Who wins the AFC South in 2024?

[Football_Bachelor08]

The Colts got Flacco as insurance if Richardson gets injured again. Even at his age, Flacco can probably lead the Colts to a division title

C.J. Stroud is a year older and more polished and can only be expected to be even better, especially if he has an improved roster around him.

As for Jacksonville, well, they're not lacking in talent so they can still rebound from that terrible collapse last season, especially if they can shore up the defense in the draft.

I'm not sure what to make of the Titans. They'll only go as far as Will Levis can take them and that depends on how much he develops in 2024.

[BetterCallSaul]

Jax or Houston. I feel like Jacksonville still has the most talented core…and I think eventually, we are destined for a Lawrence boom. If Lawrence takes another big step, Jacksonville should be killing folks. Did they get rid of their DC? He was awful. 

[TitanLegend]

Should be Houston, assuming Stroud is able to consistently perform at a high level. No reason to assume he won't, just flashes in the pan sometimes happen. Have had a really good off season, and a defense that Ryans really elevated last year should be even better now.

Collapsing the way the Jags did this past season and how middling Trevor Lawrence looks is hard to come back from. TLaw finally living up to his hype(or even just close to it) would obviously make them a contender, but there's been far too little evidence of that over 3 years on any kind of consistent basis for me to count on it.

I like their roster and Steichen did a good job in year 1, so I think if any team is going to push Houston for the division it'd be the Colts, just relies on AR, who looked better in year 1 than I gave him any hope to be with how bad he was at Florida.

For the Titans, who knows how good Levis will be, can predict anything from bad to breakout and it'd be difficult to argue, but even if he takes strides forward and looks good, Bill Callahan is gonna have to be a miracle worker for this o-line not to seriously slow the team down on offense. Likely relying on a rookie at LT and a bunch of nobodies competing for RG and RT. While the Titans have completely revamped the CB room, holes on the d-line, at safety and ILB are going to be hard to overcome, even if Wilson can be as good of a DC as his potential says.

So I'd expect probably a 1. Houston(12ish wins) 2. Indianapolis(9ish) 3. Jacksonville(7ish) 4. Tennessee(6ish) finish.

Still some decent names in FA and the draft to go though, so who knows how that might shift some things, but I can't see any moves the other 3 teams could make that'd prevent Houston from winning the division.

[-Hope-]

houston is the obvious favorite, and they should be. jacksonville has the talent to push them for the division title but they underachieved last year and have questions at OL and WR. indy and tennessee are wild cards who will more or less go as their young QBs go.

[MagicMT]

From what we've seen from Stroud and Demeco Ryans last year the Texans are the obvious answer. 
But the division is getting sneaky good/interesting:
I am really high on Steichen and the Colts have a good team and might have something with AR if he manages to stay healthy. I think they'll make the playoffs next year with better QB play. I see them as the most likely challengers for Houston. 
Jags have some real good pieces but TL hasn't progressed much and their coaching is probably holding them back. Baalke is also a bad GM so it's hard to have faith in the overall direction of the team. I feel like they are going to play for .500
Titans made some interesting moves this off-season but much will depends on Levis and Callahan. They still don't have much talent overall so expectations are pretty low for 2024. 

[Hunter2_1]

Going to go with Houston. They have the best QB, based on last year’s evidence. 

[sparky151]

I'll guess the order is Houston by a couple of games, then Indy/Jax fighting for a wildcard spot, with Tennessee bringing up the rear. 

[Blackstar12]

Even as a Colts fan it has to be the Texans. they had a decent FA while the Colts have done little so far improving their young and inexperienced secondary.

[TitanSlim]

After last year, plus the pieces they added so far this offseason, it’s the Texans for me.

The Jags could win it but they going to need more consistent and better play from Lawrence and the offense. Should at the least compete for a playoff spot.

Colts are interesting. If Anthony Richardson is as good as they expect they could be a sneaky playoff team, with an outside chance of winning the division. However they haven’t done much to improve the team from last year and the health of Richardson will be vital for them to reach their peak.

Titans, I feel, are a year away from being true contenders for the AFC South title. The talent level should be much better even with some holes on the team. Honestly boils down to Levis. If he improves under Callahan, they could be another sneaky playoff contender with an outside shot to win the AFC South. If not, could be another year as the bottom dweller of the AFC South.

[JaguarCrazy2832]

Houston should be the favorite 

Either way this division is going to be a whole lot of fun compared to expectations in prior years

[Tugboat]

Houston are obviously the mark to beat.  Especially if they can repeat that same level of success from last year.  They've got the young stud emerging rookie QB and didn't get worse in any appreciable way this offseason.

 

But the Jaguars are the contender still.  They were running away with the division until Lawrence got all jacked up, and then completely fell apart down the stretch without him and with a badly injured version of him.  If he can stay healthy, and they can surround him with say...an actual WR worth a single solitary iota of reliable value as a big chain moving target outside of Engram, and maybe even spruce up the OLine a smidge if we're getting greedy...they've got the potential to take the division and boatrace anyone.  Defense got better, even if nothing else comes from the draft...maybe incrementally, but a new DC hopefully helps with consistency on top of marginal FA upgrades.

 

Richardson is a bit of an X-factor if he can stay healthy and perform at that level he briefly showed over the course of an entire season.  But i'm a skeptic on that.

Tennessee idk what they're doing but they signed Ridley and that guy is a loser so i assume that will carry over.

[scar988]

I think Jacksonville takes a huge step forward with Nielsen running that defense now. Dude will have a lot of fun with the personnel there. Oluokun could be an All-Pro in the scheme and their offense should be good again.

[Soko]

Think Houston will get a large majority of the chatter, but I think it gets swept under the rug a little bit that Jacksonville on a “down year” and THE Colts with Gardner Minshew only won one less game last year. Even the Titans, who were a disaster, I think, were only a few games back. It’ll be a competitive division.

[Daniel]

1. Houston, 2. Jacksonville, 3. Big gap, 4. Indianapolis, 5. Tennessee

Indy could be good, but ARod didn't show that right out the gate elite talent that Stroud did.  And they've had some age and some turnover amongst their good players.

Titans could be good if Levis is a legit QB, but the roster has had so much turnover it's hard to see them not having some growing pains, even if things go well.

Houston and Indy seem like much safer bets.

[SteelKing728]

Houston should be considered a Superbowl favorite. They take the AFCS.

I think Jacksonville gets back to the playoffs. I don't trust Indy but they should be competitive. Flacco might be better than Richardson.

Tennessee needs more help. I don't care for the HC hire and Levis/Pollard needs to take the next step for the offense.