The AFC East has been dominated by the Patriots for the past 15 years (aka the Brady/Belichick era), to a degree that hasn’t been otherwise seen in NFL history. The Patriots won the division title in 13 of those years. The two losses, to the Jets in 2002 and the Dolphins in 2008, came down to tiebreakers.
That doesn’t mean that division titles are always all but guaranteed, that division games aren’t still typically a bit tougher than non division games (math on that at the end of the article), or that we shouldn’t pay attention to what is happening with those other teams in the offseason.
Let’s take a look at the coaching staff of each team, the biggest “skill” names on each side of the ball (non offensive linemen, basically), and some of the offseason moves they’ve made.