The landscape of the AFC East is quickly shifting. The Patriots, ever consistent in their stranglehold on the division, will have a lot of fresh faces gunning for their top spot. The most obvious development lies in the quarterbacks as Miami, Buffalo and New York now each host top-10 picks from the 2018 NFL Draft with Josh Rosen, Josh Allen and Sam Darnold.
But the AFC East is also welcoming a host of elite defensive linemen as well. In the 2019 NFL Draft, Miami, Buffalo and New York landed Christian Wilkins, Ed Oliver and Quinnen Williams. It seems each of the three teams is committed to the interior pressure blueprint. How good is this trio of defensive linemen? They’re all athletic, versatile, disruptive. And according to Pro Football Focus, they were the three highest scored interior defensive linemen in the 2019 NFL Draft.
The arms race is very real. While Buffalo enters year three of their rebuild and the Jets join the Dolphins as a team with a new coach. Each of these three teams is in a different stage of their build-ups, but they’ve ironically found themselves mirroring one another at every turn.
Coaching and player development will be the keys for long term success, although the Jets’ aggressive off-season spending (RB Le’Veon Bell) may net them the first successful push for the post-season if Sam Darnold plays 16 games the way he played over the final six games of 2018.
The good news for Miami? Wilkins is a plug and play starter who shouldn’t be considered a consolation prize for the Dolphins. He’s going to be a coveted piece of the puzzle going forward — watching these three defenders will be a fun storyline for the AFC East for years to come.
