Last year around this same time I wrote about the teams in the AFC East, and how they all stacked up against one another looking ahead down the seemingly endless road to the regular season.
It’s a fun exercise to go through, and it really gets you out of the ‘Jets-Bubble’ most of our opinions are formed inside of, forcing you too re-evaluate strengths and weaknesses of the roster when you realise what the wider picture of the NFL is.
Ranking The Rosters
Using the current team rosters on Our Lads my, extraordinarily subjective, view on how the AFC East rosters stack up, ranked with a point score (1 - best, 4 - worst) to give an overall roster score.
Given recent history across the league, depth at a position is a big deciding factor between the rankings as well as the quality of the starters.
After espousing stepping out of you Jet’s bias this may seem … biased? But hear me out. The reality of how close some of the 1s and 2s are is extremely close, but because of ho the Jets compare to their nearest rivals the overall result doesn’t change much.
Mini-Rant
WR for the Jets is a thin group behind the starters, but similar to the OL problem in 2023, the WR situation across the AFC East (outside of Miami) is utter cheeks. The Bills WR room is so disgusting, just reading it gave me scabies. The Patriots may not have a great situation, but I honestly don’t know what the fuck is going on in Buffalo. I get the cap situation and the personality issues that led to Diggs walking, but what have they been doing the last few years in putting some talent around Allen?
Bills fans are probably living in a “maybe we’re the Chiefs” cope-verse right now, but this is Jets 2018 level bad. I don’t know how you let your window slam closed this hard but saddling Allen with such a shit-show. We slammed them for years for ignoring the RB position and leaving Allen to carry that load, but now he’s left throwing to very good TEs and utterly no-one on the outside.
Keon Coleman best be the second-coming because otherwise we’re going to see the dark-side of Allen’s tendencies to force the ball, and try to create miracles but with no outlet to make it happen.
By Position
Quarterback:
Jets win this one easily for me. Not just in terms of the starter, but what’s behind him this year. Josh Allen is a top-tier QB who is a true rival for Rodgers but Mitch Trubisky isn’t going to light the world on fire if he goes down. I’m just not in on Tua at all, and Drake Maye is TBC.
Wide receiver:
I’ve said it already but I hate the Bills WR situation, and I hate it more than NE who really worked to address the position in the Draft. The Dolphins are clearly the best group in the league in terms of starters and in terms of depth. The Jets have a really good situation though which they could still improve on before the season starts.
Tight End:
Finally a position the Bills are the best at. This will help offset some of the issues at WR, but not close to enough. Jets have Conklin and lots of meh (still not a reason to draft Bowers.) The Dolphins stink at TE, and I don’t think they care. The Pats have a steady-eddie room with good starters and good depth.
Running Back:
Okay. Hear me out. Breece is the best RB in the entire Conference … but then what? The Jets have 3 unknowns sitting behind him, which is why I lowkey don’t like how they approached the position. I’d have much preferred them bringing in a known quantity like Kareem Hunt to sit with Breece and a rookie, and this feels like one of those things the Jets do (like the backup QB in 2023) that could sink their entire year.
Dolphins easily win this one for me with Mostert and Achane the main backs, and Jaylen Wright fits what they want to do perfectly. The Pats here are another really stalwart example with Stevenson and Gibson. The Bills have Cook who was … fine … last year, but like the Jets I don’t know what they do if he gets injured or regresses.
Offensive Line:
Outside of the Jets who really transformed their line this off-season, the AFC East doesn't excite me in this area. It was one of the weaker across the league last year and mostly stayed that way this season.
The only reason Buffalo rose above the others for me is their rookies give them an interesting unknown edge. The Dolphins just got a lot worse in the off-season, so Tua best be getting that ball out fast this season.
Defensive Line:
I split the interior and edge groups because the teams across the division play a split of 3-4, 4-3 fronts so they need looking at slightly differently.
This is one of those areas I gave the Jets the edge too probably completely due to bias. Outside of the Pats who I genuinely think are the worst at both elements, the other 3 teams are pretty close and I could make an argument for each to be top of the list.
The Jets have such an incredible starting group here that I had to put them top despite the argument that their depth has taken a hit this off-season.
The Dolphins I could make an argument for their outside edge players being the better group. but interior wise they just aren’t it.
I think Buffalo will be overall solid on the defensive line but aren’t going to excite anyone.
Linebackers:
Not going to spend much time on this one. The Jets win hands down.
The Bills are super deep but less talented overall. The Dolphins and the Pats are both so ‘meh’ I just flipped a coin to decide who to rank last.
Corner:
Dolphins fans would fucking hate this. But convince me who is good on their roster outside of Ramsey and Kohou. Jets corners are better; accept it.
The Patriots were the surprise for me when I looked at the rosters. Everyone is pretty shakey in the division outside of their starters but I really like the room the Pats have built up with the Jones’s and Gonzalez starting they could be a sneaky candidate for one of the strongest in the league.
Buffalo … great, you traded for Rasul Douglas … then what? Did you fall asleep?
Safety:
Miami win this one easily for me. The Bills and Jets were close, and even looking at it now I feel like I’m overly hard on NE making them last, and maybe it should be the Jets taking the rear position on this one.
The AFC East could actually be one of the top Safety collections in the league if all the players play to expectation.
Special Teams:
I shouldn’t need to explain to any Jets fan why we’re winning this one. Thomas Morstead alone would make this the best group in the division.
Expectations
It may seem horrendously biased of me, but with the slide the Bills’s roster has taken, the descent of the Patriots these last few year, and the lack of faith I have in Tua as a QB1, I don’t think it’s unrealistic to expect the Jets to win 5-6 games in the AFC East this season.
The Jets’s defence has had Josh Allen’s number so far so baring other events I don’t think they can beat the Jets.
Unless Drake Maye explodes into the NFL I think the Pats win very few games again this year nevermind against this Jets team.
Miami are the real challenge and I do expect the Jets to split with them in 2024, just because it’s hard to discount how explosive their offence can be.
If the Jets can take 5 games out of their Divisional match ups there’s really no reason they shouldn’t be taking the AFC East title to break the endless playoff drought.