Ravens expected to run away with AFC North

Behind Lamar Jackson’s breakout season, the Baltimore Ravens achieved a 14-2 regular-season record in 2019, the best in the league, and topped the AFC North for the second straight year.

With much of the team back in the fold in 2020, the Ravens again are projected to finish first in the division.

John Harbaugh’s team owned the NFL’s No. 1 rushing offense (206 yards per game) last season, led by Jackson’s 1,206 yards on the ground and running back Mark Ingram’s 1,018. The defense also ranked fourth against the run and sixth against the pass.

The Ravens emerged as the frontrunner to win the Super Bowl, after defending champion New England made a surprise exit in the Wild Card round to the Tennessee Titans. Unfortunately for Baltimore, the Titans played spoiler once more in the Divisional round and ended Jackson’s dream season.

Now it’s Super Bowl or bust for the Ravens in 2020. The team added five-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman Calais Campbell from Jacksonville in exchange for a fifth-round draft pick in the offseason. The Ravens also shipped away tight end Hayden Hurst and a fourth-round pick for a second- and fifth-round pick from the Atlanta Falcons.

In this year’s draft, the Ravens possess the 28th overall pick, a pair of second-, third-, and fourth-round selections, a fifth-round pick and another in the seventh. It’s likely the team will use some of those picks to bring in another receiver, bolster the offensive line, and find additional talent at linebacker.

Above all else Baltimore’s success will depend on Jackson’s ability to perform at a level similar to or better than 2019. In his second year as a pro, he improved his completion rate from 58.2% to 66.1% and threw a franchise-record 36 touchdown passes to just six interceptions.

One concern going forward is how well the rest of the league has prepared for Jackson, with an entire offseason to study him. The Titans exposed some of the Ravens’ weaknesses in the playoffs, and every other team has surely been dissecting game tape of that matchup.

Still, Baltimore is the team to beat in the AFC North, but it won't come as easy as last year.

Big Ben’s return could push Steelers to the top

The AFC North hardly provided any competition for Baltimore in 2019. The Pittsburgh Steelers might have been a threat, had Ben Roethlisberger been healthy, but the two-time Super Bowl champion underwent season-ending elbow surgery following the Steelers’ Week 2 loss.  

Big Ben is back in 2020 and hopes to have enough left in the tank to carry his team to a postseason berth. In 2018 he registered a league-high 5,129 passing yards. JuJu Smith-Schuster racked up 1,426 receiving yards that season, but injuries and multiple changes at quarterback hindered his production in 2019.

The injury bug seemed to plague Pittsburgh’s roster all season and impacted leading rusher James Conner (464 yards, four touchdowns), who missed significant time with shoulder and knee issues.

If the Steelers can stay healthy an entire season, they should give Baltimore a fight for first in the division. Pittsburgh added tight end Eric Ebron in free agency, on a two-year, $12 million contract, and replaced left guard Ramon Foster by signing Stefen Wisniewski from Kansas City.  

The Steelers already own a top five defense, so if the offense can step up its game, this team could see itself back on top of the AFC North.

Bengals and Browns don’t offer much promise

The Cleveland Browns’ signing of Odell Beckham Jr. last season paid off with a 6-10 record and third place in the division. Head coach Freddie Kitchens was given the boot after one season, and Baker Mayfield took a nosedive in his second year in the league.

The quarterback completed 59.4% of his passes for 3,827 yards, 22 TDs, and 21 interceptions, and he was sacked 40 times.

During the free-agency period, Cleveland added right tackle Jack Conklin from Tennessee and tight end Austin Hooper (787 yards, 6 TDs in 2019) from Atlanta. The Browns also welcomed former Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski as their new head coach.

Stefanski and offensive advisor Gary Kubiak ushered in a run-focused offense in Minnesota last year, which helped running back Dalvin Cook achieve a breakout season (1,654 all-purpose yards, 13 TDs). Stefanski will have Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt to work with in Cleveland, and could finally unearth the potential of this offense.

As for the Bengals, it’s going to take a lot to bounce back from their 2-14 record from last season. It’s expected Cincinnati will select LSU quarterback Joe Burrow with the first overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft, but the young signal-caller won't be able to rehabilitate the team as a rookie.

The Bengals haven’t finished first in the division since 2015, when they went 12-4. It’s difficult to envision them surprising the AFC North, and they should endure one more season at the bottom of the totem pole.

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