Don't Doze: AFC East

By: Josh Frey-Sam

We end our Don’t Doze series with the AFC East — a division that is equal parts Super Bowl hopefuls and bottom feeders.

The Buffalo Bills are the fascinating team to watch. I wasn’t a fan of the Joe Brady hire; I thought it was a lateral move at best. But you have a chance anytime you have Josh Allen.

The New England Patriots are obvious regression candidates after a favourable regular season schedule and face-planting in the Super Bowl, but I do see them returning to the playoffs with an improved roster.

Meanwhile, the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins are both candidates for a top-10 pick.

But there is value to be had on each of these teams. With that, here is one sleeper from each team in the AFC East:

Buffalo Bills: Dalton Kincaid, TE

This is a great year to punt on tight end, and Kincaid will be one of those players I’m targeting in mid-to-late rounds.

The negative is obvious. We’ve been waiting for a breakout from Kincaid for a couple of years now, which hasn’t happened because he’s had trouble staying on the field.

Kincaid has missed nine games over the last two seasons, including five last year.

The positive is that in the 12 games he was healthy last season, Kincaid’s 2.91 yards per route run and 11.65 yards per target were the best of any tight end. Simply put, he was well on his way to a breakout before getting injured.

With a 29-year-old DJ Moore being the only meaningful addition to the receiving core, Kincaid is trending toward another season of heavy involvement, but is being overlooked due to his injury history.

Kincaid is going in the eighth-ninth round of drafts right now.

New England Patriots: Romeo Doubs, WR

Doubs’ run as a WR1 lasted a little over three months, but don’t discount what his role will be in the Patriots’ offence.

Yes, AJ Brown will be the unquestioned No. 1 in this offence, but the Pats didn’t give Doubs a four-year contract with nearly $40 million guaranteed to have him do cardio.

Per my conversation with beat writer Alex Barth for the Summer Series earlier this off-season, Doubs will be used in the slot a lot and should see a lot of targets in the short-mid areas.

While his upside is rather limited due to the lack of touchdowns he’ll likely score this season, he has a rather high floor as a WR3 for fantasy who can flirt as a flex option or great bye week fill-in.

If your roster is a heavy-RB build, you should look to Doubs to round out your WR depth.

Miami Dolphins: Greg Dulcich, TE

This seems to be the only answer in the Miami Dolphins’ offence.

While some players like Jalen Tolbert or Caleb Douglas could intrigue fantasy owners, all signs have pointed to Dulcich having a solid season.

Although it was just OTAs, reports were that Dulcich was Malik Willis’ favourite target during the earlier parts of the off-season, and with the lack of target competition that exists, it’s easy to see why.

Interestingly, Dulcich ranked second among all tight ends who ran at least 100 routes last season, behind Kincaid, with 2.36 yards per route run.

Despite the Dolphins bringing in a new regime, Dulcich was brought back on a one-year $3.25 million deal, signalling that the new coaches like what they have in him.

While Dulcich is far from a league-winner, he does present some potential value as a top-10 TE this season, especially when considering Miami will be in a passing game script for most of the year.

New York Jets: Adonai Mitchell, WR

Mitchell was one of my favourite WR coming out of college two years ago. He’s a downfield and red zone threat with a great catch radius.

He never really got a chance in Indianapolis, but was traded to the New York Jets as a part of the Sauce Gardner deal last season.

Mitchell, still just 23, didn’t have much production while catching passes from the likes of Brady Cook upon arriving in East Rutherford, but now he’s locked in as a starter and will be catching passes from Geno Smith, who is one of the more aggressive quarterbacks in the league.

While Mitchell might profile as a boom-or-bust fantasy asset, his home run ability pairs nicely with Geno’s tendencies. The pair were reported to be displaying great chemistry in the early portions of the off-season, which makes Mitchell an intriguing late-round dart throw.

Thanks for reading and, as always, have a great day.

Josh