Who is the player coming back from injury who will be key to each AFC East team?

We choose a player for each club in the sector whose return from physical problems will be critical during the 2022 regular season

Every year, there is only one team that breaks the champagne and raises the Vince Lombardi Trophyand 31 other clubs left disappointed, defeated, thinking how different things might have been under other circumstances.

Among these often unavoidable circumstances, injuries play a predominant role. With the arrival of the new season, many teams begin to recover some players who could not finish last season due to injury, or who had to endure some stretch of the calendar decimated by injury.

While the teams of the NFL are getting ready for the last phase of preparation to face the regular season, that is, the training camps and the preseason, it is worth reviewing which are the key players who, in case they return from injuries in good shape, will give an important boost to the clubs once they can return to activity.

We start with the four teams of the AFC East:

AFC EAST

The deadly sin of Bills in the past playoffs, was not kicking a “squib kick” in the final moments of regulation, giving the chiefs one last chance with the clock stopped at 13 seconds to take the game into overtime, where Buffalo no longer saw the ball.

It is impossible to know what would have happened, but it is certain that the possibilities of the Bills They would have improved if they had had their best defensive player on the pitch.

White suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the Thanksgiving Day –accompanied by meniscus damage–, and underwent surgery in mid-December. Typically, these types of injuries require 11 to 12 months, although there have been numerous cases of players returning to activity in less time.

At the end of May, the head coach Sean McDermott mentioned that White He was going “on schedule” in his recovery, although he did not offer any exact date for that recovery. The only thing clear is that it is unlikely that White be ready before the start of the new season, by the time your injury occurred.

More than a problem of a particular injury, with Tagovailoa it is a series of problems over time. Sure, there’s the hip fracture and dislocation suffered as a college student in Alabamabut also, he has suffered from rib and finger problems since he has been a professional.

The main question for Tagovailoa Facing the Draft 2020 it had to do with its durability. To be fair, the injuries he has sustained in the NFL so far they are more the result of bad luck than a lack of durability, but it is a fact that it has not managed to be consistent enough to Miami yet, neither in its performance nor in its availability.

The dolphins they didn’t help matters much last year, fielding one of the worst offensive lines in the entire league. That unit should improve markedly this year with the addition of Terron Armstead as a left tackle. However, he can only play one position, so dolphins will continue to be forced to line up with highly unreliable players like Liam Eichenberg, Robert Hunt, austin jackson, Solomon Kindley either Greg Little in at least two, or three, of his five starting positions.

For many reasons, Tagovailoa In 2020, he faces a critical season for his career, not only as a professional player, but as an employee of the dolphins. Staying on the field week after week will be an important part of being able to answer questions.

It is no secret to anyone, the importance of the role that White for the offensive of the patriots. So when he was injured after three games last year, and was out for the rest of the season, New England he lost an important facet of his attack, without the aerial game that he brings White from the backfield.

“It’s like, you can’t imagine being able to run and move and do things of that nature,” he explained. White regarding the hip subluxation suffered in 2021, to the web portal of the patriots at the end of May. “So I had a hard time imagining myself on a football field, at first, but I think the more and more rehab I did, the better I felt, and you start to build that kind of confidence again. Everybody’s been doing a great job of being patient and helping me do whatever it takes to make myself feel better. So, it’s been working for me.”

There is no estimated timeframe for when you can return White to the total activity with New England, but the mere fact that he renewed his contract, for two seasons, last March. the backfield of New England looks pretty crowded now, but there will always be room and a prominent role for White –one of the favorites of Bill Belichick–, as long as he’s healthy.

Lawson was the star defensive signing for the jets during the 2021 offseason, but ruptured his Achilles tendon during training camp, and he missed the entire season.

Although he did not participate in the organized activities of the team of the jets in the past month, Lawson he did tell the media that he expected to be ready by the time training camp starts in late July.

The New York infield is in the midst of an extensive defensive rebuild, with many pointing to the rookie Jermaine Johnson II, selected in the first round of the last draft, as one of the potential key pieces. But don’t fall asleep on Lawsonwith the possibility of forming one of the strongest defensive end duos in the league, if he gets back to the level he was in 2020. The interior of the line looks very strong with Quinn Williams Y Sheldon Rankinbut they will need outside help.