AFC East Notes: Dolphins, Jets, Patriots

Dolphins

• NFL Media’s Mike Garafolo reports that the Dolphins and Jaguars discussed a possible trade for Leonard Fournette back in March, but the two sides never continued negotiations. 
• Dolphins GM Chris Grier said second-round OL Robert Hunt can play right guard or right tackle and is expected to compete for a starting role. (Cameron Wolfe)
• Grier reiterated that they did not have any recent conversations with the Jaguars about acquiring Fournette. (Adam Beasley)
• Dolphins undrafted G Donell Stanley received $30,000 guaranteed, $10,000 in a signing bonus and $20,000 of his base salary. (Aaron Wilson)
• Dolphins undrafted LB Tyshun Render received $65,000 guaranteed, $15,000 in a signing bonus and $50,000 of his base salary. (Aaron Wilson)

Jets

• Per ESPN’s Rich Cimini, the Jets were the only team to have an official Combine interview with QB James Morgan. Jets GM Joe Douglas cited their experience without Sam Darnold last year as part of the reason they spent a fourth-round pick on Morgan: “You can never have enough [quarterbacks]. It was an opportunity to get a young quarterback that can develop with and behind Sam. You need to have depth, especially at that position, as we found out last year.”

Patriots

The Patriots entered the draft with arguably the biggest hole on paper at quarterback of any team in the NFL, with just journeyman Brian Hoyer and 2019 fourth-round QB Jarrett Stidham. However, New England punted on the position and did not select a quarterback, though HC Bill Belichick said it wasn’t necessarily on purpose. 

“If we feel like we find the right situation, we’ll certainly draft them. We’ve drafted them in multiple years, multiple points in the draft,” he said via ESPN’s Mike Reiss. “Didn’t work out the last three days. That wasn’t by design. We just tried to do the best we could with what we had this weekend.”

• Patriots exec Nick Caserio said the team was comfortable trading up and using later-round picks despite entering a rebuilding season because they had a limited number of draftable grades: “We kind of looked at the board, projecting forward, whether or not we actually were able to utilize all the picks.” (Reiss)