AFC Notes: Aaron Rodgers, Bills, Jets, Patriots

Bills

Bills second-round S Cole Bishop thinks his versatility as a defensive back will help him in Buffalo’s defensive system. 

“They want their safeties to do a lot,” Bishop said, via BillsWire. “I think my versatility is something that kind of separates me, so being able to go to a team that you’re able to be versatile is huge. So I think I’m going to be able to excel as best I can.”

Bills GM Brandon Beane said Bishop was really impressive throughout the pre-draft process. 

“He really impressed us throughout the process, his knowledge of the game, his smarts, everyone at Utah raves about him,” Beane said. “Probably one of the most consensus players on our board. To add a guy that fits our defense the way he does and where we had him on the board … I would have been thrilled giving up something in the draft, you know fourth, fifth round to go get him.”

Jets

Jets QB Aaron Rodgers feels like he’s getting back to full strength and is confident his torn Achilles injury will soon be a “distant memory.” 

“These practices have helped,”  said, via Eric Allen of the team’s site. “I feel much better today than I did yesterday, and I’m sure I’ll feel better next week and the following week and training camp will be great. And at some point, it will just be a distant memory and I’ll feel like 100% myself. Right now, I’m 90% myself and 10% not sure what’s going on with various parts of my body.”

Rodgers enjoys going up against their defense in practice and has had moments that reaffirmed he’s still a capable quarterback. 

“I love competing, so I love at practice being able to look a guy off and throw behind his head,” Rodgers said. “I did one to Quincy [Williams] and to just watch his reaction because he knows, ‘I can’t believe I let that guy get away with that again.’ And me, it’s comedy, it’s the beauty in the competition and I love that part. There are so many great teachable moments at practice that I enjoy looking forward to. But when you throw a ball on the money, there’s a part of you that wants to act like you’ve done that before and then a part of you that’s like, ‘Yeah, I still got it.'”

Rodgers likes that people are counting him out going into 2024. 

“I enjoy being counted out. And like I said, I’m not just trying to coast into irrelevance. I’m trying to play at the highest level,” Rodgers said. “I was talking to a buddy and I said if I didn’t think we could win the Super Bowl and I couldn’t win the MVP, then I wouldn’t be playing. And that’s the order of the goals.”

Patriots

Patriots HC Jerod Mayo said DE Keion White is taking a “step forward” as a leader with his groups in practice this offseason. 

“Keion has kind of taken that step forward as far as being a leader — not as much vocally, but you see him actually leading the groups and working well,” Mayo said, via Mike Reiss of ESPN.