AFC Notes: Bills, Broncos, Jets

Bills

It’s been treated as a foregone conclusion that Bills S Micah Hyde‘s season was over following neck surgery. But Hyde has recently ramped up his activity in a noticeable way off to the side at practice and ahead of games. When asked about it, Hyde left the door cracked to a return this season. 

“I would love to. I would love to. We’ll see,” Hyde said via the Athletic’s Joe Buscaglia. “It’s not really up to me. It’s kind of up to the doctors. Historically, no. But I’m not dealing with… those are other people, other situations. So, we’ll see what happens.”

Broncos

When the Broncos lost CB Ronald Darby for the season, rookie CB Damarri Mathis was forced into the starting lineup. 

Broncos HC Nathaniel Hackett explains that Mathis has settled in nicely for them at corner. 

“He started off and had a couple of penalties early, but he’s really settled down,” Hackett said, via BroncosWire.com. “I think he’s done a really good job. He covered Davante [Adams] a couple of times on some routes. We saw him on the shake route on the backside that he broke up when it was going out of bounds. Those are the things.

“Any corner — they have to battle. They have to battle. They get matched, they get man coverage and all those things. The more that he gets confidence, the better he’s going to get. You definitely see that grow over time.”

Jets

Regarding the Jets benching QB Zach Wilson, CB D.J. Reed said the quarterback made it “very clear” that he intends on earning the starting role once again. 

“He’s going to do everything he can to win his starting job back,” said Reed, via Rich Cimini of ESPN. “He made that very clear.”

Jets HC Robert Saleh said that Wilson’s time in New York is not over and he’ll have another chance as a starter. 

“[I] just want to make sure you all listen to this carefully, please: Zach’s career here is not over,” Saleh said. “I know that’s going to be the narrative. I know that’s what everybody wants to shout out, and that’s not even close to the case.”

Saleh added that Wilson’s issues are “so fixable” but he needs a “reset” for now. 

“The issues for him are so fixable, but I think he just needs to be able to reset to get those things fixed,” Saleh said.

• Jets HC Robert Saleh said that WR Denzel Mims will continue to have a role despite the return of WR Corey Davis. (Brian Costello)