New England Patriots

The Tom Brady-era officially reached its end after he elected to depart to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Now, the team will head into training camp with Cam Newton as the favorite to land the starting role, but he still has to compete with Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer.

With training camp right around the corner, the attention has shifted from Newton at the quarterback spot to the players who have elected to opt-out due to concerns with Covid-19. New England already lost Kyle Van Noy and Jamie Collins to free agency before Dont’a Hightower opted out.

With the defense having played such a pivotal role in the Patriots’ regular-season success in 2019, it’s troubling to lose what they have already lost. They still have an impressive unit overall, but they appear on course to produce lesser results, at least to an extent.

Based on the current landscape of the AFC East, the Patriots face a real threat of being dethroned by the Buffalo Bills. They made aggressive moves to improve highlighted by trading for Stefon Diggs from the Minnesota Vikings with Josh Allen entering his third season.