This article will analyze offseason coaching and personnel moves in the AFC North to predict what it means for of the team's offensive scheme in 2026, and what that means for fantasy football.
Three of the four AFC North teams hired new head coaches this offseason, with only Cincinnati opting for continuity at the top. The Bengals also kept their 2025 offensive core together, while their division opponents had a far more interesting offseason for fantasy purposes.
The Ravens are our clear headliner here, but the Browns and Steelers also have new coaches and new weapons.
Subsequent articles will do the same for each of the NFL's other seven divisions, so be on the lookout for similar breakdowns the next couple weeks. Warning: this might be the longest of the eight articles, given the massive turnover in the AFC North's coaching ranks this offseason.
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Baltimore Ravens
- New Coach/Coordinator: HC Jesse Minter, OC Declan Doyle, DC Anthony Weaver
- Key Losses: TE Isaiah Likely, TE Charlie Kolar, WR DeAndre Hopkins, FB Patrick Ricard, WR Tylan Wallace, RB Keaton Mitchell
- Key Additions: WR Ja'Kobi Lane (R3), WR Elijah Sarratt (R4), TE Matthew Hibner (R4), TE Josh Cuevas (R5), TE Durham Smythe
Alphabetical order demands we start with my favorite team, and it just so happens to be one of the more important ones (for other reasons). The Ravens have a new coaching staff, with 30-year-old playcaller Declan Doyle the main man of interest for fantasy.
Doyle followed Sean Payton from New Orleans to Denver as a young assistant before joining Ben Johnson's Bears last season as a non-play-calling coordinator. Doyle has never called plays at any level, but he'll have superstar talent to work with and seems to have made a good early impression, with the usually reserved Lamar Jackson using the term "mind-blowing" to describe his new coach. Wideout Zay Flowers is also a fan, apparently:
"He got stuff I never seen," Zay Flowers said of his new OC Declan Doyle.
"He's a genius."
— Giana Han (@giana_jade) June 2, 2026
Quick Hits — What to Expect from Baltimore's Offense
- No fullback = minimal 21/22 personnel. Instead, more 11/12/13 personnel.
- More play-action passes, fewer hand-offs (in neutral/run situations).
- Huge burden on the stars — QB Lamar Jackson, RB Derrick Henry, WR Zay Flowers.
- Reliance on mid-round rookies for significant WR/TE snaps. Elijah Sarratt sleeper?
- Banking on bounce-backs: WR Rashod Bateman, TE Mark Andrews, RB Justice Hill.
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Personnel Changes
One huge concern for Ravens fans like myself is a lack of depth at the skill positions, after FB Patrick Ricard, TE Isaiah Likely and TE Charlie Kolar left in free agency. This could be a good thing for fantasy, increasing the odds that Baltimore's top players consolidate the vast majority of volume.
It was already kind of like that last year, with RB Derrick Henry and WR Zay Flowers accounting for 50.3 percent of the scrimmage yardage and 53.2 percent of the touches. Both will undoubtedly be busy again, and Flowers' ADP is now at an all-time high, sitting mid-Round 3 on most best-ball and high-stakes platforms.
Zay Flowers went at pick 3.27 in my most recent @TheReal_NFC draft on Friday, and has consistently been going in that range there (26) in the last week and at @FFPC (29). pic.twitter.com/AWDlDx7Ut8
— Jeff Erickson (@Jeff_Erickson) July 19, 2026
Circling back to the lesser players, Baltimore's offseason departures at RB/WR/TE accounted for around 1,900 snaps last year — more than 35 percent of the team total. Of that bunch, only Likely was an effective receiving weapon for the team (and even he was diminished last year after a preseason foot injury).
GM Eric DeCosta said in March that the Ravens "weren't gonna be a fullback team" and would "probably be a three or four tight end team instead". So, the 274 snaps that went to FB Patrick Ricard last year probably won't go to the guy, Lukas Scott, who served as Ricard's backup on the practice squad last year (though Scott is still on the roster, as of late July).
Blocking tight end Durham Smythe signed a one-year, $3 million guaranteed contract, following Doyle over from Chicago after playing 293 regular-season snaps as the No. 3 tight end behind Colston Loveland and Cole Kmet. Smythe had just six targets and four catches, giving him 76 career receptions (three TDs) in 129 games. If Smythe is on the field a lot, it'll help the other players' target rates on those pass plays from run looks (already a very effective subset of plays for certain WRs and TEs).
That's good news for Flowers and Mark Andrews, but it's not yet clear if a third/fourth guy will benefit enough to matter for fantasy, nor is it entirely clear that Andrews has enough gas in the tank to take advantage of his opportunity. Baltimore's offseason overhaul otherwise relies on a(nother) bounce back year for WR Rashod Bateman and/or significant contributions from four mid-round picks (WR Ja'Kobi Lane, WR Elijah Sarratt, TE Matthew Hibner, TE Josh Cuevas).
Sarratt had the most pre-draft hype of the bunch after putting up 2,978 yards and 31 TDs across three collegiate seasons, but Lane was drafted a round earlier despite being Makai Lemon's sidekick at USC. Hibner is a catch-first, 24-year-old TE who ran a 4.57 40-yard dash after a modest college career; Cuevas might be used as an H-back and figures to mostly block.
As a Ravens fan, I'm really hoping for veteran additions at some point this summer, preferably at both wide receiver and tight end. For fantasy purposes, we should treat that as just a 'maybe'. Right now, it looks like the passing-game plan entails an awful lot of Zay Flowers, who had a career year in 2025 amidst a down year for the rest of Baltimore's offense.
What Will Change Structurally?
Unless DeCosta was lying and Doyle does actually want to use a fullback, we're largely looking at a blend of 11, 12 and 13 personnel. The Ravens have long ranked near the bottom of the league in 11-personnel usage, while typically ranking near the top for 12, 22 and 21 (the latter two being fullback packages).
Last year, Baltimore used 11 personnel on a league-low 29.9 percent of snaps, while the Bears ranked 22nd (51.5%) under Doyle. Also note that the Ravens almost never used six-OL packages (1%), while the Bears were more in line with league-average (5.3%) at 4.3%. That's one way to adjust to a lack of WR/TE depth, though it probably wouldn't be Doyle's preference outside of clear rushing situations.
Generally speaking, it's unwise to draw big conclusions by looking at last year's Chicago offense; Doyle was there for just one season and wasn't even the playcaller. He surely learned a lot from Ben Johnson, but he came up under Sean Payton and will now have a drastically different personnel group in Baltimore, where Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry provide a unique rushing threat that can mask weaknesses elsewhere.
We should expect the 2026 Baltimore offense to be its own thing, not some clear off-shoot of what Payton or Johnson have been doing. And that would probably be true even if Baltimore's unique personnel didn't demand it. There will even be occasions when we still see Greg Roman's influence, given that a lot of the mobile-QB stuff he installed back in 2018-19 still works well for Jackson and Henry.
Baltimore also is unlikely to match Chicago's O-line performance from last year, following an offseason in which potential upgrades at the guard spots were likely cancelled out by the massive loss of Pro Bowl center Tyler Linderbaum (now a Raider).
Another minor concern? RB Derrick Henry averaged 6.0 YPC from multi-back sets (mostly with a fullback) over the past two years, compared to 4.6 YPC from 11 personnel and 5.1 YPC from 12/13 personnel. That's nothing to panic over, as the numbers are strong all around and not just about Henry, but it's at least something to keep an eye on early in the season.
Apart from ditching the fullback in favor of WR/TE snaps, offseason reports on Doyle's plans for the Baltimore offense largely boil down to the same stuff we hear with every new hire these days, i.e., more play-action passes and pre-snap motion, with a focus on explosive plays. That's not necessarily inaccurate, but it's also not especially helpful when it echoes the description of every new hire under the age of 50.
The part I buy most — both in terms of the likelihood of actually happening and subsequent fantasy impact — is increased use of play-action passes. I don't think you hire the league's youngest coordinator to make the most run-heavy offense even more run-heavy. (FWIW, the Bears ranked second in play-action rate (19.4%) last year, whereas Baltimore finished 25th at 13.6%.)
Doyle or not, this should've always been the next evolution of Baltimore's offense, using Henry's rushing threat to set up more play-action chances for Jackson against favorable coverage looks. As great as Henry is, there's nothing more dangerous to a defense than a Lamar Jackson dropback in a situation where the defense is worried about stuffing the run.
Last year, it wasn't Sam Darnold or Matthew Stafford who led the NFL in EPA per dropback on play-action passes when the pre-snap pass probability was under 75 percent (based on score, field position, down and distance).
Jackson was the leader, with 0.46 EPA/DB and an absurd 13.7 YPA. He also had the best YPA (14.6) on play-action passes when the pre-snap pass probability was below 50 percent (closer to what we'd think of as "running situations").
Unsurprisingly, Jackson's struggles last year came entirely in clear passing situations (pass probability >75%), where his -.20 EPA/DB fell in the same range as the likes of Tua Tagovailoa, Geno Smith and Jacoby Brissett.
The Ravens shouldn't be that bad in clear passing situations this year, but the bigger change could be avoiding those spots in the first place by becoming more unpredictable on early downs.
Cincinnati Bengals
- Key New Coach/Coordinator: None
- Key Losses: TE Noah Fant
- Key Additions: WR Colbie Young (R4), TE Jack Endries (R7)
We're jumping right from one of the most interesting teams (Baltimore) to one of the least interesting. The Bengals obviously remain of massive importance for fantasy, but the mysteries mostly revolve around health and what happens if/when one of their stars misses time.
They're largely working with the same personnel and coaching staff as last year, which means the ball will still go to Chase Brown, Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, all of whom can be expected to post solid efficiency numbers as long as Joe Burrow stays healthy. For Chase, it's a nice bonus that the backup QB is still Joe Flacco, who fed the star wideout 14.3 targets per game in their mutual starts last year.
Quick Hits — What to Expect from Cincinnati's Offense
- More of the same; big-time volume for The Big 3 (Chase/Higgins/Brown).
- WR3 competition for Andrei Iosivas — Colbie Young or Mitchell Tinsley?
- Opportunity at TE for Gesicki/Endries/All?
Personnel Changes
The big offseason moves all came on defense, where DT Dexter Lawrence, DE Boye Mafe, DT Jonathan Allen, S Bryan Cook and S Kyle Dugger have been brought in to fix a terrible unit. The Bengals also suffered losses on defense, namely DE Trey Hendrickson (Baltimore), CB Cam Taylor-Britt (Indianapolis) and S Geno Stone (Buffalo).
On offense, the biggest veteran losses were TE Noah Fant and backup guard Lucas Patrick. Fant's departure makes Mike Gesicki a decent end-game target for best ball, but TE has long been a committee in Cincinnati and figures to remain that way. Jack Endries and Erick All (knee) are perhaps of interest in some deep dynasty leagues, given that they're essentially unknown quantities, while Gesicki is known for mediocrity.
With minimal-to-no investment in RB and WR depth, the Bengals are again relying on RB Chase Brown, WR Ja'Marr Chase and WR Tee Higgins to dominate volume. All three are top-40 picks in fantasy drafts, while a slew of other Bengals are potential endgame picks in best ball and not much more (Gesicki, Young, Iosivas, Tinsley, RB Samaje Perine, RB Tahj Brooks). None of their backups seems especially suited to a high-volume role even if injuries were to essentially require it.
What Will Change Structurally?
The short answer here is probably 'not much', with Zac Taylor continuing to call plays amid increasing criticism. It is safe to assume the Bengals will at least add new wrinkles, as every team does during the offseason. The buzz out of Cincinnati also suggests fewer shotgun snaps and more runs or play-action passes, but that's the buzz everywhere these days, and it partially depends on the defense being functional.
Last season, the Bengals had a league-low 10.9% play-action rate. They use their strong passing game to increase rushing efficiency, whereas the rest of the league is trending toward the opposite approach and using the run to set up big pass plays.
Given those league-wide trends and Chase Brown's modest rushing success the past two years, it would make sense for the Bengals to use run plays and/or play-action passes in some of the spots where they utilized straight dropbacks in recent years.
Whether that actually pans out will depend on how well it works early in the season and how well the rest of the Cincinnati team holds up. It's often a good thing to zig when everyone else zags. For fantasy, however, we aren't going to complain if the Bengals spend all season in shotgun amidst frequent shootouts.
Cleveland Browns
- Key New Coach/Coordinator: HC Todd Monken, OC Travis Switzer, DC Mike Rutenburg
- Key Losses: TE David Njoku, RB Jerome Ford, DE Myles Garrett
- Key Additions: WR KC Concepcion (R1), WR Denzel Boston (R2), TE Joe Royer (R5), QB Taylen Green (R6), FB Michael Burton, TE Jack Stoll
The Browns went full overhaul, and then still have QB Deshaun Watson and WR Jerry Jeudy hanging around. Both might start Week 1, but it does make for an interesting contrast with the rest of the roster/organization.
The Browns signed/drafted five new O-line starters this offseason, before drafting WR KC Concepcion (24th overall) and WR Denzel Boston (39th). The other key names to know for fantasy are all second-year players: RB Quinshon Judkins, RB Dylan Sampson, TE Harold Fannin, WR Isaiah Bond. It's a young team, with a bunch of Day 1/2 picks at skill positions. There'd be a lot more excitement for fantasy if Cleveland had even one decent QB on the roster.
The coaching staff is also new, led by Todd Monken, who intends to continue calling plays after his three-year stint as offensive coordinator for the division-rival Ravens. With him comes new Browns offensive coordinator Travis Switzer, who predated Monken in Baltimore and served as Monken's run-game coordinator the past two years.
Quick Hits — What to Expect from Cleveland's Offense
- Won't look much like Baltimore's 2023-25 offense.
- Rookie WRs should play a lot.
- Scheme somewhat of a mystery, but should at least be competent.
- QB play may not be competent; will need scheme and run game to lead the way.
- RB Quinshon Judkins should be busy, at least before halftime.
Personnel Changes
The Myles Garrett trade cemented Cleveland as a rebuilding team, which usually isn't great news for rushing volume, though in some cases the removal of any pretense of winning also leads to more called runs when playing from behind. Either way, second-year RBs Quinshon Judkins and Dylan Sampson face light competition for playing time.
The Browns signed a fullback this offseason, 34-year-old Michael Burton, but his contract contains only $60,000 guaranteed after a hamstring injury wiped out his 2025 campaign in Denver. While Burton may have some role, he won't get as many snaps as Patrick Ricard got in Baltimore last year. We'll see multi-TE formations much more often than multi-back looks, in all likelihood.
At WR and TE, everything looks up for grabs besides Harold Fannin's role as the top pass-catching TE. It also won't be surprising if Fannin gets a ton of snaps on run plays, as the Browns don't exactly have great alternatives at the position, i.e., it may be worth sacrificing blocking ability because Fannin's presence forces the defense to be more wary of a pass. First, Fannin (undisclosed) will need to prove he's healthy after missing OTAs and minicamp.
What Will Change Structurally?
Prior to his Baltimore stint, Monken had a pass-first reputation from his time calling plays for the Buccaneers (2016-18) and the University of Georgia (2020-22). To his credit, Monken capably adjusted—albeit with some well-publicized hiccups—to a Baltimore offense where the personnel encouraged a run-first approach.
It's probably fair to say that Monken's statistical track record as a playcaller is mostly a reflection of the unique playing styles of Lamar Jackson and Jameis Winston. Monken previously spent 2019 in Cleveland as the offensive coordinator, but then-coach Freddie Kitchens foolishly decided to call plays himself (and was fired the next offseason).
Monken himself has encouraged the notion that he's not wed to any specific system or style, instead adapting to each job he gets. That sounds very smart, and maybe it is, but it's not especially helpful to fantasy managers when we're trying to figure out what the Browns will do schematically this year.
We probably just have to accept that uncertainty and defer to Monken's generally solid track record for getting the ball to his best players. The next question then is whether a young WR like Concepcion, Boston or Bond can emerge alongside Judkins and Fannin to give the Browns their own Big 3.
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Key New Coach/Coordinator: HC Mike McCarthy, OC Brian Angelichio, DC Patrick Graham
- Key Losses: RB Kenneth Gainwell, WR Calvin Austin, TE Jonnu Smith
- Key Additions: WR Michael Pittman, RB Rico Dowdle, WR Germie Bernard (R2), RB/WR Eli Heidenreich (R6), TE Robert Tonyan
Mike McCarthy takes over as a play-calling head coach in Pittsburgh, reuniting with Aaron Rodgers for the quarterback's final NFL season. The Steelers don't look bad on paper, but they also don't look great, and even the upside argument is probably something like "miraculously getting to the AFC Championship Game and then losing by 17 points".
For fantasy purposes, I'm actually more excited, because the combination of coaching and personnel moves might help a few players consolidate some volume. Former playcaller Arthur Smith was notorious for offenses where TE2 and TE3 would get a lot of targets, including many of the high-value ones.
This won't be the Rodgers-McCarthy offense of yesteryear, but it should at least ditch some of the Arthur Smith peculiarities that have driven fantasy managers mad for years.
Quick Hits — What to Expect from Pittsburgh's Offense
- More 11 personnel, reduced use of multi-TE sets.
- WR Michael Pittman taking short targets that went to RBs and TEs in 2025.
- Fewer carries, more targets for RB Jaylen Warren.
- Pace could land at either extreme, or in the middle. Good luck.
Personnel Changes
The offseason moves were what you'd expect when looking at the respective histories of Mike McCarthy and Arthur Smith. TE Jonnu Smith out, WR Michael Pittman in. And then the Steelers spent a second-round pick on Germie Bernard, who could be their No. 3 wide receiver right out of the gate.
Of course, the Steelers also gave Darnell Washington a big extension in early June, which wouldn't make sense if they were all-in on 11 personnel and chucking the ball all over the place (with Pat Freiermuth presumably on the field). The schematic change still looks positive for Freiermuth, relative to last year, but he could lose a few 11-personnel snaps to Washington.
We should also note that the Steelers spent a fifth-round pick on Riley Nowakowski, who played tight end in college but could be a more of a fullback or H-Back in the NFL (6-foot-2, 250).
The signing of RB Rico Dowdle is another strong hint that Pittsburgh wants to maintain a power element even if the schematic changes mostly signal finesse. With Dowdle replacing Kenneth Gainwell, we could see Jaylen Warren become more reliant on receiving production again. I'd argue that Warren is also a better pure runner than Dowdle, but the Steelers didn't give Dowdle a $5 million signing bonus just to wait around for Warren to get hurt. Both will be involved in the offense, and probably to an extent that makes it tough to start the other guy with confidence.
What Will Change Structurally?
Last year, Pittsburgh used 11 personnel on just 38.7 percent of snaps (31st). That number is about to go up, and possibly way up, but it'll still fall shy of the rate from McCarthy's final season in Dallas (70.3% usage of 11 personnel in 2024).
The other key thing to note is that an increase in 11 personnel doesn't automatically mean an increase in passing. The Steelers were already sixth in PROE (+2.3) last year, frequently throwing the ball with only one or two WRs on the field. A huge number of those throws went to RBs and TEs, with Pittsburgh ranking third in screen-pass rate (12.5%) while Rodgers sported a league-low 6.1 aDOT.
It's a sort of odd situation, whereby Rodgers has changed his playing style to accommodate his declining abilities, yet he still wants to throw the ball often and has full freedom to change plays at the line. McCarthy also has a pass-first track record, so there's a good chance the Steelers rank Top 10 in PROE again.
They're also the kind of team that could produce a huge quantity of short receptions if things don't go well and they play from behind often. On the other hand, there's no real upside from a passing efficiency standpoint when looking at the realities of Rodgers' physical decline and his lack of downfield passing the past two years.
That's why you'll see DK Metcalf and Michael Pittman with similar ADPs for PPR leagues, even though the former is better-paid (and more highly regarded) than the latter. Both figure to take most of the snaps in both 11 and 12 personnel, so it isn't necessarily a good thing for them if the Steelers spend more time in 11.
Of course, Pittman's workload won't necessarily need to take away from Metcalf's 2025 targets, considering Rodgers sent one-fourth of his passes to RBs last year. One of the more obvious changes here is to send more of the quick throws to WRs instead of RBs.
Pace is one of the other big questions, as McCarthy had success with an up-tempo attack in Dallas, whereas Rodgers is famously methodical and likes to use most of the play clock to analyze the defense. The Rodgers way was the norm back when they worked together in Green Bay, but that was a long time ago. These things do often depend on QBs more so than coaches, so it's hard to say how much McCarthy matters vs. any stats being a comparison between Rodgers and Dak Prescott.
The optimist's case for this offense in fantasy would be McCarthy convincing Rodgers to play at a faster pace (less likely) while Rodgers convinces McCarthy to let him check out of run plays whenever he wants (more results). The result would be a huge number of short passes, potentially allowing for some strong PPR seasons. But it just doesn't sound as promising for Pittsburgh fans as fantasy players; we'd probably be talking about six yards and a cloud of dust.
The much more likely scenario is a team that falls closer to league-average in terms of both pace and pass rate.
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