Frenz of the Family: Must-Reads Around the AFC East, April 21 Edition

It may be the weekend, but NFL news and analysis knows no work hours. 

With the draft just days away, we continue to dissect it from every direction across the AFC East.

It's Saturday morning, so while you and the rest of the world wipe your collective hangovers clean with a nice, big breakfast, take a bit out of these AFC East links.

New England Patriots

B/R featured columnist Nicholas Goss writes that the Patriots should trade up for Alabama safety Mark Barron, which is interesting because Tom E. Curran of CSNne.com has said that if the Patriots are going to move up in the draft, it would be for Barron (in the video shown).

In non-draft-related news, the Patriots hosted three free-agent running backs for workouts on Friday: Joseph Addai, Tim Hightower and Ryan Grant. ESPN Boston's Mike Reiss has a look at the running back position, and points out that the Patriots could use to add some depth.

This was a topic on the PatsPropaganda & Frenz podcast this week before the workouts, and I said the Patriots should look to bring in veteran talent, pointing out the abundance of youth and lack of veterans (around the 10-minute mark).

New York Jets

This might be the biggest draft for Mike Tannenbaum as a GM. In fact, Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post says that the Jets are still riding the success of the Eric Mangini era, and that Tannenbaum hasn't proven much without him. Since then, the Jets have had 13 draft picks in the past three years. They have 10 in 2012.

One thing we know Tannenbaum will do is to finally put talent above need, according to Kimberly Martin of Newsday. Instead of going after the guy they want, they have to go after the guy that makes their football team better. There is a big difference.

Buffalo Bills

Our good friend Kerry Byrne of Cold Hard Football Facts has been giving the NFL a collective check-up in his "Naughty Nurse" series, and the Bills have been chronologically ill; with the full results in, Byrne suggests the Bills focus on defense heavily this offseason—while the offense was inconsistent, the defense was consistently bad.

Tim Graham of The Buffalo News caught up with ESPN's NFL scout Matt Williamson, and asked him about the Bills offseason and draft plan, and says that Michael Floyd is the best fit for the Dolphins at the No. 10 pick. He also likes Riley Reiff to an extent, but not as much as some other prospects. Both Williamson and Graham are in agreement that the Bills need to begin investing higher in the offensive tackle position. 

Miami Dolphins

We know that Jeff Ireland doesn't care what anyone else thinks about who he should draft, but James Walker of ESPN's AFC East blog says it won't matter (at least not in 2012), because the Dolphins aren't one draft way from having a good team.

Nonetheless, it's important for the Dolphins to get everyone on the same page, namely Cameron Wake. Aaron Nagler of the Go Route writes that Joe Philbin passed his first test as Dolphins head coach, a test he's familiar with handling from his time in Green Bay.

Around the League

Byrne gives us more facts, these pertaining to next year's schedule. His list of the top 10 best games next year includes five contests involving the AFC East; the spotlight will shine brighter on the division this year than any year in recent memory.