With the 2018-2019 NFL season quickly approaching, it’s time for grown men to make educated guesses about how the league will shape up come January.

Here at The Sports Fan Tribune, we will be making our first official predictions for this coming season, starting out with a new segment called Padre’s Picks. In the newest section of our site, my dad will make his picks and predictions for any players, teams, divisions, conferences, leagues, etc.

For our inaugural edition of Padre’s Picks, we will be delving into the predictions for the AFC East this season, so without further ado, let’s get things started.

AFC East

Football is back, so it’s time for predictions and hard truths.

New England Patriots (13-3)

The Patriots over the past 17 years pic.twitter.com/SHVr7Rgp0b — Tom Brady's Ego (@TomBradysEgo) August 7, 2018

So, let’s start with the obvious: the Patriots will win their two-millionth consecutive division title. A 3-year-old child from an African village who has never left their small village and seen the outside world can tell you that. However, is it starting to seem like Brady is the NFL’s version of LeBron James? He gets to the Super Bowl every year because he plays in a weak conference. Let’s be real, other than the Patriots, all the really good teams are in the NFC. If you’re counting the Steelers as being the second-best team in the AFC, where would they rate in the NFC? I’d say behind the Philadelphia Eagles, New Orleans Saints, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, and Los Angeles Rams. Depending who you ask, they may also be behind or at best equal to the Carolina Panthers, Atlanta Falcons, Dallas Cowboys, Detroit Lions, and Seattle Seahawks. That’s practically half the conference.

Miami Dolphins (8-8)

Why are Dolphins fans thirsty for TE Mike Gesicki to succeed? https://t.co/jyqDycFN1k — Antwan V. Staley (@antwanstaley) August 8, 2018

Ok, let’s keep in mind that I’m a Dolphin fan, but I’ll try to be as fair as possible. You hear a lot about their off-season losses, which aren’t really that bad. Suh is a loss, but more because of name recognition than anything else. He was never great with the Dolphins. The Mike Pouncey loss means that they’ll be worse off for the two games he seemed to play per year. However, the third loss is a big one with Jarvis Landry going to the Cleveland Browns. He not only caught seemingly every pass the Dolphins threw, but he ran after the catch like a starving man chasing a chicken. Their most positive preseason move was getting rid of Jay Cutler who was awful. I think there’s a lot more upside, but probably not enough to make that much noise in the grand scheme of things.

New York Jets (6-10 w/Bridgewater or McCown, 4-12 w/Darnold)

Jamal Adams sounds off on OBJ, Josh Allen and more, and claims he’s the answer for the Jets’ Super Bowl drought: “It was in God’s plans. That was my calling: to change the franchise.” https://t.co/Kfm13GLAFP pic.twitter.com/CUdsha2D9T — Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 7, 2018

This is an interesting team. Not good, but interesting. They decided to stockpile on quarterbacks which doesn’t make much sense. Josh McCown had some success last season, but he’s a 100-year-old backup; they signed Teddy Bridgewater, who’s been hurt for a couple year but has some upside when healthy; and they drafted Sam Darnold to be the quarterback of their future. So, what they’re going to do is anyone’s guess. At least they have a solid offensive line and run game. HAHAHA… just kidding. Their O-line is below-average and they lost running back Matt Forte and replaced him with someone that Cleveland didn’t want in Isaiah Crowell. At least they have Bilal Powell who’s only good for five or six games a season due to injury. The defeense should be better than mid-pack, but not by much. They did go out and get a legitimate number one cornerback and have a stud defensive tackle, but with no pass rush, it won’t make much of a difference. Another long season for the Jets is coming.

Buffalo Bills (5-11 w/McCarron, 4-12 w/Peterman, 2-14 w/Allen)

No one can keep up with his moves.@TreWhite16. Mic'd up. You don't want to miss this. 😂 pic.twitter.com/EVGNF9grG3 — Buffalo Bills (@buffalobills) August 8, 2018

It took the Bulls 17 years to finally get back to the playoffs, so what do they do after that long absence? Get rid of your starting quarterback and replace him with a pile of bodies that seem better suited to be extras on The Walking Dead than starting for an NFL team. Ok, that was a little harsh, so let’s take a closer look. First we have AJ McCarron. Now, in his defense, he did win back-to-back National Championships at Alabama, but he has never been an NFL starting quarterback. Next we have Nate Pickerman, I’m sorry, Peterman. peterman had the worst game in the 50-plus year history of the NFL with five interceptions in the first half on 14 pass attempts. Think about it this way. If he threw the ball into the ground all 14 pass attempts, his passer rating would have increased to a 39.58 from the 38.4 he had and his team may actually have had a chance to win. The last of the lot is Josh Allen, the biggest question mark of the group, but would he be better than Tyrod Taylor?

Stayed tuned for the next Padre’s Picks as we get deeper into the rest of the divisions in the NFL!