Patriots Division Rivals Update

The last we saw of all these teams, they were being handled fairly easily by the Patriots. The Bills lost a 41-25 laugher in Orchard Park in week 8, the Jets were blown out 41-3 in Foxboro on Christmas Day, and the Dolphins were dropped by a 35-14 score to close the regular season. We’re a week into free agency, and the Patriots have made some pretty big moves. They’ve made big splash after big splash. But while they’ve been doing this, what have the Patriots division rivals been up to – and what are they likely to do going forward?

The Miami Dolphins

The Fish were the best of the Patriots division rivals last year, going 10-6 and making the playoffs for the first time since 2008.

The biggest splash for the Dolphins was signing former Steelers linebacker Lawrence Timmons (pictured above) to a two year, $12 million contract. Timmons brings experience to a young defense that was 30th in the NFL against the run last season. He’s started every game going back to 2010, and has over 100 tackles in each of the past five seasons.

They cut Mario Williams. Williams sack totals had plummeted from 14.5 in 2014 to 1.5 in 2016. The move freed up $8.5 million. They also waived defensive tackle Earl Mitchell, saving another $4 million. Tight End Dion Sims signed a deal with the Chicago Bears.

They dealt tackle Brandon Albert to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a 7th round pick in 2018; and acquired tight end Julius Thomas from the Jags for a 2016 7th rounder. Thomas will be looking to get back to his Pro Bowl form in Denver. They also brought back former Dolphin Anthony Fasano.

They re-signed Kenny Stills to a 4-year, $32 million contract. Stills burned the Patriots for two touchdowns last year. They also re-upped defensive end Andre Branch.

Safety Nate Allen will try to regain the form that made him a five-year starter in Philadelphia. He spent the past two seasons in Oakland battling injuries.

Miami traded for Rams defensive end William Hayes. He averaged five sacks for the St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams since coming over from Tennessee in 2012.

Former Bear Ted Larsen will provide interior line depth. Larsen was the 6th round pick of New England in 2010, but he was claimed by Tampa Bay off waivers when the Patriots were trying to slip him to the practice squad.

The New York Jets

As usual, the Jets started the off-season over the salary cap. So, they started by letting Ryan Fitzpatrick go, saddling them with $5 million in dead money. Bringing Fitzpatrick back in the way that they did, and having it blow up for them over multiple seasons was a very Jets thing to do.

So for that matter, was the Darrelle Revis fiasco. Instant Karma caught up with the Patriots division rivals, and while cutting Revis saves the Jets $9.3 million against the cap – they’ll be on the hook for $6 million. They let go of popular center Nick Mangold, saving $3 million, and cut kicker longtime-kicker Nick Folk and cut a three-year starter in Malden High’s Breno Giacomini.

They waived leading-receiver Brandon Marshall. His production line of 109 catches, 1502 yards and 14 TDs in 2015 sank like a stone to 59 catches, 788 yards and 3 scores in 2016. Letting him go saved about $7.5 million. They also cut tackle Ryan Clady.

Gang Green resigned linebacker and special teamer Josh Martin and resigned linebacker Corey Lemonier (cut by BOTH the 2-14 49ers and the 1-15 Browns last year.) They also brought back long-snapper Tanner Purdum and kicker Chandler Catanzaro from Arizona to compete for the job vacated by Folk.

The Jets biggest move was inking Jaguars tackle Kelvin Beachum to a 3-year, $24 million deal to replace Clady. Beachum had a down year with the Jaguars, after missing 2015 with an ACL.

Getting Dont’a Hightower would have been a major coup. But cupcakes weren’t enough. As it is, the Jets are in full-on rebuilding mode… again. Right now they’ve got about as much cap space in 2017 as the Patriots do. So the big moves they’ll make going forward will likely revolve around the draft.

The Buffalo Bills

It just last season that Rex Ryan claimed to have “won the offseason.”

This off-season has been a bit quieter around Orchard Park. The Patriots division rivals from the shore of Lake Erie have a new head coach in Sean McDermott. The former Panthers defensive coordinator will try to do something that none of the previous eight Bills head coaches have done – make the playoffs. Thus far, it looks like job one is cleaning house from

The Bills went into this off-season with 24 free agents. Among them: new Patriot Stephon Gilmore, Reggie Bush, EJ Manuel, IK Empaneli, Lorenzo Alexander.

In addition; former Pats James Ighedibo, Brandon Tate, Brandon Spikes, and Sergio “Out of the Club” Brown. Here’s a shameless link to Gronkowski throwing Brown out of the club. It never gets old.

Percy Harvin, the NFL’s version of Sugar Ray Leonard, retired… again.

Thus far, they’ve resigned Alexander.

They cut kicker Dan Carpenter and safety Aaron Williams.

They signed former Seahawk Dan Hauschka. Picked up guard Vladimir Ducasse from the Ravens, defensive end Ryan Davis from the Cowboys, and two receivers – Jeremy Butler from the Chargers and Corey Brown from the Panthers.

They convinced Tyrod Taylor to take a $10 million pay cut.

They’ve still got $18 million under the cap to try to augment their team, but don’t look for them to be making any big moves. Like the Jets, they’re in rebuilding mode. Their best hope for fielding a competitive club in 2017 is that McDermott will be able to get the Bills to play with a discipline that the team sorely lacked under Ryan.

Outlook

There’s more than five months until the NFL season kicks off. We’re still a month out from the NFL draft, and so much can happen between now and then. Lower-profile free agents made the 2001 Patriots into champions.

But right now, things are looking pretty good for the Patriots.