AFC Notes: Bengals, Jets, Patriots

Bengals

• Jeremy Rach reports that the Bengals will hire Jemal Singleton as their running backs coach.

Jets

• Rich Cimini of ESPN writes that one underrated aspect of the Jets’ decision to hire Gregg Williams as their defensive coordinator is that he runs a high-energy, attacking defense that will blitz often. Cimini believes Darnold will benefit from playing against the Jets’ new defense because he’ll be exposed on the practice field to various looks he’s never seen before. 
• Cimini writes that the Jets should pounce on Ohio State DE Nick Bosa if he ends up being available to them at No. 3 overall. However, Cimini could see them going with either DE/OLB Josh Allen, DT Quinnen Williams or DE/OLB Rashan Gary, depending on what happens at the top of the draft. 
• Jets RB Isaiah Crowell is worth watching as a potential roster cut for the Jets, according to Cimini, given that they can clear $3 million by releasing him before March 15 when $2 million of his $4 million base salary becomes fully guaranteed. 

Patriots

• Ben Volin of the Boston Globe writes that the Patriots have a few players in line to be free agents that could be candidates for the franchise tag including DE Trey Flowers, LT Trent Brown, K Stephen Gostkowski, and P Ryan Allen. 
• Of the four, Volin considers Gostkowski to be the one who makes the most sense. 
• Volin thinks New England could let Brown walk in free agency and replace him with Isaiah Wynn.
• The Patriots will have significant turnover in terms of their assistant coaches in 2019, but Mike Reiss mentions that Bill Belichick has done a good job of stocking their coaching pipeline with young talent such as Cole Popovich, Mike Pellegrino, DeMarcus Covington, Brian Belichick and Atif Austin.