2022 American Football Conference Preview

The 2022 NFL season is upon us, and it should be a very interesting one. Part of the reason why this season should be good: the AFC is stacked! The American Football Conference had been tepid for so, so long, but signs of life started to show back in the 2020 season. It increased in the final weeks of the 2021 season, as so many teams were jockeying for position, and it looks like the AFC is definitely back to having the depth it had back in the 1990s. There are so many storylines in the AFC entering this season, and they are as follows:

The AFC East became wide open when the Miami Dolphins suddenly received, of all people, Tyreek Hill via trade. One of the best receivers in the league, the top receiver for the Kansas City Chiefs, and he's now in Miami. Just when it seemed like the Buffalo Bills and the New England Patriots would only have to deal with each other in the division for years, the Dolphins have now become contenders. And keep in mind: the Dolphins are coming off a 9-8 season after a 1-7 start, but for some reason, that wasn't enough for them to keep Brian Flores as coach, but that's another story.

The Bills remain the AFC East's top dogs, but the Patriots look to prove that their first playoff appearance in the post-Tom Brady era wasn't a fluke. With the Dolphins now looking like a threat, that leaves the lowly New York Jets as the odd team out; the placeholder for the other three teams. Someone has to be on the bottom, and it looks like it'll be the Jets continuing to remain as the black sheep of the AFC East.

Last season, my AFC North preview for that year was titled, "The AFC North: Three Playoff Teams and Cincinnati." Usually, when I make bold statements like that, it always ages well; though this is a very, very rare moment that this statement ended up being proven wrong. 2021 was a dream year for the Cincinnati Bengals, as they reached (and almost won) the Super Bowl in their second year behind quarterback Joe Burrow. When a team gets that close to the Lombardi, fans have to wonder what that team will do for an encore. It should be interesting to see what happens with the Bengals in 2022.

All of the AFC North's teams have their intriguing storylines. For the Pittsburgh Steelers, this is life without their iconic quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger. The Baltimore Ravens have many questions after the disastrous way their season ended. And then we have the Cleveland Browns. Oh boy. I'll just say this about Cleveland: their fans should really be hiding right now. This will be a waste of a season for obvious reasons. Or will it? Wouldn't it be something if the Browns actually get off to a good start despite everything? Who knows?

The AFC South is the only division that appears to be cut and dry, as the South clearly has its haves (Tennessee Titans and Indianapolis Colts) and have nots (Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars). The Titans finished the 2021 season as the #1 team in the AFC, but were ousted in the Divisional Playoff. They also lost Julio Jones, but they still have Derrick Henry running the ball. However, their main rivals, the Colts, have Jonathan Taylor running the ball. The two best RBs in the NFL, and they are in the same division! We don't have to wait too long for their matchups this season, as both meetings take place in October: Week 4 on October 2 (@ Indianapolis) and Week 7 on October 23 (@ Tennessee).

That leaves the Houston Texans and the Jacksonville Jaguars to battle it out for third place. I would think that the Jags would actually avoid last place this season, after all, Trevor Lawrence is still their quarterback. Plus, Urban Meyer is out, and they now have Doug Pederson--a Super Bowl Champion coach--at the helm. While I don't see playoffs in Jacksonville's future, I can see them winning at least six games this season, which could open the door for improvements during the offseason.

I'll be honest, I could write a whole story on the AFC West like I did last season for all of the divisions. The entire division ended up becoming the "group of death" during the offseason. The Los Angeles Chargers acquired Khalil Mack, the Kansas City Chiefs are still beastly even without Tyreek Hill, the Denver Broncos got Russell Wilson as their QB, and the Las Vegas Raiders ended up acquiring Davante Adams. Even before all of this, the AFC West was quite strong, as the final game of the regular season saw two of its teams playing for playoff spots--with the possibility of that game ending with both teams getting in!

As a Southern California native, I am salivating over the fact that I'll get to see this wonderful AFC West in action every week. This division is hard to predict, even with the Chiefs in it. The Chiefs are coming off their fourth straight AFC Championship appearance, but if they are falling off, they are doing so at the wrong time, as the Chargers, Raiders, and Broncos have all added some big guns. This division is everyone's to win.

The AFC's depth makes predicting it very hard. The East should go to Buffalo, but it won't be easy. The North should go to Cincinnati, but who knows what Baltimore and even Pittsburgh may have up their sleeves. Again, the South is the only apparent certainty; it's Tennessee's to win or lose. That leaves the West. I don't even know if KC will finish first in 2022, and while I'm hoping that the Chargers win the West, I honestly see the Raiders doing so. As for the three Wild Cards, well, that's going to be a huge logjam that I will enjoy watching. Pretty much everyone not named the Jets, Texans, Jaguars, or Browns has a chance in the AFC.

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