AFC Notes: Bills, Jets, Patriots

Bills

• Ryan Talbot of NewYorkUpstate.com notes Bills fifth-round QB Jake Fromm becomes a much stronger candidate for the practice squad with the NFL allowing teams to protect up to four players per week on the expanded 16-player practice squad. 
• Talbot adds other candidates include sixth-round WR Isaiah Hodgins, TE Tommy Sweeney, UDFA OT Trey Adams, DE Darryl Johnson, seventh-round CB Dane Jackson and sixth-round K Tyler Bass.

Jets

• Jets GM Joe Douglas was asked about HC Adam Gase during Monday’s press conference: “I especially believe in Coach Gase and that he is the right coach to lead us” … “I feel good about where we are with his leadership.”  (Connor Hughes)
• Douglas added: “Everything I’ve witnessed in my year here with Adam I’ve been impressed by. I can’t speak for other people, but everything I’ve seen has been outstanding.” (Vacchiano)
• Regarding the criticisms over Adams, Douglas said: “I don’t take those things personally…I can promise you, that didn’t affect any of our decision making over the past week.” (Rich Cimini)
• Douglas said of the trade return he got for S Jamal Adams: “We’re excited about the opportunity this gives us.” (Hughes)
• While they didn’t want to trade Adams, Douglas said simply: “We received an offer that was too difficult to pass up.” – (Hughes)
• Douglas denied promising a new contract to Adams: “I want to make it clear that I never promised an offer to Jamal, nor was I ever dishonest or ambiguous with their camp.” (Ralph Vacchiano)
• Douglas explained that the Seahawks were “aggressive” in their pursuit of a deal for Adams. (Cimini)
• Douglas on trading Adams even though he desired to keep him: “It certainly wasn’t the plan when I first arrived here. It really was our plan to keep Jamal here.” (Mehta)
• Douglas added that only three defensive players got early extensions early recently, which included LB Luke Kuechly, DE J.J. Watt, and DE Myles Garrett: “(We) weren’t in a position to do anything (for Adams).” (Mehta)
• As for the report that he tried to talk former Bears G Kyle Long into coming out of retirement, Douglas said: “(The conversation was just) two former co-workers that were catching up.” (Vacchiano)
• Douglas was asked about the idea of the Jets tanking in 2020: “I would disagree that we’re punting on 2020.” (Mehta)

• Per NBC Sports’ Peter King, the prevailing opinion around the NFL was the Jets got the better side of the deal with the Seahawks for S Jamal Adams, with one veteran general manager questioning Adams’ positional value: “I wouldn’t trade two ones for a safety. Particularly when you’ve got to pay the safety a lot of money. I like what the Jets did.”
• Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer notes that how the situation with Jets owner Woody Johnson plays out will likely depend on how players react.
• Breer writes the reaction of Black players and Clippers HC Doc Rivers helped prompt the NBA to oust owner Donald Sterling following his racist comments and something similar might need to happen for the NFL to do the same for Johnson. 

Patriots

• The NFL and NFLPA are discussing a 2021 salary cap floor of $175 million, which is down from the $198.2 million this year. It’s possible that the figure could be pushed higher, depending on the revenue losses incurred by the league from the 2020 season.
• Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com projects the Patriots to have $59,145,196 of cap space next year, assuming the cap is set at $175 million.
• The Athletic’s Jeff Howe notes Patriots undrafted rookie WR Jeff Thomas had a good start during virtual OTAs which helped him survive New England’s initial cutdown to 80 players that included three receivers.