AFC East Notes: Bills, Dolphins, Patriots

Bills

Now that the Bills have moved on from RB Frank Gore, 2019 third-round RB Devin Singletary is set to take on a much larger role. Whether or not the Bills rely on Singletary as a workhorse likely depends on when or if they take a back in the upcoming draft. Regardless of what happens, Bill GM Brandon Beane said he has the ultimate confidence in Singletary. 

“I think Devin can do either or. He’s an unselfish player,” Beane said via Pro Football Talk. “If we want him to be the workload guy, I think he could definitely do it. I think Year Two is going to be better for him.”

Dolphins

• ESPN’s Cameron Wolfe confirms the Dolphins like LSU QB Joe Burrow a lot. He also reports Burrow would be happy to play in Miami if the team somehow pulled off a trade for the No. 1 overall pick. 
• Beyond the question of whether Cincinnati is willing to move down, Wolfe adds the Dolphins have to weigh whether Burrow is worth a treasure trove of draft picks likely including at least two first-round picks and two second-round picks. 
• Pro Football Network’s Tony Pauline reports his indication is the Dolphins don’t plan to move up for Burrow.
• He adds he’s hearing Miami still prefers Tagovailoa to Herbert but would be just as happy with Herbert. Pauline says the Dolphins’ interest in Herbert is real and has existed for years. 
• According to Daniel Jeremiah, people around the league believe the Dolphins are “very split” between Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa and Oregon QB Justin Herbert with the No. 5 overall pick. 
• Jeremiah mentions that Herbert may have a “leg up” on Tagavailoa because he does not have any health concerns and participated in the Senior Bowl, the NFL Combine, and held his Pro Day where the Dolphins’ staff was “well represented.” 
• Former NFL GM Michael Lombardi says at least one NFL team failed Tagovailoa on his physical at the Combine due in part to other issues besides his hip: “He broke his wrist the first day of spring ball one year. And then they fixed it, he came back, and he broke it again.” (Armando Salguero)
• The Miami Herald confirmed one broken wrist for Tagovailoa. The second instance Lombardi references would be new information if true. 
• Per Bleacher Report’s Mike Freeman, an AFC assistant coach thinks the Dolphins make sense as a landing spot for QB Cam Newton: “They’ll probably pick [Tagovailoa], and that would be a smart choice, but they should give strong consideration to Newton. He still has three or four really good years left.”

Patriots

• On Wednesday, Tom Brady said he knew prior to starting the 2019 season that he would sign with a new team this offseason. Ian Rapoport reports the Patriots held out hope that Brady would re-sign with them all the way up to him joining the Buccaneers. 
• According to Rapoport, the Patriots were waiting for any kind of indication that Brady would like to re-sign, but that never happened. 
• Per Bleacher Report’s Mike Freeman, an AFC assistant coach thinks the Patriots make sense as a landing spot for QB Cam Newton: “I wouldn’t be stunned if this happened.”
• NESN’s Doug Kyed points out the Patriots could still trade TE Rob Gronkowski while he’s on the reserve/retired list if he wanted to come out of retirement and a team like the Buccaneers were interested. 
• Vandalism charges against Patriots WR Julian Edelman have been dropped. (TMZ)