8 divisions in 8 days: afc north
Well, to be fair, I didn’t say that it would be eight consecutive days. Life happens sometimes. These are my off-season grades for the AFC North.
Baltimore Ravens: 8-9: The first thing to notice about the 2026 Ravens is the entire coaching staff has changed. John Harbaugh is no longer the HC replaced by Jesse Minters. The former OC took a head coaching position and is replaced by Declan Doyle. And a new defensive coordinator as well. Time will tell if any of these moves are good or not.
Losing Isaiah Likely will hurt the Ravens in my opinion especially with Mark Andrews recent health issues. They did draft two TE’s in the middle rounds. It’s still hard to replace a talent like Likely. As always with the Ravens though, it’s all about the defense. Getting Trey Hendrickson is a huge get for this franchise. Not counting last year when he was injured, Hendrickson had double digit sacks in four out of five seasons.
As far as the draft goes, the first three picks were all need picks. They needed help on the offensive line and Olaivavega Ioane fell right into their laps. They needed a pass rusher for depth and Zion Young fell to them in the second round. A potential first round talent that had a good combine. And they were in need of another WR. Ja’Kobi Lane was right there.
The Ravens should have no problem improving on the 8-9 record from last year. They addressed their needs and for that they get a good grade. Although, the jury is still out on the coaching changes.
Grade B+
Cincinnati Bengals: 6-11:
It’s pretty wild to me that the Ravens fired John Harbaugh but the Bengals are riding with Zac Taylor for one more year. I guess they are giving him a pass because of the Joe Burrow injury? Taking away last year’s Burrow injured year, the Bengals had back to back 9-8 seasons. That was after a SuperBowl and Conference Championship run the two seasons prior.
At least they are trying to keep Burrow upright with free agency. They re-signed two of their best offensive linemen. But for Cincy, their defense has always been deficient. And losing Hendrickson is a huge deal. The only year in the last five that they had a top ten defense in points allowed was the year that they lost the Conference Championship. So, they signed a Boye Mafe. They traded for Dexter Lawrence. They signed DL Jonathan Allen. They signed safeties Bryan Cook and Kyle Duggar.
The first two picks in the draft were used to shore up the D as well. Edge rusher Cashius Howell and Cornerback Tacario Davis in the second and third rounds respectively. A nice get in the fourth round with Center Connor Lew.
They did good between free agency and the draft. I just cannot get over the retention of Zac Taylor. Maybe he turns things around and gets them back in the SuperBowl. Anything less than a Conference Championship run and his days may come to an end.
Grade B
Cleveland Browns: 5-12:
The aversion that the BePitngals have on the defensive side of the ball, the Browns have it on the offensive side. They have had two top ten offenses since the teams reinstatement in ‘99. 2007 with QB Derek Anderson and 2003 with Joe Flacco under center. To say that this team hasn’t had any success in the QB industry over the last 26 years is an understatement. So, the fact that Kevin Stefanski lost his job as the Head Coach is baffling to me. Hard to run an efficient offense with the lack of strength on that side of the ball. We’ll see if Todd Monken can do a better job.
At least they spent money on re-signing or signing Offensive Linemen during free agency. They got three starters. The big deal out of the Browns was trading away Myles Garrett for a package that includes Jared Verse. Verse has yet to hit his prime, but I doubt that he ever gets to the level of Garrett. The Browns do get another first round pick next year that will be in the later part of the round. A pretty uninspired period for this team.
Free agency might not have been too inspiring, but they had a really good draft. Continuing to try and improve the Offensive Line they drafted Spencer Fano. If anything, the Browns should be able to run the ball quite well. And even though the Browns don’t have a starting caliber QB, they drafted two really good WR’s in KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston. Then later in the second round they drafted a really good safety in Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, who was mocked as a first round talent. Not sure why he fell so far.
A really good draft doesn’t change the questionable decision to fire Stefanski. Even though rumors suggest that he was the reason why the Browns elected to go away from Mayfield. This team is going to roll out DeShaun Watson and Shadeur Sanders at QB. Neither guy promotes confidence at all.
Grade C
Pittsburgh Steelers: 10-7
Mike Tomlin is out and Mike McCarthy is in. They pretty much changed the entire coaching staff with a new OC and DC. We will see how these moves play out. McCarthy and the re-signed Aaron Rodgers famously were together in Green Bay.
Outside of the re-signing of Rodgers, the biggest move they made on the offensive side of the ball was to trade for WR Michael Pittman Jr. They needed a second WR opposite of DK Metcalf. Consider that the top five receivers for Pittsburgh in 2025 was DK Metcalf, 2 RB’s and 2 TE’s. The Steelers did good in improving the defensive side of things in free agency. They signed or re-signed Jamel Dean, Asante Samuel Jr., Jaquan Brisker and Darnell Savage. Great moves for the secondary.
I really didn’t love the Steelers draft. They took what amounts to be a depth piece in the first round with OT Max Iheanachor. And depth pieces up front are necessary, but they could have taken more of a difference maker like WR KC Concepcion. Which led them to reach for a WR in the second round with selecting Germie Bernard. I loved the third round pick of QB Drew Allar. He gets to sit and watch Aaron Rodgers for (presumably) one season and be coached by McCarthy. No pressure on that kid to come in and be a savior because Rodgers will not be benched for the kid. Third round pick Gennings Dunker might grow into a nice OG to have.
They had a pretty active off-season and slightly above average one as well. It’ll be hard for Pittsburgh to repeat as division champs with an improved Ravens team and Burrow being back for the Bengals.
Grade B