In today’s NFL, there are three very valuable positions: quarterback, pass protector and pass rusher. You either have them or you don’t. If you don’t have the quarterback, you’re trying to find guys to get the other one on the ground as much as possible.
The AFC North has those guys in abundance entering the 2025 season.
Cincinnati’s Trey Hendrickson is coming off a 2024 season in which he led the NFL in sacks. Cleveland’s Myles Garrett and Pittsburgh’s T.J. Watt are perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidates. Even Baltimore’s Kyle Van Noy is having a late-career resurgence.