AFC East Notes: Bills, Jets, Patriots

Bills

• Jay Skurski of the Buffalo News does not think veteran free agent TE Antonio Gates would consider signing with the Bills, given that they aren’t close to contending for a Super Bowl.
• Skurski mentions WR Robert Foster and CB Levi Wallace as two undrafted free agents who could be “sleepers” to make an impact this year.
• According to Skurski, veteran OL Vlad Ducasse will be moving to left guard to replace Richie Incognito.
• As for the starting center role, Russell Bodine and Ryan Groy have split first-team reps at center during spring practices.
• Skurski notes that the Bills’ receiver jobs behind Kelvin Benjamin are “wide open.” Zay Jones is considered a lock for a roster spot and Jeremy Kerley is likely to be the Bills’ starting slot receiver.
• With Jones still recovering from knee surgery, Skurski considers the receiver position to be the team’s biggest need and could see the Bills pursuing a trade later this year.
• Skurski expects A.J. McCarron to be the Bills’ starting quarterback for Week 1, while Josh Allen could takeover by Week 8.

Jets

New Jets OL Antonio Garcia tells Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News that he was “caught off-guard” after he was diagnosed with blood clots in his lungs last year.

“It was definitely unexpected,” Garcia said. “It’s never happened ever in my life. How did I react to it? I was caught off-guard. But I had no choice but to accept it and try to improve every day.”

The Patriots actually traded up to get Gracia in last year’s draft before waiving him this offseason.

“I just wasn’t cleared medically in New England. So, it is what it is,” Garcia said. “I think they knew I was a good player.”

Patriots

• While the Patriots could be without WR Julian Edelman for the first four games of the 2018 season due to a positive PED test, Mike Reiss of ESPN doesn’t see the Patriots having any interest in signing WR Dez Bryant to a contract.
• Reiss mentions that New England has a number of in-house options to fill the void.
• Even so, Reiss admits that an injury to one of the Patriots’ receivers could prompt them to take a look at available options including Dez.