About this episode

The episode ranks the AFC teams based on the quality of their supporting casts around quarterbacks.

Last season's Seahawks became the latest team to prove that you don't need an elite quarterback to win the Super Bowl. An elite supporting cast can do just as much heavy lifting as a quarterback who appears headed for a gold jacket. So, which teams have the best supporting casts in the league? Which teams have the worst? We'll explore those questions over two episodes, divided between AFC and NFC. On this episode of The Athletic Football Show, Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen rank the AFC supporting casts from worst to first. Timestamps are approximate 0:00 Welcome to the show 0:29 Ranking the AFC supporting casts 3:16 Miami Dolphins 5:48 Optimism around Bobby Slowik? 8:25 Tennessee Titans 10:22 Brian Daboll's offense 13:02 Las Vegas Raiders 14:18 Raiders wide receiver group 19:16 New York Jets 24:00 Cleveland Browns 29:04 Harold Fannin Jr. and rookie tight ends 34:50 Kansas City Chiefs 35:22 Andy Reid no longer elite? 41:05 Houston Texans 45:54 Baltimore Ravens 47:55 Derrick Henry 50:26 Pittsburgh Steelers 52:55 Steelers pass catchers 54:41 New England Patriots 58:50 What version of AJ Brown will Patriots get? 1:00:56 Cincinnati Bengals 1:02:11 Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins…

People in this episode

Hosts: Robert Mays, Derrik Klassen

Topics covered

• AFC supporting casts
• NFL analysis
• quarterback support
• team rankings
• Super Bowl insights

Keywords

• AFC
• supporting cast
• NFL
• team rankings
• quarterback
• Super Bowl
• Miami Dolphins
• Tennessee Titans
• Cleveland Browns

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Miami Dolphins, Tennessee Titans, Las Vegas Raiders, New York Jets, Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, Houston Texans, Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers, New England Patriots

More episodes of The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL

• Inside the TE revolution — from someone living it · June 5, 2026 · 1h 21m
• Which second-year QB showed the most promise entering 2026? · June 4, 2026 · 1h 1m

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