AFC East Notes: Dolphins, Jets, Patriots

Dolphins

New Dolphins RB Frank Gore says he’s “happy” and “blessed” to be back in South Florida while continuing his NFL career.

“I feel great,” Gore said, via MiamiDolphins.com. “I’m happy. I’ll get to be back in front of my fans. You can just go back to Pop Warner, playing at (the) Boys Club. A lot of great fans here. I was born and raised here. A lot of people look to me. My kids get to see me almost every home game now. I’m blessed. I’m happy.”

Gore added that he believes he can be a good mentor to RB Kenyon Drake.

“I can show him a lot of things, on and off the field, the way to be a pro,” Gore said. “Just show him the way I work and why I’ve lasted so long to play this game at a high level. When I watched him, he’s a very quick and fast guy. I think that one-two punch will be very nice for this team.”

Jets

• Rich Cimini notes that QB Teddy Bridgewater is owed a $500,000 workout bonus this offseason while WR Charles Johnson and LB Brandon Copeland will make $250,000 and $100,000 bonuses, respectively.
• Cimini points out that outside of CB Trumaine Johnson and LB Avery Williamson, 11 of the 16 players the Jets signed this offseason received one-year contracts and RB Isaiah Crowell, C Spencer Long and LB Kevin Pierre-Louis all got multi-year deals that are really one-year contracts with options.
• This will allow the Jets to be financially flexible moving forward and Cimini says that chances are, New York will have to do it again next year.
• Cimini mentions LB Kevin Minter and C Travis Swanson as two additions to watch.

Patriots

• New Patriots WR Jordan Matthews explained that his visit to New England was much different than the other free agent visits he made this offseason: “There was a lot of intentionality during the visit. They were very detailed. They were very specific with me on what they thought about me and areas they thought I could grow. I appreciated that more than anything. I appreciated that type of honesty.” (Mike Reis)
• Matthew added that the meeting was the antithesis of the “OK, we’re just bringing people in” vibe.