AFC Stock Up / Stock Down, Post-Free Agency

[pugsnotdrugs19]

Let's discuss how we think each AFC team has done so far this offseason and if they project as better, worse, or about the same entering the draft (where the champion of the conference will ultimately be determined)

AFC West

Chiefs: Better. My main reason actually has a lot to do with how much bad luck the offense had last year - it would be hard not to improve based on that alone. But it appears LT has some stability, although I'm not sure they're done adding there. The WR trio is one of the best in all of football, though they've yet to play a game together. The Fulton signing is my favorite because it's a force multiplier, allowing Trent to go back to the Star/Nickel role where he can impact games at an elite level and Connor plays Safety. We're a Charles Omenihu away from being in a really great spot entering the draft.

Chargers: Same. Feels like much the same team with the same limitations that will get them bounced in January. They're trying to do it the right way though, building through the draft. May be some short term pain for some long term gain. They need more speed on O.

Broncos: Better. Hate to say that I largely really like what Payton has done so far. They're rolling the dice on some ex-49ers with health question marks, but the defense is set up to be top-five once again. Nix and how he handles the sophomore year is critical, but this looks like a sure-fire playoff team.

Raiders: Better. This is only about the QB, by getting Geno they HAVE to be better. Still not ready to compete at the highest level and won't be for awhile.

AFC East

Bills: Slightly better. This one could easily be "worse" once Joey Bosa has his inevitable long-term injury. Beane did his normal thing, kept his own guys on reasonable contracts. I don't love switching Amari Cooper and Mack Hollins out for Josh Palmer, but maybe I'm stupid. Overall they're betting that their core guys can finally get it done in Jan. Must have a great draft.

Patriots: Much better. Look, they've paid out the nose and a lot of these deals won't age well. But they are much better on paper with these new players. They will win at minimum three more games this yr under Vrabel. If Maye is legit, they are wild card contenders.

Dolphins: Worse. A lot of bad contracts are finally catching up to them. Mike McDaniels days are numbered, just like Tyreek's.

Jets: Worse. Coaching may get them further along this year, but the roster is not any better. I'm not a Justin Fields believer. This team won't be in the playoffs, AGAIN.

AFC North

Ravens: Same. Their only addition is Hopkins, but they kept the Left Tackle. Haven't lost anyone of consequence. This is as same as same gets. Great organization will probably have a nice draft and be right back in the playoffs.

Steelers: Better. Rodgers will be an improvement when he inevitably signs here. Love the Metcalf addition, knocks Pickens down a peg. They'll still struggle to win a playoff game however, if they make it.

Bengals Worse. I'm dying on the hill that they're using the wrong scape goats. Lou Anarumo was the biggest reason for their deep playoff runs, and they didn't continue to give him the requisite talent to succeed. Now, they're putting all their eggs into the same basket that hasn't got it done yet. Burrow will get his stats, but this defense will stink. If Hendrickson walks, they miss the playoffs again.

Browns Better. Kept Myles Garrett and will most definitely improve at QB. Could contend for playoffs as they seem so unpredictable year to year.

AFC South

Texans: Worse. Traded away Tunsil, that alone makes it this for now. I do like the depth they've added on DL, as they will need to draft offense if they want to fix last year's woes and get Stroud back on track.

Jaguars Same. Nothing really to note here. Still a lacking roster that will bank on coaching to maximize Trevor and contend in the worst AFC division.

Titans Same. Dan Moore was an overpay, but does raise the floor of the offense. QB is the ?. I foresee this being the last year of Brian Callahan before Mike Borgonzi might just try to pluck Steve Spagnuolo from us.

Colts Slightly better. I like the adds of Charvarius Ward and Cam Bynum in a secondary that really needed some dogs back there. QB is still going to hold them back and finally end the Chris Ballard era next January.

[saphojunkie]

Originally Posted by Sassy Squatch

Jaguars and Titans gotta be two of the favorites in the Archie Manning sweepstakes.

zero percent chance that family lets him go to the Jags

[St. Patty's Fire]

Originally Posted by wazu

Meanwhile in Pittsburgh...

"NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reports the Steelers are comfortable starting QB Mason Rudolph in 2025."

Fans on the other hand... pic.twitter.com/Keys2UglSi

— Andy Holloway (@andyholloway) March 19, 2025

im guessing this is some sort of leverage play in the rodgers negotiations

[GordonGekko]

Originally Posted by comochiefsfan

This is probably going to get some push back and that's fine.

But I really think in hindsight, letting OBJr walk was the biggest mistake Veach has made up to this point.

No he wasn't an elite LT, but he was serviceable and the most important thing is that Patrick trusted him and was mentally able to play freely with him protecting his blindside.

I think we all thought that because he wasn't elite he was easily replaceable. This has not only proven to not be true, but the damage done to Mahomes psyche behind two years of subpar LT play has been by far the biggest consequence of this and is going to have to be undone, which may or may not be easy.

We should have overpaid for him and just called it good. And to be clear, I'm not slamming Veach for this. It seemed like a shrewd move at the time and hindsight makes it look worse.

But the moral of the story is you just don't mess around at LT. If Patrick trusts a guy, that's your guy and you should stick with him.

Really hoping Moore can provide that same level of comfort that Brown gave Patrick and we might be back on schedule.

100% agree, letting OBJr get away was a big BIG mistake and then seeing what he took $$ to play with the Bengals? I think in the first Superbowl w/ the Eagles the Chiefs OLine didn't give up a sack and Brown even called it before the game and said to, "print it on a t-shirt." Pretty balls. Veach will, hopefully, learn from all of this, he is absolutely killing it at almost every other position through his acquisitions, and is an absolute master at picking secondary players, but OLine analysis is like his one blind spot.

[htismaqe]

They didn't let OBJ get away. He was insulted by their offer and refused to sign. He ended up signing an inferior deal after it all.

[MahomesMagic]

I still don’t get the cliche who thinks Patrick Mahomes forgot how to play QB and that Matt Nagy is a sharp play caller.


If we aren’t in the top ten for offense for the 3rd year in a row there people will just say it’s Mahomes.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by MahomesMagic

I still don’t get the cliche who thinks Patrick Mahomes forgot how to play QB and that Matt Nagy is a sharp play caller.


If we aren’t in the top ten for offense for the 3rd year in a row there people will just say it’s Mahomes.

Matt Nagy doesn't run the offense, Andy does.

And the evidence against Pat is voluminous and obvious. He HAS to play better or nothing will change.

[MahomesMagic]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Matt Nagy doesn't run the offense, Andy does.

And the evidence against Pat is voluminous and obvious. He HAS to play better or nothing will change.

Yeah heard the same bullshit when they tried to make Skyy Moore or Toney a number 1 WR and Mahomes still led a terrible wr room to a SB win.

The same Mahomes is not good crew claimed the weapons were acceptable.

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by MahomesMagic

Yeah heard the same bullshit when they tried to make Skyy Moore or Toney a number 1 WR and Mahomes still led a terrible wr room to a SB win.

And yet he's been significantly worse since with better WRs than both of those guys. But that's because of playcalling!

You're almost there.

[MahomesMagic]

Originally Posted by staylor26

And yet he's been significantly worse since with better WRs than both of those guys. But that's because of playcalling!

You're almost there.

You’re a very good Kool Aid sipper.

[Gary Cooper]

Originally Posted by MahomesMagic

I still don’t get the cliche who thinks Patrick Mahomes forgot how to play QB and that Matt Nagy is a sharp play caller.


If we aren’t in the top ten for offense for the 3rd year in a row there people will just say it’s Mahomes.

Defenses have improved since 2018 and 2019. It's not just Mahomes playing worse. You have teams playing more of the two deep safety look. Also, teams used to take a naive approach against Mahomes before they learned of his tendencies and strengths.

The current version of Mahomes would play better if transported via time machine to 2018/2019. Meanwhile, the Mahomes from 2018/2019 wouldn't immediately dominate if transported to 2025. He'd have some learning to do first.

That said, yes he needs to play better. Your best player makes everyone else look better. That's what happened in 2022.

[MahomesMagic]

Originally Posted by Gary Cooper

Defenses have improved since 2018 and 2019. It's not just Mahomes playing worse. You have teams playing more of the two deep safety look. Also, teams used to take a naive approach against Mahomes before they learned of his tendencies and strengths.

The current version of Mahomes would play better if transported via time machine to 2018/2019. Meanwhile, the Mahomes from 2018/2019 wouldn't immediately dominate if transported to 2025. He'd have some learning to do first.

You think our offensive play calling has been good the last two years?!

Just watch other NFL games like Coen last year with Tampa and Baker. Baker is a good QB but he ain’t Mahomes. Just easy wins over and over.

Our offense hasn’t done this since Nagy arrived.

The SB everyone including Mahomes sucked.

But the play calling wasn’t good. Philly knew our plays better than we did.


We need a reboot.

[Gary Cooper]

Originally Posted by MahomesMagic

You think our offensive play calling has been good the last two years?!

Just watch other NFL games like Coen last year with Tampa and Baker. Baker is a good QB but he ain’t Mahomes. Just easy wins over and over.

Our offense hasn’t done this since Nagy arrived.

The SB everyone including Mahomes sucked.

But the play calling wasn’t good. Philly knew our plays better than we did.


We need a reboot.

I believe Andy Reid is the man behind the curtain. Not Nagy.

When something goes right offensively, Andy gets the credit first on the coaching staff. When the offensive performance sucks, everyone wants Nagy fired. I understand it's easier to call for Nagy's job than Reid's, but you can't have it both ways. Andy is not a defensive minded coach. He's the brains behind this offense. The Super Bowl loss is on him first.

[MahomesMagic]

Originally Posted by Gary Cooper

I believe Andy Reid is the man behind the curtain. Not Nagy.

When something goes right offensively, Andy gets the credit first on the coaching staff. When the offensive performance sucks, everyone wants Nagy fired. I understand it's easier to call for Nagy's job than Reid's, but you can't have it both ways. Andy is not a defensive minded coach. He's the brains behind this offense. The Super Bowl loss is on him first.

It doesn’t matter who actually is running the offense.


Our playbook is one of the worst in the NFL right now. How many 3 yard passes and goofy “trick” plays do you need to see before you are tired of it too?

SB Eagles defenders were running our routes for us.

As soon as our offense started calling all verticals and Mahomes ad libbed we got some deep shots completed.

Why was our offense so bad on 1st and 2nd down but good on 3rd down and end of game?!

That’s clearly showing it’s a scheme issue and the QB is making it work.

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by MahomesMagic

It doesn’t matter who actually is running the offense.


Our playbook is one of the worst in the NFL right now. How many 3 yard passes and goofy “trick” plays do you need to see before you are tired of it too?

SB Eagles defenders were running our routes for us.

As soon as our offense started calling all verticals and Mahomes ad libbed we got some deep shots completed.

Why was our offense so bad on 1st and 2nd down but good on 3rd down and end of game?!

That’s clearly showing it’s a scheme issue and the QB is making it work.

There were shots to be taken that weren't all game long. Opportunities missed.

The o-line in particular was bad, but there were guys open down field quite often.

Just a bad day to have a bad game.

[Gary Cooper]

Originally Posted by MahomesMagic

It doesn’t matter who actually is running the offense.


Our playbook is one of the worst in the NFL right now. How many 3 yard passes and goofy “trick” plays do you need to see before you are tired of it too?

SB Eagles defenders were running our routes for us.

As soon as our offense started calling all verticals and Mahomes ad libbed we got some deep shots completed.

Why was our offense so bad on 1st and 2nd down but good on 3rd down and end of game?!

That’s clearly showing it’s a scheme issue and the QB is making it work.

No, I get it. The play calling isn't always great. It looked good against Buffalo but struggled against the better defenses like Houston and Philadelphia. The complete lack of a run game makes it harder unless you have Hill/Watkins/prime Kelce as your targets with good tackles blocking to boot.

The Eagles let up in the 4th quarter, otherwise the garbage points wouldn't have been scored. I mean, it's hard to concentrate when you're up 34-0 and know you're about to win a SB.