This NFL division got much poorer this offseason, but Travis Hunter can reinvigorate it

The AFC South got even worse this offseason, in spite of some eye-catching moves

Let’s start with the elephant in the room. Yes, the Jacksonville Jaguars are in the AFC South, and yes, they did acquire Travis Hunter. How can that be worse? I hear you ask. Well, on the face of it, it isn’t. Hunter’s a wonderfully dynamic player who will excite a fan base, and it feels like pretty much the entire league will be watching as he attempts to become the league’s first two-way player in the modern era. That’s not in doubt.

Unfortunately, he’s joining a team that’s been so comprehensively picked over by previous GM Trent Baalke that he might be one of the few exciting things about it. Trevor Lawrence is still tracking into bust territory, their offensive line contains mostly replacement-level players, while if anyone can name a star on their defense that isn’t ‘Travis Hunter playing corner’, it would be a big surprise. It’s not so much that the Jaguars have gotten worse this offseason — they’re significantly better, in decision-making if nothing else — but more that their base was such a low starting point that they barely scrape into the average tier in 2025.

Speaking of bad GMs, Chris Ballard continues into yet another season with the Indianapolis Colts despite there being no sign of him having found an answer at the sport’s most key position, quarterback. The team therefore, goes into the season with an unproven and possibly injured Anthony Richardson competing against former New York Giants flameout Daniel Jones, and all this in an offseason where the team was supposed to be improving. They’ve somehow come out with the same thing as always, a solid roster outside of the top spots, but are poor enough at quarterback that they are actually worse than last season. At least optimism still surrounded Richardson then.

The Tennessee Titans might have a chance at improvement, especially considering they added number one overall pick Cam Ward to an otherwise veteran roster on offense, but the absence of any game-changing wide receiver — a hangover from missing on former first-round pick Treylon Burks — plus a pedestrian defense, especially along the defensive line, leaves them not far from the same team that ‘won’ the #1 overall pick last year. They are at least likely to start ascending now, but judgments on improvements can only be made once Ward shows his mettle.

Last year’s division winners, the Houston Texans, almost won by default, with no team putting up a significant fight for the crown. Houston had their own problems, electing to part with offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik and also entirely changing their offensive line, following CJ Stroud’s ‘sophomore slump’, aka a second-season decline. After choosing to lose the likes of Laremy Tunsil, the team now looks significantly weaker on the offensive line, which is not ideal in a season where they need to break in a new offensive scheme. While there’s young talent there designed to fill all their issues, it’s a big bet to place on unproven players, and means that, at least on paper, they take a significant step back ahead of 2025.

With mediocrity comes intrigue in the AFC South

Ironically, the lack of quality in the division coupled with the NFL’s playoff rules could actually make the AFC South relatively intriguing in 2025.

With no obvious favorite (albeit most would back the Houston Texans, who seem to have the most solid foundation), a divisional win then becomes about who can find some consistency, or just show up in the biggest moments, within the division.

That should at least mean there’s something to play for late into the season, which could bring some drama to the NFL season, especially in the seventeen-game season era, in which playoff berths are often locked up long before the end of the year. The fact that no team particularly stands out among the four also means that each team will feel like, with a decent run, they’ll have a shot at the playoffs, possibly keeping an otherwise ‘tanking’ team involved long after they might have previously given up on the season.

Sometimes it’s not so bad being mediocre.