Buffalo Bills
2016 Record: 8-8 (3rd in AFC East)
Head Coach: Rex Ryan (2nd season)
Notable Additions: ILB Zach Brown, RB Reggie Bush, S Robert Blanton
Notable Departures: DE Mario Williams, WR Percy Harvin (retired), OLB Nigel Bradham
Offense:
In a bizarre plot twist, the Bills offense ended up being the team's strength in widely-renowned defensive guru's Rex Ryan's 1st season with the team. The Bills finished 2015 ranked 12th in points per game, 13th in total offense and 1st in rushing offense, despite having their 3 best players (quarterback Tyrod Taylor, running back LeSean McCoy and wide receiver Sammy Watkins) all miss multiple games with injury.
Whether or not the Bills offense can continue to grow in 2016 lies squarely on the shoulders of Taylor. The 27-year old quarterback, who spent his first 4 seasons in the NFL with the Baltimore Ravens as a backup for Joe Flacco, surprised a lot of people in the pro football community with his efficiency (5 INT, 63.7 CMP%), poise under pressure and deadly accurate deep ball in his 1st year as a starter. The team clearly has confidence in Taylor as evidenced by the contract extension they gave last Friday and based on what he showed last season, I firmly believe he has all of the physical and mental tools to be a legitimate franchise quarterback in the NFL. If Taylor can clean up his issues with holding onto the ball for too long and express more confidence in his abilities to use his top-notch speed to escape the pocket when a play breaks down , he should be able to take his game to the next level in 2016.
Any chance Taylor has of progressing this season could potentially end up being derailed by the murkiness surrounding the durability and possible production levels of the offense's other top contributors. McCoy didn't have the impact the organization wanted or expected him to have after acquiring him in a trade with the Eagles before the start of free agency last season. The 4-time Pro Bowl running back sustained numerous minor-to-mild injuries last season (strained hamstring, sprained MCL) and his constantly dinged-up status led to a relatively underwhelming season (1,187 scrimmage yards, 5 TD). Given his age (28) and history of lingering, soft-tissue injuries, it's completely reasonable to think McCoy's play will further decline in 2016. Luckily for the Bills, they have a good enough offensive line and the depth at the position (Karlos Williams, Reggie Bush, Mike Gillislee) to still have a productive running game if McCoy goes down or straight-up flounders this season.
The wide receiver situation is much more concerning. Watkins has looked like every bit of the top wideout he was pegged to be when he came out of Clemson in his NFL career thus far, but he's been constantly banged-up throughout his first 2 years in the league and is just 4 months removed from surgery to repair a broken foot he suffered in the offseason.
If Watkins goes down, the Bills don't appear to have anyone that will be able to make up for his absence. Robert Woods isn't dynamic or reliable enough to be anything more than a 3rd-receving option, rookie Kolby Listenable is a complete mystery at this point in time and the rest of the guys they have (Greg Salas, Greg Little, Leonard Hankerson) are among the biggest laughing stocks in the league at the position. The Bills better pray for Watkins's health because simply can't afford to lose for a sustained period of time this season.
Defense:
After three years of being considered one of the league's premier units, the Bills defense massively regressed in 2015. Outside of a select few players (defensive tackle Marcell Dareus, defensive Jerry Hughes, cornerbacks Stephon Gilmore and Ronald Darby), the core of the Bills defense was mediocre and had a hard time adjusting to Ryan's scheme. As a result of their generally poor play, they plummeted down the defensive ranking list after their highly impressive 2014 campaign, going from 1st to finished 31st in the league in sacks, 3rd to 19th in pass defense and 11th to 16th in rush defense.
While the suddenly limp pass-rush and downgrade in secondary talent outside of their starting outside corners didn't help matters, their horrific linebacker play was the driving force behind their failure as a unit last season. Ryan's defense requires strong, two-way linebacker play to thrive and with the porous play of Preston Brown and the now-retired A.J, Tarpley, they just didn't have that in any capacity last season. If the Bills defense wants to return to the upper echelon of the league in 2016, they're going to have to fix those problems as soon as humanly possible.
Those bounceback efforts took a huge blow when 2nd-round pick and projected starting inside linebacker Reggie Ragland tore his ACL in a training camp on August 5th. With the very promising Ragland out of the picture, free-agent pickup Zach Brown and incumbent starter Preston Brown are now going to be left with the major responsibility of being the 2 guys that aid or derail this unit's comeback attempt. Zach Brown is a decent albeit completely unspectacular player who picked up a fair amount of starting experience (29 starts in 4 seasons) during his tenure with the Titans while Preston Brown is going to have work extremely hard to get back to the level of play he displayed during his rookie season after his disastrous 2015 campaign. It's far from an ideal combo to stick at such a pivotal position in the middle of a defense that's trying to return to form after a rough season, but Brown Squared (trademark pending) are capable of being a solid inside linebacking duo.
The one area where the Bills defense seems poised to improve is in their secondary. Gilmore is entering a contract year and is pretty much bound to play his ass off so he can get a Josh Norman/Richard Sherman-level deal while Darby is in a position to build off his excellent rookie season and prove that he can take over as the team's top corner if Gilmore leaves in free agency after this season. The safety position is a little bit shakier, but the return of solid veteran safety Aaron Williams after missing all but 2 games in 2015 with a neck injury and a year of starting experience for converted slot corner Corey Graham should sure things up after an up-and-down year for the position a year ago.
After three years of being considered one of the league's premier units, the Bills defense massively regressed in 2015. Outside of a select few players (defensive tackle Marcell Dareus, defensive Jerry Hughes, cornerbacks Stephon Gilmore and Ronald Darby), the core of the Bills defense was mediocre and had a hard time adjusting to Ryan's scheme. As a result of their generally poor play, they plummeted down the defensive ranking list after their highly impressive 2014 campaign, going from 1st to finished 31st in the league in sacks, 3rd to 19th in pass defense and 11th to 16th in rush defense.
While the suddenly limp pass-rush and downgrade in secondary talent outside of their starting outside corners didn't help matters, their horrific linebacker play was the driving force behind their failure as a unit last season. Ryan's defense requires strong, two-way linebacker play to thrive and with the porous play of Preston Brown and the now-retired A.J, Tarpley, they just didn't have that in any capacity last season. If the Bills defense wants to return to the upper echelon of the league in 2016, they're going to have to fix those problems as soon as humanly possible.
Those bounceback efforts took a huge blow when 2nd-round pick and projected starting inside linebacker Reggie Ragland tore his ACL in a training camp on August 5th. With the very promising Ragland out of the picture, free-agent pickup Zach Brown and incumbent starter Preston Brown are now going to be left with the major responsibility of being the 2 guys that aid or derail this unit's comeback attempt. Zach Brown is a decent albeit completely unspectacular player who picked up a fair amount of starting experience (29 starts in 4 seasons) during his tenure with the Titans while Preston Brown is going to have work extremely hard to get back to the level of play he displayed during his rookie season after his disastrous 2015 campaign. It's far from an ideal combo to stick at such a pivotal position in the middle of a defense that's trying to return to form after a rough season, but Brown Squared (trademark pending) are capable of being a solid inside linebacking duo.
The one area where the Bills defense seems poised to improve is in their secondary. Gilmore is entering a contract year and is pretty much bound to play his ass off so he can get a Josh Norman/Richard Sherman-level deal while Darby is in a position to build off his excellent rookie season and prove that he can take over as the team's top corner if Gilmore leaves in free agency after this season. The safety position is a little bit shakier, but the return of solid veteran safety Aaron Williams after missing all but 2 games in 2015 with a neck injury and a year of starting experience for converted slot corner Corey Graham should sure things up after an up-and-down year for the position a year ago.
Bottom Line:
If their defense can return to form, offense can continue to make strides and Ryan can keep the team disciplined, the Bills should be able to improve on their 8-8 2015 campaign.
If their defense can return to form, offense can continue to make strides and Ryan can keep the team disciplined, the Bills should be able to improve on their 8-8 2015 campaign.
Miami Dolphins
2016 Record: 6-10 (4th in AFC East)
Head Coach: Adam Gase (1st season)
Notable Additions: DE Mario Williams, RB Arian Foster, CB Byron Maxwell
Notable Departures: DE Olivier Vernon, RB Lamar Miller, CB Brent Grimes
Offense:
After enjoying next-to-no success under the last offensive "guru" they hired (Joe Philbin) as a head coach, the Dolphins decided to bring in another one in former Broncos and Bears offensive coordinator Adam Gase. Gase was the architect of the record-breaking 2013 Broncos offense and his track record of getting the most out of his quarterbacks is proven and very impressive. Gase clearly still has to prove if he has the management skills or proper temperament to be a successful head coach, but he's one of the sharpest offensive minds in the league right now and is easily the most promising head coaching hire the Dolphins have made since at least Dave Wansteadt.
With the exception of having a projected starting unning back in Arian Foster that may or may not be dead and an offensive line that is arguably the worst in the league, Gase has inherited a pretty talented albeit somewhat inconsistent group that could blossom into one of the league's best offenses with the right coaching. Jarvis Landry is one of the best young wideouts in the league and his proficiency in the short passing game make him a perfect fit in Gase's scheme, 2nd-year wide receiver DeVante Parker came on strong late last year after being hampered with a foot injury for the first half of the season and despite breaking his pattern of year-to-year improvement with a mediocre 2015 season, Ryan Tannehill is a talented young quarterback with major upside that can light up an opposing defense any given week. It's going to very interesting to see if Gase can stabilize this unit and establish a level of consistency that alluded Philbin and his staff for the past 4 seasons.
Defense:
I don't know if it's because the football gods frown upon the people of Miami or they just hate how the undefeated 1972 team conducted themselves after they made history, but The Dolphins front office seems to have some kind of unprecedented hex on it. The team's last 3 general managers (Randy Muller, Jeff Ireland, Dennis Hickey) have been responsible for some of the worst big money free agent signings (safety Gibril Wilson, wide receiver Mike Wallace, inside linebacker Dannell Ellerbe) and horrible draft choices (Ted Ginn Jr., Dion Jordan, Pat White) of the past decade. The roster moves made by their recent general managers have been backbreaking and are the main reason the team hasn't been to the playoffs since they took out the Tom Brady-less Patriots for the AFC East crown in 2008.
History repeated itself as the Dolphins tapped their longtime college scouting director Chris Grier to replace Hickey as their general manager. Promoting a man who has played an integral part in the continued failure of your franchise pretty much confirms that Stephen Ross is one of the dumbest owners in the league.
Grier didn't waste anytime royally fucking things up by making a series of head-scratching decisions that basically destroyed the Dolphins defense. He kicked things off before free agency even officially started by acquiring the huge contract of cornerback Byron Maxwell, who spent last season being prominently featured in the highlight tapes of all of the WR's who burned his ass and oft-injured inside linebacker Kiko Alonso from the Eagles. To make the deal even sweeter, the 1st-draft picks they exchanged (the Dolphins received the 13th overall pick and the Eagles received the 8th pick, which they eventually used as part of the deal with the Browns to move up and select quarterback Carson Wentz 2nd overall) in the deal ended up being used to select tackle and gas-mask enthusiast Laremy Tunsil. I'm not a gambling man, but I'd be willing to wager that the history books will show that Eagles general manager Howie Roseman committed one of the greatest salary-dump trades of all-time.
The fun continued when Grier suddenly took the transition tag off of 26-year old defensive end Olivier Vernon to sign 32-year old Mario Williams, who is coming off of the worst season of his career with the Bills and puts another toxic presence into one of the most unstable locker rooms in the league.
To recap, the Dolphins cut ties with the aging, but still productive Brent Grimes so they could get a guy who spent all of 2015 getting crushed by number one wideouts in Philly to be their new top corner and replaced the heir to Cameron Wake's pass-rushing throne for a hothead that's 2 or 3 years away from retiring. Most competent fantasy football players could concoct a better rebuilding plan than Grier did this offseason. I honestly feel bad for guys like Reshad Jones and Ndamukong Suh- who are among the best players in the league at their respective positions- because despite their best efforts, the front office's inability to bring in enough quality talent to fill out a defense basically renders their contributions useless.
Bottom Line:
Poor personnel decisions and massive gaps at several key positions on both sides of the ball have put the Dolphins in the same clusterfuck they find themselves in every year.
Offense:
After enjoying next-to-no success under the last offensive "guru" they hired (Joe Philbin) as a head coach, the Dolphins decided to bring in another one in former Broncos and Bears offensive coordinator Adam Gase. Gase was the architect of the record-breaking 2013 Broncos offense and his track record of getting the most out of his quarterbacks is proven and very impressive. Gase clearly still has to prove if he has the management skills or proper temperament to be a successful head coach, but he's one of the sharpest offensive minds in the league right now and is easily the most promising head coaching hire the Dolphins have made since at least Dave Wansteadt.
With the exception of having a projected starting unning back in Arian Foster that may or may not be dead and an offensive line that is arguably the worst in the league, Gase has inherited a pretty talented albeit somewhat inconsistent group that could blossom into one of the league's best offenses with the right coaching. Jarvis Landry is one of the best young wideouts in the league and his proficiency in the short passing game make him a perfect fit in Gase's scheme, 2nd-year wide receiver DeVante Parker came on strong late last year after being hampered with a foot injury for the first half of the season and despite breaking his pattern of year-to-year improvement with a mediocre 2015 season, Ryan Tannehill is a talented young quarterback with major upside that can light up an opposing defense any given week. It's going to very interesting to see if Gase can stabilize this unit and establish a level of consistency that alluded Philbin and his staff for the past 4 seasons.
Defense:
I don't know if it's because the football gods frown upon the people of Miami or they just hate how the undefeated 1972 team conducted themselves after they made history, but The Dolphins front office seems to have some kind of unprecedented hex on it. The team's last 3 general managers (Randy Muller, Jeff Ireland, Dennis Hickey) have been responsible for some of the worst big money free agent signings (safety Gibril Wilson, wide receiver Mike Wallace, inside linebacker Dannell Ellerbe) and horrible draft choices (Ted Ginn Jr., Dion Jordan, Pat White) of the past decade. The roster moves made by their recent general managers have been backbreaking and are the main reason the team hasn't been to the playoffs since they took out the Tom Brady-less Patriots for the AFC East crown in 2008.
History repeated itself as the Dolphins tapped their longtime college scouting director Chris Grier to replace Hickey as their general manager. Promoting a man who has played an integral part in the continued failure of your franchise pretty much confirms that Stephen Ross is one of the dumbest owners in the league.
Grier didn't waste anytime royally fucking things up by making a series of head-scratching decisions that basically destroyed the Dolphins defense. He kicked things off before free agency even officially started by acquiring the huge contract of cornerback Byron Maxwell, who spent last season being prominently featured in the highlight tapes of all of the WR's who burned his ass and oft-injured inside linebacker Kiko Alonso from the Eagles. To make the deal even sweeter, the 1st-draft picks they exchanged (the Dolphins received the 13th overall pick and the Eagles received the 8th pick, which they eventually used as part of the deal with the Browns to move up and select quarterback Carson Wentz 2nd overall) in the deal ended up being used to select tackle and gas-mask enthusiast Laremy Tunsil. I'm not a gambling man, but I'd be willing to wager that the history books will show that Eagles general manager Howie Roseman committed one of the greatest salary-dump trades of all-time.
The fun continued when Grier suddenly took the transition tag off of 26-year old defensive end Olivier Vernon to sign 32-year old Mario Williams, who is coming off of the worst season of his career with the Bills and puts another toxic presence into one of the most unstable locker rooms in the league.
To recap, the Dolphins cut ties with the aging, but still productive Brent Grimes so they could get a guy who spent all of 2015 getting crushed by number one wideouts in Philly to be their new top corner and replaced the heir to Cameron Wake's pass-rushing throne for a hothead that's 2 or 3 years away from retiring. Most competent fantasy football players could concoct a better rebuilding plan than Grier did this offseason. I honestly feel bad for guys like Reshad Jones and Ndamukong Suh- who are among the best players in the league at their respective positions- because despite their best efforts, the front office's inability to bring in enough quality talent to fill out a defense basically renders their contributions useless.
Bottom Line:
Poor personnel decisions and massive gaps at several key positions on both sides of the ball have put the Dolphins in the same clusterfuck they find themselves in every year.
New England Patriots
2016 Record: 11-5 (1st in AFC East)
Head Coach: Bill Belichick (17th season)
Notable Additions: TE Martellus Bennett, DT Terrence Knighton, DE Chris Long
Notable Departures: DE Chandler Jones, WR Brandon LaFell, DT Dominique Easley
Offense:
The nearly 2-year power struggle between the NFL and Tom Brady over the Deflatgate "scandal" has finally (?) come to a close as Brady has agreed to stop his appeal process and accept the 4-game suspension that was handed down by the league in May 2015. With Brady's suspension now official, all eyes turn to 3rd-year quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to start the season. Garoppolo hasn't been particularly impressive is in his limited amount of regular season snaps, but he has the advantage of facing a soft 4-game schedule with 3 home games against teams (The Miami Dolphins, Houston Texans and Buffalo Bills) that are far less talented than the Patriots and having a veteran team that should be even hungrier than usual to win out of the gate. I'd be legitimately shocked if they were any worse than 2-2 when Brady returns to the fold for their Week 5 contest against the Cleveland Browns.
Aside from Brady's suspension and the addition of a potential weapon in former Bears tight end Martellus Bennett to the fold, it'll be pretty much be business as usual for the Patriots offense this season. It's honestly boring to talk about the Patriots offense because it's pretty much a given that they're going to put up a shitload of points and display the same strengths (short passing, redzone efficiency, Rob Gronkowski ruining the lives of defenses on a weekly basis) and weaknesses (running the ball, wide receiver depth, Julian Edelman's douchey social media presence) that they do every single year. Having a predictable, one-dimensional offense doesn't usually pay in the NFL, but the Patriots have been able cement their legacy as the dominant franchise of the 2000's and 2010's because of it and barring an unforeseen meltdown, it should continue to work for them in 2016.
The only serious cause for concern this group has is their offensive line. Anyone that watched this team last season knows that their offensive line was one of the worst in the league and got absolutely destroyed by any defense with a decent amount of firepower upfront (I'm still blown away by just how badly the Broncos manhandled them in the AFC Championship Game). The return of longtime offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia after a 2-year retirement is being viewed as a cure for all of their woes upfront by the fans and local media, but as great of a coach he is, fixing this trainwreck of an offensive line ahead of this season is the tallest order he's ever faced in his 4+ decade coaching career.
Tackles Nate Solder and Sebastian Vollmer have rapidly regressed over the past few seasons and the interior line is a logjam full of raw, young players that have struggled to adjust to the NFL that only managed to get more even more crowded in the offseason with the additions of 2013 1st round pick/monumental draft bust Jonathan Cooper and rookie Joe Thuney to the fold. There's not a starter locked down at any of the inside 3 positions at this point in time, but whatever combo of Cooper, Thuney, Shaq Mason, Tre' Jackson, Josh Kline, Bryan Stork and David Andrews they end up with going is unlikely establish the level of continuity and competence the team and fansbase is striving for. If this offensive line can't improve from their horrendous showing last season, the Patriots heavily-hyped Deflategate "revenge tour"/"Drive for 5" will fall short for a 2nd straight season.
Defense:
The Patriots front seven suffered a huge and unexpected loss when Belichick decided to trade Chandler Jones to the Cardinals this offseason. Jones's departure was pretty much inevitable after his widely publicized synthetic marijuana incident during last year's playoffs, but losing a player of his caliber a year before he was set to hit free agency is hard to swallow.
With Jones gone, there's no one on this roster outside of the highly underrated Jabbal Sheard who is a serious threat to get to the quarterback on a regular basis off the edge. Age has drained Rob Ninkovich of the burst he once possessed, Free-agent pickup Chris Long's production has nosedived in the past few seasons due to injuries and age, and 2nd-year player Trey Flowers-who looked excellent in the team's preseason opener last Thursday against the Saints-has never played a snap in the regular season. The Patriots certainly have a big enough rotation to keep defenses on their toes, but I don't think they'll come anywhere near the impressive 49 sack (2rd highest in the league) mark they put up in 2015 without Jones in the fold.
The speculation of who's going to step up and attempt to fill the huge void left by Jones in the pass-rushing department has garnered most of the defensive headlines for the Patriots, but I don't believe that this is the area they should be most worried about. For the second consecutive season, the biggest question marks on the Patriots defense lie within the secondary, particularly with the play of starting corners Malcolm Butler and Logan Ryan. Butler and Ryan both greatly exceeded expectations with their impressive play in 2015, but they have yet to prove they can handle being long-term starters in this league. Corners in the Belichick-era have a terrible track record of performing well in back-to-back seasons and despite their level of productivity on the whole, there were times last seasons where they both got absolutely ruined. This is a make-or-break season for both of the Patriots starting corners and their success or failure could go a long way in dictating the quality of this defense in 2016.
The glue that should ultimately hold this talented yet unsettled defense together is their frightening linebacker combo of Jamie Collins and Dont'a Hightower. As great as safety Devin McCourty has been throughout his 6 years with the team, Collins and Hightower are the most impactful and dynamic players the Patriots have on the defensive side of the ball. Their freakish athleticism and two-way abilities sets the tone for the entire defense and without them, the entire unit becomes pretty pedestrian (as evidenced by the problems that arose when they were both sidelined with injury late last season). Collins and Hightower are both fully healthy again for the first time since late October last yaear and heading into the final year of their rookie contracts, so I wouldn't be surprised if both of them put up their best numbers to-date.
The Patriots front seven suffered a huge and unexpected loss when Belichick decided to trade Chandler Jones to the Cardinals this offseason. Jones's departure was pretty much inevitable after his widely publicized synthetic marijuana incident during last year's playoffs, but losing a player of his caliber a year before he was set to hit free agency is hard to swallow.
With Jones gone, there's no one on this roster outside of the highly underrated Jabbal Sheard who is a serious threat to get to the quarterback on a regular basis off the edge. Age has drained Rob Ninkovich of the burst he once possessed, Free-agent pickup Chris Long's production has nosedived in the past few seasons due to injuries and age, and 2nd-year player Trey Flowers-who looked excellent in the team's preseason opener last Thursday against the Saints-has never played a snap in the regular season. The Patriots certainly have a big enough rotation to keep defenses on their toes, but I don't think they'll come anywhere near the impressive 49 sack (2rd highest in the league) mark they put up in 2015 without Jones in the fold.
The speculation of who's going to step up and attempt to fill the huge void left by Jones in the pass-rushing department has garnered most of the defensive headlines for the Patriots, but I don't believe that this is the area they should be most worried about. For the second consecutive season, the biggest question marks on the Patriots defense lie within the secondary, particularly with the play of starting corners Malcolm Butler and Logan Ryan. Butler and Ryan both greatly exceeded expectations with their impressive play in 2015, but they have yet to prove they can handle being long-term starters in this league. Corners in the Belichick-era have a terrible track record of performing well in back-to-back seasons and despite their level of productivity on the whole, there were times last seasons where they both got absolutely ruined. This is a make-or-break season for both of the Patriots starting corners and their success or failure could go a long way in dictating the quality of this defense in 2016.
The glue that should ultimately hold this talented yet unsettled defense together is their frightening linebacker combo of Jamie Collins and Dont'a Hightower. As great as safety Devin McCourty has been throughout his 6 years with the team, Collins and Hightower are the most impactful and dynamic players the Patriots have on the defensive side of the ball. Their freakish athleticism and two-way abilities sets the tone for the entire defense and without them, the entire unit becomes pretty pedestrian (as evidenced by the problems that arose when they were both sidelined with injury late last season). Collins and Hightower are both fully healthy again for the first time since late October last yaear and heading into the final year of their rookie contracts, so I wouldn't be surprised if both of them put up their best numbers to-date.
Bottom Line:
Barring a sudden regression from Brady or a major injury to Gronkowski, the Patriots should cruise to another AFC East title and once again be in the thick of the AFC title hunt.
Barring a sudden regression from Brady or a major injury to Gronkowski, the Patriots should cruise to another AFC East title and once again be in the thick of the AFC title hunt.
New York Jets
2016 Record: 10-6 (2nd in AFC East)
Head Coach: Todd Bowles (2nd season)
Notable Additions: RB Matt Forte, T Ryan Clady, DE Jarvis Jenkins
Notable Departures: DT Damon Harrison, RB Chris Ivory, T D'Brickashaw Ferguson (retired)
Offense:
After nearly 5 months of living in fear of the prospect of having Geno Smith under center for the 2016 season, Jets Nation took a collective sigh of relief when Ryan Fitzpatrick re-signed with the team on July 27th. I'm surprised crazed Jets fans didn't try to kiss him or stroke his beard when he first took the field at training camp.
This is a sentence that I never thought I would write after watching get ousted from the Titans and Texans in consecutive seasons, but the Jets NEEDED Fitzpatrick to come back if they wanted any chance of being successful in 2016. With an aging corps driven by wide receiver Brandon Marshall (turned 32 in March) and newly-acquired running back Matt Forte (turns 31 in December), the Jets are in win-now mode and Fitzpatrick was the only quarterback available on the open market or in the draft this offseason that was capable of bringing them to the playoffs in 2016. I think it's a longshot that he matches or tops the numbers he put up during his career-best 2015 campaign, but the plethora of weapons he has surrounding him paired with excellent understanding of offensive coordinator Chan Gailey's system gives him a great shot of having another productive season this year.
The Jets were mostly able to keep the band back together for another run at a playoff, but the retirement of D'Brickashaw Ferguson could prove to be a significant blow to this entire unit. While there's no denying that Ferguson's play had slipped a bit over the past few seasons, he was the type reliable and durable (he didn't miss a single game in his 10-year career) presence at left tackle that every team strives to have on their roster. Ironically, the Jets traded for ex-Broncos tackle Ryan Clady, who has missed 2 of the last 3 seasons with a Lisfranc injury and a torn ACL, to replace him as Fitzpatrick's blind-side protector. Clady is one of the best left tackles to enter the league in the past decade, but his recent injuries have broken him down to the point where he's a shell of his former self and it's far from a guarantee that he won't go down with yet another serious injury this season. The lack of a stable presence at left tackle could send a ripple effect through the entire offensive line and send a unit that was already below-average tailspinning into a spot alongside their divisionmates in Miami and New England at the bottom of the NFL offensive line hierarchy.
After nearly 5 months of living in fear of the prospect of having Geno Smith under center for the 2016 season, Jets Nation took a collective sigh of relief when Ryan Fitzpatrick re-signed with the team on July 27th. I'm surprised crazed Jets fans didn't try to kiss him or stroke his beard when he first took the field at training camp.
This is a sentence that I never thought I would write after watching get ousted from the Titans and Texans in consecutive seasons, but the Jets NEEDED Fitzpatrick to come back if they wanted any chance of being successful in 2016. With an aging corps driven by wide receiver Brandon Marshall (turned 32 in March) and newly-acquired running back Matt Forte (turns 31 in December), the Jets are in win-now mode and Fitzpatrick was the only quarterback available on the open market or in the draft this offseason that was capable of bringing them to the playoffs in 2016. I think it's a longshot that he matches or tops the numbers he put up during his career-best 2015 campaign, but the plethora of weapons he has surrounding him paired with excellent understanding of offensive coordinator Chan Gailey's system gives him a great shot of having another productive season this year.
The Jets were mostly able to keep the band back together for another run at a playoff, but the retirement of D'Brickashaw Ferguson could prove to be a significant blow to this entire unit. While there's no denying that Ferguson's play had slipped a bit over the past few seasons, he was the type reliable and durable (he didn't miss a single game in his 10-year career) presence at left tackle that every team strives to have on their roster. Ironically, the Jets traded for ex-Broncos tackle Ryan Clady, who has missed 2 of the last 3 seasons with a Lisfranc injury and a torn ACL, to replace him as Fitzpatrick's blind-side protector. Clady is one of the best left tackles to enter the league in the past decade, but his recent injuries have broken him down to the point where he's a shell of his former self and it's far from a guarantee that he won't go down with yet another serious injury this season. The lack of a stable presence at left tackle could send a ripple effect through the entire offensive line and send a unit that was already below-average tailspinning into a spot alongside their divisionmates in Miami and New England at the bottom of the NFL offensive line hierarchy.
Defense:
The Jets were put in the rough spot of being a cash-strapped team with 2 key pieces of their top-notch defensive front (defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson and defensive tackle Damon "Snacks" Harrison) hitting free agency in the same year. The Jets chose to pay Wilkerson over Harrison -who ironically signed with the Giants-giving him a hefty 5 year/$86 million with $53.5 mil in guaranteed money. Losing a dominant run-stuffer like Harrison certainly hurts, but ex-Steelers nose tackle Steve McClendon and 2nd-year standout Leonard Williams should be able to fill the void the departure of Snacks left in the middle of the line and finding someone with his skill set is not as difficult as finding a player with Wilkerson's versatility and strength on the edge of the defense. The combination of Wilkerson, Williams, McClendon and Sheldon Richardson should be more than enough to allow the Jets front to continue to perform at a high level in 2016.
Where the defensive front appears to be set to repeat the success they had in 2015, the Jets secondary could be line for a huge drop-off. This unit was easily the weak spot of the Jets impressive defense, finishing a respectable albeit not spectacular 13th in the league. If the all of the potential issues within their unit materialize, they'll be lucky to finish in the middle of the league again. Darrelle Revis started to show signs of his decline at the very end of last season and the wrist surgery he got in the offseason only reaffirms the notion the end may be near for the future Hall-of-Fame cornerback while the release of the admittedly over-the hill Antonio Cromartie forces the wildly inconsistent Buster Skrine into a starting, outside corner spot and grand-scale 2013 draft bust Dee Milliner into the slot corner spot (barring he doesn't suffer a injury) previously occupied by Skrine. On paper, this corner group seems like a fucking nightmare scenario for a team that's trying to get back to the playoffs.
Their safety situation isn't nearly as bleak with Marcus Gilchrist coming off of a breakout, borederline Pro Bowl season and Calvin Pryor making huge strides in his sophomore season after being switched back to his natural position of strong safety following a disastrous experiment at free safety in his rookie year, but regardless of how well they play in 2016, I don't see a situation where they could gloss over the potential issues in the rest of the secondary. If Revis can continue to play at the level we've grown accustomed throughout his illustrious career, they'll be fine. If he doesn't, this secondary is a prime candidate to be one of the most vulnerable in the league.
The Jets were put in the rough spot of being a cash-strapped team with 2 key pieces of their top-notch defensive front (defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson and defensive tackle Damon "Snacks" Harrison) hitting free agency in the same year. The Jets chose to pay Wilkerson over Harrison -who ironically signed with the Giants-giving him a hefty 5 year/$86 million with $53.5 mil in guaranteed money. Losing a dominant run-stuffer like Harrison certainly hurts, but ex-Steelers nose tackle Steve McClendon and 2nd-year standout Leonard Williams should be able to fill the void the departure of Snacks left in the middle of the line and finding someone with his skill set is not as difficult as finding a player with Wilkerson's versatility and strength on the edge of the defense. The combination of Wilkerson, Williams, McClendon and Sheldon Richardson should be more than enough to allow the Jets front to continue to perform at a high level in 2016.
Where the defensive front appears to be set to repeat the success they had in 2015, the Jets secondary could be line for a huge drop-off. This unit was easily the weak spot of the Jets impressive defense, finishing a respectable albeit not spectacular 13th in the league. If the all of the potential issues within their unit materialize, they'll be lucky to finish in the middle of the league again. Darrelle Revis started to show signs of his decline at the very end of last season and the wrist surgery he got in the offseason only reaffirms the notion the end may be near for the future Hall-of-Fame cornerback while the release of the admittedly over-the hill Antonio Cromartie forces the wildly inconsistent Buster Skrine into a starting, outside corner spot and grand-scale 2013 draft bust Dee Milliner into the slot corner spot (barring he doesn't suffer a injury) previously occupied by Skrine. On paper, this corner group seems like a fucking nightmare scenario for a team that's trying to get back to the playoffs.
Their safety situation isn't nearly as bleak with Marcus Gilchrist coming off of a breakout, borederline Pro Bowl season and Calvin Pryor making huge strides in his sophomore season after being switched back to his natural position of strong safety following a disastrous experiment at free safety in his rookie year, but regardless of how well they play in 2016, I don't see a situation where they could gloss over the potential issues in the rest of the secondary. If Revis can continue to play at the level we've grown accustomed throughout his illustrious career, they'll be fine. If he doesn't, this secondary is a prime candidate to be one of the most vulnerable in the league.
Bottom Line:
The Jets are a near-mirror image of the team they were a year ago and I believe the 2016 season will result in the same heartbreaking, narrow miss of a wild card spot.
Projected Standings:
1.New England Patriots (11-5)
2.New York Jets (9-7)
3.Buffalo Bills (9-7)
4.Miami Dolphins (5-11)
Projected Standings:
1.New England Patriots (11-5)
2.New York Jets (9-7)
3.Buffalo Bills (9-7)
4.Miami Dolphins (5-11)
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