AFC East (Pre-draft) Preview

The 2026 AFC East promises to be so miserable that it’s currently impossible to see any upsets at all.

New England Patriots

A lot was made of the Patriots’ easy schedule in 2025, but one could argue that the Patriots would have made a playoff run anyway, given how poor the 2025 AFC was.

Drake Maye and Josh McDaniels seem to have a symbiotic working relationship and with five new additions to the defense Mike Vrabel’s guys should be prepared for a tougher 2026.

Romeo Doubs is a headline addition to Drake Maye’s offense. The 25-year-old faces a tough challenge to replace the 85 catches Stef Diggs managed in the 2025 regular season, though.

Doubs has never caught more than 59 balls in a regular season, but he should catch more touchdown passes than the four Diggs recorded last year. The former Nevada Wolf Pack receiver snagged three touchdowns in his last six games with the Packers.

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On the defensive side of the ball, Kevin Byard and Dre’Mont Jones are flashy free agent signings. Both veterans have had their injury struggles over the years, but when they’re healthy, they will add value to a unit that was already plenty valuable.

There’s a world where things all come tumbling down for the 2026 Patriots. Mac Jones had a stellar year in 2021 (10 wins and 22 touchdowns) but followed it up with an eight-win season. That involved coaching changes, though; the front office seems to have provided Maye with more stability this time.

It will be tough to win 14 games again this season, but Vrabel’s teams should return to the playoffs. And we all know the AFC playoffs are absolutely bonkers.

Buffalo Bills

If you love Joe Brady, then you think the Bills have had a phenomenal offseason. You’d be wrong. Promoting Brady and trading for D.J. Moore are great moves until you scratch below the surface.

Brady’s offense has worked in Buffalo because Josh Allen is the Victor Wembanyama of the NFL. There are guys as big as Allen in the NFL, and there are players as skilful as Allen, but there are no players as big as Allen who possess the same skillset.

A lot of that success involves Allen taking off and running when he doesn’t feel comfortable passing the ball. That’s not going to be a popular move when 29-year-old Moore is running routes and expecting passes.

In the two full seasons that Brady has been in charge, Buffalo’s offense has run the ball 49.3% of the time. Moore has experience lining up at running back as well as receiver, but he only averages 0.5 rushing attempts per game!

Brady hasn’t been particularly creative with his offense either; the 14 receiver runs he’s called equate to 0.7% of the plays he’s called. Moore and his fellow receivers are going to be doing a lot of run blocking.

Technically, Brady isn’t the offensive coordinator now, but his replacement, Pete Carmichael has only been a successful OC under Sean Payton (he also worked with Dennis Allen and that went terribly).

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On the defensive side of the ball the Bills have added C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Dee Alford and Geno Stone, who are all good players, but their problem in 2025 was disrupting quarterbacks. Adding three defensive backs won’t help that much.

The Bills have only added Bradley Chubb to address the pass rush issue and with five defensive linemen out of contract, that problem remains.

Maybe Joe Brady is the saviour of the Bills the Pegulas have been looking for, but that seems unlikely. Buffalo’s path to success will go as far as Josh Allen lays it.

Miami Dolphins

If the Jets weren’t a constant disaster zone, the Dolphins would be bottom of this list. Stephen Ross fired Mike McDaniel so he could hire John Harbaugh, but Harbaugh decided the New York Giants were a more attractive prospect.

Now the ‘Phins have a former Green Bay executive as GM and the former Green Bay defensive coordinator as head coach. New head coach, Jeff Hafley spent four years as Boston College head coach, ending with a 22–26 record.

Oh yeah, they also have a $99 million dead cap hit after cutting Tua and Tyreek Hill’s contract ran out, and they traded Jaylen Waddle away. But sur,e it’s all going fine in South Florida!

The Dolphins last played in the playoffs in 2020. It is going to take a miracle to get them back there in the next two seasons!

New York Jets

There were periods in 2025 when Aaron Glenn looked head coach material. And then there were periods where he was dancing down the sideline looking like a complete fool. Whether you like him or no,t he’s trying to turn around a team who have not made the playoffs in 24 years!

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This year, they’re going to try and do that with Geno Smith under centre and a defense that has six completely new starters.

Gang Green needs an exorcist, not a coach.