AFC Notes: Bills, Jets, Patriots, Stephon Gilmore

Bills

Bills WR Stefon Diggs acknowledged that his stay with the Minnesota Vikings finished on a bad note and felt like he had a “fresh start” when being traded to Buffalo. 

“Coming from my old team — I hate talking about old stuff — but up to me wanting to leave and go to another place, I was a good teammate,” Diggs said, via Jon Scott. “It wasn’t until I wanted to do something else is when I became a bad teammate. So as far as when things are going good, it’s all good until it’s not good. So for me, even then, I always tried to play with a chip on my shoulder and lead my team the best way I know how. Coming here I had a fresh start. It was fair for people to make their assumptions or their assessments from the outside looking in. That’s fair. I just look at it as, when I get there I’ll show them who I am and we’ll go from there. As far as my new chapter with my new team, things are going pretty good.”

• Bills HC Sean McDermott said DT Star Lotulelei (calf) has been ruled out from Week 1 while WR Emmanuel Sanders (foot) is questionable. (Joe Buscaglia)
• McDermott said they will use a committee approach at defensive tackle in order to fill in for Lotulelei. (Katherine Fitzgerald)
• McDermott mentioned Bills DL Harrison Phillips and Justin Zimmer as players to get time at defensive tackle in Week 1. (Matt Parrino)
• OUT: DT Star Lotulelei (calf)
• QUESTIONABLE: WR Emmanuel Sanders (foot)

Jets

Jets DC Jeff Ulbrich said they could use all six of their cornerbacks in Week 1 against the Panthers and intend on using a “committee” approach. 

“I think all of them are going to have a place to play Sunday,” Ulbrich said, via the team’s official Youtube. “It’s not going to be two corners like a lot of teams play it. We’re going to do a little bit by the committee and let them all have a piece of it.”

• Jets HC Robert Saleh said WR Keelan Cole (back) will be a game-time decision for Week 1. (D.J. Bien-Aime)

• Jets’ HC Robert Saleh said during a press conference on Thursday that the decision to trade QB Sam Darnold to the Panthers was due to GM Scott Fitterer making Jets’ GM Joe Douglas an offer he could not refuse, and had he not made the offer there is a chance that Darnold would still be with New York.
• The New York Jets brought in K Sergio Castillo for a workout on Thursday, according to Aaron Wilson.
• Saleh said WR Jamison Crowder (COVID-19) has been ruled out from Week 1. (Brian Costello)
• Saleh mentioned that Jets DT Quinnen Williams lost 10 pounds in the offseason program. (Brian Costello)
• OUT: S Sharrod Neasman (hamstring)
  QUESTIONABLE: WR Keelan Cole (knee), RB La’Mical Perine (foot)

Patriots

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport mentioned on WEEI Sports Radio Network that Patriots CB Stephon Gilmore (hamstring) that the team never expected him to be available for Week 1 and they will have a better idea of his health around Week 3 or 4. 

“So, here’s my understanding of where it stands: Stephon Gilmore would not have been able to play Week 1 regardless of what list he was on,” Rapoport said. “A better kind of gauge of where he was going to be, I was told, Week 3 maybe, Week 4 probably. Let’s say nothing was going on, he had no other issues. There would’ve been a chance he would’ve started the season on the [53-man roster], would’ve gone on IR and would’ve come back Week 4. That obviously did not happen.”

Although Rapoport thinks it’s still possible for New England to trade Gilmore once he returns, he points out that they would just have one week to get a deal done ahead of the Week 8 deadline. 

“I’d say it’s possible, there’s just not a big window to do it,” Rapoport said. “Like, if you look at just the calendar, he’ll be back (two weeks) before the trade deadline. So, theoretically, somebody would have to say, ‘I trust enough in what I’ve seen in one game or two games to trade for him.’”

Rapoport added that the Patriots would require a “really good replacement” for Gilmore in order to execute a mid-season trade. 

“I would never rule anything out with the Patriots, but they’d have to have a really good replacement for him to do that mid-season and not have it derail everything.”

• OUT: WR Malcolm Perry (foot)
• QUESTIONABLE: WR Nelson Agholor (ankle), T Yodny Cajuste (hamstring), S Jalen Mills (ankle), LB Ronnie Perkins (shoulder)