With the new league year turning over on March 18, and the draft a little more than a month after that starting April 23, each NFL team is about to start a series of prime positions to improve their rosters as much as their front offices and salary cap situations will allow.
With that in mind, here’s the primary need for every NFL franchise heading into the busiest part of the offseason. (All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus and Sports Info Solutions).
AFC East
Buffalo Bills: Another quality receiver
Last season, John Brown might have been the NFL’s most underrated receiver. The former Cardinals and Ravens target signed a three-year, $27 million contract with the Bills before the 2019 season and became an immediate staple for quarterback Josh Allen, with 72 catches on 115 targets for 1,060 yards and six touchdowns — all career highs. Slot receiver Cole Beasley is also entrenched well in that role, but if Allen is to take the proverbial next step — and that’s still a question — the Bills will need another productive outside receiver, especially in the deep passing game. Brown was targeted 27 times on passes of 20 or more air yards last season, catching 10 of those passes for 332 yards and four touchdowns. The rest of Buffalo’s receiver corps was targeted 27 times on deep throws, catching three passes for 117 yards and no touchdowns. Allen’s erratic passes had something to do with that, but it would certainly help to add another credible deep threat.
Miami Dolphins: A functional offensive line
After major trades with the Steelers and Texans, the Dolphins have three first-round picks (the fifth, 18th, and 26th), and the clout to trade up if they want to. One thing they must do is to improve a run game that was so inept after trading Kenyan Drake to the Cardinals in October, 37-year-old quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick led the team in rushing — with 243 yards. Ouch. Paramount to getting that ground game going will be the necessary addition of several quality offensive linemen.
Left tackle Julie’n Davenport, acquired in the trade of left tackle Laremy Tunsil and receiver Kenny Stills to Houston, allowed six sacks and 31 total pressures on just 389 pass-blocking snaps. Swing tackle J’Marcus Webb gave up seven sacks and 39 total pressures on 372 pass-blocking snaps. Nobody was immune from this O-line disaster, and it’s reasonable to say that if Miami had four or five new starters up front, it’d be for the best. That’s not great for continuity, which is generally important for an offensive line, but this is not the kind of continuity one wants. The Doophins have all these value picks and $88,075,174 in current cap space; here’s where they should spend a lot of that capital.
New England Patriots: A replacement for the greatest quarterback in NFL history
We don’t yet know what is in Tom Brady’s future. After 20 years with the Patriots, during which time he picked up six Super Bowl rings and established himself as perhaps the greatest quarterback ever, Brady might be on the move for the first time in his NFL career. What really makes this interesting is that if Brady does move on as a free agent, it leaves Bill Belichick with options he hasn’t ever had at the position. The expansion of college concepts into the NFL, and the sea changes in the requirements for the quarterback position at the NFL level, has to have Belichick wondering what he could do with the next Patrick Mahomes, Russell Wilson, or Lamar Jackson.
Belichick gave the Texans a little taste of that concept back in 2016, when Brady was suspended for the first four games of the season over the DeflateGate scandal, then-backup Jimmy Garoppolo got injured, and the Patriots put then-backup Jacoby Brissett on the field against Houston in Week 3 as an option quarterback. The Texans had very little idea what to do with that in a 27-0 loss, and you know Belichick has stored that away in his brain just like everything else that’s happened in pro football over the last 60 years. What would the Pats’ offense look like with the kind of quarterback they’ve never had before? A positive answer to that question might just ease the sting of a possible Brady departure.
New York Jets: A new offensive line
Second-year Jets quarterback Sam Darnold showed improvement in most aspects in 2019, despite a bout with mononucleosis, a relative lack of top-end targets and protection up front that wouldn’t pass muster among most SEC teams. The 2019 Jets allowed 24 sacks and 188 total pressures on just 584 passing snaps, and while Darnold performed fairly well under pressure (10 of his 19 touchdowns and eight of his 13 picks came when rushed from the pocket), Options B and C in the persons of Luke Falk and Trevor Siemian last season proved that the Jets’ offense will go only as far as Darnold can take it. To that end, new general manager Joe Douglas, a highly-respected personnel man around the league, needs to do a lot about that offensive line. Upgrading from left tackle Brandon Shell (seven sacks and 42 pressures allowed) and swing tackle Chuma Edoga (six sacks and 22 pressures allowed on just 270 pass-blocking snaps) would be a good start, but honestly, Douglas could go full Roto-Rooter on this line and possibly land better results.
Which, based on what Douglas said at the scouting combine, could easily happen.
“Look, you guys know how I feel about the offensive line. It’s hard to have a good team without one. Right now, as it stands, we only have one opening-day starter coming back under contract: [Guard] Brian Winters. Everyone else is an unrestricted free agent. We’re at 21 UFAs [unrestricted free agents] and three RFAs [restricted free agents]. So we have to improve not only offensive line by many other positions.”
True, but the offensive line is the place to start.