Ask four different analysts and you may well get four different answers about who they expect to win the AFC North this year. Odds are at least two of them will say the Cincinnati Bengals, granted, but virtually everybody agrees that this should be the toughest and most competitive division in football this year.
That is predicated upon certain teams answering key questions, however. At least for Bucky Brooks, he finds himself quite intrigued with the Cleveland Browns—not as much for the prospects of a full season of QB Deshaun Watson, but rather what their defense is shaping up to be.
“To me, on paper, they’re right there with the Cincinnati Bengals”, he said recently on NFL Total Access. “They’re neck and neck. There’s a part of me that believes the Cleveland Browns will win the division, and it’s gonna be very impressive”.
The Browns only finished the 2022 season 7-10, which was last in the AFC North, but the rest of the division finished above .500, including the 9-8 Pittsburgh Steelers, who made a late playoff push and were still in the hunt in the find week of the season. They went 3-3 in the games started by Watson at the end of the year.
“I can talk about the firepower: Amari Cooper, [Elijah] Moore, David Njoku, Nick Chubb, and those guys”, Brooks said. “But defensively, Jim Schwartz comes over, gives them a Super Bowl-winning defensive coordinator”.
“You have Za’Darius Smith and Myles Garrett, who might be the best one-two punch as edge rushers in the National Football League”, he went on. “And with Schwartz being able to tie that in with a wide-nine front, a defensive backfield that really specializes in playing man-to-man, this could be problematic for a lot of teams in the AFC, and so I’m really excited about the Browns”.
Now, I’m sure his claim of Garrett and Smith being potentially the best edge-rushing combo in the league will make the ears of Steelers fans perk up, considering what Pittsburgh is paying T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith—and, you know, what they’ve actually done on the field.
But credit to the Browns, they have gotten better on defense, at least on paper. Can Schwartz put that unit together? The addition of DL Dalvin Tomlinson should certainly help shore up the leaks that they had in the run game, along with Maurice Hearst. Smith is a quality run defender off the edge, as well, and they have gotten their linebackers back healthy in Anthony Walker Jr. and Sione Takitaki. Juan Thornhill and Mike Ford also bolster the back end.
As for the offense, that still runs—literally—through Nick Chubb until further notice. Should Watson make them better on offense than they have been since before the existence of the AFC North? Probably. But that’s a low bar to clear, and they’re going to need that defense to keep games competitive.
Not that I think they will.
