AFC Notes: Bills, Trevor Lawrence, Jaguars, Titans

Bills

Bills GM Brandon Beane had high praise of impending free agent RB Devin Singletary‘s improvement in short-yardage situations and they’ll evaluate his contract situation this offseason. 

“Really improved in short-yardage. We know he can make guys miss. His hands improved,” said Beane, via BillsWire. “We’ll have to see from a business standpoint how that will work out for us.”

Jaguars

Jaguars GM Trent Baalke thinks that QB Trevor Lawrence is “trending” toward becoming an elite NFL quarterback. 

“Well, I think he’s certainly trending that way, and is there more? There’s a lot more,” Baalke said, via ProFootballTalk. “I think Trevor would say the same thing. His upside, his ability to grow at the position from just a knowledge standpoint. You got to remember now, this is the third offense in three years that Trevor has played in, counting his senior year in college. You go from that to a new system in the NFL and then all the sudden, it’s a hit the reset button as we’ve got another offense. It’s his third offense in three years, and it takes a while to master that. I think you saw the development in him mentally as well as physically throughout the course of this season. I think it’s only going to trend upward from there.”

Baalke thinks that HC Doug Pederson and Lawrence are a “marriage made in heaven.” 

“That’s a marriage made in heaven there because they related to each other that way,” Baalke said. “They’re both fearless, Trevor doesn’t fear anything. They’re very authentic, so when you have leaders at the quarterback position and at the head coach position that are like that, everybody else just kind of falls in line.”

Titans

New Titans GM Ran Carthon was asked about his experience implementing analytics during his time with the 49ers. His response is notable given that the Titans have had one of the sparsest analytics departments in the NFL for years. That could be about to change. 

“We’ve used analytics a lot with the 49ers,” Carthon said, per John Glennon of Sports Illustrated. “I think it definitely plays a part. We trust our eyes as scouts, but sometimes the data can drive you to a decision and help you see it from a different vantage point. So I think there’s a place in our game for it.

“I think in the (early years) of analytics, it was sort of pitting analytics and the scouting department against one another. And a lot of things that we did in scouting was (already) essentially analytics. It just didn’t have the title. So it has a part in our game, and we’re going to use every tool here to help us build a championship roster.”

• Titans defensive assistant Clinton McMillan will participate as a linebackers coach for the American team at the 2023 Senior Bowl.