AFC Notes: Bills, Dolphins, Patriots, Belichick, Kraft, Jones

Bills

• The Athletic’s Joe Buscaglia notes if the Bills are looking to address their need at linebacker in the first two rounds of the draft, the prospects that make the most sense are Arkansas’ Drew Sanders or Iowa’s Jack Campbell, as they are true middle linebackers. Clemson LB Trenton Simpson is athletic but might not be big enough to man the middle. 
• Buffalo could wait, but Buscaglia notes the class really drops off after Sanders and Campbell. He mentions Alabama LB Henry To’oTo’o, Wisconsin LB Nick Herbig and Washington State LB Daiyan Henley as mid-round options, but Herbig would be a conversion project from edge rusher and Henley and To’oTo’o have size questions. 
• If the Bills can’t land Sanders or Campbell, Buscaglia thinks they might have to get creative to find a solution to their hole at middle linebacker via trade or veteran cuts. 
• Ryan Fowler reports Oregon State TE Luke Musgrave is scheduled to meet with the Bills.
• Buffalo WR Justin Marshall had a private workout with the Bills and also participated in their local pro day. (Tony Pauline)

Patriots

• In an appearance on WEEI’s Jones & Mego show, NBC Sports’ Tom Curran says Patriots HC Bill Belichick was agitated at QB Mac Jones for going outside the building for advice on how to run the offense.
• Curran adds it pissed Belichick off and was viewed as a betrayal of trust, even if Jones was just trying to get better, as it undercut him and the offensive coaching staff of Matt Patricia and Joe Judge. 
• Curran went on to note the departure of veteran QB Brian Hoyer also seems to be related, as he was owed $1.4 million guaranteed in 2023 when the Patriots released him, citing his head injury. However, Curran says Hoyer was cleared to play long ago and his signing with the Raiders supports that. 
• He explains Hoyer wasn’t sold on what was going on in 2022 and didn’t hide his feelings that Jones wasn’t set up for success. Curran thinks that’s a large portion of why the Patriots basically paid Hoyer to go away. 
• AtoZSports.com’s Doug Kyed, who’s covered the Patriots for years, says his sources tell him the tension is real between Belichick and Jones and goes both ways. 
• Regarding reports that Belichick shopped Jones in trade talks, another source told Kyed the Patriots weren’t offered enough to part with Jones. 
• Kyed adds Jones has a strong, mutual relationship with owner Robert Kraft and his son, team president Jonathan Kraft.
• Patriots beat report Mike Giardi adds several sources who have seen or felt the tension between Belichick and Jones don’t blame the quarterback for being frustrated with how the offense was run in 2022: “I don’t know what Bill thought was going to happen. The decisions he made set the table for Mac’s regression. For the entire offensive regression.”
• ESPN’s Mike Reiss reports the Patriots are committed to seeing if Jones can get back on the trajectory he showed as a rookie and establish himself as their franchise quarterback.
• While the team wants to ensure Jones has enough support around him to thrive, they also want to see him step up as a leader and believe 2022 fourth-round QB Bailey Zappe nipping on his heels will bring out his best. 
• Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer mentions there was evidently tension between Kraft and Belichick at the owners meeting in Arizona. The two men were notably not on the same page with some of their comments in interviews, including offseason spending and Jones’ standing in the organization. 
• Breer adds Kraft went as close to delivering an ultimatum to Belichick as one could go without explicitly saying it, and his understanding is things between the two men weren’t that much better away from the media at the event. 
• Breer points out Belichick is 19 wins away from passing Don Shula for the most wins in NFL history, but if he misses the playoffs again in 2023, it would mark the third time in the past four seasons since Tom Brady left and make for a potentially major and awkward decision for Kraft in 2024.