AFC Notes: Aaron Rodgers, Christian Gonzalez, Bills, Jets, Patriots

Bills

• Bills LB Matt Milano was fined $10,927 by the league for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after taunting. (Ryan O’Halloran)

Jets

• CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones writes that although the Jets will send their 2024 second-round pick to the Packers and not their 2024 first-round pick following the season-ending injury to QB Aaron Rodgers, New York still doesn’t have the ability to trade its 2024 first. 
• The pick also included conditions from the Packers preventing the Jets from cutting and re-signing Rodgers or trading him to another team to circumvent giving up the first-round pick. Those conditions are still active, meaning the Jets can’t trade the pick to another team unless they jump through a few hoops like getting approval from the NFL and from the Packers. 
• Jones explains that’s probably a moot point, as the Jets are unlikely to trade the pick unless it’s for a quarterback, but it’s worth noting regardless. 
• Jets LB Quincy Williams was given two unnecessary roughness fines of $13,333 each, for a total of $26,666. (Jones)
• Jets LB Chazz Surratt was also fined $4,833 for unnecessary roughness. (Tom Pelissero)

Patriots

Patriots first-round CB Christian Gonzalez has been making a positive first impression on his veteran teammates so far in his rookie season. 

“He’s a quiet guy. I like to call him a little silent assassin,” Patriots S Adrian Phillips said via ESPN’s Mike Reiss. “He’s going to go out there and lock down whoever is lined up in front of him, but outside of the game, he’s going to kind of be chill. He’s more observant than anything. It’s like he’s always processing what’s going on.”

Phillips added Gonzalez’s demeanor, which is the opposite of how a lot of other cornerbacks play the game, reminds him of another former Patriots great, Stephon Gilmore. Gonzalez has a way to go to match Gilmore who won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award in 2019 but the similarities are a little uncanny. 

“I don’t want to give him the Steph tag — I know Steph is way farther along — but I definitely do see some similarities between them,” Phillips said. “You can tell if a corner is going to be good by the way they practice, if they let receivers catch any balls — he’s not going to let you catch any balls.”