With the AFC East in the midst of a possible shakeup, sports radio talk show host Pat McAfee believes that the Miami Dolphins are in a position to dethrone the New England Patriots as division champions.
McAfee, a former NFL punter for the Indianapolis Colts, went through the different divisions and offered his thoughts (at approximately the 1:30 mark) on how things might transpire in the AFC East in 2020.
“In the AFC East, I got the Miami Dolphins taking it down,” McAfee said. “The Buffalo Bills will be tied with them maybe, so maybe the Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins tying. Patriots see a little bit of a stumble for the first time in 20 years because they don’t know who their quarterback is just yet.”
The chief reason why the Patriots are now vulnerable is because Tom Brady, who led the franchise to six Super Bowl titles over the past two decades, signed as a free agent with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
At the end of November 2019, the idea that the Dolphins might be in contention for the AFC East division title would be seen as ludicrous. The Dolphins, at that point, had a 2-9 record and appeared to be in strong contention for the top pick in the 2020 draft.
However, during the final month of play, the Dolphins won three of their last five games and followed that with some solid signings during the free-agency period.
In last week’s draft, the Dolphins then used their wealth of selections to choose key building blocks for the future, such as University of Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
Of course, preseason predictions have to translate to wins on the field and right now, the Dolphins and other NFL teams can’t get on any field due to the continuing coronavirus pandemic.
Exactly when teams can begin preparing for the 2020 season together remains unknown, but it’s clear that the Dolphins are generating excitement for the upcoming campaign.
