AFC North News

While the draft is one way to improve the team, free agency is a far more immediate way to do that.

The New York Giants are both division champs and Super Bowl champs for the 2011 season, which means the 2012 season is going to be that much more difficult.

Editor's note: Every team is preparing to attack its offseason to-do list, with free agency set to open on March 13 and the draft April 26-28. This is the fourth of 32 reports in 32 days looking at the offseason game plan for each team.

Unfortunately for Bengals fans, this happened in 8 of 10 home games, including preseason, this year.

In today's edition of Around the AFC North, we take a look at another member of the Bengals getting into trouble, the Steelers releasing a veteran cornerback, and why the Ravens need help at the receiver position.

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Bleacher Report's AFC North mailbag, where I answer reader questions regarding the most pressing issues in the division this week.

Over the next eight weeks, we will rank every NFL franchise, 1-32 in terms of their overall success in the last ten years .

I scan the web far and wide for the very best coverage of the AFC North and compile it here for you in one easy-to-access compendium.

The 2012 schedule for the Jaguars features five teams that qualified for the 2011 postseason: Houston, New England, Cincinnati, Detroit and Green Bay.

If there is an AFC North-wide trend heading into free agency, it's the need for a running back.

The AFC North will play a big role in the first round. That's according to ESPN Insider Todd McShay, who listed the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals among the five teams who could shake up the opening round of the NFL draft.

Free agency opens on March 13 and the Bengals , who have more cap space than most teams thanks to dumping the contracts of both Carson Palmer and Chad Ochocinco on other teams, could look to improve their team by signing a couple of guys that could fill holes on the depth chart.

Back in the 80s and 90s, it was a given that the Super Bowl would be won by an NFC team, usually by 30 or more points.

Throughout the 16 minutes that followed him glowingly introducing former Kansas City Chiefs coach Todd Haley as his new offensive coordinator, Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin stood proudly in the corner of the second-floor media room at the team's facility.

The Pittsburgh Steelers restructured LB Lamarr Woodley's contract this week to free up a bit of cap space Streeter Lecka/Getty Images With free agency a little more than a month away, teams are scrambling to free up cap space and determine which impending free agents are worth retaining and which they will let walk.

The AFC North had a pretty solid 2011 season as a whole, with all but one team in the division making the playoffs.

MikeFollowedByM: I'm at Quicken Loans Arena for Los Angeles Clippers vs. Cleveland Cavaliers w/ 26 others http://t.co/6tnfTmWc Source: twitter.com --- Wednesday, February 08, 2012MikeFollowedByM: I'm at Quicken Loans Arena for Los Angeles Clippers vs.

Certain NFL head coaches barely escaped being fired after subpar 2011 campaigns.

In what appears to be an annual feature now on Pro Football Focus, they reviewed the players on the teams in the AFC North in a feature called " Trending in the AFC North " . There were three categories for each team, including " Most Improved ," " Biggest Drop Off ," and " More Snaps Needed ." Last year, the players that filled those categories ... (more)

Every morning, grab a cup of coffee and get your AFC North wake-up call here: Steelers reserve tight end Weslye Saunders was suspended without pay for the first four games of the 2012 season for violating the NFL's policy on performance-enhancing substances, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review . His suspension begins Sept.