The NFL season is over and the Lombardi Trophy will rest in the AFC East till next next year. The season was a thrilling ride and the off-season is only a few weeks away from heating up with the start of free agency right around the corner. After the Patriots pulled off their improbable win in the Super Bowl, the gap between them and the rest of the teams in a division they’ve won six times in a row is significant. With two teams in the division starting over with new head coaches and questions at quarterback, the division looks to be ripe for the Pats’ seventh straight division crown.

Only a few months away from the draft, let’s take a look at the burning questions in the AFC East.

Will the Miami Dolphins Bring Back Mike Wallace?

Over the past two seasons Mike Wallace has put up decent numbers but they haven’t lived up to the price tag the Fins are paying for his abilities. Contributing to the lack of production has been a leaky offensive line that hasn’t protected quarterback Ryan Tannehill well enough, and the one glaring flaw in Tannehill’s game is his deep ball accuracy. Despite the lack of downfield production, Wallace has found the endzone plenty and his skill set opens up the passing game for others. Wallace has been at times a malcontent and his benching in the last game of the year ruffled some feathers. Recently GM Dennis Hickey sat down for a one on one with Wallace and all signs point to him returning next season; although things can change rather quickly if another team offers good value in return for a trade.

Tannehill is the one who’s going to have to deal with him on a play by play basis and when asked if he could play with Wallace next season, Tannehill replied, “Yeah, if Mike’s here, he’s a heck of a player. You saw the things he did this year. You saw some big plays he made and I think he can only get better.”

While the Dolphins should explore all of their options, Miami is in no position to be jettisoning quality players.

Can the New England Patriots work out a long term deal with Darrelle Revis?

When the Patriots acquired Darrelle Revis, it always kind of felt like he would be a one year rental. While a great player, his one year deal seemed to lack the commitment from the franchise to keeping him long term. Now that the Patriots are Super Bowl Champions, it would be foolish of the Pats to not reload in the offseason and make another run at a title. So with those aspirations comes trying to sign the league’s best cover man to a long term deal. This will be no easy feat and the Pats better try to lock him up before he hits the open market where Revis will find multiple suitors. All the teams before New England failed at completing a favorable long term deal that worked for both sides, so don’t expect this negotiation to be a cake walk.

When asked about the impending negotiation, owner Bob Kraft replied, “Hopefully both sides want to make a deal and we’ll be able to get one done. There is no over-ego to him and he’s a great teammate. He’s been a real pleasure to have him as part of the organization.”

With such a glowing endorsement from the owner and the high of being world champs, look for the Patriots to get a deal done.

Do the Jets peg a free agent QB to take the lead or draft their next hopeful leader?

The New York Jets hit the reset button and for good reason, they were terrible last year. With a new head coach in charge and new management in place, the Jets need to evaluate the most important position on the field. Quarterback is the toughest position to fill in the NFL and the Jets have a glaring weakness there. Geno Smith’s last game of the season was an anomaly and not something to expect moving forward; so expect the Jets to move forward without him being the focal point of their plans.

When new head coach Todd Bowles was pressed about the young quarterback his response was pretty non-committal, “It won’t be fair to say he is or isn’t the quarterback,” Bowles said of Smith. “Geno, obviously, is a heck of a football player, but there are things we’ve got to evaluate and judge as a whole team. It’s not just Geno. It’s everybody. He’s the focus because he’s the quarterback, but everybody is going to be judged the same way. It’s an open slate on everybody coming in.”

With that said, look for the Jets to actively shop the free agency market for a veteran QB who can bring stability under center and speed up the rebuilding process for the new regime.

Have the Buffalo Bills truly given up on EJ Manuel?

Despite finishing the year with their first winning record in quite some time, the Bills find themselves almost in a rebuilding state. Their tumultuous off-season watched their starting quarterback retire and their head coach opt out of his contract to chase more money. While the Bills seem to have come out of that stretch with an upgrade at head coach in former Jets head Coach Rex Ryan, he takes over a team with a similar glaring issue a the one he left, who is their quarterback?

While the Bills do have a young former first-round pick on their roster; with new ownership and a new regime, will the Bills give EJ Manuel one last chance to blossom into the QB they hoped he would be when they drafted him?

The odds don’t look so good for the former Seminole star as a particular free agent is already on Rex Ryan’s mind.

“Certainly, [Sanchez] will be a guy under consideration,” Ryan told reporters when asked about the free agent quarterback. “We’ll explore every avenue. If we think there’s a free agent like Mark or somebody else out there that we think can help us, then we’ll absolutely explore it. We’ve briefly talked about some possibilities out there. We’ll definitely look into anybody that we think can help us.”