AFC Notes: Bills, Dolphins, Patriots

Bills

During his end-of-season press conference, Bills HC Sean McDermott said he doesn’t think they will do any extensive overhauls to the roster this offseason.

“This is not a situation where you strip it down to the studs,” McDermott said, via Adam Gorski of WIVB. “You really start with understanding the success that we’ve had and how we’ve gotten it. Then you make tweaks along the way to try and get ourselves to become world champions. … We have not reached that ultimate goal however in terms of why we came here, and we will work tirelessly to do that.”

Regarding Buffalo being projected to be $43 million over the cap, GM Brandon Beane said they are not closing the door on fielding a competitive team in 2024. 

“I don’t get into that ‘window’s closed’ mindset,” Beane said. “Your team is always changing and evolving each class, with draft classes, free agents. … This is a quarterback league, and I believe in the guy we’ve got under center.”

Beane feels coming up short in the playoffs is a matter of execution and they are aware of what it takes to win a Super Bowl. 

“There’s no perfect solution here, you have to keep working, you have to learn,” Beane said. “I can’t sit up here and guarantee you ‘Oh yes, we have this magic answer and now we’re going to the AFC Championship next year or we’re going to the Super Bowl.’ We know what it takes, we do. We have to execute. Unless you’re getting blown out, when you lose a game, a one-score game, you really can narrow it down to three, four, five plays in a game they made, you didn’t. And you have to make those. … While we’re extremely disappointed, nobody is more disappointed than me, I’m also not going to just throw the whole season out and say ‘let’s tear this thing up and start over.’”

Dolphins

• Cameron Wolfe reports the Jaguars interviewed former Dolphins offensive assistant Kolby Smith for their running backs coach job. 
• According to Wolfe, Miami has parted ways with offensive assistants Ricardo Allen and Mike Judge, along with assistant special teams coach Brendan Farrell.

• Jeremy Fowler confirms that former Chargers coach Brandon Staley is a name to watch for the Dolphins’ defensive coordinator job. Should they stick in-house, Fowler mentions Linebackers coach Anthony Campanile.

Patriots

• According to Jeremy Fowler, people around the NFL view Patriots DL coach DeMarcus Covington as the favorite to land the New England defensive coordinator job.