The 2025 NFL season is right around the corner, and we've had all offseason to analyze (and over-analyze) every draft pick, free agent signing, training camp development, and preseason game.
And no matter how educated our guesses about what will happen may be, the league will always find a way to shock us.
The AFC is going to be loaded once again this coming season, and even with seven teams making the playoffs last year, there were a number of teams left out of the postseason (Bengals, Dolphins, Colts) who were in the thick of the race despite each having major roster or injury issues. How could things go this coming season in the AFC? Which teams in each division could end up being the biggest surprises?
2025 NFL Predictions: Biggest surprise teams in each AFC division
AFC West: Los Angeles Chargers (in a bad way)
There's really no way to slice it other than this: It's been a rough offseason for the Chargers.
The Chargers officially said goodbye to Joey Bosa, and even if you consider that addition by subtraction given his lack of availability, he was the star they've been banking on producing the most off the edge. And they now have to reset at that position group next year while hoping that the veterans they have in place can keep things humming along.
The loss of Poona Ford was an extremely underrated one for the defensive front, but nothing hurts this team more than the loss of Rashawn Slater at left tackle. He is a critical piece to their offensive identity. A lot more pressure is now on the shoulders of Justin Herbert.
The Chargers failed to land Evan Engram in free agency, they've been scrambling for depth at receiver, and Najee Harris has a mysteriously bad eye injury after a fireworks incident on the 4th of July. I don't like the way this offseason has gone for the Chargers at all.
AFC North: Cincinnati Bengals
I'm not going to sit here and say it would be surprising for the Cincinnati Bengals to be competitive in 2025, but how about being surprising as in competing for a division title?
The Baltimore Ravens are one team that I just don't see losing many games this coming season. But last year, we saw the Detroit Lions win 15 games with the Vikings right on their heels at 14. Maybe there is a similar situation about to be brewing in the AFC North.
The Bengals may not have the defense to win 13 or 14 games, but they have the offense to win 13 or 14 games and you never know when you're going to hit a string of good luck in one score games, which most NFL games are. The Bengals could be a surprise AFC North title contender after missing the playoffs last year.
AFC South: Jacksonville Jaguars
Anybody in the AFC South being legitimately competitive this year other than the Houston Texans would be a huge surprise. However, the team with the most ingredients to actually do a little something might be the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Jags have been to the playoffs with Trevor Lawrence before. They have a couple of key pieces defensively that can cause havoc for the opposing QB. They have two playmakers at the wide receiver position in Brian Thomas and Travis Hunter who will give defensive coordinators fits all year.
The ingredients are there for the Jaguars to be this year's version of what the Commanders were last year. It's going to be fascinating to see what Liam Coen can do in year one.
AFC East: New York Jets
Considering everyone is talking about the New England Patriots as being the big surprise team in the NFL overall this year, we're not going to take the low-hanging fruit.
If anyone is going to truly shock people in the AFC East in the 2025 season, it's going to be the New York Jets. Following the Aaron Rodgers era, nobody really expects anything out of the Jets. They've got a new GM, new head coach, new QB -- new everything.
But that can work to their advantage as well. The Jets are building something new together, and we saw how well that worked last year for the Washington Commanders. What happens if the Jets get a resurgence from Justin Fields? They have a tremendous offensive line on paper, solid weapons, and a defense that was supposed to be one of the league's best going into last season.
There might be something cooking there if Fields can put it all together.