Opponents' Watch...

[Kingspoint]

I consider our opponents those in the Division, though it's hard to take the Clowns seriously.

Also, any team that is a direct threat for a playoff spot, though as good as the Bengals are this coming season and last year, only the upper echelon of teams...New England and Denver to be sure with others to be determined, are the Bengals' peers right now. Anything less than 11-5 next year will be underachieving for the Bengals. They've managed to hold onto their most important Free Agents, including A.J. Green, whom they extended during the season, while also securing Boling with a lucrative extension. They even have a potential quality backup at QB for the first time since Kitna and Carson were together.

 

[Kingspoint]

That said, the Ravens added a great player to lead their Secondary for the next few years in signing Free Safety Eric Weddle. It's as important of a signing as the Bengals inking of Iloka. Both teams have a great leader for their last line of Defense.

 

[cincygrad]

The AFC should be wide open. The 'typical' top teams all have significant question marks, and it doesn't really look like many 'new' teams are ready for primetime. I'm guessing that the playoffs will have at least 4 of the same 6 from last year and I wouldn't be surprised if it were more. Indy, New York and Baltimore are the only three teams I see having a chance to crash the party....

Going into the offseason I would have picked Pittsburgh as the favorite. They never got a chance to play with their real offense last year and their defense was much better than predicted. But, Bryant is gone now and they have a few line issues so there are definitely some questions.

 

[Kingspoint]

I really thought last year that somehow, Elway would figure out a way to get Brees for 2016-2018.

Word out of New Orleans today is that contract talks are not going well for New Orleans and Brees.

It's a pipedream if the Saints, in cap hell the last two years and this year, too, believe they can afford to keep Brees while also putting a good team around him. They purged a ton of talent off the team last year.