AFC East Mailbag: Answering All Your Burning Questions for 2/10
The competition of the NFL season doesn't end when the final whistle blows on the Super Bowl.
It never ends.
It's a year-round battle between teams trying to earn the upper-hand through free agency, trades and the NFL draft. With the New England Patriots finishing out the season atop the AFC East and holding two picks in the first round of April's draft, they look in prime position to be a contender once again.
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But will they be?
I touch on this and more in this week's mailbag.
Wow...someone really wants the Patriots to get more explosive up front!
Mario Williams is an intriguing prospect for the Patriots. They could get more explosive up front and have some question marks at defensive end/rush outside linebacker with both the injured Andre Carter and Mark Anderson set to become free agents.
Bill Belichick has shown willingness to change his philosophy, both defensively and offensively, based on the personnel he has. If he likes what Williams has to offer, it wouldn't be out of the question.
In terms of the contract he would demand, which would likely make him the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL (roughly $18 to $20 million per year), the Patriots are close to having enough cap room to pull it off. That being said, don't be surprised if they don't. The Patriots haven't shown great willingness to make big free-agent splashes ever since the Adalius Thomas signing backfired.
Two pass-rushers with the first two picks? Bill Belichick has never drafted even one pass-rusher in the first round of any draft. If he takes two in one draft, he might send Twitter into a permanent state of "throttled."
Who is the biggest threat to the Patriots divisional crown?
Ready for a curve ball? It's not the Jets. I'm going with the Dolphins as the closest team to the New England Patriots in the AFC East.
They made big improvements on both sides of the ball in the second half of the season, especially defensively. I would attribute much of their early, season struggles to bad play at the quarterback position—Chad Henne was pretty much awful for them this year, just as advertised.
If the Dolphins can upgrade at quarterback (Peyton Manning, anyone?), they'll immediately become a contender. As it is, we all know how much the Patriots have struggled with solid defensive teams, and the Dolphins certainly are headed that direction. If they can keep improving, they might have a shot to dethrone the Patriots.
Before Jets fans get all upset, I simply think the Dolphins are in need of fewer pieces to become a contender and have more resources to get them. They have more cap space (more on that later) and a top-10 draft pick with which they need to find a safety, a quarterback and a right tackle.
The Jets have holes on defense at safety and outside linebacker, they need an upgrade at quarterback and at right tackle and could also use a receiver or two.
The Dolphins are just fewer pieces away from contention, in my opinion, than the Jets.
With the NFL salary cap staying relatively level, which team is in the best position to make an impact in free agency?
I'll tell you one thing for sure: It's certainly not the Jets. They currently sit about $4 million over the $120 million cap according to NYJetsCap.com.
The same website has the Patriots at around $30 million in cap space, but I've heard reports saying that number is closer to $20 million. Either way, it's enough to make at least one big-time free agent acquisition.
The Dolphins have some cap space to work with—roughly $12 million—but don't count out the possibility of the Dolphins reworking some deal to make more space should they want to land Peyton Manning.
The Bills have around $15 million in cap space, which isn't quite enough to go on a shopping spree, but gives them some wiggle room. The Bills will try to tend to in-house candidates for new contracts like Stevie Johnson, Scott Chandler and Fred Jackson before turning their attention to others, but they could make a move.
In summation: The Bills and Patriots could make moves. The Dolphins would have to renegotiate some deals to make for cap space. The Jets probably aren't in position to make many external free-agent acquisitions, if any, unless they do a massive roster rework type thing like they did last year when pursuing Nnamdi Asomugha.
You're absolutely right. The Patriots need someone who can put an end to the vanilla defensive game plan that shuts down the Patriots offense.
I don't want to regurgitate too many stats found by other people, but Brady isn't exactly one of the premiere downfield passers of his generation and even did more downfield passing from '03-'06 than '07-'11.
That being said, if the Patriots want to add talent at receiver, a good name to look at is Brandon Lloyd. Brady typically does his best work with veteran receivers who can come in, quickly learn the offense and get on the same page with Brady.
Patriots fans may not want to hear the "window is closing for Tom Brady" talk, but at 34 years old, it's hard to ignore at this stage.
Lloyd stated before Josh McDaniels was brought in as New England's offensive coordinator that he wanted to follow McDaniels where ever he ended up. Now that McDaniels has come home again in New England, perhaps Lloyd will follow suit.
Actively? I don't think they can. If they were, it would be in violation of tampering rules in the NFL which prevent teams from talking to players who are under contract with another team.
Should they be, even if it were OK to do so? I'm not convinced. The Jets have a big hole at right tackle;they don't have any real offensive firepower in the passing game aside from Dustin Keller and Santonio Holmes.
They are also a cold-weather team. Do you really think Manning wants to finish out his career playing in the snow at MetLife Stadium in December and January?
Even if he did, the Jets don't have the cap space to make the move work.
If you have a question for the AFC East Mailbag, hit me up on Twitter @ErikFrenz. All questions will be answered, guaranteed!
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