- AFC East
- AFC North
With 2026 training camps just around the corner, it’s time to get up to speed on all 32 NFL teams. Jeremy Bergman has the lowdown on the key position battles and top storylines to monitor for the Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots and New York Jets
Catch up on each AFC East team’s offseason developments and 2026 outlook below:
Buffalo Bills
2025 record: 12-5
- Player report date:Rookies (July 21) | Veterans (July 28)
- Training camp location:St. John Fisher University | Rochester, N.Y.
- Notable roster changes:Signings | Departures | 2026 draft class
Three key storylines
For a Bills roster that is returning most of its 2025 starters, the biggest change this summer will be at the top. The start of the Joe Brady era in Buffalo gets underway in earnest when training camp kicks off in late July. In taking over for Sean McDermott, a sturdy leader who oversaw Buffalo’s longest period of sustained success since the great Marv Levy was at the helm, Brady has a lot to live up to. The 36-year-old first-time head coach was elevated to improve on McDermott’s performance and lift Buffalo over the hump and into the Super Bowl. A January title game can’t be won in August, but the foundation of such an achievement can be built in the summer, as it is for all champions. Brady’s job starts and ends with accentuating what Josh Allen does best, freeing up the QB to take further control of the offense. The defense, McDermott’s specialty, has been handed off to ex-NFL safety Jim Leonhard, who coached the Broncos’ star DBs over the past couple seasons. No team with a new head coach is better positioned to win in 2026 than the Bills, who made it to the Divisional Round in ’25. Brady’s first camp must set that tone.
2) Chubb chasing big season
As one of Buffalo’s only notable offseason additions, Bradley Chubb meets the Bills at a critical time for both the team and the player. Chubb is coming off a solid comeback season from his torn ACL, logging 8.5 sacks for the Dolphins in 2025 and playing a full slate of games for the first time since his rookie campaign. The Bills are in dire need of a pass rusher after Gregory Rousseau led the team with just seven sacks last year, and Joey Bosa appears closer to retirement than returning. Entering the fray alongside second-round pick T.J. Parker, Chubb will be tasked with captaining a front seven that struggled to frustrate Trevor Lawrence and Bo Nix in the 2025 postseason. Chubb, 30, has expressed that he’s never been hungrier. Buffalo is starving for a true game-wrecker off the edge.
3) Moore enough or more required?
The Bills have missed Stefon Diggs. Draftees Khalil Shakir and Keon Coleman and free-agent additions Josh Palmer and Brandin Cooks haven’t quite filled his vacancy over the past couple years. Buffalo’s trade for DJ Moore is meant to do just that. Reuniting with Brady, his ex-Panthers OC, Moore has an opportunity to be WR1 for Josh Allen in Buffalo in a way he simply wasn’t for Caleb Williams in Chicago in 2025. The seeds of their hopefully fruitful partnership will be sowed in July and August. Moore admitted to “growing pains” in the spring but expects perfection this fall after the offseason-long onboarding process. In addition to providing a sure-handed outlet for Allen, Moore will be looked at to bring along the embattled Coleman, who got called out by owner Terry Pegula in January and has been under a microscope since. If Moore can bring Coleman along and elevate a middling Bills WR room, then Brady’s first-year returns could be big.
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Miami Dolphins
2025 record: 7-10
- Player report date:Rookies (July 21) | Veterans (July 28)
- Training camp location:Baptist Health Training Complex | Miami Gardens, Fla.
- Notable roster changes:Signings | Departures | 2026 draft class
Three key storylines
1) First look at Miami’s offensive overhaul
Tua Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle are out. Malik Willis is in, while De’Von Achane re-upped for the long haul. Who else will fill out the Dolphins’ offensive roster? Malik Washington returns as a solid pass-catching option, joined by Tutu Atwell, Jalen Tolbert, Terrace Marshall Jr. and Jalen Reagor, all looking to break out after sidekick roles in NFC receiving rooms. Imported from the collegiate ranks are Chris Bell, Kevin Coleman Jr. and Caleb Douglas. It’s a who’s who of “Who’s that?” in Miami’s WR corps. But somebody’s gotta catch passes from Willis. Ahead of what is expected to be a rebuilding year in South Florida, all eyes (at least in the fantasy world) will be on the Fins’ wideouts in camp to see who swims and who flounders.
2) Leaders from the Pack
How will Green Bay South look in the heat of a Miami summer? We’re about to find out. Jeff Hafley and Jon-Eric Sullivan’s first training camp with the Dolphins after years with the Packers provides the first-time NFL head coach and general manager an opportunity to put their imprint on the team. Green Bay camps are typically jovial affairs with oversized players riding undersized bikes alongside community members. Miami camps, held outside one of America’s biggest cities, have a different feel. Last year’s Dolphins camp, for one, portended the subpar season Miami was about to embark on, as Mike McDaniel’s roster was overwhelmed in joint practices and hampered by the injury bug. If Hafley and Sullivan can avoid that sluggish start, they will have already re-calibrated the doomish vibes that preceded the 2025 season.
3) We’re talking about Willis
From entering the league as a third-round pick to signing a three-year, $67.5 million deal with his third NFL team in four years, Malik Willis is rewriting his NFL story on the fly. The quarterback embarks on his first full season as a starter this summer in South Beach after shining in a pair of breakout performances in place of Jordan Love (both losses) last year in Green Bay. The three-year contract implies that he is the QB of the present and immediate future in Miami, but nothing is assured in this league. Willis is being thrown into a less-than-advantageous position, quarterbacking a rebuilding roster under a rookie head coach. Quinn Ewers, a second-year backup with collegiate pedigree and three NFL starts to his name, waits in the wings. If things go south in South Florida and the Dolphins slump into top-five draft positioning, how secure will Willis’ place in Miami’s future be? A standout 2027 QB draft class could be staring Sullivan in the face. All that is to say Willis isn’t a made man yet, and his first summer as a starter will be a critical one toward establishing himself as a long-term answer in Miami or elsewhere.
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New England Patriots
2025 record: 14-3
- Player report date:Rookies (July 21) | Veterans (July 24)
- Training camp location:New Balance Athletics Center | Foxborough, Mass.
- Notable roster changes:Signings | Departures | 2026 draft class
Three key storylines
1) Patriots’ upgraded weaponry
After months of rumors and rumblings, New England finally completed its trade for disgruntled Eagles wideout A.J. Brown in June. As the move had been predetermined for months — so open a secret that it was never a secret — Brown wasted no time establishing chemistry with MVP runner-up Drake Maye at minicamp. Brown has found himself in “heaven” in New England, but how will the other Patriots wideouts feel? Before Brown was acquired to provide Maye a true WR1, Romeo Doubs was the big-ticket offensive acquisition of the offseason. Now slotted in as the No. 2, Doubs should find himself in a role similar to the one he played in Green Bay, thriving on occasion. Down the roster, New England still has Mack Hollins, DeMario Douglas and Kayshon Boutte (for now). But it will be interesting to see if Kyle Williams can break out in his second year since his third-round selection. The Wazzu product caught just 10 passes in his rookie season but found the end zone thrice. If Williams can step up in training camp ahead of Year 2, Maye and the reigning AFC champs could be in prime position to repeat.
2) Questions with two defenders
Ahead of training camp, there remain two unsettled availability situations that need monitoring in Foxborough. The first is that of star cornerback Christian Gonzalez, who’s due for a major contract extension after his first Pro Bowl season. Gonzalez said during spring work that he wishes to be in New England for the long haul, but for a CB of his caliber, that means a top-of-the-market deal worth $30 million-plus per season, something New England may be loath to offer before it has to. Gonzalez skipped voluntary sessions but showed up for mandatory minicamp. What will his strategy be if he doesn’t have a deal done by late July? Gabe Jacas, meanwhile, hasn’t practiced with the team since being drafted in the second round. The No. 55 overall pick remains unsigned and has been away from the club after undergoing an offseason medical procedure about which the Pats have provided few details. Jacas, for whom New England traded up in April’s draft, is behind heading into summer camp, which isn’t a good sign for the Pats’ pass rusher depth. We’ll see if the rookie comes into camp signed and ready to break into the starting 11.
3) Will Super Bowl loss, off-field distractions linger?
The off-field story of the offseason has mostly faded out of circulation, but questions remain about how New England will bounce back from some messy months to start 2026. The April publication of photos showing Patriots coach Mike Vrabel and former Athletic reporter Dianna Russini at an Arizona resort ignited a months-long maelstrom of unwanted press in Foxborough. Vrabel took off Day 3 of the NFL draft to begin counseling, but he was present throughout spring workouts. The coach’s players have defended him, and the team’s offseason program seemingly has gone off without a hitch. That doesn’t mean that, when things ramp up in the summer with more coverage and eyeballs, further scrutiny of Vrabel won’t creep in. In addition to dealing with the fallout from the photos, the Pats are looking to recover from a humiliating Super Bowl defeat and avoid the fate of many a title game loser: missing the ensuing postseason. Ahead of the Kickoff Game against their Super Bowl LX foes in Seattle, Vrabel and the Pats will be put through the media wringer again. How will they respond?
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New York Jets
2025 record: 3-14
- Player report date:Rookies (July 25) | Veterans (July 28)
- Training camp location:Atlantic Health Jets Training Center | Florham Park, N.J.
- Notable roster changes:Signings | Departures | 2026 draft class
Three key storylines
1) Is defense better-vetted?
I’m not sure if you heard, but the Jets’ defense had zero interceptions last year. Zilch, nada, nil over 17 whole games. The historic “feat” — and a 31st-ranked scoring D — inspired general manager Darren Mougey to totally remake the defense during the offseason. New York has since stockpiled veterans familiar (Jet draftee Demario Davis, Jersey native Minkah Fitzpatrick) and fresh (T’Vondre Sweat, David Onyemata, Joseph Ossai, Nahshon Wright). Add on two top rookies (No. 2 pick David Bailey, national champ D’Angelo Ponds), and the Jets are projected to have upwards of eight new defensive starters in ’26. The leadership of Davis, Fitzpatrick and returning DL Harrison Phillips should provide a foundation that was sorely lacking from Aaron Glenn’s first unit. But camp will bear out whether the new-look group with a first-time DC in Brian Duker has a chance to keep New York in games this season — or, at the very least, take the ball away.
2) The Return of the Geno
Gang Green’s latest QB makeover reunites Geno Smith with the team that drafted him in the 2013 second round. A few so-so years and a broken jaw ended his initial Jets run, but the signal-caller, now 35, is back in Florham Park with more years under his belt, ready to rewrite his narrative. Surrounding him is the most talented crop of playmakers New York has had in years — Garrett Wilson and Breece Hall anchor the returning skill players, while Adonai Mitchell and rookies Kenyon Sadiq and Omar Cooper Jr. get their first full seasons with the Jets. A steady O-line is returning four of five starters — Dylan Parham is set to replace left guard John Simpson. Frank Reich is in for the ousted Tanner Engstrand as offensive coordinator, bringing a veteran presence with a track record of coaching a Super Bowl-winning offense in Philadelphia. How quickly can the Jets jell into a more potent attack? Their summer sessions will provide the first glimpse. (One thing to monitor: Smith is reportedly under investigation for battery in Florida. The QB has yet to comment on the matter.)
3) Jets in five?
In the streets of Manhattan, millions of fans rejoiced after the Knicks’ half-century-long title drought was broken in thrilling fashion in the NBA Finals. The throng of excitement unleashed a positive, unifying energy not seen around New York sports in quite some time. Roughly 35 miles west in Florham Park, New Jersey, the Jets are going through their own drought of sorts. Fifteen years without postseason football. Twenty-three seasons with no division title. Fifty-seven campaigns sans a Super Bowl title. Breece Hall, who witnessed the Game 5 title-securing victory, was among Jets players this spring who expressed “positive jealousy” over the Knicks’ fortune. Aaron Glenn said he wishes to replicate Mike Brown’s clutch players’ “competitive stamina” with his guys. Will the Summer of Love continue across the Hudson? Is curse-breaking contagious? Camp may offer clues.
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- AFC East
- AFC North
