In the National Football League, the first goal at the beginning of every league year is to win your division, and the first order of business is to make sure you have the resources to win your division. The Pittsburgh Steelers are in the AFC North, a division in which two teams made it to the postseason in 2015, while the other two have top-10 picks.
But division rivals don’t just compete with one another with helmets on. It’s a year-long process, during which every step of the way, from free agency to the draft, teams measure themselves up against the teams they know they’ll play at least twice that season.