AFC East: Ranking top 2019 storylines by team

The 2019 NFL season promises to be full of wild stories, but which ones are the best? Which are unlikely to occur at all? We rank the top AFC East storylines by team.

As we head toward the end of the offseason and into the 2019 NFL regular season, the Worldwide Leader has unleashed the most important storylines for each franchise. These are the top stories expected to come from each team according to the ESPN writers who follow them daily. Let’s tackle these stories division by division and answer two questions.

1. Which team has the best story? (“Best” means whatever you want it to mean.)
2. Which story is least likely to become a dominant tale of the season?

Two brothers from New York, Dan Salem and Todd Salem, debate the NFL 2019 in today’s NFL Sports Debate.

AFC East

Buffalo Bills – Can Josh Allen take the next step?
Miami Dolphins – Is Josh Rosen the long-term answer?
New England Patriots – Can the Patriots repeat?
New York Jets – Can Adam Gase overcome his rocky start?

Best Storyline

Todd Salem: The best story is easy. It is Miami. The Dolphins made a smart gamble on Josh Rosen without giving up much to acquire him. They get a free look at a player nearly everyone thought had franchise-quarterback potential as recently as last season.

I think Arizona was foolish to give up on him just like that. The Dolphins won’t be good this year, but hopefully they will give Rosen a fair shake at earning his future playing time. His is officially a rare breed: a former top-10 draft pick from pedigree who is now an underdog that people want to root for.

Dan Salem: With three rebuilding teams and the defending Super Bowl champions, the AFC East is certainly an excellent representation of class in society. We have the 1 percent and then everyone else clawing out of the bottom. Because the stories in Miami, Buffalo and New York are all tied to the same basic thing, its the Patriots who have the most exciting storyline this season.

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Will New England be able to maintain its death grip on the league without Rob Gronkowski? Can Tom Brady work his magic again this season? Is Bill Belichick tired of being an afterthought to Brady?

The Patriots ability to repeat has so many layers, and doing so means winning two championships in a row and three out of four. It means reaching four straight Super Bowls. It means Brady has another chance to ride off into the sunset. This is pretty exciting stuff, when every other member of the AFC East is worried about its quarterback.

Least Likely Storyline

Todd Salem: Jets news is going to be tied to Gase for the entire year. How is he getting along with the new general manager? Is he on the outs because yet another GM didn’t choose the coach he wanted? If Sam Darnold doesn’t take a step up, is Gase at fault? If the offense sputters at all, he will be the story as well.

Though the Patriots repeating is a boring story, it will also remain all year unless the team is out of playoff contention. I don’t see that as plausible.

That leaves Buffalo as the least likely story to have a resounding impact. The Bills will be bad, which should take Allen out of the news to begin with. Because of likely team struggles, it will also be hard to see if Allen is getting much better or not. He could hold steady and feel like a worse player because everyone expects noticeable jumps from second-year players. Either way, this will be too nuanced to be much of a story.

Dan Salem: The story least likely to have legs is easy. New York’s story is already dead in the water. Adam Gase did not actually have a rocky start, yet the media certainly created one in the headlines. Now that the Jets have begun practicing, Gase silenced every question and basically gave the middle finger to the idea of asking another.

Gase is only going to talk football, and the Jets’ expectations are not all that high outside of the organization. His rocky start comes down to an ownership decision to fire the general manager. That’s already a dead issue. Gase’s success comes down to Sam Darnold and winning football games. Considering how bad the Dolphins and Bills will be, the Jets will easily remain relevant and silence their critics.

The stories in Buffalo and Miami are not going anywhere. Rosen should win the starting job, but he might lose to the ever present Ryan Fitzpatrick. Playing for another awful team is not going to do him any favors.

Allen is unlikely to keep running the football like he did last season, so if he can’t throw it better, why play him at all? The Dolphins and Bills could be competing for a top five pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. That means another rookie quarterback will be in play if their current sophomores fail to improve.