AFC East Notes: Bills, Jets, Tom Brady

Bills

The Bills’ newest addition, CB Captain Munnerlyn, has quite a bit of familiarity with the team despite never playing in Buffalo. Bills HC Sean McDermott was Munnerlyn’s defensive coordinator for a while with the Panthers and runs a similar defense to what Munnerlyn played in last year in Carolina. With joint practices coming up against the Panthers, who released him this offseason, Munnerlyn has extra incentive to prove he can still be a valuable contributor.

“It was disappointing because I always played my contracts out,” Munnerlyn said via Vic Carucci of the Buffalo News. “A seventh-round pick, to make it 10 years in the league is already a blessing, but the first time I got released was then and it was disappointing because I felt like I could have still helped those guys out a lot. I feel like I’m still young, I’ve got a lot of football left in me. A lot of you [reporters] are probably [saying], ‘Oh, he’s old, he’s 31. How much does he have left in the tank?’ I got a lot left in the tank, man. I prepared myself well this offseason to get in shape and prepared myself mentally to get ready to play football for a long time.”

• The Athletic’s Joe Buscaglia and Matthew Fairburn say the Bills are continuing to experiment shuffling the offensive line to find the best combination.
• The main offensive line so far consists of LT Dion Dawkins, LG Quinton Spain, C Jon Feliciano, RG Cody Ford and RT Ty Nsekhe. The Bills also worked with Spencer Long at center, Feliciano at right guard and the second-round rookie Ford at right tackle. 
• Bills C Mitch Morse, signed to be the starter this year in free agency, remains in the concussion protocol and was joined by OL Conor McDermott. 
• Buscaglia & Fairburn note the Bills traded for OL Ryan Bates from the Eagles to provide depth at tackle and guard due to the various injuries. Ideally, Bates doesn’t make the roster if everyone is healthy. Bates does have practice squad eligibility. 
• Bills third-round TE Dawson Knox appears to be close to returning from his hamstring injury. 
• The battle for the No. 6 receiver spot is heating up, with WR Isaiah McKenzie making a push after a strong preseason opener. He’s battling Ray-Ray McCloud and Cam Phillips. Undrafted free agent WR David Sills is also making a push for a practice squad spot. 
• Undrafted free-agent CB Cam Lewis probably won’t make the final roster after the addition of Munnerlyn, but he should be a top candidate for a spot on the practice squad with the potential for more as he develops. 
• Buscaglia notes Cory Carter seems to have taken the lead over Corey Bojorquez for the starting punter spot. 

Jets

• According to the Athletic’s Connor Hughes, Jets DL Foley Fatukasi worked entirely with the first-team defense on Monday. 
• It was a tough practice for the Jets, as G Kelechi Osemele (strained pectoral), CB Kyron Brown (hamstring) and DE Henry Anderson (head) all left with injuries, though Osemele’s was deemed minor. (Hughes)
• Jets CB Trumaine Johnson will be “week-to-week” with a hamstring injury according to HC Adam Gase, likely knocking him out the rest of the preseason. (Rich Cimini)

Tom Brady

Patriots QB Tom Brady was able to secure an agreement by the team not to franchise tag him in 2020 during his last round of contract negotiations, meaning there’s a chance he hits the open market when the final two years of his deal void. Brady, however, wasn’t ready to go into detail about that part of the negotiations. 

“Those are some personal feelings and there’s a lot of personal conversations I’ve had that really aren’t for other people’s knowledge,” Brady said in a radio interview with WEEI. “I think what this is about is this season and dealing with this year. Beyond this year, whether it’s signing five more years, or signing a franchise tag, or not playing, none of those things needed to be decided this year. I think what it was was focusing on this season and being in the right mental, emotional frame of mind to go out there and perform at my highest level.”

Brady also said people “shouldn’t read into anything” regarding his Massachusetts home going on the market. 

“It takes a long time to sell a house,” Brady said. “I don’t know if you guys know, my house is little bit of an expensive one, so it doesn’t fly off the shelves in a couple of weeks. I think I am at a point in my life where there are a lot of considerations that go into playing. I have a very busy professional life, I have a very busy personal life and any decision that is made has to consider everything.”

“I am certainly at a place — we have been at the same place for a long time and I love playing for the Patriots,” Brady continued. “I have such a great relationship with Mr. Kraft and Coach Belichick and our team. We’ll worry about that when that happens. This isn’t the time to worry about it.”