AFC East Notes: Bills, Jets, Patriots

Bills

• ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques notes that per the NFL’s policy on alcohol, Bills DT Ed Oliver is liable for a minimum two-game suspension as a first-time offender following his arrest and DWI charge. 

Jets

Jets HC Adam Gase expects QB Sam Darnold to improve in his second year in his system given that the third-year quarterback is showing a “different grasp” of the offense during their meetings. 

“I think it helps that our quarterback is returning and his knowledge of the game and his experience from this last year are very valuable to us because he’s able to communicate [with his teammates],” Gase said, via Brian Costello of the New York Post. “Our meetings with him have been very, very good. You can tell that he has such a different grasp of everything compared to what he did in Year 1. I think that’s going to help us.”

Gase mentioned that Darnold is pointing out the mistakes he made last season and is having a “much easier” time understanding the game. 

“It’s just so much easier for him to talk through a lot of the things that happened last year,” Gase said. “Every once in a while you see the anger, by being able to see him in these video conferences, you see how angry he gets, ‘Why would I do that?’ or, ‘That was so stupid. I shouldn’t have done that. I should have done this. This is how we have to handle this moving forward. This is the adjustment I want to make on this.’ Him telling us what he wants to do moving forward in certain situations. That gets you excited as a coach.”

Patriots

• According to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, there was some leaguewide buzz the Patriots considered signing free agent Clay Matthews. However, Fowler says that was before they used a second-round pick on edge rusher Josh Uche.
• Per ESPN’s Mike Reiss, Patriots S Devin McCourty mentioned WR Julian Edelman as a player who will likely step into more of a leadership role in 2020 as the team figures out life without Tom Brady: “I think it will [now] be more veteran guys. Guys like Julian, who hasn’t got a ton of credit for his leadership, he’s a guy who will step up.” 
• Reiss says, per a source, that Patriots OT Yodny Cajuste is “healthy and good to go.” A third-round pick in 2019, Cajuste spent his entire rookie season on injured reserve with a quad injury.