Buffalo Rumblings
A South Beach change in philosophy?
Well Buffalo Bills fans, we’ve arrived at peak hope season on the NFL calendar. The ebbs and flows of the offseason can be meaningful, especially during the main player acquisition phase that runs from March until the end of the April.
If a team hasn’t done anything in the first few hours of the free-agency negotiating window, the murmurs of disapproval begin in the dark corners of the internet. Conversely, if a team makes a widely approved big splash in the NFL Draft with a consensus player, the optimism for the coming year or years isn’t just restored, but amplified. And between these two polar opposite reactions, there are many other inflection points ranging from detached apathy to mild and optimistic curiosity.
Just a few weeks after the NFL Draft, we reach a point where fan bases (overall) have completely bought into their teams’ draft classes. They’ve watched all the hype videos and seen the behind-the-scenes moments of draft night — that clearly prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the players selected by their team were the ideal and most desired picks at every single spot.
People are ready to believe. But it’s not just Bills Mafia that’s ready. The remainder of the AFC East teams made moves to inspire hope in their respective fan bases as well. We’ve already discussed the 2025 NFL Draft acquisitions made by the New England Patriots, Over the next two weeks, we’ll touch on the New York Jersey Jets and Miami Dolphins as well.
Of those two, let’s prioritize the team that’s come the closest in recent years to knocking off the Bills from their current perch as AFC East divisional kings: the Dolphins.
The notion that the Dolphins were a “soft” team has permeated even their own fan base in recent years. Having speedsters like Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle catching passes from Tua Tagovailoa and the diminutive De’Von Achane destroying safety angles was always going to represent the fast identity of the team. However, not having enough high-level players on the offensive and defensive lines and the overall lack of willingness to run the ball and play power football have led cemented negative thoughts about those explosive elements.
The fact that they had a three-game lead on the Bills for the division with five games to play and ended up losing out on the division (being sent to frigid Kansas City to lose 26-7 to the...
