AFC East Notes: Bills, Dolphins, Jets

Bills

• Bills CB Kevin Johnson missed practice Wednesday with a knee injury, per ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques)
• Bills signed LB Tyrel Dodson and OT Brandon Hitner to their practice squad. (NFLTR)
• Bills released DE Wyatt Ray from their practice squad. 

Dolphins

Dolphins RB Kalen Ballage earned the starting nod from Miami to start the season but fell on the depth chart after a rough start and the emergence of RB Mark Walton. Now that Walton is suspended and the Dolphins have traded RB Kenyan Drake to the Cardinals, Ballage will have another shot at the starting role as the only back on the roster to have taken an offensive snap this season. 

“He’s somebody that I’ve spoken about throughout the years, someone I have a tremendous amount of confidence in and I look forward to having him having an increased opportunity, and I think this is it,” Dolphins OC Chad O’Shea said via Alain Poupart of the team’s official website. “He’s going to get a chance to go out there with Mark’s suspension and he’s going to have a great opportunity. And I know he’s done some things in his preparation and in practice that we have confidence that he’s going to make the most out of his opportunity. He’s worked extremely hard. He’s been very focused through times of maybe not as many opportunities as he saw himself having at this point thus far, but now he’s going to have the opportunity. Hopefully his hard work and all his preparation will really result into being the player that he wants to be.”

• Dolphins OT Julie’n Davenport practiced in pads for the first time Wednesday as he comes back from injured reserve. The Dolphins have still not made a decision on the other player to return between LB Andrew Van Ginkel and DL Jonathan Ledbetter. (Barry Jackson)
• Flores told reporters Dolphins S Reshad Jones is getting closer to returning to the field: “It’s still early in the week. No decisions have been made.” (Adam Beasley)
• Flores clarified that the Dolphins did not cut DT Robert Nkemdiche because of rumored tardiness issues: “I like Robert Nkemdiche. He’s a hard-working kid. We needed to make a change on the roster. It just didn’t work out.” (Beasley)
• The coaching staff highlighted WR Preston Williams, DT Christian Wilkins, G Michael Deiter, G Shaq Calhoun and CB Nik Needham as rookies who have been impressive. (Jackson)

Jets

• Pro Football Network’s Tony Pauline doesn’t expect the Jets to fire HC Adam Gase during the season unless the locker room completely revolts. 
• According to CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora, if the Jets end up getting swept by the Dolphins and drop a game to the winless Bengals, it could end up pushing Gase out. 
• Jets RB Le’Veon Bell missed practice Wednesday with a sore knee and ankle, however, Gase said the MRI showed no structural damage and Bell should be fine. (Rich Cimini)
• Jets TE Chris Herndon (hamstring) practiced in full for the first time since suffering his injury a few weeks ago. (Manish Mehta)