The New England Patriots, led by future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady, have dominated the AFC East, claiming 15 of the last 17 division titles. The rest of the division has been trying for years to find a franchise quarterback who will finally help dethrone Brady and the Patriots, and during the 2018 NFL Draft, both the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills spent first-round picks on players they hope to be their franchise quarterback. The Jets picked Sam Darnold with the No. 3 overall pick, and the Bills tabbed Josh Allen with the No. 7 selection.
Fans of both teams got their first glimpse into this budding AFC East quarterback rivalry on Dec. 9, 2018, when Darnold engineered a fourth-quarter comeback in leading the Jets past the Bills, 27-23 at New Era Field.
As we debut our opponent previews for the Bills’ foes in 2019, we went to Gang Green Nation, SB Nation’s Jets blog for more information on how the Jets look leading up to the start of the season. Darnold and the Jets will host Allen and the Bills on Sept. 8 in the opener for both teams.
New York Jets
Notable free agent additions: RB Le’Veon Bell, LB C.J. Mosley, WR Jamison Crowder, C Ryan Kalil, CB Brian Poole
Over/under: 7.5 wins—Over. The Jets have been one of the worst teams in the NFL over the last three seasons, but they have clearly upgraded their talent level. Combined with a year of development for Sam Darnold, and a schedule that doesn’t seem daunting on paper the Jets can be at least a .500 team.
Rookie I’m most excited about: It might be an obvious answer, but Quinnen Williams has to be the choice. He is the only Jets rookie who currently projects to be a full-time player. A fair number of Draft analysts had him rated as the top prospect in the entire 2019 NFL Draft. He should be able to slide up and down the defensive line and allow Gregg Williams to create mismatches. His presence should also reduce the number of double teams Leonard Williams faces.
Best position battle heading into camp: Unlike last year the Jets don’t have a ton of big position battles. The one that might be most intriguing is for the second tight end spot behind Chris Herndon. With Herndon suspended the first four games of the season, the winner of this battle will be the starter for a quarter of the year. The candidates are all either undistinguished NFL players or unproven. Rookie Trevon Wesco and Daniel Brown seem to be the likely candidates heading into camp, but this battle is wide open.
Biggest storyline heading into camp: The focus is finally back on the field. The Jets are trying to earn some respect in the league after a turbulent offseason. The team fired its head coach. They replaced him with a coach coming off a failed tenure with a division rival. They were the league’s leading spender in free agency. After that, their general manager was pushed out after losing a power struggle with the newly hired head coach.
While the chaos was undoubtedly overhyped in the media to a certain extent, there were a lot of self-inflicted wounds.
In the end the story might have a happy ending as the Jets made a general manager hire that earned close to universal plaudits. The first step to rebuilding the organization’s credibility in the league is putting together a successful season.
The Bills kick off the 2019 season vs. the Jets in MetLife Stadium, the first of back-to-back road games against New Jersey-based teams. Thanks to Gang Green Nation for their thoughts on the Jets.