NFL: 5 best bets to be AFC Wild Card teams in 2020

Which five NFL teams are giving off serious AFC Wild Card team vibes?

With an additional AFC Wild Card spot going forward, some NFL teams will take advantage of this.

It looks a tad wonky having seven teams in each conference making the playoffs every year from now on when eight feels like a more well-rounded number. However, the NFL benefits greatly by adding two more Wild Card games on its opening weekend of the playoffs. Only the No. 1 seed in each conference will get a bye, allowing three games to be played on Saturday and Sunday.

Because there is an additional Wild Card spot in each league, it does feel a bit less special, to be honest. However, it allows one more team to have a shot at playing for a Super Bowl in each league, affording even more organizations to think they still have a shot at the postseason. Why wouldn’t the league want to add even greater interest and more high-stakes competitions?

So what we’re going to do today is look at five teams in the AFC that have a bit of a Wild Card feel to them. Some of these teams might be good enough to win their division, which would be fantastic. Others may have a Wild Card or bust manner about them, as there’s a team in their division they really don’t have a shot at being better than this season. It’s all good, though.

Think of it this way. When you look at these five teams, do you think they’re playoff bound? Do you see them hosting a home playoff game on Wild Card Weekend? Will they have to be road warriors to have any chance of getting down to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa for Super Bowl 55? Look for any of these five teams to finish as the fifth to seventh-best team in the AFC this season.

Any of these five NFL teams could be AFC Wild Card teams in 2020.

They feel like a playoff team already, but will they win their division?

It’s pretty simple really. If the Buffalo Bills do not make the AFC playoffs this year, especially with an expanded field, it will be a massive, massive disappointment up in Orchard Park. While there is some debate as to who the third-best team in the AFC is this year, Buffalo is a team that could be the next best team in the conference not named the Baltimore Ravens or the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Bills were smart to give head coach Sean McDermott a contract extension. In three years as their head coach, the Bills have made the AFC playoffs twice. Keep in mind their last postseason appearance came in 1999 and they got Music City Miracle-d down in Nashville. What’s even stranger is the last time the Bills won their division, Jim Kelly was still their franchise quarterback.

This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, as the New England Patriots have dominated the AFC East for two decades. The Tom Brady/Bill Belichick era may have come to an end this offseason, but the Evil Empire may have another division title run left in them with Cam Newton as their new starting quarterback. There is a ton of variance with the Patriots this season for so many reasons.

So why are we putting the Bills on this list and not the Patriots? It’s the idea of Buffalo being a more likely playoff team than New England at this juncture. The Bills feel like the safest bet in the AFC East to make the postseason of the four rival teams. As many as three may get in, but right now, it’d be shocking to see the Bills be anything worse than the seventh-best team in the AFC.