2025 AFC East offseason grades: Patriots revamp around Drake Maye, Bills focus on improving defense

The main pillars of roster building have washed ashore in the NFL with free agency and the 2025 NFL Draft wrapped up. While there will likely still be some additions that each squad makes between now and the start of the regular season, the offseason now transitions more toward workouts and on-field preparations for the upcoming year. 

So, now that we’ve reached this inflection point of the offseason, it’s as good a time as ever to go under the hood and take a hard look at teams across the league and evaluate how they revamped their respective rosters.

In the AFC East, there’s been quite a bit of movement. The defending division champs, the Buffalo Bills, spent the bulk of the offseason retaining their core group with extensions, including MVP quarterback Josh Allen. As for the Miami Dolphins, they spent the NFL Draft solidifying the trenches. Meanwhile, both the New York Jets and New England Patriots hired new head coaches this offseason and added notable players in free agency, along with the draft. 

Below, we’ll highlight each AFC East club’s most notable moves and hand out our offseason grades.

Buffalo Bills: B

• Players retained: LB Matt Milano, EDGE Greg Rousseau, LB Terrel Bernard, WR Khalil Shakir, CB Christian Benford
• Notable additions: EDGE Joey Bosa, WR Josh Palmer, IDL Larry Ogunjobi, CB Tre’Davious White
• Notable losses: CB Kaiir Elam, WR Mack Hollins
• Notable draftees: CB Maxwell Hairston, DT T.J. Sanders, EDGE Landon Jackson

Buffalo made it a priority to keep its core intact, so most of its efforts throughout free agency were about keeping the band together. That included extensions for Josh Allen, Greg Rousseau, Terrel Bernard, Khalil Shakir and Christian Benford. That said, they did make additions, notably signing wideout Josh Palmer and edge rusher Joey Bosa. Palmer has routinely been underrated, and Bosa, so long as he’s healthy, will help apply pressure off the edge. In the NFL Draft, defense was the priority, and for good reason. Buffalo’s defense was a key reason the Bills were unable to get over the hump and reach the Super Bowl, particularly due to their struggles on third down. Well, they answered that by adding speedy corner Maxwell Hairston in the first round and then spent Day 2 largely focused on the offensive line with defensive tackle T.J. Sanders and edge rusher Landon Jackson. There weren’t any major splashes for the Bills, but it was a strong offseason nonetheless. 

Miami Dolphins: C-

• Players retained: EDGE Bradley Chubb, LB Tyrel Dodson, C Liam Eichenberg
• Notable additions: OG James Daniels, QB Zach Wilson, LB Willie Gay Jr., WR Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, RB Alexander Mattison
• Notable losses: RB Raheem Mostert, TE Durham Smythe, S Jevon Holland, WR Braxton Berrios, IDL Calais Campbell 
• Notable draftees: DT Kenneth Grant, OL Jonah Savaiinaea, DT Jordan Phillips, QB Quinn Ewers

The Dolphins are entering a make-or-break season, but their offseason maneuvers didn’t seem to match that urgency. They revised Bradley Chubb’s contract to keep him with the team in 2025 after he missed last year due to injury. James Daniels is a fine addition along the offensive line, and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine is a good downfield threat, but there were hardly any splashes in free agency. While I like Miami’s first two picks in the draft in Kenneth Grant and Jonah Savaiinaea, they spent a lot of capital to move up to select Savaiinaea, which left the cupboard somewhat bare for the rest of the draft. Miami has a massive need at corner that it wasn’t addressed with the looming trade of Jalen Ramsey, and the Tyreek Hill situation is liable to pop off at any moment. Hard to feel confident in the Dolphins heading into 2025. 

New York Jets: B

• Players retained: LB Jamien Sherwood, WR Allen Lazard, CB Isaiah Oliver
• Notable additions: QB Justin Fields, WR Josh Reynolds, OT Chukwuma Okorafor, CB Brandon Stephens, S Andre Cisco, Josh Myers
• Notable losses: WR Davante Adams, EDGE Haason Reddick, QB Aaron Rodgers, IDL Javon Kinlaw, TE Tyler Conklin, OT Morgan Moses. 
• Notable draftees: OT Armand Membou, TE Mason Taylor, CB Azareye’h Thomas, WR Arian Smith

The first major change that the New York Jets went through this offseason was the new masthead. The club hired Darren Mougey as its newest general manager and brought in former Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn as its next head coach. Glenn ran one of the best defenses in the NFL throughout his tenure in Detroit, so it will be fascinating to see how he works this Jets defense, particularly after they allowed the second-fewest yards per play in the league in 2024. So, New York should be much better coached than it was a year ago, but it will be interesting to see how the offense looks in the post-Aaron Rodgers era. The club moved on from Rodgers and also cut bait with wideout Davante Adams, but did bring in former Steelers quarterback Justin Fields. While Fields has yet to truly establish himself in the NFL, I like the dice roll here from New York. Fields is only 26, so there is some hope that things could click for him. It also doesn’t hurt that he has a rapport with his former Ohio State teammate Garrett Wilson. Meanwhile, I particularly liked how the Jets operated in the early stages of the NFL Draft. Armand Membou slots in as the perfect replacement for Morgan Moses at right tackle and creates a youthful and talented tackle duo with 2024 first-rounder Olu Fashanu. LSU tight end Mason Taylor also has great upside. Overall, a solid step in the right direction for the Jets, which is something they haven’t heard in a while.  

Prisco’s NFL Draft 2025 grades for every team, including best and worst picks for all 32 franchises

Pete Prisco

New England Patriots: A

• Players retained: LB Christian Elliss, TE Austin Hooper,
• Notable additions: DT Milton Williams, CB Carlton Davis, EDGE Harold Landry, OT Morgan Moses, WR Stefon Diggs, LB Robert Spillane
• Notable losses: QB Jacoby Brissett, CB Jonathan Jones, DT Deatrich Wise Jr., IDL Davon Godchaux, 
• Notable draftees: OT Will Campbell, RB TreVeyon Henderson, WR Kyle Williams

The Patriots were unquestionably the busiest team in the entire division this offseason, and they’ve landed on their feet quite solidly. After the firing of Jerod Mayo after one season, Robert Kraft looked to another former linebacker, Mike Vrabel, to steer the ship back to relevancy. Armed with the most cap space in the league, New England certainly spent like it, inking Milton Williams, Carlton Davis and Robert Spillane to contracts to help bolster the defense. Meanwhile, Morgan Moses and Stefon Diggs were the crowning additions on offense. In the NFL Draft, Will Campbell was the pick at No. 4 overall, which gives New England what it hopes is a long-term answer at left tackle. The Patriots also added some weapons for Drake Maye on Day 2, with Ohio State running back TreVeyon Henderson and Washington State wideout Kyle Williams. The mission this offseason was to improve the overall talent floor around Maye, and that’s been accomplished from the new coaching staff on down.