6. Houston Texans
The Houston Texans have a roster capable of winning it all, but that also assumes that quarterback CJ Stroud can elevate his game closer to how he played during his 2023 season. In all three years of Stroud’s career, the Texans have advanced into the Divisional Round of the playoffs.
It’s a remarkable display of consistency, but Stroud has been rather average these last two years, leaving most of us wondering if he’s even good enough to lead this team into the AFC Championship Game, at least.
General Manager Nick Caserio did help Stroud out in the offseason, signing a pair of reliable offensive linemen in Wyatt Teller and Braden Smith, and also trading for a reliable running back in David Montgomery.
The defense also got better, so it’s really simply all up to Stroud - he is the one player who could make or break this team, and he’s also playing for a long-term contract extension, which I am sure the Texans would love to give him if 2026 works out.
5. Buffalo Bills
When was the last time we have seen a team in any professional sport suffer as many playoff heartbreaks as the Buffalo Bills have? Year after year, it’s more of the same, just packaged differently.
Last year, many looked at Buffalo as having an easier shot at winning it all, as Kansas City and Cincinnati were not in the playoffs. However, the Denver Broncos ended up being too much for this team to handle, and it ended in, you guessed it, another brutal playoff loss.
If nothing else, the Bills did make a notable change to try and fix this, as Sean McDermott got fired, and Joe Brady got promoted to head coach. Buffalo also added wide receiver DJ Moore to the mix.
Moore is a trustworthy veteran and fills a massive need for this roster. The one downside here is that the Bills are running out of things to do that would get them over the hump.
There is a chance that this team simply isn’t capable of it. However, they’ve consistently been among the best clubs in the NFL, and that cannot be disputed.
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