was done this off-season to improve it. Star edge rusher Trey Hendrickson remains in a contract dispute with the team, and 1st Round edge Shemar Stewart skipped mini-camp in a contract squabble of his own. How will the Bengals win games if their defense is a sieve?

Pittsburgh Steelers

Was going all-in on Aaron Rodgers a mistake? Pittsburgh let Fields and Russell Wilson walk, then failed to land Matthew Stafford in a trade or to sign a younger free agent like Sam Darnold. They settled on the 41-year-old Rodgers as their quarterback, then made some big moves to surround him with talent. The Steelers are banking on Rodgers finding glory one final time to put an end to their streak of eight straight seasons without a playoff win. Will that decision prove wise, or foolish?

Houston Texans

Can Nick Caley get C.J. Stroud back on track? Houston has claimed the AFC South in consecutive seasons, and won a home playoff game last year against the Chargers. But Stroud regressed a bit in his second season, prompting head coach DeMeco Ryans to fire offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik. Former Rams assistant Nick Caley is tasked with helping Stroud rediscover the form that made him the league’s Rookie of the Year in 2023. Whether he can do it will define Houston’s success.

Indianapolis Colts

Can they salvage Anthony Richardson, or has the Daniel Jones era begun? Richardson is a tantalizing talent with incredible gifts. But he has been injured more than not so far in his career, and his mental toughness has been questioned. The Colts spent the fourth-overall pick in the 2023 draft on Richardson, but Jones appears poised to claim the starting job. Can Richardson earn it back, or has his ship set sail in Indy?

Jacksonville Jaguars

Can Liam Coen resurrect Trevor Lawrence? Lawrence’s regression has been deeper than Stroud’s, stretching over multiple seasons now. He’s still a solid starting quarterback, but hasn’t lived up to the potential he showed his first two seasons in the league. Coen, who was the impetus behind Baker Mayfield’s revival in Tampa, takes over as head coach in Jacksonville after a disastrous end to the Doug Pederson era. His tenure with the Jags will be tied to his ability to get Lawrence playing high-level football again.

Denver Broncos

Is the offense elite, and if so, how far can it take Denver? Bo Nix had his unit humming down the stretch last season, leading Denver to an improbable playoff berth. The Broncos finished 10th in the league in points per game, and averaged 32.6 over their final seven regular season contests. Can Denver pick up where they left off and enter the conversation among the league’s best offenses? And if so, how far can they take the Broncos?

Kansas City Chiefs

Are the Chiefs hungry enough to make another Super Bowl run? Kansas City’s purported demise last season was overblown, as the Chiefs held off the Ravens and Bills to prove they were still the kings of the AFC. Mahomes is still just 29 years old (he’ll turn 30 in September), and the Chiefs have surrounded him with their deepest receiving corps in years (Rashee Rice, Hollywood Brown, Xavier Worthy, Juju Smith-Schuster). Travis Kelce is back for another run as well. At what point, though, do the Chiefs lose their edge? Does Kansas City have the fortitude to find their way to the Super Bowl yet again?

Las Vegas Raiders

Will the Raiders’ “Back to the Future” approach pay off? While the rest of the league is hiring young head coaches who built their resumes on modern passing attacks (Coen, Kellen Moore, Ben Johnson), Vegas chose the oldest head coach in NFL history who preaches the gospel of running the football. Pete Carroll turns 74 in September, and has hired run-game guru Chip Kelly to coordinate his offense. The Raiders selected the top running back in the draft (Ashton Jeanty) and are poised to author a ground-and-pound attack. Can that approach still work in 2025?

Los Angeles Chargers

Are the Chargers finally tough enough to win big in the AFC? The Chargers have forever been viewed as a finesse team that throws the football. But Jim Harbaugh brought a win-in-the-trenches mentality to LA last season, and it resulted in a playoff berth. LA loaded up at running back this off-season, signing Najee Harris and using their top pick on Omarion Hampton, and signed starting offensive linemen Andre James and Mekhi Becton. Harbaugh is assembling a team that is built for late-season football. Is this the year the Chargers prove tough enough to win big?

For more of my work, follow me on X @KTSmithFFSN, and tune in to my “Call Sheet Daily” podcast every Monday-Friday on all major platforms.