Ever since its original inception back in 2002, the AFC South has largely had a reputation of being one of the worst and/or least competitive divisions in professional football.
More often than not, it seems like there’s always one obviously superior team at the top, one team that’s just trying to remain relevant, while the other two are preparing for the draft by midseason.
Very seldom are all four teams legitimate playoff contenders at the same time. Unfortunately, that type of historical irrelevance doesn’t garner the benefit of the doubt that other divisions may get.
2023 doesn’t seem to be much different, with the Jaguars being nationally perceived as the only true threat out of the AFC South, while the other three teams are mostly expected to do their best just to remain relevant.
This is why it’s not surprising to see the AFC South come in second to last (No. 7) in Gordon McGuinness’ division rankings article. The Pro Football Focus analyst stated the following regarding his AFC South ranking:
Trevor Lawrence‘s emergence in 2022 has elevated the Jacksonville Jaguars‘ ceiling. His 85.0 PFF passing grade from Week 9 through the playoffs was the third-best mark in football, trailing only Joe Burrow and Patrick Mahomes. If he can repeat that level of play for a full season in 2023, the team will feel confident about competing with anyone in the conference.
The other South teams appear to be looking more to the future, with three quarterbacks selected in the top 33 picks in the 2023 NFL Draft in C.J. Stroud for the Houston Texans, Anthony Richardson for the Indianapolis Colts, and Will Levis for the Tennessee Titans. Of those three, the Titans will feel the closest to contending for a playoff spot in 2023. But the reality for all three teams is that a successful season would be learning what they have in their young signal-callers
At the end of the day, the Jaguars are clearly the preseason favorites, but if Tennessee can find a way to stay healthy, a Derrick Henry-led Titans team will always have a chance to win on any given Sunday.
Sadly, staying healthy is half the battle when it comes to the Titans.
