(Photo: NFL Draft Buzz)
1. Buffalo Bills: Since 2020, they have dominated this division and have won it the last four years. At one time, that streak looked to be coming to an end last season as they had a tough stretch of games where they were very inconsistent. One week they’d look sharp and the next week they’d struggle. The Bills sat at 6-6 after 12 games last year and were ninth in the AFC playoff race at one point. What saved their season was a huge win on the road in Kansas City against the Chiefs and after that, they won out not only to get into the playoffs, but they won the division once again and were the two seed in the AFC. Unfortunately, the Bills fell short in the postseason to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs for the third time in four seasons. This off-season, Buffalo traded Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans and drafted Keon Coleman from Florida State as his replacement. If you want to get anywhere in this division, this is who you must defeat and take down.
2. Miami Dolphins: They came out of the gates firing on all cylinders in 2023. The offense was explosive and getting whatever they wanted. In week three against the Denver Broncos, they hung up 70 on them in a 50-point blowout. To be honest, I was never sold on the Dolphins as a football team and I say that because they beat the teams they were supposed to beat which I can respect, but they struggled against the quality opponents in the league with losses against the Kansas City Chiefs (twice), Buffalo (twice) and the Ravens blew them out in week 17 last year. To be considered a contender, you have to be able to prove you can beat contenders and they haven’t done that just yet. Their season ended in frigid Kansas City against the eventual Super Bowl Champion, Kansas City Chiefs. The talent is there. Tyreek Hill makes this offense go, they extended Jaylen Waddle and they also signed Odell Beckham Jr to a one-year deal.
3. New York Jets: All the hype was there for them. It truly felt like 2008 all over again as the Jets made a deal to acquire a Quarterback from the Green Bay Packers. In 2008, they traded for Brett Favre and in April last year, they acquired Aaron Rodgers. Then came the first game of the year and after four plays, Aaron gets hurt and is done for the year with a torn Achilles. 2023 was another long season for this football team. Now, Aaron is back, but remember, he’s 40 years old coming off a major injury, and hasn’t played a complete, yet competitive football game since the 2022 season, outside of Garrett Wilson, there’s no other receiver that scares me and the Offensive Line still has question marks. It doesn’t matter who you have under center, if he isn’t protected, he can’t do anything in the pocket. The Jets will go as far as the health of Aaron Rodgers takes them.
4. New England Patriots: It’s officially a new chapter for this franchise. Bill Belichick and the Patriots agreed to part ways after last season and promoted Jerod Mayo to Head Coach. Believe it or not, Jerod never left the franchise. He was drafted by them in 2008, rejoined the team as a coach in 2019 and now, he’s the Head Coach. The Patriots traded away Mac Jones to the Jacksonville Jaguars and the minute that happened, I immediately knew what they were targeting in the draft and that’s a Quarterback. That first pick ended up being Drake Maye out of North Carolina at three. They struggled so much last year due to inconsistent offense. Tom Brady left the Patriots in 2020 and Belichick is now gone. Be thankful that we were able to see 20 years of dominance with this franchise at one point. All teams rebuild and this is their time to do just that.
2024 Predictions
1. Bills (11-6)
2. Dolphins (10-7)
3. Jets (9-8)
4. Patriots (4-13)
I’m picking the Buffalo Bills to win the division. The Patriots are rebuilding as I mentioned, which version of the Dolphins shows up? And, can the Jets fix their Offensive Line woes? Buffalo still has Josh Allen at the end of the day which keeps them in games and competitive. I understand they lost both Diggs and Gabe Davis, but I expect Joe Brady to build this offense around James Cook until Josh is on the same page furthermore with his new group of receivers.The defense will receive a boost with the return of Matt Milano and I expect Terrel Bernard to be a force for this group in 2024. They’ve done this year after year and that’s win their division, then struggle to advance in the playoffs. Since the 2020 season, the Bills haven’t advanced past the divisional round of the postseason. They made the AFC Championship game in 2020 and haven’t been back since. Three of their four playoff losses have come to the Chiefs and they also fell short to the Bengals one year. If the Bills don’t at least sniff the AFC title game this year, I could see them parting ways with Sean McDermott.
