AFC preview: No Rob Gronkowski, no problem for Patriots; love for new Broncos Vic Fangio

Hoping wide receiver Josh Gordon doesn’t screw up his latest chance to restart his career. He’ll be the Patriots top outside option as long as he stays clean.

In the nine years tight end Rob Gronkowski was a Patriot, New England won three Super Bowls and lost another. In the nine years prior to Gronk coming into the league, they won three titles and lost one. With Gronkowski retired, Matt Lacosse will be the tight end until Ben Watson comes back from suspension.

Center David Andrews is out for the year because of blood clots in his lungs. New England traded for Buffalo veteran Russell Bodine on Saturday. They also have Ted Karras, a great-nephew of late Hall of Famer Alex Karras,.

Rookie Devin Singletary figures to be the beneficiary of LeSean McCoy’s release on cutdown day. Singletary ran for 32 touchdowns as a sophomore at Florida Atlantic in 2017. He’s 5-9, 200, and nicknamed “Motor.”

Cole Beasley should be a fine security blanket for Allen, the second-years QB. Beasley won’t hurt defenses with yards-after-catch, but he should improve on the 65 receptions he had last year in Dallas.

Zay Jones, the team’s leading receiver, probably wouldn’t mind his parents staying off Twitter. Mom intimated the Bills were going to cut Jones. Dad got into a snit about Beasley and the fans. This is why kids insist on getting dropped off by their parents a block away from school.

Hired Adam Gase to be the head coach two weeks after the Dolphins fired him. So much for the Rooney Rule.

Sam Darnold showed promise as a rookie last year and Gase has a reputation of developing quarterbacks (though maybe not Ryan Tannehill in Miami).

The Jets went defense with their first two draft picks, but they did add the best running back on the market. If tackle Andre Dillard continues his impressive play with the Eagles, New York might one day regret not trading down and getting Darnold some five-star protection.

Plucked Brian Flores away from New England to try to end a painful drought of 18 seasons since they last won a playoff game. Flores is the ninth coach, counting interims, since Jay Fiedler beat Peyton Manning in a 2000 wildcard game.

Ryan Fitzpatrick will be the opening-day starting quarterback as the Dolphins figure out if former Cardinals first-round pick Josh Rosen is salvageable. Former Colts and Lions head coach Jim Caldwell was brought in to coach the quarterbacks and serve as an assistant to Flores.

Expectations are low in Miami, but that Week 13 visit from Eagles fans ought to be a hoot. Hear the locals are gonna keep the windows boarded up even if there aren’t any hurricanes nearby.

Antonio Brown did everything but sit-ups in his driveway to get Pittsburgh to deal him to Oakland. In fact, he’s still chirping at quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

Pittsburgh received a third-rounder (WR Diontae Johnson) and a fifth-rounder (TE Zach Gentry) for Brown. Neither will be counted on heavily this season.

T.J. Watt’s 20 sacks are the most ever by Pittsburgh player over his first two seasons. Reminder that sacks became an official stat in 1982, after the glory years of the “Steel Curtain” defense.

Lost four starters from last year’s top-ranked defense, but brought in former all-Pro Thomas from Seattle. Secondary should be the strength of the unit.

Should be 2-0 heading into a Week 3 trip to Kansas City. Took the Chiefs to overtime in Kansas City last December.

David Culley, a former Eagles assistant who worked with Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, was brought to coach the wide receivers and coordinate the passing game.

Last year’s finish, plus the acquisition of Odell Beckham Jr., have optimism out of control in Cleveland. Good for their fans, though. The Browns haven’t been to the playoffs since 2002.

Even the TV networks are on board. Three of the Browns first five games are in prime-time. Anybody who’s followed Cleveland’s sports misery over the decades is just bracing for the inevitable disaster.

They already love Baker Mayfield, but his popularity skyrocketed when he shot-gunned a beer at an Indians game in early August. Soon after, the Tribe erupted for five runs and beat the Angels, 7-2.

Star WR A.J. Green had ankle surgery shortly after training camp began and will miss a few games. Green, 31, is not signed beyond 2019.

First-round pick Jonah Williams was supposed to be the starting left tackle. Instead, he injured himself in spring drills and will probably miss the season.

Zac Taylor was the Rams QB coach last season. This is the first head coaching job for Taylor, who turned 36 in May.

Lost the contract standoff withe Jadeveon Clowney and were virtually forced to ship him to Seattle. Clowney has 18.5 sacks over the last two seasons. Houston does not play Seattle this season.

Texans’ offensive line gave up 62 sacks and 126 QB hits last season, both league highs.

Opened 0-3 last year, but made an unlikely playoff run. Their first three this year are at New Orleans, home with Jacksonville, at L.A. Chargers. Looks like another slow start could be possible.

Ryan Tannehill looked much better in camp than Mariota, which is a storyline to follow should there be a slow start.

Mariota was sacked a career-high 42 times last season, so the Titans brought in free agent guard Rodger Saffold and retooled the offensive line.

The return of 35-year-old tight end Delanie Walker will help. He missed just about all of 2018 with a dislocated ankle. From 2014 to 2017, Walker averaged 113 targets per season.

Andrew Luck’s sudden retirement was the biggest shock of the NFL preseason. Turn to Jacoby Brissett, who started 16 games for the Colts in 2017. If Frank Reich gets 10 wins out of this group, he’ll be up for coach of the year.

Temple rookie Rock Ya-Sin made a strong push to be one of the starting corners coming out training camp. His first assignment is a tough one: at Philip Rivers and the Chargers.

Another second-round rookie, wide receiver Parris Campbell, also will be a regular contributor. This division is up for grabs.

Foles is wearing No. 7 for Jacksonville, not the number he had when he was here. “No. 9 stays in Philadelphia,” he told NBCSP’s Derrick Gunn. “That number means a lot to me. It pertains to that city.”

Another Temple rookie, Ryquell Armstead, will back up Leonard Fournette at running back. His first meeting with Ya-Sin is Week 11 at Indianapolis.

Linebacker Telvin Smith, the Jaguars leading tackler the last two seasons,, cryptically walked away from football in the spring “to get my world in order.”

Andy Reid, who turned 61 in March, needs five wins to become the eighth coach with 200 regular season wins. With six wins, he’ll pass Marty Schottenheimer for most career wins without a Super Bowl title -- among modern coaches, of course. George Halas, and some of his contemporaries are not included.

Tyreek Hill avoided suspension after he was cleared of child-abuse allegations. He will be in the lineup for Week 1 where he can expect to see plenty of Jacksonville star cornerback Jalen Ramsey. Cool.

Brought in DE Frank Clark, FS Tyrann Mathieu, and coordinator Steve Spagnuolo to try to fix the defense, which was 31st in yards allowed and 24th in points. Gave up 524 yards and 37 points in the overtime loss to New England in the conference championship.

The Melvin Gordon holdout dominated camp, but losing strong safety Derwin James to a stress fracture in his foot was just as unfortunate. James, All-Pro as a rookie last year, might be out until December.

Will play the Chiefs in Week 11 on a Monday night at the same stadium in Mexico that was unplayable last season when the Rams were supposed to play the Chiefs.

Delaware product Nasir Adderley, a second-round pick, struggled with a hamstring injury throughout the summer, but was able to play in the final preseason game where he had one interception and could have had two others.

New Jersey sports-betting app PointsBet is offering 16-1 odds on Antonio Brown to lead the league in receiving yards and/or TD receptions. They have him at 20-1 to lead the league in receptions.

Brown gets a lot of the attention, but the signing of Tyrell Williams from the Chargers gives the Raiders a viable No. 2 receiver.

The Raiders aren’t just leaving for Las Vegas after the season, they’re only playing seven home games in Oakland. That Bears game above is one of their home games.

After 11 years in Baltimore, Joe Flacco was traded for a fourth-round pick. “We feel like he’s in his prime,” general manager John Elway said over the summer. “At least we hope he is.”

Denver replaced head coach Vance Joseph with Vic Fangio, the former Bears defensive coordinator whose first professional job was with the USFL’s Philadelphia Stars in 1984.

Von Miller (14.5) and Bradley Chubb (12.0) are the only returning teammates who had double-digit sacks last season.