Thursday, August 6th is the first game of the 2026 season, with the Carolina Panthers playing the Arizona Cardinals in the Hall of Fame game. The start of the NFL year is just about here. With this being the last full month before the regular season, teams are continuing with their training camp and will work through their three preseason games.
And in today's NFL, the recipe for success is not a secret, but it's incredible hard to find. The bare minimum is having a ton of good players at key positions, but even that doesn't guarantee success. Since the players are only going to come into more of a focus, we've decided to look more at them here.
Let's rank all 16 teams in the AFC just based on who their best player is.
Ranking every team in the AFC by their best player for the 2026 NFL Season
16. New York Jets - Breece Hall, RB
Let's open things up with Breece Hall, the New York Jets starting running back. Hall is quite the player and is a true dual-threat weapon at the position. With the Jets having actually improved the offensive side of the ball this offseason, including the quarterback, Hall could finally be in line to have a prolific season.
Hall does not have a Pro Bowl or All-Pro nod but did finally cross the 1,000-yard rushing mark in 2025.
15. Cleveland Browns - Denzel Ward, CB
Denzel Ward just got another big-time extension from the Cleveland Browns and is a five-time Pro Bowler. One of the best, smoothest coverage cornerbacks in the league, Ward has been doing this at a high level for years now, but he's actually never played a full season in his career and allowed the second-highest passer rating in coverage in 2025, according to Pro Football Reference.
14. Pittsburgh Steelers - TJ Watt, EDGE
It's pretty clear that TJ Watt just isn't the player he once was, but in 14 games, he still managed two interceptions, eight passes defended, seven sacks, and 19 quarterback hits.
Every bit of a great player, Watt is unfortunately on the decline but should still be able to fill up the stat sheet for a few more seasons. His sack totals have decreased each year after his 19-sack performance in 2023.
13. Jacksonville Jaguars - Trevor Lawrence, QB
Trevor Lawrence played his tail off across the final month and a half of the season for the Jacksonville, but that was really the one part of the season where he played notably well. I am personally quite high on Lawrence for 2026 and beyond, but sustaining something consistently great for a full season needs to happen, as he is already entering year six.
Add us as a preferred source on Google