The Patriots shocked everyone, even their most loyal fans, during the 2025 offseason by not just winning 14 games and the AFC East, but also holding onto the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs to eventually represent the conference in the Super Bowl against the Seahawks.
They were not expected to do much in Year 1 under Mike Vrabel, although there was plenty of optimism that they would improve with his experience as a head coach. And now that they're coming off an unexpectedly successful season, there's even more pressure to deliver, despite their much more difficult schedule ahead.
Because of that, they needed to make massive improvements to the roster and hope their biggest rivals wouldn't do the same. For the most part, the division didn't make many upgrades, other than the Bills trading for WR DJ Moore, while the Dolphins and Jets brought in new quarterbacks.
But fortunately for New England, early predictions for those quarterbacks, Malik Willis with the Dolphins and Geno Smith with the Jets, aren't all that promising, and that's a big bonus for the Patriots, who might need all the help they can get.
AFC East quarterback outlook is exactly what the Patriots need to improve their divisional chances
While looking ahead to the 2026 season, Bleacher Report's Kristopher Knox believes there are eight quarterbacks who might be benched at some point, with the two AFC East starters among the names.
Although the list isn't exactly surprising, seeing Smith and Willis on it could be crucial to the Patriots' hopes of holding onto the divisional crown for another season, and could be what separates them just enough from the Bills to get it done.
Neither the Dolphins nor the Jets has a long-term solution at quarterback, so that's why they're testing out Smith and Willis. If the experiment somehow works, then maybe they're onto something, and they deserve more credit for having faith in those players.
On the other hand, there's a chance they are setting their teams back even further from contention, which is saying a lot, considering neither has been anywhere near the playoffs in a long, long time.
That would not only be the ideal scenario for the Patriots, but also the most plausible, given the Dolphins' and Jets' histories and the lackluster careers of both quarterbacks. That couldn't be a better situation for the Patriots as they continue their path back to the Super Bowl.
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