Which AFC team has the best supporting cast around its quarterback?
The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL
The Athletic
4.6 • 3.3K Ratings
🗓️ 3 June 2026
⏱️ 92 minutes
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Summary
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
1:06:10 Robert wants to change his rankings
1:06:45 Jacksonville Jaguars
1:08:22 Confidence in Liam Coen
1:11:19 Los Angeles Chargers
1:12:10 Mike McDaniel changes Chargers
1:13:23 Monstrous season for Ladd McConkey?
1:15:59 Indianapolis Colts
1:20:58 Buffalo Bills
1:23:19 Robert and Derrik both have Denver Broncos at No. 1
1:26:44 Recapping AFC supporting cast rankings
Host: Robert Mays
Co-Host: Derrik Klassen
Executive Producer: Michael Beller
Senior Producer: Katy Duffy
Social Producer: Scott Krinch
Follow Robert on Bluesky: @robertmays.bsky.social
Follow Derrik on Bluesky: @qbklass.bsky.social
Follow Dave on Bluesky: @davehelman.bsky.social
Follow Robert on X: @RobertMays
Follow Dave on X: @DaveHelman_
Theme song: Haunted
Written by Dylan Slocum, Trevor Dietrich, Ruben Duarte, Kyle McAulay, and Meredith VanWoert / Performed by Spanish Love Songs
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Athletic Football Show. I'm Robert Mays. Really fun show on tap for you guys today. |
| 0:05.9 | We've done this over the last couple years. I really enjoyed doing it this time in the offseason. |
| 0:10.0 | We are ranking every supporting cast in the NFL by conference over two shows. We started today with the AFC. |
| 0:18.5 | Me and Derek running through all 16 supporting casts in the AFC. |
| 0:22.8 | Just laying out the ground rules for this a little bit. |
| 0:24.4 | We didn't explicitly talk about it during our conversation. |
| 0:27.2 | This includes not only the talent level on the other 10 starters and even into the depth for |
| 0:33.1 | each team, really weighing the ecosystem and the infrastructure for these teams with the plate callers |
| 0:38.5 | as well because I think that that can do a ton of lifting and really change the way an |
| 0:43.8 | individual unit feels even independent of some of the talent concerns that you might have. |
| 0:48.1 | So that's what we took into consideration when we made these lists. |
| 0:51.0 | I will say Derek convinced me on a couple teams. |
| 0:52.8 | I had a couple tweaks mid-show |
| 0:54.2 | because he really did kind of expose some flaws in my thinking that I was open to hearing. |
| 1:00.4 | So it's very fun conversation with me and Derek ranking all of these. One bit of housekeeping |
| 1:05.1 | before we get into the show, the merch design contest on our Discord starts or ends on June 5th. |
| 1:13.0 | So if you want to get in on the merch design contest, one, please sign up for the Discord. |
| 1:17.3 | A link to that is in the show description below. |
| 1:19.5 | And two, that contest ends on June 5th. |
| 1:22.0 | So be on the lookout for that. |
| 1:23.5 | For now, let's get to me and Derek chatting through the AFC supporting cast right now. |
| 1:38.6 | It is officially June, and that means it is time for one of my favorite offseason exercise that we've done |
... |
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