12. Indianapolis Colts
I don’t know whether to put the Colts in the middle of a list like this or closer to the bottom. Bottom-middle sounds about right. Anthony Richardson has so much talent and potential, but the high ceiling comes with an extremely low floor. He struggled to hit water from a boat last year, completing just under 48 percent of his passes. The Colts need someone operating their offense more efficiently because they have no shortage of weapons and an underrated defense, personnel-wise.
11. Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jacksonville Jaguars have pieces in place to potentially be at least interesting this coming season. Doug Pederson took Urban Meyer’s mess and immediately turned them into a playoff team, but the drop-off was just as quick. The Jags need Trevor Lawrence to live up to his massive contract, and Lawrence will be out of excuses with one of the most talented young wide receiver duos in the league in Brian Thomas Jr. and Travis Hunter.
10. Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins are another team that I just don’t know how to process right now. We need to see the first month or so of what this team is going to do in order to make some more accurate assessments, but there’s less I like about them on paper by the day. The Dolphins are obviously relying heavily on Tua Tagovailoa staying healthy, and their depleted defense keeping its biggest pieces intact. We’ve seen the last couple of years just how hard keeping guys on the field has been for this team, and that’s the major concern this year.
9. New England Patriots
The Patriots are expected to be one of the top breakout teams in the entire NFL this year, and if they can swing a trade for Trey Hendrickson or Terry McLaurin (or both), they might mess around and make things interesting in the AFC East. The Pats believe strongly that this year will be a breakthrough year for last year’s 3rd overall pick, Drake Maye, whose talent was fully on display late last season. This is going to be a fascinating team to watch with Mike Vrabel taking over on the sidelines as one of the sneakiest great coach hires of the last couple of years.