AFC Notes: Aaron Rodgers, Jerod Mayo, Dolphins, Jets, Patriots

Dolphins

Dolphins GM Chris Grier is excited about the core of the team and will look to continue churning the roster to make improvements to get over the hump.

“First off, congratulations to Detroit and Dan Campbell,” Grier said, via Dolphins Wire. “I’m happy for Dan. He was here and is a good guy and a good man. Him and Brad (Holmes) are doing a good job there, so I’m happy for them. But for us, we’re just going to keep grinding, chopping wood. We have a good roster. We know that we’ll keep adding and the team will look different. As we all know every year, 30 or 40 percent or more of rosters change. But we’ll find ways to have good players here and be competitive. We are very excited about our core nucleus players here. We will be competitive. The goal is to win the AFC East and win a playoff game, and ultimately a Super Bowl. That’s the goal of all 32 teams and it’s no different for us.”

Jets

Jets HC Robert Saleh feels they need to address how to limit injuries on their offensive line and hopes that will help keep Aaron Rodgers healthy going forward. 

“There’s definitely a league-wide pandemic with regards to offensive line injuries,” Saleh said, via Brian Costello of the New York Post. “I’ve been working on this for over a month and a half in terms of just trying to try to find the direction that we need to go. Continue to work on it over the next few months, but that is at the forefront of my mind. It’s a forefront of everybody’s mind to keep those guys healthy. If the O-line’s healthy, the quarterback will be healthy. If the quarterback’s healthy, we’ll all be healthy. It’s definitely something that we’re studying and we’ll get down to hopefully get an answer for.”

Jets GM Joe Douglas points out they’ve made significant investments to their offensive line since his arrival to the organization in 2019, but injuries have largely impacted the group. 

“We’ve invested a lot of resources in that position,” Douglas said. “So, going back, I know I’ve sat here and had conversations with you guys in the past about how much availability is of importance to this group and for the last two years, we’ve been banged up. So, going back and looking at the performance and availability of this group, I feel like I spent so much time trying to prevent the storm from actually coming when it comes to injuries.”

Douglas thinks he could’ve continued adding depth to their offensive line. 

“I think candidly, one of the things I could have done better with the offensive line is keeping an extra offensive lineman,” Douglas said. “Not going into the year with nine offensive linemen, but maybe keeping an extra body there. We still would have had the short four or five guys with all the offensive linemen we played. Again, it’s going to be going back to every single decision-making process and because we have gotten some decisions right there. I feel like we do have a few cornerstone players on that offensive line moving forward and building around those guys and keep adding to the group.”

Patriots

Patriots owner Robert Kraft said he went with his instincts when he hired Jerod Mayo to be the team’s next head coach.

“[B]ecause of his loyalty to a man we had such difficulty with, who did a great job for us, but he took another job when we were going to the Super Bowl — I just couldn’t bring someone in because trust is so important,” Kraft said, via PFT. “But as I watched what happened, when he was with his next team, I realized I made a mistake, I should’ve gone with my instincts in ’96 and hired Bill. And that worked out petty well. Well, I have the same feeling now, having watched Jerod for 16 years in a lot of different situations.”

Kraft pointed out Mayo’s leadership skills and said that he has garnered respect both as a player and as a coach early on in his career.

“I think we’ve got someone very special who understands how to manage young people today,” Kraft said. “I mean, the world is different than 20 years ago — even 10 years ago. And in all our businesses, we try to create a culture that people want to stay with and be there long-term. And I think that Jerod has the makeup and the chemistry — and it’s genuine, what he has is genuine. Just think about how he got elected captain in his second year with us when we had tremendous veterans. And I think it went for seven years, he was captain in a tremendous period. And then he went out on his own in business to get a change. It’s just, I think we’re ready to kick butt.”