With training camp looming, where does rest of AFC East stand?

With training camp now less than a month away, we’re going to take a look around the rest of the AFC East to get a sense of where New England’s three divisional opponents stand at the start of another new season. We asked beat reporters who cover each one of the teams five simple questions. Here’s what they told us:

NEW YORK JETS (5-11 in 2017)
Manish Mehta, New York Daily News

What’s the general feeling around the team?

The Jets are brimming with confidence despite their 100-year playoff drought. (It’s actually “only” seven years, but it seems like a century ago that they sniffed the postseason, doesn’t it?)

Credit ownership for giving general manager Mike Maccagnan and coach Todd Bowles time to set a proper foundation during this rebuilding process. The Maccagnan-Bowles partnership has yielded a 20-28 record in three years, but there’s reason to believe that the arrow is finally pointing up.

There’s are some promising young pieces in place that should help this star-crossed outfit moving forward. CEO Christopher Johnson wisely didn’t give Maccagnan and Bowles, who each signed contract extensions last December through 2020, a 2018 playoff mandate, but there are fair expectations this season to expect better than their back-to-back five-win campaigns.

Dominant question heading into camp: Will Sam Darnold be ready to start in Week 1?

Maccagnan & Co. didn’t trade away three second-round picks to move up three spots so that Darnold could take the year off. Make no mistake: Darnold is going to play sooner rather than later. The Jets privately have been exceedingly pleased with what the rookie did during the offseason program. Spoiler alert: The guy has the goods. He’s has star written all over him … and the Jets know it. It’s a matter of when – not if – it happens in the eyes of team decision makers. (Just don’t expect them to make a public statement about it).

New offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates admitted this spring he’s throwing the whole playbook at the kid. Reduced to simplest terms, the Jets' quarterback competition in training camp and the preseason will be Darnold vs. Darnold. May the best man win.

If Darnold proves to the coaches that he’s ready to be the Week 1 starter (in Matt Patricia’s head coaching debut, by the way), then he’ll be under center on Monday night in Detroit. If he requires more seasoning, he’ll take a seat for a little bit. However, know this: Darnold isn’t getting a red-shirt season. He will play a significant amount in his rookie season. It’s simply a matter of whether or not he’ll get the keys to the kingdom for the season opener.

Biggest offseason surprise

Teddy Bridgewater might be a pedigree quarterback, but there was serious doubt about whether he’d even make it to training camp after signing a one-year, $6 million deal with the Jets this offseason. Maccagnan, after all, only guaranteed $500,000 at signing, because there were reservations inside the organization about Bridgewater’s ability to recover from a grievous knee injury (torn ACL/dislocation) that robbed him of the better part of two years.

Bridgewater, however, looked solid (and even spectacular at times) during the offseason program, showing poise, pocket awareness and smarts in team drills. It was an encouraging sign, but one significant hurdle remains. How will his surgically repaired knee hold up to contact in the preseason? Will he be able to withstand the rigors of a full season?

The Jets are cautiously optimistic that Bridgewater’s knee will hold up. After all, he offers the Jets flexibility at the game’s most important position.

If Darnold proves worthy of being the Week 1 starter in camp, then the Jets could use Bridgewater as a trade chip when/if a quarterback-needy team comes calling. Remember: Bridgewater’s injury less than two weeks before the start of the 2016 season prompted the Vikings to trade for then-Eagles starter Sam Bradford. Bridgewater might play the role of Bradford this time. (How much the Jets could actually get in return in a trade given that Bridgewater will be an unrestricted free agent after this season remains to be seen).

If Darnold requires more seasoning – and Bridgewater lights it up in the preseason – I’ve been told that Bowles won’t hesitate to start the former Viking in Week 1.

Veteran Josh McCown is the safety-net starter if neither Darnold nor Bridgewater impresses in August.

Is there an under-the-radar type who has a chance to make a sizable impact?

Keep an eye on second-year wide receiver Chad Hansen, who has flashed this offseason. The former fourth-round pick from Cal had a quiet rookie season (nine catches for 91 yards), but he was impressive this spring. The coaches would like Hansen to be more physical to get off press coverage in tight quarters (red zone), but the guy has magnets for hands. He catches everything remotely close to him.

Bowles and Bates had 17 receivers on the roster at one point this offseason (yes, 17) with the hope of finding some difference makers. Hansen has a chance to carve out a meaningful role in 2018.

The Jets can make it back to the playoffs if…

Darnold is the real deal … quickly. Although the Jets have a playoff-caliber defense on paper (with a much-improved secondary thanks to free-agent addition Trumaine Johnson), this team will only go as far as the quarterback takes them. McCown might have had a career year in 2017, but he won’t be the wire-to-wire signal caller this season.

Darnold will be the focal point. The smart money is that he’ll endure growing pains, which doesn’t bode well for the Jets to break their seven-year playoff drought. But the Jets' brain trust isn’t losing sight of the big picture this time. Darnold will gain valuable experience that should serve everyone in green-and-white well in the coming years.

BUFFALO BILLS (9-7, lost in wild-card game to Jaguars)
Mike Rodak, ESPN

What’s the general feeling around the team?

Long-term optimism. I use the qualifier there because I don’t think there’s the same win-now hype as there was, for example, during Rex Ryan’s tenure. Fans like what they see from coach Sean McDermott and GM Brandon Beane and think the franchise has gotten on the right track after extensive personnel and staff upheaval the past year and a half. Dozens of employees who led the team through its 17-year playoff drought are gone. But as McDermott likes to say, it’s a process — few would be calling for McDermott or Beane’s jobs if they missed the playoffs this season.

Dominant question heading into camp: Who is the starting quarterback Week 1?

For the third time in my six seasons covering the Bills, there is a good ol’ fashioned quarterback competition to cover entering training camp. Like the most recent one in 2015, it’s a three-way race between AJ McCarron, Nathan Peterman and Josh Allen. Eventually, Allen is going to start in Buffalo, but he’ll need to show a lot this preseason if his debut will come Sept. 9 in Baltimore.

Biggest offseason surprise

Peterman has a legitimate shot to be the starter. Fans outside Buffalo will remember Peterman for McDermott’s widely-panned decision to bench Tyrod Taylor last November and start Peterman, then a fifth-round rookie, on the road at the Chargers. The result was Peterman throwing five interceptions in the first half before being benched himself. But in practices we watched this spring, he outperformed McCarron. That might not be saying much, but the book on Peterman seems to be far from complete.

Is there an under-the-radar type who has a chance to make a sizable impact?

Allen has rightfully gotten much of the attention since the Bills traded up to No. 7 to select him in April, but some forget the Bills traded up again in the first round to take Tremaine Edmunds at No. 16. Edmunds has eye-popping athleticism — he ran a 4.54-second 40-yard dash — for his size (6-foot-5 and 253 pounds) and will start immediately at middle linebacker in Buffalo.

The Bills can make it back to the playoffs if…

... former Patriots assistant Brian Daboll can make magic happen with a deficient Bills offense. Daboll, who returned to his Buffalo roots this offseason after winning a national title at Alabama, can rely on LeSean McCoy but little else. The Bills will return to the postseason if Daboll can mask the limitations in McCarron or Peterman’s games, or if he can quickly develop Allen into an electric young quarterback who, like Carson Wentz, can immediately change the team around him.

MIAMI DOLPHINS (6-10)
Joe Schad, Palm Beach Post

What’s the general feeling around the team?

Adam Gase feels better about the chemistry and professionalism of the players on this roster, even if this roster is devoid of a handful of Pro Bowl players. The return of Ryan Tannehill and linebacker Raekwon McMillan from knee injuries have provided some hope.

Dominant question heading into camp

Can Gase’s offense be better minus former Pro Bowlers Jarvis Landry and Mike Pouncey?

The entire franchise is hanging it’s hope in belief in Tannehill as more than above-average quarterback, but a difference-maker.

Biggest offseason surprise

The departure of Pouncey, who felt he had the backing of the franchise, particularly Gase. The club made a financial decision also based on concerns about his hip injuries.

Is there an under-the-radar type who has a chance to make a sizable impact?

Robert Quinn. He regressed with the Rams due to injury but appears poised, opposite Cam Wake, to be a 12-plus sack player again.

The Dolphins can make it back to the playoffs if…

... Tannehill stays healthy and turns into a Matt Ryan-Alex Smith-Kirk Cousins type player. Kenyan Drake produces over 16 games as he did over five. Laremy Tunsil is much better and Josh Sitton performs again at a Pro Bowl level. Wake shows no signs of aging. Miami schemes a way to stop the run without Ndamukong Suh. Cordrea Tankersley takes a surprisingly giant step forward. Lots more 2016 luck and lots less 2017 misfortune.