NFL Power Rankings: Post-Draft Favorites to Take AFC Crown

Richard LangfordJun 3, 2018

With the main push of free agency and the NFL draft in the past, the powerhouses of the NFL is obviously the New England Patriots who are going to beat the Houston Texans in the AFC Championship game 24-20.

Well, obvious may be a touch strong considering we are dealing with the unpredictable world of the NFL where teams often have dramatic turnarounds in one season.

That championship game scenario is only slightly more likely than the Raiders beating the Browns. That said, there are some clear favorites.

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1. New England Patriots

The Patriots made it to the Super Bowl last year despite a terrible defense. That unit did a decent job of not breaking after unlimited bending, but this was still a weak unit, and that stemmed from an extreme lack of talent.

They addressed that in the draft by adding DE Chandler Jones and LB Dont'a Hightower in the first round and followed that up with S Tavon Wilson and OLB Jake Bequette in rounds two and three.

All of these guys can expect to play a role and Jones and Hightower figure to be impact starters. This defense is going to be better.

And the offense might be even better as well. The one weakness the Pats had on offense last year was a lack of production at wideout. In free agency they added WRs Brandon Lloyd and Donte' Stallworth.

The Patriots are the clear-cut favorites.

2. Houston Texans

Had the Texans not built a late season pipeline from QB to the injured list, there is a strong possibility that it would have been them representing the AFC in the Super Bowl last season.

Houston suffered a few losses in free agency along their outstanding offensive line and also lost the Mario Williams, but these are losses they are prepared to handle.

They have outstanding depth along the line and they added two players in the draft that figure to compete for playing time in G Brandon Brooks and C Ben Jones.

As for Williams, they played the majority of last season without him anyway and spent their first pick on OLB Whitney Mercilus to replace him.

The other area the Texans needed to address was at WR, and they did. They added WR DeVier Posey in the second and WR Keshawn Martin in the fourth.

The Texans are in a great position to build on their success from a season ago.

3. Pittsburgh Steelers

The third favorite in the AFC was a close call between the Steelers and their bitter rivals the Ravens. In the end, the Steelers get the nod because they did a tremendous job of addressing their weakness in the draft.

For years, the Steelers have tried to patch a shoddy offensive line together. This has led to a weak running game and an inordinate amount of abuse on QB Ben Roethlisberger.

They are going to have considerable more talent on the offensive line now. The Steelers netted one of the steals of the draft with guard David DeCastro. They followed that pick up with OT Mike Adams.

DeCastro is an instant starter and huge upgrade. If the Steelers can get Adams on board and motivated, he could push for the right tackle job.

This will help Pittsburgh go back to being a more ball control and punishing offense. This is huge for Pittsburgh. They will feature largely the same solid defensive unit from last year, but this offense will be far more reliable and efficient.

Langford's NFL Power Rankings for April 30th

1. New England Patriots

2. New York Giants

3. San Francisco 49ers

4. Green Bay Packers

5. Houston Texans

6. Pittsburgh Steelers

7. Baltimore Ravens

8. Philadelphia Eagles

9. Denver Broncos

10. Detroit Lions

11. San Diego Chargers