NFL And Draft Class Breakdown: AFC East
Last one! Dalvin Cook is taking too long to pick a team in the east so we’re moving on without him. Let’s break it all down.
Buffalo
Let’s head up north to Buffalo.
QB - Josh Allen
RB - James Cook (hey James, tell your brother to pick a team so we can draft him in fantasy, thanks bud)
WRs - Stefon Diggs, Gabe Davis, Khail Shakir
TE - Dawson Knox
FB - Reggie Gilliam
OL - Dion Dawkins, Connor McGovern, Mitch Morse, Ryan Bates, Spencer Brown
Offensive rankings - 2nd overall, 7th passing, 7th rushing, 7th receiving
Sevens are wild and apparently that equals two. I was never taught that in math class. This might be another Abbott and Costello 13x7=28 situation. I’ll crunch some numbers and get back to you while our viewers under 50 Google what the heck I’m talking about. Anyway, at least they were consistent. Josh Allen is the best quarterback in this division so any team with him on it will have a significant advantage. I’m interested to see Shakir in an expanded role. He’s fast and finally gets an opportunity to start. It’s good they got the run game going but they need to lean heavily on their backs and less on Allen’s legs. They brought in some help from the draft, but not in the run game.
TE Dalton Kincaid, round 1, Utah
OG O’Cyrus Torrence, round 2, Florida
WR Justin Shorter, round 5, Florida
OG Nick Broeker, round 7, Ole Miss
The guards are depth should get in eventually, but those were picks for the future. Good call with the tight end. Reinforcements were needed there, but maybe not in the first round. With Shorter, we’ll see. Moving on.
DL - Greg Rousseau, Ed Oliver, DaQuan Jones, Von Miller
LBs - Leonard Floyd, Tyrel Dodson, Matt Milano
Secondary - Tre’Davious White, Kaiir Elam, Jordan Poyer, Micah Hyde
Defensive rankings - 6th overall, 15th against the pass, 5th against the run
Hopefully the secondary can stay healthy. They hit some speed bumps with that last year. Same story with Von Miller. He missed a lot of time, but with him back in the fold this defense is ten times better. Only two picks were made on defense.
LB Dorian Williams, round 3, Tulane
CB Alex Austin, round 7, Oregon State
Williams has a better chance than Austin as a rookie. Austin is likely heading to special teams duty for this year and the next.
New York
We move to the Jets.
QB - Aaron Rodgers
RB - Breece Hall
WRs - Garrett Wilson, Allen Lazard, Corey Davis
TE - Tyler Conklin
FB - Nich Bawden
OL - Billy Turner, Laken Tomlinson, Connor McGovern, Alijah Vera-Tucker, Max Mitchell
Offensive rankings - 25th overall, 15th passing, 26th rushing, 14th receiving
Those numbers will increase without question. Hall was on a heater until he tore his ACL. The passing game will heat up now that they have a QB who knows what he’s doing (finally). I don’t hate the tight end depth chart. I have seen worse for sure. But Jeremy Ruckert in year two should not be the third tight end. He was third round pick, meaning he was picked for a reason. Use him or trade him. Conklin and C.J Uzomah are not both better than him. Not by a long shot. To bolster the run game further, the Jets went to the draft.
C Joe Tippmann, round 2, Wisconsin
OT Carter Warren, round 4, Pitt
RB Israel Abanikanda, round 5, Pitt
TE Zack Kuntz, round 7, Old Dominion
There is age at the left tackle and center spot so those are candidates to replace them. The running back is a steal in round five. Abanikanda was an absolute force. Kuntz probably won’t go far. The Jets had a solid defensive unit last year, the offense just let them down.
DL - John Franklin-Meyers, Al Woods, Quinnen Williams, Carl Lawson
LBs - Jamien Sherwood, C.J Mosley, Quincy WIlliams
Secondary - Sauce Gardner, D.J Reed, Jordan Whitehead, Adrian Amos
Defensive rankings - 4th overall, 3rd against the pass, 16th against the run
Don’t change a thing in the secondary. Sauce Gardner is special. With a better offense, that will take the pressure off. I think the run defense will get better from that alone. Now for the draft picks.
Edge rusher Will McDonald, round 1, Iowa State
LB Zaire Barnes, round 6, Western Michigan
DB Jarrick Bernard-Converse, round 7, LSU
I’d like to see the first round pick higher up on the depth chart but I understand he needs to earn his stripes. Worst case scenario he’s one of the first guys off the bench as a rookie and then becomes a starter down the road. The other two are likely special teams players.
Miami
Moving on to the Dolphins.
QB - Tua Tagovailoa
RB - Raheem Mostert
WRs - Tyreek Hill. Jaylen Waddle, Cedrick Wilson
TE - Durham Smythe
FB - Alec Ingold
OL - Terron Armstead, Liam Eichenberg, Connor Williams, Robert Hunt, Austin Jackson
Offensive rankings - 6th overall, 4th passing, 25th rushing, 5th receiving
Not sure why this team can’t seem to find a real tight end. With the coaches coming over from San Francisco where they had George Kittle, you would think they would try to find his clone. It’s also odd for the same reason why the rushing totals were so low. Maybe just an off year in that department. With one of the best fullbacks in the league creating the running lanes and a steady stable of backs, this run game should easily be in the top ten. The Dolphins only had four draft picks, and three were spent on offense.
RB Devon Achane, round 3, Texas A&M
WR/TE Elijah Higgins, round 6, Stanford
OT Ryan Hayes, round 7, Michigan
Achane like other Aggie backs as of late have a good blend of speed and burst with a good punch to go with it. It just comes down to how often he’ll be used right off the hop. Jury is still out on the other two. Now for the defense.
DL - Christian Wilkins, Raekwon Davis, Emmaunel Ogbah
LBs - Jalen Phillips, David Long, Jerome Baker, Bradley Chubb
Secondary - Xavien Howard, Eli Apple, DeShon Elliot, Javon Holland
Defensive rankings - 18th overall, 27th against the pass, 4th against the run
Yikes, this pass defense is going to have to step up big time. Don’t change anything against the run. I don’t understand why more wasn’t done to revamp the secondary except for one draft pick.
CB Cam Smith, round 2, South Carolina
That’s it, that’s the list.
New England
The last team to talk about is the Patriots.
QB - Mac Jones
RB - Rhamondre Stevenson
WRs - JuJu Smith-Shuster, DeVante Parker, Tyquan Thornton
TE - Hunter Henry, Mike Gesicki
OL - Trent Brown, Cole Strange, David Andrews, Mike Onwenu, Riley Reiff
Offensive rankings - 26th overall, 20th passing, 24th rushing, 21st receiving
Well, say hello to the worst offensive personal group in the division. It’s not even close. This was really the best they can do? Come on man. This group of revivers does not inspire any confidence or strike fear in anyone. The Pats had 12 picks in the draft. No way they can mess this up right?
OG Jake Andrews, round 4, Troy
OG Sidy Sow, round 4, Eastern Michigan
OG Antonio Mafi, round 5, UCLA
WR Kayshon Boutte, round 6, LSU
WR Demario Douglas, round 6, Liberty
What on earth is this? The biggest needs on offense were offensive tackle and legit help at receiver. Three offensive linemen were drafted all of which are guards. Boutte is supposed to be a sleeper and Douglas is a speedster. But there were more talented players available way earlier in the draft and they passed on them. There is some optimism about the defense.
DL - Lawrence Guy, Davon Godchaux, Deatrich Wise Jr
LBs - Matthew Judon, Ja’Whaun Bentley, Jahlani Tavai, Josh Uche
Secondary - Jonathan Jones, Christian Gonzalez, Kyle Dugger, Jabrill Peppers
Defensive rankings - 8th overall, 16th against the pass, 6th against the run
New England’s defense isn’t in bad shape at all. This could be a lot worse. It’s smart to have Jalen Mills transition back to safety where he is more comfortable. He won’t start and that’s perfectly fine. In other news, old friend Trey Flowers is back. I’ll give the team some credit where it’s due, they are deep at every defensive spot and that was aided by draft picks.
CB Christian Gonzalez, round 1, Oregon
Edge rusher Keion White, round 2, Georgia Tech
LB/S Marte Mapu, round 3, Sacramento State
CB Ameer Speed, round 6, Michigan State
CB Isaiah Bolden, round 7, Jackson State
Again, not sure why they went defense in round one as opposed to a tackle. But the kid is supposed to be pretty good. Mapu is already shining in training camp. He is getting reps in all three quarterback rotations playing at linebacker, the slot, and free safety. There might be something here. It’s only fitting that we end talking about a typical Bill Belichick move, drafting two special teams players. Kicker Chad Ryland was taken in round four from Maryland, and punter Bryce Baringer was taken in round six from Michigan State. New England now has two kickers and two punters. The only team that has more on their roster is The Rockettes.
My Projection
It’s a three horse race in the division and the Patriots are not a part of it. Bills, Jets, Dolphins, and then the Patriots. At the end of the season, the only thing left to determine will be is Bill Belichick moving to the front office or retiring and turning things over to Jerod Mayo. Either way, it’s been one hell of a run that will never duplicated.
That’s it for the breakdowns for what could be the last time. Hopefully there will be a few more articles before we go on hiatus for a bit.