AFC Notes: Bills, Mike Gesicki, Dolphins, Jets

Bills

• The Bills announced the following promotions on Tuesday: Brian Gaine as Assistant GM, Terrance Gray as Director of Player Personnel, Mike Szabo as National College Scout, Dennis Lock as Senior Director of Football Research, and Matt Worswick as Director of Team Administration.
• The team is also hiring Matt Bazirgan as Senior Personnel Executive, Alonzo Dotson as National College Scout, Drew DiSanto as Sports Performance Data Analyst, Malcolm Charles as Data Analyst, and Michelle Mankoff under the Nunn-Wooten Scouting Fellowship.
• Bills GM Brandon Beane said they’ve had conversations with QB Ryan Fitzpatrick about a one-day contract that would allow him to retire with Buffalo: “We wouldn’t close the door on that.” (Joe Buscaglia)
• Beane on when CB Tre’Davious White will return from injury: “When we show up for (training) camp, we’ll have a better idea of ‘is he days away or his he weeks away.'” (Buscaglia)
• Beane believes that OTAs have been beneficial for first-round CB Kaiir Elam: “He’s had to work on playing off and less physicality. Working on his feet and transition.” (Mike Giardi)
• Bills DC Leslie Frazier on Elam “This is a chance to grow his game a little bit…we’re seeing it as a positive. There’s going to be some times in our system where he’s going to have to play some off-coverage.” (Giardi)
• Frazier also commented on the role of veteran LB Von Miller: “He shows he still has flashes of being able to be a premier pass rusher. There are certain situations where we definitely want to have him line up in a certain spot based on opposing personnel. I don’t think we’re going to pigeonhole Von.” (Giardi)

Dolphins

Dolphins HC Mike McDaniel said that TE Mike Gesicki has been impressive in run-blocking, something that he hasn’t been asked to do in the past very often.

“He’s been as impressive as any player on the team in terms of going after a challenge,” McDaniel said, via SI.com. “You guys probably could rattle off the stats, but three-point (stance) wasn’t his primary position. And he’s been working diligently in the run and pass game to do things that this offense can feature without taking away the stuff that has made him who he is. And there’s pieces of that in the offense, as we’re always tailoring what we do to the skill set of our players. But he’s really attacked it with full vigor. He’s really done a great job working on his footwork in the run game and hoping that carries over to pads when that happens.”

Jets

Jets RB Michael Carter is already of the opinion that running backs are underpaid and is only heading into his second season in the NFL.

“To say that pay them as running backs, you label them as running backs, you should pay them as offensive weapons,” Carter told Brian Costello of The New York Post. “Where you’re going to give [Raiders WR] Davante Adams a $100 million or whatever he got, but Aaron Jones is really doing great, too. I’m not pocket watching. He got paid, but not even half [$48 million] of what Adams got paid. Now I get there’s a market for receivers and it goes up every time someone gets signed and it goes up, goes up, and goes up. But the same way they look at Tyreek Hill and the same way they look at [Stefon] Diggs and those guys are really great receivers, but Derrick Henry is a staple on his team. Jonathan Taylor is a staple on his team. Them guys deserve those big deals, too, and then from there the market can rise.”

Carter also doesn’t believe in the theory that even the best running backs are expendable, as each year a fresh group of prospects filters into the league from the college ranks.

“I don’t like that because I’m just going to be honest, you’re not replacing Alvin Kamara. You’re not replacing [Christian] McCaffrey right now,” Carter said. “Not that the players behind them can’t do it because I’m friends with a lot of those guys. But the value that they add from the locker room and then . . . how many running backs have had a thousand and a thousand? You’ve got like McCaffrey, Marshall Faulk, Matt Forte, a few. You’re not going to just go get the next guy and expect them to do that. Dalvin Cook is not necessarily the most replaceable guy in the world right now.”