During the month of August, the Last Word On Sports NFL department will be breaking down every division in the league by position. This article contains a position-by-position breakdown of the AFC East defenses. The breakdown will contain “the best” at each unit followed by “the rest” in descending order. Without further ado, the 2018 AFC East breakdown of the defensive, special teams, and coaching groups.
2018 AFC East Breakdown: The Offense
2018 AFC East Breakdown by Position: Defense & Special Teams
Defensive Line
The Best: Miami Dolphins
The Rest: New England Patriots, New York Jets, Buffalo Bills
The Dolphins lost Ndamukong Suh, but they retained Cameron Wake. Wake is going to be an anchor along that defensive front and is going to remain a nightmare for opposing offensive lines. The man has only had one season in his thirties without racking up double-digit sacks. Suh has been replaced by Jordan Phillips, who has both undeniable talent and unenviable inconsistency.
The Patriots are very close behind the Dolphins, if not tied for first. In the week two preseason game against the Philadelphia Eagles, the rebuilt Patriots defensive line looked nearly unstoppable. Adrian Clayborn may very well be seeing a resurgence in his career after a career highlight game with the Atlanta Falcons against the Dallas Cowboys last year. Danny Shelton looks like he might live up to the first-round draft pick the Cleveland Browns used on him. Deatrich Wise Jr. has gained speed and muscle since last season, when he tied Myles Garrett and Derek Barnett for most quarterback pressures among rookie defensive ends. And Derek Rivers is finally healthy enough to get back on the field, and he has shown nothing but drive and solid leverage this preseason.
Pro Football Focus ranks the Jets defensive line as the worst in the league headed into the 2018 season. Leonard Williams could easily have a terrific year if only the other members of the line held up their ends of the deal. Henry Anderson, Steve McLendon, and Nathan Shepherd are all in the mix for the defensive line, but that combination doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in the Jets defensive front.
Trent Murphy and Jerry Hughes are going to be huge along the defensive line for Buffalo, but Star Lotulelei is not going to be the savior that Buffalo would like him to be. In five years, Lotuleilei has never hit the 25 pressures mark in a single season. There’s little reason to believe he’ll be anything but a body for the Bills defensive line this year. Still, Kyle Williams returns to the Buffalo defensive line (barring a nagging injury), and Williams is a force to be reckoned with. Shaq Lawson will be entering his second year in Buffalo as a rotational counterpart to Lorenzo Alexander. Lawson is yet another player in the AFC East that hasn’t lived up to his draft position.
Linebacker
The Best: New England Patriots
The Rest: New York Jets/Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins
Dont’a Hightower is a force, and Dont’a Hightower is back. The man can shut down a run game, he can make tackles like no one’s business, and he’s essentially unblockable in the A-gap. And let’s not overlook how well Kyle Van Noy did in Hightower’s absence last year. The Patriots linebacking corps is no slouch, even if it is lacking a little in depth. Rookie Ja’Whaun Bentley gave hints in the Patriots second preseason game that he, too, might be a hefty contributor on defense. Marquis Flowers also performed admirably on defense last year as injuries piled up around the defense, and his presence on the depth chart this year shouldn’t be overlooked.
Lorenzo Alexander is going to be the core of the linebacking corps in Buffalo, and rightly so. Although he declined a little bit in 2017, Alexander is a leader in that group and deserves to be the Bills highest-paid linebacker. Tremaine Edmunds is an intriguing newcomer to the Bills group. Coming out of the 2018 NFL Draft, Edmunds is a prototype player with a fantastic career tape. And before anyone writes off Edmunds as too young to be worth much, head coach Sean McDermott coached both Luke Kuechly and Thomas Davis, and look at what those guys have done.
Jordan Jenkins and Avery Williamson aren’t terrible players by many metrics and are the most likely starting linebackers in New York. Unfortunately for the Jets, Williamson is no Demario Davis, so there’s going to be expected drop-off there. Jenkins has established himself as a rather one-dimensional linebacker, able to stop runs but seriously lacking in the pass rush. Darron Lee and Josh Martin ought to round out the top of the linebacker depth chart, which leaves something to be desired. Lee is facing a make-or-break year, as he has struggled in coverage during his first two years and will need to prove himself worthy of his first-round draft status.
The Dolphins starting linebacker trio looks to be Kiko Alonso, Raekwon McMillan, and Stephone Anthony. Behind them, the Dolphins have Jerome Baker. That’s an enviable group in the AFC East. Alonso is the clear star in that linebacking group, and the man plays like he doesn’t care if his career ends tomorrow. MacMillan is making a return after injury sidelined him for his rookie season, and all signs point to a full recovery.
Cornerback
The Best: Miami Dolphins
The Rest: Buffalo Bills, New York Jets, New England Patriots
Xavien Howard showed flashes of brilliance in 2017, even snagging an interception from Tom Brady himself. Bobby McCain has proven himself reliable in recent years, reliable enough for the Dolphins to sign him to a four-year extension. McCain is a lock to be the starting nickel corner, but there is less clarity opposite Howard this year. Tony Lippett, the receiver turned cornerback, has the size and hands to be great as long as he can rebound from the Achilles injury that took him out of the 2017 season. The Dolphins also have Cordrea Tankersley in the wings, but the young man out of Clemson will have to show significant improvement to see much time on the field as a starter.
TreDavious White and Vontae Davis are not a pair to be trifled with. White was an early contender for Defensive Rookie of the Year. He tied the eventual DROY for the most passes defended by a rookie in 2017 with 18. He also notched a forced fumble, two fumble recoveries, and 53 tackles as a rookie. On the other side of the field, Davis had a rough 2017 season, resulting in his departure from the Indianapolis Colts. The 30-year-old cornerback will be entering 2018 with a serious chip on his shoulder, and that could prove to be the spark the two-time Pro Bowler needs.
Trumaine Johnson had one of his best career seasons last year with the Los Angeles Rams with 14 passes defended, 57 total tackles, and a pair of picks. It wasn’t the magical 2015 season, but it wasn’t that far off. The Jets were smart to sign the veteran. The Jets also have Morris Claiborne on the roster. Claiborne has talent but continually struggles to stay healthy. In six seasons, he’s never played a full 16 games. He’ll have to contend with Buster Skrine as the likely next man up. Although Skrine had a better 2017 than 2016, he hasn’t been able to produce quite like he did in Cleveland.
The Patriots have Stephon Gilmore at cornerback and… a host of less-than-exciting options. When the team signed Jason McCourty, many expected that McCourty would be the lock option across the field from Gilmore. McCourty’s play hasn’t matched up to the hype yet, which means that rookie Duke Dawson, third-year player Eric Rowe, and Jonathan Jones may see decent time on the field this season. That’s too much instability for a team that had one of the worst secondaries in 2017.
Safety
The Best: Buffalo Bills
The Rest: New England Patriots, New York Jets, Miami Dolphins
The Bills still have Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer as their starting safeties. Each snagged five interceptions last season, tying them for the third-most interceptions caught across the league. This one’s no contest.
The Patriots safety group has been one of the more consistent groups in terms of personnel. Patrick Chung, Devin McCourty, and Duron Harmon are a fearsome trio. McCourty and Harmon have been exceptional leaders on and off the field, returning as co-captains. Chung had a career year in 2017 in terms of tackles and tied his career high in passes defended.
The Jets safeties are young. Jamal Adams and Marcus Maye were drafted in 2017. Maye pulled down a pair of interceptions last season, and Adams ended the season with a pair of sacks. The Jets are confident in their young, athletic starters to improve upon their 2017 season.
Minkah Fitzpatrick is the newest addition to the Dolphins defensive backfield. The rookie out of Alabama was an exceptional college player, and he is expected to perform well at the professional level. The Dolphins existing starters, T.J. McDonald and Reshad Jones, didn’t work together as well as head coach Adam Gase would have wanted them to, and one only has to watch how poorly the duo played against Rob Gronkowski to see that. Fitzpatrick can be expected to make an appearance as a starter this season, but the Dolphins will have to fix the chemistry issues at the position if they expect to get much out of the group.
Special Teams
The Best: New England Patriots
The Rest: Miami Dolphins, New York Jets, Buffalo Bills
New England kind of has it all in the special teams category. Stephen Gostkowski is a long-time Patriot for a reason. Gostkowski is consistently one of the top kickers in the NFL and had a career second-best year in terms of made field goal percentage in 2017 with 92.5 percent. The Patriots return game has always been a wealth of riches (disregarding Cyrus Jones), and the rich only got richer with the addition of Cordarrelle Patterson. Ryan Allen isn’t headed to the Pro Bowl any time soon for his punting, but he does a serviceable job week in and week out. New England ranked in the top three teams in terms of opponents kick return yardage and in the top four for opponents punt return yardage, thanks to a special teams unit led by Matt Slater and Nate Ebner that remains largely intact.
The Dolphins have a solid return man in Jakeem Grant, who averaged 22.8 yards per kick return last season, tied for seventh-best in the league. Matt Haack, the Dolphins punter, tied with Johnny Hekker with 30 punts inside the opponents’ 20-yard line, a top-ten worthy performance. The Dolphins kicking game is currently a question mark, coming down to rookies Greg Joseph and Jason Sanders. The question mark at kicker raises some eyebrows about the Dolphins special teams unit, but Haack and Grant more than make up for it.
Lac Edwards was a punting machine for the Jets last year, booting 94 times for 4,378 yards. His punt average of 46.6 yards was good for top ten in the league in 2017, and his booming 70-yarder was tied for third-longest. Edwards also punted inside the 20-yard line 33 times in 2017, good for third-best in the league. Unfortunately for the Jets, Chandler Catanzaro‘s 83.3 kick percentage puts them in the bottom half of the league. And, as a team, the Jets had an abysmal return game in 2017, ranking 23rd in the league, with few changes to the roster for 2018.
Steven Hauschka did a serviceable job as the placekicker for the Buffalo Bills last year, but he appears to be on a bit of a decline, posting lower and lower made field goal percentages in his last two seasons. Brandon Tate did an excellent job as a returner last year, placing in the top ten in the league for kick and punt return yards. On the other side of the ball, Colton Schmidt was in “meh” company with a mediocre 28 punts inside the opponents’ 20-yard line.
Coaching
The Best: New England Patriots
The Rest: Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, New York Jets
There really is no contest here. Bill Belichick will go down in history as one of the greatest coaches of all time, even if some will argue that there ought to be some asterisks next to his name. The Patriots offensive coordinator should be a head coach in Indianapolis right now, which tells you everything you need to know about how good Josh McDaniels is at his job. New England does not have an official defensive coordinator, but Brian Flores, who will be leading the defense, was also in talks to become the next head coach in Arizona.
Sean McDermott led the Bills to their first playoff berth in a very long time. Granted, it wasn’t pretty, and they came out with a flat, mediocre divisional record, but McDermott did it. The Bills also added Brian Daboll as the new offensive coordinator. Daboll is of championship caliber, having served under Belichick during the Patriots Super Bowl LI victory and under Nick Saban as offensive coordinator during the Crimson Tide’s 2017 National Championship victory. And let’s not forget defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, whose 2017 defense allowed the second-fewest touchdowns in the league in a division where they had to play NFL MVP Tom Brady twice.
Adam Gase had an above-average first season with the Dolphins in 2016, bringing them to the playoffs with a 10-6 record. But he faltered in his second season without Ryan Tannehill to control the offense and wound up with a lousy 6-10 record. This will have to be a bounce-back season for Gase if he hopes to continue competing with Belichick and Co.
Todd Bowles is more maligned than he should be, but he still turned Josh McCown‘s career season into a measly five wins. Jeremy Bates has been promoted to offensive coordinator for the 2018 season after serving as the Jets quarterbacks coach for the 2017 season. In other words, the man responsible for Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg‘s development last year is now running the offense for the Jets. Kacy Rodgers has stayed on as the Jets defensive coordinator, coming into his fourth season in the position. Rodgers’ defense gave up the eighth-most yards-per-game in the league and the ninth-most points-per-game in the league last year.
2018 AFC East Breakdown: The Offense
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