AFC Notes: Bills, Dolphins, Patriots

Bills

• Tim Graham of the Athletic reports that a financing agreement regarding the construction of a new Bills’ stadium is “likely to be announced soon.”
• According to Graham, a public-private financing agreement worth around $1.4 billion could be announced this week.
• Graham believes there’s a good chance that the new stadium deal already has been negotiated, but Governor Kathy Hochul is sitting on it for political reasons. 
• As for a timeline, Graham mentions that the Bills have already taken preliminary steps to build their new stadium.
• In total, the project is expected to take four years.

Dolphins

New Dolphins OL coach Matt Applebaum explained what it takes from players to be successful in their scheme.

“There’s a certain level of athleticism needed to play in the run scheme we’re talking about,” Applebaum said, via the Miami Herald. “Like a twitchiness, suddenness, ability to bend, change directions. You obviously need a certain level of size, too. There’s a premium on a certain level of athlete. There’s a mental processing that I think is important regardless of scheme. And a physical toughness.

“This is a scheme where you have to try to get after your opponent consistently throughout the play. It’s not the kind of thing where you can wall a guy off and the play is over for you. That ball can go a lot of places and it happens later on in the play so you’ve really got to strain.”

Patriots

Patriots veteran DL Lawrence Guy offered an assessment of rookie standout DT Christian Barmore after his first year in the league.

“Really good, very impressive player. Really good human being, has a good head on his shoulders. He’s going to continue to grow. Like that’s the best thing about it is, when you see young guys come in, you want to see their growth, and we’re going to have to see him continue to grow and grow… I like him as a player. We talk all the time, he is about two-three lockers down,” Guy told NBC Sports Boston’s Phil Perry. 

“But I like how he asks questions and understands his role on the team, understands what he’s doing. I feel like as he continues going into year two, he continues the path that he’s on, he’s going to be a real good player in the future. He just has to continue to keep going and going. I mean you see it, you see it on the field, you don’t see anything. We’ve got to continue to go as a unit, and we grow, and as we grow, you will see his growth sprout.“