AFC Notes: Colts, Jets, Patriots

Colts

Colts S Malik Hooker believes the team is ready and capable of winning right now.

“I’m definitely the guy that I feel like we’re capable of winning now,” Hooker said, via Colts.com. “You know, we’ve got a lot of great players, a lot of good players coming back as well. So I feel like this year, we’ve got a young, fast and good, physical team, so I feel like we’re definitely capable of winning now.”

Should the team sustain some injuries, Hooker feels like they have enough talent on their roster to compete this year.

“I feel like we can’t really pay attention to stuff like that — who’s out there and who’s not,” Hooker said. “I feel like we’ve got enough good backups for us to still be able to go out there and play at a high level. So I definitely feel like, like I said, whether I come back healthy or not or whoever else, I still feel like we’re capable of winning a lot of ballgames this year.”

Jets

Jets veteran QB Josh McCown said first-round QB Sam Darnold has the “foundation” to become the teams’ franchise quarterback.

“With Sam (Darnold), we have the right guy, he’s wired the right way, he loves the game, he asks the right questions and he’s willing to work…That’s the foundation, you have to have that,” said McCown, via SiriusXM NFL Radio.

Patriots

• While a report previously mentioned that Patriots WR Julian Edelman was expected to address the “unrecognized substance” as part of his defense, Ben Volin says that wasn’t the case and Edelman’s appeal instead centered around the league’s handling of paperwork.
• Edelman lost his appeal Tuesday (NFLTR) and will now miss the first four games of the 2018 season.
• According to Ian Rapoport, the two players to watch when it comes to filling Edelman’s role in the Patriots’ offense are Malcolm Mitchell and Cordarrelle Patterson.