AFC South is ALL Too Familiar in 2025

By Dan Salem

Posted on July 23, 2025

We know who’s the best in the AFC South and we know who’s at the bottom. Can anyone top the Texans? Two teams have a shot.

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Most NFL divisions are balanced, with a good team, a bad team and two competitive up and comers. Some are top heavy, while others are chock full of dump at the bottom. Where does your favorite division fall in 2025? We answer the most interesting questions about each division heading into the new season.

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Which team(s) has quarterback issues? What coach is on the hot seat, or is there more than one? Who’s the division favorite? How about a dark horse to take the title? Who will be in last place? Finally, the real question and the only one that matters. How many Super Bowl contenders does your division have? We enter the AFC South, which looks all too familiar.

NFC Division Previews: NFC East, NFC North, NFC South, NFC West
AFC Division Previews: AFC East, AFC North, AFC South, AFC West

AFC South 2025 Preview

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Quarterback Battles:

Houston/Jacksonville/Tennessee – None
Indianapolis Colts – The Blueprint (Todd Salem) – What the Colts have on their hands is the epitome of the quarterback battle, the blueprint for all others. Anthony Richardson is the young talent who has been unable to harness his gifts for long. Does the team get lured by his ceiling or turned off by his basement? Daniel Jones is the veteran presence looking to stabilize an offense. Is his mediocre set of skills enough to push Richardson to the bench for the time being?

Indianapolis Colts – Toasty Like A Burning Marshmallow (Dan Salem) – Gosh, some teams sure know how to make things complicated. One player has shown promise, Richardson, but not enough to earn the job. Another player, Jones, who is eerily similar to player one in archetype, has been the guy for at least a year, but not long enough to keep his job. Who will win? Nobody knows! If either player proves to be as good as their potential, well the Colts just might be good. If both prove themselves, we likely have problems. If neither do, well then all is lost. I can’t wait to see what happens!

Hot Seat Coach:

Houston/Jacksonville – None
Indianapolis Colts – Warm To The Touch (Todd) ; Who Turned Up The Heat? (Dan)

Todd Salem: Shane Steichen has been fine to start his Indy career: a 17-17 record over two seasons. If he can’t settle on a plan at QB, though, and there is yet another .500 season (or worse), does new ownership start to get impatient? The new generation of Irsays were not the ones to hire Steichen. The offense has enough pieces in 2025 where a failure could be put at the feet of the head coach.

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Dan Salem: Depending on how the QB situation shakes out, this seat may be on fire, or ice cold. I’m guessing it remains luke warm all year, because neither QB option is known for his ability to play well for more than a few games at a time. If another part of this roster steps up big time, then we have a pleasant surprise which erases the QB issue for one more year.

Tennessee Titans – Garbage In, Garbage Out (Dan Salem) – This seat SHOULD be fine and the man sitting in it SHOULD have time to develop his team around his rookie QB. But many things that should be the case often are not, so I’m paying close attention to just how bad the Titans are this season.

Division Favorite:

Houston Texans – Todd Salem: And it’s not particularly close. The other three teams have major flaws. Houston’s biggest issue is trying to find a coordinator to get the most out of a talented offense. That IS a big issue, as we saw last season. The offensive line is also a weakness. But the rest of the roster, on both sides of the ball, is in pretty good shape to succeed right now.

Houston Texans – Dan Salem: The unquestioned king of mediocrity remains the Houston Texans, because every other team in the AFC South is average at best. Perhaps one team rises up and is better than average. Perhaps the Texans stumble in some area which prevents them from being much more than average. Either way this is their division to win, either by a large margin or a small one.

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Dark Horse:

Indianapolis Colts (Todd Salem) – Lots of Indy talk here. The Colts have questions at QB and maybe a coach on the hot seat. That doesn’t normally breed a dark horse contender. And yet! I think Steichen has done some good things, and if he captures some level of Daniel Jones from 2022, we may have something here. There are a lot of receiving weapons, as well as a veteran running back room. The offensive line is a strength to boot. On defense, the Colts lack play-makers and trail Houston’s unit by a wide margin. This is where they’ll have to make up ground if they want to steal a division title.

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Jacksonville Jaguars (Dan Salem) – Nobody talks about the Jaguars any longer and nobody believes in them. But Trevor Lawrence was a decent QB in the not so distant past. Now Jacksonville has added the best dual threat player in a generation, who will either be great at one thing, or great/very good at two things. Travis Hunter is a difference maker and the Jaguars have been one or two pieces away from competing over the last season or two. If Lawrence has a good year, then I can see this team on the plus side of a .500 record. I could even see them stealing the division, if Houston stumbles in some manner. They are my dark horse.

Last Place Team:

Tennessee Titans (Todd Salem) – This team is made up of a rookie QB, led by a second-year coach, in an offense without any game-changing players, unless you want to bequeath Calvin Ridley with that title. The defense has one star (Jeffery Simmons), one former star (L’Jarius Sneed), and some other okay pieces. There is no pass rush. There will be few wins.

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Tennessee Titans (Dan Salem) – Unless their rookie QB blows the pants off the league, Tennessee will be occupying last place in the AFC South. There just isn’t enough talent on the team for them to win many games this year.

Number of Super Bowl Contenders:

One – Todd Salem: The Texans have to be considered a Super Bowl contender, even after an uneven 2024. They have one of the premiere defenses in the league, paired with an offensive framework that was stellar two years ago. Last year was a down season, and the coaching staff on that side of the ball has been replaced. If they get anywhere close to where we saw this group in ’23, this is a definitive championship-caliber team.

One – Dan Salem: Despite all of the ifs and buts surrounding QBs in this division, only one team has a legitimate shot at winning anything. Houston is a dark horse contender in my mind, but I can see the dominoes which need to fall in order for them to be elite this season. They are close and could be truly on the cusp, making the Texans a contender.

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Meet our Sports Writers:

Dan Salem is Lead Editor and Co-owner of BuzzChomp. He’s an award winning Actor, Director and Producer. Visit M Square Productions for his film work, or get lost in his old-school comedy on Pillow Talk TV. You can follow him on X, TikTok and Instagram. His latest film ‘Alone’ is now on Amazon.

Todd Salem is a Staff Writer and Contributing Editor at BuzzChomp. He’s also a champion of fantasy football and fantasy baseball, dominating leagues for over two decades. Comment below on his unfiltered opinions.

AFC South Preview – This Is The End

Photo Credits: reuters.com and newsweek.com; fox10phoenix.com via Getty Images

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