Who Had the AFC’s Best Offseason?

The NFL Live crew, Mike Golic and Chris Carter, recently debated which teams had the best and worse offseasons in each conference. You can watch Golic and Carter’s reasoning behind their responses on the ESPN’s AFC East Blog, but to make a long story short, Golic, who surprisingly diverted away from his Jets worshiping ways, thinks the Ravens had the AFC’s best offseason and the Bills had the worse, while Chris Carter gave the Dolphins some love by selecting them as the offseason class of the conference, and gave the Steelers the dead last rank.

So who’s right here? Did Baltimore outshine Miami, by solidifying their receiving core with Anquan Boldin and Donte Stallworth, and selecting Sergio Kindle and Terrance Cody, two prospects could have easily gone on day one, in the second round of the draft? Or does the combination of bringing in Mike Nolan to improve the defense, signing a playmaking inside linebacker in Karlos Dansby, and trading for Brandon Marshall, give the Dolphins the edge?

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Who’s to say either are right? I’m sure plenty of people would like to make a case for the Jets, and John Clayton surprisingly gave the Patriots the crown of the offseason after they locked up the likes of Vince Wilfork, Stephen Neal, Tully-Banta Cain, and Leigh Bodden.

Of course, we won’t know the real answer until these players actually take the field, but in the meantime it’s interesting to see who likes who’s additions better on paper.

In my opinion, I think Golic and Carter nailed it on the head. Obviously, I haven’t been this excited about what the Dolphins have done in an offseason in years, but I also love what the Ravens did.

It’s tough to pick between the two, but I will have to go homer on this one. Mainly, because I think many people over-look the addition of Mike Nolan. The guy has a proven track record of turning around bottom feeder defenses, and giving him a playmaker at inside linebacker to play with doesn’t hurt either. And that’s not even mentioning that the offense finally has the potential to be great, with a true number one receiver that will open up the passing game, which should give an already elite running game more room to work with.

I will say though, that the Ravens should still be thought of as the better team. They were a top five defense a year ago, and had the 13th overall offense, which, just like Miami, has the potential to be a great unit now that there are legitimate weapons at receiver to go with already dominate rushing attack, and an emerging franchise quarterback.

If I had to make my power rankings today, Baltimore may be atop the conference. But that’s just me. All biases aside, who do you think had the best offseason in the AFC? Give answers in the comments section.