AFC Notes: Broncos, Chiefs, Raiders

Broncos

• KUSA’s Mike Klis reports the Jaguars initially expressed interest in Broncos WRs coach Zach Azzanni for the same position on new HC Urban Meyer‘s staff, but Jacksonville wound up hiring Sanjay Lal instead. 

Chiefs

Chiefs HC Andy Reid bemoaned how OC Eric Bieniemy was passed over yet again for a head coaching job.

“I’m glad I have him [for at least another season], but I’m not so glad I have him,” Reid said, via ESPN.com. “I was really hoping he would have an opportunity to take one of these jobs. You guys know what I think of him. I think he’s great. I think he would be great for any number of teams that opened up and help them win football games and also develop men into men. I just think he’s a great person.”

Raiders

One of the biggest decisions the Raiders will face this offseason concerns RT Trent Brown. Two years ago, the team gave Brown a monster deal making him one of the league’s highest-paid tackles. But since then, Brown has missed as many games as he’s played. He’s owed $14 million in salary in 2021, none of which is guaranteed. Though if Brown is healthy and playing, $14 million is a relative bargain for a dominant tackle. 

“He’s under contract and when he’s healthy he’s dominant. And you’ve got to juxtapose that with his inability to play, week to week, over a two-year period,” Raiders GM Mike Mayock said via Vinny Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “We’re excited about the player, but we’ve got to get a more consistent player. And obviously, we’re talking about everything right now. We think he’s the best right tackle in the league when healthy.”

Another player the Raiders want to see more out of is first-round CB Damon Arnette. A surprise first-round pick by Mayock, Arnette was like most rookie corners, flashing some bright moments alongside some rougher ones. What held him back the most was health, though, and that’s where Mayock wants him to focus going into his second season. 

“I think it’s a huge offseason for Damon,” Mayock said via Bonsignore. “What he needs is the consistency of nutrition, a weight room and a workout regimen. And he needs to apply himself religiously. We have no problems with his quickness, with his ability to cover and his innate competitiveness. It’s the other things. Because when things come easy to you, you don’t always work on the other things. And now Damon really has to focus on the weight room, the nutrition and the daily regimen of getting himself ready for camp.”

• Raiders DE Maxx Crosby tweeted that he had surgery to repair an injured labrum and a broken metal plate in his hand. He said he suffered the hand injury in Week 5 and the shoulder injury is something that got worse as the season progressed. (Levi Damien)