Welcome back to our summer tracking series, where we rank players and teams before the 2026 regular season kicks off. After ranking the tight ends last week, we turn our attention toward the heavyweights in the AFC.
The AFC has 16 teams. However, only one of them can secure the No. 1 seed in the conference, which gives the team a bye in the wild card round. The top seed gets to play at its home stadium for every playoff game within the conference. Moreover, the No. 1 seed gets a favorable matchup in the divisional round, playing against the lowest remaining seed from the wild-card round.

