Welcome to the new normal in the American Football Conference. The AFC is once again absolutely stacked with powerhouse squads in heading into 2024. It’s unfortunate for a team like the Pittsburgh Steelers, who are an improved team in most areas from the squad that went 10-7 and earned the AFC’s 7th seed at the conclusion of the 2023 NFL Regular Season. However, it is far from a guarantee that their 2024 record will actually reflect that improvement with as many contenders as their currently are in the conference.

In my estimation, the AFC boasts a whopping 12 teams with legitimate playoff aspirations. The Steelers play in arguably the toughest division in football regardless of conference, with all 4 squads thinking postseason ahead of 2024. With the division and the conference projecting to be so hotly contested, I wanted to go through and pick the teams that I think are better than our Pittsburgh Steelers as we sit here today less than 2 weeks from their Week 1 trip to Atlanta.

Let’s dive in!

1. KANSAS CITY CHIEFS

The first couple teams on this list are no-brainers, and the 2x defending Champs lead the way. It should be undisputed at this point that the best QB in football right now (and honestly, maybe ever) is Patrick Mahomes, who just won a SB with Travis Kelce, a Rookie defacto WR1, and a bunch of 2024 cut candidates as his top offensive weapons. Sure, the defense was spectacular, especially down the stretch, but nobody makes the right decision at the QB position more frequently than Mahomes. He gives you zero margin for error as an opponent because you know he won’t be making the game-altering mistakes that even some of the other top passers in the league will make (Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, etc.)

The crazy thing is, this team is better, at least on offense, than the one that just captured its 3rd Lombardi in 5 years in 2023. As long as Mahomes, Head Coach Andy Reid, and Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo are leading the way for this team, they’re the favorites to win it all.

2. HOUSTON TEXANS

On Tuesday, I argued on the Steelers Fix Podcast with special guest and fellow SCN contributor Corey Eckenroth that the Houston Texans deserve their own tier when ranking the elites of the AFC. The Chiefs obviously belong alone at the top, but no other AFC squad can match the talent that the Texans boast on both sides of the ball heading into 2024. The cast of weapons around 2nd-Year wunderkind CJ Stroud is as deep as any in the league, and the defense under HC DeMeco Ryans has a chance to be one of the more ferocious units in the game. This team is the 2024 version of the 2021 Cincinnati Bengals.

3. BALTIMORE RAVENS

The Ravens lost a lot of pieces this offseason that keyed their AFC-best 13-4 record in 2023 and the 1st Overall Seed, but there’s still a lot to like about this Ravens squad, starting on offense where reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson and company enter year 2 of OC Todd Monken’s system that already was much improved on recent iterations of the Ravens offense under previous OC Greg Roman.

Adding RB Derrick Henry to this backfield feels almost unfair, but what is fair is to expect another leap from exciting 2nd-year WR Zay Flowers and the healthy return of Pro-Bowl TE Mark Andrews, which should make this passing attack more difficult to handle week in and week out. If replacement DC Zack Orr, who takes over for Seahawks new Head Coach Mike MacDonald, can manage to keep the defense hovering in the Top 10 league-wide, this team is still very dangerous, despite some concerns along the O-line and off the Edge on defense.

4. MIAMI DOLPHINS

If you’re a Dolphins fan, you should be extremely excited about where this team sits heading into Week 1. The most innovative mind in offensive football, Mike McDaniel, has had another whole offseason to improve what was already the most explosive unit in the league last season. Combine that with a fast, physical defensive roster led by the newly-acquired, but experienced Anthony Weaver at Defensive Coordinator, and this team has more upside than ever.

5. BUFFALO BILLS

Despite a litany of offseason changes on both sides of the ball, the Bills still have Josh Allen, who in my opinion is easily the best QB in football not named Mahomes, and one of the better defensive minds in the league in HC Sean McDermitt who consistently fields elite defenses year after year. While I think they regress a little in 2024, the bones of a roster that earned the AFC’s 2nd Seed in 2023 are still in place. The Bills will be formidable as long as Josh Allen stays healthy.

6. NEW YORK JETS

Maybe I’m drinking the Kool-Aid too much here, but I’m on board the Jets hype train heading into Week 1. Aaron Rodgers is looking healthy and ready to lead an offense that has legit high-end playmakers in WR Garrett Wilson and RB Breece Hall, and the Defense is absolutely stacked from front to back with All-Pro type talents. This is one of the few teams in football that could boast a Top 10 offense and defense in 2024. If Rodgers stays on the field, anything but a playoff appearance is unacceptable for New York.

7. PITTSBURGH STEELERS

And now we get to Pittsburgh. The STeelers have concerns at important positions like WR, CB, and more recently at OL where injuries are taking a toll, but this is still a Mike Tomlin team, and they did get significantly better at LB as well as the game’s most important position. Russell Wilson gets the Week 1 nod, but both Wilson and current QB2 Justin Fields profile as major upgrades on Kenny Pickett, Mitch Trubisky, and Mason Rudolph from 2023. If the Offense under new OC Arthur Smith is even passable as a real NFL-caliber attack, the front 7 on defense and an opportunistic secondary should lead the way to potentially big things this season.

While I believe they’ll need some help from one or more of the teams ahead of them on this list to, say, win their division, or make a run at a high seed in the playoffs, the ceiling for this team is pretty high when you consider where the floor has been with truly abysmal QB play and playcalling issues the last few seasons. I’m high on their chances to be really good in 2024, but it will be an uphill battle from Day 1 in this conference.

Just Missed: Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars, Indianapolis Colts