NFL 2016: Brady, Manning absences breathe life into AFC race

With the NFL season kicking off Thursday, we take a look at some of the biggest storylines in the AFC. 

Tomorrow, we will take a look at the NFC.

Life without Brady: Patriots vulnerable in AFC East?

Since 2003, the New England Patriots have won the AFC East every season except for one — when Tom Brady missed the entire 2008 season because of a knee injury. This year, Brady will miss the first four games of the season because of his off-again, on-again Deflategate suspension, giving the rest of the division to make hay while he's away.

Brady replacement Jimmy Garoppolo will face Arizona, Miami, Houston and Buffalo to start the season, four defences built to create tons of pressure on opposing quarterbacks. New England already fields a pretty thin roster — Brady and tight end Rob Gronkowski are the only true stars — and if early-season jitters hit Garoppolo, the Patriots could be behind the eight-ball when Brady returns in Week 5.

The Bills could be their biggest competition. Coach Rex Ryan has always had an affinity for trying to dethrone Brady and Bill Belichick, but this time he may have the quarterback to finally do it.

Tyrod Taylor was handed a brand-new contract in the off-season (six years, $92 million US) which essentially boils down to a one-year deal because 2016 is the only season with guaranteed money. Taylor will be plenty motivated to build on his success last season, especially since the contract will pay him $27 million in 2017 should Buffalo keep him.

Coupled with a strong defence and a star wide receiver in Sammy Watkins, Taylor and coach Ryan have as good an opportunity as ever to finally knock the Patriots off their high horse. And Taylor has a chance to make himself a lot of money.

Super Bowl hangover in Denver?

The Broncos won the Super Bowl with arguably the worst quarterbacking in the league.

Yes, Peyton Manning is a future Hall of Famer, but the Papa John's spokesperson was downright awful. He threw 17 interceptions and just nine touchdowns in 10 regular-season games. (Brock Osweiler started the other six.)

Instead, Denver rode its defence to a title. NFL.com ranked the 2015 Broncos as the third-best defence ever, but that performance will be hard to replicate. Malik Jackson skipped town to get paid in Jacksonville, DeMarcus Ware is a year older and Von Miller became the highest-paid defensive player in league history, which could quell some of his motivation.

With a defence that will almost certainly regress, fans will turn their attention to new starting quarterback Trevor Siemian. A seventh-round draft choice in 2015, Siemian was named the starter after beating out Mark Sanchez and first-round pick Paxton Lynch.

Everything right has been said about Siemian this off-season, but he's still an unproven commodity. The defence should be enough to push Denver into the playoffs, but there's no guarantee, especially with a division rival on the rise.

Perennial bottom-dwellers rising

The Oakland Raiders have not made the playoffs since 2002, failing to post a season above .500 since then. The Jacksonville Jaguars are in the same boat, having not made it to the playoffs since 2007 while also finishing no better than 8-8.

This could be the year that both teams' fortunes change.

The Raiders are stocked with a quarterback — 25-year-old Derek Carr — they finally believe in, as well as rising star wide receiver Amari Cooper and Khalil Mack, the linebacker poised to take over J.J. Watt's spot as the best defensive player in the league.

The black hole looks like a scary place again, and the Broncos, along with the rest of the AFC West, need to watch their backs.

In Florida, the Jaguars are almost a mirror image of Oakland. Third-year quarterback Blake Bortles showed flashes of strong play last year, Allen Robinson is one of the league's best receivers, and the defence added major pieces in Malik Jackson and draft picks Jalen Ramsey and Myles Jack. Dante Fowler, last year's third-overall pick, will also debut this season after a knee injury forced him to miss his rookie season.

If Bortles cuts down the turnovers (18 INTs in 2015) and the defence lives up to its talent and potential, the AFC may be looking at a new perennial powerhouse instead of a perpetual loser.

Bet on: Josh Gordon

The poster boy for NFL suspensions, Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon is finally ready to get back to his dominating ways.

He will be back in the lineup for Week 5 after serving a four-game suspension to begin the season, and could blow up with new quarterback Robert Griffin III commanding the Browns' offence.

In 2013, Gordon was suspended for the first two games of the season for violating the league's substance-abuse policy. He came back to make a laughingstock of defences, leading the NFL in receiving yards with 1,646 in only 14 games, while facing double-teams all year long.

Going into the 2014 season, his peers named him the 16th best player in the entire NFL.

However, between 2014 and 2015, Gordon was suspended for 27 of 32 games for drug violations.

This year he'll have first-rounder Corey Coleman flanking him to take some heat off, along with coach Hue Jackson running the offence. Jackson has proved to be an offensive wizard in the past, and even 12 games could be enough to put Gordon back in the conversation of the best receivers in the league.

Don't bet on: Joey Bosa

The third-overall pick in this year's draft didn't sign with the San Diego Chargers until Aug. 29, missing almost the entire off-season program.

It shouldn't come as a major surprise because the Chargers are notorious for draft problems, from the infamous bust that is Ryan Leaf to Eli Manning's refusal to play for San Diego after being drafted.

Whosever fault it was, Bosa and the Chargers squabbled over signing bonus payments, which created a huge rift between the two sides.

The Ohio State product is being counted on to fix a defence that ranked in the bottom-half of the league in most major categories, but expecting early production could be wishful thinking.

He's had barely any time to learn the defence, hasn't had an in-game snap yet, and is now dealing with what the Chargers are calling "tightness."

It's unclear when he'll be game ready, but Bosa is already in trouble heading into his rookie season.