The first big wave of free agency is over as it has been a week since the start of the NFL’s legal tampering period. We have seen a lot of moves this past week and it’s brough a lot of joy and disappointment to fans.
Within the AFC East, the main goal for the Buffalo Bills’ rivals is to find a way to take down Josh Allen and the Bills. Every year for the past five seasons, the Bills have dominated the division, as well as won it in the later weeks of the regular season (right Miami?).
In this free agency frenzy, we saw each AFC East team make their signings. Some of them are solid signings, while others are laughable. For various factors such as the size of the contract, or even just the overall talent, the AFC East outside of Buffalo made some laughable signings.
Which AFC East signings were bad?
Patriots signing DT Milton Williams
Kicking it off with a controverisal pick, the New England Patriots made the biggest splash with signing defensive tackle Milton Williams to a ginormous four-year, $104 million deal where he gets $63 million guaranteed. There’s no doubt that Williams has shown flashes of being a game-changer, but it’s such a small sample size for a guy that has only a season-high of five sacks.
Not to mention, it also helps that he got to rotate in with Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter so them two did a lot of damage, which helped Williams for sure. Now, Williams is being brought in on a massive contract to be the game-wrecking player that the Patriots are hoping he becomes.
Giving this kind of deal to a player with a lot of potential, but not a whole lot of production (starting no more than 10 games in a season), is a risky move for New England.
Dolphins signing QB Zach Wilson
This was quite the signing that maybe a lot of fans weren’t expecting. However, given Tua Tagovailoa’s injury history, maybe Zach Wilson will get some playing time. The Dolphins signed Wilson to a one-year, $6 million deal to basically be a backup. Paying $6 million to a backup is completely hilarious.
Not to mention, Wilson just simply isn’t a starting caliber quarterback in this league. Even being in a mess with the New York Jets, Wilson was a bust for the Jets as a former No. 2 overall pick. If Wilson is forced to play some games this year with Miami, Dolphins fans should be absolutely scared.
Jets signing CB Brandon Stephens
The Jets needed a replacement for DJ Reed, who signed with the Detroit Lions. However, signing former Ravens cornerback Brandon Stephens to a three-year, $36 million deal is hilarious.
Stephens was horrendous with the Ravens last season, allowing a career-high 13.7 yards per completion and allowed a 106.1 passer rating (second highest of his career). In back-to-back seasons, Stephens has been targeted 100+ times and has allowed a 63.8% competition percentage. Yeah, Stephens won’t be the player that Reed was.
Jets signing QB Justin Fields
We’ve got the next quarterback for the New York (New Jersey) Jets in quarterback Justin Fields. After moving on from Aaron Rodgers, the Jets signed Fields to a two-year, $40 million deal to come throw passes to his former college teammate, Garrett Wilson.
To Fields’ credit, getting drafted to the Chicago Bears in a terrible situation was not his fault. He had the chance to bounce back with the Pittsburgh Steelers last season, but was given six games to start in. Now he joins a Jets franchise that is rebuilding and the new regime that was brought in is completely new.
There is no proven stability and Fields now gets to join another organization much like Chicago. He isn’t a great passer whatsoever and he will be behind an offensive line that has some serious improvements to make.