It is a sad time of the year. Football is over and for the next month until March Madness, there is nothing going on in the world of Sports. This means the offseason is finally upon us and the next month has some big stories for the four teams in the AFC East which have a huge impact on the 2016 year and beyond.
Fitz For MVP
The Jets have a very interesting next month as they have two key players set to be Free Agents in a month. One is QB Ryan Fitztragic and the other is DL Mo Wilkerson. They currently don’t have a large amount of cap room which means they will more likely than not only keep one of those two or neither. Fitz was a surprise as thanks to Geno getting Ik’d, he took the starting QB job and never looked back. He had a solid year thanks to the dynamic duo of Decker and Marshall and with the Jets being win now, probably need to keep him. Wilk was their best player on defense and with Sheldon Richardson possibly facing a lengthy suspension, the DL could use some continuity. Then there is the wild card which is the rumor of Kaepernick wanting to leave San Fran to go to the Big Apple. I do believe there is a possibility of Kaep leaving San Fran as despite what many assume, he is a horrible fit for the Chip Kelly offense. However he is also not a fit for the Chan Gailey offense which makes this sound more like the Jets trying to lower the asking price of Fitz. I expect Mo leaves to get overpaid by someone like the Dolphins and Fitz re-signs with the team.
The Serviceable Tannehill
The Dolphins have a new HC and coaching staff which means big changes should be coming. However thanks to the horrible Suh signing, their cap situation is a mess. The good news is outside of Oliver Vernon, they have no one really worth re-signing. This restricts them a little as they have a lot of holes on defense and the guard position which could definitely be addressed in free agency. To re-sign Vernon will be tricky due to their cap situation which means some releases are coming. They finally made the smart move of cutting Jason Fox and it looks like the first cut of many. Coples will also be waived so the fifth year option is not guaranteed which will definitely give them some flexibility to re-sign Vernon. Suh will also more likely than not restructure as the way his contract is set up it would be foolish not to restructure. The next month before free agency will be a lot of freeing up cap space for the Fins who definitely need to be involved in free agency as they adjust to a new scheme.
Going Incognito
The Bills already addressed the defense this offseason by getting the all star hire of Rob Ryan. Rob is a defensive mastermind and every defense he has coached has been top 10 at worst. Now with the defense fixed, they can go looking to create cap space to re-sign the two key players on the offense: Richie Incognito and Cordy Glenn. Incognito was a steal last year as he was a Pro Bowl Guard and showed why the Dolphins were yet again stupid for siding with Jonathan Martin. Recent reports also are stating that he is close to signing a two year deal which will be great. Now the key guy to sign is Cordy Glenn as solid left tackles don’t grow on trees. The Lane Johnson extension does not help as now Glenn is worth at least 12 million a year instead of the earlier ten million many expected. To sign him the Bills will need to create some much needed cap space. Mario Williams will be gone as he will take his talents to New England. Dan Carpenter is also gone as the Bills will be using their first pick on Roberto Aguayo. McKelvin may also be a cap casualty depending on how they feel about the secondary depth and Charles Clay may also be a restructure candidate. That will give them much needed space to give Glenn what looks to at the very least be a 5 year 60 million deal.
Let It Goooooooo
The Patriots lost to the eventual Super Bowl champs but like most years, they are currently favorites for the 2017 SB. However they have more important matters coming up in a month. Roger Goodell is obsessed with making Tom Brady pay for doing nothing and the latest episode of Deflategate starts in March. The irony is the NFL in January admitted that footballs deflated naturally in a memo before the Vikings-Seahawks NFC Willd Card game. Since the NFL loves being hypocrites I don’t expect them to back off their current feud against the Patriots. If I were Kraft, I would file a lawsuit against the NFL to demand the 1st round pick be returned and remove Roger Goodell from power as it has been shown he doesn’t have the best interest of all 32 owners. The latest appeal will more probable than not lead to the NFL yet again being embarassed which is the norm with Goodell in power. Maybe now they will replace Goodell with Donald Trump.
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