Finally, Pure 'Mid'
18. Houston Texans
DeMeco Ryans has proven that the Texans defense is going to remain rock-solid or better at just about any point, especially as the young leaders of that group only continue to blossom in their respective careers. And the skill positions led by C.J. Stroud on offense are obviously nothing to scoff at. I'd be lying, however, if I said the reshaping of the offensive line on the fly doesn't absolutely terrify me. Are we sure that's going to work? Until that question is answered, I can't put Houston any higher than this.
17. Los Angeles Chargers
Losing Rashawn Slater threatens some of what I feel about Jim Harbaugh's Charges, without question, You can't lose a franchise tackle in August and expect to not feel any adverse effects from that, no matter how good Justin Herbert is. At the same time, the rest of the offense feels much more reliable than a year ago, and the hope is that the defense isn't too far behind in that capacity either. Playing in the loaded AFC West doesn't make life easy on the Bolts, but it's hard to bet against a Harbaugh-coached team, especially one entering year two.
16. Cincinnati Bengals
Locking up Trey Hendrickson, even if only for this year, gives you a lot more faith in the Bengals than you otherwise would've had. After all, considering that Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati offense had to be almost superhuman to win games a year ago, it stands to reason that anything that can be done to not make the defense fall off even further had to be done. That said, Al Golden still might not be the panacea for the defensive side of the ball, and that's going to hold the Bengals back just a bit from being a Super Bowl contender, at least for right now.
15. Seattle Seahawks
We might be underrating how drastic the improvement for the Seahawks offense might be this season. That's not a comparison of previous QB Geno Smith to newcomer Sam Darnold, to be sure, but rather a statement of the upgrade made at coordinator from Ryan Grubb to Klint Kubiak. This should lead to an upswing on that side of the ball, and the defense has been on an upward trajectory. The NFC West is going to be a dogfight, though, and I'm not entirely sure that I believe Seattle has the soldiers to be able to emerge from that group when it's all said and done.
14. Pittsburgh Steelers
It's easy to poke fun at Aaron Rodgers being north of 40 years old and Steelers fans thinking that he's going to be the savior of the offense. There might be some credence to that, though. Rodgers isn't the MVP candidate he once was, but it's not at all crazy to think that he's an upgrade from the Kenny Picketts and Russell Wilsons of recent years. Mike Tomlin had those teams above .500 and mostly in the playoffs too, so it should be taken seriously that Rodgers still might be a good enough upgrade to push the Steelers to another level in the 2025 season.