The Patriots captured 11 consecutive AFC East division crowns from 2009 to 2019 prior to the Bills’ current four-year streak. However, some better luck from the injury gods could realistically feature two legit competitors for Buffalo’s crown heading into 2024.

Below is a breakdown of every AFC East team’s top three needs this offseason when taking into consideration the 2023 performance of those position units, 2024 salary cap allocation, and more.

  • Key free agents are unrestricted unless otherwise indicated and are listed in no particular order.
  • 2024 draft picks don’t include projected compensatory selections.
  • Special thanks to Over The Cap for the salary cap and contract information.

For more divisional breakdowns on team needs, see below!

Buffalo Bills

Wide Receiver

The Bills join the Buccaneers as the only two teams in the NFL that haven’t used a single Day 1 or Day 2 pick on a WR over the past five drafts.

Obviously, Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs have provided plenty of fireworks through the air. The Bills have also utilized their TEs, and more recently their RBs as well, heavily in the passing game.

Still, there hasn't been a reliable secondary option since John Brown and Cole Beasley got old. Gabe Davis is fine, but his boom-or-bust nature hasn’t led to much consistent production over the years, and reports seem to be hinting at the possibility that his free-agent market could be much larger than expected.

This isn’t a cry that Allen needs more help, but a little more help certainly wouldn't hurt. Fantasy Life’s Matthew Freedman has the Bills filling this need in the form of LSU WR BrIan Thomas Jr. in his first 2024 mock draft. Yay!

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Safety

Both Micah Hyde and Taylor Rapp are unrestricted free agents, and longtime backbone Jordan Poyer turns 33 years old in April. That's not exactly ideal for a depth chart that otherwise only boasts Damar Hamlin, who only played 30 total defensive snaps during the 2023 season.

The Bills have ranked second, 16th, first, second, and fourth in scoring defense over the past five years thanks in large part to their ability to limit big plays. In fact, Buffalo (11.9%) and San Francisco (11.4%) have been the only two defenses to allow an explosive pass play rate under 12% over the past five seasons.

I'm not an NFL GM, but failing to fortify the back end of the defense this offseason could have a hugely detrimental impact to the Bills’ continued success on defense. Buffalo hasn't used a Day 1 or Day 2 pick on a safety since Aaron Williams back in 2011, and even he was a bit of a CB/S tweener. The Bills desperately need an injection of youth to their secondary regardless of whether or not they bring back Hyde and/or Rapp in free agency.

Defensive Line

Both DT DaQuan Jones and EDGE Leonard Floyd are hitting the open market, and losing either would be a fairly significant loss.

Jones isn't a spring chicken at 32 years old, but he was awfully effective in 2023 after joining the team last offseason, having earned the 17th-highest defensive grade (79.2) among 120 qualifying interior defenders per Pro Football Focus (PFF).

Floyd had a team-high 10.5 sacks in his debut season with the Bills and racked up the third-most pressures (41) on the team. While his underlying pass rush efficiency numbers aren’t the best, Floyd joined Myles Garrett and Haason Reddick as the only three defenders with at least nine sacks in each of the past four seasons.

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Nov 19, 2023; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Buffalo Bills defensive end Leonard Floyd (56) prepares to sack New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson (2) in the second quarter at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports

That's not all. In addition to Floyd, interior defensive linemen Jordan Phillips, Tim Settle, Linval Joseph, and Poona Ford are also all unrestricted free agents, which is far from ideal.

And then there’s Von Miller, who'll turn 35 years old in March. He produced zero sacks in 14 games last season and ranked 111th in pass rush win rate (6.4%) among 129 qualifying EDGE defenders. Miller's six-year, $120 million contract isn't looking like such a good decision these days, as it'll be tough for the Bills to release him prior to the 2025 season without leaving $17 million in dead money on the table.

Honorable mentions

The Bills never seemed to fully trust James Cook in short-yardage situations in 2023, so it wouldn't be too surprising if they looked into adding a veteran or late-round rookie RB this offseason even if they part ways with Damien Harris, Latavius Murray, and/or Ty Johnson.

Buffalo also has the league's second-most expensive CB room entering 2024 already, so there won't be much (any) money for them to make serious upgrades. That should be fine if everyone stays healthy, but backups Dane Jackson and Cam Lewis are both free agents, and starters Rasul Douglas (30 in August) and Tre'Davious White (30 next January) are both getting up there in age.

Miami Dolphins

Offensive Line

PFF ranked the Dolphins’ offensive line as their ninth-best unit last season despite nearly all of their big uglies having suffered an injury at one point or another.

Still, there's a chance that the group's performance in keeping Tua Tagovailoa mostly upright was at least a bit aided by Mike McDaniel's scheme. After all, Miami allowed a league-low 24.6% pressure rate, and their 2.37-second average time to pressure was tied for the third-fastest mark in the league.

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Jan 13, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Miami Dolphins guard Robert Jones (65) and offensive tackle Terron Armstead (72) at the line of scrimmage against the Kansas City Chiefs in a 2024 AFC wild card game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Better luck from the injury gods would certainly go a long way. That said, free agents RG Robert Hunt and C Connor Williams have started a lot of games for the Dolphins, and backup OT Kendall Lamm provided meaningful depth for a group headlined by LT Terron Armstead (33 in July).

The Dolphins have the fifth-fewest 2024 dollars devoted to their offensive line as a whole, and it’d be a lot cooler for Tua if that were to change in a meaningful way between now and September.

Safety

Both safeties DeShon Elliott and BranDon Jones are hitting the open market, which could leave the Dolphins as the NFL's only team with less than $3 million devoted to their safeties heading into 2024. Whoever ends up starting at safety for Miami will have help, though, as their cornerbacks are the most expensive group in the league, and for good reason given how well they've played.

Still, it’s tough to rationalize completely ignoring safety heading into next season. Perhaps new defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver, who came from Baltimore, can help this group achieve more than what Vic Fangio managed last season, but that’s going to be hard to do without a bigger investment on the back end.

Defensive Line

Potentially losing unrestricted free agents Christian Wilkins and Andrew Van Ginkel would suck. Potentially having stud EDGE Bradley Chubb (ACL in January) and Jaelan Phillips (Achilles) out for the beginning of the season is even worse.

Bringing back these impact players and getting some help from the injury gods would certainly fill this need in a hurry, as the Dolphins posted the NFL's third-highest pressure rate (41.5%) last season despite not making it a habit to bring extra blitzers.

Still, Wilkins will probably require a pricey franchise tag if a long-term deal doesn’t come to fruition, which could leave little money left to secure Van Ginkel, who deserves credit for having posted the position's ninth-highest pressure rate (17.5%) and having performed admirably down the stretch in 2023.

Honorable mentions

The potential loss of backup WRs Cedrick Wilson Jr., Braxton Berrios, Chase Claypool, River Cracraft and Robbie Chosen would leave Miami thin at WR behind Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, but most of the passing game simply flows through their top-two WRs anyway.

Either way, Fantasy Life’s Matthew Freedman has the Dolphins filling this less-pressing need in the form of Washington WR Rome Odunze in his first 2024 mock draft.

New York Jets

Offensive Tackle

The Jets are currently a bottom-10 team in project 2024 spend on the offensive line, which is a problem given that they ranked as the second-worst offensive line in football this past season. Of course, injuries played a major factor, as stud OL Alijah Vera-Tucker has played just 12 total games over the last two years.

Regardless, this group was rough when it came to both pass and run blocking last season:

  • Pressure rate allowed: 40.2% (27th)
  • PFF pass blocking grade: 48.4 (30th)
  • Rush yards before contact per attempt: 1.8 (T-18th)
  • PFF run-blocking grade: 53.7 (27th)

The Jets were one of just five teams that graded bottom-10 in both run and pass blocking last season. Not great!

Plus, reports surrounding Mekhi Becton’s chances of getting a franchise tag or long-term deal in New York don’t exactly seem optimistic to put it mildly. Meanwhile, Duane Brown will turn 39 years old next August.

Failure to bring back either OL would almost necessitate the Jets using at least one of their two top-75 picks on the position. Accordingly, Fantasy Life’s Matthew Freedman has the Jets filling this need in the form of Penn State OT Olumuyiwa Fashanu in his first 2024 mock draft.

Wide Receiver

Garrett Wilson is an absolute stud, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. The second-year WR earned ESPN’s fifth-highest mark in open score in 2023, so it's a travesty that Wilson didn’t see more catchable passes.

Behind Wilson…sheesh. Only the Giants had a worse overall PFF receiving grade than the Jets last season, as Allen Lazard (23-311-1) was the only Jets WR other than Wilson to clear the 250-yard mark on the season. Xavier Gipson flashed every so often, but the second-year undrafted free agent is far better off as a complementary WR4/WR5 than a reliable WR2/3.

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October 29, 2023; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets wide receiver Allen Lazard (10) runs with the ball before being stopped by New York Giants cornerback Adoree' Jackson (22) in the fourth quarter. Photo Credit: Kevin R. Wexler - The Record / USA TODAY NETWORK

It was truly a one-man passing game for the Jets last season. Only four WRs posted a weighted opportunity rating (WOPR) at least 75% in 2023:

Ideally, the Jets will look to both the draft and free agency to add talent behind Wilson without giving a certain QB too much say in bringing back his old friends.

Safety

The potential departure of Jordan Whitehead and Chuck Clark, both unrestricted free agents this offseason, could leave the Jets with the league’s sixth-fewest 2024 dollars devoted to the safety position. Backup Ashtyn Davis is also on the open market, which could leave New York very thin in the secondary despite a solid CB room.

It’s tough to be too nitpicky about this Jets defense, as they ranked third in overall EPA allowed per play behind only the Browns and Ravens last year. Still, ignoring the safety position could have adverse effects to the defense overall even with their front seven's top-tier ability to create pressure.

Honorable mentions

A backup QB should also be a priority after last season’s disaster with Aaron Rodgers. Reinforcements on the defensive line are needed as well, as guys like Carl Lawson, Solomon Thomas, Bryce Huff, Quinton Jefferson, and Al Woods are all unrestricted free agents this offseason.

And while Breece Hall is obviously a stud and should be the Jets' featured back moving forward, the team’s decision to sign Dalvin Cook and experiment with various backups could indicate that there’s a desire to find a reliable 1B in some sort of committee backfield moving forward.

New England Patriots

Quarterback

There were 41 QBs with at least 200 dropbacks in 2023, and PFF’s two lowest-graded passers were Mac Jones (52.2) and Bailey Zappe (51.1). Yikes!

Feel free to blame Bill O’Brien or the ghost of Matt Patricia all you want, but there were essentially no signs of life last year for the league’s second-worst scoring offense. The Patriots’ 74.1% catchable pass rate was also the fourth-lowest in the NFL.

Fantasy Life’s Matthew Freedman has the Patriots filling this need in the form of LSU's Heisman-winning QB, Jayden Daniels, in his first 2024 mock draft. That sounds good to me!

Skill-Position Playmaker

Both starting TEs from 2023, Hunter Henry and Mike Gesicki, are unrestricted free agents this offseason, as are WR Kendrick Bourne and RB Ezekiel Elliott.

New England desperately needs reinforcements everywhere on offense, as they have no real playmakers outside of perhaps Rhamondre Stevenson.

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Oct 22, 2023; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New England Patriots wide receiver Demario Douglas (81) stretches with the ball while getting tackled by Buffalo Bills cornerback Christian Benford (47) during the second half at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

Look, I like Demario Douglas, as he and Packers WR Dontayvion Wicks were the only two rookie WRs in 2023 with strong underlying efficiency numbers despite middling stats.

But even so, c’mon man. The Patriots' front office hasn’t drafted a game-changing WR in 15 years at this point, and that needs to change to help whoever will be starting for them at QB in 2024.

The amount of Patriots fans replying to that tweet with “at least they got Pop Douglas right” is depressingly hilarious.

There are no true certainties for what's arguably the league’s most barren offense right now heading into next season. Without Tom Brady to prop up a weak supporting cast, New England needs an extreme makeover at virtually every offensive skill position. Luckily, the Patriots have plenty of money to spend along with a fair amount of draft capital to invest this offseason. Hopefully, they can make it happen.

Offensive Tackle

Trent Brown, Riley Reiff, and Michael Onwenu are all unrestricted free agents, which could downgrade what was already PFF's 20th-ranked offensive line in 2023.

New England has backup options like Conor McDermott, Calvin Anderson, and Vederian Lowe waiting in the wings, but that's not saying much. As of now, the Patriots join only the Raiders and Seahawks when it comes to the lowest projected 2024 spend on the offensive line.

That's concerning considering that their offensive line ranked 20th in yards before contact per carry (1.1) and 18th in pressure rate allowed (35.6%) last season. New England needs to do more than just maintain the status quo this offseason. The offensive line needs major improvements to help whoever is under center come Week 1, especially when their three AFC East rivals all ranked top-10 in pressure rate last year.

Honorable mentions

You probably noticed that the Patriots’ exclusive focus is their offense, and that's because they had the league’s eighth-best defense in EPA allowed per play in 2023. Still, the secondary could need some help, as key contributors like S Kyle Dugger, CB Myles Bryant, and CB Jalen Mills are all free agents this offseason.

The pass rush could also use some upgrades, as New England wasn't able to get consistent pressure on opposing QBs in 2023 despite having sent extra blitzers at an above-average rate. Overall, PFF gave the Patriots the league’s third-worst team pass rush grade last year.

Team Needs