AFC East Notes: Bills, Dolphins, Patriots

March 7, 2018

Bills

Bills WR Jordan Matthews said that he expects the Bills to monitor the free-agent market before deciding on re-signing him.

“Moving forward, obviously [last season] didn’t work out exactly how we wanted it to,” Matthews said, via Mike Rodak of ESPN. “I think, honestly, where I was going into free agency — especially because I had to go into [knee and ankle] surgery [in December] — everybody [in Buffalo] more so with me was just kind of like, ‘Let’s just see what happens.’ They, just like everyone else around the league, wants to see the nature of my injury and how I come back and how I rehab. And I think they also want to see what happens on the open market, because there’s a bunch of other receivers that coming out right now that are free agents that they might see fitting into their system too. So I’m kind of in that kind of space right now.”

We have him featured in our Top 100 – 2018 NFL Free Agents list.

Dolphins

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald mentions four tight ends for the Dolphins to keep an eye on as day-two prospects in the 2018 NFL Draft, including South Carolina’s Hayden Hurst, South Dakota State’s Dallas Goedert, Penn State’s Mike Gesicki, and Oklahoma’s Mark Andrews.
Jackson also writes that the Dolphins have shown early interest in Indiana’s Ian Thomas and Massachusette’s Adam Breneman.
Regarding the Dolphins’ No. 11 overall pick, Jackson mentions that Miami has been linked to Notre Dame OT Mike McGlinchey and Notre Dame G Quenton Nelson.

Patriots

According to Jeff Howe, Patriots free agent LT Nate Solder could command around $13 million per year on the open market. Howe adds that Solder wants to return to New England and the belief right now is that he would give them some leeway, as long as their offer is competitive.
As for RB Dion Lewis, Howe says he’s “almost certainly gone” could secure a three-year, $18 million deal on the open market.
Howe mentions that WR Danny Amendola will likely secure at least a two-year contract at between $6-$10 million per year.
Howe writes that “Malcolm Butler is gone and the world knows it.“
With Butler no longer in the picture, Howe wouldn’t be surprised if the Patriots monitored the status of Aqib Talib and Richard Sherman this offseason.