AFC East Preview
This division has been dominated by the Patriots for a long time and that isn’t going to change this year. The Patriots are still the odds-on favorite to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl. The Dolphins may finish second in the division by default because the Bills are in a major transition from the Rex Ryan/Doug Whaley era to the new Sean McDermott/Brandon Beane era and the Jets are a bad episode of The Walking Dead right now. Let’s take a closer look.
New England Patriots
As long as it’s Bill Belichick and Tom Brady leading the way this team remains the favorite in the AFC East. Even with the season ending injury to Julian Edelman Brady will make the offense work, he always does. They are better equipped to handle the loss of Edelman with Brandin Cooks, Chris Hogan and Malcolm Mitchell at WR than they are to handle the free agent defection of LeGarrette Blount. The additions of Rex Burkhead and Mike Gillislee are solid but neither one is the power back Blount was. Gillislee will hopefully handle the between the tackle pounding but he’s never been a workhorse back before. The offensive line was very good last year and if they can remain healthy that should be the case again.
The defense will be good even if no one knows the names of the guys the Patriots are running out there at DE. The defensive front is made up of a number of castoffs and no-names (with the exception of Malcolm Brown) but they will be fine. The addition of former Jets LB David Harris will be a steadying force next to Donta Hightower and free agent CB Stephon Gilmore really solidifies the secondary. Gilmore and Malcolm Butler are one of the better CB tandems in the NFL.
Miami Dolphins
Even with Jay Cutler taking the reins of the offense the Dolphins are still the second-best team in the AFC East. Cutler was a disaster overall in Chicago, especially at the end, but his best year was with Adam Gase as his offensive coordinator. The Dolphins offer Cutler a much better opportunity for success than he had most of the time in Chicago because they have plenty of talent to surround him with. RB Jay Ajayi, WRs Devante Parker, Jarvis Landry, Kenny Stills and TE Julius Thomas give him plenty of weapons and the offensive line made strides last season.
The defense is counting on rookie DE Charles Harris and trade acquisition Williams Hayes to help bring some pressure so that Cameron Wake isn’t the only guy chasing down QBs. The LB corps has been hit by a couple of season ending injuries to Koa Misi and rookie Raekwon McMillan so they will be counting on veterans Lawrence Timmons and Rey Maualuga to squeeze one more year out of their aging games. The secondary returns intact and they will wait to see if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
Buffalo Bills
The new Coach/GM tandem of Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane have made the decision to move on from many of the personnel decisions of the Ryan/Whaley regime and they are not wasting time. WR Sammy Watkins, CB Ronald Darby and LB Reggie Ragland are just a few of the bigger names they have already traded and they are collecting draft picks in 2018 like baseball cards. The Bills will have two picks in each of the first three rounds of the 2018 draft, if Beane is better at making those picks than Whaley was the Bills could turn around their fortunes pretty quickly. They are sticking with QB Tyrod Taylor for this year but I wouldn’t be surprised if they use some of that draft capital next year to get themselves a new franchise QB. They will rely heavily on RB LeSean McCoy this season as their passing game will be a work in progress with new WR Jordan Matthews just arriving in a trade and rookie Zay Jones being the next guy.
The Bills defense is in a state of flux as Sean McDermott comes from being the Panthers defensive coordinator and is looking to change things up. He is also looking to instill some discipline that was lacking in the Ryan era and that is causing friction with DT Marcel Dareus who is in McDermott’s doghouse at the moment. They are hoping to get something out of former 1st round pick DE Shaq Lawson or that may be another draft pick they move on from. The LB corps is less than spectacular and with the change from a 3-4 system to a 4-3 system the schematic fit of the players on the roster is a bit of a mess. The secondary is changing over as trade acquisition EJ Gaines and rookie Tre’Davious White look to take over a CB and free agent addition Micah Hyde steps in at safety. The Bills were going nowhere fast under Ryan/Whaley, at least now they have a new direction.
New York Jets
The “Suck for Sam” campaign is off and running. That’s the Jets race to the worst record in the NFL so they can draft Sam Darnold from USC next year to be their QB of the future. It could be for Josh Rosen or Josh Allen or Mason Rudolph or anyone else with half a pulse at QB, they won’t be picky. The trio of Josh McCown, Christian Hackenberg and Bryce Petty look like they are going to set offensive football back about four decades. The Jets offense is led by 31-year old RB Matt Forte or Bilal Powell who has never been a workhorse back. Their top WRs are Robby Anderson and the newly acquired Jermaine Kearse, don’t worry nobody knows who those guys are. The offensive line is made up of five guys that probably shouldn’t be starting for anyone in the NFL. This offense could be brutal this season.
The defense has some solid building blocks as a foundation for the future with defensive lineman Leonard Williams, LB Darron Lee and safety Jamal Adams. Unfortunately for them that’s only three of the 11 guys they have to play on defense. DE Muhammad Wilkerson, LB Demario Davis, CBs Morris Claiborne and Buster Skrine should all be in the prime of their careers but they will be wasting it on a team going nowhere. Young LBs Jordan Jenkins and Lorenzo Mauldin may have futures with this team and they are hopeful rookie safety Marcus Maye is a find. The defense could be okay this year but they are going to be on the field far too often to be effective.
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