AFC East Notes: Bills, Jets, Patriots

Bills

• Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports claims that the Bills were investigating the possibility of signing QB Andy Dalton as a backup before he landed with the Cowboys this offseason.

Jets

Jets T George Fant spoke to the media on Thursday and reiterated his stance on playing left tackle for the Jets this season, despite the team drafting T Mekhi Becton with the No. 11 pick in the draft.

“I will say this, that was my thing leaving Seattle. I wanted to play left tackle,” Fant said, via Brian Costello of the New York Post. “I’m really comfortable with the position. I think that’s where I offer the best abilities and will be able to help the team the most…“I’m versatile. I can play both sides. I play the right tackle spot as well. [I did] a pretty good job at that spot as well. Right now I’m just ready for another opportunity to go out there and start and really show the NFL and everybody, and prove to myself as well that I know I can play at a high caliber and really show what I can do.”

• Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports notes that the Jets were seriously interested in signing QB Andy Dalton as a backup before he signed a deal with the Cowboys this offseason.

Patriots

Patriots HC Bill Belichick was asked on NFL Network about going into the season with Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer at quarterback

“That’s where we are, and you never know what’s gonna happen down the road,” Belichick said, via Ben Volin. “But yeah, we feel like we have four good players there … like to work with all those guys, and we’ll see how it goes.”

Belichick explained that they’ve been forced to play games without Tom Brady in the past and he’s confident they’ll be competitive without him. 

“Well, we’ve played at other times without Tom,” Belichick said, via NESN. “Whether it was the [2008] season after he was injured — we played 15 games with Cassel and went 11-5 — or heading into the ’16 season with Jimmy and then Jacoby, and Tom coming back after the four-game suspension.

“So there have been other times where we’ve dealt with that. We’ll do what we always do, which is try to prepare the team the best that we can, utilize our players and the skills that they have and put ourselves in the best position we can to be competitive and win. That’s what we always do, and we’ll continue to do that.”

• Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports notes that the Patriots were considering signing QB Andy Dalton as a potential starter before he landed with the Cowboys.